Based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s novel All You Need is Kill, Doug Liman’s (The Bourne Identity) Groundhog Day-style sci-fi actioner Edge of Tomorrow puts the fate of the world in Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt’s hands.
Set in a world under attack from an intimidating and incredibly skilled alien race called “Mimics,” media specialist Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) is ordered to the front line by the United Defense Force General (Brendan Gleeson) without any combat experience or training. After declining to join and waking up to find that he’s been coined a deserter, Cruise finds himself with the first wave of soldiers heading into battle. After getting dropped onto the beach in what was initially supposed to be a surprise attack, Cruise enters a warzone that was ready for the invasion and eventually kills a Mimic creature called an Alpha whose blood seeps into his body. When Cruise is killed, he wakes up to find that he’s back at Heathrow Base to relive the same day of training. Eventually, he begins to learn to fight and soon saves a Special Forces soldier named Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) in one loop. She realizes what Cage is going through and tells him to find her when she wakes up. Soon the two begin working together in an attempt to find a way to end the war, but to do so Cage will have to keep dying as they play out different scenarios in their attempt to discover a
A Million Ways to Die in the West follows a pathetic and cowardly sheep farmer named Albert (Seth MacFarlane) who falls for a mysterious new woman that just moved to town, Anna (Charlize Theron). Initially, he thinks he’s using her to help win back his longtime girlfriend Louise (Amanda Seyfried) back from the successful moustache man Foy (Neil Patrick Harris), but things eventually change. Unbeknownst to Albert, Anna is the wife of the deadliest gunslinger in the territory, Clinch (Liam Neeson), and eventually news gets out that Albert and Anna are becoming smitten, which puts the cowardly Albert in life-threatening position.
I don’t know about you, but when I first saw the trailer for Seth MacFarlane’s follow-up to Ted my initial thoughts were “well that was underwhelming.” Since the release of that first trailer my expectations remained the same, I was worried this was going to be a flop and boy was I right. A Million Ways to Die in the West is the result of someone trying way too hard to make people laugh. The film is full of ridiculous shenanigans for the sake of being ridiculous; the issue is that most of the shenanigans aren’t funny. There’s a ton of physical humor but many of these jokes you see coming from a mile away and the attempt at humorous dialogue become more like attempts at comedic
Determined to bounce back from the massive flop that was Jack the Giant Slayer, director Bryan Singer returns to the X-Men franchise that he helped build, determined to steer it back on track with a massive $250 million budget, a highly ambitious storyline and a who’s who cast of all the prior X-Men films. With X-Men: Days of Future Past, Fox’s epic attempt to truly build an X-Men universe and save a franchise that, at least from a story perspective, hasn’t been very stable, succeeds in launching what Marvel has now been doing for ages, creating a universe with vast opportunities for growth.
X-Men: Days of Future Past opens in a post-apocalyptic world with a group of various X-Men battling future sentinels who are attempting to exterminate and imprison all the mutants on earth. In their quest to find a solution to a war they cannot win, Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen), through the use of Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page), send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back
Finally, after years of secrecy and anticipation shooting through the roof, Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla is smashing its way into theaters and I couldn’t be happier. As a child I was a massive fan of the franchise, obsessively watching re-runs on TV or on playing and re-watching my VHS’. In fact, I still have my childhood Godzilla toy proudly displayed in my room. So when the lights went down, the IMAX 3D countdown began and Godzilla’s roar boomed loudly in the theater as it hit zero with the bass shaking my chest, I knew I was going to be watching the movie that I, and a lot of other people, have been waiting 16 years for.
Check out Alex and Chris’ coverage of the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival. See what indie films are worth checking out at this years festival and beyond.
This year really seems to be the year of Brazil. With the biggest sporting event in the world coming up, the FIFA World Cup, it only makes sense that a sequel to the crowd-pleasing film Rio hits theaters as well, simply titled Rio 2. Side note: The film does work soccer/football into the film as well as the hilarious commentators who yell “goal” which made me very happy.
Directed by Carlos Saldanha, Rio 2 follows Jewel (Anne Hathaway), Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) and their three kids as they take a family vacation to the Amazon where Jewel grew up in order to escape the city before Carnival arrives. Blue, unaccustomed to forest life, plays the typical domesticated father obsessed
It’s been a couple of years since we were last in touch with the Captain, things seem to be back to normal following New York but a new threat in the shadows could change everything in the lead up to the highly anticipated Avengers: Age of Ultron.
The Captain (Chris Evans), now well and truly stuck in modern times in Washington DC, is still trying to adjust to his new life. Following the events of The Avengers (which hasn’t really seemed to phase our hero, nor is it really mentioned), it’s business as usual for Steve Rodgers. He meets an ex-soldier, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), almost straight away. The two have a lot of similarities and they share a moment, a ‘bro-
Though it wasn’t a critical darling, audiences raved about 300 in 2007 because of its groundbreaking visuals. There hadn’t ever been a film that looked like 300, which brought Frank Miller‘s comic book about the Battle of Thermopylae during the Persian Wars to life. Through a combination of the visual effects, manly-man dialogue, and buckets of blood, 300 became a major success, grossing over $450 million worldwide and catapulting director Zack Snyder to even bigger comic book projects like Watchmen and Man of Steel. Famously, it made its entire budget back in its first weekend of release.
I think it’s impossible for Wes Anderson to make a movie I won’t like. I have been completely on his wavelength with his quirky sense of humor ever since I saw his second movie, Rushmore. My affinity for his work has only grown since then, though I think I’m generally considered odd for thinking his best movie is The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
Though each of Anderson’s previous seven films are all winners in my book, ever since Life Aquatic I have suspected that Anderson has increasingly reveled in his unique visual and narrative flair. Whereas
Now that Kick-Ass 2 is finally out in theaters, I thought it would be appropriate to post my second interview with a member of the film, Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Known form Superbad as McLovin’, Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays Chris D’Amico, formerly Red Mist and now known as The Motherfucker, the villain...
Two weeks ago I had an opportunity to sit down face to face with Jeff Wadlow, the writer and director of the upcoming action comedy Kick-Ass 2, and grill him on his third feature length film and sequel to one of my favorite films of 2010. Below we discuss...
It’s not often that someone can truthfully say that he or she worked on “the most controversial, most talked about” film of the year. However, that is something that John DeFazio can lay credit to because he was the cinematographer on The Canyons. Written by unrestrained novelist Bret Easton...
One of my highlights this week was having the opportunity to attend a screening of Jackie Chan’s new film, Chinese Zodiac, where he was also in attendance to receive the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement award as well as have a 40 minute discussion before the playing of his feature....
Movie Buzzers had the great opportunity to be at a New York City screening of This Is The End with producers/writers/directors Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen (Rogen also stars, of course). Let me first say that the movie is hysterical and blows The Hangover Part III out of...
On my last day of SXSW, the final film I screened was Vincent Grashaw’s dramatic thriller, Coldwater (review here). Later in the day I had the chance to interview the director and the lead actor but I also had an opportunity to sit down with the voice of Frank...
On my last day of SXSW, one of the last films I screened was Vincent Grashaw’s dramatic thriller, Coldwater (review here). Later in the day one of my friends, who was handling the PR for the film, asked if I wanted to interview the guys involved. As you can...
During the week of its release, I had the amazing opportunity to sit at the same table as the great Park Chan-wook, the director of Stoker as well as the notorious Vengeance Trilogy (that includes Oldboy). It was an incredible experience to be sitting directly across from one of...
My favorite film of the inaugural First Time Fest was Junction, written and directed by Tony Glazer. I had the opportunity to interview Glazer at the prestigious Players Club in New York City, which hosted the festival’s events. Meeting Glazer was one of the highlights of the festival for...
