World War Z is probably the most solid zombie flick we’re going to get for a while. The characters are well-defined, the acting is better than it needs to be, the look is good, and the story is constructed as a pretty compelling mystery. That’s both a plus and a minus for the film. The detective aspect is an innovative take on a genre that already has, within its endless sub-genres, the romantic comedy (this year’s Warm Bodies), and the movie wastes no time getting straight to it. On the other hand, its commitment to the mystery narrative makes the action sequences feel like they were brought over from another movie.
When Gerry (Brad Pitt), the ex-UN agent (his original job function is never made explicitly clear) gets a lead that takes him to Israel, he meets up with an official who apparently foresaw the zombie outbreak and constructed a massive wall around Jerusalem. The guy’s reasoning is simple: “We ignored warning signs before and suffered because of it, this time, I figured, ‘What the Hell?'”
As soon as Gerry’s finished asking questions, someone in the crowd starts performing an impromptu song. No reason, just because. And the static from her microphone alerts the zombies outside the city, who form a massive pile and (SPOILER, though it’s in the trailer) spill out over the wall and overtake the city.
I’m not sure whether the appropriate genre for Pain & Gain is comedy or thriller, but I am sure that it’s a story that the cosmos made specifically for Michael Bay. There’s bulked-up dudes, strippers, midgets, stereotypical gay guys, Miami, explosions, slow-motion, and cocaine and the ’90s. Mark Wahlberg is Daniel Lugo, a fitness instructor with the kind of intensity and single-mindedness that makes you feel like he’s constantly comparing his body to everyone else — and addressing each one according to rank.
His boss is the slightly-schlubby John (Rob Corddry), owner of the Sun Gym in Miami. And his best friend is fellow gym-jockey Adrian (Anthony Mackey).
That the movie opens with Daniel getting chased by the cops is a revelation that we know things won’t end well for Daniel, but the reasons take their time to unfold. We learn that Daniel’s a self-proclaimed go-getter — obsessed with his image and the idea that through physical perfection the rest of the world will lie down before you.
His heroes are Rocky, Scarface, and Don Corleone, suggesting that his understanding of reality comes from the movies and even then, he’s only read the Cliff Notes. He takes a seminar with Johnny Wu (Ken Jeong), one of those motivational speakers who similarly preaches that nothing in life is worth learning if it can’t be written on a note card or reduced to a buzzword.
The current trend in sequel box office returns is tied to perception. Gone are the days of diminishing returns as a rule, these are the golden times for franchises. How the general public feels about the franchise is now king, and the thing about feelings are, they can be changed.
Case in point, GI: Joe: Retaliation.
The franchise had a below average first film that left a sour taste in the mouths of cinema-goers. It did have a strong opening weekend and final total gross so a sequel was inevitable, but something had to be done to ensure the public perception didn’t bury the new film before it had a shot.
Warming the hearts of movie executives everywhere, GI: Joe Retaliation proved that franchise perception can be fixed and sequels to poorly received films have a shot to come out as strong as its predecessor without waiting on word of mouth or reviews to set in.
I had a soft spot for 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and I have a soft spot for this, even with its flaws. If you remember the end of the last film (and never mind if you didn’t), Zartan is impersonating the President of the United States in one step of Cobra Commander’s grand plan for world domination.
I think this is supposed to take place right after the last film, but no matter. All you need to know is that the President is not the real President, and the Joes are not aware of it. They’re busy raiding a nuclear arms facility in Pakistan — a mission devised by Zartan (Arnold Vosloo/Jonathan Pryce) to wipe out the Joes when they call for transport after the mission.
All of them, save for Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki), Roadblock (The Rock), and Flint (D.J. Cotrona) are killed. Fortunately Snake Eyes (Ray Park) is away on another mission training with Jinx (Elodie Yung) and quite possibly the worst actor in the entire film, RZA as the aptly named Blind Master.
We live in a glorious bubble of time. We know Anchorman 2 is going to come out, it has been green lit, it has begun production, and Will Ferrell is sporting a wicked ‘stache. The film exists on a pedestal of excitement that is likely not going to by the finished product. So for these fleeting few months the concept of Anchorman 2 is simply bliss.
Yet while we live in our cocoon anticipation, productions moves steadily on. Often times a new movie means new faces, and Deadline has the scoop on one very funny addition to the Anchorman 2 cast:
Paramount insiders tonight confirmed to me what Christina Applegate tweeted a few hours ago: “So excited Kristen Wiig has joined our cast forAnchorman 2.” The sequel formally titled Anchorman: The Legend stars Will Ferrell and Steve Carell plus Wiig in what the studio says is a “new role”.
Kristen Wiig was very much the Will Ferrell of her SNL generation, often stealing skits just by being on stage, so to see her enter the Anchorman world makes a ton of sense. Wiig has been successfully making the jump from the ‘not ready for prime-time players’ to big screen in the last few years, and landing a new role among such a star-studded cinematic comedy event only further establishes her rising star.
Presented without much comment is the latest trailer for Paranormal Activity 4. You have to hand it to Paramount, they are certainly getting their monies worth out of this franchise.
Enjoy the trailer. Look for the movie to arrive in theaters on October 19th.
There are two prime ‘seasons’ on the Box Office calendar, summer and holiday. Both represent times of the year where most people like to go watch movies, and as a result, most of the best films get released in those windows. During these seasons there are single weekends that are the marquee slots, reserved for the films most likely to draw in the biggest audiences, the fourth of July and Christmas.
If you want some idea of how much faith Paramount has in their new Jack Ryan reboot, you have only to look at its freshly minted release date for an answer. Kenneth Branagh’s CIA thriller reboot will be hitting screens December 25th, 2013. The new potential franchise starter stars Chris Pine as the titular analyst, Keira Knightley as his love interest, Branagh himself as the villain Kevin Costner in an important but as yet unidentified ‘key’ role.
One of the most interesting developments for this film is the way Paramount is setting the franchise up. They don’t seem content in just developing a new franchise in the style of the Bourne films or James Bond, instead Paramount thinks that there is a whole shared universe of Tom Clancy characters that they can develop like Marvel Studios has done with The Avengers.
So the development of this film has turned into a rather interesting experiment, stay connected to The Flickcast for any future updates.
We are just a little over a week removed from learning that Edgar Wright has not one, but two new movies in the works. One seems to be a traditional Edgar Wright-Simon Pegg project, The World’s End, and the other is the potentially huge Marvel ‘phase 2’ movie, Ant-Man.
Well Mr. Wright must have been downright bored in the last few, relatively, slow years for his work. Deadline is reporting that Wright is set to direct a secret new project for J.J. Abrams:
Paramount Pictures is mobilizing a sci-fi film called Collider, and it is a collision of several of the top guys in the genre. Edgar Wright will direct the film, and he is co-writing the script with I Am Legend‘s Mark Protosevich. Wright is producing with his longtime Big Talk Productions partner Nira Park and JJ Abramsthrough his Bad Robot banner.
No word on when he plans to shoot this new sci-fi project, but the most logical assumption would be after Ant-Man. Of all these potential movies, the Marvel adventure is the only one that is likely on a strict timeline, even though it was the one and only announced film with out a release date.
Looks like Edgar Wright will be a busy guy in the next few years, we are all winners for that. Stay peeled to The Flickcast for any updates on this impressive slate of upcoming films.
Kenneth Branagh has one of those careers that every struggling actor waiting tables in Los Angeles dreams of having. He is an extraordinary actor who has mastered The Bard and eventually turned himself into a well-respected director.
He is in his ‘tent pole’ era as a director right now, coming off of Thor his next project is a reboot of Jack Ryan for Paramount. Variety is reporting that Branagh might have finally found himself a villain for the project:
Paramount didn’t have to look far for the villain in its untitled Jack Ryan reboot, as the studio is in negotiations with Kenneth Branagh — who’s also directing the film — to star opposite Chris Pine in the action thriller that aims to reinvigorate the blockbuster franchise.
Directing a major blockbuster-to-be and being able to insert yourself as the main bad guy of the piece? Like said, the career every aspiring actor dreams of having.
As a wonderful, British, actor Branagh is a uniquely qualified for the bad guy role. In my estimation this reboot is shaping up rather nicely.
Expect the next Jack Ryan adventure to hit theaters some time next year, and stay tuned to The Flickcast for any other news about Branagh deciding to write the score of the film himself too.
There will be a large segment of you that will ignore this movie in its entirety. There are many reasons why you may do that, a dislike of Kevin James, a dislike of inspirational sports movies, or perhaps a dislike of MMA itself. If you fall into any of those categories I plead to you to at least give this trailer a shot.
For those of you who have no idea what Here Comes The Boom even is, here is the synopsis:
Former collegiate wrestler Scott Voss is a 42-year-old apathetic biology teacher in a failing high school. When cutbacks threaten to cancel the music program and lay off its teacher. Scott begins to raise money by moonlighting as a mixed martial arts fighter.
Now, of course, that brief concept isn’t the most convincing argument for the film, but the trailer suggests that there is more to this movie than Kevin James getting beat up in some sub par MMA action. Director Frank Coraci is a mixed bag, but he is able to coax some real emotion from a goofy premise (Click, The Waterboy) so there is hope that Here Comes The Boom can rise above the sum of its parts.
Check out the trailer after the jump, and you can see Here Comes The Boom in October.
