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Spider-Man Makes Appearance in New Captain America: Civil War Trailer
Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man finally made an appearance in a non-Sony film with the debut of the new trailer for Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War. Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War finds Steve Rogers leading the newly formed team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. But after another incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pres...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Busting Makes Us Feel Good in the New Ghostbusters Trailer
Hello again, dear readers, and I hope a lot of you got out to see Zootopia this past weekend. This week’s Trailer Trashin’ examines the first Ghostbusters trailer for the upcoming reboot of the 1984 classic. Premise: Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) and Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) are a pair of unheralded authors who write a book positing that ghosts are real. A few years later, Gilbert lands a prest...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Zootopia Tops with Audiences
Earning critical praise and audience acclaim was not enough…Zootopia, the latest from Disney, also took the mantle of highest opening weekend for an animated Disney film (at least, not involving Pixar) with an estimated $73.7 million. Not looking quite so tall was second-place finisher London Has Fallen. Despite critical bashing and a fairly weak opening weekend estimate of $21.7 million on a $60 ...[Read More]
Movie Review: Zootopia
Disney appears to be getting more and more comfortable making films more like their Pixar counterparts. Zootopia, their most recent effort, is less Frozen-style musical flair and more Wreck-It Ralph, aimed at delivering humor and character with equal parts cynicism and heart. Does it work? For the most part, yes; visually stunning and funnier than you might think, the film is a joy to sit through ...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Return to the Sea in the New Trailer for Pixar’s Finding Dory
Happy March, dear readers! The Oscars are behind us now, and Disney’s Zootopia comes out this Friday. Speaking of which, this week’s Trailer Trashin’ takes a look at the second trailer for Disney/Pixar’s Finding Dory. Premise: Six months after the events of Finding Nemo, Dory (voice of Ellen DeGeneres) suddenly recalls her childhood memories. Remembering something about “the jewel of Monterey, Cal...[Read More]
10 Best Things About the 2016 Oscars
How exactly would host Chris Rock handle #OscarsSoWhite, after staying mostly silent on the issues in recent weeks? What if Leo didn’t win? Would this be a “political Oscars” and who else is Hollywood excluding? We still do not have all the answers, and there is a lot of work to do. This was the year of the #agendaoscars, a year where effort itself was the show’s hope and spotlight. It was not a h...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Gods of Egypt No Match for Deadpool
Big, noisy, and hollow. While that might easily describe the critical reaction to Gods of Egypt, only the last can truly describe its box office take. While the solid earner and acclaimed Deadpool took the weekend yet again with an estimated $31.5 million, the $140 million-costing blockbuster Gods of Egypt failed on all fronts, bringing in a domestic estimated total of $14 million and not much els...[Read More]
Movie Review: Eddie the Eagle
With live action family films essentially dying out as a genre – unless you count Marvel movies or straight-to-DVD Sandlot sequels – it is sort of refreshing when a movie comes out that is so clearly earmarked for pretty much everyone. And, barring one head-scratchingly out of place sex talk, Dexter Fletcher’s Eddie the Eagle is a terrific family film. Growing up with bad knees, resilient dreamer ...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: There’s Something in the Woods in the Pete’s Dragon Teaser Trailer
It’s the last week of February, dear readers, and the Academy Awards are this Sunday. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen Deadpool yet, but I plan to do so as soon as possible. In the meantime, this week’s new Trailer Trashin’ column takes a look at the teaser for Disney’s upcoming remake of Pete’s Dragon. Premise: For years, old wood carver Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford) has delighted local children with...[Read More]
Who Will Win (And Who Should Win) at the 2016 Oscars
The Academy Awards are not for everyone, but, for whatever reason, they are for me. Something about Oscar season puts a smile on my face, which I know is not a popular thing to say in the film community. It’s popular to say the awards mean nothing and that the voters are mostly old white men voting on “artsy” films that are aimed only at them and no one else. With all of the controversy surroundin...[Read More]
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie Has Release Date and New Teaser Trailer
Fans of the early 1990s British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous have reason to be excited these days. Fox Searchlight recently set loose a new teaser trailer on the world. The producers of the film also confirmed a 2016 release date of July 22. Location filming in the U.K. and France is complete for the film that finds, appropriate for their big screen debut, Edina and Patsy (Jennifer Saunders and Joan...[Read More]
Movie Review: Touched with Fire
Touched with Fire asks whether love between two thirty-something adults with bipolar disorder can be successful, loosely wondering about the intersection of sensuality, realism, and mental illness. It seems interested to extract a rubric explaining the connection between people with mental illness who are creatives. The film meanders through this exploration rather than makes up its mind as a crea...[Read More]