The Movie Paradise

A lot of controversy has surrounded this new The Fantastic Four  reboot, set to come out in 2015 . First, there was the decision to go with a much younger team (which includes Miles Teller , Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jaime Bell ) and also the fact that Johnny Storm (the Human Torch) was black instead of being traditionally white. I personally had no problem with it, since Jordan played almost like a Johnny Storm-esque character in Chronicle . What has me worried is that they cast Mara (who's white) as his "sister", which means they must be abandoning the fact that they are brother and sister, which is absolutely fundamental to the two characters.  The film also has a lot of trouble, coming off of two very poorly received (by both fans and critics) Fantastic Four  movies. Even though the bar is low from those films, there is a lot of expectations for what this movie should be and everyone has been eagerly looking at every little thing that has come out abou

With the major (and rather unexpected) success of Marvel 's Guardians of the Galaxy  (read our review here ), a lot of people have been talking. DC has pushed forward a new schedule of release dates up until 2020 with Marvel doing the same. It would be no surprise if after Guardians 's numbers came in if several obscure comic book properties secretly went into development ( Inhumans ?). The latest of people to talk about the film's success is Iron Man  himself, a Mr. Robert Downey Jr.  In an interview with The Toronto Sun , Downey Jr. said: “( Guardians of the Galaxy) in some ways is the best Marvel movie ever. And it’s odd for someone with — on occasion — an ego the size of mine to actually say that!” One could easily look at these words as a biased view, since Downey Jr. is, what some would call him, a "poster boy" for Marvel. However, if he was just simply saying something nice about a film his studio put out, I doubt it would look like this. In h

This weekend, If I Stay, When the Game Stands Tall and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For opened. Let's take a look at this past week's box office. #1 Guardians of the Galaxy - $17,202,212 In its fourth week, Guardians   of the Galaxy  made it back up to the number one spot after being dethroned by Turtles . So far it has grossed over $500 million dollars world-wide and is on its way to being the highest grossing movie of the summer. You can read our review here .  #2 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - $16,725,447 On its third week, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles  has moved down to second place. The past two weeks it has been number one at the box office but this week Guardians  got the upper-hand. It looks like for the next few weeks, these two blockbusters will be dominating the box office. #3 If I Stay - $15,679,190 If I Stay took third place on its opening weekend. With it being based of a young adults novel and the star power of Chloë Grace Mor

Marvel 's next risky project, Ant-Man  began filming not too long ago. The film was at Comic-Con this past week, revealing a small trailer even though they had yet to begin filming. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the project, mainly with the departure of director Edgar Wright , who had been apart of this film since before the first Iron Man  movie came out. Yet, with the recent success of Guardians of the Galaxy , a risky and unknown project (you can read our review here ), more confidence in Ant-Man  has returned. Today, the first still from the movie was released:  The still is of Paul Rudd , who will be playing the central character, Scott Lang . It looks like Lang will be a rough character, picking a fight with everyone, which can add to a lot of deepness for the character, and potentially a lot of laughs. Yet, the one big thing about this picture that nobody is commenting on is the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Does this mean the film

With Jon Favreau 's Disney  produced Jungle Book  coming out in 2015 already full of big stars such as Scarlett Johnasson and Idris Elba , little news is yet to come out about Andy Serkis 's Warner Bros  produced version of it, set to come out in 2016 and to be his directorial debut (he was a 2nd unit director for the Hobbit  movies). We learned a little while ago that Serkis's film would be titled Jungle Book: Origins  (which I personally think is a stupid title) but now we have our first bit of casting. Benedict Cumberbatch  will be in the film as the movie's villain, the tiger Shere Khan. The actor is known for his mesmorizing voice, and for his frightening villains. He played Khan  (hmm...) in   Star Trek: Into Darkness  and did the motion capture for the titular dragon in  The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. I am really excited about this casting. I am personally looking forward to Serkis's darker version of the story over Favreau's Disney-fie

A lot of set pictures have been going around the internet from the upcoming Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice . We have seen pictures of Ben Affleck  as Bruce Wayne , proving he will have gray sides, pictured below: It's hard to see in this picture, but it's there Now, a few more set pictures have been released, showing some of the supporting cast. At first, they don't seem like much but a closer look may reveal a lot. This first one is of Tao Okamoto , and this pretty much confirms what role she was rumored to be. In the animated Superman  series and the comics, Lex Luther  ( Jesse Eisenberg ) had an assistant/body guard named Mercy Graves . A rumor came out a little while ago that Okamoto would be playing this role. Now, looking at her outfit, this rumor seems to be confirmed.  Mercy Graves from the animated series This next one is of Holly Hunter : This set pic doesn't reveal much. Perhaps she is a Wayne Enterprises executiv

Dwayne Johnson  has been teasing us for a while that he will be in a DC movie. You can read our last article about the matter here . But now, Johnson has confirmed something he hasn't been so lenient to reveal in the past. With possibilities of his character ranging from Green Lantern  to Martian Manhunter  to Lobo , he has officially narrowed it down to two possibilities for us. Johnson said this in an interview: "It’s the story of Shazam, but I can not say now if (my role) is Shazam or Black Adam." In my last article about this, I talked about how it would be difficult if he was Shazam , since he would also be sharing the screen with the character's other persona, Billy Baxon  who would have to be a different actor (a Bruce Banner/Hulk  situation). I personally think he will be Black Adam , for the exact reasons I stated earlier. There would be a lot of issues if he was Shazam, and Black Adam could be DC's Loki , meaning he can he a reusable vill

This week, the big new releases were The Expendables 3, The Giver and Let's Be Cops . Let's take a look at the box office this past week. #1 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - $28,400,000 On its second week, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles  took the lead at the box office again. So far, domestically it's made about $115 million and already has a sequel confirmed. Turtles  has had a lot of success and, with this week's box office report, I'm thinking its going to keep making money for a little while. #2 Guardians of the Galaxy - $24,735,000 On it's third week, Guardians of the Galaxy  was just $4 million shy of taking the top spot this week. With the massive critic and fan praise surrounding this film, it has proved to be a juggernaut at the box office, making it already in just three weeks the 6th highest grossing film of the entire year, and will likely, by the end, be in the top 3 of the list. Read our review here .  #3 Let's Be C

The world has lost a great man. On Monday, it was announced that actor/comedian Robin Williams  had died at the age of 63 from what is seemingly looking like suicide. We do know that Robin had been struggling with addiction and depression for a long time. But let's not dwell on this part. Robin was an influential man to say the least. He touched so many lives and has influenced so many generations. He broke out on TV in Morg & Mindy , playing an alien. The show was tailored to Robin's exceptional improvisational talents. He then went on to star in movies, famously in  Good Morning, Vietnam. Robin then went on to do some dramas, such as Dead Poets Society  and Awakenings  while also retaining his comedic nature, proving his range as an actor and entertainer. He would do edgy movies like The Fisher King  and in the same year do a film for children like Hook . One of his most famous and iconic performances was voicing the Genie in Aladdin, where he infused improv, heart a

This week, three big movies opened: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , Into the Storm  and The Hundred-Foot Journey . Let's take a look at this past week's box office. #1 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - $65,000,000 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles  topped the box office this past week with the fourth largest movie opening in August history. Despite negative critic and mixed fan reviews, Turtles  still managed to get people in to see it. Let's see how it fares over the next few weeks, though. The sequel is already confirmed for 2016. #2 Guardians of the Galaxy - $41,531,000 Guardians of the Galaxy  came in second with the largest 2nd week profit in August history. Everyone figured that it would be high up on the list. I thought that it even had the ability to surpass Turtles , but it still made a great amount for its second week. I think Guardians  is here to stay on our list for a while. You can read our review here . #3 Into the Storm - $18,015,000

This week was a huge surprise at the Box Office, as you'll see later on in the article. Opening this week was the risky Marvel property Guardians of the Galaxy  and the James Brown  biopic Get on Up . Let's take a look at this past week's box office. #1 Guardians of the Galaxy - $94,320,883 This was a huge surprise for everyone. Guardians of the Galaxy  was a risky bet on Marvel's part. It was unknown. It was strange. It was different. It was tracked to make around $60-70 million but, as you can see, it far surpassed that, breaking August records making around $94 million. You can read our review for the movie here . #2 Lucy-  $18,252,590 There's not a lot of surprise that Lucy  was high up on our top 5 this week. It was number one last week but, probably because of Guardians , it had a 58% drop from last week. Still, it's proving that people want to see female-led action films. #3 Get on Up - $13,585,915 On it's fir

Ooga Chaka. Ooga Ooga Oooga Chaka. Ooga Ooga Chaka. Ah ahah ahah. Hooked on a Feeling. I'm high on believing. That you're in love with me... Damn you James Gunn , this song is going to be on repeat for the next three months! Guardians of the Galaxy  is a very different but very special movie. It's the weird, pot-head, emo nephew in the Marvel family. And that is an apt comparison. Before we get into how good of a movie Guardians  is, let's look at what it could have been, in a negative way. First off, the story comes from a comic series that even die-hard comic nerds don't know. It's set entirely in space (except for the first five minutes) with a cast including a talking racoon and a walking tree who only says "I am Groot". The director, James Gunn , has only done low-budget films and this was his first big budget movie. The cast is led by Chris Pratt  who, until now, has never been a leading actor. You also have a wrestler playing one of the