The Movie Paradise

Alejandro GonzálezIñárritu's The Revenant is shaping up to be one of the top Oscar contenders, and one of the best films of the year. The revenge film sees Leonardo DiCaprio as a man mauled by a bear, and left for dead by his hunting team. In order to exact revenge on the man who took everything away from him, played by Tom Hardy, DiCaprio must survive the elements and hunt him down. I really enjoyed the teaser trailer that was released a few months back. While it was visually gorgeous and had fantastic cinematography, it was without a doubt a teaser trailer. We didn't get much more than a few beautiful shots. But with this new trailer, we get a much better look and understanding of the story behind this film.
I liked this trailer even more than the last. The fact that they used only natural light in this movie shows, in the best kind of way. It makes the film feel so much more rich and authentic. The make-up and costumes are spot-on to the time period, as are the accents. Thi…

Bradley Cooper is one of the most talented actors working today. He has fantastic charisma, but also brings a level of prestige and talent to his roles. He knocks it out of the park with pretty much every role he takes, and he has had such a wide variety in parts. From dramatic biopics like American Sniper to voice over work like Guardians of the Galaxy, Cooper never ceases to be front and center in Hollywood's eye. His next film, Burnt, has the thespian playing a devout chef, who is committed to making the best restaurant in the world. To him, he's not about serving meals to guests but rather about creating art. And Cooper doesn't care who he screws over to achieve his goal.
The second trailer for Burnt has been released, and I really enjoyed it. In the first trailer, I was confused why people would want to kill Cooper for opening a restaurant, but this trailer explained it a bit better-- it's not necessarily that Cooper is opening the restaurant, but it's what Co…

This weekend Hotel Transylvania 2, The Intern and The Green Inferno opened in theaters. Let's take a look at this past weekend's box office.
#1 Hotel Transylvania 2- $47,500,000

On its opening weekend, Hotel Transylvania 2 came in first place. The animated film set a September record with a massive opening. And I'm really not surprised. Transylvania had a similar opening with its original film, and has made even more with the sequel. Animated kids films do very well for themselves at the box office. Plus, we haven't had a kids film out in a while, and parents aren't going to be taking their kids to see Black Mass. I think this movie will continue to do well at the box office, and will probably be in the top 5 for the next few weeks.
#2 The Intern- $18,225,000

On its opening weekend, The Intern came in second place. I didn't expect the movie to be this high on the list, but the more I think of it, the less surprised I am. Nancy Meyers has a devoted following, and…

This is the seventh installment of this editorial 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 Swingers. 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, The Avengers, The Shawshank Redemption and The Wolverine- all right here)
Swingers

#5 Vegas, Baby!

After finally convincing Mike (Jon Favreau) to leave his apartment after the break-up of a six year relationship, Trent (Vince Vaughn) takes his depressed friend to Vegas, hoping to cheer him up. The two walk into the casino wearing suits, with hopes that they can score some "babies" by acting really tough and rich. They pick a table and sit down. Mike puts down three hundred, all that he has, in order to play but doesn't want to spe…

In this 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

Last year's John Wick was a surprise hit. A lot of people walked out of that movie raving about how brilliant the action was, especially due to the direction of first time directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, who were previously stuntmen before helming the action flick. The choreography of the film was incredible, and it was mainly due to the prior background of these two new directors. So with John Wick 2 officially announced, it was expected that they would both be returning to the di…

It was just the other day I reported on Ridley Scott's comments of how his new Prometheus film will not feature the Xenomorph aliens at all, and that it won't be until Prometheus3 or 4 that the story finally connects back to his original Alien film. You can read the full article here. So leaving that, there was an assumption that Prometheus 2 would focus more on the story of the Engineers rather than the Xenomorphs. I was disappointed by this, but I accepted it and moved on. But now Scott is pulling the same marketing bait-and-switch that he did with the first film. With Prometheus, Scott kept switching back and forth between whether the film was a prequel to Alien or it's own, completely different thing. By the end of that movie, we saw that it was in fact related to the Alien universe, though not a direct prequel. And now Scott is doing the exact same f*cking thing!

In an interview yesterday, Scott confirmed the title for Prometheus 2, and "Prometheus" isn'…

Fans rejoiced when the news came several months back that Sony and Marvel had made a deal over the Spider-Man character. Previously, Sony had solely produced all five films about the Webslinger, including his latest outing The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which failed (critically). Sony then made an unprecedented deal with Marvel, which allowed the studios to share the character. Marvel could use the character in their Marvel Cinematic Universe films, and Kevin Feige would produce Sony's future Spider-Man films, with them being able to use established MCU characters in the stand-alones. With this deal, future Amazing Spider-Man films, including a Venom and Sinister Six spin-off, were officially scrapped.

The new Spider-Man, being played by Tom Holland, will first appear in next year's Captain America: Civil War before starring in his own stand-alone film in 2017, to be directed by Jon Watts. Feige previously said that this new film will not be an origin story, but will focus on Pete…

Prometheus is a real divisive film among science fiction films. Some really enjoyed it, others hated it and some, like me, thought it was decent. Visually, the movie is spectacular and is an excellent looking film. Ridley Scott introduced a lot of interesting story lines that tied well back to his original Alien film, which is a sci fi masterpiece. I thought everything Scott did with the Engineers was fantastic, and Prometheus proposed a lot of cool ideas. However, many of the plot points were muddled, and things just got confusing. Scott kept changing his mind with the marketing of the film. At times he said it was a direct prequel to Alien, while other times he said it wasn't even related. By the end of Prometheus, it's pretty clear that this is the same universe.

Now, District 9 director Neill Blomkamp is working on an Alien 5 film, at the same time Scott is working on Prometheus 2.  But with the franchise working both backwards and forwards at the same time, it's becom…

This weekend, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and Black Mass opened in theaters, along with Everest in limited release. Let's take a look at this past weekend's box office.
#1 Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials- $30,316,510

On its opening weekend, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials came in first place. It's really no surprise that this film had a good opening weekend. The young adult genre has found a lot of success (Harry Potter, The Hunger Games), and newer films trying to cash in on this trend are finding moderate success. However, similar to the original Maze Runner, the reviews for this film have been mediocre. I doubt this film will have substantial success at the box office, and will probably die down in a few weeks. But I guess we'll have to wait and see.
#2 Black Mass- $22,635,037

On its opening weekend, Black Mass came in second place. The Whitey Bulger biopic has been attracted large crowds of interest. The theater I was in was sold out entirely. A lot of people are w…

Everest tells the story of the 1996 expedition to climb the titular mountain led by Rob Hall (Jason Clarke), and the horror that ensued. In its first week of release, Everest was available only in IMAX 3D. Which was fine by me, because that's exactly the way I planned on seeing it. From the looks of the trailer, the scope of the film seemed incredible, and I really wanted to be immersed in the film-- the height and the depth and everything attributed to climbing the tallest mountain in the world. And let me tell you, it's definitely worth the extra money. This is a film made to be experienced in IMAX, and the 3D enhances it. Throughout the entire expedition I was writhing in my seat because I felt the discomfort of the climbers, as I should have been. This is an immersive film, though it's not without its faults.
The film struggles in its first half as it drags and drudges through over an hour of talking and planning. The first half of the film is the main characters simpl…

Surrounding the release of the Whitey Bulger biopic, many people had questions about Black Mass. Would it be a return to greatness for Johnny Depp? Would it live up to expectations as an intense mob thriller? Would this be one of the best pictures of the year? These are all questions that raced through my head as I entered the theater, as well as many others. With the summer blockbuster season officially over and the Oscar season beginning, Black Mass was one of my most anticipated of the fall. You can read my full Fall Movie Preview here. Being from Boston myself, I was especially interested in the story of the notorious gangster who evaded the police for some many years. And after so many flat and dull performances from Depp, I was ready for him to knock it out of the park. So I walked into the theater excited and hopeful. Ultimately, Black Mass isn't a perfect movie, but it does prove to be the return of Johnny Depp.
The film centers on Boston gangster Jimmy "Whitey"…

In this 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

In the beginning of the summer, Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt joined Channing Tatum's Gambit film. However, the director has now left the project. After some script revisions and budget changes, the filming for the movie was pushed from late 2015 to early 2016, which apparently conflicts with Wyatt's previous movie arrangements. Some people are saying that Wyatt's departure is a "sign" that Gambit will be bad, but I think it's simply scheduling iss…