The Movie Paradise

From the original Spider-Man films, one of the most (if not the most) beloved character is the hotheaded newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson, as played by J.K. Simmons, who is the front runner for the Best Supporting Actor award at the Oscars this year for Whiplash. Simmons captured the true spirit and essence of the character to give one of the best performances in a comic book film to date. For years, fans have lobbied for the actor to return as Jameson to the new The Amazing Spider-Man franchise, which has had a Jameson-sized hole for a while now. After the (although not financial) failure of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the state of the Spider-Man movies has been in limbo. Will it go back to Marvel? Will Sony simply continue on? Will it be rebooted again? These answers may not be known as of yet, but supposedly a "Spidey Summit" occurred this month, where the people at Sony got together to figure out just what the hell to do with Spider-Man. We have heard nothing as to what …

In this new editorial, Food for Thought, we will be taking a popular story in the world of movie news and really analyse it. We'll talk in depth about the pros and cons of the story and really get our hands dirty. Now, these topics will be more than a casting choice or something we can easily write an article about otherwise; these will feature more grey topics and highly opinionated discussions. So, without further adieu, let's get started!
In today's installment, we will talk about whether DC's new iteration of Green Lantern necessarily has to be Hal Jordan.

Actor Tyrese Gibson has been making headlines with his posting of photoshoped images of himself as Green Lantern, beginning a campaign to star as the hero in the DC Cinematic Universe. You can check out the picture here. I thought about writing an article about it, but then I decided it would be better served in an editorial like this. So the question has now become: Does Green Lantern have to be Hal Jordan? For…

Just a few months ago, the world was shocked with the news that Captain America 3 would in fact be the famous comic book storyline "Civil War", which would have Robert Downey Jr. back as Iron Man (you can read that whole article here). This was later confirmed with the announcing of the film's title- Captain America: Civil War. Since then, we've learned very little about what the film will actually entail. But with Marvel putting all their time and energy into promoting their next big film, Avengers: Age of Ultron with Ant-Man a few months after, I won't be surprised if we get some sizable Civil War news shortly after. 
However, in a recent interview, Downey Jr. talked a little bit about how Marvel got him to sign on for the film, despite his whole having had mixed feelings about returning in the past. He said:
“They said to me, ‘If we have you, we can do this, or Cap 3 has to be something else. It’s nice to feel needed. And at this point it’s about helping each …

For a while now we've known that an all-female Ghostbusters reboot was coming, with Bridesmaids and The Heat director Paul Feig at the helm. Rumors had gone around for a while about who could possibly star in the film, with a lot of interesting and talented actresses being thrown around. But with plans to release the film in the summer of 2016, a cast would have to be announced fast and soon. And now we know who will actually comprise the new team of Ghostbusters. 
Feig announced the cast via Twitter, which includes Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones. 
Wiig, Jones, McKinnon and McCarthy
Wiig and McCarthy have worked with Feig before in Bridesmaids, which I thought was a great movie. McCarthy starred in The Heat and is also being directed by Feig in this year's upcoming Spy (see the trailer here). I am not an avid watcher of Saturday Night Live, but I think McKinnon and Jones are really good in what I have seen, and I think they are good additions t…

Probably the second most influential man on the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Kevin Feige, would have to be Joss Whedon. After directing, arguably, Marvel's best film in The Avengers, he helped oversee the development of Phase Two. He wrote different scenes, gave advice to the directors and, of course, directed the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron. But Marvel has huge plans. Not only do they have a slew of movies coming out up until 2018, when the next Avengers film hits, beginning the two-part saga of Avengers: Infinity War. However, the big question has been who will direct the films? A lot of people have seemingly dropped Whedon from the conversation, focusing now on the Russo Brothers (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) and James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) as potential directors.
In a recent interview, Whedon seemingly took his name off potential directors, saying:
 “I couldn’t imagine doing this again. It’s enormously hard, and it [will] be, by [the time I would make …

For the longest time, people have been complaining about why we haven't gotten a trailer for The Fantastic Four trailer yet. It comes out in the summer and we still haven't seen anything from the movie! This must mean the Fox Studios doesn't have faith in it! Well, the trailer came out today and I think it looks awesome. Look, this film has become cool to hate. The original two Fantastic Four films were not very good, so everyone has been saying that this reboot is going to suck. There were all these rumors going around that Fox wasn't liking how the film was coming out, that director Josh Trank was being an asshole on set. All these different things. And it really seems that these rumors stemmed from the fact that we hadn't seen anything from the movie yet. This movie, like any movie, could end up being terrible, but I think a lack of a trailer is hardly grounds to claim that the studio doesn't like the film. It just isn't. But now we have our first look …

Disney has been recently adapting their iconic fairy tale stories into live action films. Just last year saw the release of Maleficent, which I hated. In a couple months Cinderella will be released, which I don't think looks good. So far, Disney isn't really striking it home with me for these types of films. Of course, I'm not exactly the target audience. But we've known for a while now that a Beauty and the Beast film was in the works, originally with Guillermo del Toro as the director. That film I was interested in, because del Toro's strongest suite is creating monsters and fictional worlds. However, del Toro left the project and Bill Condon (who directed some of the Twilight films) has taken over. Now, we know who will be playing Bell in the film.
Emma Watson had been rumored for a while to be involved, but today she officially confirmed it on her Facebook page, saying:
"I’m finally able to tell you… that I will be playing Belle in Disney’s new live-action B…

One of the most debated comic book films for a while was Deadpool. Actor Ryan Reynolds starred as the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but was butchered in the worst possible way. Since then, Reynolds has been the leading champion for a Deadpool film that would actually do the character justice. And just when it seemed like it was never going to happen, the film was confirmed for a February, 2016 release date (read that article here). But the biggest question since then has been whether Fox Studios would make the Deadpool film PG-13 in order to make the most amount of money possible or do what's best for the character and make the film rated R. The question has been in limbo for a while, but now Reynolds has given some insight that may answer the question.
In a recent interview, Reynolds talked a little bit about Deadpool, and how its lower budget may help the film overall:
“It’s been a long time, but it’s happened in the right way and that’s all that matters. We don’t have …

This week, Mortdecai, The Boy Next Door and Strange Magic all opened in theaters. Let's take a look at this past week's box office.
#1 American Sniper- $64,628,304

On its second week of wide release, American Sniper came in first place. This film has been killing it. It has broken January records and is making money that is usual of a summer movie. The attraction to this film is incredible. With nothing huge coming out for another few weeks, I think American Sniper is going to stay on top for a while longer. You can read our review for the film here. 
#2 The Boy Next Door- $14,910,105

On its opening weekend, The Boy Next Door came in second place. Just dollars behind American Sniper it... no, wait. I read it wrong. There's about a $50 million dollar gap between first and second place this weeks. My bad. Look, let's be honest. The only reason people went to go see it was because of Jennifer Lopez. No one went to see The Boy Next Door to see a captivating suspense thrille…

Boyhood is the experimental indie film that tells the tale of Mason (Ellar Coltrane) over the course of twelve years. I'm sure most people know this, but just to set the record straight, this movie was filmed over the course of 12 years. Starting in 2002, they filmed for about a week annually up until 2013. This has never been done before as entire movie in film history. As the film progresses, we see Mason growing and changing from childhood innocence to experimenting with alcohol, drugs and girls. This film pretty much just follows his life over the course of these 12 years as he endures certain hardships, like his mother's multiple marriages, keeping a relationship with his Dad who lives further away and just being a kid in the world. 
The evolution of Coltrane as Mason
A lot of this film resonated with me because of the way it was filmed. There were a lot of qualities that I could relate to, and for some audiences it probably didn't strike them the same way it did me. …

It's funny how to reach 1,000 page views, it took us over six months.To reach 2,000 it only took us a month and twenty days. I had originally set a goal to reach 2,000 by February 19th (my birthday), but we have reached my goal 27 days early!  I'm still in shock that we are reaching those numbers. I check the statistics for the blog and see people in Indonesia are reading The Movie Paradise. It kind of freaks me out a bit. But ultimately, I am very happy and very proud. Look, 2,000 is nothing for some sites. They'll get 2,000 page views for a single article. But they have budgets. They have marketing. I don't have any of that. I just write and throw it on the internet. And it's moving to me that I have people who actually care enough to read my thoughts and opinions. Not even my friends care about my opinions!

I want to thank you all for reading us. Please comment and share your thoughts and opinions. What makes film so much fun is discussing it. I would love to h…

This May will see the release of arguably the biggest comic book film since it's predecessor's release in 2012, in Avengers: Age of Ultron. It reunites all the Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes in an epic battle against the titular villain, Ultron. I put this movie as my most anticipated film of this year (you can read that article here). And it's strange to think that the film is only a few short months away. So with that comes a heightened marketing plan. We've already gotten two trailers, plot details and a bunch of stills. Something we've lacked a lot of though is any real images of Paul Bettany as the android the Vision. And while I do think in the next month we'll have seen some sort of official image of the character, there are still some major question marks about his character. How much will he be involved? Who actually creates him? Is he a spawn of the JARVIS program? These are questions we may not know the answers to for a while, but something we did…

With the X-Men franchise fading out the old and brining in the new, we were bound to get younger versions of current X-Men cast at some point. For a while we've known that next year's X-Men: Apocalypse would feature the younger versions of Jean Grey, Cyclops and Storm, previously played by Famke Janssen, James Marsden and Halle Berry. But with the new films focusing on the newer cast, lead by younger Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender). It also takes place in the 1980s, which would make the X-Men characters younger children. How they will fit into the story is still a mystery, but now we know who will star as the characters.

Director Bryan Singer confirmed via Twitter that the casting- Sophie Turner will play Jean Grey, Tye Sheridan will play Scott Summers/Cyclops and Alexandra Shipp will play Ororo/Storm.


I'm not really familiar with the actors' work, but I trust that Singer chose the best actors for the role. But I'm still not sure how …

This year sees the release of probably the world's most anticipated film right now, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The movie will be the resurgence of the Star Wars franchise introducing a new cast and a new trilogy. But something else Disney is integrating is Star Wars spin-offs, which will give us a new Star Wars film every year. So with The Force Awakens this year, 2016 will have the first spin-off movie, being directed by Godzilla director Gareth Edwards.Little is known about the spin-off, other than the rumor going around that it will be about the bounty-hunters. But now, we have an idea of whom Disney is looking at for the lead.

Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany, the American rendition of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo star Rooney Mara and Oscar nominated actress from The Theory of Everything, Felicity Jones are all being considered for the spin-off's lead. The star of the upcoming The Fantastic Four (and Rooney's sister) Kate Mara is also in consideration for anothe…

With the announcement that Roberto Orci was leaving Star Trek 3 as the film's writer and director, the state of the film went into question (read that article here). However, Paramount said they still plan to release the film in 2016 and have brought on Fast Five director Justin Lin to direct. But with Orci gone as the writer, the question has become who will write the film? Orci was instrumental to the writing of the first two, resurrecting the franchise and making it popular again. So who will write this film?

Deadline is reporting that Doug Jung will be writing the film along with Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty in the new Star Trek films. 
The inclusion of Pegg is very interesting to me. He is probably best known for his comedy. The other Star Trek films have had comedy sprinkled throughout, but never as a central focus. With Pegg co-writing, could this mean that Star Trek 3 will have a lot more comedy in it? It's certainly possible. Comedy never really hurts a film, as long …

One of the most interesting comic book movies coming out next year is Suicide Squad. The film is based off a more obscure DC comic book property but has a star-filled cast including Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney and formerly Tom Hardy. We reported not to long ago that Hardy had left the project, who would have played Rick Flagg, the team's leader (read that article here). Rumors have been going around as to why he left. Some are saying it's because of Hardy's schedule and previous commitments. Others are saying it's because of the script. However, all are rumors as Warner Bros. has not specified to reason for Hardy's departure. Yet, with the news of Hardy leaving, reports were saying that Jake Gyllenhaal was in negotiations to replace him. Now, it looks as if that won't happen either.

Variety is reporting that Gyllenhaal has passed on Suicide Squad as well, reportedly because of the script. I love Gyllenhaal. He's a fantastic actor and…

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice will probably be one of the most important movies of 2016. Not only will it be the first time that the world's two most iconic comic book characters, Batman and Superman, are on screen in a live action film, but it will pretty much decide the fate of the ambitious upcoming DC Cinematic Universe. If Dawn of Justice fails, Warner Bros. is in serious trouble. But one of the key elements of the film that will make it or break it will be the actual fight between Batman and Superman. Fans have been waiting to see this for over twenty years, ever since their iconic fight in The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel. If this is messed up, people will NOT be happy.

It must be hard to have such pressure on you for a situation like this, and in a recent interview, Dawn of Justice's choreographer Guillermo Grispo talked about designing the fights in the movie. He said:
“Warner Bros., they are very strict, so I can’t say much, but it’s no surprise if I say B…

The success of Marvel Studios has brought about a lot of interest. Last year's Captain America: The Winter Soldier saw the inclusion of acclaimed actor Robert Redford as well as Judi Dench in Guardians of the Galaxy. Comic book movies are becoming desirable films for reputable actors. It wasn't too long ago that Al Pacino confirmed that he had met with Marvel to discuss the possibility of being in a film (read that article here).All sorts of actors have expressed interest in being in a Marvel film. And now we can add another actor to that list. Kristen Stewart.

In a recent interview, Stewart said how she is interested in joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, saying:
“I love watching those movies. I would love to show people that I can do more than just be ‘Kristen Stewart’ in a different movie, in a different circumstance.”
She then said:

“I’m sure I could get on board with Captain America, you know what I mean?… It would just have to be the right thing.”
Look, I don't lik…

A film that really surprised me was World War Z. I hadn't seen it in theaters but when it came to Netflix, I thought I'd check it out. I had heard all about the reshoots that changed the entire third act of the film and it got mixed reviews, so I wasn't expecting much. Maybe it was because I saw the unrated version as opposed to the PG-13 version, but I thought it was great! I thought it was intense, suspenseful, enjoyably violent and everything you could want in an action-thriller zombie movie. So I've been looking forward to the prospect of a sequel for a while now. Last we heard, Steven Knight was working a script for the second film and we haven't heard anything since. Now, we have some more information.

In a recent interview, Knight updated us on the start of the sequel's script, clarifying that he is only writing the treatment now and that he may not write the full script. In the interview, he said:
“I thought, ‘Why not? What fun.’ It’s not quite like the…