Here's All The News Announced At The 2015 Warner Bros./DC Comic-Con Panel

There's so much going on at Comic-Con today film-wise, that it's just boggling my mind. The Hateful Eight, Legendary Pictures and 20th Century Fox all have showcases today, but before all those get underway, Warner Bros. is going up first to Hall H to talk about The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Pan and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. I'd suspect that the panel will also have some Suicide Squad footage, as well as some new pieces of info regarding future DC Comics motion pictures.

12 Angry Men Review (Classic Write-Up)

Now That We're Men

Sometimes, movies need a grand scope to tell their stories, but other times, there's certain plotlines that only need a room, 12 individuals and a court case that's far more complex than it seems to really get it rolling. As you might have guessed, those are the elements at the center of 12 Angry Men, a 1957 release from director Sidney Lumet that utilizes straightforward storytelling entities to create complexity and a captivating atmosphere.

Here's All The News Announced At The 2015 Star Wars Comic-Con Panel

What would Comic-Con be without Star Wars? Even in the past decade when the franchise hasn't released new movies, The Clone Wars and Hasbro have kept the spirit of Star Wars very much alive at this famous convention. As one might imagine, since the first live-action Star Wars movie in over a decade arrives this December, the epic film saga was there with cast members from the upcoming feature Star Wars: The Force Awakens. To boot, some other bombshells were dropped in regards to future Star Wars motion pictures.

Minions Off To Huge Start At Thursday Night Screenings

Here's a shocking twist for you guys; those little yellow Minions made tons of cash at movie theaters last night during Thursday night screenings. Speaking gibberish and engaging in slapstick, Minions made a whopping $6.2 million, a sum that's 73% ahead of the $3.6 million Inside Out made at Thursday night showings last night and also up 32% from the Thursday night haul of $4.7 million that Despicable Me 2 amassed in 2013.

The Ambition Of Disneys Hercules Is Both a Blessing And A Curse

In the age of the mid-90's, it was obvious the filmmakers at Walt Disney Animation Studios were craving a change. Their two most recent films (Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame) had been made to be as serious as possible in order to chase the awards glory that Beauty & The Beast had received. The pent up demand to work on something more comic unfolded in the form of Hercules, a feature from Ron Clements & John Musker who, with The Little Mermaid and Aladdin under their belt, knew a thing or two about churning out a successful animated Disney feature.

Minions To Take Over Box Office Without Any Difficulty

For the first time in five weeks, a new release will take the top spot at the box office. What release is that you query? Well, obviously, it's Tarsem Singhs newest movie Self/Less....OR IS IT???? Nah, I'm jesting, it's totally gonna be Minions, third entry in the Despicable Me franchise, no question. Those little yellow creatures will handily beat all newcomers and holdovers for a hefty first place showing and will likely become only the fourth animated movie in history to make over $100 million on opening weekend.

Anakin Skywalker Goes To Heaven In Trailer For 90 Minutes To Heaven

Faith based movies have been around for ages, and there have been box office hits in this subgenre before (remember Fireproof?), but God's Not Dead took Christian films to a whole new level. Buoyed by a major social media campaign and Kevin Sorbos intense fanbase, the movie became a sleeper hit and grossed  $60 million domestically. A month after its release, in April 2014, Heaven Is For Real grossed $90 million, proving God's Not Dead to be far from a fluke.

Alvin And The Chipmunks 4 Is Real, Here's The Trailer, God Help Us All

While John Carter 2 and Hellboy 3 languish unmade, 20th Century Fox has the sequel for you! Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Road Chip! This fourth entry in the epic saga will make sure that chip gets real as those three hilarious chipmunks embark on another new adventure! All that...ah, screw this sarcastic opening, just watch the wretched teaser if you dare below.

Will Terminator: Genisys Get Those Two Sequels?

In September of 2014, Paramount Pictures scheduled not one but two sequels to Terminator: Genisys, which at the time was 10 months away from release. Scheduling release dates for follow ups to yet to be released movies has become a common exercise for Hollywood in recent years, but there was special reason why these two sequels had been dated. Ya see, in 2019, the rights to the Terminator franchise returns to James Cameron, the man responsible for the first two entries in this saga.

Magic Mike XXL Review

He Works Hard For The Money

A bit of bait and switch occurred for audiences who saw Magic Mike in 2012, as marketing promising two hours of strippers dancing and having a good time gave way to a Steven Soderbergh feature that contemplated responsibility and the price to pay for forgoing the harsh realities of the world. There was still plenty of shirtless dudes gyrating, but the layers found in the movies themes took it to the next level of quality. Surprisingly, the sequel, Magic Mike XXL, manages to be a satisfying follow-up even while toning down the more introspective elements.

Terminator: Genisys Review

Time Travel Is A Cruel Mistress

Remember the opening of The Terminator, where a singular block of text alerts you to the most basic facts about this universe, and then lets an air of mystery hang over the experience of watching two different individuals land in 1984 Los Angeles in order to heighten the films sense of tension? Well, toss that out the window, and prepare for an avalanche of poorly delivered exposition, as several different beginnings occur at the start of Terminator: Genisys, as if director Alan Taylor liked all these different openings and couldn't bear to part with any of them.

Inside Out Looks To Lead The Box Office While Terminator Moves Ahead Of Magic Mike

This 4th of July box office frame just keeps getting more and more exciting, as Inside Out scurried to the number one slot yesterday. It made $7.7 million on Thursday and should have no trouble being the leader of the weekend by a wide mile. Jurassic World was at number two with $6.8 million, bringing its total cume to $527 million, meaning it'll surpass The Dark Knight to become the fourth biggest movie of all-time sometime today.

Entertainment Weekly Has Unleashed Tons Of New Images From Batman v. Superman!

Comic-Con is coming up next week, and Warner Bros. is bringing the heat by showing off their two DC Comics motion pictures next year. One of those films is Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, a film that has generated an enormous amount of debate, ranging from the casting to the quality of the new Batman suit to the lack of color in promo images for the movie. Entertainment Weekly, as part of their annual Comic-Con issue, is not only putting Batman v. Superman on the cover of the magazine, but also a number of images from the movie, as well as my analysis of each image, that you can view below!

The Terminator Review (Classic Write-Up)

Sarah's Choice

Part of the problem, I suspect, with Arnold Scwarzeneggers most recent forays into cinema (The Last Stand, Escape Plan, Sabotage) is that audiences don't know what to make of the dude anymore. After his stint as the Governor of California, he returned to movies expecting a whole generation who only knew him as a political figure would know and love his persona as an action movie badass. The guys still got the good to kick ass, as seen in The Last Stand, but marketing for those new movies never really gave any indication to newcomers why Arnold was someone to be reckoned with, they just expected you to know it as a solid fact along the lines of "rain is wet" or "the sky is blue".

Tuesday Night Grosses Show Magic Mike XXL Acing It, Terminator In Trouble

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Magic Mike XXL kicked off its holiday opening weekend run last night with Tuesday night screenings that generated $2.4 million. That's up 20% over the original Magic Mike, which made $2.06 million back in 2012. Being a sequel with a built-in audience, it was all but assured that the movie would have larger grosses at these sort of screenings, but this is still a good sign that the movie will perform well over the holiday frame.

Oliver Stone And Joseph Gordon-Levitt Unite In Teaser For Snowden

Be forewarned; the teaser trailer for the newest Oliver Stone film, Snowden, is the very definition of teaser, with no footage from the movie being shown. But I can also forewarn you that the teaser, which you can watch below, is quite well crafted and very very chilling.

Male Strippers Will Make Terminators Say Hasta La Vista To Box Office Glory

Magic Mike was an unexpected sensation when it first opened, and so of course, a sequel has arrived three years later, hoping to capitalize on the positive buzz the first film received. Interestingly, the same weekend the first Magic Mike opened back in 2012, the first Ted was unleashed onto the world, and, well, its sequel sort of kind of capsized at the box office this past weekend. Luckily, things are looking much better for Channing Tatum and the gang than they did for a certain raunchy teddy bear.

Five Actresses Who Would Be Great Choices To Play Captain Marvel

A large number of new superheroes will be introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe over the next years, and interestingly, most of them have already been cast. Benedict Cumberbatch will play Doctor Strange, Chadwick Boseman will bring Black Panther to life and Tom Holland will be the MCU version of Spider-Man. But one notable hero is left to cast; Captain Marvel. This character has been one that many have been clamoring for to receive a motion picture, and with such a film arriving in 2018, I thought it might be interesting to look at five actresses who would do the character justice!

Struggles For The Transgender Population Are Highlighted In New John Oliver Segment

Another week, another John Oliver segment that mixes humor with a legitimate issue that isn't garnering enough attention. This time around, Oliver examines the various issues facing the transgender population in America today, which are frequently being compounded by ignorance and bigotry. Take a look at Olivers masterful breakdown of the topic below!

Ted 2 Review

Not Better Off Ted

Seth MacFarlane has some recurring tropes in his work that, frankly, are more of a hindrance to his creations than anything else. He loves shock humor, he adores cutaway gags and any chance to pay homage to the classic big band music of yesteryear will be taken with aplomb. Maybe the most surprising element of the first Ted was how it mainly eschewed those traits in order to tell a (GASP!!!) cohesive story. To boot, Ted (Seth MacFarlane) and John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) had a relationship that felt quite sweet and real, which helped to ground all of the proceedings.

Dope Review

Just Say Dope

Music plays a major role in Dope, to the point where I feel like classifying it as an individual character within the movie would be actually quite appropriate. In addition to the lead character, Malcolm (Shameik Moore) leading a band with his pals Diggy (Kiersey Clemons) and Jib (Tony Revelori), rare is the scene to not have a tune playing over it. There's real care put into which songs crop up into which scenes, and the various pieces of music is one of many aspects of Dope that feel unique and special.

Thursday Night Grosses For Ted 2 Make It Unlikely For It To Be Bigger Than Predecessor

I thought my $62 million opening weekend prediction for Ted 2 was generous when I wrote up my box office predictions yesterday, and it turns out, I was right. Ted 2 made $2.6 million last night from Thursday night grosses, about on par with the original Ted which also made $2.6 million, though that movie made that cash at Midnight screenings instead of the earlier showings Ted 2 had. A more pat comparison would be 22 Jump Street, a comedy sequel released last year that had much earlier showtimes and made $5.5 million, more than double the grosses of Ted 2.

Are Video Game Movies About To (Finally) Hit The Big Time?

Quick! Name a good video game movie! Can't do it? I don't blame ya*. Movie adaptations of video games have been the sort of affair that sounds good in concept, but falls flat on its face in execution. Critics and audiences have been disdainful of the likes of Need For Speed, and even financially, only one video game film (Laura Croft: Tomb Raider) has crossed $100 million at the domestic box office. Looking at the state of things, it's easy to despair that the idea of a good video game movie is as likely to occur as Half-Life 3.

Will Ted 2 Be Number One This Weekend?

The first Ted became a Hangover-esque word-of-mouth phenomenon, opening to $54 million and making $218 million in its domestic run. To boot, it also became the rare comedy to make serious coin overseas, generating $330 million in foreign territories. No wonder then that Ted 2 arrives in multiplexes everywhere tomorrow, though it's doubtful it can hit the same heights as its predecessor, at least in its total domestic cume.

Hollywood Finally Appreciates Ezra Miller, Looks To Cast Him In Harry Potter Spin-Off Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

The Perks of Being A Wallflower is a great and underrated movie that owes much of its success to Ezra Miller, whose turn in the film is full of pain, humor, passion and truth. Truth be told, I felt like he should have won Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars that year (I still love you Christoph Waltz!), but his failure to even garner a nomination in that category was nowhere near as devastating as his lack of work in the years following Wallflower. C'mon Hollywood! Jai Courtney gets all kinds of work after A Good To Die Hard bombs badly, but Miller can't get anything???

A Sense Of Maturity Has Lifted This Years Best Blockbusters To Success

SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, FURIOUS 7 AND MAD MAX: FURY ROAD LIE AHEAD!

Summer blockbusters are looked down on by many as some sort of "mindless" type of entertainment, but that's giving the cinematic subgenre a mighty short thrift. Dating back to the very first summer blockbuster, Jaws, there's been a level of thought put into the best characters and plots of these movies that truly takes them to the next level. Would the original Star Wars trilogy be half as compelling without the complex arc that Han Solo undergoes? Even Independence Day, a movie that's got a plot whose dumbness would even give dirt a bad name intellectually, has its best moment hinge on the President of The United States give an inspirational speech even in the face of the immense amount of tragedy he's encountered.

Tom Holland Is The New Spider-Man!!!

It's been the question on everyone's mind ever since Marvel announced they'd gotten the rights to have Spider-Man in their movies...who would be the new version of Peter Parker? I'd been rooting for Tony Revelori to get the role (he proved he could pull of a meekish personality and deliver one-liners beautifully in The Grand Budapest Hotel), but it appears Marvel has gone in a new direction for the character. Marvel has just announced Tom Holland has been chosen to be the new Spider-Man, with Jon Watts directing the 2017 Spider-Man feature!

Hannibal Has Been Cancelled. In Unrelated News, Mad Mikkelsen Is Having NBC Executives For Dinner

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Tragic news everyone; Hannibal has been cancelled. The cult TV show never got powerhouse ratings, but it did have a devoted fanbase and it did fare well compared to other programming on NBC. Alas, the network has seen it fit to axe the show, which is currently in the middle of its third season.

John Oliver Calls For More Attention On Women Targeted Internet Abuse

John Oliver is such a beloved figure in the media not only because of his quick wit, but also for the way he delves into serious real world issue that desperately need more attention. One such tragedy that he focused on recently was the hideous amount of abuse, such as death and rape threats, that many women get on the internet. His video dealing with the subject matter can be seen below.

Why Exactly Is Cars 2 The Worst PIXAR Movie?

A two year hiatus from releasing a motion picture left many wondering if audiences would show up for the newest PIXAR film, Inside Out, but this weekends box office made it blatantly clear that there was no reason to fret. The newest effort from the studio made $91 million in its opening weekend, the biggest opening for an original film (one that's not a sequel or based on a preexisting source material) in history. To boot, it was the second biggest opening for a PIXAR movie in history, only behind the mammoth $110 million debut Toy Story 3 had five years back.

Love & Mercy Review

All You Need Is Love...And Elizabeth Banks

Where exactly has John Cusack gone off to? After appearing in the highest grossing movie of his career in 2009 with the blockbuster 2012, the actor has become rare to find in a major feature film. Since the start of this decade, he's only starred in two movies that made it to wide release (Hot Tub Time Machine and The Raven) and has spent his time appearing in direct-to-DVD action films and thrillers. A pity, since Love & Mercy shows the guy still has chops and deserves better than what he's worked with recently.

Inside Out Has Tremendous Thursday Night Grosses Pointing To Joyful Opening Weekend

Well, looks like Inside Out is off to a great start at the box office. The newest PIXAR venture is off to an incredible start financially, with its Thursday night grosses taking in $3.7 million. Two years ago, Monsters University made $2.6 million from Thursday night showings on its way to an $82.4 million opening weekend. If Inside Out were to follow that pattern, it would make $122 million for the weekend.

Inside Out Review

Out Of Your Comfort Zone

Sometimes, stories with high concepts can go awry, Maybe the filmmakers got too bogged down in trying to utilize every new corner of the universe they created that they got distracted from the task of actually making a cohesive story. Despite the numerous paths that the plot at the center of Insider Out could have gone down, I'm elated to tell you, dear reader, that it does not lose itself. This is a tightly crafted, exceptionally written tale that delves into the inner psychology of the mind in a manner that can create enormous laughs or a flood of emotions at the drop of the hat.

Skadoosh! Po And His Dad Reunite In The First Kung Fu Panda 3 Trailer!!

Kung Fu Panda is one of those ideas that shouldn't work in theory, but man oh man, does it ever excel. The first one was such a charming and well made adventure, and surprisingly, the sequel was no slouch either. Kung Fu Panda 2 also surpassed expectations and wound up being a worthy successor to the original. Hopefully the third movie, Kung Fu Panda 3, follows suit and becomes another mighty Po adventure, and the first footage from the movie can be seen in the first trailer, which you can watch below.

This Is Gonna Be An Emotional Weekend For Jurassic World

If you had told me a week ago Jurassic World would have the biggest opening weekend of all-time, I would have called you a madman. Now? It's a fact Jack; the newest film in that dino filled franchise made $208 million in one weekend, enough to dethrone The Avengers as the largest opening weekend for a movie in history. It's all but a certainty that Jurassic World will lead again, the only question is, how much will it make?

The Peanuts Movie Gets New Trailer That's Both Intriguing And Troubling

The Peanuts Movie is a film that fills me with hope and trepidation. The animation really brings Charles M. Schulzs artwork to CGI life in a pleasing manner, and a lack of celebrity voices in the cast is also cool to see. But could these guys at Blue Sky Studios really pull off a new feature length film starring Charlie Brown and the gang? All these conflicting emotions ran rampant as I started to watch the newest trailer for The Peanuts Movie, which you can watch below.

Channing Tatums Gambit Movie Just Found A Director In Rupert Wyatt!

The solo Gambit movie, starring Channing Tatum as the titular mutant, has reportedly approached numerous directors in the past to helm the motion picture, with rumors stating that the likes of J.C. Chandor and Darren Aronofsky were approached for the film. Now, Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Rupert Wyatt is set to direct the 2016 movie!

PIXAR Chronicles: Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2

A wide variety of directors have worked at PIXAR, which, interestingly, is both exemplified and contradicted in their first three movies. Between the two Toy Story films and A Bug's Life, four different filmmakers got to direct a movie for the studio, but all of them except for John Lasseter got co-director status. Truth be told, in the context of the individual films, this seems reasonable; Lasseter had no co-director on Toy Story, and it feels natural that he'd want to handle the second film for the company while also nurturing a prospective new director (Andrew Stanton). Toy Story 2 meanwhile had a, to put it lightly, hellish production, one that necessitated that Lasseter would need help in the form of Lee Unkrich and Ash Brannon to bring the film to fruition.

Jurassic World Review

A Whole New World

From the time of Gertie The Dinosaur in 1917, dinosaurs have been one of the most frequent entities to be seen in film. Even with the endless amount of ancient creatures in cinema, Jurassic Park is easily the most famous depiction of dinosaurs, and frankly, it's one of my favorite movies. It's one of those taut films that just captivates the imagination with its stories, characters and dino action. Plus, there's few endings more wonderful than the T-Rex roaring as the banner "When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth" falls.

Only In One Of Its Songs Does A Land Before Time Sequel Rise To The Level Of Watchable

Welcome to a new edition of my bi-weekly column called When Good Songs Happen To Bad Movies, in which I look at pretty well done songs that just so happened to debut in more subpar features.

Remember in my write-up for Quest For Camelot for this column how I discussed how Disneys success in the world of animation bred imitators? Well, Disney wasn't ahead of the curve on everything, as the same year they debuted their first direct-to-video follow up to a theatrical animated movie, Universal was unveiling their first sequel to The Land Before Time, a 1988 Don Bluth effort that the studio hoped to squeeze more cash out of by creating a cheap follow up.

The Good Dinosaurs Revamped Cast Ditches John Lithgow And Neil Patirck Harris For Steve Zahn

Well now, ain't this an interesting development. A lot of news has surfaced recently regarding The Good Dinosaur, an ultra-secret project from PIXAR that's had numerous production difficulties. Still, those sort of incidents can be par for the course when it comes to PIXARs movies, which tend to have numerous production stops and starts until the final product arrives. Thanks to a new teaser trailer,  the film is on a lot of peoples radars now, and the newest development the film has undergone should further discussion of the feature.

Jurassic World Off To Massive Start In Thursday Night Screenings

The park is open and boy howdy is it successful. Jurassic World made $18.5 million last night in Thursday screenings, setting the stage for a massive debut in its opening weekend. Man of Steels $116 million opening weekend will be easily be dethroned by Chris Pratt and his raptor squad at the biggest June opening weekend come this Sunday, but how much cash is this one gonna pull in for the overall frame?

Chiwetel Ejiofor Will Play Baron Mordo In Doctor Strange!

Baron Mordo

The cast of Marvels Fall 2016 film, Doctor Strange, continues to expand! Benedict Cumberbatch will play the titular hero, and Tilda Swinton is in talks to play his mentor, The Ancient One. And now, nearly five months after first hearing about him being in talks to appear in Doctor Strange, Chiwetel Ejiofor has been confirmed to be in the movie as Baron Mordo, a nefarious villain!

New Ant-Man Posters Connect To The Avengers In A Fun And Creative Way

The Ant-Man marketing is kicking into high gear, with numerous TV spots hitting the internet the past few days and a six minute sneak peek set to play on IMAX 3D screenings of Jurassic World. I have a hunch a new trailer will hit the interwebs in the next few days, but even if we don't get that, some awesome new posters (which can be seen below) have dropped connecting Ant-Man to his Marvel Cinematic Universe comrades in a fun way.

Jurassic World Set To Engulf The Box Office

One of the biggest movies of 2015 has finally arrived in the form of Jurassic World, which is likely going to break the record biggest June opening weekend in its first frame. The question on everyones mind is just how big this dino-centric film will be.

The Career Of Christopher Lee Thrived On Versatility

Christopher Lee had a voice as commanding as any in Hollywood, and a filmography as terrific as you could imagine. The legendary actor, tragically, has passed away at the age of 93, living a long life full of incredible achievements, both on a personal and cinematic level. His vast work in the world of acting contains numerous roles audiences across the world fell in love with, including the antagonist Saruman in the Lord of The Rings films.

Chris Hemsworth Is Now A Part Of The Awesome Sounding Ghostbusters Reboot

After Spy, I'm totally down for whatever Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy are up to. Their Ghostbusters reboot (which Feig is directing with McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon starring as the titular team ya gotta call) already sounded promising, but now, a new cast member has been added to the project that really makes this one sound special; according to Paul Feigs Twitter feed, Chris Hemsworth will play the receptionist for these new Ghostbusters,

Alien Review (Classic Write-Up)

In Space, No Can Hear You Scream, Or Make A Great Movie

Sci-fi and horror are two genres that are routinely mixed in storytelling, likely because the vastness and mysterious nature of outer space mixes well the inherent terror associated with horror. Because, really, few things scare human beings as much as being confronted with the unknown, and that's the kind of fear that's taken ahold of the crew of the spaceship Nostromo. The various men and women aboard this spacecraft have discovered an extraterrestrial is among them, and it's vicious attacks are picking off each crew member one by one.

Jon Bernthal Is Playing The Punisher In Daredevil Season 2!!!

Well, this is huge news. The Punisher is coming to Daredevils second season, and he'll be played by Jon Bernthal, the actor who broke out big time on The Walking Dead playing Shane Walsh. Since then, he's had major supporting turns in The Wolf of Wall Street and Fury and will have upcoming turns in 2015 features Me, Earl And The Dying Girl, We Are Your Friends and Sicario.

The Final Hunger Games Movie Gets A Trailer That Promises An Event Like No Other

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part One is the kind of movie you enjoy when watching, but manages to be more than a bit underwhelming when considering it as a whole afterwards. I'm convinced a primary reason for that is because the whole movie builds up to the idea of forthcoming events of enormous consequence, and they do this build up in an exciting manner, but Part One never really delivers anything of note, ending on a cliffhanger that feels like all that hype was for naught.