The Hobbit has a title!

 Well after years, and years, and years of talk, the Hobbit is finally being made. Just this week, a title and release date was announced for the two films. Here is what Film School Rejects reported.

New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures and MGM have announced the titles and release dates for filmmaker Peter Jackson’s two-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s enduringly popular masterpiece “The Hobbit.” The first film, titled The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, will be released on December 14, 2012. The second film, titled The Hobbit: There and Back Again, is slated for release the following year, on December 13, 2013.

Both films are set in Middle-earth 60 years before Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” which Jackson and his filmmaking team brought to the big screen in the blockbuster trilogy that culminated with the Oscar-winning The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. The adventure of “The Hobbit” follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug.

 These are just titles and releases dates so I can say anything about the movie but I can say I am glad there are finally being made.

Matt's Priest Review

Directed by Scott Stewart
Written by Cory Goodman
Starring Paul Bettany, Karl Urban, Maggie Q, and Cam Gigandet

 Walking into Priest you expect two things. This is going to be bad but it could still turn out to be a fun summer film. I had low expectations but I thought that maybe this could be the next Daybreakers. Not looking foreword to it but it turns out to be smart, scary, and just a great film. So which one is it, bad fun or the next Daybreakers. First lets go over the plot.
 In the future, the war between humans and vampires has devastated the world. The Church, the future incarnation of the Roman Catholic Church, created an elite spiritual warrior organization, dubbed "Priests", who were capable of slaying vampires. The majority of the vampires were killed while the remainder were placed in reservations. The Church created isolated, heavily guarded cities. No longer needing the Priests' services, and fearing their own weapon the Church disbanded them. Outside the cities humans live outside the totalitarian control of the Church.

 One day an unnamed Priest (Paul Bettany), is approached by Hicks (Cam Gigandet), the sheriff of a nearby town. Hicks tells him that his brother Owen was mortally wounded, sister-in-law (and ex girlfriend, Shannon) were killed by vampires and Priest's niece Lucy (Lucy Pace they would keep the same name) was kidnapped. Hicks asks for Priest's assistance in tracking down Lucy. Priest goes against the wishes of Monsignor Orelas, the Church's leader, to do so. Monsignor Orelas then sends a group of four Priests led by Priestess to capture him and bring him back, dead or alive.

 So Priest is sadly not Daybreakers which disappointed me, but it is still a ok film. The film is held back from cult classic status is the films writing. It seems that films script is half baked with a pretty cool pretty cool premise but the execution is generic making it like alot of different films. So its generic but how is the rest of the film. To answer that, terrible but it was fun.

 Priest is sure to get plenty of Razzie nominations for its acting especially by Cam Gigandet who I honestly think was hungover or sleep walking throughout the film. He is just so bad and can not have the right tone with a line. He is suppose to sound baffled and he just sounds like a zombie. Karl Urban really plays up the camp factor but I really liked that. I thought the film was a to serous and he added more fun to it.

 Like I said the serous tone ruins the film. Its either you make a well made script with good acting (Daybreakers, Blade Runner) or you just forget all of that stuff and play up the camp factor (Drive Angry, Snakes on a Plane). The film chooses serous and fails at it.

 I have pretty much just been negative so now I will be positive. The film is beautiful with great huge set pieces   that look great. Scott Stewart really has an eye for visuals maybe becuase he did that before he started to direct movies. Like I said Karl Urban does a good job but so do Paul Bettany and Maggie Q who are total bad asses.

 The action is stylized to the extreme and I like it. Things like Priest shurkens flying in the air were beautiful to see and did not annoy me like they mostly do in Zach Snyder films. The film also has a lot of small details in script that are nice to see like how the Priest could get the girl but dose not becuase he knows what he is and that is a Priest.

 So overall Priest is a mixed bag, alot of fun but really stupid and terribly written. Since I am split on the film I am giving the film a rental or a rating of.

2/4 Stars

Spy Kids 4 All Time in the World Trailer

 Well it has been a long eight years since we have had a Spy Kids film, so Robert Rodriguez is back with  fourth film and I was wondering what they were going to do with the film. Well, I found out today what it is like and heres your chance to see the trailer.

 Ok this looks bad, but it could still be campy fun. I mean you got the orgianl cast back and Ricky Gervais as the humor so it may be ok, but I doubt it. 

Hawkman movie?

 With the Justice League movie coming around soon its time to develop some of the characters and it is Hawkeye's turn. It seems that DC has an interesting way of doing this. Here what was reported by Fused Film.    

"After multiple appearances on Smallville, Hawkman, seems to have warmed up DC Entertainment Execs for his own film, which would pair him up with the Green Lantern as another character outside the “Big 3″ (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman) to get a feature film adaptation. It seems that Warner Bros is moving forward on development of a Hawkman movie, with the project being out to writers right now."

 This is great news. This is what I think will be DC's way of introducing Flash as well and then you develop two characters in one film. Another theory is DC will make movies will make movies where the heroes are in teams like this here. So who should be the other hero? I want Marshan Manhunter becuase everyone is in space and then have Kenau Reeves play him. Then who do you think should be Hawkeye. I would like to see Bradley Cooper get his franchise.

A Recap of Films I have Seen so far this year

Here is a short review for all of the films I have seen.

Green Hornet- 3/4 Lot of fun
The Rite- 1/4 really boring and dumb
The Roommate- .5/4 terrible, terrible, terrible
Just Go With It- 1/4 Another Adam Sandler shit fest
I am Number Four- 2.5/4 A dumb summer action film
The Adjustment Bureau- 3.5/4 A great unusual thriller
Battle Los Angels- .5/4 By far the worst film of the year so far
Limitless- 2/4 Overall a disappointing but still good acting and directing
Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2- 3/4 A fun kids film
Sucker Punch- 2.5/4 Extremely dumb but still fun
Source Code- 3.5/4 Another great scifi film for Duncan Jones
Super- 3/4 Dark but a bit too dark
Artur- 3/4 A surprisingly fun film
Fast 5- 3/4 Just a dumb fun action film
Thor- 3.5/4 An epic summer action tale
Priest- 2/4 A really slow film but has its moments
Pirates 4- 3/4 Messy but entertaining
Kung Fu Panda 2- 4/4 A truly epic film deserving of an Oscar
Hangover 2- 1.5/4 Boring and stale

Weekend Gross May 27-29

Wk	Last Wk	Title	Distributor	Weekend Gross	Cumulative Gross	Wks Out	# of Theaters
© 2010 Baseline, All rights reserved.
1		The Hangover Part II	Warner Bros. Pictures	$86,480,000	$118,090,000	1	3615
2		Kung Fu Panda 2	Paramount Pictures & DreamWorks Animation	$48,000,000	$53,800,000	1	3925
3	1	Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures	$39,321,000	$152,916,000	2	4164
4	2	Bridesmaids	Universal Pictures	$16,372,500	$84,979,100	3	2958
5	3	Thor	Paramount Pictures & Marvel Entertainment	$9,365,000	$159,710,000	4	3296
6	4	Fast Five	Universal Pictures	$6,617,820	$196,027,000	5	2981
7	13	Midnight in Paris	Sony Pictures Classics	$1,919,210	$2,824,200	2	58
8	7	Jumping the Broom	Sony Pictures Releasing & Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group	$1,900,000	$34,181,000	4	939
9	8	Something Borrowed	Warner Bros. Pictures	$1,845,000	$34,759,000	4	1440
10	6	Rio	20th Century Fox Distribution	$1,780,000	$134,821,000	7	1672

Hangover 3 heading to Amsterdam?

 After Hangover Two's record shattering opening weekend, why not a sequel? Well after interviews with some of the actors it seems it is going to be Amsterdam. Here are some of the actors interviews.

"Probably Amsterdam," she said. "If you think of the coolest, craziest cities in the world, it would have to beLas Vegas, Bangkok and Amsterdam." Jamie Chung 

"Amsterdam could be a different kind of hangover. It could be fun. And Zach [Galifanakis] will probably already be there." Justin Bartha

 This has not been confirmed but it most likely will happen. Hopefully this third one is better then the lazy second one.

Girl With a Dragon Tattoo Red Band trailer

 After the foreign films have been released (which are really dark check them out) America decides to remake the series with David Fincher at the helm. The film is set to be released in December but a red band trailer was released.  Check it out!

 No surprise that this film looks really good. This will defiantly be a gritty and brutal film that may even get Oscar contention. We will see later in the year.

Lussier, Farmer Wish To Continue On With Rob Zombie version of Halloween

 Well since Halloween 3 was in limbo who would step in to save it. Well its being reported that Patrick Lussier (directed the remake of My Bloody Valentine and Drive Angry) and his writing partner Todd Farmer want to take over. Here is what MTV has said.

"Farmer has completed the script already and they are in talks with the Weinstein company to make the movie, but Lussier said the time just hasn't been right to bring the film to production yet.

"We would love it to go through," Lussier said. "We would make that the second somebody said, 'Yes, go make it,' because it's a script that we love and a script we're really passionate about and it's an amazing character and an incredible franchise, and it would just be a great experience for us to go back to the roots."



Initially, Lussier and Farmer were planning on making "Halloween 3" before they started prep on "Drive Angry," but they quickly realized that there wouldn't be any time to make it, edit it and get it to theaters before they started work on the Nicolas Cage and Amber Heard-starring action flick. Now with "Hellraiser" on the horizon, they said they wouldn't get a chance to start on it until after that remake was finished."

 This is interesting but I hope it does not happen. The Rob Zombie films are already mediocore why have a worse director take over.

Matt's Hangover 2 Review

Directed by Todd Phillips
Written by Todd Phillips and Daniel Goldberg
Starring Bradley Copper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifiankis, and Ken Jeong

 The wolf pack is back for Stu's (Ed Helms) wedding.  The boys all travel (Bradley Copper, Zach  Galifiankis and even Justin Bartha) to Thailand. After a dinner the boys including his wife Lauren (Jamie Chung's) little brother Teddy (Mason Lee son of director Ang Lee) go on the beach  and have a bear to celebrate. Then it happens, again.
 The wolf pack wake up as hungover as ever. This time they lost Teddy in Bangkok and the men now have to trace there steps and find Teddy in time for Stu's wedding. So what did I think of this film. I thought it was overall a stale sequel that adds nothing new.
 Hangover 2 truly made me numb. I sat through the films 95 minuets only laughing a small total of three times and overall did not give a crap what happened to the characters. Whats even worse is the trailer pretty much gives away what happens to them and that takes out a few laughs of the film.
 The cast of the film is huge with tons of big name stars. The main three guys (Helms Copper and Galifiankis) all feel like they were sleep walking through there parts. They pretty much did the same thing that they did in the first movie but take out the humor of it all. A light note in the cast is Paul Giamatti and Nick Cassavetes in there small roles. I thought when they came in the film they added a lot of energy that I thought that the main cast was missing.
 Going in to see the film, people kept telling me is much darker but overall the film shock humor did not shock me one bit. The film like I said just seems extremely repetitive. I honestly think that if Todd Phillips wants to make a sequel, they are going to either have alot more cameos or add Justin Bartha who can be very funny with the Wolf Pack. In this film he just stands around so I hope in the sequel Phillips adds a new character and gets more orgianl with the jokes.
 So overall Hangover 2 is stale boring and overall not a lot of fun. I say everybody should skip the film and see Kung Fu Panda 2 instead. I give the film a rating of.

1.5/4 Stars

"Kung Fu Panda 2": Movie Review by, JJPhel (It Sucks!)

"Kung Fu Panda 2"


Voices of: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Gary Oldman
Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson

Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Kids, Animation

Rated:

Synopsis: Po is now living his dream as The Dragon Warrior, protecting the Valley of Peace alongside his friends and fellow kung fu masters, The Furious Five. But Po's new life of awesomeness is threatened by the emergence of a formidable villain, who plans to use a secret, unstoppable weapon to conquer China and destroy kung fu. He must look to his past and uncover the secrets of his mysterious origins; only then will Po be able to unlock the strength he needs to succeed




Animation is an art form that can be bias, the annual belief to some is that if it's a kids movie, hey it has to be good. That's not the case with "Kung Fu Panda 2". Now I'm telling you right now, do not go by this review for your opinion of the film. The overall consensus s seems to be that this film is fantastic! I didn't kind much of it, and I disliked it to a tea.

I want to start off by saying that the first one was worse than this one. I really disliked every character, thought that some were there just for the sake of being there. The main character Po, was the stupidest, lamebrained, clumsy idiot in any animated film I had seen that year, 2008, and the action scenes compared to everything else was just in the middle, nothing special, and don't tell me that it is just because a panda a few animals are in the mix, then go see "Alpha and Omega", same doesn't apply right? The story was all over the place, the one thing I really wanted to know was "How the fuck can a panda be the son of a duck!", but sadly that was never answered. Overall with the abundance of animated films, CG animated films at that, "Kung Fu Panda", was just in the crowd, nothing special, and pretty wasteful.

Now I'll review "Kung Fu Panda 2"!

Plot: Basically this one picks up where the last one left off, the fatass panda, is living what he always wanted. Then the plot turns into the most cliché, convelouted series of events. Gary Oldman's character wants to destroy the masterful, martial art form that has been around for many years, kung fu. Yes. To add on the that very high goal, he wants to rule China. The whole film pretty much consists of Po trying to find is inner self to face the evil that shadows him, and that is a very overused plot. I thought maybe, just maybe they would so something totally new, and different, but my thoughts were diminished as I saw the same movie as the first in my head playing as this one. Nothing special, like the first.




Acting: Let me be the first to say I hate Jack Black, a lot, and this film didn't do much still, as I sat there
watching the typical Jack Black, just as a panda. There isn't much to these characters, the best character was Gary Oldman's character, and everyone else was just in the background. The biggest surprise for me in this one, and the last was that Angeline
Jolie was in it, and no one made a big deal of it, and her character was wasteful in both films. You may say this is nitpicking, but if you want to nitpick it to death, well there's plenty to nitpick. Every new character has nothing to do, so I don't have much to say. This film is in the same situation as "Toy Story 3" where there was a onslaught of new characters, but nothing was done with them except for about three. This is in the same region. There are new characters that have shit to do. Jack Black is the only one I can really talk about. Jack Black is the same in this as the first. With that said, he's annoying, clumsy, and pretentious.


Visuals: The best part of the film by far, had to be the visual aspect. However with that, it has it's own tint than the first. It has a more realistic tone, and look to it. The first looked a bit to animated this looks real, but that doesnbt take away from the rest, which is less than stellar. Quite honestly there isn't much to say here about the visual element of the film. It's pretty easy Dreamworks + Kung Fu + orange/red tint + cool looking China visuals = "Kung Fu Panda 2" visuals.



Overall: Overall "Kung Fu Panda 2", lacks the fun, and interest in the film as some other Dreamworks films, and Pixar films. I have been notorious to many on Spill to be the only person who "hates" this movie. I do. I cannot stand the incompetence of the film's style, character, plot, and inconvience. This isn't the worst film of all time, no is it the worst animated film of all time, absolutely not. However when people tell me it's god, because "its a kids movie what do you expect", no that's not a good argument. Not every CG animated kids film is good. Go watch "Hoodwinked 2", and tell me that's good. "Kung Fu Panda 2" isn't special. Dreamworks your movie sucks......bitch...


"Kung Fu Panda 2"




Now the question is, would I recommend this movie. Let me say if all that I've said in this review doesn't protain to you than this is you'r film. If what I've said corralates to you, than do not see this movie, because you'll walk out as I did saying "Fuck!"........It's as simple as that.


Note: I didn't care to see this film in 3D
Click Here For "Kung Fu Panda 2" Official Site

Bob's review of The Hangover Part II

In the summer of 2009, Todd Phillips' "The Hangover" became the highest-grossing comedy of that year. In this reviewer's opinion, the movie was fun, but nothing great. It definitely had its moments, though I had a few problems with it. Zach Galifianakis was funny in certain scenes, but just started to get on my nerves in others. The same goes with his character in Phillips' next film, "Due Date", though I personally enjoyed it a bit more than "The Hangover", mainly because Zach's character's friends in "The Hangover" seemed like they constantly forgave him for his wrongdoings. For a long time in "Due Date", though, the character Zach was with would not put up with his crap. I also thought that "The Hangover" had some tonal issues. It was played for laughs very often but sometimes it would try to get kind of serious and the constant silliness just didn't mix well with those scenes for me. Despite this, though, I did have a pretty good time with the film. It had some good laughs, and for the most part the leads were appealing.

So of course, it was inevitable that "The Hangover" would have a sequel due to its success. Even though it's pretty much the same movie as the original, this sequel is darker, crazier, and much, much raunchier than the first film. And this time, I actually thought the darker tone worked to the film's benefit. Todd Phillips is good at adding a mellow feeling to his comedies, even though I thought he failed at his few attempts to add a more serious tone to the first "Hangover". I thought "Due Date" had some nicely dry humor, and "The Hangover Part II" does a better job at adding a more serious tone than the first film. It's still silly and raucous, but there's also a hint of darkness that measures out surprisingly well here. The point is that I couldn't help but enjoy the sheer craziness of it all.

The plot is very similar to the original. This time, Stu (Ed Helms) is getting married to Lauren (Jamie Chung), and he, Phil (Bradley Cooper), Doug (Justin Bartha), and Alan (Zach Galifinakis) go to Thailand for the wedding. After a toast on a beachside bonfire with Lauren's little brother, Teddy (Mason Lee), Phil, Alan, and Stu wake up in a ugly motel room. Doug is at the Thailand resort and Teddy is missing. The three soon find Mr. Chow from the previous film, and they learn they're in Bangkok, and try to piece together what they did the night before and find Teddy.

Zach Galifinakis still did get on my nerves at points, especially at the film's beginning. Fortunately, he surprisingly grew more tolerable as the film progressed. He's still insane, but a bit more likable then in the first one. Bradley Cooper, who didn't really do much for me in the first film, also surprised me in the way that I liked him more here. Ed Helms, to me, had the most charm of these three guys in the first film, and while he's still likable here, he's more aggressive here and sometimes can be a bit too much like that.

I still had a few problems with this film. Like I already stated, Galifinakis still got on my nerves at points. At the beginning of this film, he meets Teddy and, for no good reason, despises him. He keeps giving him this angry look and treats him like he's a threat throughout the beginning of the film. It got to a point where I wanted to smack him. While the whole story of this movie woudn't have started without Alan's hatred for Teddy, he still really annoyed me, though he did grow more tolerable as the film progressed. I also felt the film went too slow. It has almost the same running time as the first one, and I actually thought both of the films had pacing problems. The first one felt a bit too fast, and this one drags on at points.

Another complaint: What happened to Heather Graham? She was the most likable person in the frst one and is barely mentioned in this one. The conclusion of the first film showed promise of a possible real relationship between Stu and Graham's character, and this film seems to have decided to replace Graham with Jamie Chung just because of her looks. Chung is attractive and sweet, but extremely underdeveloped. It really just felt pointless why they decided to change love interests for Stu.

As a whole, "The Hangover Part II" is unremarkable, but a fun film for the most part. This is pretty much the same reaction I had to the first film. I award "The Hangover Part II" two and a half out of four stars. For a Spill.com rating, I would give it a Matinee.

Movies that are said to be overrated, that I believe are not

  Movies are always met by praise, and panning, but at times there are some films that are so popular, they live a life of their own. Some films such as "Transformers" is one of those films, where the average crowd loves it immensely, but us movie buffs, and film critics just think it's a piece of crap. Some movies that are not like "Transformers" that are actually considered good films are also sometimes met with the same right as "Transformers" and are said to be "overrated". In my opinion, the majority of the most popular, but sufficient films are not overrated. Let's run it down

Note: This will probably be a very non generic list, as always keep an open mind. All is strictly opinion.

5) Napoleon Dynamite



   I don't fully understand why this film is deemed overrated. Yes most people in my school, is not all have seen it, but overrated, I don't think so.  I forget most of this movie, and many of my friends forget it too. The only scene that people seem to always remember, if not the only thing they remember is the dancing scene, but my point is an overrated film is one that people do not forget, and quote, or know every single character for the most part, "Napoleon Dynamite" isn't that movie. With the exception of the lines, there are some definite memorable lines, but everything else is not.

  I don't even enjoy the film, I thought it was pretty damn boring. If anything I think this can be a tie in movie to "Juno", and even that film is a bit boring sometimes. The pacing isn't even slow it's painfully slow, and most people myself included find ourselves skipping to the good parts that aren't stupid, or creepy, or just flat out ridiculous. "Napoleon Dynamite" is not in my definition is not overrated at all, stop calling it.





4) Fight Club

I have nothing for praise for "Fight Club" .It is definitely one of my favorite films of all time. It's one of those films that when I finish watching it, I want to create my own films, and I use the word "create" because "Fight Club" created a type of films, yes it had some typical elements like the split personality, it's the classic Jekyll & Hyde sinereo, and if that's what makes "Fight Club" overrated, then I'll have to call bullshit on that. The only thing I ever hear repeated from this films, and correct me if I'm wrong here, but the only line I hear repeated constantly is "first rule of Fight Club, you don't talk about Fight Club". Stories about people creating their own Fight Clubs around the country in celebration of this movie doesn't mean it's overrated, is "Taxi Driver" overrated, because some person went out and killed people dressed up as Travis Bickle, no that stuff happens all the time. People take inspiration from film, and sometimes it's misunderstood.


"Fight Club" is maybe considered overrated, because of Brad Pitt, but no, that's wrong a lot of movies have a pretty boy, that all the girls go hoo haa over, that doesn't necessarily mean it's an overrated movie. If anything to the new generation it's underrated. Many of my friends some film buffs haven't seen "Fight Club", but they know that one line. Recently it was aired on TV specifically on MTV of all places, but they ran it for about two weeks or so every Friday, and Saturday, but even with it on MTV seems that people still don't watch it. I go to school the next say, and say "dude did you watch Fight Club last night" my answer "no", to busy watching that "Jersey Shore" shit On Demand. It's a great movie, but not worthy of the title overrated. That's not a bad thing either.

3) The Rocky Horror Picture Show

This blows my mind, that people actually say "Rocky Horror" is overrated, most people I know, including adults don't know what "Rocky Horror" is, but they know the Time Warp. "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is only popular to it's fans, and their fans are definitely deemed overwhelming. The sheer fact that it was featured as a "Glee" episode, and only to not be performed to the whole school in the episode, is a testimate to that. It has it's own fan-base that loves the hell out of it. Overrated is not a word I use to describe it, I describe it as underrated on such a sheer level of obscureness. If people my age started singing, and dressing up as Frank-N-Furter, then I can maybe call it overrated, but many people I know, my age, my generation don't know jack about "Rocky Horror".


2) Requiem for a Dream

Along with "Fight Club", "Requiem for a Dream" is another one of my inspirations when it coems to film. Darren Aronofsky can go to his grave knowing he made some of the most controversial, and real movies. It doesn't sugar coat shit, it flat out shows drugs will screw you up. When people say it's an overrated film, I always ask why, and for the most part, they say that it's a cliched story....does that mean it's overrated. Maybe the storyline is overrated, but the film itself is not. If anything the song "Lux Aeterna" is the most overused, not overrated, but overused piece of music ever to be created. Used in practically every movie trailer, and used in an epic fight, or battle that song is amazing, but overused, in sometimes the most useless ways. I want to draw your attention to a comment from the website Primer.










                                                                                                                                   primermagazine.com

His argument made sense, to me, but the whole point of the article that was taken from was it counted down the top overrated movies of the past 10 years, and "Requiem for a Dream" came up, but it doesn't back up the reasoning as to why exactly it's overrated. Many love this film I love this film, many remember many parts of the film, many remember Jennifer Connelly, and Ellen Burstyn's performance, and again that song, but when people say that it's overrated I ask you "Why". That's the annual question "Why"? 



1) District 9




   A completely original film, no, but one of the most original in today's terms, absolutely. But people still say it's a completely overrated movie. No, it deserves every bit of praise it gets. In a world where originality, and creative ideas are oblivious to mainstream audiences, "District 9" dared to give a new style of film, where they combined realistic documentary elements with action sci-fi  goodness. The acting was done greatly by a one man show, the whole film is a one man show.

  Sharlto Copley was a nobody until his amazing, epic performance as the bureaucrat Wikis, and even though the film took the whole story of transformation, from "The Fly" even down to the way he clutched his arm, into his jacket, it still was a new fresh look at sc-fi, in a year sci-fi ruled the silver screen. Also being directed by a new filmmaker, who took the whole premise from a six minute film he made and turned it into a feature length film is an amazing triumph for the creative world. Overrated is not what I would use for "District 9", I would use ambitious.






What films do you believe are inappropriately deemed overrated ?

Can "The Dark Knight Rises" suffer the same as "Spider-Man 3" did?

  As of right now, "The Dark Knight Rises" is probably the most anticipated comic book movie, rivaled only by "The Avengers" and "The Amazing Spider-Man" after the phenomenon that was "The Dark Knight" . "Spider-Man 3" was also hotly anticipated at its time, but now it's considered one of the weaker comic book movies ever made. So what am I bringing up here?







 Both "Spider-Man", and "Batman Begins" are commonly considered among fans to be the movies that have raised the bar of comic book movies the most. "Spider-Man" was, until "The Dark Knight's" release, the highest grossing movie of its genre, and it is still considered a masterpiece among many. "Batman Begins" was one of the first to take on a serious, much more realistic feel to a comic book movie, and many things about it are more believable than those in previous comic book movies.

 









 Both "Spider-Man 2" and "The Dark Knight" are considered some of the greatest comic book adaptations ever created, and some of the best ever, period. "Spider-Man 2" continued the adventures of Peter Parker as he struggles to balance his relationship with Mary Jane, and his duties as Spider-Man, all while taking on Alfred Molina's priceless version of Doc Ock. "The Dark Knight", as stated before, is the most financially successful comic book film ever, and probably even more so with the critics it acquired a Rotten Tomatoes' 94% approval rating. It also gave us perhaps the greatest villain portrayal to date.



 As said before, "Spider-Man 3" was extremely anticipated following the success of "Spider-Man 2" . With the promises of the black suit, Sandman, and even Venom for this movie, fanboys went through the roof. Then after its release, nearly everyone dissed it as a failure. From emo Peter Parker scenes to, too little Venom, negative statements flew across the world. And as mentioned many times over, part of the reason why most people didn't like it was likely because their expectations were too high.

 "The Dark Knight Rises" finds itself in a similar position that "Spider-Man 3" was in. With rumor after rumor, confirmation of Bane and Catwoman/Selina Kyle to be featured in this movie, and the fact that Warren Pfister read the script and said it topped "The Dark Knight", fanboys are probably at Jupiter when it comes to anticipation. But the thing is, after "Spider-Man 3", should we really have our anticipations rocket-high? And with the likelihood that we won't get as strong performances as Heath Ledger's Joker, will "The Dark Knight Rises" best its predecessor?


 

 I'm not questioning whether or not "The Dark Knight Rises" will be good in the slightest. After all, Nolan said that he wouldn't even do a third movie unless the script would be as good as, if not better than "The Dark Knight"; he even asked once how many third movies in a series are good.

 Which brings me to my next question - can "The Dark Knight Rises" survive the 'threequel curse'? The curse that befell series such as "Spider-Man", "X-Men", "Superman", and even the original "Batman" series. Rarely does a series go without the third movie being spat on far more than the rest of the trilogy. With the exception of "Superman", the second movie in all these series' is considered the strongest .

 


 
 Another arguement that can be made, that no other comic book film series has, had such a filmmaker attached to the project, and has embellished so much into it as Christopher Nolan has with the recent Batman series. With some filmmakers, their ideas, and options with their film especially if they work for Sony, can be trown off the radar, and make way for the studios choices.

 Christopher Nolan seems to have more freedom than any other director when it comes to comic book films. Again the Batman series was in desperate need for a new mind to come into the series to rejuvenate it from it's darkest depths. With the massive success of "The Dark Knight", we can probably say that Warner Bros. have full faith in Nolan, and Nolan has full freedom with "The Dark Knight Rises".

 



 So in conclusion, the question that should ring out is: Can "The Dark Knight Rises" defy threequelitis and establish the franchise as the strongest in comic book history, or could it fall victim to the curse and face ridicule like "Spider-Man 3"?

Do you think "The Dark Knight Rises", can suffer the "threequel curse" ?

There Will Be Blood Review(The greatest movie of the Decade!) classic reviews

Paul Thomas Anderson has only made five movies yet most people consider him one of the greatest talents to emerge in Hollywood the last ten years. Many Consider Both Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood the landmark films of the decade and now have been submerged into our culture. And rightfully so since they've had a huge influence to others and made an impact on others. However, There Will Be Blood should be referred to as "the greatest film of this decade". Both the ideas and morals it presents have deep meaning to our present day America and the people themselves as it deals with "capitalism","religion","corruption" and the most important aspect,"greed". And add to that an astounding and geniues performance by Daniel Day Lewis which will be considered "one of the best performances in recent memory", There Will be Blood is an amazing work of art that literally blunged me into this world of both hell and success.

Daniel Day Lewis plays Danile Plainview who is an oil prospector who is in search of oil in early 19th century Califronia who soon adopts a son and aims to have his own oil empire as he continues to dig he must face what is the movies main opposition who is Eli Sunday(by Paul Dano) a ambitious and uncharismatic wanna-be town preacher who toys with him on both money(payments for him to grow his church) and religion( as Daniel is a skeptic and doesn't believe in any religions). Throughout the whole film as we follow Daniel we begin to realize he is at competition with people and what starts out as two rivals of different American capitalist ideas turns to bloodshed, humilation and madness. But this movie is not based around a plot as its all about these characters journeys through success and faliure to an ending where you are left literally at the hands of a madman.

First of all, Daniel Day-Lewis creates a performance where you are both mesmurized and curious at what he does in each frame either with his son or with Eli or even with his long-lost brother at what he says and does. The psychology of Daniel in the movie is fascinating to when he might seem loving and caring but turned around to being vile, unapologetic, greedy and manaical. What makes his character even more intruiging is when he socalizes with his long-lost brother and how he delves into how he views almost people around him as he refers to as "competitions" to where he absolutley despises human beings in general. His performance was acknowledged with awards and rightfully so as he has created one of the most memorable movie characters of all-time. Even the Supporting cast does just a good a job as Day-Lewis. Paul Dano does a great job keeping up with Day-Lewise's character as he is the oppostion towards Plainview and how easily someone so fragile and young can fall into the hands of a genius. Also both Dillon Fraiser as his son does a great job concerning a child actor and for great with materal given as well as Kevin J. O'Conner who never rarley has a great performance but in here does a nice job playing Plainview's brother.

Paul Thomas Anderson is really the star here. This is his world and without his direction and writing on both the scenes and riveting dialogue, it would not have much of an emotional imapct. Most of the dialouge written has been so quotable and memorable. The last 10 minutes of this film is so spectaular and and tense that it would not have worked without the dialouge written by P.T.A. As welll as his direction here is superb! Sequences of just following Daniel set up a lot to what is to come next ends with a great pay-off! Much credit should go to the cinematographer, Robert Elswit who creates an atmosphere of a wasteland filled with riches and with long-takes he manages to keep you in this world and have you be imersed into the movie. This is something that can be called a "perfect movie". From the many times of seeing it, I have not been able to see any flaws to it. The story is well-paced and developed as our characters are, the picture is beautiful and has a fantstic score that albeit is a bit repetitive but fits perfectly in certain aspects of the film.

The ending however must be adressed. It seems some people didn't like the ending as it became too adrupt or it lacked any soul or that the performance went way too over-the-top then what was expected of a certain character howver. those are not valid points. The ending fits perfectly and heres why; after two hours of the journey of Plainview through his findings of success and hardships, he comes face-to-face with the one thing he despises the most and

ultimatley leads to an intense and surprising ending to where you are astounded at what just happened. And as for the performance being over-the-top, I don't think there was any other way to conclude the arch of Plainview without that performance from Day-Lewis. This movie doesn't revolve around a plot, just a character piece of a man who aims for wealth and nothing more and further more his hatred towards to what he can't stand,"people."

This movie is truley a masterpiece in every sense of the word. Not only have I seen this on many repeated viewings, but I practically breathe the life of this movie; quoting lines and always listening to the beautiful Violin Concerto, this movie has now become a part of me. I can easily bet in 20 or 30 years from now, people will talk of this movie and it will be studied in both film and acting classes and be known as one of the finest examples of contemporary film-making and acting. P.T Anderon's darkly epic masterpiece has not only taken a piece of early America and make it into a epic of grand scale, but created a film that trascends the very nature of the "American Capitalist" and give it a new meaning. And Daneil Day-Lewis has never been finer than any actor in their prime as he has made one of the most deeply-layered, multi-dimesnional characters in recent film history. That's about all I feel I have to say of this film so in closing, I'll leave with you with the famous last line of the movie and from Daniel,

"I'm Finished."

Isaiah Mustafa is Luke Cage

 Well I guess Old Spice guy is a super guy, literally. Today I have found some footage of Mustafa as you guessed it Luke Cage. Check it out.

 This is most certainly interesting. The most interesting thing is no one knows if this is from Marvel or if it was made by a fan or if it was made by Mustafa himself, trying to show that he has what it takes to be Luke Cage. I really hope this is legit becuase I would love to see him as Nick Cage. This will be a situation I will be watching very closely.

Hello I'm JJ

Hello, I'm Justin (JJ), and I'm a contributor to Coming soon To A Theater Near You, and i have my own blog at    
http://jjknowsblog.blogspot.com/ Hope you enjoy the blog, and good day

The Fuzzy Pack trailer

  Disney getting raunchy? I guess so with this new Hangover type trailer. Lets see how raunchy Disney can get with this new teaser.

 Again with the tricky by the Muppet crew. This is actual may be a bad sign. Perhaps the directors or producers are hiding the films quality or lack of with all of these fake trailers. This is not what I think but it is something to think about.

Lion King being released in 3D

 The circle of life is coming back on the big screen. It is being reported that Disney will releases the amazing Lion King in 3D on September 16, 2011. For me this is the first release of a film that I have been excited for. I was not old enough to see the original in theaters so I am excited to see this great film on the big screen. I hope that the 3D is worth it or adds something to the film experience but I am doubting it. Hopefully this helps show that hand drawn animated films can be just as good as computer animated films to the audiences like the original was.

Shark Night 3D Trailer

 Every summer we need a dumb horror film that is just a lot of fun. This summer, Shark Night 3D is trying to become that film and the first trailer was just released for the film. Check it out.

 

 This looks like it could be a fun film. I do not think it will be better then Piranha 3D becuase it dosent seem like it is being played out for laughs. Still this is a film that will nicely end the summer movie season.  

Happy Feet 2 trailer

 

Well I guess Hollywood decided we needed a sequel to the Academy Award winning Happy Feet (It had very little competition) and they released a teaser for it. Check it out.

Um that was bad. Im bringing fluffy back? Really that song ( Im brining Sexy Back) came out like 5 years ago. I am not going to totally diss it becuase the first one was good but as of now, it looks like they are just having a punch of popular songs.

Kung Fu Panda 2 Review

Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson

Written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger

Starring Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Gary Oldman, Seth Rogen, and Dustin Hoffman 

 Kung Fu Panda 2 for me was something to really look foreword to. The first film was for me a masterpiece and a love letter for all training movies with Po slowly learning how to be a true Kung Fu master he was. The film made you laugh and had great action scenes and overall just a really fun and entertaining film. So far on Dreamworks track record, they have only had two sequels, Shrek 2 was a funny entertaining film and Madagascar was also silly but funny. So how did Kung Fu Panda 2 fair as a sequel?

 Well, Kung Fu Panda 2 was a action packed, funny film that add some emotion to it that makes it better then the first, and I loved the first. To me, this film seemed like it had a Pixar stamp on it. It is just a true sight to see how amazing and jaw dropping these films are. I actual think this serise reminds me alot of Toy Story on how the first one kind of just introduced all the character and a fun adventure but the second Toy Story film added a lot of heart and emotion that the third one was missing. 

 About the action and visuals, its amazing. Director Jenifer Nelson who did the visuals for the first film does a great job here enhancing the visuals from the original. While watching it, I got lost in the look and felt like I was watching a traditional Kung Fu film but it just happened to be animated. The action scenes had my heart racing wondering what amazing thing will happen next. 

 With a new director comes a new tone that I liked. This film is still a bit goofy, but it kinds of get more serous. I think they did this becuase of him now being a master at Kung Fu but he still has his mess ups.

 Now its time to talk about the emotion. The whole film is about Po wondering where he came and where are his parents. The film does not take the easiest route becuase it kind of gets some what dark. It is easy for me to route for him becuase he is a fan boy. He has dreams and has a passion for Kung Fu and will do anything to become good at it. Arent we all that way? There must be one goal in your life that you would give anything to become good at.

 A quick finale note, the acting and cast is fantastic. The usual furious 5 (Jolie, Rogen, Cross, Liu, Chan, and Jack Black as Po). The film also has a new villain. Gary Oldman plays a peacock named Lord Shen who has been banished from his kingdom and is coming back from revenge. Like always, Gary Oldman can sure play a sinter villain and he most certainly does it here.  

 So overall Kung Fu Panda 2 improves on its orgianl concept and wont dissapoint fans of the first one bit. I am proud to give Kung Fu Panda 2 my first perfect rating.

The Rumor Mill: Wolverine possible directors

 Well since Darren Aronofsky left Wolverine 2 they must replace him. The producers now have a list of potential candidates who would take over. Lets have a look.

Jose Padilha- Robocop Reboot

Doug Liman- The Bourne Identity 

Antoine Fuqua- Training Day, Brooklyn's Finest 

Mark Romanek- Never Let me Go

Justine Lin- Fast 5

Gavin O Connor- Miracle 

James Mangold- 3 10 to Yuma Knight and Day

Duncan Jones- Moon Source Code

This is an interesting list with Jones as the favorite to land the role. I hope he does becuase he has the best track record and overall a great director. It would be interesting if Antoine Fuqua is chosen becuase of his film background with crime films. 

David O Russel leaves Uncharted

 Well finally some good news from the Uncharted project. It has been reported that Fighter director David O Russel has left the Uncharted project leaving it in limbo (hopefully it stays there). The direction O Russel was going in was having Mark Wahlberg as the star which is a bad choice (ehm Nathan Fillion). Hopefully now the people of Sony either leave it alone or give someone who knows what they are doing a chance to direct the film. 

Alan Rickman's 'Harry Potter' Goodbye Letter

 Recently Alan Rickman made a farewell letter for the Harry Potter films. The letter will appear in a British film maginzne but it has been released and you must check it out.


 I think that this is an extremely powerful letter that will stay in my heart forever. This shows how smart Alan Rickman is and how he is not as mean as Snape.

Candyland writer compares script to Lord of the Rings?

 No this story is not a late April Fools joke this actual has happened. Writer Johnathan Aibel said.

"We envision it as 'Lord of The Rings,' but set in a world of candy," he explained. "We don't see it as amoviebased on aboard game, although it has characters from that world and takes the idea of people finding themselves in a world that happens to be made entirely of candy where there are huge battles going on. We are going for real comedy, real action, and real emotions at stake       Source Wrostpreviews

Ok I this guy has to calm down. If you see the picture I posted what does the box say."A child's first game."  I dont think it will be anything as good as Lord of the Rings but it will most likely steal the story. Little boy must bring the gumdrop to the magic castle I can see it now.

Star Trek 2 Delayed

This new news story is not a surprise but sad to see. With J.J Abraham busy with Super 8 Star Trek 2 has been delayed from a June 29, 2012 opening to some time in the holiday season of 2012. That is not the only reason. It turns out that the writers of Star Trek have also been busy with other things. Alex Kurtzman is directing the comedy drama Welcome to the People, and Robert Orchi is overseeing the new adaptation of Enders game. This may be sad to wait but better for the movie. In the holiday season Star Trek 2 could break box office records with little comptetion.

The Muppet trailer online

 If you have been waiting for news on this anticipated Muppet film well here you go. They released a trailer for this film and I will say now, I cant really judge the quality of the film based on the trailer (you will see). Well check it out.

 I have to say I first saw the trailer when seeing the new Pirates film and it really tricked me. I thought it was a trailer for some dumb romantic comedy but then saw Kermit the frog and started to laugh my butt of. I cant wait for the film.