So the weekend is gone and it is time to see how many more cars Hollywood executives are going to be buying.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
1.) Transformers age of extinction: $100 million
2.) 22 jump street: $15 million
3.) How to train your dragon 2: $ 13 million
4.) Think like a man too: $ 10 million
5.) Maleficent: $ 8 million
6.) Jersey boys: $ 7 million
7.) Edge of tomorrow: $ 5 million
8.)The fault in our stars: $ 5 million
9.) X-men days of future past: $ 3 million
10.) Chef: $ 1 million
Looks like Transformers age of extinction broke the $100 million curse, which good for them because it wasn't as bad as the last three so maybe more progress could be made. Maleficent is hanging in there and just past the $600 million mark and X-men is now the highest grossing movie of this year so far. Earth to Echo which I hear nothing but good things about so I am excited.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Oldman gate
It seems whenever I decide to just casually surf the twitter sphere I come across people getting really angry about something. Last time it was David Goyer, this week it's (surprisingly) Gary Oldman. For those of you born yesterday Gary Oldman is Commissioner Gordon (Batman), Sirius Black,(Harry Potter) and Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (fifth element.) He's a fan favorite among fan boys and girls as well as critics. Although after this he might not be a fan favorite anything.
To get the fully story here is a link to a website below:
http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2014/06/gary-oldman-blasts-political-correctness-defends-mel-gibson-and/
Basically Gary Oldman defends Mel Gibbson's anti-Semitism, slams political correctness, and calls two of his most beloved movie franchises (Dark Knight and Harry Potter) "work." Oldman recently apologized on Jimmy Kimmel and is basically doing an apology tour along with the Fox PR department because 'Dawn of the planet of the apes' is coming out in a few weeks. Although that doesn't seem to have done much to make the public forgive him and everyone is still pretty ticked off at him.
I think people forget, myself included, that the actors we think are nice people with laid-back funny personalities are in actuality very real people and some of those very real people are very real assholes.That doesn't mean every actor is like that however, the rock is a real person with that real of a personality which is why he is basically a franchise savior. Yet it hurts because we've been down this road before- everyone liked Alec Baldwin until he got drunk and ranted, everyone liked Mel Gibbson until we found out he was an unhinged anti-Semite and we all loved Gary Oldman until he turned out to be a dick.
It's sad that our favorite actors turn out to be ass-hats and Gary Oldman will probably end up like Alec Baldwin and Mel Gibbson were he kind of goes away for a bit, tries to make a come back, maybe (Baldwin) or maybe not (Gibbson) makes a successful comeback. I don't think I will forget this the next time I go see a Gary Oldman movie and I think a lot of people will think twice as well.
To get the fully story here is a link to a website below:
http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2014/06/gary-oldman-blasts-political-correctness-defends-mel-gibson-and/
Basically Gary Oldman defends Mel Gibbson's anti-Semitism, slams political correctness, and calls two of his most beloved movie franchises (Dark Knight and Harry Potter) "work." Oldman recently apologized on Jimmy Kimmel and is basically doing an apology tour along with the Fox PR department because 'Dawn of the planet of the apes' is coming out in a few weeks. Although that doesn't seem to have done much to make the public forgive him and everyone is still pretty ticked off at him.
I think people forget, myself included, that the actors we think are nice people with laid-back funny personalities are in actuality very real people and some of those very real people are very real assholes.That doesn't mean every actor is like that however, the rock is a real person with that real of a personality which is why he is basically a franchise savior. Yet it hurts because we've been down this road before- everyone liked Alec Baldwin until he got drunk and ranted, everyone liked Mel Gibbson until we found out he was an unhinged anti-Semite and we all loved Gary Oldman until he turned out to be a dick.
It's sad that our favorite actors turn out to be ass-hats and Gary Oldman will probably end up like Alec Baldwin and Mel Gibbson were he kind of goes away for a bit, tries to make a come back, maybe (Baldwin) or maybe not (Gibbson) makes a successful comeback. I don't think I will forget this the next time I go see a Gary Oldman movie and I think a lot of people will think twice as well.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Weekend box office predictions
This coming weekend the big movie coming out is Transformers: age of extinction. The franchise despite often being a point of contention for many fans but sort of like the pirates of the Caribbean series no matter how many bullets you shoot at the franchise you just can't kill it. The last one made over a billion dollars and the storm that was called May is finally over.
The movie is expected to make between the range of $99 million-$108 million. I believe this even though I really don't want to- I have to be honest and say I am biased when it comes to the Transformers movies. I have never liked the Transformers movie franchise, not because I was a fan of Transformers, I have never been a fan or particularly cared for them but I hate the vapid, style-over substance movies that Michael Bay makes and the fact that such empty shallow movies can make over a billion dollar despite their clear badness. While this movie those look better than the last three combined it still is not getting rave reviews.
Here is my prediction:
Weekend box office: $94- $105 million
Domestic total: $208-$300 million
International: $ 400-$650 million
Worldwide: $ 608- $ 950 million
TOP 10 WEEKEND BOX OFFICE:
1.) Transformers: age of extinction
2.)Think like a man too
3.) 22 jump street
4.)How to train your dragon 2
5.)Maleficent
6.) Edge of Tomorrow
7.) Jersey boys
8.) The fault in our stars
9.) X-men days of future past
10.)Godzilla
With how soft of a landing Jersey boys got I expect it to drop significantly. So those are my predictions, I am pretty much going to be wrong but It's a prediction so it could be anything.
The movie is expected to make between the range of $99 million-$108 million. I believe this even though I really don't want to- I have to be honest and say I am biased when it comes to the Transformers movies. I have never liked the Transformers movie franchise, not because I was a fan of Transformers, I have never been a fan or particularly cared for them but I hate the vapid, style-over substance movies that Michael Bay makes and the fact that such empty shallow movies can make over a billion dollar despite their clear badness. While this movie those look better than the last three combined it still is not getting rave reviews.
Here is my prediction:
Weekend box office: $94- $105 million
Domestic total: $208-$300 million
International: $ 400-$650 million
Worldwide: $ 608- $ 950 million
TOP 10 WEEKEND BOX OFFICE:
1.) Transformers: age of extinction
2.)Think like a man too
3.) 22 jump street
4.)How to train your dragon 2
5.)Maleficent
6.) Edge of Tomorrow
7.) Jersey boys
8.) The fault in our stars
9.) X-men days of future past
10.)Godzilla
With how soft of a landing Jersey boys got I expect it to drop significantly. So those are my predictions, I am pretty much going to be wrong but It's a prediction so it could be anything.
Monday, June 23, 2014
Weekend Box office
The weekend box office is out and here is the top ten.
1.) Think like a man too- $ 29 million
2.) 22 jump street- $ 27 million
3.) How to train your dragon 2- $ 24 million
4.) Jersey boys- $ 13 million
5.) Maleficent- $ 12 million
6.) Edge of Tomorrow- $ 9 million
7.) The fault in our stars- $ 8 million
8.) X-men days of future past- $ 6 million
9.) Godzilla- $ 1 million
10.) Chef- $ 1 million
As predicted Think like a man too took number 1 but contradictory to my and industry predictions performed less than expected. Jersey boys did slightly less than expected by industry predictions but by my predictions it stayed in the range I predicted. Albeit I expected it do be at number 6 but it was at number 4 so that's good at the very least. Two movies that people are worried about are Edge of Tomorrow and How to train your dragon 2 which are not doing so hot with both competition and their large budgets.
The next up coming movie that I will hopefully be reviewing is- Goddammit....
1.) Think like a man too- $ 29 million
2.) 22 jump street- $ 27 million
3.) How to train your dragon 2- $ 24 million
4.) Jersey boys- $ 13 million
5.) Maleficent- $ 12 million
6.) Edge of Tomorrow- $ 9 million
7.) The fault in our stars- $ 8 million
8.) X-men days of future past- $ 6 million
9.) Godzilla- $ 1 million
10.) Chef- $ 1 million
As predicted Think like a man too took number 1 but contradictory to my and industry predictions performed less than expected. Jersey boys did slightly less than expected by industry predictions but by my predictions it stayed in the range I predicted. Albeit I expected it do be at number 6 but it was at number 4 so that's good at the very least. Two movies that people are worried about are Edge of Tomorrow and How to train your dragon 2 which are not doing so hot with both competition and their large budgets.
The next up coming movie that I will hopefully be reviewing is- Goddammit....
Jersey Boys review
Spoilers!
First off- I know, I know this was suppose to come out on Friday but I didn't see the movie until Saturday and I got a copy of the walking dead video game and obsessively played it until 3:00 am on Sunday. Also my AC set on fire due to rain experienced the day before so me and my family had to go to my Grandparent's house for the night and leave my computer behind. Also my glasses broke so if this review has a lot of typos that is probably why.
This week I was supposed to dreadfully watch think like a man too but the person I went to go see this with relented and we watched Jersey boys instead, Hooray for begging!
Jersey boys is a musical movie directed by Clint Eastwood about Frankie Valli and the four seasons, a popular rock and roll band in the sixties that produced a lot of songs a lot of people have probably heard of.
Now after watching Jersey boys and having a couple extra days to contemplate the movie I find Jersey boys might go on my worst movie of the year list. I still liked the movie more than X-men days of future past and non-stop but the thing about something like X-men days of future past where the things that were good were extremely good like the action and the visuals, the good things about Jersey boys is few and far between or almost non-existent.
Jersey boys was extremely disappointing. I love musicals- Les Miserables, Chicago, Grease, the Rocky Horror picture show etc. However in my opinion no musical has ever been that great not even Chicago which (totally undeserved) won best picture. The problem with musical movies is that they suffer from the place where they were born: the theater.
Musicals and movies are two different beast altogether. A musical you have to act loud enough for the people in the back to hear you, it's an eight hour show in front of a live audience, the staging is different from a movie and the structure is different from a movie as well. In a movie you can be quieter, if you mess up you can reshoot a scene, you only get at most two hours, and a bunch of other things I could list. Things that work in a musical do not work in a movie, which is the problem. Some musical movies either transfer things that may have worked up on stage but do not transfer well on a movie lot. Both medians have different structures and foundations.
Two of the big problems of Jersey Boys the structure and foundation. Other critics call the movie boring but to me that is not the case, there are actually a lot of funny moments in Jersey boys, the problem is the structure and foundation are so twisted that all the good moments are too far apart from each other or they are diluted.
In the movie they do a thing you may have seen in the trailers where they break the fourth wall and talk to the audience. This is a trope that is done often in musicals, it was ok for the most part but It adds to the structure problem of Jersey boys. This is done by three out of the four Jersey boys and when this happens its confusing as to whether or not the boys are actually talking to the audience or to someone else. If they had cleaned it up more, and maybe transitioned it a little better this would have been one of the pluses of the movie. Also the narrator switched between Tommy DeVito, Bob Gaudio and Nick Massi randomly making the process even more of a mess.
The structure and foundation is not as apparent in the first thirty minutes of the movie until they jump backwards in time making and the lack of a sound structure is apparent very suddenly and it gets worse as the film goes on to the point where when I walked out of the movie by head started to hurt. On that same note the timeline in this movie is another problem. We get a title card at the beginning saying it's 1961 but as the movie goes on we don't get a clue to how many years has gone my and there is really no indication to what year it is until maybe a third of the movie in when it seems as though they are in the seventies. Also the main characters in the movie never really age ( Erich Bergen gets a hair piece and a beard but expect for him that's it), they get old man makeup for like five minutes at the end but for the most part they say young men throughout the movie when they really should be aging at least a little.
The four leads are John Lloyd Young ( Frankie Valli), Erich Bergen (Bob Gaudio), Michael Lomenda (Nick Massi) and Vincent Piazza( Tommy DeVito.) This is the first movie that any of them have stared in (not to mention lead) and three out of the four leads are from the Jersey boys musical. This is both a plus and a con of the movie. On the positive side it's great because all of them can sing and sing well, that's another big problem with most musicals is that they often get people ( cough-Russell Crowe cough) for more of star power than whether or not they cans sing. Yet it's also bad because none of these actors are strong enough to carry a movie. None of them are bad actors but none of them are that great it's all just serviceable. With a movie with as bad of a structure as this you need actors who can carry it well enough to make up for it.
If I had to come down to it the two best actors out of the four are Vincent Piazza and Michael Lomenda because when either of them took over as narrator they at least had life to them and I wish them good careers because I think that they have a chance of growing into strong actors who can carry a movie. The two worst were Erich Bergen and John Lloyd Young. Bergen is a better actor than young and is fine but he brings nothing to his role. Young however is worse because really he is suppose to be the main character yet and he has no personality to him, and he doesn't get to narrate once (which is really weird) so we never get of who he is and why he does what he does. Frankie Valli is an interesting character as well and while John Lloyd Young is an Amazing Singer (he sounds just like Frankie Valli) his acting hits flat.
No one in the movie is really that memorable except Christopher Walken who steals every scene he is in but he's only in here for at least fifteen minutes. This is not a slam against the movie it's just something I thought of and that's from how old he looks in the early sixties and what I can gather from the messed up timeline he really should be dead half-way into the movie.
Now before I go into the biggest problem of the movie and so I don't look like I am giving this movie a 1/10 I will say what the good parts of the movie. The music in the movie (from what little you hear) is fantastic, again John Lloyd Young is an amazing singer and every time the Four Seasons sang you wanted to tap foot with the music. The second positive is the visual aesthetics are amazing, I typically hate grey filter but when Clint Eastwood does it, it's perfect and looks awesome.
Now for the biggest problem, the biggest problem for this movie as a whole is Clint Eastwood.
Now before someone shoots me hear me out. Jersey boys is a musical but really it's not at all. I have never seen the original stage production of Jersey boys so I can't judge it on that. However Jersey boys is more of a biopic than it is a musical. While the music is great it's more a of a C level priority for this movie and is really few and far between. Clint Eastwood was more interested in doing an biopic of Frankie Valli and the Four seasons than he was in the musical it self.
Now that does not mean that the movie had to be the musical, it could have been a fantastic biopic that would have one ten oscars. Yet the movie is also trying to be the musical at the same and all it ends up being is the poster child for identity crisis. I have the feeling that if Clint Eastwood had his way he would have just done a straight forward biopic but I think someone ( mainly the studio heads) came down and told him to make a Jersey Boys musical because it would sell better. This movie wants to be so many different things at the same time it has no time to focus on anything.
Another problem is there is no life to the movie. While Clint Eastwood movies are usually realistic and somewhat cynical their exciting and thrilling, this movie isn't. While I did say there were some genuinely funny moments in the movie, the rest of the movie has no personality and is nothing but a cold shell of a movie. I heard Jon Faveru was supposed to direct originally and in all honesty he would have been a better choice. At the very least the movie would have been lively instead of near dead. There's no emotion in the movie either even in the movie when Frankie Valli's daughter dies (spoiler) it's so rushed and confused that for the most part you feel nothing.
Another thing about the movie is the ending- to sum it up it's basically like Lord of the Rings return of the King, it starts out great and emotional but just keeps going and going to the point where it makes the film worse and cringe worthy. They also do a musical encore (another musical trope.) While it's actually kind of fun it makes the movie more of a mess tone wise and it makes it worse because if this was going to be a musical that's really what it should have been.
I am giving Jersey boys- 4/10 great music and visuals everything else though falls apart completely by the end.
First off- I know, I know this was suppose to come out on Friday but I didn't see the movie until Saturday and I got a copy of the walking dead video game and obsessively played it until 3:00 am on Sunday. Also my AC set on fire due to rain experienced the day before so me and my family had to go to my Grandparent's house for the night and leave my computer behind. Also my glasses broke so if this review has a lot of typos that is probably why.
This week I was supposed to dreadfully watch think like a man too but the person I went to go see this with relented and we watched Jersey boys instead, Hooray for begging!
Jersey boys is a musical movie directed by Clint Eastwood about Frankie Valli and the four seasons, a popular rock and roll band in the sixties that produced a lot of songs a lot of people have probably heard of.
Now after watching Jersey boys and having a couple extra days to contemplate the movie I find Jersey boys might go on my worst movie of the year list. I still liked the movie more than X-men days of future past and non-stop but the thing about something like X-men days of future past where the things that were good were extremely good like the action and the visuals, the good things about Jersey boys is few and far between or almost non-existent.
Jersey boys was extremely disappointing. I love musicals- Les Miserables, Chicago, Grease, the Rocky Horror picture show etc. However in my opinion no musical has ever been that great not even Chicago which (totally undeserved) won best picture. The problem with musical movies is that they suffer from the place where they were born: the theater.
Musicals and movies are two different beast altogether. A musical you have to act loud enough for the people in the back to hear you, it's an eight hour show in front of a live audience, the staging is different from a movie and the structure is different from a movie as well. In a movie you can be quieter, if you mess up you can reshoot a scene, you only get at most two hours, and a bunch of other things I could list. Things that work in a musical do not work in a movie, which is the problem. Some musical movies either transfer things that may have worked up on stage but do not transfer well on a movie lot. Both medians have different structures and foundations.
Two of the big problems of Jersey Boys the structure and foundation. Other critics call the movie boring but to me that is not the case, there are actually a lot of funny moments in Jersey boys, the problem is the structure and foundation are so twisted that all the good moments are too far apart from each other or they are diluted.
In the movie they do a thing you may have seen in the trailers where they break the fourth wall and talk to the audience. This is a trope that is done often in musicals, it was ok for the most part but It adds to the structure problem of Jersey boys. This is done by three out of the four Jersey boys and when this happens its confusing as to whether or not the boys are actually talking to the audience or to someone else. If they had cleaned it up more, and maybe transitioned it a little better this would have been one of the pluses of the movie. Also the narrator switched between Tommy DeVito, Bob Gaudio and Nick Massi randomly making the process even more of a mess.
The structure and foundation is not as apparent in the first thirty minutes of the movie until they jump backwards in time making and the lack of a sound structure is apparent very suddenly and it gets worse as the film goes on to the point where when I walked out of the movie by head started to hurt. On that same note the timeline in this movie is another problem. We get a title card at the beginning saying it's 1961 but as the movie goes on we don't get a clue to how many years has gone my and there is really no indication to what year it is until maybe a third of the movie in when it seems as though they are in the seventies. Also the main characters in the movie never really age ( Erich Bergen gets a hair piece and a beard but expect for him that's it), they get old man makeup for like five minutes at the end but for the most part they say young men throughout the movie when they really should be aging at least a little.
The four leads are John Lloyd Young ( Frankie Valli), Erich Bergen (Bob Gaudio), Michael Lomenda (Nick Massi) and Vincent Piazza( Tommy DeVito.) This is the first movie that any of them have stared in (not to mention lead) and three out of the four leads are from the Jersey boys musical. This is both a plus and a con of the movie. On the positive side it's great because all of them can sing and sing well, that's another big problem with most musicals is that they often get people ( cough-Russell Crowe cough) for more of star power than whether or not they cans sing. Yet it's also bad because none of these actors are strong enough to carry a movie. None of them are bad actors but none of them are that great it's all just serviceable. With a movie with as bad of a structure as this you need actors who can carry it well enough to make up for it.
If I had to come down to it the two best actors out of the four are Vincent Piazza and Michael Lomenda because when either of them took over as narrator they at least had life to them and I wish them good careers because I think that they have a chance of growing into strong actors who can carry a movie. The two worst were Erich Bergen and John Lloyd Young. Bergen is a better actor than young and is fine but he brings nothing to his role. Young however is worse because really he is suppose to be the main character yet and he has no personality to him, and he doesn't get to narrate once (which is really weird) so we never get of who he is and why he does what he does. Frankie Valli is an interesting character as well and while John Lloyd Young is an Amazing Singer (he sounds just like Frankie Valli) his acting hits flat.
No one in the movie is really that memorable except Christopher Walken who steals every scene he is in but he's only in here for at least fifteen minutes. This is not a slam against the movie it's just something I thought of and that's from how old he looks in the early sixties and what I can gather from the messed up timeline he really should be dead half-way into the movie.
Now before I go into the biggest problem of the movie and so I don't look like I am giving this movie a 1/10 I will say what the good parts of the movie. The music in the movie (from what little you hear) is fantastic, again John Lloyd Young is an amazing singer and every time the Four Seasons sang you wanted to tap foot with the music. The second positive is the visual aesthetics are amazing, I typically hate grey filter but when Clint Eastwood does it, it's perfect and looks awesome.
Now for the biggest problem, the biggest problem for this movie as a whole is Clint Eastwood.
Now before someone shoots me hear me out. Jersey boys is a musical but really it's not at all. I have never seen the original stage production of Jersey boys so I can't judge it on that. However Jersey boys is more of a biopic than it is a musical. While the music is great it's more a of a C level priority for this movie and is really few and far between. Clint Eastwood was more interested in doing an biopic of Frankie Valli and the Four seasons than he was in the musical it self.
Now that does not mean that the movie had to be the musical, it could have been a fantastic biopic that would have one ten oscars. Yet the movie is also trying to be the musical at the same and all it ends up being is the poster child for identity crisis. I have the feeling that if Clint Eastwood had his way he would have just done a straight forward biopic but I think someone ( mainly the studio heads) came down and told him to make a Jersey Boys musical because it would sell better. This movie wants to be so many different things at the same time it has no time to focus on anything.
Another problem is there is no life to the movie. While Clint Eastwood movies are usually realistic and somewhat cynical their exciting and thrilling, this movie isn't. While I did say there were some genuinely funny moments in the movie, the rest of the movie has no personality and is nothing but a cold shell of a movie. I heard Jon Faveru was supposed to direct originally and in all honesty he would have been a better choice. At the very least the movie would have been lively instead of near dead. There's no emotion in the movie either even in the movie when Frankie Valli's daughter dies (spoiler) it's so rushed and confused that for the most part you feel nothing.
Another thing about the movie is the ending- to sum it up it's basically like Lord of the Rings return of the King, it starts out great and emotional but just keeps going and going to the point where it makes the film worse and cringe worthy. They also do a musical encore (another musical trope.) While it's actually kind of fun it makes the movie more of a mess tone wise and it makes it worse because if this was going to be a musical that's really what it should have been.
I am giving Jersey boys- 4/10 great music and visuals everything else though falls apart completely by the end.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
A grain of salt
What's interesting about Hollywood news is you can't be that sure about anything, in this day and age with the internet being so rampant you have to be careful with what you read on the internet. Especially when it comes to movie news, unless it has been confirmed by the people behind the movie ( the director, producer, the studio etc.) you can never be 100% sure, heck even if they come out and debunk said rumor it can later turn out to be true. A recent example could be 'Jason Momoa as Aquaman', for months the actor denied the Aquaman rumors until recently when those rumors turned out to be true.
Everything on the internet has to be taken with a grain of salt, even the most trusted sources has to be taken a second look at. Trusted sources such as The Hollywood reporter, Variety and Deadline have been known to get things wrong or to make up stuff from time to time. It's their job.
I try not to report on rumors that much unless it seems like it might be true or If I have something to say.
Every rumor, no matter the source should be examined with these questions in mind. "Does this make logical sense?" and "Is this even true?" Even if I wish a rumor is true I have to think about it, and still second guess whatever source it's coming from. You have the brain, you make the decision whether you should believe it or not. Nothing is 100% until it's confirmed, that's a rule when it comes to movie news.
Tomorrow's review- Think like a man 2. Goodbye!
Everything on the internet has to be taken with a grain of salt, even the most trusted sources has to be taken a second look at. Trusted sources such as The Hollywood reporter, Variety and Deadline have been known to get things wrong or to make up stuff from time to time. It's their job.
I try not to report on rumors that much unless it seems like it might be true or If I have something to say.
Every rumor, no matter the source should be examined with these questions in mind. "Does this make logical sense?" and "Is this even true?" Even if I wish a rumor is true I have to think about it, and still second guess whatever source it's coming from. You have the brain, you make the decision whether you should believe it or not. Nothing is 100% until it's confirmed, that's a rule when it comes to movie news.
Tomorrow's review- Think like a man 2. Goodbye!
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Box office predictions
The last couple of week's Hollywood has been going insane because of the how the box office. For the last couple of weeks Hollywood has been more or less wrong about how the box office is going to turn out. With some movies over-performing than expected, some movies under-performing and the flip flopping between what movies places at #1 and #2 in the box office. We will have to wait until Monday whether or not Hollywood is going to drive itself through a brick wall again.
This week predictions are that Think like a man 2 will make $35 million and Jersey boys will make $ 14 million.
This weekend I think I might have to review Think like a man 2 because while I would rather watch Jersey boys ,I love musicals, and I hated Think like a man, I owe my mom for taking me to all the movies I want to see and skipping out on all the movies she wanted to see and she loved the original movie so looks like I am going to see a Kevin Hart movie.
For Jersey boys I think it actually might be lower than $14 because of the fact of how "lukewarm" the reviews have been and the lack of buzz around the movie. Even for Oscar contention it's pretty low because of the time of the film's release. Also I think a majority of people don't even know the movie exists. At most I could see it be in the twenties in the terms of millions.
For Think like a man 2 I think it will actually be a little higher than expected because of the fact of how R-rated comedies have been doing lately and how much unexpectedly the last one did.
Here are my predictions for Jersey boy's and Think like a man 2:
Jersey Boys-
Domestic box office: $10-16 million
International box office: $ 2-7million
Worldwide: $ 12-23 million
Think like man too-
Domestic box office: $ 30-35 million
International box office: $ 10-15 million
Worldwide box office: $ 40-50 million
For the top ten when it comes to box office here is my prediction-
1.) Think like a man too
2.) 22 Jump street
3.) How to train your dragon
4.)Maleficent
5.) Edge of tomorrow
6.) Jersey Boys
7.) X-men days of future past
8.) The fault in our stars
9.) Godzilla
10.) A million ways to die in the west
I love musicals but I have no hope for Jersey boys, have a nice day!
This week predictions are that Think like a man 2 will make $35 million and Jersey boys will make $ 14 million.
This weekend I think I might have to review Think like a man 2 because while I would rather watch Jersey boys ,I love musicals, and I hated Think like a man, I owe my mom for taking me to all the movies I want to see and skipping out on all the movies she wanted to see and she loved the original movie so looks like I am going to see a Kevin Hart movie.
For Jersey boys I think it actually might be lower than $14 because of the fact of how "lukewarm" the reviews have been and the lack of buzz around the movie. Even for Oscar contention it's pretty low because of the time of the film's release. Also I think a majority of people don't even know the movie exists. At most I could see it be in the twenties in the terms of millions.
For Think like a man 2 I think it will actually be a little higher than expected because of the fact of how R-rated comedies have been doing lately and how much unexpectedly the last one did.
Here are my predictions for Jersey boy's and Think like a man 2:
Jersey Boys-
Domestic box office: $10-16 million
International box office: $ 2-7million
Worldwide: $ 12-23 million
Think like man too-
Domestic box office: $ 30-35 million
International box office: $ 10-15 million
Worldwide box office: $ 40-50 million
For the top ten when it comes to box office here is my prediction-
1.) Think like a man too
2.) 22 Jump street
3.) How to train your dragon
4.)Maleficent
5.) Edge of tomorrow
6.) Jersey Boys
7.) X-men days of future past
8.) The fault in our stars
9.) Godzilla
10.) A million ways to die in the west
I love musicals but I have no hope for Jersey boys, have a nice day!
Monday, June 16, 2014
Weekend box office.
I want to try and create a schedule for myself so that way I can blog regularly yet not get sick of it. So on Monday I am going to report on Weekend box office, Wednesday make my box office prediction for the coming weekend, Thursday do a little editorial on news or anything I have a lot to say about and Friday movie review! So here it goes.
This weekend's box office has finally come out and looks like Hollywood is setting itself on fire again. The box office prediction was How to train your dragon 2 would be at #1 with $75 million and 22 jump street would be #2 with $57 million. That's not how it went however:
JUNE 13TH-15TH WEEKEND BOX OFFICE.
1.) 22 Jump Street- $60 million
2.) How to train your dragon 2- $50 million
3.) Maleficent- $19 million
4.) Edge of Tomorrow- $ 16 million
5.)The fault in our stars- $15 million
6.)X-men Days of future past- $9 million
7.) Godzilla- $ 3 million
8.) A million ways to die in the west- $ 3 million
9.) Neighbors- $ 2 million
10.) Chef- $ 2 million
It was pretty close but 22 jump street just surpassed How to Train your dragon 2 by $10 million dollars. I was never a fan of the original how to train your dragon, I found it an ok if at worst boring movie which made me not watch How to train your dragon 2. That said I hear a lot of good things about it the second one. Many people thought that How to Train your dragon 2 would beat 22 jump street because it could reach a family demographic, but when I went to go see 22 Jump street I saw a lot of kids in the theater. Not to mention nothing in 22 jump street is that bad were kids can't watch it, no one's dick gets shot off.
Maleficent has been surprising people in the sense that it hasn't dropped that much as other summer movie blockbusters have and from the looks of it, it's going to continue to stay. Tom Cruise can still say has a little bit of pride left since Edge of Tomorrow isn't the big bomb it was initially and is doing well internationally. The fault in our stars went from #1 to # 5 unsurprisingly but it still made a shit ton of money since it had such small of a budget. I really want to see chef but I will hold off on seeing it and reviewing it when a certain explosion fest bay movie comes out so that can be my review instead because I don't want to give anymore money to that particular franchise.
This weekend's box office has finally come out and looks like Hollywood is setting itself on fire again. The box office prediction was How to train your dragon 2 would be at #1 with $75 million and 22 jump street would be #2 with $57 million. That's not how it went however:
JUNE 13TH-15TH WEEKEND BOX OFFICE.
1.) 22 Jump Street- $60 million
2.) How to train your dragon 2- $50 million
3.) Maleficent- $19 million
4.) Edge of Tomorrow- $ 16 million
5.)The fault in our stars- $15 million
6.)X-men Days of future past- $9 million
7.) Godzilla- $ 3 million
8.) A million ways to die in the west- $ 3 million
9.) Neighbors- $ 2 million
10.) Chef- $ 2 million
It was pretty close but 22 jump street just surpassed How to Train your dragon 2 by $10 million dollars. I was never a fan of the original how to train your dragon, I found it an ok if at worst boring movie which made me not watch How to train your dragon 2. That said I hear a lot of good things about it the second one. Many people thought that How to Train your dragon 2 would beat 22 jump street because it could reach a family demographic, but when I went to go see 22 Jump street I saw a lot of kids in the theater. Not to mention nothing in 22 jump street is that bad were kids can't watch it, no one's dick gets shot off.
Maleficent has been surprising people in the sense that it hasn't dropped that much as other summer movie blockbusters have and from the looks of it, it's going to continue to stay. Tom Cruise can still say has a little bit of pride left since Edge of Tomorrow isn't the big bomb it was initially and is doing well internationally. The fault in our stars went from #1 to # 5 unsurprisingly but it still made a shit ton of money since it had such small of a budget. I really want to see chef but I will hold off on seeing it and reviewing it when a certain explosion fest bay movie comes out so that can be my review instead because I don't want to give anymore money to that particular franchise.
Friday, June 13, 2014
22 Jump street review
This might be a short review and the one with the least amount of spoilers.
I think Chris Miller and Phil Lord are climbing there way to my second favorite directors (Wes Anderson is still my man.) I loved the 21 Jump street reboot movie, Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, and the Lego movie. However what's keeping them from being my OFFICIAL second favorite directors is there sequels. While Cloudy with a chance of meatballs isn't bad, it's a very good film, these guys haven't made a bad film yet, but it is no where as good as the original. However 22 Jump street is weird because to me it's both just as good as the original but at the same time not as good as the sequel.
What I love about Miller and Lord's movie is the self-awareness of their movies and the meta-humor of them. That is the best part about 22 jump street. At the beginning Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill's characters after being promoted to real police work mess up extremely badly. Head Ron Swanson cop tells them that instead of trying something new that they should go back to what made them great. That scene with Ron Swanson cop, Tatum and Hill talking about what they should do is one of the best parts of the movie as they point out the ridiculousness of sequels either doubling the budget and going with something bigger or do the same thing over and over again without spicing anything up. Miller and Lord acknowledge this even further with the best end credits sequence ever! This helps the film and makes me feel it's as good as the original.
Tatum and Hill once again show off there amazing chemistry that is really the thrust of movie. In the film Tatum feels restricted by Hill where as Hill feels he is losing his best friend. Both men put up a good performance, thankfully having each other to bounce off of. Ice Cube was my favorite part of the movie and had some of the funniest scenes in the movie, I won't spoil it so you will have something to look forward too. Dave Franco and Rob Riggle show up again for cameos which are really funny. There are also a pair of really funny twins in the movie as well who have a couple cute gags.
Now what do I mean when I say it is not as good as the original when I just said it was just as good. Well while the meta humor and self-awareness was really good and better than the original the rest of the regular humor was just ok. Most people will have a laugh at first but forget about it quickly. Ice cube does have the funniest scenes but that is about 10% of the movie, the meta humor is about 25% of the movie while the other 65% of the humor while enjoyable is very forgettable when you get down into the nitty gritty.
I give this a 7.5/10- While still good every director has something they need to work on for Miller and Lord it's sequel's, they have gotten better but they still have some way to go. Still I will enjoy watching there practice one joke at a time.
I think Chris Miller and Phil Lord are climbing there way to my second favorite directors (Wes Anderson is still my man.) I loved the 21 Jump street reboot movie, Cloudy with a chance of meatballs, and the Lego movie. However what's keeping them from being my OFFICIAL second favorite directors is there sequels. While Cloudy with a chance of meatballs isn't bad, it's a very good film, these guys haven't made a bad film yet, but it is no where as good as the original. However 22 Jump street is weird because to me it's both just as good as the original but at the same time not as good as the sequel.
What I love about Miller and Lord's movie is the self-awareness of their movies and the meta-humor of them. That is the best part about 22 jump street. At the beginning Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill's characters after being promoted to real police work mess up extremely badly. Head Ron Swanson cop tells them that instead of trying something new that they should go back to what made them great. That scene with Ron Swanson cop, Tatum and Hill talking about what they should do is one of the best parts of the movie as they point out the ridiculousness of sequels either doubling the budget and going with something bigger or do the same thing over and over again without spicing anything up. Miller and Lord acknowledge this even further with the best end credits sequence ever! This helps the film and makes me feel it's as good as the original.
Tatum and Hill once again show off there amazing chemistry that is really the thrust of movie. In the film Tatum feels restricted by Hill where as Hill feels he is losing his best friend. Both men put up a good performance, thankfully having each other to bounce off of. Ice Cube was my favorite part of the movie and had some of the funniest scenes in the movie, I won't spoil it so you will have something to look forward too. Dave Franco and Rob Riggle show up again for cameos which are really funny. There are also a pair of really funny twins in the movie as well who have a couple cute gags.
Now what do I mean when I say it is not as good as the original when I just said it was just as good. Well while the meta humor and self-awareness was really good and better than the original the rest of the regular humor was just ok. Most people will have a laugh at first but forget about it quickly. Ice cube does have the funniest scenes but that is about 10% of the movie, the meta humor is about 25% of the movie while the other 65% of the humor while enjoyable is very forgettable when you get down into the nitty gritty.
I give this a 7.5/10- While still good every director has something they need to work on for Miller and Lord it's sequel's, they have gotten better but they still have some way to go. Still I will enjoy watching there practice one joke at a time.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
DC Superhero Slate & my examination of it
Today a big leak broke out about the potential slate of DC films that WB plans to produce. Here they are and I am going to give my examination of each project.
May 2016 – Batman v Superman
Since this is both confirmed and the project has already started film I am not going to spend too much time on it. If WB/DC decides to do a panel than we will probably see some photos and some clips of the movie and we'll get a panel if we are lucky. That's to say if they even go this year since last year it was a WB press conference and not a DC panel that this movie was originally announced at plus people have been really mad at them and have been making fun of them for the last long while so they might not want to come in fear it will turn into a slaughter fest.
July 2016 – Shazam
This movie was announced about being developed a long while ago and it might actually come out and if it does it will not be in the summer of 2016. A movie takes time, especially a good movie. You need to work on the script, hire a director, hire actors, crew, work out the budget, film, edit and a lot of other stuff. This movie probably isn't even in pre-production yet so it is nowhere near going to be ready in time for 2016. There are rumors this will not be apart of the DC cinematic universe.
Xmas 2016 – Sandman
This one probably will happen and has the highest possibility of happening because they already announced a long time ago that Joseph Gordon Levitt will be directing and staring in this movie and the script has been in the works for a long time. I have never read Sandman and could give a damn about it but I do hear it's really good so this will be interesting. This will not be about of the DC cinematic universe
May 2017 – Justice League
We already knew this was coming and the reported slate is that the team will be Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Flash, Green lantern and Aquaman. What intrigues me more than the movie itself is the fact that May 2017 is the same month an unannounced Marvel Movie is supposed to happen.... way to act petty DC.
July 2017 – Wonder Woman
PLEASE LET THIS BE TRUE! I never believed the theory that female superhero movies won't make money, the only reason they bomb is because they are all bad movies and were marketed horribly. A Wonder Woman movie could be awesome especially done right, and could be a game changer for DC.
Xmas 2017 – Flash and Green Lantern team-up
This one I am kind of split on, I can understand the reasoning behind this if it is true but I would not want to go see this movie. To me team up movies should be special and I like solo adventures, I like seeing these characters on their own. Yet I can understand after the mega bomb that was Green Lantern you would not instinctively give this guy his own movie again but it would be better to reboot the franchise if he had his own movie. Flash can hold up a movie as well as he does has one of the best rogue's gallery second to Batman and Spider man. Whether this will be a new flash or a flash from the upcoming TV show is ambiguous.
May 2018 – Man Of Steel 2
This is the thing that makes me shake my head, forsaking my opinion on man of steel this makes me sigh that it will take five years for a superman movie sequel to come out so it can fix the problems of the original when half the cast probably would not want to return or are too old to return. I hope this one isn't true because it points to the big problem with the people handling the DC cinematic universe showing the full lack of understanding and incompetence. And I don't want to see that I want my flash movie, I want my Wonder Woman movie, I want my Teen titans movie, I just want a fun DC movie.
So there are my thoughts, tomorrow 22 Jump Street, Awesome!
May 2016 – Batman v Superman
Since this is both confirmed and the project has already started film I am not going to spend too much time on it. If WB/DC decides to do a panel than we will probably see some photos and some clips of the movie and we'll get a panel if we are lucky. That's to say if they even go this year since last year it was a WB press conference and not a DC panel that this movie was originally announced at plus people have been really mad at them and have been making fun of them for the last long while so they might not want to come in fear it will turn into a slaughter fest.
July 2016 – Shazam
This movie was announced about being developed a long while ago and it might actually come out and if it does it will not be in the summer of 2016. A movie takes time, especially a good movie. You need to work on the script, hire a director, hire actors, crew, work out the budget, film, edit and a lot of other stuff. This movie probably isn't even in pre-production yet so it is nowhere near going to be ready in time for 2016. There are rumors this will not be apart of the DC cinematic universe.
Xmas 2016 – Sandman
This one probably will happen and has the highest possibility of happening because they already announced a long time ago that Joseph Gordon Levitt will be directing and staring in this movie and the script has been in the works for a long time. I have never read Sandman and could give a damn about it but I do hear it's really good so this will be interesting. This will not be about of the DC cinematic universe
May 2017 – Justice League
We already knew this was coming and the reported slate is that the team will be Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Flash, Green lantern and Aquaman. What intrigues me more than the movie itself is the fact that May 2017 is the same month an unannounced Marvel Movie is supposed to happen.... way to act petty DC.
July 2017 – Wonder Woman
PLEASE LET THIS BE TRUE! I never believed the theory that female superhero movies won't make money, the only reason they bomb is because they are all bad movies and were marketed horribly. A Wonder Woman movie could be awesome especially done right, and could be a game changer for DC.
Xmas 2017 – Flash and Green Lantern team-up
This one I am kind of split on, I can understand the reasoning behind this if it is true but I would not want to go see this movie. To me team up movies should be special and I like solo adventures, I like seeing these characters on their own. Yet I can understand after the mega bomb that was Green Lantern you would not instinctively give this guy his own movie again but it would be better to reboot the franchise if he had his own movie. Flash can hold up a movie as well as he does has one of the best rogue's gallery second to Batman and Spider man. Whether this will be a new flash or a flash from the upcoming TV show is ambiguous.
May 2018 – Man Of Steel 2
This is the thing that makes me shake my head, forsaking my opinion on man of steel this makes me sigh that it will take five years for a superman movie sequel to come out so it can fix the problems of the original when half the cast probably would not want to return or are too old to return. I hope this one isn't true because it points to the big problem with the people handling the DC cinematic universe showing the full lack of understanding and incompetence. And I don't want to see that I want my flash movie, I want my Wonder Woman movie, I want my Teen titans movie, I just want a fun DC movie.
So there are my thoughts, tomorrow 22 Jump Street, Awesome!
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
New Ant-man director- sorry for being so late
I wasn't originally going to talk about this and I am super late to the party when reporting this but I have been slacking in June blog entries and decided to finally do this. The new Ant-man director is Peyton Reed the director of Yes man and Bring it on. I haven't seen any of his movies except for Bring it on, it isn't that bad of a movie and it's actually very funny but it's one of those movies that are pulled off thanks to the actors rather than the directors. He's seems more of a yes-man which is why I think Marvel/ Disney hired him which I hope Marvel pulls a Russo and turn into an awesome director by giving him very good support. This was obviously a last ditch choice as many people are either too busy to take on this project last minute, don't want to deal with the fan comments of "He's not as good as Edgar Wright" or are friends with Wright (he has a lot of friends in Hollywood) and have too much respect for him to take over something he poured all of his sweat, blood and cornetto ice cream into since 2006.
I am not as excited for this film as before, not because of Edgar Wright leaving as I have never really been a fan of his films (don't hate but haven't been that terribly interested) and I love the cast. What makes me nervous is the fact of all the turmoil this movie has been under and the chances of it becoming a bad movie overall. Unless I see a trailer or hear really big interesting news my wallet has kind of retracted from buying Ant-man tickets.
I am not as excited for this film as before, not because of Edgar Wright leaving as I have never really been a fan of his films (don't hate but haven't been that terribly interested) and I love the cast. What makes me nervous is the fact of all the turmoil this movie has been under and the chances of it becoming a bad movie overall. Unless I see a trailer or hear really big interesting news my wallet has kind of retracted from buying Ant-man tickets.
Bryan Singer Controversy- continuation
A recent rumor floating around is that Bryan Singer the director of X-men 'Days of future Past', will not be returning for X-men Apocalypse. Unlike the Edgar Wright situation with Marvel where Edgar LEFT due to creative differences with the studio, Signer is being FIRED from X-men Apocalypse because of the ' Sexual Abuse charges' against him that were filed a few months back. It's also rumored Signer would stay on as a producer but he won't be directing.
Now this is a tricky and touchy subject. While I am in the minority where I hated 'X-men days of future past' and have gotten a lot of crap for it, I still like Bryan Singer as a director. I loved both of his original X-men films and The Usual suspects, he also seems like a decent guy in real life. While the initial shockwave about the charges have died down, this rumor if true, shows that these charges will never leave him-even if he didn't do it. This will make other studios think twice about hiring him or approving any projects he might have in the future. Fox studios removed his name from marketing and press conferences for Days of future past because no studio wants to be a person who has been accused of sexual abuse. It might even effect his personal life as well because of how famous he is. It sucks completely for Bryan Singer, who has to live the rest of his life with that kind of shadow following him, even if he didn't do it no one wants to be remembered for that.
Yet at the same time I can sort of see where Fox is coming from. Fox is still a business (as is all of Hollywood) and needs to make money to stay a float. X-men Days of future past was predicted to break the one-hundred million mark on it's opening week end but it didn't, in fact despite the acclaim X-men days of future past is the lowest selling super-hero blockbuster of the summer when compared to Captain America: The winter soldier and Amazing Spider-man 2. It's even lower than X-men: The last stand, a movie (which I still liked) was said to be the nail in the coffin for the franchise. Many people speculate (and I know people who didn't go for this reason) was because of the sexual abuse charges against singer and films only drop in box office after the first weekend. Days of future past cost half a billion dollars to make and is doing not that great domestically (albeit internationally it's doing very well so it will make it's money back.)
I am not picking a side on this because I can see the reasoning behind Fox's decision and yet I feel really, really sorry for Bryan Singer. Now remember this is only a rumor at this point but it's one of those things I can see really happening. No one wins in this situation, Singer's career and life has a possibility of being stained forever and Fox will suffer a Edgar Wright situation where the fans will have a lot of backlash against them.
Man I hope we get some good news tomorrow because this is just depressing. (I am not covering E3 because while I do love playing video games, I don't really have much of an opinion on video games .I am the kind of person who sees a video game on a shelf and if it looks cool I will pick it up and like it even if it sucks.)
Now this is a tricky and touchy subject. While I am in the minority where I hated 'X-men days of future past' and have gotten a lot of crap for it, I still like Bryan Singer as a director. I loved both of his original X-men films and The Usual suspects, he also seems like a decent guy in real life. While the initial shockwave about the charges have died down, this rumor if true, shows that these charges will never leave him-even if he didn't do it. This will make other studios think twice about hiring him or approving any projects he might have in the future. Fox studios removed his name from marketing and press conferences for Days of future past because no studio wants to be a person who has been accused of sexual abuse. It might even effect his personal life as well because of how famous he is. It sucks completely for Bryan Singer, who has to live the rest of his life with that kind of shadow following him, even if he didn't do it no one wants to be remembered for that.
Yet at the same time I can sort of see where Fox is coming from. Fox is still a business (as is all of Hollywood) and needs to make money to stay a float. X-men Days of future past was predicted to break the one-hundred million mark on it's opening week end but it didn't, in fact despite the acclaim X-men days of future past is the lowest selling super-hero blockbuster of the summer when compared to Captain America: The winter soldier and Amazing Spider-man 2. It's even lower than X-men: The last stand, a movie (which I still liked) was said to be the nail in the coffin for the franchise. Many people speculate (and I know people who didn't go for this reason) was because of the sexual abuse charges against singer and films only drop in box office after the first weekend. Days of future past cost half a billion dollars to make and is doing not that great domestically (albeit internationally it's doing very well so it will make it's money back.)
I am not picking a side on this because I can see the reasoning behind Fox's decision and yet I feel really, really sorry for Bryan Singer. Now remember this is only a rumor at this point but it's one of those things I can see really happening. No one wins in this situation, Singer's career and life has a possibility of being stained forever and Fox will suffer a Edgar Wright situation where the fans will have a lot of backlash against them.
Man I hope we get some good news tomorrow because this is just depressing. (I am not covering E3 because while I do love playing video games, I don't really have much of an opinion on video games .I am the kind of person who sees a video game on a shelf and if it looks cool I will pick it up and like it even if it sucks.)
Sunday, June 8, 2014
The Fault in our stars review
Before I start this was suppose to come out on Friday but I didn't see the movie until today. I was away from my computer on Saturday as well so sorry.
SPOILER!SPOILER!SPOILER!SPOILER!SPOILER!
The Fault in our stars was a 2012 book by John Green (go watch crash course if you want to learn yet still be entertained.) The book is very good often praised for its genuine, honest approach towards a very complicated subject. It got very popular to the point where Hollywood made a movie out of it.
Thankfully I can say Hollywood didn't ruin it and it is a very good movie which I do recommend watching even though 90% of you will probably end up crying (I am a lot more cold hearted so I didn't cry but everyone else in my theater did.) The film is about a girl with terminal cancer named Hazel who meets a boy who also had cancer named Augustus during a cancer support group. They become friends before eventually falling in love. And because I've never had reservations on SPOILERS, Augustus eventually dies of cancer leaving Hazel to cope.
What the movie gets right as does the book is the honest and genuine approach towards the subject of cancer and dying. The emotion is very much there as well as the good intention. Shaneline Woodley is growing as an actresses and turns in one of her best performances, she brings the honesty and cynicism that would be required for the role of Hazel and balances them out very well.
If were being honest here I have to say while reading the book "the fault in our stars" I never could really connect with Augustus mainly because he was more of a "manic pixie dream boy." Harshly the only time I did relate to him was when he was dying. In the movie I think I like Augustus more than I did in the book and that's due to the performance of Ansol Elgort. While he still has a bit of those traits, Elgort makes Gus seem way more real and I could actually identify him with boys I have met. He and Woodley have very good chemistry even though it's kind of creepy that in Divergent they played brother and sister while here they play boyfriend and girlfriend.
Like in the book and here in the movie my favorite character in this is Mrs. Lancaster, I always found her interesting and felt the most sympathy for her because she had to watch her only child die right in front of her. Laura Dern turns in an excellent and heartbreaking performance. While I didn't cry the line Dern delivers "I won't be a mom anymore" was the line that made me pause in the book and was the line that stung the most in the movie.
Everyone else turns in a good performance, Nat Wolf as Isaac and Willem Defoe as Peter Van Houten both turn in very funny performances that add levity to the movie so that way you didn't walk out of the movie feeling completely depressed and hopeless.
Of course not every movie is perfect, and hardly any movie adaptation of a book is better than the actual book or even as good. This is one of those adaptations that keeps way too much from the movie. For example we get a montage of the support group counselor Patrick's back story when that was no where needed and could have been cut from the movie. There are a lot of scenes like that. In a movie adaptation it has the opportunity to the change things that might not have been too good in the book and fix it to make a better movie. Most adaptations don't do that but here sometimes it doesn't.
In the book Augustus finds out that he got his cancer back before the trip and doesn't tell Hazel about it until the day before they leave Amsterdam. It would have been better and more impactful if they had it where Augustus didn't find out his cancer came back until they got back from Amsterdam. This movie also should have cut out dialogue where the scene should have been quiet.
Some of the dialogue which I found a bit cheesy in the book are heard in the movie and made even cheesier when spoken aloud. They also do the thing where they when someone text another person the text appears as bubbles on the screen which always ticks me off in movies whenever they do that.
Another thing is the use of narration in the movie. I hate narration in movies because I feel that it lessens the pain of what's suppose to be going on, on screen because instead of naturally feeling what's being put on screen we are told what to feel by a voice. I also feel that due to this it's lazy screen writing.
I give The fault in our stars a 8/10- good emotion, good acting but took too much from the book, took some of the bad things of the book, sucky narration and a few more pet peeves here and there.
SPOILER!SPOILER!SPOILER!SPOILER!SPOILER!
The Fault in our stars was a 2012 book by John Green (go watch crash course if you want to learn yet still be entertained.) The book is very good often praised for its genuine, honest approach towards a very complicated subject. It got very popular to the point where Hollywood made a movie out of it.
Thankfully I can say Hollywood didn't ruin it and it is a very good movie which I do recommend watching even though 90% of you will probably end up crying (I am a lot more cold hearted so I didn't cry but everyone else in my theater did.) The film is about a girl with terminal cancer named Hazel who meets a boy who also had cancer named Augustus during a cancer support group. They become friends before eventually falling in love. And because I've never had reservations on SPOILERS, Augustus eventually dies of cancer leaving Hazel to cope.
What the movie gets right as does the book is the honest and genuine approach towards the subject of cancer and dying. The emotion is very much there as well as the good intention. Shaneline Woodley is growing as an actresses and turns in one of her best performances, she brings the honesty and cynicism that would be required for the role of Hazel and balances them out very well.
If were being honest here I have to say while reading the book "the fault in our stars" I never could really connect with Augustus mainly because he was more of a "manic pixie dream boy." Harshly the only time I did relate to him was when he was dying. In the movie I think I like Augustus more than I did in the book and that's due to the performance of Ansol Elgort. While he still has a bit of those traits, Elgort makes Gus seem way more real and I could actually identify him with boys I have met. He and Woodley have very good chemistry even though it's kind of creepy that in Divergent they played brother and sister while here they play boyfriend and girlfriend.
Like in the book and here in the movie my favorite character in this is Mrs. Lancaster, I always found her interesting and felt the most sympathy for her because she had to watch her only child die right in front of her. Laura Dern turns in an excellent and heartbreaking performance. While I didn't cry the line Dern delivers "I won't be a mom anymore" was the line that made me pause in the book and was the line that stung the most in the movie.
Everyone else turns in a good performance, Nat Wolf as Isaac and Willem Defoe as Peter Van Houten both turn in very funny performances that add levity to the movie so that way you didn't walk out of the movie feeling completely depressed and hopeless.
Of course not every movie is perfect, and hardly any movie adaptation of a book is better than the actual book or even as good. This is one of those adaptations that keeps way too much from the movie. For example we get a montage of the support group counselor Patrick's back story when that was no where needed and could have been cut from the movie. There are a lot of scenes like that. In a movie adaptation it has the opportunity to the change things that might not have been too good in the book and fix it to make a better movie. Most adaptations don't do that but here sometimes it doesn't.
In the book Augustus finds out that he got his cancer back before the trip and doesn't tell Hazel about it until the day before they leave Amsterdam. It would have been better and more impactful if they had it where Augustus didn't find out his cancer came back until they got back from Amsterdam. This movie also should have cut out dialogue where the scene should have been quiet.
Some of the dialogue which I found a bit cheesy in the book are heard in the movie and made even cheesier when spoken aloud. They also do the thing where they when someone text another person the text appears as bubbles on the screen which always ticks me off in movies whenever they do that.
Another thing is the use of narration in the movie. I hate narration in movies because I feel that it lessens the pain of what's suppose to be going on, on screen because instead of naturally feeling what's being put on screen we are told what to feel by a voice. I also feel that due to this it's lazy screen writing.
I give The fault in our stars a 8/10- good emotion, good acting but took too much from the book, took some of the bad things of the book, sucky narration and a few more pet peeves here and there.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Actors and directors
Ok some big news just broke from Disney these past couple days and I just want to report on it. I should have really reported on one of these news pieces yesterday but I got lazy playing my new playstation and I wanted a back up in case nothing happened today. Which something did break so now I have two things to report on, cool!
The first came out Yesterday it broke that Lupita Nyong'o (Pasty from 12 years a slave) and Gwendline Christie (Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones.) I love this! Both of them are great actresses and will add some unique qualities to the film, the film by the way is actually shaping up very well. I wrote an article a couple weeks back about the lack of girl power in Star Wars and this makes me happy... I mean Gwendline Christie is awesome and is as girl power as you get, I suspect she might be playing some sort of military officer but if she plays a Jedi that would be very cool. Lupita Nyong'o is awesome and rumors surfaced a couple months back that she would be in the film as a sith. If so let that happen, heck John Boyega is probably going to be the main character why not make Lupita the main villain, let her kill a village or assassinate a senator that would be badass.
A story that doesn't get me that excited is the announcement that Scott Derrikson is directing Dr. Strange. Now before you kill me, I am excited for a Dr. Strange movie but I have never liked anything Scott Derrikson has made. It's more of personal taste but I thought all of his movies have kind of sucked.
What makes this story curious however is that they are announcing this now, when I wouldn't expect a Dr. Strange film to be released until August 2016 and even then you wouldn't really announce a director until later this year. Not to mention from what we know Ant-man still doesn't have a director which is even stranger (no pun intended) and it's suppose to be shooting a month to keep it's July release date. Now of course this might be more damage control from Marvel as even with the Josh Brolin as Thanos news it failed to divert attention off of the whole Wright situation.
Now this is just me conspiracy theorist but there has been a lot of talk around the movie sphere that they should either just cancel Ant-man all together or fast track another movie to replace it. Now Dr. Strange has been a property Marvel as been throwing around for a long time and if they are confident enough to announce the director than that leads me to believe the script will be almost finished. Also what if they took back the November release day but instead of putting Ant-man there they pushed him back to Auguest 2016 and put Dr. Strange in that place. It probably won't happen but hey a theory is a theory not to mention it might be good if they pushed it back so people could forget all the turmoil it's been under for the last couple days. Just a suggestion.
(Ps. No pictures will appear on this blog as every time I try to put a picture up on here the blog boots me out or erases everything I wrote.)
The first came out Yesterday it broke that Lupita Nyong'o (Pasty from 12 years a slave) and Gwendline Christie (Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones.) I love this! Both of them are great actresses and will add some unique qualities to the film, the film by the way is actually shaping up very well. I wrote an article a couple weeks back about the lack of girl power in Star Wars and this makes me happy... I mean Gwendline Christie is awesome and is as girl power as you get, I suspect she might be playing some sort of military officer but if she plays a Jedi that would be very cool. Lupita Nyong'o is awesome and rumors surfaced a couple months back that she would be in the film as a sith. If so let that happen, heck John Boyega is probably going to be the main character why not make Lupita the main villain, let her kill a village or assassinate a senator that would be badass.
A story that doesn't get me that excited is the announcement that Scott Derrikson is directing Dr. Strange. Now before you kill me, I am excited for a Dr. Strange movie but I have never liked anything Scott Derrikson has made. It's more of personal taste but I thought all of his movies have kind of sucked.
What makes this story curious however is that they are announcing this now, when I wouldn't expect a Dr. Strange film to be released until August 2016 and even then you wouldn't really announce a director until later this year. Not to mention from what we know Ant-man still doesn't have a director which is even stranger (no pun intended) and it's suppose to be shooting a month to keep it's July release date. Now of course this might be more damage control from Marvel as even with the Josh Brolin as Thanos news it failed to divert attention off of the whole Wright situation.
Now this is just me conspiracy theorist but there has been a lot of talk around the movie sphere that they should either just cancel Ant-man all together or fast track another movie to replace it. Now Dr. Strange has been a property Marvel as been throwing around for a long time and if they are confident enough to announce the director than that leads me to believe the script will be almost finished. Also what if they took back the November release day but instead of putting Ant-man there they pushed him back to Auguest 2016 and put Dr. Strange in that place. It probably won't happen but hey a theory is a theory not to mention it might be good if they pushed it back so people could forget all the turmoil it's been under for the last couple days. Just a suggestion.
(Ps. No pictures will appear on this blog as every time I try to put a picture up on here the blog boots me out or erases everything I wrote.)
Monday, June 2, 2014
Studios pissing contest
For those of you who may have heard Marvel is rumored to cancel it's entire Fantastic Four line (as well as side-line the Fantastic four to guest appearances) in order to try and undermine Fox studios who are making the Fantastic Four.
Ok a little background, back in the 90's Marvel was going bankrupt and in order to stay they sold off the movie rights to different studios for many different characters. Sony got everything Spider-man (except Spider-woman but that is a long story), Fox got all of the X-men property and Fantastic Four property (including some cosmic stuff) and Universal (I think) got Namor. Which is why you don't see things like Spider-man in the Avengers.
While Marvel Studios (the guys who own everything else Marvel) are on friendly terms with Sony and Universal, the relationship with Fox has been infamously antagonistic. Marvel does not like what Fox has done with the Fantastic four and X-men properties and want them back, Fox of course does not want to give them back. Their feud is so bad that the only reason Quicksilver was used in X-men Days of future past was because they knew the character was going to be in Avengers: Age of Ultron, so they decided to beat Marvel to the punch.
To me no difference will be made by cancelling the Fantastic Four line, their comics have never really sold that well (which is bad because comics are selling less and less these days.) Unlike the X-men comics line which makes up the bulk of Marvel's comic profit. I could only really see this hurting them is that they end up pissing off Fantastic Four fans by doing this thus losing a couple customers. Not to mention it makes Marvel Studios indirectly look a little bad and they've already been having a rough week as it is.
I have never personally been a fan of Fantastic Four, I don't really find them that interesting and could give a damn about the new reboot. The news however makes me sad because it shows how childish this feud is and makes the people involve look like a bunch of babies. Grown ups often tell kids and teenagers to act like adults which from the sounds of this situation act like temperamental brats who can't get along. Everyone in this situation looks bad and won't do anything in the long run. (If it does than damn!)
Ok a little background, back in the 90's Marvel was going bankrupt and in order to stay they sold off the movie rights to different studios for many different characters. Sony got everything Spider-man (except Spider-woman but that is a long story), Fox got all of the X-men property and Fantastic Four property (including some cosmic stuff) and Universal (I think) got Namor. Which is why you don't see things like Spider-man in the Avengers.
While Marvel Studios (the guys who own everything else Marvel) are on friendly terms with Sony and Universal, the relationship with Fox has been infamously antagonistic. Marvel does not like what Fox has done with the Fantastic four and X-men properties and want them back, Fox of course does not want to give them back. Their feud is so bad that the only reason Quicksilver was used in X-men Days of future past was because they knew the character was going to be in Avengers: Age of Ultron, so they decided to beat Marvel to the punch.
To me no difference will be made by cancelling the Fantastic Four line, their comics have never really sold that well (which is bad because comics are selling less and less these days.) Unlike the X-men comics line which makes up the bulk of Marvel's comic profit. I could only really see this hurting them is that they end up pissing off Fantastic Four fans by doing this thus losing a couple customers. Not to mention it makes Marvel Studios indirectly look a little bad and they've already been having a rough week as it is.
I have never personally been a fan of Fantastic Four, I don't really find them that interesting and could give a damn about the new reboot. The news however makes me sad because it shows how childish this feud is and makes the people involve look like a bunch of babies. Grown ups often tell kids and teenagers to act like adults which from the sounds of this situation act like temperamental brats who can't get along. Everyone in this situation looks bad and won't do anything in the long run. (If it does than damn!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)