What You Missed: Jan. 5, 2015

Written by O’Boyd

Another new feature in Cinema Corner 2.0 is our wrap-up file of all the movie-related events from the day. Think the Drudge Report meets Hollywood.

Why should you have to search all over the Internet for movie news when you can get it all right here. We’ll list here some of the stuff we’ve posted from earlier in the day along with other items we think you should check out. Each day, we hope to provide you with a roundup of sorts of the things we believe you’ll enjoy and want to read about.

As always, enjoy.

From Dorkly.com: What if Luke Skywalker had accepted Darth Vader’s proposal in “The Empire Strikes Back.” Check out the full story here.

OUR HEADLINES

What You Missed: Jan. 4, 2015 (NEW)

‘Five Armies’ marches to third straight weekend victory (NEW)

The Playlist has first images of Natalie Portman’s ‘Jane’s Got a Gun’ (NEW)

Hate Mondays? SpongeBob is gonna help you with that (NEW)

Marvel releases human-sized teaser trailer for ‘Ant-Man’ (NEW)

MovieWeb.com has “short list” of nominees for The Razzies (NEW)

Total Film, Empire release first photos of ‘Crimson Peak’

ComingSoon.net has first photos of newest ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ film

Mark Wahlberg trying to develop ‘Boardwalk Empire’ film

‘The Interview’ has one final red band trailer release, will expand to pay TV, other theaters

Walt Disney Studios releases ‘Cinderella’ countdown clip

‘Exodus’ falls short of miraculous

Cinema Corner: Jan. 1, 2015

Much more to ‘Wild’ than just the story

 GET TICKETS

Coming to Theaters: Jan. 2, 2015 (NEW)

You can always click here to get more movie news and to order tickets online for the latest films in theaters.

Fandango.com          AMC Theatres        MovieTickets.com

Be sure to check out RottenTomatoes.com, which collects and posts reviews for all the films coming out this week.

THE REST OF THE NEWS

Anthony Hopkins trying on different masks for “Silence of the Lambs.” Click here to see each image.

• Variety says if you have doubts about North Korea’s involvement in the Sony hack … don’t. (NEW)

• And North Korea, obviously, responds to the U.S. sanctions and “The Interview. (NEW)

• Check out these photos from Variety of the 26th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala, which kicks off the movie awards season. (NEW)

• “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” remains No. 1 in the DVD sales market. (NEW)

VIDEO CLIPS AND MORE

Cosplay Boom has a video about the people who dress up as characters from “The Hobbit.”

• Vulture speaks with screenwriter J.C. Chandor about the wild chase scene in “A Most Violent Year.” (NEW)

• Cinema Blend gives us three reasons why a David Fincher-led “Spider-man” would be better than anything else out there.

• Entertainment Weekly fact-checks “Selma.”

• Vulture explains how “Foxcatcher” got from an idea to a film.

LISTS, BESTS, WORSTS

Ten things you probably didn’t know about “Spaceballs.” Click here to see the story and clips from Geek Tyrant.

• Variety: Movie stars that had a rough 2014. (NEW)

• The Hollywood Reporter: Roger Ebert’s 20 best- and worst-reviewed films.

• Collider: Previewing its most anticipated films of 2015.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

 

Julia Ormond, Dave Foley, Matt Frewer

I’m always fascinated with celebrity birthdays (especially finding out who has a birthday when I have mine). IMDB.com has a neat daily list of all the Hollywood people who have birthdays. Here’s the Jan. 4 list.

‘Ready Player One’ may have Christopher Nolan as its director

Written by O’Boyd

The book “Ready Player One” was a smash hit when it hit the shelves in 2011. Now, Warner Bros. is hoping for the same with the film with the same title. And they want Christopher Nolan to direct it.

The Tracking Board reports Nolan has been offered the job of director for the film. WB beat out Fox and Paramount in a bidding war for the rights to the film. The book was a New York Times bestseller.

The Tracking Board describes the plot of the film like this:

“… The 20-minutes-into-the-future film follows a teenage boy who enters into an elaborate treasure hunt to win the fortune that was left behind in the will of the creator of his favorite virtual reality game, Oasis. He finds himself up against powerful corporations and competitors who will stop at nothing to get the inheritance.”

What You Missed: Nov. 29, 2014

Written by O’Boyd

Another new feature in Cinema Corner 2.0 is our wrap-up file of all the movie-related events from the day. Think the Drudge Report meets Hollywood. We’ll list here some of the stuff we’ve posted from earlier in the day along with other items we think you should check out. Each day, we hope to provide you with a roundup of sorts of the things we believe you’ll enjoy and want to read about.

As always, enjoy!

• So … did anything (else) exciting happen to you today? Yeah, THIS did, if you didn’t already know it by now.

There’s so much crazy stuff that went on today concerning what’s already being called the most anticipated movie release … ever. That’s a might tall order. Plus, there’s still like 12 months before the actual movie is released. Still, it’s a pretty big event, as you can tell by all the posts regarding the trailer from today. That’s not even counting all the stories cataloged by Facebook.

Let’s put is this way, the Guiness Book of World Records labels PSY’s “Gentlemen” music video as having the most YouTube hits in 24 hours, totaling 38,409,306 views on April 14th 2013. It’s hard to say how that exact number is compiled. So stay tuned for any news of that number being broken.

As of this writing, the top two “The Force Awakens” trailers on YouTube were by MovieClips Trailers (13,894,935) and the trailer from the official Star Wars YouTube channel (6,059,195). That’s 19,954,130.

And, just for kicks, here’s two fan art photos posted on AMC Theatre’s Facebook page that brought a smile to our faces:

             

• Sony Pictures is releasing “The Interview,” the Seth Rogan/James Franco movie about a plot to assassinate the leader of North Korea. So it only makes sense they are the likely culprits in a network hack at Sony.

• Did you hear 62-year-old actor Mickey Rourke won an exhibition boxing match against a 29-year-old pro in Russia? Here’s the video if it, too.

• Not to be outdone in the outrageous department, Shia LaBeouf gave an interview you have to hear. Or maybe not. When he did speak, he makes a claim he was raped.

• Roger Thomas’ final Reviews of the Past looks at his favorite Christmas movies. Just in time for the holiday season. You can read his other reviews here. Our hope is we’ll have all of his reviews better catalogued for you to check out.

• Gwyneth Paltrow wants to play Pepper Potts in the third “Captain America” movie. Duh!

• The author of “Prestige” didn’t have nice words to say about Christopher Nolan.

• In case you were wondering if there would be a third Guardians of the Galaxy film, the fact Nova won’t be in the second edition should be a pretty good hint there will be.

Reviews of the Past: ‘The Dark Knight Rises’

The next set of reviews we’ll be publishing are some of the ones Roger Thomas has done exclusively for The Stanly News & Press. Roger has written movie reviews for The Stanly News & Press and other outlets for years, long before starting this blog. So we decided it would be good to give readers a sample of his previous work, in addition to posts of reviews of current films. Other reviews will run daily.

Tom Hardy and Christian Bale

As I considered writing this review, I reflected a great deal on the events that happened in Colorado the night the film opened.

I was at a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” here in Albemarle. They, of course, are in a different time zone than us, but everything else was similar. The victims were only attempting to do what my friends and I did on Thursday night, July 19.

I am sure they waited in line. They ordered snacks. They entered the theater with great anticipation. And they perhaps even cheered, as many did in our local theater, when the film finally began.

In a statement, Christopher Nolan, director of “The Dark Knight Rises,” offered these words: “I believe movies are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important and joyful pastime. The movie theater is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me. Nothing any of us can say could ever adequately express our feelings for the innocent victims of this appalling crime, but our thoughts are with them and their families.”

Affirming Nolan’s words, and recognizing as many have said before me, “To let fear force us to abandon experiences we cherish is a way of affirming the victory of those who seek to terrorize us,” I now offer my thoughts of the film “The Dark Knight Rises.”

In a word, “The Dark Knight Rises” (TDKR) is epic. Bigger and more ambitious than the first two Nolan Batman films. Gotham City is taken hostage by the villain Bane. Catwoman steals from and flirts with Bruce Wayne. Butler Alfred gives his best speech of the series. Batman is royally defeated in a fight scene. Add to this a young cop who figures out Batman’s identity, a young woman taking the reins of Wayne Enterprises and possibly Bruce Wayne’s heart and new toys from Lucius Fox. And all this happens in the first half of the film.

It almost seems that Nolan and his co-writer/brother Jonathon Nolan, realizing this is their last Batman flick, decided to throw in as much as they could. Thus the word epic. It is a grand achievement, bigger and bolder than either of the other two films.

But alas, bigger is not always better. Acknowledging this statement may begin a great debate with comic book fans everywhere, “TDKR” is not as good as its predecessor, “The Dark Knight.”

The Dark Knight” is as near to a perfect superhero film as has ever been created. Tom Hardy does a fine job as menacing Bane, but I doubt he will get an Oscar as did the late Heath Ledger for his portrayal of the Joker. (And may no one say that he would not have received the award had he not passed away. Ledger would have won regardless.) All the performances in the new film are good, but none of them come close to Ledger’s work as the most fiendish villain in comic book movie history.

I also believe the script for “The Dark Knight” is stronger. There are several lines in that film that I still quote four years later. There are some subtle and some overt stabs at political issues in “Dark Knight” that are more poignant than in anything I remember in the new film. “TDKR” tells a good story, but the dialogue does not have the same bite as the previous film. Plus, the script of “TDKR” has several plot holes that one must overlook to fully embrace the story.

But with that said, there is much to like here. Again, I like the scope of the film. I liked much of the humor. I especially enjoyed the story arc for new character Officer Blake. Catwoman is great. Michael Caine’s performance, though smaller in this film, is almost Oscar-worthy. All the scenes following Batman and Bane’s first brawl concerning the recovery of Bruce Wayne are the best parts of the film. Gotham City looked great. And I am glad that Gary Oldman’s Commissioner Gordon was given more to do. And that’s just stuff off the top of my head.

In the end, Nolan has given film lovers one of the greatest trilogies in cinema history. And so what if the final installment is not quite as great as the previous film. “The Dark Knight” is a very high achievement to match. I know I will revisit this trilogy many times in the years ahead. So if you have not yet seen “The Dark Knight Rises,” my recommendation is to go. Few films this year will offer more excitement.

Box Office results

Domestic gross: $448,139,099

Foreign gross: $636,300,000

Production budget: $250 million

Opening weekend: $160,887,295

NOTE: Information from Boxofficemojo.com

‘Interstellar’ is out of this world

Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and David Gyasi. (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures)

There are few names that inspire more excitement from movie fans than Christopher Nolan.

The first film written and directed by Nolan that I saw was “Memento.” It ended up second on my Top Ten List in 2000. His followup “Insomnia,” a remake of a foreign film, was good but left me hoping his career would soon bring us another “Memento.”

Instead, Nolan gave us three great Batman films. (Obviously, “The Dark Knight” being the best of the three, but the others are fun, smart, witty and work well as chapters in a very impressive trilogy.) And between chapters of the Caped Crusader, Nolan has given us “The Prestige,” my daughter’s favorite film by this gifted director/writer, and “Inception,” a film of which I think often and need to watch again soon.

Like Spielberg and Scorsese, the announcement of a new Nolan project creates immediate excitement.

The autumn of 2014 has brought us another brilliant creation from Nolan: “Interstellar.” This film is again an amazingly ambitious project. From the very first moments as a truck speeds through a corn field, there is an energy to this film that is engulfing. I knew nothing of these characters or what was going to happen to them over the next almost three hours (169 minutes to be exact) and yet I was totally involved with them immediately.

Following the speedy chase through a corn field, several things happen to move the story toward the space adventure the film ultimately becomes. And it is grand adventure.

Stellar effects, stunning sites, detailed art direction, engaging characters, amazing ideas about space and traveling through it … this list does not even begin to cover the strengths of this film.

One simple example of the creativity of this film is the design of the artificial intelligence (robots) that accompany the astronauts on their journey. There is so much up on the screen continuously, the film could exist without story, character development or a plot, and the experience would still be something special. (I saw the film in the Imax format and I highly recommend this to everyone, because it certainly expands the “awe factor” action and cinematography.)

With all that written, however, here is what I really think about “Interstellar”: the film is best in the most intimate moments. When a father says to his daughter, “When you and your brother were born, your mother said our primary purpose now was to give the two of you memories.” As a parent, that quote touched me deeply because it is the truth.

There is a conversation later in the film about what place “love” has in the vastness of the cosmos. Another great moment. And there are others. Christopher Nolan and his brother, Jonathon, write great screenplays. May they collaborate many more times in the days ahead.

Again, I say, the spectacle of this film is stunning, but less amazing than the truths displayed through conversations between the characters.

Before I end this review sounding like the film is perfect, I would offer one other thought: the climax of the film contains an element that seems all too familiar. I kept thinking, “I have seen this before.” Hours after viewing the film, I realized what other movie had done something so similar.

So much of “Interstellar” is completely original, so I found a little disappointment slipping into the moments when the film is peaking dramatically. No one else may have this issue; if you do not, then the film will most likely be an absolute success for you.

   As for me, in spite of the parts of which I have reservations, “Interstellar” is one of the best films of 2014. As with all of Nolan’s films, I look forward to seeing it again.