The BFG Review

At this point, Steven Spielberg knows the name of the blockbuster game. Hell, he pioneered it with Jaws, which was far from the first movie to bring spectacle to the big screen, but it was the first movie to utilize release patterns and box office grosses that are all too familiar today. And while his newest The BFG isn't technically a "summer blockbuster", instead being a family movie, it's still got oodles of visual effects and a prime 4th of July summer release date, both elements that are familiar terrain for one of cinema's rightfully most celebrated auteurs. Returning to the realm of family fare for the first time since Hook (not counting his 2011 effort The Adventures Of Tintin), one might understandably query if the man's absence from this avenue of storytelling might leave him rusty, perhaps out of touch with the times.

Steven Spielberg Adds Another Movie (Starring Mark Rylance And Revolving Around Catholicism And Kidnapping) to His Bustling Slate

Steven Spielberg is not a man known for having a light workload. Remember how, back in 1997 and 1998, he had three directorial efforts (The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Amistad, Saving Private Ryan) released in the span of 13 months?  Oh he'll take prolonged breaks occasionally but whenever he comes back he's always got multiple films up his sleeve. It looks like he's on one helluva roll right now, as, hot off the heels after releasing Bridge Of Spies last Fall (which you should see ASAP if you haven't yet, it's great), he's got The BFG lined up for this summer, Ready Player One set for March 2018 and he'll also be handling a fifth Indiana Jones feature in July 2019.

A New BFG Trailer Has Arrived For All Of Us Human Beans to Watch!

Roal Dahl is a trick author to adapt to film. His works were so full of flights of the most fantastical kind of fantasy that it can be difficult for certain filmmakers to adapt such works into cohesive features. Tim Burtons Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, for instance, does not work in any shape or form any way you slice it. As its own thing, it's a repetitive slog sorely lacking in whimsy or fun, while as an adaptation it's borderline infuriating. Like I said, the books of Dahl thrived on the nonsensical and all of that vagary found in the text is tossed aside so that the root of all of Willy Wonka's idiosyncrasies are....daddy issues. His father was dentist ya see. Not only did it go against the spirit of the source material, it was an eye-rolling plot development take in the context of just the film itself. Screw that garbage.

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?

Huzzah!! Steven Spielbergs Next Two Movies Have Been Announced!

He gets a lot of peculiar criticism from the cynical Internet community, but Steven Spielberg remains one of my favorite directors ever. His blockbusters movies alone would be enough to earn a place among the greats (Jurassic Park and Jaws were particularly impactful for me) but his ability to deliver the goods in dramas like War Horse just shows how expansive and talented the filmmaker is.

His expansiveness is on display again here in his next two movies, which have just been given dates.