When Fox announced their upcoming Batman-inspired series Gotham, the general reaction was mixed. On the one hand, comic book fans the world over must be excited for yet another piece of media set in the mythic city. On the other hand, haven't we had a bit of a surfeit of Batman for the past thirty years or so? Still, no matter what you think of the potential for the series, it's going to happen, and it could wind up being very good.
Disney has a long and storied history of creating some of the scariest villains ever to invade a small child's nightmares. The evil fairy Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty is arguably the finest of these villains, marrying basic cackling malevolence to the ability to transform into a dragon, lay curses upon unsuspecting children, and threaten entire kingdoms. So, it's no wonder that Maleficent has become the latest subject for revamping, getting her own film and her own celebrity impersonator in the form of Angelina Jolie.
Everybody loves a good "Man vs. Nature" film, especially if it's a true story about human beings beating the odds and surviving in the strangest and most difficult circumstances. Recent years have brought us a spate of these semi-biopics of adventurers who decide to risk life and limb just to prove they can do it. The most recent of these films is Tracks, featuring Mia Wasikowska as a woman who decides to trek across Australian deserts.
You have probably already heard about Only Lovers Left Alive, although it's far easier to remember it as "the Tom Hiddleston/Tilda Swinton vampire movie." It has been a long time in coming to the American market, slowly making the rounds of the festival circuit since it premiered at Cannes last year. Now, the film is finally getting a wide U.S. release, promoted by yet another dreamy, ethereal trailer.
"There are two types of evil..." proclaims Edgar Ramirez's 'unconventional' priest in Deliver Us From Evil, the latest horror film from Sinister director Scott Derrickson. You know that the priest knows his evil because he looks very rumpled and earnest and sounds very serious. You also know that his police officer friend, played by Eric Bana, will not believe him at first, but will soon discover that evil is all kinds of real. That's just how these things work.
The Steven Knight directed thriller Locke is rapidly becoming one of the most intriguing releases to come out of this year's Sundance Film Festival. With some strong word of mouth building in advance of its wide release, the film appears to be doing a lot with very little, featuring nothing more than one man in a car. But that one man is Tom Hardy, and he's got a lot of problems.
It's my new goal to see as much of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as I can without ever setting foot in a theatre. Sony has been most obliging in this endeavor, releasing a never-ending stream of trailers, teasers, featurettes, clips, and promotional ads. The latest of these puts the focus on Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and his relationship to the lovely and talented Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone).
Some of previous trailers for the upcoming film Grace of Monaco have focused more on how luminous Nicole Kidman can look in her title role than little things like plot and characterization. Thankfully, we now have a more complete picture of the film with the arrival of the latest piece of promotional footage.
Despite anything that Zack Snyder might say or do, he has apparently failed to save us from the Terry Gilliams of this world. Those guys continue to make movies like they are independent entities out of Snyder's control! The latest of these films is The Zero Theorem, a futuristic tale of dystopia and the nature of existence that is not, as we know, based on a graphic novel.
Children's films have the unenviable task of keeping the little ones entertained while not boring their parents to tears. Some rely heavily on pop culture referentiality for the adults, and bright flashing lights for the children. Others rely on multilayered storytelling that appeals to all ages, or try their best to stand on nostalgia, instilling us with the warm memory of what it was like to be a child.
