An In-Depth Autopsy Of Daddy's Home

It's pretty apparent that Daddy's Home started out life as a singular concept; a step-dad, played by Will Ferrell, is just beginning to become a real father to his two step-kids when the biological father, played by Mark Wahlberg, re-enters the picture. And then...that's all they got. They didn't bother to write down distinct personalities for the characters in the story, nor a cohesive story structure or, perhaps most egregious of all in a comedy, any jokes to speak of. Daddy's Home isn't entertaining, it's simply 90 minutes of inertia.

Amy Review

So many new musicians are unveiled to the world as a the newest "rags-to-riches" story, someone just like the folks who are buying and listening to all of these musics. It's partly a marketing scheme, one that helps potential purveyors of tunes to feel like the artist in question is "one of them", but also a way to inspire potential up and coming artists, which I suppose could be construed as an extension of marketing itself. Amy Winehouse, the subject of the documentary Amy, was that sort of individual who really was your average everyday individual thrust into the limelight because of her incredible vocal abilities.

The 10 Worst Movies Of 2015

My Best Movies of 2015 list won't be up until mid-Janaury, since a number of high profile 2015 releases (like The Revenant, Son of Saul and Anomalisa) won't be coming to a theater near me until next month. In the meantime, how about I run down my 10 least favorite films of 2015, huh? This should be...well, interesting.

The Hateful Eight Review

In his past two movies, Quentin Tarantino went wider in scale than he ever had before, allowing Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained to depict the time period their stories were set in an appropriately sweeping manner. One got a sense of the scale of depravity that Nazi's and slave owners in these movies were inflicting on individuals via the scope that each plot possessed. Now, with his newest film, The Hateful Eight, Tarantino goes smaller, much much smaller. Much more in the vein of Reservoir Dogs, The Hateful Eight sticks to one location for the majority of its run time and centers itself on eight morally dubious individuals existing a few years after the Civil War has concluded. And none of these eight fellows can be trusted.

The History of Cinematic Superhero Costumes, From The Leather Clad X-Men To Benedict Cumberbatchs Doctor Strange

In the realm of comic books, superheroes tend to fly into battle against evildoers donning colorful costumes that sometimes ended up being as iconic as the characters themselves. But for their cinematic counterparts, it's taken awhile for such attire to come to the big screen looking accurate to its comic book roots. You can mainly thank Batman & Robin for that; after that film loaded up on the color and visual razzle-dazzle, future comic book movies intended to avert being compared to that 1997 Joel Schumacher disaster by decking out their superheroes in the most drab garbs imaginable.

The 11 Best Movie Trailers Of 2015

Movie trailers are such a great artform in and of themselves, going far beyond just being a tool of marketing their conceptually intended to be. And 2015 brought some truly memorable trailers our way, with 11 in particular I feel being worthy of being recognized in this essay. Even separated from the films they're extensions of, these 11 trailers are just great in and of themselves for a myriad of reasons stretching from usages of certain songs to structure. Without further ado, let's examine the 11 Best Movie Trailers Of 2015.

What A Twist!: Star Wars: The Force Awakens Spoiler Discussion

Alright, it's been about a week and a half now, I guess we can freely talk Force Awakens spoilers.


Here we go...

Star Wars Searches For And Finds More Money Over Christmas While Will Ferrell And Mark Wahlbergs Daddy's Home Is A Smash Hit

Y'know what? I think this whole Star Wars thing just might catch on.

The Big Short Review

All pieces of writing, no matter what form (i.e. as a book, as a film, as a song) they take, intend to provoke some kind of reaction. Certain pieces of media look to make those who consume it laugh, other creations intend to sweep up its participants in sensations of euphoria. The Big Short makes it abundantly clear from the get-go that it wants nothing more than to send its viewers into an all-consuming mouth-frothing rage over the injustices that led to the financial meltdown of 2008. And, yeah, by the end I had more than a hint of resentment bubbling for the various figures at Wall Street who allowed this catastrophe to occur and got away from the calamity scott free.

Merry Christmas And Happy Holidays!!!!

Today for many is Christmas Day, and though other holidays for this time of the year (i.e. Hanukkah, Kwanza, Life Day) occur at different places in the holiday season, this seems like the perfect opportunity to briefly say happy holidays to you and your loved ones. Spend this day with your friends, your family, and hey, a movie or two couldn't hurt, right? While I hate to contradict someone as cool as Buddy The Elf, I do think the absolute best way to spread Christmas cheer isn't just through singing loud for all to hear (though that doesn't hurt any) but to also spread kindness to those around you. May such kindness greet you and and all of those you care about.

And in the immortal words of Tiny Tim/Robin The Frog...god bless us everyone!

Sisters Review

We've all seen this premise before; two siblings intend to throw a major party in their humble abode in order for the more restrained "uncool", if you will, sibling to prove their worth in a more reckless atmosphere. Sisters throws a few new wrinkles into this conventional premise, for starters making the two siblings at the center of the plot two women over 40. Those sisters are Maura (Amy Poehler) and Kate (Tina Fey), who learn their childhood home is about to be sold and intend to throw a big o'l bash that'll allow for Maura to finally, in her own words, "...let her freak flag fly".

Room Review

Note: Normally, my reviews are as spoiler-free as possible. However, for this review, I will be discussing plot points from later portions of the film that could be described as spoilers in the conventional sense, though the plot turns are revealed in the trailer for the film. Don't worry, I don't go into excruciating detail on such elements of the story, but this is one film where going into it cold might be the best option. Just know that I found Room to be great if you don't want to read my super mildly spoilery review.

Room proves to be a far more harrowing experience than the majority of modern day horror films, simply by having its entire premise hinge on a situation that all too tragically occurs in reality. The fact that its entire concept stems from a more pragmatic source already adds a disturbing undercurrent to its diegesis. Such a connotation would likely bend and crack underneath the weight of poorly developed characters, but luckily, Room goes through great and commendable strides to ensure that its two lead characters are the most engrossing parts of the entire production.

The Motion Picture Event Of Our Age, The Emoji Movie, Arrives In August 2017

Every single individual in the world of cinema has been waiting with bated breath over hearing what the next project from revered filmmaker Terrence Malick would be doing next in his storied career. It turns out he'll be doing a more mainstream friendly project for his next filmmaking undertaking, as he'll be directing Sony Pictures Animations film The Emoji Movie, which just got an August 11, 2017 release date. This will be an entire feature film centered on those emoji's you use whilst texting or communicating.

My 18 Hour Theatrical Star Wars Marathon Experience

Six days ago, I got a call from a good friend of mine who had an early birthday present to give me; he was taking me to the all-day Star Wars marathon at the Cinemark West Plano and XD theater. This would be an event where all six Star Wars films would be shown on the big screen and then culminating in the premiere of The Force Awakens. It sounded crazy, it sounded bonkers, it sounded like the type of undertaking only a madman would do.

So of course, I was pumped out of my mind for it. No kidding here, this was probably one of the best birthday gifts I've ever received in my life.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Celebrates A Day Of Peace, A Day Of Harmony By Demolishing Every Box Office Record In The Book Over The Weekend

I don't know if y'all heard about this one, but a new Star Wars movie opened over the weekend. And it did pretty strong business too, with the film pulling in audiences like a tractor beam to the tune of $238 million. That's by far the biggest opening weekend of all-time (the previous holder of that record was the $208 million opening of Jurassic World) and out-pacing the previous biggest December opening weekend (the $84 million bow of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) by 278%.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Begins Its Box Office Domination By Shattering Box Office Records On Friday

I normally just cover the weekend box office, but Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the sort of box office juggernaut that defies convention, and the numbers it's generated yesterday leave me with much to discuss and analyse. So, the newest entry in this saga set in a galaxy far, far away amassed $120.5 million yesterday, by far the biggest single day gross in history, beating out the previous holder of that record (the final Harry Potter film, which accumulated $91 million on its first day of release) by a massive $29 million. It's also the first time a film has grossed $100 million in a single day and has surpassed the previous biggest December opening weekend of all-time (the $84.6 million haul of the first Hobbit movie) in one day. This is utter insanity, to put it gently.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review

Warning: This is a spoiler free review of The Force Awakens, but thanks to the uber secretive marketing, pretty much every aspect of the film is being kept under wraps. Ya wanna go into this one colder than the Snow Miser? Don't read this review, which won't spoil plot twists or spoilers, but will basic information about the characters that hasn't been spelled out in the TV advertisements. 

During the 135 minute running time of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there is nary a glimpse of Max Rebo or any other member of his blue, super adorable, pachyderm resembling species. Therefore, I dub this film a failure of the highest order and ask J.J. Abrams to spend the rest of his life in a Yoda-esque exile.

OK, OK, all super nerdy Star Wars joking aside, let's march onward with the review of what's likely the most anticipated film in the past decade.

Hooray For The 10th Anniversary Of LAIKA!

While Illumination Entertainment prides itself on endless Minion marketing extensions sequels, Blue Sky Studios is sucking the already dead Ice Age franchise beyond dry and even PIXAR can't escape the allure of Toy Story 4 and Cars 3, there really is something kind of incredible about LAIKA,the Hillsboro, Oregon based animation studio responsible for Coraline, ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls. Founded 10 years ago this month, the studio released their first feature, Coraline, in February 2009 to huge critical acclaim and surprisingly strong box office and have followed that up with two features that don't the scale the box office heights of Despicable Me, but consistently get great reviews and awards nominations (all of the studios films have been nominated for Best Animated Feature).

Brooklyn Review

Saoirse Ronan has been steadily climbing her way up the Hollywood ladder for ages now, her breakthrough role in Peter Jacksons only smaller scale 21st century directorial effort The Lovely Bones leading her to be a memorable presence in Joe Wrights excellent 2011 feature Hanna. Since then, she starred in the major though long forgotten box office and critical dud The Host and had a supporting turn in one of last years best motion pictures, The Grand Budapest Hotel. And now, she stars in the 2015 critical darling Brooklyn, and if her astounding lead turn here is any indication, we have not seen the last of her and thank God for that.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Did the Impossible...It Made The Mythology Of The Prequels (GASP!!!) Interesting

After 2005, even the most die-hard Star Wars fan likely wanted little to noting to do with the franchise. That prequel trilogy had ravaged the entire perception of the Star Wars trilogy, with the entire franchise swinging downward from a series of films about hope, excitement and fun to the whipping  boy of Internet comment sections across the world over. Just a mention of Midichlorians would likely send a casual viewer of these films into the fetal position. All overwrought theatrics aside, there certainly is no denying that Star Wars was likely at its lowest critical points of all-time in the post-Revenge of The Sith era, and that 2008 theatrical Clone Wars movie only worsened matters.

Independence Day, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles And Star Trek Sequels Get Their First Trailers

As I've said before, the arrival of The Force Awakens means everyone is going to be unleashing trailer after trailer after trailer so that they can hopefully get their films advertised on the newest Star Wars film. I've decided to do another one of these trailer round-ups in order to look at three major Summer 2016 projects that have just put out trailers.

In The Heart Of The Sea Gets Sunk As Katniss Rules The Box Office One Last Time Before The Star Wars Come Next Week

The weekend before The Phantom Menace opened, only Black Mask, A Midsummer Nights' Dream and Trippin' debuted, none of which opened in over 1100 theaters or grossed over $5 million in their opening weekends. Similarly, a week prior to The Force Awakens arriving, only In The Heart Of The Sea dared to face it. It did fare better than those three aforementioned 1999 titles, though it still suffered a mighty poor opening weekend considering its massive budget. The newest Ron Howard film couldn't even top the charts this weekend, instead coming in second place behind The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part Two which nabbed another $10.8 million, the final Hunger Games adventure came into second place and only dropped 43% from last weekend, which is about on par with the 42% fourth weekend dip of its predecessor (Mockingjay: Part One).

The Ridiculous Six Review

Is it just me or is Adam Sandler seemingly trying to imbue more ambition into his most recent projects? After the likes of Just Go With It, Grown Ups 2 and Jack & Jill had all the astounding production aesthetics of shoddy home videos of Sandler and his buddies, the actors two major live-action projects (Pixels and the subject of this review The Ridiculous Six) from this year have a clear intent to bring the comedians humor into the realm of other genres of storytelling. Pixels attempted to plot Sandler into an Independence Day like sci-fi disaster movie, one that was so excruciating to experience I still can't look at an image of Pac-Man five months later without getting a chill across my spine.

In The Heart Of The Sea Review

The tragedy that befell the whaling ship Essex in 1820, which inspired the 1851 Herman Melville novel Moby Dick, is perfect fodder for a grand cinematic interpretation, and that's exactly the kind of film In The Heart Of The Sea turns out to not be. This retelling of those true life events concentrates mainly on the ships first mate Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth), though a framing device is utilized to tell this story via Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) being told the tale by a grown up version of the ships cabin boy Thomas Nickerson (his older self played by Brendan Glesson, while future Spider-Man Tom Holland plays his younger incarnation).

Yojimbo Review (Classic Write-Up)

Where has this movie been all my life?

Honest to God, Yojimbo is such a clever, inventive, engaging and excellently produced motion picture I'm kicking myself for not watching it waaaaaayy sooner than I did. Better late than never, I suppose, especially when a great feature film like Yojimbo factors into the equation. Directed by Akira Kurosawa (he's also a writer of the film) and released in April 1961, this is the kind of movie that exemplifies why a simple premise can sometimes be the perfect thing to hinge an entire feature on.

Llewyn Davis And Steve Jobs Prepare To Destroy The World In First Trailer For X-Men: Apocalypse

That very first X-Men movie from 2000 has some pretty glaring problems, namely in how none of the titular heroes get very much development. In an age where each of the Avengers or Guardians can leave their mark on audiences in their ensemble films, the issue of characters like Storm, Cyclops and Jean Grey getting nothing of note to do becomes all the more noticeable. But there's no denying Hugh Jackman aces it as Wolverine, while Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen as Xavier and Magneto are even better.

Trumbo Review

Trumbo strikes me as a movie that could have been far better with a little bit of consolidation. Any individual portion of the life of Mr. Dalton Trumbo (here portrayed by Bryan Cranston) that's depicted in this film would made fine fodder for an entire motion picture unto itself. Crammed against the weight of trying to depict an entire decade of his existence, well, it doesn't work nearly as well as it should, despite a super game cast.

Spielberg Goes Big Instead Of Going Home In The First Trailer For The BFG

I've been super curious to see what trailers Disney attaches to screenings of a small indie movie of theirs coming out next week called Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Captain America: Civil War is a given, but anything else? Typically, studios get to put two trailers for their upcoming features in the coming attractions of their movies, but I wouldn't be shocked if this tradition got bucked for a massive film like The Force Awakens a Disney got to three trailers on this new sci-fi adventure (hell, 20th Century Fox got to put trailers for three of their upcoming films on my screening of Victor Frankenstein just this past Saturday). So theoretically, what two other 2016 Disney movies would they choose to promote?

"You're The World's Worst Detective": Shane Blacks The Nice Guys Has A Red-Band Trailer!

Just three days ago, the world got the very first look at the next feature from Shane Black, the director Kiss, Kiss, Bang Bang and the most underrated Marvel Cinematic Universe film (along with Age of Ultron and the first Captain America and Thor films) Iron Man 3. While a small portion of internet trolls took the release of this trailer to whine about Black changing The Mandarin in Iron Man 3 (which they reeeealllly need to get over at this point, The Mandarin in Iron Man 3 is brilliant), the rest of the population basked in the glory of what may honestly be my new most anticipated film of next year.

Keep in mind, 2016 is giving me Captain America: Civil War and new films from Richard Linklater, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and The Coen Brothers. That's a helluva accomplishment, but The Nice Guys just has that good of a trailer. Check it out below!

2015 Will Go Down As The Year Marvel Solved Their Villain Problem

Spoilers for Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

One complaint lobbed at the Marvel Cinematic Universe on a constant basis is that their villains ain't up to par. I'm not sure if that's applicable to all their films (Alexander Pierce in The Winter Soldier was a chilling adversary and Ronan The Accuser in Guardians Of the Galaxy gets waaaaayyy too much hate), but compared to layered heroes like Iron Man, Captain America or Star-Lord, yeah, I agree that foes like Whiplash, Malekith or The Abomination don't stack up very well. But 2015 brought three very different villains to life that proved that this recurring problem with creating extraordinary enemies might be a thing of the past.

Hunger Games And Krampus Prevail On Post-Thanksgiving Box Office Weekend

Movie studios typically use this post-Thanksgiving weekend as a dumping ground of sorts, with such critically acclaimed films like The Warrior's Way and Awake being released at this time of the year. But for the first time in a decade (when the 2005 feature Aeon Flux debuted, to be precise), a movie opened to over $10 million in this post-Thanksgiving slot. That film? Krampus. We'll get deeper into that one in a moment though, as first we must set our sights on this weeks box office champion, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part Two. For the third week in a row, Katniss Everdeen ruled the roost, taking in another $18.6 million, which is a 64% dip from last weekend, and bringing its domestic cume to $227.1 million. That 64% drop is about the same as the 65% third weekend decline of Catching Fire. At it's current rate, the final Hunger Games feature will likely close out with about $265-270 million.

Victor Frankenstein Review

What a waste. That's pretty much the most sufficient way to describe Victor Frankenstein, which wastes some solid production design, costumes, actors and even a decent enough story conceit on...derivative claptrap that only sporadically manages to have its faults become entertaining. Otherwise, this is a by-the-numbers misfire that goes for the most predictable story beats possible despite the central concept of the feature being, like I said, not a bad idea to base a motion picture on.

Holiday 2015 Box Office Predictions (PART TWO)

Yesterday, I looked at the first five of the ten movies going into wide release over the next three weeks over the holidays. Now, let's look at the remaining five features, shall we?

Krampus Review

Krampus kicks off its running time with a scene that perfectly exemplifies what's to come tonally; humorous imagery combined with an authentic unsettling ambiance. In this sequence, Bing Crosby's rendition of It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas plays over the visual of swarms of shoppers descending on a mall looking for gifts for the holidays. A lost sobbing child is ignored as individuals trample each other to get that very last XBOX. It doesn't take a Walter Alvarez to comprehend the meaning of this scene; before the titular beast even descends into the features plotline, there's already plenty of terror one can easily experience at this time of year.

Holiday 2015 Box Office Predictions (PART ONE)

The holiday season always brings a bevy of new films to movie theaters across the country, so, hey, why not, just for fun, we take a look at how these new features may fare at box office? Yes, we all know the new Star Wars adventure will rake up big bucks, but what about In The Heart Of The Sea or The Big Short or Daddy's Home? The financial fates of those films is less clear, so I'm here to offer my predictions on how those will do!

Just a heads up, this is part one of these box office predictions. There are ten wide releases coming out over the next three weeks (I'm counting the expansions into wide release that The Big Short and The Danish Girl will undergo on Christmas Day), so today I'll look at the five closest to release films and then tomorrow I'll look at the remaining five features. Sound good? Alright then, on with the show!

December 11th
In The Heart Of The Sea
Warner Bros. moving this one from its original March 2015 perch to a December 2015 date was deemed a curious tactic by many once it happened, especially since the marketing for the film was already well underway. In The Heart Of The Sea will likely drum up solid, though not extraordinary business once it opens up, with the best box office comparison for this one maybe being Everest. Both are "men-enduring-the-elements" films, though Everest had a far more famous location at the center of its marketing (Mt. Everest of course), it also burned off demand with a one week play in IMAX 3D before debuting to $13.2 million in its first weekend in wide release. A similar number will likely occur for In The Heart Of The Sea, which, while dealing with far lesser known true story elements, won't burn off demand with a one week stay in IMAX 3D locations, which should help it match the opening weekend of Everest.

Opening Weekend: $14 million
Total Gross: $65 million

December 18th
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
So, card's on the table, laying it all out there...I'm gonna wager Star Wars: The Force Awakens doesn't break the opening weekend record set by Jurassic World.

Could I be wrong on this? Hell yeah. If any franchise is gonna prove anyone wrong, it's Star Wars, king of subverting expectations (sometimes for good, sometimes for bad). But December releases typically act far different than summertime fare, with grosses being more spaced out thanks to people being off for extended periods of time for the holidays. This leads to movies sticking around a bit longer, with films like current biggest December opening weekend The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey turning an $84 million into a $303 million domestic haul. There's also the fact that inclement weather may damper its grosses, as Avatar (which opened on this exact date six years ago) experienced massive dips in major cities like Baltimore and Washington D.C. from Friday to Saturday of 75 and 86 percent, respectively, thanks to bad weather.

All that being said, this is still gonna easily become the first December release of all-time to make over $100 million in its opening weekend and it should also have no trouble at all soaring past $150 million. Disney has done a great job mining peoples nostalgia while promising plenty of new characters and adventures, and if reviews turn out to be positive, that could only add to the deafening hype surround the feature.

Opening Weekend: $183 million
Total Gross: $710 million

Sisters
While opening against Star Wars: The Force Awakens might sound foolhardy, Sisters is actually pretty damn smart counterprogramming, as both films serve different audiences. Moviegoers looking for more action-packed fare will have Star Wars, while those looking for a move overtly humorous feature will have the R-rated Sisters. Interestingly, this film marks one of the most high profile films for both Tina Fey and Amy Poehler yet, the duo not having worked together in a film since Baby Mama and since then the two have mostly done family films (Poehler has done two of the Alvin And The Chipmunks sequels and Inside Out, Fey has been busy with MegaMind and Muppets Most Wanted), but their work together on the Golden Globes and on SNL has certainly cemented them as a beloved duo, and the prospect of seeing them work together in a new film will likely hold lots of appeal. Toss in a marketing campaign that's brought out some memorable gags, and I'm going gutsy with this one and predicting it'll be the sleeper hit of the Christmas season.
Opening Weekend: $25 million
Total Gross: $120 million

Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Road Chip
Yeah, the bloom is off the rose for this franchise. The first Alvin And The Chipmunks film had the novelty (if you could call it that) of seeing these well-known pop culture icons in the "real" world, while the sequel brought female counterparts to the table. The third entry already saw a major dip in its domestic gross (a sharp 40% drop from $219 million to $133 million), and after a four year break, this new chipmunk tale will doubtlessly see another domestic box office tumble. No compelling new plot details, gags, characters or even musical covers are presented in the trailers, and with Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Good Dinosaur out in the marketplace, parents have other places to turn for family friendly entertainment.
Opening Weekend: $10 million
Total Gross: $60 million

December 23rd
The Big Short
Trying to get a head start on fellow Christmas Day dramas Joy and Concussion by opening two days before Christmas is The Big Short, which is unlikely to find mainstream box office success despite the presence of four big name stars (none of whom are without box office blemishes of course). It's premise dealing with Wall Street and the 2007 Financial Crisis is unlikely to appeal to conventional moviegoers looking for more upbeat and kinetic entertainment over the holidays. Luckily, this one wasn't too costly (this one has a $28 million budget), and its early reviews are extremely positive, meaning it may have legs at the box office.

Opening Weekend: $9.6 million ($11.8 million over its first five days)
Total Gross: $44 million

Come back tomorrow when I'll be looking at the other five box office releases that'll be unleashed onto the populace on Christmas Day!

New Batman v. Superman Trailer Is Full Of Deliciously Hammy Jesse Eisenberg, Ben Affleck Grumbling And Spoilerz

Everyone's been talking about the R-rated "true-to-the-comic-books" irreverence of Deadpool and the gravitas-infused epicness of Captain America: Civil War, but now Warner Bros. has stepped up to the plate to generate more buzz for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. The past two trailers for this new Zack Snyder film have their share of devotees to be sure, but they haven't quite resonate in the public consensus like, say, the trailers for Age of Ultron, Jurassic World or The Force Awakens did. Will that change with this new trailer? We shall see.

Watch it below and then read my thoughts on this new trailer, which does contain some hefty spoilers.