The Movie Paradise

It's Halloween! If you're too old to go trick-or-treating and you're too young to have kids to take trick-or-treating, then you want to just curl up on the couch and watch a scary movie. I find myself watching horror movies all throughout October, and I'm not even necessarily a horror movie fan. When I watch horror movies, I like to go back to the classics. Whether it's The Thing, Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist  or simply Halloween , I find that the older horror classics are the better made films. Of course, you couldn't go wrong with popping on The Conjuring  or Insidious , now could you? This year has been an incredible year for horror, with films like The Conjuring 2, Lights Out, Don't Breathe  and the surprisingly well acclaimed Ouija: Origin of Evil.  But for Halloween this year, I'm not going to re-watch any of the films that came out in 2016. I'm going back to the classics, with Poltergeist . This is an older movie, so there will be sp

I think it's safe to say that one of fans' favorite parts of any upcoming Marvel  movie is seeing the Stan Lee  cameo. Not every cameo scene is a home-run, but it just warms my heart every time he pops up on screen. I talked about it a bit when they announced that an spy, action/adventure movie was being made about Stan Lee (you can read more about that here ), but Lee was my childhood idol. I adore the man, and I am very excited to finally be able to get his autograph at Rhode Island Comic Con in a couple weeks, his last New England convention appearance. But when the news came out a few weeks ago that Lee had filmed four cameos all at once, it was relieving to hear. I don't like to think about it, but Lee is 93 years old. It makes sense to stockpile a bunch of cameos and have them ready in the can. But there has been an interesting development with this story now. It's been confirmed that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2  director James Gunn  was the one who wr

Alien: Covenant  is a project that's been pretty shrouded in secrecy. We know practically nothing about it, except for the main cast. But in terms of the story, nothing is really known. The Ridley Scott  film comes out early next year, and is a sequel to  Prometheus , which received mixed reactions. I actually rather liked Prometheus . It's not a perfect film, but I think for what it was it was a pretty enjoyable film, and a nice re-introduction into the Alien  universe that had since become pretty muddled. But for fans who were expecting another straight  Alien  film in Prometheus , they were disappointed. It focused more on the Engineers, and it asked more questions than it answered. But at the very end, we got our first look at the birth of the Xenomorph, and it's since been assumed that that would be the lead-in into this next film. However, for a while, Scott maintained that there would be no Xenomorphs in Alien: Covenant , back when it was simply called Paradise

Around this time last year, J.J. Abrams  shocked everyone but suddenly announcing that a film he produced, titled The Cellar , was actually called 10 Cloverfield Lane  and was connected to the hit found footage film Cloverfield . At first, I was very hesitant. It sounded like they were just taking a film and slapping the Cloverfield  name on it. And essentially, that is what they did, but it was a damn good movie. You can read our review for the film here . It was an excellent, slow burning thriller that yes, had a Cloverfield  tie-in slapped on at the last minute, but it was inconsequential as the film itself was so good. I think we all thought after that little surprise that we were done getting films connected to Cloverfield , but I guess we were wrong.  It was just recently confirmed that the Bad Robot  (Abrams' production company) film God Particle  is in fact related to Cloverfield  as well, and is the next installment in a Cloverfield Cinematic Universe , wher

Anyone who's read this site for a while knows I'm not the biggest fan of M. Night Shyamalan . He made an absolutely brilliant film in The Sixth Sense , which goes down as one of my favorite movies. I have to give credit where credit is due, and he knocked it out of the park with that one. Unbreakable  was good but not great, and every film of his after has just been awful. A lot of people got excited by Shyamalan's supposed return with The Visit , but I didn't exactly care for that movie. It showed some promise that maybe Shyamalan could make a comeback, but I didn't think that The Visit  was necessarily his comeback movie. So when the first trailer for his new film, Split , dropped I was, no pun intended, split on it. While I think visually and technically it was definitely a step in the right direction, I found a lot of the dialogue to be laughable. Plus, the fact that the movie was set to come out in January didn't really give me much faith in the projec

Despite the fact that it was based on a comic book, Deadpool  has to be credited as one of the most original films of 2016. It was fresh, exciting, and made full use of its R-rating in the best way possible. It was a very refreshing film in the genre of comic book movies, a genre that can feel very redundant sometimes, and it shook everything up. A large part of that was due to director  Tim Miller , who made his directorial debut with Deadpool . He had been attached to the project, like Ryan Reynolds , for years, and was instrumental in its adaptation to the big screen. He had a very clear vision of how he wanted it all to come together, and had a very unique style in how he put the film together. He was equally as vital to the success of Deadpool  as actor/producer Reynolds. So it has been a relief knowing that Miller was in fact coming back for the sequel.  However, news just recently broke that Tim Miller has parted ways with the production of Deadpool 2 , due to "cre

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children  is a film I was actually really looking forward to. I am not the biggest fan of Tim Burton , but when I heard this film described as his version of X-Men , I was immediately locked in. Burton's weirdness and eccentricity fits that kind of mutant world really well, and I was excited to see him take on a property similar to it. But this project also offered up the opportunity to tell a story that was maybe a little bit more kid-friendly. It didn't seem like it was going for the dark, brooding nature of a lot of comic book movies today, so maybe it could fill that void. I've liked the trailers for this film a lot, so I've really been looking forward to seeing this movie. And while I liked it, it wasn't as good as I thought it could have been. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children  is an interesting display of Burton's visual techniques, though as a narrative it's not necessarily the best movie it s

Guardians of the Galaxy  was a surprise hit of 2014, and instantly became my favorite movie of the summer, and one of my favorites of the year. It was just such a fun and enjoyable movie. James Gunn  really put such a creative twist on it, taking these characters that virtually nobody knew and making them into worldwide recognized icons. The magic and flavor he brought in creating this world was just stunning to watch. So the sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 , is highly anticipated for next year. We know that Kurt Russell  will playing Ego the Living Planet, and will be Star-Lord's ( Chris Pratt ) dad. But outside of that and the knowledge that Yondu ( Michael Rooker ) has joined the Guardians, we know pretty much nothing about the film. Gunn has insisted that a trailer is coming soon, but it wasn't exactly how soon it would be. Our only answer was "before Christmas", which leaves a lot of extra room. But the first teaser trailer has now officially dropped

Logan  is a movie I have become really excited for as of late. Just a few weeks ago, we learned the movie's name, as well as got our first teaser poster for the film (you can read more about that here ). I love the title Logan  because it feels so personal. Just from the title, we could surmise that this wasn't going to be another giant blockbuster action movie with Wolverine fighting a bunch of bad guys. This was going to be about the man, Logan, and his struggles. And that really excites me. This has the potential to be a true character piece, and be a film of maturity that the X-Men  franchise hasn't really had yet. I mean, their films have had very mature themes and moments, but it feels like Logan  could be the most of them all, especially with its R-rating. So with all that excitement gained from just a title, I have been very anxious to see the trailer, which dropped online today. I loved this trailer. It's funny, because fans have called out, criticizin

Overall, I rather liked the last Assassin's Creed  trailer. It gave us some insight into this world, as well as the style of action we would be getting. The scenery itself looked right out of the video game, which, as a fan of the series, was nice to see. But I hated the song. Not only did it not fit with the context of the film at all, but it was just jarring. I really do hate this trend trailers have now where every single trailer has to have an auto-tuned pop song. Whatever happened to just having a score in the background? I'm just getting sick of it. But anyways, the song was really my only problem with the last trailer. However, I've been anxious to see a new trailer before the film's Christmas release. This could potentially be the first critically and financially successful video game movie adaptation, and I for one am really rooting for it. And now we have our second trailer for Assassin's Creed . I liked this one more than the previous one! Not on

The Birth of a Nation  has really been at the center of a lot of controversy. Initial reviews came out for it a long time ago, and critics praised it across the board as the front-runner for the Academy Awards  this year. But then, rape allegations for writer, director and star Nate Parker  came into the media, and everybody began to either skip the film altogether or give it negative reviews based upon their perception of Parker. I am a strong believer in separating the art from the artist. A lot has happened in the personal lives of people like Woody Allen  and Mel Gibson , but I still go out to see their films because my first and foremost passion is movies. I don't think this discredits at all what people have done in their personal lives. If someone is a rapist, then they need to be tried and punished. But I'm not going to let my personal perception of that person impact how I watch or interpret the film, because I think that would be unfair to all the other hand prin

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story  has to be everyone's most anticipated film for the rest of the year. It's funny, anytime anything Star Wars pops up, people go nuts. And with good reason. Last year, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens  was not only a fantastic movie and crushed it at the box office, but it held nerds by the balls for two years in excitement. It's easy to forget the level of tangible excitement that was in the air for all of 2015, waiting for that movie to come out. I remember that I couldn't get tickets to see The Force Awakens  until Sunday of that weekend, so I stayed off of social media entirely for that whole weekend, afraid someone would spoil it for me! And while we haven't had that level of anticipation for Rogue One , people are still undoubtedly excited. With it getting closer and closer to its December release date, we've known that another trailer was bound to come soon. And now, we finally have our third (and probably final) t

Director Peter Berg  and Mark Wahlberg  just came out with a film this past weekend, in Deepwater Horizon  (read our review here ). I walked away thinking Berg had filmed the movie in the best possible way-- capturing it almost like a documentary. He was there just to witness the event, not to stylize or enhance it in any way. And I walked out of the movie thinking about how interested I was in seeing that style applied to Patriots Day . The Boston Marathon bombing is especially close to me, since I'm a Boston native. It's a very emotional subject for many Bostonians, and at first, I was nervous to hear there was a film coming out about it, just three years after the event. But after seeing how respectfully Berg handled the tragedy of the BP oil spill with Deepwater Horizon , I became very hopeful that he could pull off  Patriots Day . And with perfect timing to the release of Deepwater Horizon , the first trailer for Patriots Day  has been released. I really liked th

As much as Marvel  has had success on the big screen, they've also hit their stride on the small screen, specifically with  Netflix . Taking advantage of the site's strengths (thirteen episodes released all at once, grittier and darker stories), they have been able to take street-level characters who may not have been popular enough to warrant their own film (or fit in aesthetically with Iron Man and Captain America) and give them a chance to shine on a new platform. So far, Netflix has had runaway hits with Daredevil,   Jessica Jones , Daredevil Season 2, and now Luke Cage , which was just released a couple of weeks ago. All of these have been fantastic, working to both compensate for and complement the Marvel Cinematic Universe  at the same time. While I would say I like the movies more, the shows, in terms or narrative and character development, are better. So in this editorial, I will be discussing what elements of the Netflix series work well enough that Marvel could

While people didn't love Finding Dory  nearly as much as they did its predecessor, it was still a very solid film. It was probably one of Pixar 's better sequels to date. It captured a lot of the visual magic, but not necessarily the narrative or character magic. You can read our full review here . But regardless if it was as good as the original, it's been making boat-loads of money. Week in and week out its been crushing it at the box office. But since the movie came out over the summer, it's kind of fallen off everyone's radar, as to tracking what it's been making at the box office. But never take your eyes off of a heavy-hitter, because it's bound to surprise you. Finding Dory  has officially crossed $1 billion dollars at the worldwide box office, having made close to $500 million domestically. This makes Finding Dory  the third film of 2016 to cross a billion, behind Captain America: Civil War  and Zootopia , the second animated film and the th

John Wick  is a film that I didn't get a chance to catch in theaters, but I really regret it. Once I saw it, I realized just how awesome it is. And it was a return to form for Keanu Reeves . So needless to say, I've been really excited for the sequel, still stupidly titled John Wick: Chapter 2 . Recently, we got our first poster, along with the release date (you can read more about that  here ), but what that more signified for me was that a trailer was coming soon. And this weekend's  New York Comic Con  seemed like the strongest candidate for the release date. As expected, Saturday held a panel for the film at NYCC, and our first trailer dropped online shortly after. This trailer is awesome. It proves this movie is a return to the style of the first film, but doesn't give away really any of the plot details. And I appreciated that a lot. I don't need to know the story yet. Just show me some cool action to convince me that this sequel is worth checking out