Netflix Friday announced “A Very Murray Christmas” starring Bill Murray and friends. The Netflix special will be out in December. The streaming service would like you to use the hashtag #MurrayChristmas so they can track you and sell your information.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Reese Witherspoon is attached to star in and produce Tink, a live-action take on Tinker Bell, the classic Peter Pan character.
Witherspoon will produce with her partner Bruna Papandrea at Pacific Standard.
Victoria Strouse (Finding Dory) is on script duties for the project
Tink does not have a director on board and is still in development.
For all its ambition, its good intentions and many clever insights into the state of our world today and our collective inclination toward morbid and pessimistic views of our world’s future, Tomorrowland, Disney’s latest effort to bring to life on the big screen an adventure based on one of its signature theme park attractions, fails to thrill or inspire in all the ways it should. Rather than soaring and carrying with it audiences hearts and imaginations, it crashes hard, burdened by unwieldy exposition, questionable casting, and ponderous pacing. It should inspire you to dream, but instead, it’s much more likely to just put you to sleep.
The storytelling premise alone is convoluted, to say the least. In 1964, young Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson), an ambitious kid on the verge of inventing a working flying jet pack, brings his almost-ready-for-prime-time creation to the World’s Fair in New York, and presents it to the judges of a contest for innovations. He fails to impress the first judge he meets, the dour David Nix (Hugh Laurie), but he catches the eye of Athena (Raffey Cassidy), an unusual girl Frank’s age who has an eye for inventive talent. Against Nix’s wishes, Athena sneaks Frank a special pin that opens a doorway into a world beyond anything Frank has ever imagined, a Future World in the making led by the brightest, most inventive and artistic minds in all of humankind, all working together without the distractions of politics and bureaucracy, with the singular goal of creating a better tomorrow.
Fifty years later, that world still hasn’t come about. Casey Newton (Britt Robertson, The Longest Ride), the bright and inquisitive daughter of a former rocket engineer about to lose his job at Cape Canaveral as NASA dismantles and demolishes its now-obsolete launch platforms, notices how just about everyone knows things are bad in the world, but doesn’t seem to really do anything to try to fix it. One night, after her inventive and mostly-illegal efforts to keep her father employed land her in some trouble with the local authorities, she finds among her belongings a pin similar to the one Frank received from Athena. Upon touching it she gets a glimpse of the world Frank saw, tantalizingly close, but not close enough to reach.
Her search for a way to complete the journey back to that place of wonders leads her to the door of the now-reclusive and jaded Frank (George Clooney), who wants nothing to do with Casey, the pin she carries, or anywhere she wants to go. He soon learns, however, that he doesn’t have a choice as far as taking her there, as Casey’s search for Tomorrowland has drawn the attention of certain nefarious elements bent on keeping her and anyone else out.
But why would those in charge of Tomorrowland not want to open its gates to a world desperately in need of hope and optimism? Frank knows, and it’s why he’s so bitter. But Casey may be the key to changing it all, and in so doing change the course of the world’s future, and so the two unlikely friends join forces with an equally unlikely ally to force their way in, using every product of Frank’s gadget wizardry along the way to stay one step ahead of the bad guys and finally face their shared destiny.
It’s hard to deny that the ideas and the story behind Tomorrowland must have looked awfully good when laid out on paper. A film inspired by one of Disney’s most beloved and often-visited attractions at both of its signature theme parks in North America, a place whose spirit typified Walt Disney’s own inventiveness, ambition, and futurist vision of tomorrow, written in part and directed by Brad Bird, who after helming The Incredibles and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol succeeded Gore Verbinski as Hollywood’s current go-to guy for inventive, visually exciting film making. Teaming Bird with Damon Lindelof, one of the masterminds behind “Lost” and the re-tooling of “Star Trek”, must have made even more sense in terms of creating a film full of bang-zoom and golly-gee-whiz that would excite the senses and thrill the imagination, everything that a visit to Tomorrowland the attraction once did and still strives to do among its youngest visitors.
However, the final product churned out by this meeting of the minds and the cast and crew they assemble rather resembles a visit to Tomorrowland where you stand in line to get on Space Mountain for two hours, enjoying all that signature Disney attention to detail, interactivity, and theming along the way, only to have the ride break down just as you’ve been locked into the seat. Without question, it’s gorgeous to look at — this is one you want to see in 3D or IMAX, given the opportunity, with all the gleaming white, shiny Jetsons-style flying machines and Rocketeer-resembling jet packs — but it gets so bogged down in all its set up, all its hypotheticals, alternative history, and exposition that the film never feels fun. There’s never a moment where you feel actually transported to that place and time; just as Casey the character struggles to get to Tomorrowland in the film, audiences may feel like they never really arrive there, that it all remains remote and unreachable, and they’re just watching it all from a distance, rather than being immersed in it.
Casting doesn’t do the film any favors, either, and as strange as it may sound, the problems begin with George Clooney. At this point in his life and career, you’d think Clooney wouldn’t have any trouble at all playing crusty and curmudgeonly — he certainly doesn’t have to do much to look the part, especially when allowed to not shave for a few days and walk around in clothes that he looked like he slept in. He certainly gives a go, too, practically scowling his way through the whole film, but like any Disney illusion, you can see that it’s a special effect, that he’s working hard to hide the charm and charisma that he simply exudes by breathing. Britt Robertson actually fares quite well, in comparison — the 25-year-old who earlier this year took a turn as a lead in a Nicholas Sparks romance effectively conveys eight years younger with convincing pluckiness and a little help from wearing a NASA ball cap, a hoodie, and jeans through the majority of her screen time. But unfortunately for them both, Raffey Cassidy, the 12-year-old British actress perhaps best known to audiences for her TV work in Masterpiece’s “Mr. Selfridge”, seems to struggle capturing the right tone for Athena, and her scenes with her co-stars lack any real chemistry or energy. As for Hugh Laurie, he seems to have been cast simply for his eye roll — he may not sound like Dr. House while using his native accent, but he certainly can look as exasperated as Laurie’s well-remembered TV character ever did.
Highlights, aside from all that beautiful production design? For the hardcore Disney fans, the film is quite likely a treasure trove for park-related Easter eggs and “hidden Mickeys”, those ubiquitous silhouettes of Mickey’s head that Disney designers and animators love to sneak into the background and scenery of everything the Mouse manufactures for public consumption. Oh, and there’s a great in-joke regarding the logical evolution of those animatronics that have inhabited “It’s a Small World” and other similar Disney rides — if you’ve ever thought those were creepy, just wait and see the spin the movie puts on them.
It’s disheartening, really, that the film doesn’t work the way it should, because it really does have something to say about the direction our world has headed in terms of pessimism, apathy, and resignation due to the cynicism perpetuated by our 24-hour-news cycle and constantly being fed a steady audio and visual diet of humanity’s faults and failings. Like last year’s Interstellar, which actually showed us a possible future where looking to the stars for our future was actively discouraged and disparaged because of its impracticality, Tomorrowland points a not-so-subtle finger at the forces in our society that simply make it easier for most people to accept that the world is going to hell and there’s nothing anyone can do or even should do to try to fix it. It makes the case that too often in our world people are encouraged to give up on their dreams, to grow up and look down at the world around them rather than imagine the possibilities of what may lay beyond, and in so doing we’re more eager to embrace the inevitability of our doom rather than lifting a finger to do something about it. These are important ideas, and whether or not the these ideas actually resonate with mass audiences may itself be indicative of how resistant we have become to optimism in our entertainment, that things dark, dingy, and depressing just make more sense to us because it’s what we’re constantly surrounded with. It’s more familiar, and it takes less effort to digest.
But in the course of building a story, a script, and a film experience around these very important ideas, Bird, Lindelof, and the minds behind Tomorrowland the film fail to balance all that heady stuff with the fun that should come along with any Disney experience, animated, live action, or in real life.
After all, you don’t go to Tomorrowland at Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom to listen to a well-intentioned lecture on why it’s important that you keep dreaming and you never give up. You go there to be amazed and to have fun — the dreaming and inspiration comes after.
Tomorrowland
Starring George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy, Tim McGraw, Kathryn Hahn, Keegan-Michael Key. Directed by Brad Bird.
Running Time: 130 minutes
Rated PG for sequences of sci-fi action violence and peril, thematic elements, and language.
I’m going to try and be fair to this new Poltergeist remake and not just compare it endlessly to Tobe Hooper’s 1982 original, a paranormal classic and the template for countless ghost stories these days. It will be hard to avoid, though, because this new version makes no bones about telling the same story in virtually every way. The structure and happenings are almost carbon copies. Scenes are basically the same, with similar ends, though they might be told in different ways from time to time. But they aren’t fooling anyone. We see what is happening.
In this new version, Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt play Eric and Amy Bowen. In the opening scenes, the Bowen’s are moving into a bargain-price home in an old neighborhood next to some power lines. They needed a deal since Eric lost his job and Amy is staying at home to raise their three kids and write “her book.” (Side note: why do so many characters in movies like this take time off work to write their novel? It has become a lazy character trait.) Almost immediately, the house begins to show signs of its paranormal history. It seems to pulsate with electrical current, lights go on and off, electronics are fried. You know, the usual.
As the parents work to get on their feet and establish their lives, the entities begin to threaten the kids. The oldest, Kendra (Saxon Sharbino), stays mostly free of the apparitions, but middle son Griffin (Kyle Catlett) has a heck of a time with clowns and trees. I say clowns because there are several this time, and they all look menacing which misses the point of the innocent-looking clown from the original. Then, of course, there is the youngest daughter, Madison (not Carol Anne for some reason), played by Kennedi Clements. Poor Maddie bears the brunt of the ghostly invaders.
Maddie is snatched up by the ghosts through a portal in her closet, and it is time to call in a team of reinforcements, a trio of paranormal investigators from the local college led by Dr. Brooke Powell, played by the always interesting character actor Jane Adams. Powell and her team come in and their investigation leads them to realize they aren’t enough reinforcement; they must call in Carrigan Burke, a celebrity ghost hunter played by Jared Harris. This is perhaps the biggest departure from the original Poltergeist, as Harris replaces Zelda Rubinstein’s infinitely more interesting mystic, Tangina. Harris, on the other hand, is doing his best impersonation of Quint from Jaws.
The rest of the film moves briskly through the plot points everyone remembers from the original. This Poltergeist also has two endings, and the first ending has some impressive vibrance and crafty thrills. The second and final ending falls flat. Rockwell and DeWitt, both fantastic actors, are solid and believable as the parents, but they are nowhere near as entertaining and warm and, well, perfect as the Freeman’s (Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams) in the original. Director Gil Kenan, making his first foray into live action filmmaking, handles the material well enough. That is to say, there are no glaring problems with the look or feel of the picture. It just kind of… exists.
There are no real scares here, mostly because we all know where the story is going, when, and how for the most part. The differences in individual scenes are different for the sake of being so, not because they are attempting anything new. No matter how hard everyone tries here, the new Poltergeist can never get out from under the shadow of its predecessor, thus never feeling necessary in any way. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and in that way everyone involved with the original Poltergeist should feel incredibly flattered. But they can rest easy knowing their original version has not been bested.
The Gallows is yet another found footage horror movie, but this one seems to have some studio execs rather fired up. The small indie horror film was snatched up by Warner Bros. and Blumhouse and will be released right in the middle of summer blockbuster season, rather than being dumped in mid-Septmeber.
the new full-length trailer for The Gallows shows us the story, which doesn’t excite me one way or another to be honest. But somebody out there has immense faith in the film.
Here is The full-length trailer for The Gallows:
These found footage horror films are hit or miss for me. It makes sense why they are so popular, because they are cheap and if they hit all the right notes the windfall can be spectacular (see: Paranormal Activity, which seems like a title card on all of these movies now… From the Producers of…). I always hope these movies bring the scares, so here’s hoping for The Gallows.
The Gallows stars an unknown cast of young actors, Cassidy Gifford, Ryan Shoos, Reese Mishler and Pfeifer Brown. Directed by Travis Cluff and Chris Lofing, The Gallows opens July 10.
Actor Oscar Isaac spoke with Matthew Sardo about the world of science fiction; from his current film by Alex Garland Ex Machina and how he was blown away by the script, to his excitement for his role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Isaac commented on if he was hesitant to sign up for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
“I was hesitant just as much as, okay is this a character I can play? After you get past the fact that I’m being asked to be in Star Wars, which is amazing and important. But then I have to think, well is there something there I can do with it. Can I bring something to it, and after speaking with J.J. and Lawrence Kasdan and Kathy Kennedy I felt like yeah, this is definitely something I want to be in,” said Isaac.
As far as Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse, Isaac confirmed that he has filmed some scenes already and he has seen what he will look like in final makeup. He also touched on how he prepared for his role as Apocalypse.
“I’ve been reading the script a lot and trying to come at for me, an interesting angle. Definitely focusing on the fact he is the embodiment of the second coming of the judgments of God and that energy going in. We’re playing with that. What we are trying to do is make his philosophy, and what his mission is, one that is both simple but also holds water, that really makes sense throughout the whole movie. I think Simon Kinberg and Bryan Singer, we’ve been able to come up with something very cool,” said Isaac.
Ex Machina is in theaters now, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. will be in theaters on December 18, and X-Men: Apocalypse is scheduled for May 27, 2016.
Slow West is a Western that borrows from all Westerns, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just that this borrowing makes the film at hand a confused mishmash of tone and direction. It tries to be an introspective, art house Western, like The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford, but it also goes for a more mainstream, adventurous tone at times. There are even hints of the bleak humor from the Coen Brothers’ True Grit. But Slow West can never decide what it wants to be as we follow the story to its somber conclusion.
Kodi Smit-McPhee stars as Jay Cavendish, a young man from the Scottish Highlands who has traveled to the harsh western landscape of America to find his lost love. Jay is not cut out for the scoundrels and outlaws he will run across in this lawless land. Almost immediately, he is rescued from soldiers turned Indian hunters by Silas, a mysterious stranger played by Michael Fassbender. Silas warns him of the dangers in front of him on his journey, and offers his assistance for monetary compensation. Jay is reluctant for the most part, but he realizes over time that he needs Silas to get him to his ultimate destination.
The odd couple come across a handful of wanderers and bounty hunters, and the story opens up as we discover Silas’s motivation for helping Jay. At 84 minutes, Slow West wastes no time in moving these characters across the American West, it is lean and direct. But this danger and treachery Silas speaks of is not wholly displayed in the film, mostly because the film feels to slick and choreographed. The cinematography is marvelous, but it is too marvelous for the story it is trying to tell. Every shot and scene feels entirely staged. There is no grit or grime, characters are too clean, the landscape has the look of a set more than wide open space. It may have all been shot outside, but the camera stays too glossy to add the texture necessary to a story about cruel conditions and ruthless outlaws.
And as for that tone I mentioned earlier, it is all over the place. There is dark humor, a scene involving hallucinations, somber seriousness, action, everything really. Films can shift tones all the time, but they have to have conviction. It is almost as if director John Maclean is trying things on the screen, rather than dedicating his story to one or the other. Maclean shows real talent here, his story just needs refining.
Fassbender and Smit-McPhee work well with each other, but their relationship never goes beyond a surface level. In the end, it was tough to care about anybody in Slow West or where they ended up. Had the film decided on what sort of story it wanted to tell, and told it with the appropriate look and feel, it could have been a gem of a film. As it is, the crisis of Slow West is in its base identity.
According to Mike Fleming Jr. of Deadline, Paramount Pictures is putting together and all-star line up of writers to work on Transformers sequels and spinoffs.
Two months ago Paramount picked Akiva Goldsman to incubate ideas for the franchise. Now they’ve created a “writer’s room” with Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, Iron Man scribes Art Marcum & Matt Holloway, Pacific Rim 2‘s Zak Penn and Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Lost‘s Jeff Pinkner.
According to Fleming there gave been no formal contracts signed yet.
Back in March Kirkman was promoting Paramount’s Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.
If you don’t remember Batkid from 2013 then you must have been under a non-social media rock.
Warner Bros. just released the first trailer for Batkid Begins the documentary based on the Make-A-Wish Foundation event in which San Francisco was transformed into Gotham City so that a five-year-old Miles could be Batman for a day.
Batkid Begins will be in select theaters on June 26.
The zombie genre may have found have found its source, Cooties. This horror comedy will have the most awkward zombie kills as kids get dropped left and right in this 96 minute R-rated film.
From the twisted minds of Leigh Whannell (co-creator of Saw and Insidious) and Ian Brennan (co-creator of “Glee”), COOTIES is a horror comedy with unexpected laughs and unapologetic thrills. When a cafeteria food virus turns elementary school children into killer zombies, a group of misfit teachers must band together to escape the playground carnage. The film stars Elijah Wood (The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings), Rainn Wilson (“The Office”), and Alison Pill (“The Newsroom”) as teachers who fight to survive the mayhem while hilariously bickering in an uncomfortable love triangle on the worst Monday of their lives.
Cooties will be out on September 18 in theaters and on VOD.