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Star Jessica Chastain in an extreme close-up in B/W and shades looks cool AF on the poster for Aaron Sorkin's Molly's Game
Molly Bloom's career as an Olympic skier collapses with an accident, and a few years later she gets arrested by a small army of FBI agents, now as the leader the country's highest stakes illegal poker game.
Molly's Game is written and directed by debuting great New-Yorker filmmaker Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men (1992, writer)), adapting the same-titled 2014 memoir by the real-life Molly Bloom.
Jessica Chastain (The Color of Time (2012)) is out of this world in the complex, riveting part as the extremely driven and intelligent Bloom, SPOILER who eventually finds herself in over her head in pursuit of a goal that begins to fade in the horizon. She is radiant here as the tough survivor. Idris Elba (Thor (2011)) is good as the sexy attorney who takes her case despite its legally dubious elements.
Sorkin relates the story with dense dialog and a high pace. Molly's Game is grand in width, comparable to a down-played style-wise recent film in the Martin Scorsese tradition, though with a female protagonist, which Sorkin's great script and Chastain's flawless performance never makes a sensational point in and of itself.
There is fun (Chris O'Dowd! (The Program (2015))), dramatically satisfying moments, - Kevin Costner (Dragonfly (2002)) is good as Bloom's psychologist father, - excellent lighting, editing and more. Molly's Game is a splendid piece of work that is more than it may appear.
[Molly's Game premiered 8 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 141 minutes. Bloom approached Sorkin with her book on her own, as he was her favorite writer. Shooting took place in Ontario, including Toronto, and in New York from November 2016 - January 2017. The film opened #19 to a 1.1 mil. $ first weekend in 271 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #7 and in 1,708 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 28.7 mil. $ (48.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 5.8 mil. $ (9.8 %) and France with 4.3 mil. $ (7.3 %). The film was nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, lost to James Ivory for Call Me By Your Name. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, a BAFTA, and several other honors. Sorkin returned with The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020, VOD). Chastain returned in Woman Walks Ahead (2017); Elba in The Mountain Between Us (2017); Costner in The Highwaymen (2019). Molly's Game is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Many of the colorful central characters of Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Jared Bush's Zootopia are gathered on this poster for the film
Our hero is a young female rabbit, the first rabbit police recruit ever, who arrives in the major animal city with a head full of dreams, which is put to the test by reality as it is, along with a complex missing animals case that she takes upon herself, partnering with her a scheming fox. Zootopia is another irresistible hit from Disney. This one is written by co-writer-co-director Jared Bush (Moana (2016)) and Phil Johnston (Cedar Rapids (2011)), with Jennifer Lee (Frozen (2013)), Josie Trinidad (How to Hook Up Your Home Theater (2007), short) and Jim Reardon (WALL-E (2008)) contributing story elements, and directed by Bush, Byron Howard (Tangled (2010)) and Rich Moore (Wreck-It Ralph (2012)). Perhaps due to the many good heads involved, Zootopia is rife with creative energy, thoughtful decisions and a wide array of funny and exciting ideas. The animation is astoundingly handsome and detailed, and Ginnifer Goodwin (Robot Chicken (2005-14)), Jason Bateman (The Family Fang (2015)), Idris Elba (The Losers (2010)), Jenny Slate (Gifted (2017)) and Nate Torrence (Weird Loners (2015), TV-series) give outstanding voice performances. Zootopia, in quite the scoop, also has Shakira voicing and singing the Gazelle pop star of the film, and Shakira's world-famous, positive image and her song here (Try Everything) fit like a glove with the film's idealistic morals: Embracing a modern, multi-cultural society, tolerance, diversity seen as a strength and peaceful co-existence, and against racism, fear-mongering - and drugs, which this ambitious, political family adventure also manages to warn against. Zootopia is a special, very socially oriented animated crime drama, which also works through artfully executed single scenes, just the right amount of chase-and-escape action scenes, and a host of fun and terrific characters.
Cost: 150 mil. $ Box office:1,023.7 mil. $ = Huge hit [Zootopia premiered 11 February (Denmark) and runs 108 minutes. Research was done in two US animal parks as well as in Kenya for the many animals of the film, their movement and looks, and new ground was broken in terms of details in the rendition of fur in the animation. The production took place in a makeshift warehouse in North Hollywood, as Disney Animation's Burbank HQ was under renovation. The film opened #1 in 2D, 3D and IMAX to a great 75 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained #1 for 3 consecutive weeks and stayed in the top 5 for an incredible 8 weeks and grossed 341.2 mil. $ (33.3 % of the total gross). It was Disney Animation's biggest opening in North America to date, the biggest March animation opening to date and the 7th highest-grossing film in the market of the year. Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 235.5 mil. $ (23 %), - where it became the highest-grossing animation of all time, the first animation to break 200 mil. $ and the second highest-grossing film of the year (behind The Mermaid), - and Japan with 70.1 mil. $ (6.8 %). Worldwide, the film was the 4th highest-grossing of the year (behind Captain America: Civil War, Rogue One and Finding Dory) and the 2nd highest-grossing animation (behind Finding Dory). It also ranks as the second highest-grossing original film of all time (behind Avatar (2009)) and the 5th highest-grossing animation of all time. The film's net profit has been estimated to be 294.9 mil. $ by Deadline.com. The film won the Best Animation Oscar (beating Kubo and the Two Strings, Moana, My Life as a Zucchini and The Red Turtle). It also won a Golden Globe, was nominated for a BAFTA and a Grammy and won an AFI award, among many other honors. A sequel is in talks. Zootopia was the year's second-highest ranking title at Rotten Tomatoes (after Moonlight); it is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8/10 critical average.] What do you think of Zootopia?
The exciting, wildly invitational poster for Andrew Stanton and Angus MacLane's Finding Dory
Finding Dory is the sequel to masterpiece Finding Nemo (2003). It is written by returning Massachusetts-born master co-writer/co-director Andrew Stanton (A Bug's Life (1998)) and Victoria Strouse (New Best Friend (2002)), and directed by Stanton and Angus MacLane (Burn-E (2008), short).
After getting Nemo back to his father Marlin, blue amnesiac fish Dory begins to recollect her own parents, whom she herself got lost from years ago. Without the initial assistance of Nemo and Marlin, she heads out on a new quest to find them.
The scope of the adventure can't but feel smaller and less novel here than in the first film, which went through several incredible ocean sequences before ending in a fantastic section set in a tank in a dentist's office in Sydney, Australia. The storytellers make an auspicious and smart turn in Finding Dory by getting the story pretty quickly out of the familiar endlessness of oceans and setting it firmly within a much smaller setting, a public aquarium in California.
Stanton and Co. manage to make another fun-filled adventure work here. Any fan of Ellen DeGeneres (Ellen (1994-98)) will enjoy her empathetic, excellent voicing as Dory, a fish whose forgetfulness would likely be annoying if performed by a less endearing actor. Ed O'Neill (Modern Family (2009-16)) is good as the voice of the biggest new character, disheartened octopus Hank, and other fun star turns, of which there are too many to notice and fully appreciate in just one viewing, include Idris Elba (The Jungle Book (2016)) and Dominic West (Pride (2014)) as two sea lions. Two more lovable characters are the whale shark and the beluga whale that Dory befriends in the aquarium. The animation is great as expected, and the 3D dimension never gets the driver's seat: Story is king, which is just as it should be. My only negative note on the animation is the design of Dory as a baby fish, in which she has grotesquely oversized eyes. Anyone with some knowledge of character animation knows the importance and power of characters' eyes, which is why they are usually oversized, but this level of oversizing seems unnecessary overkill; - plus we know that Pixar's skilled animators can make us feel for characters even if they have less oversized eyes. So a small burp to that. There's some darkness before the funny and awesome conclusion of the over-all wonderful film, a solid sequel that doesn't lessen the strength of the original but also never comes near to it. The film is accompanied by Alan Barillaro's shortPiper, his first effort as writer-director, a sweet, incredibly vividly animated story of a little bird's learning to find its own food.
Cost: 200 mil. $ Box office: 930.9 mil. $ and counting = Big hit [Finding Dory premiered June 8 (El Capitan Theatre, Hollywood) and runs 97 minutes. Disney initially planned to make a sequel without the involvement of Pixar, after their purchase of the company, at their Circle 7 Animation, - which however never produced any films before it was closed again in 2006. Stanton was not interested in a sequel for many years, but after his mega-flop John Carter (2012), he developed a script with Strouse and got the very enthusiastic DeGeneres involved. Documentary Blackfish (2013) resulted in some changes to the script and its SeaWorld-like setting. The film opened #1 to a 135 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it dropped pretty slowly week-to-week, keeping in first place for 4 weeks before dropping to #3, then #4 and then out of the top 5. It has so far grossed 479.7 mil. $ in North America. It is the 4th highest-grossing movie worldwide of the year at the moment, and in North America, it is the highest-grossing film of the year and the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. It has yet to open in Italy, Austria and Germany and so is likely to cross the 1 bil. $ mark before finishing theatrically. Finding Dory is certified fresh at 94 % with a 7.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Finding Dory?
One of the beautiful, strong-colored posters for Justin Lin's Star Trek Beyond
Star Trek Beyond is the 3rd film in the rebooted Star Trek film franchise and the 13th Star Trek film overall. It is written by Doug Jung (Banshee (2014), TV-series) and Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz (2007)), who also returns as Scotty, based on Gene Roddenberry's (West Point (1956-57)) original 1966-86 series, and directed by Justin Lin (Fast & Furious 6 (2013)). The spaceship Enterprise is three years into its 5-year mission, and Captain Kirk is having doubts as to the point of the exploration of space. A search for an allegedly stranded ship on a strange planet turns deadly, as the Enterprise gets shot down by a malicious army led by the bitter leader Krall. Beyond keeps the pedal to the metal in terms of keeping the high quality of the two previous chapters in the new film series, despite the cast beginning to look older and less energetic. Chris Pine (This Means War (2012)) is still an ideal Kirk, who communicates knowingly with involuntarily funny Spock (Zachary Quinto (I Am Michael (2015)), who shares quite a lot of pleasant banter with earthbound, skeptic Doc Bones (Karl Urban (The Price of Milk (2000))) in the new film. SPOILER Many headlines have been spun on the controversy regarding John Cho's (That Burning Feeling (2013)) character Sulu's very discreet coming out as gay in Beyond, mostly because George Takei, who used to play Sulu and has since come out as a gay LGBT rights activist, has opposed the turn. In reality the element is very small in the film. It is there, but underplayed (don't expect a kiss) so as to not alienate potentially important, LGBT-hostile markets.
Anton Yelchin (Burying the Ex (2014)) is back as Chekov in one of the actor's last performances following his tragic, accidental death earlier this year, and the film is appropriately dedicated to both him and Leonard Nimoy, (who played Spock through most of the franchise's now 50 year history), who also passed away recently. Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)) is new as the tough, likable Jaylah, and Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation (2015)) adds yet another villain credit to his name as Krall. - He is unrecognizable, (and is he even really, in fact, under there, under that heavy mask?), for much of the film, which I think is a shame, SPOILER because the character grows immensely more interesting once we get to see the recognizable Elba and know the character's backstory. As an ex-soldier who is too dedicated to fighting and a permanent combat-reality, Krall has got quite a strong resonance with some of the problems we see in our actual world today, which is only a strength and nicely in line with the villain of the previous film, Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), whose terrorist agenda was also potent. This is one clear mark of good sci-fi. The film plays much like an adventure story with strong visuals both on the mysterious planet and especially on the Starbase Yorktown, which is an amazingly detailed, fascinating place. There's fun, (SPOILER including something of a Deux ex machina moment of true silliness, as Beastie Boys' Sabotage turns out to be a formidable weapon against the 'bee' army), excitement and a firm foundation in the original Star Trek universe: Strangely recognizable sounds from the series are used, (only fans will notice), and the feeling throughout is very much in line with Roddenberry's visionary show. Shohreh Aghdashloo (Twenty Bucks (1993)) with her distinctive, raspy voice and natural integrity gives a fine performance that's a neat bookend to the film, which rounds off with a nice quotation from all the regular cast members of the legendary intro speech of the show. It is a great, exciting end, - before a stunning end credit animation sequence that will make you keep your 3D glasses on for a while longer. Beyond relishes in the celebration of diversity, humanity and exploratory thrill that is the heart of Star Trek.
Cost: 185 mil. $ Box office: Unknown yet = Unknown yet [Star Trek Beyond premiered July 7 (Sydney) and runs 122 minutes. Producer Robert Orci was replaced as director in 2014, before Lin was chosen. Filming took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, LA, Seoul and Dubai from June - October 2015 with reshoots in March 2016, including Aghdashloo's scenes. The film is getting great reviews, and audiences love it, but it is regrettably projected to make less money than the two previous installments. Star Trek Beyond is certified fresh at 88 % with a 7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Star Trek Beyond?
The truly irresistible poster for Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book is a new adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's (Soldiers Three (1888)) same-titled 1894 book, written by Justin Marks (Rewind (2013), TV movie) and directed by great New-Yorker filmmaker Jon Favreau (Elf (2003)). Mowgli is a 'man cub', who has been raised by wolves in the Indian jungle, but the brutal tiger Shere Khan has now run out of patience and will no longer accept his presence as a non-animal in the jungle. Should Mowgli return to the humans, whom he doesn't know? Against my initial doubts, Jungle Book proves to be an excellent retelling of the familiar, great story. The 3D animation and many wonderful animal characters are executed in a highly immersive, strikingly beautiful way that moved me quite a lot, especially in the film's beginning. The sound design also does its ample part here. The dramatic emotionality of the film stays strong throughout and peaks more than once, which is the definitive mark of success for the film. SPOILER My personal favorite moment is the scene in which Mowgli uses his 'tricks' to save the elephant baby from a pit.
What adds to the excitement of watching Jungle Book, - especially for adults, - is that an unusually strong voice cast is assembled in it: Idris Elba (Zootopia (2016)) is fierce as Shere Khan, Christopher Walken (Gigli (2003)) as King Louie and Scarlett Johansson (The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)) as Kaa, (though her performance is restricted to a single, but very good scene), are especially excellent. Bill Murray (Lost in Translation (2003)) is, perhaps, the ensemble's biggest ace as the jovial bear Baloo. Neel Sethi (Diwali (2013), short) makes his feature debut as a nimble, jangly Mowgli and is very cute, hitting all the right notes. The film is a big step away from the original, beloved Disney animation, The Jungle Book (1967), which is more of a jazzy, completely upbeat favorite and perhaps Disney's most subversive film really, (and, as I understand, also very far removed from Kipling's original stories.) The new Jungle Book is a more serious adventure, - a true adventure story, - which nevertheless retains two of the former film's famous, beloved songs: The Bare Necessities and I Wan'na Be Like You. They are musical treasures and small highlights, but it is the orchestral score that drives the film musically.
Cost: 175 mil. $ Box office: 393.7 mil. $ and counting = Too early to say [The Jungle Book was released April 4 (El Capitan theater, Hollywood) and runs 105 minutes. It began development in 2013, with Favreau and Co. early on looking to Avatar (2009) and Life of Pi (2012) for inspiration as to the film's visual concept. It was shot entirely in LA. The animals are entirely key frame animation, assisted by loads of footage of their real counterparts in nature. Approximately 70 species are depicted in the film. Jim Henson's Creature Shop created puppets for Sethi to act against. The Jungle Book opened #1 to a 103.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it has grossed 147 mil. $ to date. It is the second PG-rated release ever (following Alice in Wonderland (2010)) to open to over 100 mil. $ domestically. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets are China with 68.3 mil. $ and India with 25.5 mil. $ so far. The film has become the highest-grossing Hollywood film in India ever already. The Jungle Book is certified fresh at 94 % with a 7.8 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of The Jungle Book?
The mysterious poster for Ridley Scott's Prometheus
QUICK REVIEW:
A space mission lands on a remote planet, because cave paintings the world over have directed them there. But in their search for their 'designers', the expedition finds something else ... Effective and really good-looking, - Oscar-nominated for its visual effects, - science fiction monster movie, both exciting and very entertaining. Anyone who has seen great director Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) will think of it many times in this the fifth film in the series, which is a prequel to the first Alien, because many elements reappear, - and that is a shame. New audiences may prefer this one, but I don't think Prometheus gains from the inevitable reminiscences to its greater ancestor. The cast is uneven: Why Scott hasn't hired an older actor to portray the geriatric is beyond me, (instead, Guy Pearce plays the part under heavy make-up and prosthetics.) The Noomi Rapace/Logan Marshall-Green romance is unimpassioned, and it's his fault, (which might be the reason why you probably haven't heard about this actor; he's not very good.) Idris Elba and Charlize Theron are okay, but in fairly one-dimensional parts. Michael Fassbender plays an android. Prometheus got me thinking: - 80 years into the future, are we this advanced and yet so dumb...? Ridley Scott is, without many of us noticing it, becoming an old man: He turns 77 this November! He has a Blade Runner sequel and a Moses-epic called Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) coming up, impressively. With his many great achievements, - Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Thelma and Louise (1991), Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001) and American Gangster (2007), - I wouldn't begrudge him a comfortable retirement at this stage, though. A sequel to Prometheus has been in talks since its successful release, and it is now in pre-production for a 2016 release. No director is currently attached, although Fassbender and Rapace are set to return. Related reviews: Ridley Scott: American Gangster (2007) - Great American - now black - gangster picture A Good Year (2006) - Ridley Scott likes Provence Blade Runner (1982) director's cut - Visual extravaganza, great SF Alien (1979) or, Space Eggs Are Bad News
Watch the trailer here
Budget: 120-130 mil.$ Box office: 403.3 mil. $ = Big hit What do you think of Prometheus? How do you rate it compared to the Alien-films? Are you looking forward to the next one?
One of the gigantic robot fighters invoke awe on this poster for Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim
In the 2020s, giant aliens known as Kaijus have begun to come out from a portal in the floor of the Pacific Ocean to destroy Earth's cities and annihilate humans. Major human-operated robots called Jaegers have been created to fight them, but the project is being shut down in favor of building insecure walls instead. Now the Jaeger program continues as an independently financed resistance army, who will attempt to put an end to the Kaiju menace. Pacific Rim is written by Travis Beacham (Dog Days of Summer (2007)) and co-writer/co-producer/director Guillermo del Toro (Cronos (1992)).
Del Toro had worked on the Pacific Rim project for years, nurturing it with valuable thoughts and developing it as a nostalgic salute to the kaiju genre (Japanese giant monster movies) that he fell in love with as a boy. And his boyish enthusiasm, glee and visionary powers make the film a unique and blessed event. Pacific Rim looks more than stunning, - it simply pops from the screen in all its resplendent neon-drenched, ultra-saturated glory. Some of Del Toro's concepts in it include that people are evacuated from the areas of destruction (avoiding bodily mayhem) and that the film actively dodges war and army-idealizing imagery and apocalyptic, brooding atmospheres, which is refreshing. Del Toro did not want to make a dark movie but a fantasy-type adventure kaiju science fiction film brimming with enthusiasm and hope in the genre and in humankind. Along the way, however, Del Toro has had to admit that not all of his ambitions could succeed: "We cannot pretend this is Ibsen with monsters and giant robots. I cannot pretend I'm doing a profound reflection on mankind", he has stated. Del Toro admitted this, as fellow strong Mexican director colleagues Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu came in and helped him with editing, (during which apparently a full hour of the film was cut!) Surely for the better, because the film seems to have a suitable length as it is now. The film's main strength lies in its visual artistry, which is phenomenal, both in terms of the Kaiju monsters, who are truly spectacular, the sublime production design and CGI universe, which is incredibly detailed and amazing. There is also no visible borders between physical reality and CGI, great sound design, - and Pacific Rim is a 3D film that will make everyone not watching it in 3D on a big screen with great sound sorry that he or she isn't. The film's troubles lie with its actors and characters. Some, - Charlie Day's (Hotel Artemis (2018)) sqeaky-voiced scientist, partner Burn Gorman's (Crimson Peak (2015)) archaic ditto and Ron Perlman's (Nightmare Alley (2021)) Kaiju brain expert especially, - are cartoonish, silly creations that you'll find more or less fun. The three actors' wildly theatrical performances grate some with those of leads Charlie Hunnam (The Lost City of Z (2016)) and Rinko Kikuchi (Last Summer (2014)), who don't exactly light the screen up with visible chemistry. Idris Elba (No Good Deed (2014)) lurks around as a sexy general, - and maybe you'll forgive the film for its less than ace acting and character department (and the fact that most of them simply seem too young for their characters), when Hunnam and Elba adorn the screen with their impressive physiques. Pacific Rim
is an amazing film to watch, and for anyone who loved these giant
monster films as a kid, it is a nostalgic and excellent time. It has feeling,
heart, and above all spectacle and awesome monster fights and
mind-boggling destruction. If you have kids of ages 8-16, watch Pacific Rim with them for added value. - They'll love you for it.
Cost: 190 mil. $ Box office: 411 mil. $ = Flop (returned 2.16 times its cost)
[Pacific Rim premiered 1 July (Mexico City) and runs 132 minutes. Beacham started work on the script in 2007. Shooting took place from November 2011 - April 2012 in Germany and in Toronto, Ontario. It opened #3, behind holdover hit Despicable Me 2 and fellow new release Grown Ups 2, to a 37.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 101.8 mil. $ (24.8 % of the total gross). North America was the film's 2nd biggest market; the biggest was China with 111.9 mil. $ (27.2 %). The 3rd biggest was Russia with 20.6 mil. $ (5 %). The film was nominated for a BAFTA, among many other honors. The film additionally made more than 37 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. Likely due to the film's impressive numbers from China, a sequel was green-lit despite its over-all flop status: Pacific Rim Uprising (2018) had a few stars returning, without Beacham and with Del Toro only co-producing; it was a larger flop. Del Toro returned with The Simpsons (2013, TV-series), The Strain (2014-15) and theatrically with Crimson Peak (2015). Hunnam returned in Sons of Anarchy (2008-14) and theatrically in Crimson Peak; Kikuchi in 47 Ronin (2013). Pacific Rim is fresh at 72 % with a 6.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
