Trailer: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Official)

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Arleigh

One of my most-anticipated films this summer of 2014 has released it’s latest trailer and it shows the central conflict which will drive this sequel to 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

It’s been many years since the pandemic from the “simian flu” tore through the planet as shown during the end credits of the first film. Now the surviving humans must now contend with the growing population of hyper-intelligent apes led by Caesar from the first film.

While the first film showed the rise of Caesar as a revolutionary leader it looks like this sequel will now put him in the role of war leader as his apes must now gear up for a war with the surviving humans that can’t seem to be avoided.

Plus, all I can say is this: Apes on horses with assault rifles.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is set for a July 11, 2014 release date.

Godzilla – Attack at Pacific Promo Scene

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Arleigh

It is just a week to go before the premiere of Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla and the marketing has begun to go into overdrive.

In addition to trailers and the latest tv spots, Warner Bros. has begun to release clips and behind-the-scenes to help announce the latest arrival of the King of Monsters.

We have here a brief clip that shows the Big Guy taking on the U.S. Navy as it tries to defend Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay it straddles. This marks two straight years that the Golden Gate Bridge has been threatened and/or destroyed by these damn kaiju.

Film Review: Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster (dir by Ishiro Honda)

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

“These monsters are as stupid as human beings!” — Detective Shindo in Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster.

With that above line, Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster stakes it claim to being one the best of the old Godzilla movies.

First released in 1964, Ghidorah was the fifth film to feature Godzilla. Historically, it’s important because it was the first film to feature Godzilla as a hero. Though he doesn’t quite assume the role of Earth’s protector that would define his later films, Godzilla is definitely presented as being the lesser of two evils. Godzilla’s previously threatening role was taken by the film’s title character. Ghidorah, a flying, three-headed dragon, would go one to become one of Godzilla’s most frequent foes and you can tell why from watching this film. Seriously, if anyone could be considered a worthy opponent to Godzilla, its Ghidorah.

Ghidorah!

As is often the case with the best of the Japanese monster films, Ghidorah’s plot doesn’t make a lot of sense but it’s still fun to watch. As the film begins, Detective Shindo has been assigned to protect Princess Selina of the fictional country of Selgina. And Selina needs the protection because Selgina is full of sinister men wearing elaborate, court jester-style costumes. They want Selina dead and they go so far as to plant a bomb on her airplane. However, right before the bomb goes off, an apparently possessed Selina jumps out of the plane.

Meanwhile, Prof. Murai leads a group of scientists through the wilderness, searching for a meteor that has crashed to Earth. Is the meteor somehow connected to the bomb on Selina’s plane? As a matter of fact it is. Now, to be honest, you’ll probably figure out what’s going on with the meteor long before Prof. Murai or any of his colleagues but director Ishiro Honda still does a good job of building up the suspense. You know what’s going to happen but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining when it actually does.

While Murai investigates that meteorite, a woman who looks exactly like Selina suddenly shows up in Japan, telling people that she is a Martian and predicting the end of the world. First, she predicts that Rodan, a prehistoric pterosaur who was believed destroyed in a previous film, will come back to life. As you can probably guess, that’s exactly what happens.

Rodan

Next, she predicts that Godzilla will rise from the sea and destroy a boat. Soon, Godzilla is destroying a boat and getting into a fight with Rodan. Finally, Selina predicts that Ghidorah will destroy the world. Soon, Ghidorah is flying over Tokyo and shooting bolts of lightning from his three heads.

Fortunately, Mothra the giant Moth happens to be in town and it falls to her to try to talk Rodan and Godzilla into teaming up with her to defeat Ghidorah. Unfortunately, Godzilla and Rodan really don’t see why they should waste their time trying to save humans. This leads to the film’s highlight — an extended argument between three monsters, conducted in angry roars and translated by the two miniature twins who live on Mothra’s island. (At one point, they reprimand Godzilla for cursing.) Watching these negotiations, a frustrated Shindo realizes that Godzilla and Rodan are just as stupid as human beings.

That scene (and Shindo’s realization) pretty much sum up everything that I love about Ghidorah. It’s a thoroughly over-the-top, occasionally rather silly film that also happens to be a lot of fun. The action moves quickly, the monsters are all truly monstrous, and the plot is so twisty that its impossible not to enjoy. Best of all, this film features Godzilla fighting his most worthy opponent. Ghidorah is both a classic monster and a classic film.

Godzilla, Rodan, Ghidorah, and Mothra

Lisa’s Way Too Early Oscar Predictions For May

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Whiplash

Of course, it’s way too early for me or anyone else to try to predict who and what will be nominated for an Academy Award in 2015. However, that’s not stopping me from trying to do so on a monthly basis!

Below are my updated predictions for May.

You can read my predictions for April here and my March predictions here.

Best Picture

Birdman

Boyhood

Foxcatcher

The Imitation Game

Interstellar

Unbroken

Whiplash

Wild

I’ve dropped Get On Up from my list of best picture nominees, mostly because the film’s trailer is just too bland. As for some of the other films that some of my fellow bloggers are predicting will be contenders: The Grand Budapest Hotel may very well deserve a nomination but it may have come out too early in the year. Gone Girl may be too much of a genre piece while Inherent Vice may not be enough of one. Big Eyes would theoretically benefit from the fact that both Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams would appear to be perfectly cast but, after his last few live action films, I don’t have much faith in Tim Burton. As for Into The Woods, my instinct says that Rob Marshall’s latest musical film adaptation is going to have more in common with Nine than with Chicago.

Best Director

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Birdman

Angelina Jolie for Unbroken

Richard Linklater for Boyhood

Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game

Jean-Marc Vallee for Wild

No changes here. I nearly dropped Angelina Jolie from the list, just because she’s being so aggressively hyped and early hype always seems to lead to later disappointment. If I had dropped her, I would have replaced her with Christopher Nolan for Interstellar.

Best Actor

Steve Carell in Foxcatcher

Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game

Michael Keaton in Birdman

Joaquin Phoenix in Inherent Vice

Christoph Waltz in Big Eyes

I dropped Chadwick Boseman from my list of predictions, again based on the blandness of the trailer for Get On Up. I also moved Ralph Fiennes down to best supporting actor. In their place: Joaquin Phoenix and Christoph Waltz.

Best Actress

Amy Adams in Big Eyes

Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl

Emma Stone in Magic in the Moonlight

Reese Whitherspoon in Wild

Michelle Williams in Suite francaise

I dropped Jessica Chastain from the list and replaced her with Michelle Williams. Why? There’s really no big reason, beyond the fact that I know more about the role Williams is playing in Suite francaise than I do about the role Chastain is playing in A Most Violent Year. If The Fault In Our Stars was being released in October (as opposed to next month), I would have probably found room for Shailene Woodley on this list.

Best Supporting Actor

Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel

Ethan Hawke in Boyhood

Mark Ruffalo in Foxcatcher

Martin Sheen in Trash

J.K. Simmons in Whiplash

I dropped both Robert Duvall and Channing Tatum from this list, largely because I don’t know enough about Duvall’s character in The Judge and because I have a feeling that, when it comes to Foxcatcher, the Academy will either nominate Ruffalo or Tatum but not both of them. My first replacement is Martin Sheen for Trash, largely because Sheen has never been nominated for an Oscar and the role of an activist priest seems to be perfect for him. My second replacement is Ralph Fiennes for The Grand Budapest Hotel. Originally, I was predicting Fiennes would get a best actor nod but — as is explained in this article over at AwardsWatch — a pretty good case can be made for Fiennes getting a supporting nod instead.

Literally minutes before clicking publish on this post, I also decided to remove Christopher Walken and replace him with Ethan Hawke. With three nominations already — one for acting and two for writing — Hawke seems to be popular with Academy voters and he always seems to do his best work for Richard Linklater.

Best Supporting Actress

Patricia Arquette in Boyhood

Viola Davis in Get On Up

Marcia Gay Harden in Magic In The Moonlight

Kristen Scott Thomas in Suite francaise

Meryl Streep in Into The Woods

Two changes: I dropped Amy Ryan and replaced her with Kristen Scott Thomas. Again, it’s mostly just because I know more about the role Scott Thomas is playing than I do about Ryan’s role. I also, shortly before posting this, decided to remove Kiera Knightley and replace her with Patricia Arquette for Boyhood.

So, those are my predictions for this month! Agree? Disagree? Please feel free to let me know in the comments section below.

Boyhood

Quick Review: Chef (Dir. by Jon Favreau)

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Leonard Wilson

One of the cool things about WordPress is that you can write on the go. 80% of this review was written from a cell phone sitting in a packed subway train.

I recently caught Jon Favreau’s new film Chef at the Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the Heineken Best Narrative Category. The story of a Chef who falls big time and then turns a corner, the movie has some fun performances, a great soundtrack and loads of food. When the lights finally came up after the sold-out showing, the film received tons of applause. It’s a cute and compact film, so much so that most of the movie is wrapped up in the trailer. I went into the movie completely blind and loved it. As the hype machine grows, I don’t know if it’ll have the same impact, but I hope it does. Even though you know what to expect, it’s still worth the ride.

After Favreau’s fall with Cowboys & Aliens, Chef is a major scale down from the big budget flicks he’s done. This isn’t Iron Man with all of the J.A.R.V.I.S. hologram interfaces. It’s Ratatouille, minus the rats. You have food, friends, and twitter posts that take flight, spreading some word of mouth. Social Media plays a big part of Chef, and while it can date the film years from now (will Twitter and Vine even be around then?), it makes sense for the moment.

So, what’s the story? Chef Carl Caspar loves what he does, being the head Chef at a major restaurant and expressing his creativity through his different culinary dishes. With his cooking buddies at his side (John Leguizamo & Bobby Canivale) he’s the talk of the town, though it’s at the expense of his relationships, particularly the one with his young son. After a social media meltdown involving a Food Critic (played by Oliver Platt), Casper is forced to come up with a Plan B for his love of cooking. The free time gives Casper a chance to bond more with his son. As the commercials & trailers give away, the result includes a food truck.

That’s what you get, plain and simple.

The story feels a lot like Ratatouille in the way it touches on criticism at one point. The film suggests (or at least I felt I gave the suggestion) that a critic, sitting on the outside, can’t always grasp the effort that goes into creating something. Words can come across as harsh, dismissive and in some case abusive. I’m not sure I agree with that point, but that part of the storyline doesn’t hurt the film overall.

For Chef’s cast, Favreau reached out to quite a few people. From his work on the Iron Man movies, both Scarlett Johannson and Robert Downey, Jr. have small roles here. Also on tap are Dustin Hoffman and Sofia Vergara, who both put through some smile worthy performances. The film, however, belongs to Favreau, Leguizamo, and Emjay Anthony, who plays Casper son, Percy. Anthony in particular is the scene stealer of the movie, with his character introducing his father to the ins and outs of social media while learning a few things in the process.

As it’s a smaller film, there isn’t a lot in the way of visual effects, save for elements where Social Media is in play. Tweets are displayed in windows near characters and transform into blue birds that fly as it’s sent. It’s a cute representation of what many of us do at least once or twice a day. The same can be said for the camera work. It’s very simple, nothing too extravagant. I would almost say it’s an indie film, but considering the other films I saw at Tribeca, this felt like there was a bigger budget behind it.

If Chef suffers from any problems, it’s almost too cookie cutter clean. It’s not very damaging, but if your mindset is more cynical or critical, you may find the Casper route from his Plan A to Plan B a little out there, perhaps too easy. It does show how important networking is, that much I’ll say.

One of Chef’s major standouts is the soundtrack, a mixture of Latin Music, New Orleans big brass, and what I can only describe as “Jazzy Hip Hop”. A band called El Michaels Affair has a version of the Wu-Tang Clan’s C.R.E.A.M. that’s a smooth mix of a classic. The soundtrack is already available for purchase and the songs are all on Spotify. If you can, it’s definitely worth giving them a listen.

Chef is currently playing in select theatre’s in NYC and L.A.