Driving Miss Daisy Is Hard To Hate But Is Also Hard To Get Wrapped Up In

Winning the Best Picture Oscar is typically akin to winning American Idol; such an ostensibly prestigious victory that should result in an avalanche of good news usually invites more scorn than admiration. Though plenty of exceptions like Casablanca, No Country For Old Men and Schindler's List exist, a large number of Best Picture winners are only known by the general public in the years afterward for beating out a movie they vastly preferred for the victory. That strikes me as unfair to hold against a movie since it's the voters for the Academy Award that designate a certain movie should win Best Picture, not the movie itself.

Clint Eastwoods Deconstructs The Very Genre That Launched Him To Stardom In Unforgiven

James Mangold and Hugh Jackman have cited many movies that carried a large influence over the creation of their 2017 X-Men feature Logan and it's no surprise to hear that Unforgiven was one particular movie Jackman saw as a guiding light for that final Wolverine movie (The Wrestler was another, similar unsurprising, point of inspiration for Jackman). Both Unforgiven and Logan star actors who play older weary versions of iconic stock characters they became famous for playing inhabiting a more realistic world low on hope and high on danger. Because Logan is dealing with an ex-superhero, the movie is able to end, after an entire film of bleak nastiness, on a note of hopefulness that the heroics Logan once committed will inspire a new generation to rise up and become beacons of hope in their own right. 

Step Into The Ring With An Emotionally Powerful Feature Like Million Dollar Baby

Ever since Rocky delivered knockout box officer numbers over forty years ago, the boxing drama subgenre has been a prominent fixture of cinema all over the world. It's one that's reliable both in terms of drawing a crowd for studio and plucking at the heartstring of audiences. Plenty of duds exist in this cinematic niche (remember Southpaw or Grudge Match?), but when done well, like with Creed, the creative apex of this entire subgenre, there's really nothing quite like it. Clint Eastwood's 2004 directorial effort Million Dollar Baby is no Creed, but few movies are. Positive marks are in order for a movie like this one that rides on traditional storytelling to mask how crafty it is at knowing just when to strategically get the viewer wrapped up in a blanket made of emotions.

Spend Seven (Or, Technically 127) Minutes In Thrilling Heaven With Davin Fincher's Excellent Thriller Seven

Though his most acclaimed movie may be the 2010 masterpiece The Social Network, which is very much a restrained down-to-Earth movie in many respects, David Fincher's 1995 thriller Seven reminds us all that this guy isn't just a cinematic auteur but also someone along the lines of Sam Raimi that loves to freak out his viewers with some truly sadistic imagery and sequences. You can see that in his most recent feature, Gone Girl, which has plenty of over-the-top kills and buckets of blood when the time comes for it. Fincher knows excellent shot composition and thoughtful narratives like the back of his hand but the guy also knows how to do grimy violence for shock value in a tantalizing manner that furthers the man's versatility as a filmmaker.

Painless But Sorely Lacking In Laughs Is The Best Way To Describe Going In Style

I really wish Morgan Freeman would go back to doing more dramatic acting work. Who can blame the guy for taking easy paychecks in this late stage of his career (dude's more than earned it!) but the novelty of seeing this gravely serious man with a voice like no other human being on the planet goofing it up in more light-hearted fare like Batman Begins, Red and The LEGO Movie was fun for a while for sure, especially in The LEGO Movie where he parodied the exact kind of persona he's always being casted as. But after more than a decade of him lampooning his own image by appearing in genre fare, I dunno, I just wish he'd do more serious films again instead of another Olympus Has Fallen sequel where he just sits in a room for twenty minutes.

Gone Baby Gone Kicked Off Ben Affleck's Directorial Career In A Somber Fashion

Ben Affleck's career circa the mid-2000's was not in a happy place. A number of high-profile box office and critical duds like Gigli, Jersey Girl and Surviving Christmas had left his profile tainted and he would only appear on-screen in two movies (Hollywoodland and Smokin' Aces) in the five year period between 2004 and 2009. But in that time span, Affleck decided to reinvent himself as a director by adapting the first feature film screenplay he had penned since his breakthrough movie, Good Will Hunting. The movie he would make his feature film directorial debut on was Gone Baby Gone, a sobering drama that, to date, is his only directorial effort that he does not star in.

The New Trailer For Ben-Hur "Bens" Over Backwards To Appeal To Christian Moviegoers

Cinema strictly revolving around Christian themes had existed for decades prior to 2014 (just ask the likes of Reverent Herbert Jump and the various directors who worked for World Wide Pictures), they became a big business in modern day Hollywood when God's Not Dead, Noah and Heaven Is For Real made big bucks in quick succession. As both a Christian and cinema devotee, I wish more of the movies made in the wake of such financial success to more cues from one of 2014's most underrated features, Noah, by sparing no expense on interesting characters, darker themes and glorious production values.

Grab Your Thunder Buddy And Watch The Trailer For Ted 2!!!

Alright, I know I'm going to alienate tons of people here, but honestly, I'm a huge fan of the Ted. The film hit just the right note of over-the-top humor and surprisingly fleshed out characters (the friendship between Ted and John was nicely realized). Seth MacFarlane's last film, A Million Ways To Die In The West, underwhelmed me, since it played into many of the filmmakers worst tendencies that Ted somehow managed to avoid. Still, I have been looking forward to MacFarlane's next film, Ted 2, which just got a trailer that you can you watch below!

As You Might Expect, Morgan Freeman Will Be In Ted 2

The sequel to the delightful 2012 comedy Ted keeps moving forward to its June 26, 2015 release date. The cast already includes returning cast members Mark Wahlberg, Seth Macfarlane and Patrick Warburton (no word yet on if Mila Kunis will come back) and will bring Amanda Seyfriend onboard. Another new addition to the films cast has been added; the incomparable actor Morgan Freeman.

Lucy Review

Big, Bold And Boring

Remember that scene in Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace where Qui-Gon Jinn explained Midichlorians to young Anakin? It gave a dull explanation as to how The Force exactly worked, irking fans and casual moviegoers alike. Sometimes explanation is nice, but most of the time, moments full of heavy handed exposition regarding how exactly things work in a movie becomes more cumbersome than enlightening. Lucy is pretty much a 90 minute long Midichlorian sequence, despite some ambitious filmmakings choices and the presence of Scarlett Johansson. 

Box Office Predictions: Scarlett Johansson Should Beat Up Dwayne Johnson This Weekend

Three new releases (and one expanding release) enter the box office in hopes of recovering from that abysmal showing last weekend. Luckily, Lucy looks poised to deliver impressive numbers, though Hercules looks like it'll be a flop.

Classic Write-Up: The Shawshank Redemption Review

Simply trying to put an exact number on the amount of great things The LEGO Movie accomplishes would be a fools errand. For you see, there are so many contained within that film, trying to name every single one would take an eternity. However, one I do want to point out is how wonderfully it parodies, yet reveres Morgan Freeman. While they use his distinct vocals to deliver deliciously silly lines, he always manages to show just how adept he is in the craft of acting, that even his most humorous scenes still remain plenty of gravitas.