“Creed” a worthy successor to “Rocky”

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Denise

CREED one sheet

Nutshell: Director Ryan Coogler delivers a TKO of a film, one that celebrates what’s come before while bringing the Rocky/Creed story into the present.  Michael B. Jordan is a powerhouse in more ways than one.  Grade: A-

“That bell don’t mean schools out.  That bell means hell.”

I won’t lie, I bawled like a baby when I saw Apollo Creed go down for the last time in Rocky 4.  Bawled.  Then went home and tried to re-write the story in my head, because Apollo had gone from Rocky’s nemesis to a trusted friend, and a character I’d grown to care about.  Apollo’s death was devastating, and while the rest of Rocky 4 is so-so (great ‘roid-pump-up soundtrack & revenge film, maybe not so great with its thin skim of plot), that moment is forever etched upon my mind.

So when I heard that there was a film coming out that would look at Apollo Creed’s son Adonis (aka “Donny”, if you ask Rocky)?  I worried.  Let’s face it; while Rocky Balboa was a fun ride, it strained credulity.  Then I heard the film would have the one-two punch of Fruitville Station‘s Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan, and that Creed would work not only as a new Rocky installment, but as a stand-alone story.  I got interested. Continue reading →

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The Night Before: a thinking man’s stoner film, and a holiday treat

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Denise

the Night before onesheet

Nutshell:Who’da thunk that a film about three guys who can’t seem to stop acting like children would be such a grownup treat? Gordon-Levitt, Rogen and Mackie deliver performances that are funny and heartfelt. Director/writer Jonathan Levine delivers a film that goes beyond stupid stoner clichés and digs into universal truths about friendship and growing up.  Ho ho go. Grade: B+

“It’s harder to stay friends when you’re older…you have so much of your own shit going on.”

Well, ’tis the season y’all.  No, it’s not Thanksgiving yet.  But each year it creeps up a little earlier, tick by tick.  So why not give in and haul out a little holly?  Full disclosure here; I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this film.  I feared the sloppy, haphazard stoner brofest of This Is The End and Your Highness.  You know, the story about how thirty-somethings who should at least attempt halfway decent adulting instead try to cling to the “high schoolers with a real I.D.” hijinks that by this time are just embarrassing.  (Not to mention tedious for any filmgoer over the age of 21.)  Don’t get me wrong, a little of the ol’ stupid for stupid’s sake is a hoot (see: This Is The End).  But this genre can fall into overkill fast.  WAY Too many references to how getting baked is hee-lay-ree-ous, nudity thrown in only for shock value, and the amazing insta-high movie drugs seem to give everybody can send a stoner film spiraling around the drain. Continue reading →

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The Huntsman Winter’s War: trailer and spiffy new Girl Power posters!

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Denise

Huntsman Winters War Collage

Well, Snow White and the Huntsman was…a thing.  Okay; it was beautiful, but a bit wobbly.  A lot wobbly.  That whole KStew thing didn’t help that poor film either.  But hopefully with the Snow White story jettisoned and a new director at the helm (that’d be Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, the man responsible for the gorgeous FX in the original Huntsman), here’s hoping that things will fare much better.  Or at least the film will have more of an even tone.

The trailer shows a war between sisters — the Ice Queen (Emily Blunt) and the Evil Queen (Charlize Theron).  And it looks like this is when Hemsworth’s Huntsman meets his much-beloved wife Sara (Jessica Chastain), [PREQUEL SPOILER ALERT] whom he was still mourning in the first film.  Guessing Chastain’s character will be an incredible badass, but one that won’t make it past the end credits.  Unless she’s trapped by magic…?  Hey, this series is supposed to be a trilogy.  So guess we’ll see.

Not sure I love the borderline silly singsong narrative in the trailer; it doesn’t quite work for me.  But I do love the girl power vibe with these posters, and am happy to see Dominic Watkins’ breathtaking production design and Colleen Atwood’s gorgeous, Oscar-nominated costumes are coming back for this sequel.  Plus, who doesn’t want to see Theron and Blunt throw magic around?

The Huntsman Winter’s Tale hits theaters April 22nd, 2016. Check out the trailer below, and clicky on the picture above for the high-res deets!

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Zoolander 2 trailer: what happens when models get old? They become spies, of course!

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Denise

zoolander trailerzoolander 2 still

Zoolander and Hansel hit the runway during Fashion Week. They teased us with a tidbit trailer. And now the full Zoolander 2 trailer is here!  And while I was both looking forward to another installment and fearing sequelitis?  This trailer looks solid.  Peep this:

Glad to see that Will Farrel is back, and that Penelope Cruz, Kristen Wiig, Olivia Munn and Benedict Cumberbatch will be on the scene too.  And okay, I even give Bieber some credit for making fun of his image.  Zoolander 2 hits the runway theaters February 12th, 2016.  #BLUESTEELFOREVER y’all.

 

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“Prometheus” sequel is “Alien: Covenant” – and it’s part of a trilogy

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Denise

alien covenant banner

Okay facehugger fans – remember when we all speculated that Prometheus was a prequel to the Alien franchise?  And how they all said NOOOO, it’s shiny and new and different?

Well.  It’s now official; the Prometheus storyline is a part of the Aliens story.  And the next film that’s gonna hit theaters will be titled Alien: Covenant.  Synopsis?  Oh, they’ve got one.

Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created in Alien with Alien: Covenant, the second chapter in a prequel trilogy that began with Prometheus — and connects directly to Scott’s 1979 seminal work of science fiction. Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world — whose sole inhabitant is the “synthetic” David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.

So.  Questions?  I have them.

  1. TRILOGY?  Alrighty.  But let’s hope that it’s a better prequel trilogy than Star Wars.
  2. Sounds like David is the sole survivor of the Prometheus expidition.  But Noomi Rapace is slated to star in Covenant as well…could she be in flashbacks?

According to SciFied.com, there will be two monsters in Covenant (earlier known as Alien: Paradise Lost); one will be closer to the Big Bad from the original Alien franchise, and another  – called the “Deacon” – will be a bit more of a mystery.    From their piece, “the movie won’t be going the route of an Alien movie, just we will see more clues and things that we can relate and make connection to the Xeno DNA and Bio-Mechanics of the Engineers.“ So perhaps the Decon will be some sort of missing link?  Whatever it will be, tidbits like this means more cool mythology and science for fans like me to dig into.

Alien: Covenant is scheduled for an October 6th, 2017 release.

Are you digging this? Hit me up in the comments!

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Baltimore Screening Pass-palooza: The Good Dinosaur!

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Denise

good dinosaur onesheetPixar.  Disney-Pixar.  Yay?  Definitely yay!  Monsters, Inc., The Incredibles, Up, Inside Out, and one of my all-time favorites of the universe, WALL-E. And Disney-Pixar’s got a new one coming at’cha, called The Good Dinosaur.  Synopsis!

“The Good Dinosaur” asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct?  Pixar Animation Studios takes you on an epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo (voice of Raymond Ochoa) makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of.

The Good Dinosaur is scheduled to open the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but why should you wait?  I’ve got passes!  Right this way… Continue reading →

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“The Witch” has a new poster & site for Friday the 13th!

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Denise

THEWITCH_TEASER_02Happy Friday the 13th everybody!  TGTICL!  (Thank Goodness This Isn’t Crystal Lake!)

To celebrate, spooky movie The Witch has a groovy new poster — Edgar Allen Poe, anyone? — and a site you can clicky around to mark the Friday fabulousness. Check ’em both out, and read after the jump for the full 411 about this Ol’ New England spookfest!

  

A24 Presents

THE WITCH

A film by Robert Eggers

A messenger of the Devil, The Raven invites you to commune with him through Twitter and Snapchat for new content in the weeks to come.

For now you can check out the new poster and a new site to explore. www.EvilTakesManyForms.com Continue reading →

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“The 33” – an uplifting feel-good story that’s so unbelievable it’s true

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Denise

The 33 one sheet SM

Nutshell: While The 33 may not be filled with twists and turns — this is based on a true story after all — it does what it’s supposed to do.  It connects you to the miners trapped and fighting for their lives, and shows us the humanity  and humor within the group of men we all rooted for in 2010.  Add in James Horner’s amazing score (one of the last before his death), and you’ve got a film that tugs on all the right heartstrings. Grade: A-

“That’s not a rock. That’s the heart of the mountain. She finally broke.”

Ahh, the docudrama.  It can be amazing (All the President’s Men, The Blind Side, The Right Stuff) or abysmal (Breast Men, The Legend of Boggy Creek, and oh-for-gods-sake Beyond the Sea).  All depends on the subject matter (Gacy, anyone?  Bueller?), the casting (John Wayne as Genghis Khan?),  and let’s face it, a little touch of zeitgeist.  The 33 has a great subject (the Chilean mining accident of 2010), fantastic casting (the men here all portray their real-life counterparts admirably) and definitely the ‘geist (couldn’t we all use a feel-good story that actually happened not too long ago?)

Is it a bit too twee, a little too unbelievable?  Sure it is; c’mon, if a guy tried to pitch a drama about miners who were trapped in a 94 degree hotspot for months, and the kicker is they all survived?  Nobody’d buy it.  But this really happened.  And director Patricia Riggen (Lemonade Mouth) focuses on the men trapped below, and also shows us their families, along with the political power struggle that went on behind the scenes.  It’s docudrama catnip, and it works. Continue reading →

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Baltimore Screening Pass-palooza: Creed!

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Denise

CREED one sheetGood news!  I’ve got more birthday Free Pass Thursday screening passes!  Not exactly great news for folks who work?  This screening starts at 6:30pm.  Still with me?  Groovy — because this screening is Creed! Y’all know you cried when Apollo Creed died in Rocky 4 [30 YEAR OLD SPOILER ALERT], so come see what happened to his little boy. Who, of course, is all grown up and boxing hisownself. And guess who his trainer is?  [SPOILER ALERT: check out the poster above….] Synopsis!

Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) never knew his famous father, world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed, who died before he was born.  Still, there’s no denying that boxing is in his blood, so Adonis heads to Philadelphia, the site of Apollo Creed’s legendary match with a tough upstart named Rocky Balboa.  Once in the City of Brotherly Love, Adonis tracks Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) down and asks him to be his trainer.  Despite his insistence that he is out of the fight game for good, Rocky sees in Adonis the strength and determination he had known in Apollo—the fierce rival who became his closest friend.  Agreeing to take him on, Rocky trains the young fighter, even as the former champ is battling an opponent more deadly than any he faced in the ring.  With Rocky in his corner, it isn’t long before Adonis gets his own shot at the title…but can he develop not only the drive but also the heart of a true fighter, in time to get into the ring?

Passes?  Want ’em?  Yes you do, because you’re smart and awesome.  Right this way! Continue reading →

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Baltimore Screening Pass-palooza: Spotlight!

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Denise

spotlight onesheetHi there everybody! And welcome to my birthday Awards Season Screening Passes Onslaught Free Pass Thursday!  I’ve got passes for the Baltimore screening of Spotlight, what looks like a riveting film about the investigation into child abuse within the Catholic Church.  Spotlight has a slew of amazing actors, including Mark Ruffalo and Michael Keaton…and why am I typing this when the PR Posse has done an amazing job summing this up?  Synopsis!

Starring Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, Brian d’Arcy James and Stanley Tucci, SPOTLIGHT tells the riveting true story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe investigation that would rock the city and cause a crisis in one of the world’s oldest and most trusted institutions. When the newspaper’s tenacious “Spotlight” team of reporters delve into allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church, their year-long investigation uncovers a decades-long cover-up at the highest levels of Boston’s religious, legal, and government establishment, touching off a wave of revelations around the world. Directed by Academy Award-nominee Tom McCarthy, SPOTLIGHT is a tense investigative thriller, tracing the steps to one of the biggest crime stories in modern times.

Ready for passes?  Of course you are — follow me!

Continue reading →

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