The Movie Paradise

Originally, the recent Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer (read out article about it here) was supposed to be released with yesterday's episode of Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. yet was leaked online a week before. Marvel promised that new footage would accompany the show to replace the trailer. The new footage has now been out online.

Basically, it's an extension of the original trailer with a clip from the Avengers' party scene that Ultron crashes. While the trailer gives us a somber tone, the clip is light hearted, and recaptures the spirit of the first movie. In the scene, the drunken Avengers try to lift Thor's hammer. Before Tony Stark tries to lift it, he asks "If I lift it, I get to rule Asgard?" Thor nods. "I shall be a fair but firmly cruel" he responds before he tries and is unable to lift it. The dialogue in this clip is perfect, but it's introduction into the exact same trailer as before is a bit sloppy. 
While I love the clip, I prefer the o…

As the release of the last Hobbit film, and most likely the last installment of the Middle-earth franchise for a while, draws near, we have seen some expansion in marketing but not much. We have a teaser trailer and some posters but nothing much other than that, and the film comes out in two months. Expect the marketing to pick up with a full trailer to come out in the next couple weeks.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, director Peter Jackson gave a little insight into the film. He confirmed the length of the titular battle, the Battle of Five Armies, will be in fact 45 minutes.


45 minutes is a long time for a battle, but it makes a lot of sense. Being that the name of this last film is The Battle of Five Armies, any shorter would have made the title a bit irrelevant. Plus, this will be the battle that ends The Hobbit trilogy and sets in motion what will happen 60 years down the line in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. This battle is not just the climax of the movie, but the …

Today, Marvel dropped a bombshell. They hosted a huge event in Hollywood where they invited all these people to come see a special presentation. There, they announced their full Phase 3 slate... and some other stuff. Here's a guide of what's to come in the Marvel Cinematic Universe:

First off, Ant-Man will actually be the last installment of Phase 2. For Phase 1, The Avengers finished it off and Iron Man 3 started the second Phase. However, it is official that Ant-Man will be in Phase 2, dealing with the repercussions of Age of Ultron. So here's the first installment of Phase 3:
Captain America: Civil War- May 6, 2016

A little while ago, Variety dropped the story that Captain America 3 would be the beginning of the Marvel Civil War and that Robert Downey Jr. was in final negotiations to be in the movie ( read our article about it here). While everyone went crazy, it still wasn't official. Now, however, it is. During the event, Kevin Feige confirmed that the movie will …

Damn. I was really hoping John Wick would be number one, so that my title could be: John Wick is the One. 
Opening this week was the Keanu Reeves action flick John Wick and the horror film Ouija. Let's take a look at this past week's box office.
#1 Ouija- $19,875,995

On its opening weekend, Ouija came in first place. I'm surprised that the film made this much money, however, at the same time, I'm not. It's the end of October, it's Halloween season: a horror film is bound to do well. But I saw barely any marketing for the film so I didn't expect it to make a lot of money. Despite my contradicting myself, I don't think it will continue to have a heavy presence. I think it will slowly drift off the top 5 over the course of the next few weeks. 
#2 John Wick- $14,415,922

On its opening weekend, John Wick came in second place. It seems like this film will have the Edge of Tomorrow effect: (not the marketing aspect of it) the film is really good and everybody l…

After the trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron was released online yesterday (read our article on it here), James Spader, who plays the titular antagonist, talked a little bit about the character. Here's what Spader said:

“There’s a humerous aspect to him, which is something that drew me in from the very first conversation I had with Joss [Whedon]. In many ways he’s a child, this character, because he’s a brand new being who’s just come to be. And yet, through artificial intelligence, he has an incredible capacity for knowledge. So he’s a very powerful, smart child.”
“Red (Spader's Blacklist character) isn’t pyschopathic but Ultron is. Yes, he is psychopathic. He’s really bats**t crazy!”
Being the next big Marvel movie, any information on Age of Ultron is sought after. Spader gives us some good insight on Ultron. After Loki, a fan favorite and probably Marvel Studio's best villain to date, was the antagonist of the first Avengers movie, Ultron and, more importantly, James Sp…

One film that has been in limbo for sometime has been a Steve Jobs biopic. What's interesting about the film is that it is not set up as a traditional film: it consists of 3 half hour scenes, shown us what happened backstage after three of the biggest Apple product announcements, which alone got me interested in the movie.

Back when David Fincher was attached as the director, he wanted Christian Bale to play Jobs. However, it didn't work out so Fincher left the project. He was replaced with Danny Boyle and a bunch of actors were reportedly in the running including Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Bradley Cooper. 
Now, it's confirmed that Christian Bale will in fact be playing Steve Jobs in the movie. 
I am happy that Bale will be playing Jobs, but I am also frustrated. I would have been a lot more interested in this project if Fincher was still the director and frankly, I think he could have taken this film to the next level. The whole reason Fincher left was because he couldn…

Back when Ant-Man was directorless, before Peyton Reed signed on, one of the directors Marvel was looking at was Adam McKay, a well known comedy director. While McKay isn't directing the film, he did do a rewrite, changing it from the script that was to be used back when Edgar Wright was still directing. Recently, McKay talked about his thoughts on the revisions he did to the Ant-Man script, and mentioned the possibility of him actually directing a Marvel movie.

"I just did a big rewrite on Ant-Man with Paul Rudd and had such a great time working with them that we’re kicking around ideas. But yeah, maybe I would take on one of the characters so we haven’t locked in anything, but discussions are definitely going on."
I think McKay could be a good director... for the right project. He wouldn't be good for like an Iron Man or a Thor, because he's strong suit is full-out comedy. Ant-Man will have a strong comedic presence, moreso than previous Marvel movies, but it&#…

Most people know what happened: Edward Norton starred in The Incredible Hulk and was replaced by Mark Ruffalo for The Avengers. Norton has talked many times about his feelings on leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe but now he has some more comments after seeing the massive impact these movies have had. While promoting Birdman, Norton said:

“My feeling was that I experimented and experienced what I wanted to. I really, really enjoyed it. And yet, I looked at the balance of time in life that one spends not only making those sorts of films but then especially putting them out, and the obligations that rightly come with that."
“There were just a lot of things—I wanted more diversity. I sort of chose to continue on my path of having a diversity of experiences. Maybe on some unconscious level, I didn’t want to have an association with one thing in any way degrade my effectiveness as an actor, in characters. I think you can sort of do anything once, but if you do it too many times, i…

So yesterday it came out that this Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer was going to premiere on TV during Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. I wrote a whole article about it, sh*ting on the terrible show for most of it. I left for a bit and when I came back to post the article, it was somehow deleted. Depressed, I went online and saw that the trailer was posted which leads me to this article: the trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron has been released!

After it was leaked online a week before it was meant to be released, Marvel put out the HD version officially online, tweeting "Dammit, Hydra" (Captain America: The Winter Soldier reference). You can see the trailer above.


The trailer is very ominous and somewhat creepy. That's mostly thanks to the song used which is a huge contrast to the NineInch Nails song used in the trailer for the first movie. I am a big fan of The Blacklist so when I heard the Ultron narration (voiced and mo-caped by James Spader) all I could hear was Spader's …

This week the new releases were Fury, The Best of Me and The Book of Life. I predicted that Fury would be number one. Let's take a look at this past week's box office.
#1 Fury- $23,702,421

On its opening weekend, Fury came in first place. With its critical praise and mostly good reviews (read our review here), the David Ayer film was able to draw in a good audience. I think it will maintain a high status for a little bit and then drop out of the top 5 as the bigger Oscar contenders get closer. We'll have to wait and see.
#2 Gone Girl- $17,511,956

On its third week, Gone Girl came in second place. The film has been doing very well at the box office, being at the top the past two weeks. The very positive word of mouth has certainly gotten people to go see it (read our review here). So far, Gone Girl has grossed over 100 million domestically, being director David Fincher's most profitable film to date.
#3 The Book of Life- $17,005,218

On its opening weekend, The Book of Lif…