Awesome Rumor!

The awesome rumor of the day is that there is a Roger Rabbit sequel in the works! How utterly fantastic would a sequel be? My only fear is that they might choose to work with CGI instead of sticking to the magical 2D animation in a 3D world. Still, get excited.

In case your life sucks and you never saw the original, you can watch it here.

~Lauren

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Movie of the Week: "You really must learn to win without cheating, or at least lose gracefully"

That's right, the movie of the week is Jason and the Argonauts! This is one of my all time favorite movies, and a movie a most people of my generation aren't necessarily familiar with. I was shocked to learn this, since I spent some of the best hours of high school watching this and Clash of the Titans with my friends. But looking back, we were all into sword fighting, took Latin, and toyed with claymation in our spare time. 

If you aren't familiar with the film, here's what you need to know. It was made in 1963. It features the effects of the legendary Ray Harryhausen. His stop animation in this movie is amazing, so much so that he considers it his best work. The skeleton fight scene in the end is what this movie is best known for, and it's a thing of awe-striking beauty. The skeletons aside this movie is so unbelievably wonderful. The Hera mast, the giant bronze Talos, the Golden Fleece...what more could you ask for in a movie?

If you haven't seen it, watch it here.

~Lauren

Unnecessary Sequel of the Month

Most of the time, movie sequels are completely unnecessary and end up being terrible films. But sometimes, Hollywood creates the most unnecessary sequels ever. Case in point: Wall Street 2. Yeah, they actually went there.

But wait, it gets better. Even most of Hollywood has realized this is a horrible idea. Oliver Stone has taken over the project, yes, but the cast? Both Alan Sorkin and Peter Morgan passed in taking the role of Gordon Gekko. Ouch. IMBD news article states that Michael Douglas has come back to play the character, but I'm not sure that this information is confirmed. Shia LaBeouf plays a character similar to Sheen's in the original. As if this wasn't awful enough, guess who gets to write it? Allan Loeb. 21 may have been somewhat enjoyable, but Things We Lost In the Fire? Yeah, this doesn't sound good. 

~Lauren

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Shameless Promotion

This isn't news and this isn't about a new trailer. This is pure and simple shameless promotion. Craig Elmore is a filmmaker trying to break into Hollywood. He recently made a short film called True Blue which you can watch here. I encourage you to watch it, and then give positive reviews to all of your friends. Let's all support young artists in Hollywood, because you never know who might be the next Oscar winner.

~Lauren

The Soloist

Egad, what a mess. The Soloist should be a pretty interesting character study. And it no doubt would be, if director Joe Wright could manage to tone down the filmmaking and focus on good old-fashioned storytelling. You probably know Mr. Wright from a couple of well-received literary adaptations: his shimmery, pleasant Pride and Prejudice, and, more recently, his haunting Atonement. So, the man's got talent. But perhaps it's limited to non-threateningly artistic period pieces of l'amour, typified by angsty, smoldering gazes; he's ill-suited to helming a project with two modern-day acting titans, Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx. Perhaps the project isn't...feminine enough to work under Wright's direction. Streamlining would have done this movie a world of good.

Anyway, so here's the story: RDJ plays Steve Lopez, a down-on his luck, opportunistic journalist who one day runs into Nathaniel Ayers (Mr. Foxx), a gifted celloist whose schizophrenia has cast him out of Julliard and onto the streets of California. Desperate for a new story, Lopez begins penning the story of how this intelligent landed himself in crushing poverty, unable to discern fact from fiction and gods from men. Theoretically, this makes an interesting movie. If that's all there is to it. These guys are such compelling performers that audiences instantly connect and sympathize with the gentlemen they see on-screen. Both men play their roles with sensitivity and depth, and they can hold their own with each other. However, neither man is examined with any care, and close-ups on Downey's classically handsome countenance are supposed to substitute for character development. The film gets so bogged down in trippy light shows, coyote urine, and unseen family members that we never really learn anything about anyone.

It's hard to say which of these flaws is the most intrusive in the film. Is it the non-linear story-telling, which leaves us feeling as confused as Mr. Ayers? Probably so. The fact of the matter is that this is not an indie film, and imagining this modern-day, true story merely detracts from the power of the human drama. One also gets the distinct feeling that characters in the film hint at several storylines that have been all but eradicated in editing. What's the deal with the throwaway line about the college son? Why is circulation down at the Los Angleles Times? Is anyone we actually meet in the movie going to get fired? What does that say about the informed public and the state of poverty? One cannot help but feel that this film wants to give a social message that it just doesn't have the gravitas to offer; it leaves many questions unanswered that should never have been asked in the first place.

As is one of the arguments of the film itself, it's become to easy for this man's life to become an art project, with no responsibility attached to Lopez, or in this case, Wright. Mr. Ayers's story is no longer the focus. The focus has become creating a piece of art, and for the film, it's a formless, confused process that all too often forgets its heart.

Trailer Watch: Wolverine Part 3

This time, they've given us a lovely batch of character spotlight/teaser trailers. In the case of the Dead Pool trailer, we are not worthy.

First up is the spotlight trailer for Wraith. While there's not really much here we haven't seen already, I enjoyed the brief glimpse we're given of Wraith's power. I can honestly say I'm intrigued by his character.

Second up is Blob. I don't know how I missed that Kevin Durand was playing the Blob, but boy am I glad he's part of this cast. Seeing him here as the Blob only gets me more and more excited that he's playing Little John in the unnecessary new Robin Hood. Anyways, lots of new stuff in this trailer we hadn't seen before. Get excited. There is also, if you look closely, a brief glimpse of Dominic Monaghan. Curiously enough, his character's name has been changed from Beak to Bolt. This makes sense I guess, since the powers the original press release described him as having were nothing like Beak's. anyways, he's visible, in military gear and very short hair, next to Wraith and behind Agent Zero in the shot where the team is walking through the slums. It's nice to finally see him in one of these trailers.

Third, we have Emma Frost. Oh boy have they screwed this up. They've chosen to go with the that stupid point in the comics where she could turn herself diamond, which every fan in their right mind knows was about the stupidest thing that ever happened. I was really hoping we'd get the real Emma Frost, the bad ass psychic. I'd continue to go on, but Katie would get irritated with me. On the plus side, new clips and a lot more of Dead Pool.

Fourth, Gambit. Why? Just, why? We knew from previous trailers the outfit was awful and something that the real Gambit wouldn't be caught dead in, but that hat? Beware Wolverine's costuming department, the fans are going to be out for blood. On the plus side, I liked what little chaos we saw our favorite mutant creating. The accent sounds like it has the potential to be legitimately southern, which doesn't happen very often in movies, although this is only the trailer, so you never know. I wish they'd done the eyes right, but at least his eyes briefly flash red. All in all, I hate this version of Gambit. Shiny purple shirt? Really? Even the guys from Queer Eye would see that's unforgivable.

Fifth, William Stryker. There's not any significant new footage. There is a short shot of Gambit running across a roof, but that's it. Still, nicely put together. The whole time I kept thinking of the most recent season of Heroes and how desperately that show wishes it could be X-Men.

Sixth, Dead Pool/Wade Wilson. Oh, Wade Wilson, I love what you do too. You make me want to be a mercenary. This is hands down the best trailer of the bunch. I was bummed when Ryan Reynolds' Dead Pool project fell though a few years ago, and this only makes me more bummed. He's very dedicated to the character, and he may be the best casting choice of the entire movie. If we're lucky, maybe there will be a spin off. Either way, we are not worthy.

Seventh, Sabertooth. Liev Schreiber, I didn't expect much from you in this movie. Thank you for surprising me with your awesomeness in this trailer. This is the second best trailer in the bunch, only losing out due to Ryan Reynolds hotness. There are lots of new shots. All around, a very cool trailer.

Finally, Wolverine. I like the contrast set up between this trailer and the Sabertooth trailer. There aren't really any new shots, which is a shame. Otherwise, it's kind of the least interesting trailer of the group.

Important note: I'm probably asking for it in saying this, but I'm well aware you can currently find the movie online. I'm waiting to see it in theaters, and so are many others, so if you have watched it, don't be a (insert derogatory-term/swear-word-of-your-choice here). Keep you opinions and spoiling knowledge to yourself and share it with us after we post our reviews on May 1st.

~Lauren

Trailer Watch

First off, I'd like to apologize for the lack of updates recently. Life gets hectic sometimes. Besides, recent movie news has just depressed me more and more.

In case you are at all interested, there's another Harry Potter trailer up. Is it just me, or do these get even more uninteresting as each new one is released? 

Now, let's play a game. I'm going to give you two trailers. You get to tell me which is the good trailer, and which is a streaming pile of crap. Option one, Armored. Option two, The Hurt Locker. Hopefully you were smart and picked the second option, which in my opinion is one of the better trailers I've seen recently. Seriously, don't you really want to see that movie?

We're getting closer and closer to the release of The Brothers Bloom. I'm excited. 

Now for some bad, mediocre trailers. Maybe you'll react differently than I did to My Sister's Keeper, Cheri, and Extract. I have to say, the title "Extract" made me think it was going to be a really cool spy movie. But then I saw the poster. And the cast. 

~Lauren