Monday, January 30, 2012

Teaser Trailer - Step Up 4

Maybe you'd call it a guilty pleasure but I have no shame in the fact that I thoroughly enjoy the 'Step Up' films. They remind me how much I enjoy watching amazing dancers strut their stuff. Much like the 'Fast and the Furious' films, the Step Up movies grab a niche and have done a thrilling job showing off the various forms of dance. Today our first look at where the fourth film in the series "Step Up 4" is set and just what we can expect hit the net. Take a look at the announcement for yourself below.

Trailer - Gob Bless America

I've been a fan of  Bobcat Goldthwait since his stand-up days but his recent effort behind the camera has really made me take notice of what he has to say. His latest focuses on Frank, a terminally ill man who is disgusted with our society and begins a killing spree aimed on who he deems sickening. "God Bless America" is number ten on my most anticipated for 2012 and having now seen this trailer, that ten should be listed in uppercase bold because it looks like Bobcat has another solid movie on his hands. Check out the Red Band Trailer below.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

The "Untold" Spider-Man?

We've known for some time that Sony decided to remake / reboot Spider-Man but now it seems time Sony starts to rev up interest. Let's face it, the last swing around New York City with Spidey wasn't very well received by fans despite making plenty of money at the box office for the studio. Instead of continuing that story arc, Sony's decided to start over with "(500) Days of Summer" director Marc Webb behind the camera and fairly fresh faced Andrew Garfield as our new friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Question is, how interested are people going to be in seeing a new moodier spin on something they've already seen? Sony seems to be well aware of that and has begun peddling an advertising onslaught that will explain exactly why "The Amazing Spider-Man" will be so much different. They are calling it "The Untold Story." See for yourself below.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Review - The Grey

After a plane crash strands an oil drilling team in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness, the group must try to survive against not only the freezing temperatures and harsh elements, but a pack of wolves whose hunting territory they've invaded.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Trailer - Casa de mi Padre

Will Ferrell is an enigma for me, at times I love his schtick and others I can't stand it. Usually it is evident from the onset if I am going to be interested in a Ferrell project and his latest, a Spanish language effort, looks to be a scream! Late last year our first teaser for "Casa de mi Padre" was released and I instantly catapulted this project as a potential best for Ferrell. That initial teaser made me think Armando Alvarez could be a rival to Ron Burgundy. Thankfully the full length trailer keeps my hopes up. Check it out for yourself below.

'Prometheus' Still Stirs Questions

Over the weekend Amy Kaufman from the L.A. Times Hero Complex released an engaging interview with screenwriter Damon Lindelof on the promise of "Prometheus" being epic. Along with the interview was a brand new image of Noomi Rapace in some sort of corridor look at something off camera. The new image ended up stirring up more questions in me than the interview, because this new image clearly features not one but two space jockeys. The Space Jockey has been the one definite link we can all make between 'Prometheus' and 'Alien' but it also has become a constant source of discussion and intrigue. We want to know how and why the Space Jockey links 'Alien' to 'Prometheus'. Below I've put together a few things I have noticed pertaining to the Space Jockeys and how they might play into Ridley Scott's latest scifi.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Trailer - Moonrise Kingdom

Wes Anderson remains one of my favorite working directors. The man just has a certain flare to his films that appeals to me. This first trailer for his latest film "Moonrise Kingdom," is smothered in that particular Anderson flare. See for yourself after the jump.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Help, Rewind This! Movie

All the best movies come from some passionate place we love and some friends of mine via Twitter, are asking for our help to finish up a documentary about VHS movies. Its no secret that home video had a major impact on our society and this film aims to tell that story through a series of engaging interviews with filmmakers, video store owners, and VHS collectors alike. The production team are 90% done with the doc they've been working on for nearly two years and your help is going to help get it finished. Take a look below to see the first trailer for "Rewind This!" and how you can help get this passionate project about the transformation of media finished.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Can Burton Be Original Again?

News recently broke that Tim Burton is in talks with Warner Brothers to direct a new live-action Pinocchio with Robert Downey Jr. possibly set to star. This feels like the umpteenth time the children's book has been adapted in some form, however the ever so popular trend these days is a new twist, and here we will see the story of Pinocchio told from Geppetto's perspective. Despite of my lack of enthusiasm for this "new" version of Pinocchio, the news reminded me how badly I long for another original Tim Burton story. It seems like it has been forever, has it?

Friday, January 6, 2012

Favorite Old Movies Seen in 2011

A friend of mine on Twitter @bobfreelander, who loves making lists on his blog Rupert Pupkin Speaks, each year makes a Best of Year End List but instead of being comprised of the Favorite New Movies within a given year, it is a list comprised of the Favorite Old Movies he's seen for the first time in a given year. For instance your friends have always scoffed at how you've never seen "Deliverance" so you finally decide to see it and you love it like everyone else has always raved. That film would count for consideration on this particular Favorite Old Movies Year End List. Being an avid movie watcher, I loved the sound of this idea so I went ahead and copycatted Mr. @bobfreelander (with his blessing of course). Within 2011 I watched 492 movies, 268 of those movies were first time watches, and 122 of those titles could be considered under the stipulations listed above for my own Favorite Old Movies Seen in 2011 list.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Paranormal Wave in 2012

Hollywood is a predictable wave of reactionary studio film making. One studio hits it big with a successful franchise or genre idea so the other studios follow suit trying to steal a piece of that particular demographic. Like how Pixar and "Toy Story" created a surge of new CGI animation in late 90's, the success's of "Superman II" and Tim Burton's "Batman" spawned the superhero genre, horror movies like James Wan's "Saw" and Eli Roth's "Hostel" generated a bunch of torture horror titles, "The Blair Witch" created an entire genre of found-footage films. Take vampire movies, they have been around forever but a film like "Twilight" is a success and it brings on a whole new wave of romantically spun fantasy-genre titles. This is a perpetual cycle in Hollywood that can create both good and bad titles. Looking ahead at 2012 calendar it appears the next wave is ready to hit, one based off the box office success of the "Paranormal Activity" films, unfortunately this wave doesn't look like too fun to ride.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Trailer - ParaNorman

A few days ago while watching some new trailers via Hulu Plus I came across a new stop-motion film by people who brought us "Coraline" caled "ParaNorman" and it looks good enough I had to share it with you. Take a look at the trailer and poster below...

12 Anticipated in 2012

Happy New Year! It is that time to look ahead at 2012 and what upcoming theatrical releases we are excited for, or more specifically, which titles I'm totally itching to see. Right off the bat 2012 seems loaded with movies worth seeing and while in the past I've done Top 25 Anticipated, think this year will just go with 12. Why twelve, I don't know it is 2012, it rhymes, or maybe I'm just being lazy but its what I've decided to do.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Top 10 of 2011

Another year has come and gone. One way I always put the year to bed is a Top 10 list. Ten movies that, in my opinion, were the best this particular year had to offer. In 2011 I watched 492 movies, 268 of those movies seen were for the first time and 146 of those first time watches were titles that had a theatrical release in the U.S. within 2011. This year was a really good year for a lot of really good movies. As I narrowed down my list of movies watched I had close to 60 titles, all of which were memorable films I would recommend and champion from here on out. Needless to say it took some work for me to definitively say these are my Top 10 in 2011 but after much deliberation, I've done it. Some titles were much easier to include while others had been pulled, re-positioned, and replaced a number of times before finally reaching their official spot in the Top 10.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Top Movie Honors in 2011

Top 10 lists never seems to be enough to tell you about all the quality cinema within a given year. 2011, like so many other years housed a plethora of good movies that I feel like I need to share with all of you. In order to do that the way I see fit, I've decided to break down 2011's best films into ten genre based categories i.e. Foreign, Drama, Horror, Festivals, etc. You'll notice there isn't a set number of films in each group, just the titles I felt necessary to share from this calendar year under my criteria for consideration (films must have at least a New and York and Los Angeles limited release within the calendar year to be considered). Some categories are low because of so few quality titles or because I did not see enough quality titles in that particular sub-category to include more. There is also no set ranking here, the titles are just listed in random order. So without further ado, here we go...