The Movie Paradise

A couple days ago I went to go see Inside Out . I didn't write a review because our other writer, Rob, already wrote one (which you can read here ). But I absolutely loved it. The concept was brilliant, and the execution was almost flawless. The result of over five years of writing, rewriting and planning resulted in a near perfect film that has every right to stand among the other Pixar  greats. But in reflecting the movie, I realized just how important original movies are to film. In this day in age, the box office is overrun by high budgeted blockbusters that are apart of franchises. When movies like Avengers: Age of Ultron , Jurassic World  and Furious 7  rule the box office, it makes it hard for purely original films to have the spotlight. I have nothing against the blockbusters. I enjoy them thoroughly, but even the blindest of blockbuster lovers (so pretty much anyone who's a fan of the Transformers  movies) would admit that they exclude smaller films. Here'

It wasn't too long ago that first time director Roberto Orci  was attached to direct Star Trek 3 . Even though he had been writing and developing the rebooted franchise from the beginning, a lot of people were against a first time director taking on a film as massive as Star Trek 3 . He then left and was replaced by Fast Five  director Justin Lin , who is currently in production on the film as we speak. Though we don't know much about the movie at this point, we know that the cast will be back and the film is set for a 2016 release, to coincide with the franchise's 50th anniversary. But even though the film comes out next year, progress on the film has been slow. Well, now it seems that things are finally starting to move, as the title for the movie has been revealed. Lin posted the title on his Twitter account, confirming the next Star Trek film to be titled Star Trek Beyond . The title has been rumored heavily for a while now, but was only confirmed now. 

A film I'm really looking forward to in 2016 is the Ghostbusters  reboot, being directed by Paul Feig  and starring Kristen Wiig , Melissa McCarthy , Kate McKinnon , Leslie Jones  and Chris Hemsworth . With the all-female cast and the comedic genius of Feig, this movie has a lot of potential to be something very special. And doing a reboot offers so many creative opportunities to introduce new and fresh things to this franchise. Feig has repeatedly said that this film will honor the movies and mythology that came before it. Sometimes directors and writers just say that, but after looking at the new uniforms for the new Ghostbusters, you can tell that he was being truthful. Feig recently posted a picture of the new Ghostbuster uniforms, and the new proton pack, on his Twitter, which you can see below: Honestly, I love the looks of this. If you had told me these images were memorabilia from the original film, I would have believed you. They look and feel so much

One of my favorite films of last year, and of all the  Marvel  films, is Guardians of the Galaxy . It was new, refreshing and had an incredible cast. It offered something new to the Marvel Cinematic Universe , being the tenth addition to the collective universe. A lot of what made the movie great was due to the writing and direction of  James Gunn . He went into the blockbuster an indie filmmaker and a fan, and came out with an exceptional film. Right now, Gunn is working on the script for the sequel, with is set to be released in 2017. The sequel has been tentatively called "Guardians of the Galaxy 2", with the knowledge that an official title would come soon. Now, we have that title. On Facebook, Gunn confirmed the sequel will be called Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 . In his post, Gunn stated: "Yes, the official title of the sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy  is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. Kevin Feige recently let the title slip while doing Ant-Man  pr

This weekend, Ted 2  and Max  opened in theaters. Let's take a look at this past weekend's box office. #1 Jurassic World - $54,200,000 In its third week, Jurassic World  came in first place. There is just no stopping this movie. It has already crossed $1 billion, while also cracking $500 million domestically, beating out Avengers: Age of Ultron  for highest domestic gross of the year. It's on its way to probably being one of the highest grossing films of the year, if not of all time. It's amazing what power nostalgia can have. It makes me legitimately scared of the damage Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens  can do. You can read our review of Jurassic World   here .  #2 Inside Out - $52,128,000 In its second week, Inside Out  came in second place. I finally got to see this movie last night, and I absolutely loved it. Since our other writer Rob already did a review for this film, I won't write an official one, but real quick-- I thou

It wasn't too long ago that when someone mentioned the possibility of the rights of Spider-Man going back to Marvel , it was viewed as ridiculous and an impossibility. However, things have now changed. While the rights haven't necessarily gone back to Marvel, Sony  has made a deal with the studio in order to share the character. Basically, Spider-Man will be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe  films, but will also have his own solo films produced by Sony. There have been endless debates on which studio has more pull over the character right now (my money is on Marvel), but what we do know is that we will finally be able to see Spider-Man with the Avengers on screen for the first time.  News just came out recently, revealing Tom Holland  as Marvel's new Spider-Man, along with Jon Watts  as the solo film's director, which you can read about here . In the wake of this reveal, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige  spoke about Marvel's take on the character, and w

Even though comic book movie adaptations have broken through and taken over the box office, video game movie adaptions have yet to be cracked. There have been many attempts, but none have been successful (or good) as of yet. Next year will see the release of two highly anticipated video game movie adaptations, Warcraft  and Assassin's Creed , which may finally give us some good adaptations, and open the floodgates for more films. However, I believe that we may get our first good film (hopefully) this year, with Hitman: Agent 47 . It stars Rupert Friend  as Agent 47, with Zachary Quinto fighting against him. I loved the first trailer for this movie. It reminded me a lot of Kingsman: The Secret Service , with stylistic action and cool and inventive camera movements. It looks like it could be something very special. And now, a second trailer has been released. While I didn't love this trailer as much as the first one, I still really liked it. The first one showcased more

In this new editorial series, I will be doing a weekly collection of all things nerdy. Some of the article will be a wrap-up of some movie news, perhaps casting rumors or images; stuff that doesn't necessarily warrant an entire article but are still important. Then the rest will be different geek culture items, such as memes or videos. I will try my best to post these every Saturday. So let's get our hands nerdy (okay, that was terrible) and check out the geek picks of this week. The News Zachary Quinto  and Chris Pine , who play Spock and Kirk respectively in the new Star Trek  films, have officially signed on for Star Trek 4 , with a significant pay increase. For the first film, Pine only earned $600,000. For the fourth film, he will earn $6 million. Right now, it is unknown if the rest of the main cast is signed for a fourth film, but all will return for Star Trek 3 , currently in production with a 2016 release date. I'm really glad that Quinto and Pine ha

Tom Hardy  is probably one of the most interesting actors working today. He has compiled a fantastic resume-- from playing Eames the Forger in Inception  to being the only person in the whole movie in Locke , Hardy constantly tries to top himself with every new movie he does. Now, he's doing it again. In his latest film, Legend , Hardy plays twin mobsters, the Kray Brothers, as they take over London's underground in the 1950's. We've seen actors play multiple characters on screen before, but this is something that I am really excited for. Hardy is one of my favorite actors working today, and to see him attempt this feat will be incredible to watch.  I have always liked gangster movies. When done right, they can be fresh, violent and entertaining. When done wrong, they can be boring as hell. From the trailer, Legend looks to be the former-- stylistic, artistic and fun. I am really looking forward to seeing that fight between the Kray Brothers. I have a lot of ho

This is the fifth installment of this new series where I basically take a movie and pick my personal five favorite scenes from that movie. Then, you can go into the comments and say why you either agree or disagree with me. For this article, I will be doing The Shawshank Redemption . Warning- there are  spoilers ! (Make sure to check out our other "Top 5 Favorite Moments From" for  The Dark Knight Rises, The Matrix,  Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Avengers - all right  here ) The Shawshank Redemption #5 Brooks Was Here Brooks ( James Whitmore ) was a stand-out character in the film for me. He had a very important part in the movie, and that was to show what happens when you become "institutionalized". Brooks had been at Shawshank Prison for over fifty years, and was suddenly released. The montage of Brooks in society, with his narration, was seamlessly edited. From him struggling to adapt to the times, to his wanting to commit a

Sorry this is a few days late guys, but here it is now. This past weekend, Inside Out  and Dope  opened in theaters. Let's take a look at this past weekend's box office. #1 Jurassic World - $106,588,440 In its second week, Jurassic World  came in first place. There is no stopping this movie. The film has already crossed $1 billion dollars at the worldwide box office in just thirteen days, taking that record away from Furious 7 , which grossed $1 billion in 17 days. Right now, Jurassic World  is looking to be one of highest grossing films of the year. I recently did an article about what this film's success means for the rest of 2015, which you can read here . It's scary how well this movie is doing, and it makes me really think how much damage Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens  is going to do. You can read our review for Jurassic World   here . #2 Inside Out - $90,440,272 On its opening weekend, Inside Out  came in second place. While

Inside Out is the new movie from Pixar , and it's strange to say that they haven't been that great as of late. However, they returned to greatness with this movie. They once again are able to make you feel emotional and feel like you're not just watching an animated kids film, but a great adventure for everyone to enjoy. In this movie, we travel inside the head of a young girl and we discover her different emotions, in the form of Joy ( Amy Poehler ), Sadness ( Phyllis Smith ), Anger ( Lewis Black ), Fear ( Bill Hader ) and Disgust ( Mindy Kaling ). We see how they operate and the way the girl deals with life, and it's quite amazing to watch! My favorite character however goes by the name of Bing Bong ( Richard Kind ), but I'm going to let you experience him for yourself, because he's awesome. Overall, what impressed me most about the film was that there was no fat on this movie: everything was tied up nicely.  The movie is also intelligent, and teaches

Composer  James Horner , best known for his scores for  Titanic , has passed away at the age of 61. He was piloting a plane that crashed into a remote area, about 60 miles north of Santa Barbara. He was an incredible composer, having been nominated for ten Academy Awards, and winning two. Not only did he compose the Oscar winning score for  Titanic , but helped write the famous song from the film "My Heart Will Go On", preformed by Celine Dion. While he did many soundtracks for director James Cameron , he has worked on a variety of films with a variety of directors over the course of his life.  Horner was born August 14th, 1953 in California. His first conducting credit was a 1981 film called The Hand . Since then, he went on to do two Star Trek  films ( The Wrath of Khan  and The Search for Spock ), Aliens ,  The Rocketeer , Braveheart , Apollo 13 , Titanic , A Beautiful Mind  and  Avatar . His last film credit was The Amazing Spider-Man  in 2012. By the end of his

Ever since it was announced that Sony and Marvel  had struck a deal to share the  Spider-Man property, people have been speculating as to who would now be playing the webslinger. For a while, it looked like it was going to be Asa Butterfield , whom I was on board with. However, there was no official conformation. It is pretty much assumed at this point that Spider-Man will be in Captain America: Civil War , since the character plays a prominent role in comic series. So with Civil War  filming already underway and no set actor to play Spider-Man, we knew that something was coming. Today, we finally got it. It has been confirmed that The Impossible 's Tom Holland  will be playing Spider-Man. It was also confirmed that Jon Watts  will be directing the solo film in 2017. With these announcements, some statements were released. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige on hiring Watts to direct: "As with James Gunn, Joss Whedon and the Russo Brothers, we love find

For many fans of the original 1994 film, there was a lot of excitement when an Independence Day  sequel was officially confirmed. Since its initial greenlight, several cast members have been confirmed, including the return of original cast members like Jeff Goldblum , Bill Pullman  and Vivica A. Fox , as well as newcomers like Liam Hemsworth  and  William Fichtner . Original director Roland Emmerich will be returning to the chair for the 2016 sequel, after twenty two years of waiting for fans. While I liked Independence Day , I didn't see why it was so beloved by so many people. It seemed kind of average to me. But it looks like the sequel is going in a good direction, so I may check it out. And now, the sequel has an official title.  The sequel will officially be called Independence Day Resurgence , which I think sounds like a cool title. This movie will show the return of the aliens and mankind standing up to them, which is exactly how "resurgence" fits in. It

In this new editorial series, I will be doing a weekly collection of all things nerdy. Some of the article will be a wrap-up of some movie news, perhaps casting rumors or images; stuff that doesn't necessarily warrant an entire article but are still important. Then the rest will be different geek culture items, such as memes or videos. I will try my best to post these every Saturday. So let's get our hands nerdy (okay, that was terrible) and check out the geek picks of this week. The News Next year, Channing Tatum  will make his debut as the Cajun card player Gambit, although now his debut will be a little later than expected. Tatum confirmed that he won't appear in the X-Men  universe until his solo film, Gambit , in late 2016. That means he won't appear in X-Men: Apocalypse , as previously assumed. On one hand, I would have liked to have seen him in Apocalypse , I am also glad that we won't see him until his solo film. That means he can be properly