It's very easy to make fun of Nicholas Sparks adaptations. The combination of small town Americana with often absurd romantic melodrama brings out the cynic in most of us, and even The Notebook has its very strong detractors. But given that we are regularly inundated with bromantic gross-out comedies and poor sex jokes, I think we can all make a tiny place, every once in awhile, for some maudlin sentimentality.
I am all for re-releasing classics and near-classics in theatres simply because some of my favorite movies were made before I was born or capable of realizing their true awesomeness the first time around. It was true for Jurassic Park, and it's certainly true for Ghostbusters. So with the 30th anniversary of the Ghostbusters theatrical premiere coming up this weekend, it's a pleasure to learn that plans are afoot to re-release the film in theaters come August.
Let's face it: no matter what critics say or do not say about Transformers: Age of Extinction, it's going to be a hit. The Transformers franchise has made a mint at the box office in every iteration, so there's no reason to suspect that replacing Shia LaBeouf with Mark Wahlberg is going to drive anyone away. Plus, based on the trailers and TV spots we have seen so far, Michael Bay's latest entry into the bone-crunching, ear-splitting franchise promises more of the same robot madness and mayhem that we've come to expect from Transformers.
I know, I know: the only Nicolas Cage movie you really want to hear about right now is the Christian Apocalyptic sure-to-be laugh riot Left Behind. But everyone's favorite ham actor also continues to roll out the uber-violent films that most people forget about within about a week of their release. The latest in this long line of work is the aptly-named Rage, a movie that is all about Nic Cage being really upset by everything.
I know as much about comic books as most media-minded people these days, but it has still always perplexed me the way that the franchise rights to Marvel comics have fallen out. Although the great bulk of characters and franchise rights are owned by Marvel Studios, there is a small but important percentage owned by other studios. Sony has their hands on the Spider-Man franchise, while Fox clings to X-Men and The Fantastic Four. This has provoked a wee bit of in-fighting, as one might expect, especially as Fox and Sony continue to roll out films within their limited franchises. As far as I'm aware, however, this is the first time that Marvel Comics might be actively campaigning against a film series made by another studio.
Don't be fooled by the title: Robin Wright is not actually going to Congress. The Congress is the title of the latest film by Ari Folman (Waltz with Bashir), based on The Futuristic Congress by sci-fi author Stanislaw Lem. The Congress stars Wright as a fictional version of herself who agrees to undergo a procedure that will copy her form and thoughts for future use by movie studios. The process has some unintended consequences, however, and Wright finds herself in a futuristic cartoon world that features some pretty spectacular animation.
When Roland Emmerich isn't busy making sequels to his own films, he's planning remakes of his own films. According to a press release from MGM and Warner Brothers, the director is hoping to remake his 1994 movie Stargate, right after he finishes up the back to back Independence Day sequels.
The days when Nicolas Cage was a great actor are rapidly becoming a distant and fond memory, overwritten now by ham acting, terrible scripts, and bad CGI. While we've had one or two glimpses of Cage's talent in films like Joe, they have been all too few and far between. No, despite his best intentions to the contrary, Cage continues to accept parts in films that allow him to be as mad and as hammy as anyone can hope for. Unfortunately, I fear that the Christian Apocalyptic movie Left Behind will be no different.
There are two types of people: those who grew up loving the musical Annie, and those who would prefer to go into the woods with Jason Voorhees rather than listen to one single syllable of her signature tune "Tomorrow." I am of the second type. So when the powers that be (that's Will Smith and Jay Z) opted to launch a re-imagining of the musical as a more modern-day fairytale starring Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) and Jamie Foxx in the lead roles, I was not exactly bowled over with excitement.
There has been more drama surrounding the release of Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer than almost any other film this year. Following months of arguments between the director and the Weinsteins about which cut the U.S. was going to get and when it would be released, we finally have a release date and an assurance that the director's cut will be the one seen stateside.
