In honor of Mark Wahlberg handling his first hosting gig on the Kids’ Choice Awards on March 29, 2014, Paramount Pictures has unveiled a new poster for Wahlberg’s upcoming sci-fi action movie Transformers: Age of Extinction. Wahlberg takes over the franchise lead (remember when Shia LaBeouf was famous and used to star in the Transformers movies?) in this fourth Transformers movie from filmmaker Michael Bay.
Joining Wahlberg in this transforming robots outing are Sophia Myles, TJ Miller, Titus Welliver, Jack Reynor, Nicola Peltz, Stanley Tucci, Han Geng, and Kelsey Grammer.
Paramount Pictures is opening Transformers: Age of Extinction in theaters on June 27, 2014.
Russell Crowe and Jimmy Fallon on 'The Tonight Show' (Photo by Nathaniel Chadwick/NBC)
When Russell Crowe shows up on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, you expect that there could be a musical number. But you don’t necessarily expect that number to be the classic Johnny Cash song “Folsom Prison Blues.”
After joking that he’s going to perform an old Australian tune, Crowe sings and plays guitar while Fallon accompanies him on the harmonica.
Rose Leslie and Harry Treadaway in 'Honeymoon' (Photo Courtesy of Magnet Releasing)
Leigh Janiak’s directorial debut, Honeymoon, has been picked up by Magnet Releasing and will be opening in theaters later this year. The thriller, which stars Game of Thrones‘ Rose Leslie and Harry Treadaway (The Lone Ranger), debuted at this year’s SXSW and will screen at the Tribeca Film Festival in April.
“Honeymoon is an auspicious debut from the very talented Leigh Janiak, who has a preternatural mastery of tone and mounting dread, not to mention a deft hand with actors” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles. “Rose Leslie and Harry Treadaway have stunning chemistry—they light up the screen.”
“I feel incredibly honored to have my first feature in Magnet’s smart and expert hands,” said director Janiak. “I’m so excited to work with them — they’re the perfect home for the film and I know they will do great things with it.”
The Plot:
Young newlyweds Paul (Harry Treadaway) and Bea (Rose Leslie) travel to remote lake country for their honeymoon, where the promise of private romance awaits them. Shortly after arriving, Paul finds Bea wandering and disoriented in the middle of the night. As she becomes more distant and her behavior increasingly peculiar, Paul begins to suspect something more sinister than sleepwalking took place in the woods.
The Purge: Anarchy arrives in theaters on July 18, 2014.
The Plot:
The New Founders of America invite you to celebrate your annual right to Purge. The Purge: Anarchy, the sequel to summer 2013’s sleeper hit that opened to No. 1 at the box-office, sees the return of writer/director/producer James DeMonaco to craft the next terrifying chapter of dutiful citizens preparing for their country’s yearly 12 hours of anarchy.
The Weinstein Company has just released a new poster and trailer for the anthology film, The Players, starring Jean Dujardin, Mathilde May, Gilles Lellouche and Guillaume Canet.
The Plot:
Eight short films explore the subject of male infidelity. Serial cheaters, Fred and Greg, spend a night on the town doing what they do best, and with absolutely no regrets. The duo play various characters in assorted extracurricular situations, ranging from sexist to the darker sides of carnal desires. (courtesy of IMDB)
The Players opens in limited release on April 4, 2014.
“Is this the end of everything?” asks Ila (Emma Watson). “It’s the beginning, the beginning of everything,” answers Noah (Russell Crowe) to his soon-to-be daughter-in-law as they get ready to finish building the Ark to survive an all-consuming world flood in the Biblical epic, Noah.
Struggling to live and raise his children in a respectful and righteous way in a world ruled by evil and violent men, Noah receives a message from God that he is going to destroy the world by water with an apocalyptic flood. Hoping to find a way to avert the catastrophe, Noah and his family travel to see his grandfather Methuselah, (Anthony Hopkins) – another chosen by God – to see if he knows of any way to stop it. Claiming his father said that if man didn’t change his wicked ways, God would end the world, Methuselah tells Noah that God speaks to him and suggests that he try to see if anything can be done.
Once more, Noah has a vision of a world consumed by water, but this time, he sees all kinds of different animals swimming up and towards a floating Ark. He realizes God wants him (and his family) to build the Ark to save the animals along with themselves, allowing them to start over once all else has been washed away and the earth is ready to begin again.
Visually breathtaking and powerful, Noah is a biblical dramatic adventure that stays afloat because of the compelling performances and its striking visual effects. Russell Crowe delivers a strong and at times disturbing performance as Noah, a man who never doubts his faith or God’s plan for the world but then becomes dangerous and threatening to even his own family when he begins to misinterpret God’s vision for the new world.
In her first role as a full adult woman, Emma Watson shines as Ila, Noah’s adopted daughter. Noah and his family found her as a little girl wounded after raiders murdered her family and decided to raise her as their own, and now he’s hoping to marry her to his eldest son, Shem (Douglas Booth), whom she loves dearly. It’s one of Emma’s best performances of her career as she conveys the admiration and love she feels for the man she considers her father and later the fear and terror as he becomes her greatest threat aboard the Ark.
Jennifer Connelly also delivers one of her best performances as Naameh, Noah’s wife who is the glue for the family and supports him and his belief in God’s plan for the world but begins to question and stand up against Noah’s take on what the Creator has in mind for their family aboard the Ark and after surviving the flood. She has wonderful chemistry with Crowe (they starred together before as husband and wife in Ron Howard’s Academy Award-winning film A Beautiful Mind), as well as with the rest of the cast.
The look and design of the film is truly stunning. Especially impressive is the Ark, both the actual hand-built-to- actual-size-and-dimensions based on the Bible’s description and the CGI Ark that’s used during the flood scenes.
One of the problems with the film, however, is its attempt to be too ambitious and tell two stories in one. The first half of the film is truly engaging, with Noah and his family first trying to find a way to stop God’s wrath and then dedicating themselves to saving the animals of the world by building the Ark which takes years. The flood and attack of raiders trying to take the Ark for themselves is thrilling. It’s in the second half of the film aboard the Ark that the movie begins to divert away from telling the story of Noah and begins to incorporate other Biblical stories such as ‘Abraham’. The director and writer also begin to turn Noah from being one chosen by God to a Cabin Fever-suffering religious psychopath. It’s certain to upset and disturb most Christians as well as other audience members.
Still, with outstanding special effects and arresting performances, Noah is an absorbing biblical epic which should be seen up on the big screen.
GRADE: B-
Noah opens in theaters on March 28, 2014 and is rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and brief suggestive content.
Dakota Fanning and Jesse Eisenberg in 'Night Moves' (Photo Courtesy of Cinedigm)
Cinedigm has released a new trailer for the dramatic thriller Night Moves from director Kelly Reichardt (Wendy and Lucy, Meek’s Cutoff). Coming to theaters on May 30, 2014, Reichardt’s latest film stars Jesse Eisenberg (recently cast as Lex Luthor in the upcoming Batman vs Superman movie), Dakota Fanning, and Peter Sarsgaard.
The Plot:
Eisenberg, Fanning, and Sarsgaard star as radical activists plotting to blow up Oregon’s Green Peter Dam in an act of environmental sabotage. As their plan marches towards fruition, they soon discover that small steps have enormous consequences.
Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in 'Sabotage' (Photo Copyright 2012 QED International)
“I can’t stand it, I know you planned it” but to director David Ayer and co-writer Skip Woods, Sabotage is a mess of a film.
As a teenager in the 90s, I loved the Beastie Boys. Not only did they put out music that I enjoyed, but they also made some really fun music videos. Perhaps their best, and certainly the most recognized, is the Spike Jonze-directed “Sabotage.” It set the trio in an homage to ‘70s cops shows, complete with some very excellent mustache work.
Sadly, the Arnold Schwarzenegger-driven film of the same name does not have the same pep, energy, and sense of fun. Nor does it have the mustaches, but I’d really have liked to have those first three components. In the film, the Governator plays the head of an elite DEA team of covert operatives. They attempt to steal 10 million dollars on a bust, but the money disappears and eventually, this “family” of operatives turns on each other, looking for answers.
Okay, that’s about as simplistic as I could break it down. And I could go on and on and on breaking down each botched attempt at character development, each misstep in plot development, and a slew of actors who clearly just said yes because it was a chance to say they were in an action film with Schwarzenegger before it’s too late.
But I’ve got better things to do with my time, and so should you. Don’t be fooled by Ayer’s involvement. This isn’t End of Watch, though he employs the ultra close-up, shaky, hand-held camera work used there a few times while the DEA super team of actors shows off the time they spent learning to clear rooms like a special forces unit. This choreography is about the only redeeming factor of the movie, and it’s still not enough to make the film enticing enough that people should spend money on a trip to the theater.
It’s now been about 20 years (TWENTY YEARS) since Arnold was the main character in a movie that justified the sense of nostalgia we all attribute to him. And unless the upcoming zombie flick Maggie he’s starring in with Abigail Breslin turns out to be amazing (and actually gets released this year), it’s going to be at least 21 years by the time we all ring in 2015.
Look, just don’t see Sabatoge. The title actually refers to your wallet and the money that’s been parted to sit through such a horrific excuse for an action script. Watching this a few months later on free cable, you’ll be able to casually pay attention to this as you please if you somehow need to scratch that itch to hear Schwarzenegger say “Get Down” one more time. I was happy to hear it, but I’m weird. You shouldn’t always aspire to be like me. It’s not as glamorous as it appears.
GRADE: D+
Sabotage opens in theaters on March 28, 2014 and is rated R for strong bloody violence, pervasive language, some sexuality/nudity and drug use.
Cinematographer Wally Pfister makes his feature film directorial debut with the sci-fi thriller Transcendence starring Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Kate Mara, Cillian Murphy, Paul Bettany, and Rebecca Hall, and heading to theaters on April 18, 2014. And as we approach the film’s theatrical release date, Warner Bros has released this behind-the-scenes look at the movie featuring interviews with the cast and director Pfister.
The new video titled “Guarding the Threat” explains the set-up of the film as well as a little bit about the relationships between characters.
The Plot: Dr. Will Caster is the foremost researcher in the field of Artificial Intelligence, working to create a sentient machine that combines the collective intelligence of everything ever known with the full range of human emotions. His highly controversial experiments have made him famous, but they have also made him the prime target of anti-technology extremists who will do whatever it takes to stop him.
However, in their attempt to destroy Will, they inadvertently become the catalyst for him to succeed—to be a participant in his own transcendence. For his wife Evelyn and friend Max, both fellow researchers, the question is not if they can… but if they should. Their worst fears are realized as Will’s thirst for knowledge evolves into a seemingly omnipresent quest for power—to what end is unknown. The only thing that is becoming terrifyingly clear is there may be no way to stop him.
A scene from 'Boyhood' (Photo Courtesy of IFC Films)
Ethan Hawke reunited with his Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight writer/director Richard Linklater for Boyhood, and IFC Films has just announced they’ll be releasing the movie in the US on July 11, 2014. The cast of the film, which world premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, also includes Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, and Lorelei Linklater.
Linklater, who wrote, produced, and directed Boyhood, won the Silver Bear for his very personal film at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Details on Boyhood: Filmed over short periods from 2002 to 2013, Boyhood is a groundbreaking cinematic experience covering 12 years in the life of a family. At the center is Mason, who with his sister Samantha, is taken on an emotional and transcendent journey through the years, from childhood to adulthood.
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