The Movie Paradise

The quintessential definition of an actor is a person who can fully embody a character. Whether that character is a historical figure, an animal or an average person, a good actor can make you believe that they are that character, but a great actor can lose themselves entirely in the role. For the longest time, Christian Bale  has been the poster child of this method. In 2004, he made The Machinist , where he got down to 110 pounds. The next year he had to go up to 250 pounds for Batman Begins . Since then, Bale has proven that he can change his body to fit whatever the movie requires. If he needs to be the pinnacle of human athletics (Batman) or if he is the skinniest man you have ever seen ( The Machinist ), he will rise to the occasion. Jake Gyllenhaal , it seems, has become the next Christian Bale. For years he has been an actor I've had significant interest in. But hasn't been until of late that I've really been able to see Gyllenhaal for the remarkable actor

Just a couple days ago the first trailer for the highly anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens  was released and the Internet exploded. Fans have been dissecting every frame of the trailer looking for hints of the Old Republic , Darth Bane and Darth Plagueis  and the Skywalker Twins . I have said before that I am not a die-hard fan of Star Wars , so I don't really have the knowledge to go that in depth about the trailer. I did do a shot-for-shot break down with some of my thoughts and theories (you can check that our here ). Now that some of the dust has settled, some pretty big observations have arose, especially pertaining to one, lingering questions: who voiced the narration in the trailer? When I first heard the voice speak, I thought it was Benedict Cumerbatch . The actor has a bit of a history with the director, J.J. Abrams , as they worked together in Star Trek: Into Darkness . Cumberbatch was also rumored for a while to be involved in the project. I thought that

It's finally here. Today, the first trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens  is here. We have gotten barely any news from the production except for a picture of the cast reading the script (check it out here ). Many fears have plagued this film for some time. That it may repeat the mistakes of the prequels. That the whole movie would just be for nostalgia. That it would just plain suck. I had some doubts myself but I like the cast and I have faith in director J.J. Abrams . But now, any fears I had, and hopefully the same for others, has been alleviated. This trailer is awesome. Now, I don't constitute myself as a Star Wars  super fan or anything. I have always liked Star Wars but I have never been obsessed with it. Since the announcement of this new movie I have grown very excited to the point where, when I was watching this trailer, I had goosebumps and I was cheering. I probably looked like an idiot. Yes, the trailer is so awesome that I'm going to break

Ever since DC  officially announced their Wonder Woman  movie, people have been speculating who the director will be. It has been said that they were in pursuit of getting a female director with a few names being thrown around. Now, we may actually have the film's director. Breaking Bad  executive producer Michelle MacLaren , who directed 11 episodes of the show, as well as episodes of  The Walking Dead  and Game of Thrones, will in fact be directing the Wonder Woman movie. I haven't seen anything she's directed but I think it was a good choice to get a female director for this movie. Was it necessary to have a female director? No, but I think it makes sense. And she is a very viable person for the role. While I would have perferred Kathryn Bigelow , who is an Oscar-winning director, I have no problems with MacLaren directing the film. What do you think? Are you glad that Michelle MacLaren is directing Wonder Woman ? Are you looking forward to the film? Leave your

Let me first say that I am not really big into children's movies with fairies and magic and wonder and all of that. I'm not. I didn't do an article for the Cinderella trailer because, honestly, I hated it. I did not like  Maleficent  (read our review here , and it wasn't a good one). That's just not the type of movie I'm into. The only reason I had any kind of interest in this movie was because of Hugh Jackman , whom I think is a terrific actor. So I started this trailer, expecting it to be all about courage and finding yourself and all this magic and crap. But this looks very, very different. The trailer caught my attention with a very dark beginning. Now, while the rest of the trailer eased up a bit on that darkness, it wasn't as cutesy as I was afraid it was going to be. I was also afraid that Jackman was going to overact as Blackbeard , he looks fantastic. He looks sinister, evil, maniacal but by the end of the trailer, we sense there is som

A new Jurassic Park  movie starring Chris Pratt . I was already signed up on the film when they announced just that. Now, I have even more reasons to be excited for this movie! A few days ahead of schedule, the trailer for Jurassic World , the fourth installment in the franchise, was released. For several months there had been a bunch of speculation about what the plot of the movie would be and even though the trailer didn't show us too much, it did enlighten us on some facts. It seems that the island in the movies, Isla Nebular , has been reopened since the events of the first film some twenty years ago into the successful Disney World- type place, now called Jurassic World . We some some great shots that are reminiscent of the first movie (the brontosauruses in the field, the raptors running) while also adding some new factors (the giant dinosaur leaping out of the water and eating a great white shark!)  (F**K YEAH!!) I am a big fan of Chris Pratt. I love h

This week, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 1 opened in theaters. Let's take a look at this past week's box office. #1 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 1 - $121,897,634 On its opening weekend, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 1  came in first place. While I am not personally a fan of the series (or the young adult book/movie genre at all), there's no doubt that this movie had a fantastic opening. It apparently is behind the openings of the previous two films but that doesn't really matter. Mockingjay  is going to stay in top 5 for a while and it's going to be one of the highest grossing films of the year. #2 Big Hero 6 - $20,124,166 On its third week, Big Hero 6  came in second place. It was almost tied with Mockingjay  and... oh, wait. No. I was off by about $100 million dollars. My mistake. Despite being so far behind the first place contender, Big Hero 6  has been doing fantastic at the box office. It has a little while left in

I love Wanted . I know a lot of people bash on it and I honestly don't understand why they hate it. I absolutely love it and I think it's an awesome movie. The next time I watch it, I'll do a Top 5 Moments From  editorial for it (check out our other T5MF articles here ). The movie came out six years ago and there has been a lot of talk about a sequel but nothing has really happened. The biggest problem with a sequel is that the movie saw the death of one of their most key (and marketable) characters. I won't specify who, since it is a spoiler for those who have not seen it yet. A producer of the film, Marc Platt had this to say about the development of a sequel: “We have a script that’s getting pretty good. To do a sequel when it wasn’t really set up for a sequel–one of our main characters dies in it. You don’t want to just retread a similar story, but when we get the script to a certain bar, there will be a sequel. It’s taken a while because it’s challenging,

It's fair to say that The Expendables 3  failed at the box office. Sylvester Stallone  and the studio made a conscious decision to make the film PG-13 (instead of R like the previous 2) as to "reach the younger audience". Part of why people liked these Expendables movie was because it was designed to be a lot like the 80's action flick, which were hard R movies. A lot of people weren't on board for a PG-13 Expendables 3  and, as we all know, it didn't do so well at the box office. Now, Stallone has a few words to say about his decision to make the movie PG-13: “Absolutely unequivocally yes. I believe it was a horrible miscalculation on everyone’s part in trying to reach a wider audience, but in doing such, diminish the violence that the audience expects. I’m quite certain it won’t happen again.”     It's good to see that he realizes he made a big mistake. Here's a link to our article we put out when Stallone announced his intentions o

Very recently, a lot of speculation has been going around as to who will be playing the titular villain in the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse . Reports were saying that the studio was eyeing Tom Hardy  then Idris Elba . Now, Variety  is reporting that Inside Llewyn Davis  actor Oscar Isaac  will be playing Apocalypse . It has not been confirmed by Fox  yet, but Variety is a pretty reputable source, so it is safe to assume that this report is true.  I personally would have rather of seen Hardy or Elba as the villain, but Isaac is a very talented actor. I haven't seen him in much but he's been great in what I have seen him in. I just know that Hardy and Elba can bring that edge that could make Apocalypse a very fearsome and memorable villain. That doesn't mean Isaac can't deliver, I just haven't seen him in anything that would lead me to believe he can do it. I am supporting this decision even though I would have preferred the other rumored actors. What do yo

We've known for a while that the next step after this summer's X-Men: Days of Future Past  (you can read our review here ) was X-Men: Apocalypse . In this new chapter, the X-Men will face history's first and most powerful mutant, Apocalypse and will need all the help they can get. Many have suspected that since the movie has been described as an "80's period piece" that younger versions of Jean Grey/Phoenix  (previously played by Famke Janssen ) and Scott Summers/Cyclops  (previously played by James Marsden ) could make an appearance. Now, it has been revealed who Fox Studios  is looking at the play the roles. For Jean Grey, Hailee Steinfeld (Oscar nominated for her performance in True Grit ), Chloe Grace Moretz ( Kick-Ass ) and Elle Fanning ( Maleficent ) are being considered. If you read my review for Maleficent  (which you can read here ), I didn't like the movie at all and I didn't think Fanning did that good of a job either. While Ste

Project Almanac  (which was the original title before it was renamed Welcome to Yesterday  then back to the original title) has been a movie I've anticipated for a little while now. It is a found footage movie (which, when done right, can be really good) focused on a group of kids who discover the blue prints for a time machine, which they use to screw around and have fun. But the repercussions of the time travel has astronomical affects. The film was supposed to be released about six months ago but was moved to January of 2015. The name has changed several times. Now, we have our first title since the official name and release date change.  If you saw the first trailer, then you would think you were just watching the same one. This "new" trailer is pretty much shot-for-shot the same as the first, which is unfortunate. However, I did really like the first trailer so it didn't deter me from my wanting to see the film. Although, it did introduce some new, brief

This past weekend, Dumb and Dumber To and Beyond the Lights  opened in theaters. Let's take a look at this past week's box office. #1 Dumb and Dumber To - $36,111,775 On its opening weekend, Dumb and Dumber To  came in first place. Despite it coming out twenty years after the original, it has a massive fan presence and a lot of people were looking forward to this movie. While the reviews have been rather poor, there was little doubt in my mind that it would make a good amount of money, and it is off to a good start.  #2 Big Hero 6 - $34,662,707 On its second week, Big Hero 6  came in second place. Last week, the Disney  film actually took first place ahead of Interstellar , something no one saw coming. The film has proceeded to make a good amount of money. Recently, the animated features haven't been doing very well at the box office, between The Box Trolls  and The Book of Life , however Big Hero 6  has disproved that. I think it's going to

I have a confession to make. I saw Interstellar  opening night. But it's taken me over a week to process just how I felt about the movie. So here's the belated review for the film. Interstellar  is the latest film from Hollywood's hottest director (and my personal favorite) Christopher Nolan . He's been the mind behind The Dark Knight Trilogy , Inception , Memento , The Prestige  and others. The movie stars Matthew McConaughey , who is just coming off of his Oscar win for Dallas Buyers Club . The film also stars Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Casey Affleck, John Lithgow  and another A-list actor who is technically a spoiler. In my opinion, he really isn't but Nolan has tried to keep his involvement a secret so, out of respect, I won't reveal who he is.  In a not-so-distant future, Earth has run out of food. Crops no longer grow and the end of humanity is evident. Cooper (McConaughey) must lead a team up into space and travel thr

I love Kevin James . I really do. The King of Queens is a great show. I've seen James' stand-up live and he is fantastic. While not all of his movies have been great, I have liked most of them. Here Comes the Boom  and Hitch  are hilarious and I really like the first Grown Ups  movie. Grown Ups 2 and Zookeeper  are a different story entirely. For me, Paul Blart: Mall Cop  is one of his movies I really liked. Is it a fantastic movie? No, but it's funny and it's Kevin James being Kevin James. So, I've been looking forward to the sequel for a while now.  Now, we have our first trailer for Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 , which is due to come out next April. Here's what I thought: It feels like it's going to be the same movie, just in a different place. They reused some of the same jokes from the first movie and the plot seems to be the same idea. However, it still looks good to me. It rehashing the same jokes may end up backfiring when you see the movie