Matt Damon is set to have a helluva fall. He has the George Clooney-directed Suburbicon around the corner, and he also has Downsizing, Alexander Payne’s new quirky sci-fi dramedy.
This trailer is… effervescent? Check it out:
“Downsizing” follows a kindly occupational therapist who undergoes a new procedure to be shrunken to four inches tall so that he and his wife can help save the planet and afford a nice lifestyle at the same time.
It’s a great premise with a gold mine of possibilities. And Alexander Payne is a more than ready filmmaker to tap into those possibilities. There hasn’t been a false move in his career to this point, and I will stand by that.
The Downsizing cast is pretty great as well: Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis, Hong Chau, Christoph Waltz, Bruce Willis, Laura Dern, Neil Patrick Harris, Alec Baldwin, Margo Martindale. It opens December 22, and will no doubt be a topic of conversation around Awards season.
James Franco will flip the cinematic universe on its head this winter when he is nominated for an Oscar playing Tommy Wiseau in The Disaster Artist.
The irony here is that Wise made what is famously called the worst movie of all time, The Room. It’s a cult classic, and The Disaster Artist chronicles the bizarre making of this movie. If this trailer is any indication, this one might be kinda brilliant, no?…
When this was first announced it felt like another weird James Franco stunt. He’s great at those sometimes, and other times the movies dissipate immediately. This looks different than what I had expected. It looks oddly emotional, it seems to capture Los Angeles in the early 2000s, and James Franco is clearly giving it his all.
I’ve never seen The Room, but I am fully aware of its presence and I saw that rooftop scene everyone has seen so I feel okay about it.
The Disaster Artist also stars James’s brother Dave Franco, Seth Rogen (of course), and Alison Brie. It will be here for your eyes to see December 1.
Rather than risk Star Wars: Episode IX to the hands of another insubordinate director, Kathleen Kennedy and Co. have brought J.J. Abrams back on board.
Abrams, who directed The Force Awakens, takes over a spot left empty when Colin Trevorrow was either made to leave or left on his own. Ya know, creative differences.
According to the Variety report, Abrams will also co-write the script with Chris Terrio. Kennedy commented in the Variety report as well, saying “With The Force Awakens, J.J. delivered everything we could have possibly hoped for, and I am so excited that he is coming back to close out this trilogy.”
It would have been nice to see a new face behind the camera, as long as it wasn’t Trevorrow. That was a bad call from the start, but there are infinite better options I won’t get into here.
Anyway, at least we know what we’re going to get from Star Wars: Episode IX. J.J. Abrams may be divisive, but he knows how to film action.
Although this summer’s overall box office was the worst in years, it’s looking great for the future of comic book cinema.
Wonder Woman crushed the box office, and now, Spider-Man: Homecoming has grossed even more than the Gal Gadot-led motion picture.
Wonder Woman took in a total of $816 million; Spider-Man: Homecoming, following its release in China, has made a whopping $823 million. Given that Homecoming still has time to be seen in China, this overall total will rise in the coming weeks.
These were two of not only the highest grossing summer movies, but also the best of the bunch. Although they are indeed superhero films, both bring spectacle, great performances, comedy, and heart to the table.
Did you enjoy Spider-Man: Homecoming and Wonder Woman? Comment below, let us know.
When you see that a film has garnered an impressive 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, does your mind instantly go to thinking that said movie has been rated, on average, as 9/10? If so, you’re misunderstanding how the Tomatometer works.
To accurately read the site, one must first know that the site doesn’t have its own reviewers. So, if you’ve ever heard someone say, “Rotten Tomatoes gave this movie a bad score,” just know that they are fundamentally wrong. What the website does is collect reviews, from its batch of “certified” reviewers, from all over the web. After that, it takes a look at what each reviewer thought of the movie; if a critic gave a newly released film a 6/10, that would be considered “fresh”. Anything under that is not good, and would get categorized as “rotten”. Understand? Well, let’s check out an example.
Itwas just released to an impressive 86 percent. Now, does this mean that each reviewer thinks the movie is an 8.6/10? Nope. All this percentage means is that 86 percent of reviewers gave the movie a 6/10 or better. Technically, a film could receive a 6/10 from every reviewer and score an 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Now, let’s look at another aspect of Rotten Tomatoes’ score system; how does a movie become “certified fresh”? To earn this achievement, said film must have a total of 80 reviews (worldwide release), 40 reviews (limited release), or 20 reviews (television shows) and land a 75 percent average score. Additionally, 5 Top Critics must have published their opinion on the movie.
Another aspect to the website is its use of an audience score. This category has nothing to do with a motion picture’s overall percentage; however, often times, critics and fans will disagree on the enjoyment of a movie. Let’s take a look at 2005’s remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. While only 51 percent of fans like the film, a whopping 83 percent of critics took a liking to the Johnny Depp-led adventurous tale.
There is a right and wrong way to read Rotten Tomatoes. Given how the internet has reacted to certain films over the last few years, it’s obvious that most people aren’t aware of how the website actually works. Next time you come across a confused cinephile wrongly arguing something about the Tomatometer, show them this article.
Hayao Miyazaki’s first film, Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro, is being brought back to US movie theaters for two months only.
Put on by Fathom Events, September 14’s screenings will be the dubbed version. On September 19, the film’s subbed version will be screened.
Along with the movie itself, these showings will include special footage with comments, and an intro, by John Lasseter.
“Hayao Miyazaki’s directorial debut film, LUPIN THE 3RD: THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO is coming to U.S. cinemas nationwide this September for a special two-day event. Lupin and Jigen successfully rob a casino of millions, but only to find that the money is counterfeit. Lupin notices how well the money is forged and decides to make his next target the possible source of the forgery, Cagliostro. They enter the country and run into a car chase between a group of men after a girl in a wedding dress. Lupin, who loves girls, decides to abruptly make a detour to assist the bride in her escape. They successfully outrun the men but have an accident. Lupin goes unconscious but wakes up to find a ring with the royal crest of Cagliostro in a white glove from the bride.”
Are you going to see this in theaters? Comment below, let us know.
A fan asked James Gunn when the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie will be released. The director, whose social media activity often prompts news articles like this, made it known that 2020 is like the release year for Vol. 3.
Marvel Studios has three potential dates for 2020: May 1, Aug. 7 and Nov. 6. If we take a look at the original film’s release, along with Vol. 2‘s, the patterns is summer. Guardians of the Galaxy was released on August 1 and Vol. 2 hit theaters on May 5 of this year. I’d say May 1 is likely the top choice for Vol. 3.
Are you looking forward to the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie? Comment below, let us know.
As previously stated, Maleficent is getting a sequel and production will begin shortly. There were some concerns about if Angelina Jolie would be on board to reprise her role as the titular character, now all of that can be put to rest.
The mother of six just confirmed she’s returning to acting in Maleficent 2.
“I am now the breadwinner for the family so it’s time,”she joked during an interview with Deadline. “We have been working on the script and this is going to be a really strong sequel.”
Jolie’s on screen return has been long awaited. Her last on screen role was in the 2015 film By The Sea, which she and husband Brad Pitt directed.
She decided to take a break from acting to focus on her kids and deal with her 2016 split from Pitt.
“I’ve taken over a year off now, because of my family situation, to take care of my kids,” Jolie told The Hollywood Reporter, adding that she was excited about working on the Maleficent sequel. “I look forward to having some fun with that.”
In 2014 Maleficent was a box office hit grossing almost $760 million worldwide. Do you think the sequel can top that? Let me know in the comments!
Home Again is a combination of horrible casting, horrendous writing, and terrible performances, resulting in one of the worst releases of 2017.
Summary
Alice (Reese Witherspoon) is a separated mother who has just moved back to Los Angeles to start over with her two daughters. She isn’t in the same boat as most single mothers as she moving back into a mansion which she inherited from her late father (who just happens to be an Oscar winning director) and a vintage sports car (seems totally legit). The good thing is that now she’s closer to her mother (who happens to be a former actress played by Candice Bergen). The downside apparently is the idea that she’s turning 40 and life is kicking her butt (eye-roll). So rather than coming to grips with her birthday, she turns towards going out and blowing off a little steam drinking. While out she runs into three guys (Nat Wolff, Jon Rudnitsky, and Pico Alexander) who are filmmakers celebrating their forthcoming movie deal. A few drinks turned into shots of tequila and they all end up back at Alice’s house to crash overnight. Her mom shows up the next day with the kids (I guess they were having a sleep over) and stumbles upon this gaggle of men at her daughter’s house. Rather than questioning Alice’s judgement, her mother sees this as an opportunity to have some help for her daughter around the house. This appears to be a good idea until her ex-husband (Micheal Sheen) gets back into the picture.
HOME AGAIN
What Worked
Except for the rare instance where Candice Bergen’s character was able to get off a comedic zinger, nothing worked. A majority of the film was spent in complete silence as none of the obvious moments that were written to provide some levity to the film even elicited a faint chuckle.
What Didn’t Work
Wolff, Rudnitsky, and Alexander were terrible selections to portray the new men in Alice’s life. Their portrayal was stale and seemed more fit for Days of our Lives rather than a feature film. Those three actors had little chemistry with Witherspoon and managed to bring any scene to a screeching halt.
Hallie Meyers-Shyer proves that at this point in her career she is incapable of crafting a compelling storyline. Instead of creating a compelling storyline involving a single mom and how she’s dealing with her newly separation, too much emphasis was placed on Alice’s mid-life crisis. Instead of watching this film and relating to her issues with turning 40, most of the time I was shaking my head wondering what was wrong with her. While it’s easy to see that she was trying to be contrarian and come up with a different take on this type of narrative, but the content had better be well written in order to pull that off.
Witherspoon gives the single worst performance of her acting career. There is no angst or any anguish over her personal life falling apart. At times she’s flirtatious and other times she longing for a new career, neither of which matches what’s unfolding in this story. After the work she put in during HBO’s Big Little Lies and Wild, to see this type of performance is downright shocking.
Dean Cundey who is best known for his cinematographic work on the Back to the Future trilogy didn’t contribute anything visually to help enhance this storyline. It was one boring shot after another (none of which connected what was unfolding on screen).
Overall
I’ve never in all of my years of reviewing movies have witnessed multiple critics leaving before the end of an eerily silent screening. Home Again is a failure on multiple levels. While some will pay to see this as an escape from what’s been happening in the world, the only thing audience will feel when they leave the screening is rage. Why did I pay to this horrible film? If anyone in your family is dying to see this romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon, tell then to rent Sweet Home Alabama. My biggest regret is that I stayed for the whole film rather leaving with the other critics when they did.
