The Mission (Impossible) Is A-Go With A Solid Start At Thursday Night Screenings

Ethan Hunt was off to fight a rogue nation last night in the newest Mission: Impossible which got off to a solid start with $4 million from Thursday night screenings. That's up 13% from the Thursday night showings of San Andreas, which grossed $3.6 million before grossing $54 million over its opening weekend, as well as more than three-and-a-half times the $1.1 million Oblivion made from Thursday night showings and more than doubling the $1.8 million Tom Cruises last summer blockbuster, Edge of Tomorrow, made in Thursday night screenings.

Southpaw Review

To really depict fighting in cinema, you need a trained visual eye that can make the characters inner struggles come through in every movement in their physical confrontations. Whether you're bringing to life a large scale battle involving multiple armies or just a fistfight in an alleyway, it's crucial that the director of such carnage filled sequences have a way to depict such brawls in a way that doesn't overwhelm the rest of the story.

Will Audiences Choose An Impossible Mission Or A Wacky Vacation?

Two more releases enter the box office fray, looking to close this years July on a high note. The most high profile of those two releases is easily Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation, the fifth entry in the 19 year old Mission: Impossible saga. Back in December 2011, the fourth Mission: Impossible feature became the second biggest entry in the entire franchise, taking everyone by surprise by grossing $209 million domestically.

Rain Man Review (Classic Write-Up)

Nowadays Tom Cruise is well known for his action performances, and for good reason. The dudes got the Mission Impossible films under his belt, and his most recent movies like Jack Reacher and Oblivion have all been focused on explosions and testosterone. In sharp contrast to those high-octane features is Rain Man, a 1988 Barry Levinson effort that is one of the rare films to accomplish the feat of being both the no. 1 movie at the domestic box office the year it was released and winning Best Picture.

Vacation Starts Off Its Box Office Run With Average $1.2 Million At Tuesday Night Screenings

Tomorrow, I'll be doing my weekly box office predictions where I'll be taking a look at how Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and Vacation will do over the forthcoming weekend. I'll have more data at my disposal for Vacation than Ethan Hunts newest film, simply because the Griswalds started their trip early with a Wednesday opening. That means the film had advanced screenings on Tuesday instead of Thursday, which grossed $1.2 million. That gross will be put into its opening day (Wedensday) gross.

Channing Tatum Will Not Be Playing Gambit In The X-Men Universe

Well this is surprising. Like, this is seriously shocking. There hadn't been weeks of rumored behind the scenes difficulties on the Gambit movie, why, just two weeks ago Channing Tatum made a surprise appearance at 20th Century Fox's Comic-Con panel to promote his future turn as Gambit. He had been spearheading the project for a while now, and frankly, it did feel like he was the only reason it was getting made.

Penguins of Madagascar Is More Frantic Than Anything Else (Classic Write-Up)

Part of the humor of the main group (that group consisting of Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman) that all three Madagascar movies center on is that despite being wild animals, their neuroses and problems have an endearing humanity to them. Juxtaposing that with more stylized material (namely that the four at walking talking animals) can make for some fun humor, especially when it involves the franchises penguins, who are smooth talking super spies of sorts who use their skills for mundane tasks such as gambling in Monte Carlo or digging a hole out of the Central Park zoo.

2015 Toronto International Film Festival Announces Film Line-Up

How is it this time of year already? Feels like just yesterday I was celebrating the new year of 2015 and now, here we are, with the line-up of this years Toronto International Film Festival announced. There will likely be further movies announced to have a presence at the festival in the future, but for now, these are the high-profile releases that will be at the prestigious festival.

Richard Linklaters Next Movie Gets Spring 2016 Release Date

My most anticipated movie of 2015, no contest, was Richard Linklaters That's What I'm Talking About, his newest feature after making my favorite movie of 2014, Boyhood. Alas, it looks like I'll just have to settle for the likes a new Star Wars movie and The Martian in terms of forthcoming 2015 films as Linklaters next effort has not only ditched its original title (to my knowledge, it's still untitled) but it has also been given an official release date....in April 2016.

The End Is Nigh In The Newest Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Trailer

The Hunger Games is ending this Fall, and while Lionsgate will doubtlessly create numerous spin-offs to extend the shelf life of the franchise, the saga of Katniss Everdeen is likely ending with Mockingjay: Part 2. An impressive ensemble of actors (Jennifer Lawrence, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Julianne Moore, Donald Sutherland, Phillip Seymour Hoffman) have come together to be in this feature, which released a new trailer late last week that you can watch below.

Brother Bear Is Straightforward, Flawed But Not Without Its Charms (Classic Write-Up)

Those early years of the 21st century of Walt Disney Animation Studios will likely be looked upon in the same manner as the studios work of the 70's and 80's, with both eras trying to overcome expectations of the past while attempting to blaze new storytelling trails. The films of the 70's and 80's have mostly fallen into obscurity (though this time period did give me one of my favorite films of all-time, The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh), but hopefully the films that greeted audiences in this new century don't share the same fate, as there are some gems to be found in that era.

Ant-Man Scores Victory Over Pixels Meek Box Office While Paper Towns Underwhelms

Adam Sandler failed to rebound from recent box office misses this weekend, leading Ant-Man to gain a clear victory for this box office frame. Peyton Reeds Ant-Man film secured its second straight weekend at the top of the box office with a $24.7 million haul, becoming the tenth Marvel Cinematic Universe feature to be number one at the box office for more than one week. Its 56% second weekend dip is bigger than the 55% dip of Guardians of The Galaxy, but much better than  the 60% drop of Captain America: The First Avenger, which was the last MCU film to premiere in mid-July. Its total haul though 10 days is $106 million, and should end up at $155-160 million by the end of its run.

Pixels Is Almost As Bad As Gamergate

Let's just cut to the chase here; as you can tell from that headline, Pixels is bad. But it reaches a level of incompetence that even past Adam Sandler catastrophes like Jack & Jill could only dream of.  This is a film where the acting of its leading man (the incomparable Adam Sandler) is somehow one of its lesser problems. From the get-go of the feature, which depicts a younger version of the character played by Kevin James stealing money from a little girl, the movies puzzling lack of awareness of its own characters blatant flaws is apparent.

Revolutionary Road Review (Classic Write-Up)

Road To Nowhere

Who among us hasn't had the desire to escape conventionality for an existence riddled with unpredictability? It's a common ailment that is examined at length in Revolutionary Road, a 2008 feature from Sam Mendes that utilizes the 1950's as a way to examine how that compulsion to subvert our daily routine can consume ones soul. Coming right off of the horrors and uncertainty of events like World War II in the 1940's, the 1950's were an age where people looked for consistency and peace in their lives. While it's not like archetypes such as "stay at home mom" or "Father knows best" didn't exist prior to the fifties, they did rise to extreme prominence in this decade to the point of being considered the only way of executing a standard family lifestyle.

Pixels Crashes And Burns While Paper Towns And Southpaw Deliver Solid Results In Thursday Night Showings

The three new wide releases of this weekend got their box office runs started last night to differing results. First up, Paper Towns made a decent $2 million at Thursday night screenings last night. That's less than a quarter of the $8 million that The Fault In Our Stars made at Thursday night showings last year, though that book was more popular anyway and it had a super expensive screening on that evening that certainly boosted its grosses. This does guarantee that Paper Towns won't get anywhere near the opening weekend of last years film adaptation of a John Green novel, but that was to be expected. Look for Paper Towns to creep just above or below the $20 million mark for the weekend.

Ellen Page and Julianne Moore Fight For LGBTQA Rights In Freeheld Trailer

Now that Julianne Moore has finally won an Oscar, where does she go with her career? Why, her next will movie will be starring in the upcoming drama Freeheld. Director Peter Sollett is in charge of this movie, which just released a trailer that you can watch below.

Dwayne Johnson And San Andreas Director Prepare For A Rampage

Remember when I talked about how video game movies were about to hit the big time next year with 2016 releases like Assassin Creed, Ratchet & Clank and Warcraft? Well, it looks like another big time video game can be added to the slate, with this one, an adaptation of the game Rampage, being planned for 2017. That year will also bring a new Laura Croft movie from MGM and Warner Bros. and I doubt these two will wind up being the only video game movies in 2017.

Uncertainty Reigns Over This Weekend As Ants, Minions, Video Games And Paper Towns Gun For First Place

It's rare for me to say this, but I truly don't know whose gonna win this weekend. There's numerous times where my predictions for who will be number one don't come to fruition, but most of the time I feel confident enough to say "Here's who I think will be above all other releases this weekend". But this time around, two holdovers and two of this weekends new releases are all gunning for that number one spot.

Oh What A Blu-Ray...WHAT A LOVELY BLU-RAY; Mad Max: Fury Road Hits Blu-Ray September 1st

One of the summers best movies, Mad Max: Fury Road will arrive on Blu-Ray and DVD just before the summer movie season concludes. Typically, Labor Day signals the conclusion of whats typically the most financially lucrative part of the year for Hollywood, and just a week before that holiday arrives this year, you can pick up George Millers epic action film on Blu-Ray and DVD on September 1st and on Digital HD on August 11th.

Second Good Dinosaur Trailer Emphasizes How A Single Moment Can Change Everything

PIXAR just had one of the biggest hits of their career with Inside Out and surely they're hoping that their next film, The Good Dinosaur, replicates that success. They put out a teaser trailer for the motion picture last month and now a new trailer, chock full of footage, gives a better look at the film and its world.