Tag Archives: Film

Trailer Tuesday: The Lone Ranger

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Welcome to “Trailer Tuesday” where I talk about trailers for upcoming movies, since I’ve always found them to be endlessly fascinating.

During my movie marathon a couple weeks ago, I saw a trailer for The Lone Ranger (out tomorrow) before my showing of Man of Steel.  There’s nothing unusual about this, and I fully expected it, but what I didn’t expect was this unusual take on a trailer instead of something more typical.  Take a look, and then read on for my thoughts:

Instead of a standard trailer we instead got a behind-the-scenes look at the film.   Continue reading →

Friday Favorites: Favorite Sequence – V for Vendetta

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Welcome to “Friday Favorites” which highlight some of my favorite movie-related things.

After the big news (on my birthday) that the Supreme Court had struck down DOMA and Prop 8, I knew I wanted to feature something related to the topic for my Friday Favorite.  There were many choices.  I could have used Lynn Redgrave’s amazing scene in Kinsey, or anything from Philadelphia or Rent, but I kept coming back to Valerie’s letter from V for Vendetta.  I know it seems like an odd scene given the happy news from this week, but I think it’s important to realize both how important this news is and how far we still have to go.

V for Vendetta is an interesting movie, given that I’ve heard positive things about it both from liberals and conservatives.   Continue reading →

What’s your favorite Pixar movie?

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With the recent release of Monsters University, many blogs and news sites have been ranking all of the pixar films, so I thought I would do the same with my favorites.  There is some flexibility here, as films tend to move up and down depending on my mood, but the general trend doesn’t change.  (You can also find my ranking of comic book superhero movies here.)  Read on for my list and for a poll.  Let me know what you think in the comments! Continue reading →

Why is it so hard to make a good soundtrack album?

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The third CD that I ever bought was a film soundtrack (the first two were Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous” and Garth Brooks’ “Greatest Hits”).  It was the soundtrack to Independence Day, and I actually bought it in the hopes of it having R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” which for some reason I really wanted on CD.  I was disappointed when the song was missing from the soundtrack album, but after listening to the CD I realized how much I enjoyed the score, composed by David Arnold.  Thus began my obsession with film scores, and my collection of albums showcasing them.

I’ve been listening to the Jurassic Park soundtrack for the past week or so on my commute to work, and I’ve realized that there are several very big problems with the film score album as a whole in the industry.  I don’t know why it’s so damn hard to put together a decent album from a film score, but I’ve come up with a list of several of the problems: Continue reading →

What’s your favorite comic book superhero film?

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In my review of Man of Steel, I talked a bit about the modern phases of comic book superhero movies that began with 1978’s Superman.  I’ve enjoyed some of these phases more than others (I’m not a fan of Nolan’s style), but they’ve all produced good films and bad.  So I thought I’d come up with a list from best to worst of the comic book superhero movies of the modern era.  I kept the list limited to my arbitrarily chosen “major” superheroes, so you won’t see things like Blade or Hellboy on the list (though I love Hellboy).  I’m also not including more indie comic book films, like The Rocketeer or Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, both of which I love.  I tried to just use the films people were most likely to have seen.  (Note: Green Lantern is not included because I actually never saw it.)

Lists are great for discussion, so let me know what you think!  (In other words… BRING IT ON!!! I can’t wait to hear people challenging where I have the Batman Begins saga or Man of Steel.)  If there’s anything obvious that I left off, let me know.  And then vote below as to what is your favorite comic book superhero movie (you can fill in your own choices).  Continue reading →

Trailer Tuesday: Frozen

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Welcome to “Trailer Tuesday” where I talk about trailers for upcoming movies, since I’ve always found them to be endlessly fascinating.

Those of you who saw Monsters University were probably treated to this small teaser for the upcoming Disney Animation film, Frozen.  Frozen is a retelling of “The Snow Queen,” a fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson.  It features the voice talents of Kristen Bell (sloths!), Idina Menzel, Alan Tudyk and Jonathan Groff.  It’s also a musical, with songs written by Robert Lopez (songwriter for Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon and the Scrubs musical episode) and his wife, Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

The trailer is just a simple tease, though it does a lot to evoke the most popular characters from Tangled, Maximus the horse and Pascal the chameleon.  It may not tell us much, but it sure is cute!  Take a look: Continue reading →

What Should Joss Whedon Do Next?

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A few weeks ago, when Much Ado About Nothing official premiered, Entertainment Weekly ran a short article about who Joss Whedon should look to for inspiration.  They asked his actors from Much Ado and they came up with some interesting suggestions.  Alexis Denisof recommended something by Charles Dickens.  Reed Diamond and Clark Gregg wanted to do more Shakespeare, specifically Twelfth Night and my personal favorite, The Tempest.  Several people brought up Anton Chekhov, perhaps Three Sisters.  I’m sure there are many plays that he could adapt in a similar style, in a short period of time with a tiny budget, and I hope that more Shakespeare is in his future.

But I nearly spit water all over my computer screen when I read that Joss, himself, said, “I’m a huge Dickens fan.”   Continue reading →

Review: Much Ado About Nothing

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(This was movie #4 of my 4 movie marathon day.)

How do I become friends with Joss Whedon?  If this is how he spends his vacations, filming Shakespeare adaptations at his absolutely stunning house with a troupe of enormously talented actors and friends, then sign me up.  Much Ado About Nothing is damn near perfect, the melding of two brilliant minds across 400 years.  It’s clear that both Joss and his cast have a deep understanding both of the subject matter and the Shakespearean dialogue, and I hope we get to see a lot more of this sort of thing from him, once The Avengers 2 is done filming.

Much Ado About Nothing tells the story of two romances that take place as a prince comes to stay with a local governor.   Continue reading →

Review: Monsters University

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(This was movie #3 of my 4 movie marathon day.)

It seems like it would be easy to criticize Pixar for making so many sequels these days.  Between Toy Story 3, the new Monsters University and the upcoming Finding Dory, it seems almost like they’ve forgotten how to make new, original films.  Yet, where other companies would use a sequel as a way to cash in on previous success, Pixar instead gives us creative new stories that use a well known base to tell new, original stories, and never gives us just more of the same.  (Even the generally poor Cars 2 dared to do something different.)  The result with Toy Story 3 was a sorrowful and heartfelt look at aging and the passage of time which was nominated for Best Picture.  And now, with Monsters University they’ve done it again, taking the characters we love and going back to tell a prequel, and giving us a funny new story that fits in with what we know yet stands completely on its own.

Monsters University, as the title suggests, is a college movie, equally Pixar’s version of Revenge of the Nerds as it is a Monsters, Inc. spinoff.   Continue reading →

Review: World War Z

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(This was movie #2 of my 4 movie marathon day.)

World War Z is something of an anomaly.  For starters, it’s a zombie movie rated PG-13, which means no blood, gore or foul language.  Secondly, it stars Brad Pitt, from the top of the A-list.  Then, it’s directed by Mark Forster, known for dramas like Monster’s Ball, the heartbreaking Finding Neverland, the offbeat comedy Stranger Than Fiction, and the worst James Bond movie of recent memory (Quantum of Solace).  It’s extremely loosely based on the otherwise unfilmable book by Max Brooks (son of film-comedy genius Mel Brooks), and had more behind-the-scenes troubles than I could even relate here, involving reshoots, rewrites, and an ever-inflating budget.

All of that is superficial, however, because where World War Z really stands out is its scope.   Continue reading →