American Hustle: First Trailer for David O. Russell’s New Film

July 31, 2013 ryancroftj Leave a comment

The first trailer for David O. Russell’s follow-up to Silver Linings Playbook has been released, giving a first look at the tremendous cast, 70’s flare, and somewhat atrocious hair cuts. Leading the film is Christian Bale (Dark Knight Trilogy) and Bradley Cooper (The Hangover Trilogy) as the former being a con man recruited to help the latter, an FBI agent. In addition to those two big names are Academy Award winners and ‘O. Russell’ alums, Jenifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) and Robert De Niro (The Godfather Part II). But wait, there’s more well-known faces in Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), Amy Adams (Man of Steel), and Louis C. K. (Blue Jasmine). Co-written by O. Russell, this seems to be a sure contender come next February. Keep your eyes peeled for this, and check out the trailer below.

Originally titled ‘American Bullshit’, the script made the blacklist (an unofficial list of the top un-produced scripts voted on by producers) in 2010, and was bought by Sony Pictures who lined up David O. Russell to direct. The story goes as follows, a fictional take on the 1970’s FBI sting operation know as Abscam that follows a con-man and an FBI agent as they try to turn the table on other cons, mobsters, and politicians in the area.

The film is due out December 13th, and if Columbia shelling out what ever insane amount for a Led Zeppelin song is telling, they are gonna spend as much as they can to market this film in the coming months.

Dexter Review: 8.05 – “This Little Piggy”

July 30, 2013 Michelle L. Mattock Leave a comment

Even though the supposed “Brain Surgeon” was killed by the Dexter/Deb duo, ‘This Little Piggy’ was one of the more boring episodes of season 8 so far. Certainly not as entertaining as last week’s ‘Scar Tissue’.

Dexter and Deb have a therapy session with Vogel and suddenly, after a brief angsty bitch session by Dexter, everything is okay again between the brother and sister. Deb wants to help Dexter kill Yates after the “Brain Surgeon” kidnaps Vogel because, as she said, “…the family that kills together…”. They are successful in ridding the world of Yates, but something tells me that the world is not rid of the “Brain Surgeon”. Why would it be Yates? If he is this easily manipulated and this precise thus far, how did he let himself get caught and why would he suddenly kidnap Vogel? I guess he could be the Brain Surgeon, but I wouldn’t like how little sense that makes. Also, usually there is much more of a chase than this has been with Yates. I would want it to be someone stronger; someone like Dexter.

Quinn goes to get a DNA sample from a man who is very wealthy and contributes a lot to the community, so when he gets a bad feeling about the man’s son, Matthews shoots him down. Here’s the thing….. the “feeling” Quinn got? Yeah, we all got that as well. What f-ckery is this, where they make the supposed psychopath look like an outright… well… psychopath! He is obviously up to something when you first see him. If that wasn’t telling enough, the kid asks Quinn a bunch of questions about the murder. So even dumb as rocks Joey Quinn can tell that there is something obviously wrong with this Hamilton kid. They should just play ominous cheesy 80s horror film music as he appears on camera.

There were other things that happened in this episode, none of which I particularly care about. Jamie brought over a cute friend for a double date with Dexter, but he had to leave (Vogel/Yates/Deb situation) and she was very cool about it. Blah. It is too far into the season to be adding new characters and expecting me to care about them.

The reason that Dexter is such a great show is because you get attached to these characters (Rita, Miguel, Lila, Maria, etc…) and you get to watch Dexter destroy their lives, leaving the audience feeling some sort of emotion about it. In the season 4 finale when Trinity killed Rita, the second I saw Harrison in the blood pool I began sobbing. When I saw Rita’s face, I cried my eyes out. John Lithgow still haunts my nightmares! But this adding new characters for a few episodes and then expecting me to give a shit? I dislike that. Like that woman detective who is trying for sergeant…. I cannot remember her name off the top of my head. If she wasn’t in the next episode, I probably wouldn’t even notice. I understand that the series is ending, I just thought it would go out with a bang!

Overall I give this episode a 2 out of 5, and mainly only because Deb and Dex are back together again.

Movie News & Opinions

‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ – Viral Website Reveals Bolivar Trask and Sentinels!

July 30, 2013 James Henshaw Leave a comment

That Bryan Singer is one sneaky little bleeder. Over the past few months Singer has done a superb job at raising the excitement levels of X-Men: Days of Future Past by dropping sneaky little Tweets and Instagram shots of new characters, costumes, set design and those beautiful character posters during Comic Con.

Now the promo job seems to have set itself into viral mode with the launch of www.Trask-Industries.com. The website itself was launched a little while ago during San Diego Comic Con, but at that time there was very little up on the site. Today there seems to have been a major update that gives us our first shot of everyone’s favorite Lannister, Peter Dinklage, in full 70’s Bolivar Trask get up.

We are also treated to a great little propaganda style Trask Industries infomercial explaining how, if the X-Gene is allowed to continue propagating without limit, that homo sapiens could cease to exist by the year 2030.

The website also gives us a nifty little bit of X-history with a timeline of the Sentinel program as well as the big reveal of the Sentinels themselves.

Now, this all sets up the premise and tone of the film very nicely and obviously starts to point us towards the dystopian future that Wolverine, Kitty Pride and the rest of the X-team inhabit. I imagine that most of the material used here, or at least the premise it sets up, will be covered briefly within the opening scenes or credits of the film once it is released. In the meantime it gives us good insight into were they are going with the film. One of X-Men: First Class’ main accomplishments I feel was the tone. By the looks of things so far, Bryan Singer has really picked up on that and is stylistically aiming to conjoin the two cinematic threads.

I particularly like the ‘Mutants are the Enemy’ posters that were popping up around SDCC and on the web. which you can see more of at the link above.

There are a few things that worry me about X-Men: DOFP, though. I loved X-Men: First Class. In my opinion it was the strongest of all the X-films (I wonder how many more X-idioms I can use). It’s my opinion that the film that X-Men: DOFP bridges First Class with (X-Men: The Last Stand) is probably the worst. Singer revealed to UK magazine Empire that the future set parts take place 10 years after The Last Stand. This leaves a lot of questions to be answered, such as how Professor X is now inhabiting the body of Patrick Stewart again, and not that bloke in the bed who he ‘mind-swapped’? Also, there does seem to be a rather bloated cast. Will there be enough time to give them all the screen time they deserve and not turn it into the cameo fest that was The Last Stand.

Ultimately, this could all be explained very easily and done satisfyingly. I for one am more excited to see this and hopefully Singer and co. will pull out all the stops to avoid X-fanboy ire.

X-Men: Days of Future Past hits theaters on May 23, 2014.

Movie Trailers

‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ Trailer Is Here & It Looks Amazing

July 30, 2013 ryancroftj Leave a comment

Wow. The fact that a trailer forgoes relying on the “directed by…” or the “starring…”, and instead leaves us with beautifully imagery and an accompanying song that sets the mood really means something. Directed by Ben Stiller (Tropic Thunder, Zoolander), and along with starring as the lead, he is joined by a solid cast including Kristin Wiig (Bridesmaids), Adam Scott (Parks and Rec.), and Sean Penn (Milk). The film was given a 20 minute preview at CinemCon that got rave reviews with some even hailing it as a major Oscar contender. While obviously they only saw a snippet of the film, it’s still nice to hear good things, cause boy does this trailer make me believe those comments.

Also, a little shout out to Of Monsters and Men whose song “Dirty Paws” is used in the trailer. It fits great for the trailer, and I highly recommend the rest of their album, My Head is an Animal.

Based off James Thurber’s classic tale of the same name, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Ben Stiller stars as a magazine writer who constantly fantasizes about story book elements such as heroism, romance, and action, day-dreaming the themes into his life. When his and his co-worker’s jobs are in danger, Walter embarks on a global journey that could be the real life adventure he has always imagined.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The film is due out Christmas Day, which is perfect timing for a rumored Oscar contender.

Movie Trailers

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Trailer Impresses

July 29, 2013 ryancroftj Leave a comment

About two years since the release of The Hunger Games, it’s not surprising that a sequel is being made. Making near 700 million at the box office, fast tracking this follow up book was inevitable. Almost all the main cast returns, including the now Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence as the main protagonist Katniss. Check out the The Hunger Games: Catching Fire trailer below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keT5CRhhy84

Adding to the already incredible cast from the first flick are even more incredible actors, such as Phillip Seymour Hoffman (The Master) and Jeffrey Wright, who will also be arriving soon in Atlantic City as seen in this Boardwalk Empire trailer.

While the first film, in my opinion, was paced oddly, hopefully the two Academy Award winning writers, Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) and Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3, Star Wars: Episode VII), can fix that. Also added to the mix is a new director, Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend), who’s pedigree may not be top notch, but seeing that he’s signed on to the next two iterations in the series, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and Part 2, he must have a unique view of the worlds that warrants his stay in the franchise.

Catching Fire Poster

The story takes place almost right after the first film, when Katniss and companion Peeta, return home after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games. Shortly preceding their embark on a “Victory Tour” through all the districts. Sensing an uprising brewing in the districts, Katniss is pulled between the people and President Snow, the man in control of everything. With the 75th Annual Hunger Games about to commence, Katniss is forced back into the games due to the Quarter Quell, an event every 25 years that brings up the victors of the previous competitions to face off. As Woody Harrelson puts it in the trailer, “Last year was child’s play”. Hopefully that means a chance to amp up the action, and thrill of the games that I found missing in the first film. And yes, the love triangle seems to be very prevalent in the sequel.

hunger_games_catching_fire_poster

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is due out November 22.

Arrested Development ‘Definitely’ Returning, But In What Form?

July 29, 2013 Chris Tansuche Leave a comment

As if you needed a James Bond type announcement, but it’s pretty much confirmed that the Bluths will indeed return for a 5^th season. Slashfilm and WarmingGlow reported that last week, creator Mitchell Hurwitz confirmed that the Bluths will be back, delivering a definitive “definitely” in Montreal at the Just for Laughs comedy festival. In fact, Hurwitz even went as far as asking the Netflix chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, who was conveniently sitting with him if they could discuss it at the moment because he’s got “kids to feed.”

Continue reading Arrested Development ‘Definitely’ Returning, But In What Form? →

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Yearly Archives: 2013