Director Of Shark Tale Will Direct New Feature Film Adaptation Of Dungeons & Dragons

Do you know who Rob Letterman is? Well, if you're familiar with films like Gulliver's Travels, Monsters Vs. Aliens, Goosebumps and Academy Award nominated feature Shark Tale, you know his work all too well. His most recent feature, Goosebumps, was a solid effort, but his DreamWorks Animation efforts were as generic as imaginable while Gulliver's Travels was...the film that cost Emily Blunt the chance to play Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Manhattan Review (Classic Write-Up)

Certain filmmakers have a recurring feature in their filmography to utilize their city/state of birth as a prominent figure in their motion pictures, taking a well-known location and attempt to weave in more nuance and depth into an environment and its inhabitants that many may normally dismiss as just a tourist trap. Jean-Luc Godard has Paris, France. Richard Linklater has Texas and, of course, Woody Allen has New York. For his ninth motion picture, Manhattan, (one that came two years after Annie Hall, Allen's movie that won Best Picture at the Oscars), the importance of New York to the filmmaker can be seen in how this film is titled after one of the five boroughs that can be found in New York City.

Where Does The DC Extended Universe Go From Here?

Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice is a big fat hit. Grossing over $420 million worldwide in just a few days, this thing is easily headed to over a billion dollars worldwide and has fulfilled the faith Warner Bros. had in this franchise when they announce half-a-decades worth of movies based on various DC Comics characters back in October 2014. The DC Extended Universe, as it's being called, is here to stay. And, as someone who hated Batman v. Superman, I have some mixed feelings about this whole thing, to say the least.

Woody Allen's Next Movie, Cafe Society, To Open The Cannes Film Festival!

The Cannes Film Festival is a little over a month away and while which films are specifically during the high-profile event is still a hotly debated topic, we do now know which motion picture will be opening the prestigious occasion, and it's a director whose works have been a frequent participant at Cannes. The one and only Woody Allen will debut his next film, Cafe Society, at the festival as the opening film of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival on May 11th.

Batman v. Superman Breaks Box Office Records In Its Gargantuan Opening Weekend

It is done. Batman v. Superman now has the biggest March opening weekend of all-time, the biggest opening weekend for a Batman movie ever and the second biggest debut weekend ever for a Warner Bros. title. How much did this gargantuan tentpole make this weekend? About $170.1 million, the sixth biggest opening weekend in history as well as the largest opening weekend ever for a Warner Bros. motion picture. It also gobbled up an enormous $424.1 million worldwide in its opening weekend, the fourth biggest worldwide opening in history. The DC Extended Universe is finally up and rolling, despite the best efforts from the critics who were all part of a very much real (and not at all something fictitious conjured up by mentally and emotionally disturbed individuals on Reddit) conspiracy against the movie.

Batman v. Superman Gets Off To Massive Box Office Start At Thursday Night Showings

Night (or should I say knight) has fallen on the box office as Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice got off to a massive $27.7 million start last night at Thursday night screenings that began at 6 PM. That's the second biggest gross for a superhero movie at these kind of screenings, only behind the $30 million sum garnered by The Dark Knight Rises at Midnight showings back in July 2012. This $27,7 million sum puts Batman v. Superman puts this Zack Snyder film ahead of The Avengers, Man Of Steel (which grossed $21 million at 7PM screenings, tickets to which could only be bought at Wal-Mart, and midnight showings) and Avengers: Age Of Ultron. It's also, just from these screenings alone, already the eighth highest grossing movie of Jesse Eisenberg's career.

Batman v. Superman Review

"She's talking to angels
Counting the stars
Waiting for Superman to pick her up
In his arms" - Daughtry 

In the final scene of the 1959 Francois Truffaut film The 400 Blows, the lead character, a young boy named Antoine Doinel, finally makes it the beach, a serene domain full of the kind of peace and tranquility he's been yearning for. Yes, he's made it...but at what cost? He's alienated his parents, turned to a life of crime, sullied his reputation, he's sacrificed so much to get here. The closing shot of the motion picture focuses solely on the face of Antoine Doinel, an expression of remorse and confusion over realizing all that has been lost in his pursuit of escaping his demanding life. It's a haunting facial expression....and the very same one that was etched onto my face when I emerged from my Thursday night screening of Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice.

Watchmen Review (Classic Write-Up)

Perhaps the greatest testament to how much of a pop culture phenomenon 300 was upon its initial 2007 release was that director Zack Snyder somehow got Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures to pony up $130 million for him to film an R-rated adaptation of one of the most beloved graphic novels of all time, Watchmen. This adaptation would have no A-list stars, tons of blue penis, graphic violence and would contain numerous monologues centered on weighty themes and concepts. Total crowd-pleaser right?

Disney And Marvel Announce Protest Against LGBTQA-Discriminatory Bill In Georgia

Over in the state of Georgia, there is a "religious liberty bill" that will allow businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples. How far has this bill gotten? Well, the only thing preventing it from being enacted currently is the approval of Governor Nathan Deal. Numerous figures have already showed resistance to such a law coming to fruition, for obvious reasons, including the NFL (who are noting that such a law being passed could put Georgia out of the running for being a state to host the Super Bowl) and now, another big company has thrown their support behind dismissing the bill.

Spider-Man 2 Review (Classic Write-Up)

Every summer blockbuster sequel wants to be The Empire Strikes Back. After all, that was one of the first major summer blockbuster follow-ups of its kind in a post-Jaws/Star Wars/Superman: The Movie world and it's still regarded today as the best film in the entire Star Wars saga. What many take away from the artistic success of The Empire Strikes Back is that it was solely the darker elements of the story that made it good. Thus, ya get a lot of summer blockbusters that tweak the color grading to harsher colors and toss in a lot of violence in order to become the next Empire Strikes Back. But that specific element is not what made that Irvin Kershner film so beloved. It was the fact that Empire Strikes Back dove deeper into its characters psyche, tested them, put them in new more morally complex situations that challenged them and the audience. Oh, and it was also well-made, full of fun action, Yoda was an incredible creation from his first line of dialogue onward, ya get the idea.

Five Underrated Disney Songs

It's hard to resist the various musical numbers found in a number of the 55 films in the Disney Animation canon, but in my book there's a couple of these tunes that could definitely stand to be more well-known. Thus, I've compiled a piece to examine five songs from classic Disney features that really do deserve more recognition for their accomplishments in numerous areas. For full disclosure, the only criteria to be eligible for this list is that the song had to be from the Disney Animation canon (which excludes films like Enchanted) and could not be nominated for a Best Original Song Oscar.

Now, let's get this started, shall we?

Spider-Man Review

For 50 years, the thought had crept into the minds of everyone across the planet...what would a Spider-Man movie look like? For some, it was just a passing mental diversion, a notion that would fade as quickly as it came. For others, it was a concept that persisted in their cranium, imagining what the web-crawler would look like in the realm of live-action cinema. Considering how much of a grip Spider-Man had had on pop culture, it's understandable why such a proposal would have inhabited the imaginations of billions of individuals around the world. The comic book saga of meek Peter Parker gaining superhero abilities had emerged as one of the great modern-day fictional media creations.

Zootopia Is Number One Movie At The Box Office Three Weeks In A Row While Allegiant Falls And Midnight Special Hopping

A little movie called Zootopia continued to easily rule the box office with a hearty $38.9 million in its third weekend of release, a 24% decline from last weekend. That's a pretty spectacular number for a movie's third weekend, placing it as the seventh biggest third weekend of all-time, putting it ahead of the third-weekend haul of box office juggernauts like The Dark Knight Rises, Iron Man 3 and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Zootopia has now grossed $202.7 million domestically, and with no new family movies entering the marketplace for another 4 weeks, it ain't slowing down anytime soon.

Catwoman Review (Classic Write-Up)

In many superhero origin movies, there's that moment where our protagonist decides to finally fight crime and fulfill their potential as a superhero. Remember when Peter Parker realized he could have stopped the mugger that murdered his Uncle? Or when Tony Stark realized the consequences of his actions of selling weapons? Or when Scott Lang was offered the chance to become a better man by the kindly Hank Pym? All emotionally resonant sequences that emphasize who our lead is and why they're going down the path of superheroics. Catwoman also has a scene like this. After giving herself a major makeover, our hero, Patience Phillips (Halle Berry), hops onto a motorcycle, speeds around her city and then stops at a jewelry store to gaze at a necklace that has caught her fancy.

Allegiant Shows Worrisome Shrinkage In Middling Thursday Night Numbers

The third entry in the Divergent saga, Allegiant, got started last night with only OK results, taking in $2.35 million, a sharp decline from the Thursday night grosses posted by its predecessors. Divergent grossed $4.9 million at these screenings two years ago while Insurgent made $4.1 million at Thursday night showings just last year. To put that into perspective, that means Allegiant made 52% less than Divergent and 42% less than Insurgent last night. Yikes. Due to its smaller Thursday night numbers, allegiant will likely be less front-loaded than its predecessors, though it'll be interesting to see if it can crack $30 million for the weekend. Either way, it's unlikely to take away the number one spot at the box office from Zootopia, which has been performing like gangbusters all week and brought its domestic haul to $163.8 million yesterday.

The Brothers Grimsby Review

In the decade since the massive box office and critical success of Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen has struggled to replicate the affluence of that 2006 feature. He attempted to bring the mockumentary format back for Bruno in 2009 to far smaller success while his 2012 effort The Dictator went for a conventional narrative structure to no better results. His newest feature film, The Brothers Grimsby, is the first movie for Cohen to incorporate action and to not be directed by Larry Charles, instead going for Transporter 2 and Clash Of The Titans helmer Louie Leterrier. Unfortunately, Grimsby has also been a box office dud and, in my book at least, also fails to restore any luster to Cohen's lackluster post-Borat projects.

The End May Be Near, But The New X-Men: Apocalypse Trailer Is Already Here!

This summer, the X-Men face their greatest challenge yet...trying to get out of Deadpool's shadow. After the levity-driven Deadpool, will audiences gear up for a more somber X-Men adventure? I'd say probably (Days Of Future Past and First Class had plenty of light-hearted moments after all) but it is a good thing to keep in mind. Even after Deadpool's record-shattering box office, 20th Century Fox isn't adjusting the marketing of X-Men: Apocalypse to include more jokes or anything like that, instead continuing the more reserved tone of the teaser with this new trailer that you can watch below.

My Thoughts On The Screening Room Debacle

Sean Parker pretty much changed the face of the music industry with his 1999 company Napster. Today, the majority of people likely don't even know what the hell as "Napster" is, but it set a precedent for how people consume music that iTunes and other companies soon perfected and turned into a revolution. A revolution, mind you, that left many record companies up the creek without a paddle financially. Their entire business model had changed forever and there was noooo going back.

The Danish Girl Review

The best thing I can say about The Danish Girl is that the two main characters are in possession of a Jack Russell Terrier and that adorable doggie pops up frequently in the sequences taking place at their humble abode. I couldn't help but laugh at the dog's facial expressions which range from disinterested to distracted and such emotions amusingly contrast with the more stuffy activities occurring around the animal. Alas, the entire movie does not center around this cute canine and instead focuses its efforts on presenting on a laughably by-the-numbers take on real life figure Lili Ebe.

Disney Nukes The Fridge And Announces Another Harrison Ford Led Indiana Jones Movie For July 2019

Well, looks like my dreams of Oscar Isaac taking on the role of Indiana Jones ain't gonna happen.