FAST & THE FURIOUS RETROSPECTIVE - Part 1: POINT BREAK

 

Ah, my famous franchise retrospecting has returned!  And now, debuting on my own my own site is THE FAST & THE FURIOUS retrospective!  Join me looking back as we edge closer to FAST & FURIOUS 6 opening May 24th.

Point Break

1991

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Starring:  Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, Lori Petty, John C. McGinley, Gary Busey, James LeGros

Rated R

You gotta go down.  You crossed the line and people trusted you and they died.

                        ~Johnny Utah

So…you’re doing a Fast & The Furious retrospective and you’re starting with Point Break?  Of course I am.  The genesis of the first film in the Fast & The Furious franchise begins here.  The outline and overall narrative of Point Break is almost beat for beat repeated in The Fast & The Furious.  You’re basically trading in surf boards for street racing cars.  Watching them back to back, its even more apparent.

Things Nobody Wants: SCREAM To Get An MTV Series

According to the Hollywood Reporter yesterday, it appears MTV will be sending a television version of the film franchise SCREAM into production.  If we want to be a bit inside baseball, this isn't the first SCREAM television program.  THE FOLLOWING, airing on FOX, is supposedly a reworked version of what Kevin Williamson had in mind for a 5th SCREAM film before the Weinstein's meddled and he quit SCREAM 4.  If you were ever wondering his why he quit or what his original intentions were for SCREAM 4 and you've seen THE FOLLOWING, you can kind of guess how the 4th installment was supposed to play out.

TRAILER- Thor: The Dark World #1

This is our first look into Thor's post-Avengers adventure and man, does this look big. While the first film featured hints that big things could happen in this universe, it was mainly a simple fish out of water story. This movie appears embracing the big scale possibilities of Thor's world. I rather liked the first film, but on first look this looks as if its going to kick its ass. Scott Mendelson recently touted this as one of the 2 most important films of 2013 (HERE), and I hope this one pans out. I rather dig the characters in this series and hope they're not afraid to continue to make big stories for Thor. The first one I was rather surprised I liked as I had low expectations going in. It also produced one of the funniest moments of 2011 ("I need a horse!") Now, after this trailer, I have pretty good expectations. I'm also scared for Natalie Portman's Jane Foster.

THOR: THE DARK WORLD opens November 8

 

REVIEW: To The Wonder

Director: Terrence Malick
Starring: Olga Kurylenko, Rachel MacAdams, Javier Bardem, Ben Affleck
Rated: R
112 minutes

Tree of Life was a hard act to follow.  Personally, I found that film to be a modern masterpiece.  To The Wonder was sure to fall short of that, but it fell quite short in general.  The film takes a dull, somber tone throughout and really goes nowhere for its length. 

TRAILER: MAN OF STEEL #3

And on our 3rd look at the upcoming Superman opus, MAN OF STEEL, there's a lot to like and a lot to keep us wondering.  Zack Snyder and co have opened the door just a little.  I love that they seem to be holding back "the goods".  This is how you market a movie, damnit.  I'm guessing most of what we're seeing comes from the first hour of the film  Maybe a snippet here and there.  We get to see Michael Shannon confirming that he's going to be fantastic as General Zod.  We also get to hear Superman speak and also interact with Lois Lane

This is one I'm very excited for and I'm assuming many are also excited for.  If this film is a big success (i think it will be), this will drop the floodgates for WB/DC and maybe they'll actually take chances with their other characters and...actually make films about them!

MAN OF STEEL opens June 14

On a side note: Yes, I will be doing more than just making snarky remarks about trailers and posters.  I had to whip this place up pretty fast and am working on some more original content.  In May, my retrospective series will be returning aimed at the Fast & Furious franchise, followed by a Superman retrospective.

TRAILER: Hunger Games: Catching Fire

This is the first of, I'm sure, many trailers, tv spots, video clips and such marching to November for the 2nd Hunger Games film.  I'm expecting this thing to be whored out and spoiled all over the place by the time the film comes out, but who knows...maybe not.

New Star Trek Poster Radiates Originality

 

So, STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS got a new poster...and I'm absolutely floored by it.  I've never seen anything like that, at least in a dozen years or so...

The 2nd Hangover III Trailer Debuts

Well, if you're still interested in THE HANGOVER series (ahem, the WOLF PACK trilogy...so dumb) at this point, I suppose this is for you.  There's a few decent giggles at the beginning.  John Goodman is here to class it up, but is that enough?  Then there's Ken Jeong, who's schtick may be running out of time on me (that and Alan's has pretty much run its course as well).

After the utterly bad 2nd one I really don't care to see anymore.  I agree with Meredith Borders that this is likely one for the bros.  Even for The Hangover series, this plot looks kinda ridiculous and implausible.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the first Hangover very much.  While it made a lot of money and was a surprise hit, it didn't need sequelized.  Why not take Todd Phillips and the 3 stars and go make another comedy?  Oh well.  I'll probably wait for this to come to VOD/Netflix/Blu-ray, unless there's an ungodly amount of praise for it.

Are you excited for the final piece to the Wolf Pack trilogy?

THE HANGOVER III goes head-to-head with FAST & FURIOUS 6 (a movie i WILL pay money to see) on May 24th!

Podcast Guest Spot: Brandon On OUT NOW WITH AARON & ABE Ep 98

Over the weekend I guested on Out Now With Aaron & Abe (surprise?) to discuss the remake of EVIL DEAD.  In addition, we also discuss trailers on there and play some games.  I'm sure most of you coming here have listened or seen me promo this stuff before so, I'll save some type.  Its a lot of fun.  And this episode got fun crazy. Give your workday/work out/cleaning/driving some pep and check it out!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Also guesting was the "Gore Whore" herself, Leah Ducey (Leah's Little Slice of Life)

ELYSIUM Gets A Wonderful Trailer

Judging from this trailer, Neill Blomkanp's follow-up to District 9, Elysium is selling us a quite epic science fiction movie.  Matt Damon doesn't dabble much in the sci-fi ream (Adjustment Bureau and voicework in Titan AE seem to be it), so it'll be nice to see him bringing his always A-Game to the table.  Jodi Foster hasn't been in a big movie in a while and is quite a welcome site as what appears to be the villain.  And with a nice touch, William Fichtner brings great character work to any film.  For the Bond fans, hey look, Talisa Soto (License to Kill) is in this thing.  Budgeted at a reasonable $100 mil, this thing definitely shows it money.

This one was definitely on the watch list, but after this, I'm not missing it opening weekend.  How about you?

Elysium opens August 9th

COMMENTARY TRACKS: EVIL DEAD & EVIL DEAD II

So, from time to time i get the privilege of guesting on the greatest movie podcast available, Out Now With Aaron & Abe (@outnow_podcast).  In addition to the show there's also bonus episodes where they do audio commentaries for films that you can watch the film along to or just listen to in general (lots of conversation, so you won't feel left out if you don't have the film in front of you). 

CARRIE Remake Trailer Says "Caaaarrrie I Got Your Number, 404-2604"

Here's the first full trailer for Kimberly Peirce's CARRIE remake starring Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore.  I know its a remake of a very famous horror film, but did we have to show the whole movie?  After watching this I really didn't need to ask "What Happened to Carrie?"  I edging on the side of negative toward this one.  I like the cast (they get plus points for having Judy Greer and showcasing her in the trailer).  This doesn't look like its going to make a name for itself.  The previous trailer looked like a CGI nightmare too.  Also, Chloe Grace Moretz just doesn't strike me as the weird outcast girl.  I feel like she'd be the most popular girl at school.  This feels very much like Michael Bay throwing glasses on a Victoria's Secret model and calling her a geek.  I have my expectations set low for this one.  Julianne Moore will be great to watch, but what else is there that I'm not getting with the De Palma classic?  Are you excited for this?

CARRIE (2013) opens this October.

STORIES ON TV: HANNIBAL 01x01 - "Apéritif"

Last night, NBC embarked on the 6th live action iteration of  Dr. Hannibal Lector.  When this series was first announced as just a prequel to Red Dragon following early exploits of Hannibal and Will Graham I wasn't very interested.  But, things just kept moving in the right direction.  Bryan Fuller?  Okay, sounding better.  The fact that he refused a 22 episode order in favor of a 10-13 got my attention mostly.  This meant, he was bound and determined to steer this ship into the realm of focused, story-driven television.  All the best dramas we talk about now-a-days run off the British/Pay Cable episode model anyway.

Poster For WORLD WAR Z Has Brad Pitt Overlooking Fallout Of Zombie Apocalypse

Here's a new one-sheet for this summer's zombie epic WORLD WAR Z that dropped today.  While the poster doesn't showcase any sort of zombies themselves, their havoc can be seen from above.  The poster definitely evokes the scale this movie is going to have.  This is the biggest, most expensive zombie movie ever made, yet has been riddled with well publicized production troubles.  The fear we have, is that the film will turn out to be one big giant mess.  But, you never know, the suits or whoever decided to go and reshoot things might have done the correct thing.  My new worry is the likely to be PG-13 bloodless zombie film we will be partaking in.  In the era of THE WALKING DEAD being the most popular show on cable television, people have become used to brain splattering and limbs being torn off on weekly basis.  This might be "wimpy" for people who aren't even gore hounds.  But, if the film manages some great action sequences and suspenseful situations wrapped up in a decent narrative it shouldn't matter.


WORLD WAR Z opens June 21 in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D


Brandon

REVIEW: EVIL DEAD (2013) May not live up to it's poster tag, but it sure lives up to the hype!

Evil Dead

2013

92 minutes

Rated R

Evil Dead is a surprisingly faithful yet reimagined retread of the legendary Sam Raimi film that pushes the limits of commercial theatrical wide release horror films.  This is a horror film that isn't afraid or ashamed to be one.  With a intense, blood-drenched finale that should leave a packed theater cheering, Evil Dead falls on the side of good remakes.