I think we can all agree that putting Tom Hardy in a movie with a puppy is not exactly a hard sell. Who would not want to see Tom Hardy carrying around a puppy for two hours? But of course there has to be more to The Drop than that. Boasting a cast that includes Noomi Rapace and James Gandolfini, The Drop is shaping up to be one of the more anticipated films to hit theatres as we move into Oscar-bait season.
The untimely death of Robin Williams has certainly been felt, and will continue to reverberate in our minds and hearts, and on our screens, for years to come. Williams was at work on a number of projects before he died, four of which are films that are already in the can and will be seen this year and next.
The story of master magician Harry Houdini is such a remarkable and dramatic one that I'm surprised there are not more films and TV shows about him. Tony Curtis famously played the magician in the highly fictionalized 1953 film of his life, and now Adrien Brody is following that act by putting on the strait-jacket and climbing into the water-tank for Houdini, a new two-part miniseries from the History Channel.
A bevy of major stars have just entered into talks for Spotlight, a film focusing on the sex abuse scandals that have plagued the Catholic Church. Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, and Stanley Tucci are all in "advanced talks" for parts in the project, which is to be directed by Win Win helmer Thomas McCarthy.
I'm sure that you have seen the pictures floating about the Internet for the past year or so of Tom Hardy carrying around an adorable pitbull puppy. As heartwarming as those photos are, they are also in service of a new thriller starring Hardy and the aforementioned animal. Today, the first clip from The Drop has popped up on the Internet, telling us a bit more about the film than just "Tom Hardy + puppy = adorable."
Amidst the Star Trek reboots, Star Wars sequels, and space-set Marvel movies, I think the one question on everyone's mind is: where is the Galaxy Quest sequel? I know that I've been thinking that, and for once I'm not being facetious. A Galaxy Quest sequel is an awesome idea.
DreamWorks Animation hit the motherlode when they began making the Madagascar movies. The films did not boast much for adults, but cute animals, silly situations, and lots of action kept the kiddies interested and launched, among other things, an animated TV show featuring the elite fighting penguins that were minor characters in the films. Now The Penguins of Madagascar have their own movie, complete with super-villains and celebrity guest voices.
It is hardly surprising that Michael Bay's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot has already succeeded in dividing critics. Some claim that Bay has captured something new in the origins of our heroes in the half-shell; others have it that Bay has simply taken all the fun out of the franchise. It seems that each of us are going to have to make up our own minds about whether or not Bay has done right by the Turtles, or ruined them for all time.
There is a fine line to be walked between homage and plagiarism, particularly in our current, pastiche-crazy culture. Filmmakers have been accused of lifting large sections of novels, plays, poetry, and other films to be cast pell-mell into their own works, prompting accusations of "hack" work as well as praise for these directors as post-modern pastiche artists. But what happens when whole sections of dialogue are lifted from other works and remain unattributed in a film or television show? Is that homage, plagiarism, or some nebulous category in between?
One of the more hotly anticipated releases this year will be Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice's film Creep, which garnered a pretty solid response at SXSW back in March. The film still doesn't have a wide release date, but its success was strong enough to launch a call for a full Creep trilogy as a collaboration between RADiUS-TWC, the Duplass Brothers, and Blumhouse Productions.
