Tag: Movies

Ellen Page, Anna Paquin And Shawn Ashmore Are X-Men Again

So can we now officially say that Bryan Singer is making the biggest X-Men movie ever? The director already has the returning cast of X-Men: First Class, including Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Jennifer Lawrence as well as Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan and Hugh Jackman reprising their roles. Singer has just announced that three more X-movie alumni are returning for X-Men: Days of Future’s Past.

Ellen Page, Anna Paquin and Shawn Ashmore will be donning their suits once again as Kitty Pryde, Rogue and Iceman. All we need now is for Tyler Mane and Liev Schreiber to have a celebrity deathmatch to see which one gets to play Sabretooth and let’s not forget that Vinnie Jones is only a phone call away to play Juggernaut again.

X-Men: Days of Future’s Past is based on Chris Claremont’s legendary 1981 story where the X-Men have to stop a future event from happening that causes mutants to be kept prisoners in a dystopian future. It is set for release on July 18, 2014.

January 28, 2013
J.J. Abrams Gets The Trek, Now The Wars

We tweeted this out yesterday (follow us @NerdRating) but here is the lowdown on what may be the biggest news of the movie year.

J.J. Abrams is officially the director of Star Wars Episode VII. The news broke early yesterday afternoon when The Wrap reported that the director had been given the job after a lengthy courtship by the head of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy. Reports are that Steven Spielberg had a hand in getting Abrams to say yes after the legendary director declined the job.

Let’s face it, Disney needed someone that knows how to handle a franchise as large as Star Wars. Abrams is a huge Star Wars fan and that is one of the reasons he said he did not want to direct the movie last December.

“There were the very early conversations and I quickly said that because of my loyalty to ‘Star Trek,’ and also just being a fan, I wouldn’t even want to be involved in the next version of those things. I declined any involvement very early on. I’d rather be in the audience not knowing what was coming, rather than being involved in the minutiae of making them.”

I could make a really corny “force was too strong” joke but you are already thinking that right now, so I won’t.

Abrams is putting the final touches on Star Trek Into Darkness and then, one would assume, he will begin early work on the galaxy far, far away.

The future of the Star Trek franchise is certainly in question after this announcement also. If there is to be a third movie (which you would think) will Abrams’ Star Wars involvement mean that another director must be found or does Paramount wait on Abrams to get done with Episode VII before getting back on a third Trek adventure? I am interested to see how this decision affects the Paramount executives feelings towards Abrams. They could go ahead and prep a third Star Trek and leave him out of the equation completely.

So now we have Michael Arndt writing the screenplay and Captain Reboot in as director. This Star Wars thing might just become a movie yet.

January 25, 2013
Review: Looper

Proof That Original Movies Can Still Happen.

Time travel movies are nothing new. You have your classics like Back to the Future and you have your Timecop’s. Either way, we know the basic idea of time travel in cinema. That is why Looper is such a wonderful addition to the category. It has a unique concept that should not be overlooked by moviegoers as just another action movie. It is, in fact, one of the most original sci-fi movies of the past ten years.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt star as Joseph Simmons. The year is 2044 and time travel has not yet been invented, but it has thirty years in the future. He works for the mafia of the future as a “looper”. Basically a looper is a hitman that kills people sent to his time from 2074. The story goes that it is near impossible to get away with hiding a body in the future, so they are sent to the past where the loopers murder the men and dispose of a body that technically never existed in 2044. When a looper has served his purpose the mob sends their future self back where they are killed by their past self and given a huge payday and are told to enjoy the next thirty years of their life until they inevitably know when they are going to die. This is known as “closing the loop”. Things don’t exactly go as planned when Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis) is sent back. He escapes from young Joe and now he has to hunt down Willis before the mafia he works for eliminates both of them.

Things aren’t as simple as they seem when Willis reveals that he is here to hunt down someone who in the future will become known as “Rainmaker”, a man that will take over all aspects of the mafia in the future and begins by closing all loops. Willis has three possible candidates as to who could be “Rainmaker” and has to eliminate all of them to make sure the future is altered. The moral dilemma here is that in 2044 these are only children who may or may not grow up to be this new evil. Young Joe finds his way to a farm whose caretaker Sara (Emily Blunt) has a child who is on old Joe’s list.

I won’t go any farther into the plot for fears that I will give away too much. Looper brings up a host of dilemmas that the invention of time travel would bring up. How could criminals of the future take advantage of this new technology for their own gain? What would one person do to save the one true love of their life that saved them? Are there lines that need to be drawn in trying to change history for what one person believes is for the better? These are just a few of the questions that arise while watching Looper.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt sure has come a long way since Third Rock From The Sun hasn’t he? From Inception to The Dark Knight Rises and now Looper, JGL has become a go-to guy in Hollywood. A prosthetic nose piece was used to make him appear more like a younger Willis and while it will throw you off for a minute or two at the beginning of the film it quickly becomes unnoticeable as he emulates Willis in such detail it is a bit creepy. The smirk and voice inflection are there and make you realize he must have spent a good amount of time practicing for this role and not just simply doing a Bruce Willis impression. As for Willis himself, it is a bit of a surprise to realize as you watch the movie and his plan unfolds that old Joe is an a**hole. He may have a reason for his trip back but he tip toes the line between a heartbroken man looking to save someone and being the true villain of the movie.

The supporting cast consists of Emily Blunt, whose Southern accent sounds like a Brit doing a southern accent, so it’s a good thing she’s British, Jeff Daniels who no matter what he does or how scruffy his beard may be will always be Harry from Dumb and Dumber only now he hits people in the hands with hammers, Piper Perabo who has taken time off from Covert Affairs to take her top off as a showgirl that is the object of young Joe’s affections and the great Paul Dano who plays Joe’s friend Seth.

I really did not know what to expect before I started [amazon_link id=”B005LAII8K” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Looper[/amazon_link]. I knew the basic setup of the flick but was surprised by movie that was much more complex than I thought. The movie embraces its R rating with bloody but never over the top violence and is anchored by Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s eerie turn as a very believable young Bruce Willis. Looper is a little bit of gangster movie mixed with revenge tale and family drama on top of that. Just add time travel and you have a winner.

NERD RATING- 8.5/10

January 21, 2013
First Trailer For RED 2 Gets The Gang Back Together

2013, the year of Bruce Willis, is in full effect. With a new Die Hard coming and his role in G.I. Joe: Retaliation you would figure he would call that a year and be done. Nope! We still have the sequel to 2010’s hilarious [amazon_link id=”B003Q6D2B4″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]RED[/amazon_link] (based on the Warren Ellis comic) coming in August. And here is the first trailer.

Willis’ Frank Moses appears to be enjoying domestic life with Mary-Louise Parker when John Malkovich shows up with a problem. Seems Helen Mirren has accepted a contract, along with a host of other assassins, to track him down and kill him since he is enemy number one on Interpol’s list. Like in the first RED, Malkovich steals this preview as well. Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones come along for the ride this go round also.

RED 2 releases on August 2, 2013.

January 18, 2013
A Good Day For A Die Hard Marathon

So how much John McClane can you handle in one day? So far my answer is three movies because that is how many Die Hard’s I have watched in a one day period. Well it looks like 20th Century Fox is giving me a chance to best my record and in a theater no less!

On Wednesday, February 13th theaters across the nation will commemorate the release of A Good Day to Die Hard with a four film marathon of every movie in the franchise (Die Hard, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Die Hard with a Vengeance and Live Free or Die Hard) that will lead to the first showing of the fifth entry, A Good Day to Die Hard. That’s a lot of yippee ki-yay’s . No pricing or theater locations have been announced yet.

Don’t forget all you romantics that A Good Day to Die Hard opens on Valentine’s Day.

January 17, 2013
New Poster For The Hunger Games: Catching Fire And Two New Screenshots

[amazon_link id=”B0084IG7KC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Hunger Games[/amazon_link] was one of the biggest films of 2012 raking in over $400 million domestically. Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson and company are back filming the upcoming sequel, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Today Lionsgate released a new poster and screenshots for the movie which will see Katniss and Peeta thrown into another tournament to “celebrate” the 75th games by having past winner compete again. One of the new shots shows Sam Claflin in the role of Finnick Odair.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire releases on November 22, 2013.

January 14, 2013
Zack Snyder Is Developing A New Star Wars Movie (UPDATED: Maybe Not)

So I will just let that title soak in for a second……………………………………………….

Yes, you read that correct. Vulture is reporting that the director of 300, Watchmen and this summer’s Superman reboot, Man of Steel, is indeed hard at work developing a Star Wars movie that will not be a part of the planned trilogy from Disney. The report claims that it will be a stand alone film and may run parallel to the new trilogy. The report goes on to describe the movie:

“It will be an as-yet-untitled Jedi epic loosely based on Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 classic Seven Samurai, with the ronin and katana being replaced by the Force-wielding knights and their iconic lightsabers.”

Disney has already stated that there would be more Star Wars films past the new trilogy, but it is a little weird that we seem to know a bit more about this stand alone Star Wars movie than the new trilogy which is set for release in the summer of 2015.

Many fans may gripe at this with their deep hatred of Zack Snyder, but I will remain optimistic in this early going. It is more Star Wars so that’s a good thing and nothing could possibly be worse than Episode 1…..right? And at least it will look pretty.

UPDATE:

Zack Snyder’s spokesman has gone on record saying that the director is not involved with any Star Wars film.

“While he is super flattered because he is a huge fan, Zack is not involved in any way with the new Star Wars. He is currently in post on his two films, Man of Steel and 300: Battle of Artemisia.”

Of course, denials in Hollywood are nothing new so take this statement with a grain of salt. If Disney has locked up Snyder for a stand-alone Star Wars film and Man of Steel hits it big this summer that will leave Warner Bros. in a bit of a bind if they wanted Snyder to return foe a sequel.

January 14, 2013
Top 10 Movies Of 2012

With the announcement of the Academy Award nominations I figured it would be a good time to post our top ten movie list for the year. Now unlike the Academy, you won’t find Beasts of the Southern Wild or Amour on here. All we can do is go by the movies we have seen this year and whittle that down to the ten that we had the most fun with. What you will find is a whole lot of explosions, bad puns, dwarves and ex-slave bounty hunters. So let’s get started shall we?

10. [amazon_link id=”B005LAIGPU” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Chronicle[/amazon_link]

Max Landis, son of film legend John Landis and creator of the hilarious Death and Return of Superman video, wrote this smart found footage film about three teens that discover something in a cave and find themselves developing powers. Please don’t let the tag word “found footage” scare you off. This movie is witty and snap quick in its dialogue and then add to it a believable tale of heroes and villains and you have a winner.

9. [amazon_link id=”B008G33O0G” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Cabin in the Woods[/amazon_link]

I can not reiterate enough that if are planning on seeing this movie do not let someone tell you the ending. Now when the movie begins you think that they are giving away a big piece of it right off the bat but you really have no idea. It takes everything we thought we knew about the rules of a horror movie and turns it on its head. I wish it had been a bigger hit because it should be considered the Scream of this generation. The most unique horror film since the first Saw.

8. [amazon_link id=”B0084IG7KC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Hunger Games[/amazon_link]

Despite the books being in the polarizing “young adult” category, The Hunger Games was filled with unflinching violence. The movie did a great job of taking a concept as off base as children being forced to kill each other to ensure government control and made it work in a PG-13 environment. I hope no one simply did not watch this because of what I call the “Twilight syndrome”, where some movies are lumped into the same category as Twilight when they really should not be. This movie is is visually arresting in places and tense.

7. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The Hobbit can not equal The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I think we should all admit that. The source material is a completely different animal but Peter Jackson crafted a very good and enjoyable return to Middle-Earth this year that set up the return of Smaug and showed that Martin Freeman may have been born to play Bilbo Baggins. It was good to see Ian McKellan as Gandalf again and each of the dwarves were represented well with Richard Armitage stealing the show as Thorin.

6. [amazon_link id=”B005LAII80″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Dredd[/amazon_link]

Movies are a funny business sometimes. The Avengers became the third biggest movie of all time (deservedly so) and Dredd was a certified flop at the box office which is, as I said, a funny thing since people may have overlooked the best straight up action movie of the year and the most faithful comic to film translation ever. Karl Urban’s scowl should get an award by itself. This movie is unapologetic in it’s violence, as it should be, and it should have propelled Dredd into the minds of “normal” moviegoers, but now let’s just hope it becomes a cult hit. For a better idea of what to expect check out our review.

5. Django Unchained

Some people may think that Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction may be Tarantino’s best and it would be hard to argue, but how many film makers could truly say that they are hitting their stride 20 years into their career? Inglourious Basterds and now Django Unchained have brought the director into the rare trifecta of great artists. Where their movies are critically loved, successful at the box office and yet do not compromise the director’s vision. Django is as close to a comedy as I think Tarantino will ever make and is a great look at our country’s bleak past seen through the eyes of a rare director.

4. [amazon_link id=”B0085Z8F4A” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Prometheus[/amazon_link]

Look, the easiest way to explain this is that I am a sucker for Ridley Scott being involved with anything sci-fi. Does the movie have plot holes? Yes, but I am pretty sure most movies do. I appreciate this film for not taking the easy way out for a prequel to my favorite film franchise ever. It seemed like people wanted to be spoon-fed information instead of trying to look for themselves and enjoy the adventure. Sounds a lot like LOST huh? Guess Damon Lindelof will never get away from that.

3. [amazon_link id=”B004LWZWGK” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Dark Knight Rises[/amazon_link]

There was really no way that Christopher Nolan could top The Dark Knight. The movie was a cultural phenomenon anchored by the Academy Award winning performance of Heath Ledger. So for The Dark Knight Rises he took the character to the depths of defeat and closed up his Batman story by weaving together the stories of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight in a way that proved Nolan’s point that he set forth in Begins. That Batman should be a symbol, not just a man. Oh and I personally thought Tom Hardy owned the role of Bane.

2. [amazon_link id=”B007REV4YI” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Skyfall[/amazon_link]

As I said in my review, Skyfall is the greatest Bond movie ever made so the fact this is almost at the top of this list is a no brainer. Director Sam Mendes brought Bond into the new age and simultaneously took Craig’s version of the character back in time (the classic Aston Martin, Moneypenny, Q). It moves at a quick pace despite being over two hours. And finally, for the first time in his Bond tenure, Craig got to match wits with a villain worthy of the franchise in Javier Bardem’s Silva. The fact Bardem did not get a supporting actor nod is beyond me. Just thinking about Skyfall makes me ecstatic to know that we have Daniel Craig for at least two more movies.

1. [amazon_link id=”B0083SBJXS” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Avengers[/amazon_link]

I have to admit I went back and forth for a few days between this and Skyfall for the top spot but in the end it had to be this. While Skyfall may be the best Bond ever, it may someday be surpassed by another Bond movie. The Avengers was something different and only people that grew up tried and true nerds, geeks, fanboys etc. know what I am talking about. When you were growing up reading comics (for me in the 80’s & 90’s) you always imagined what it would be like to have a movie like The Avengers come out but knew it could never be. It wasn’t possible. But then something happened. Comic book movies became popular, raking in heaps upon heaps of cash and now the characters that you grew up loving and getting made fun of for liking became normal in pop culture. It was cool to go see Iron Man. Everyone loved Thor…..THOR! Imagine that internally as your ten year old self. Still seems weird right? Then Marvel did the near impossible. They built a film franchise out of separate movies, gambling that each would be successful enough to warrant them teaming up and making an Avengers movie. And guess what? It paid off. By trusting nerd god Joss Whedon to write and direct, The Avengers gave Marvel a 1.5 billion dollar reward for their risk. And not just that, the movie lived up to a lot of people’s lifetime expectations, mine included.

January 11, 2013
Shadow of the Colossus Film Has A New Writer, Still A Video Game Movie

[amazon_link id=”B002I0J5FG” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Shadow of the Colossus[/amazon_link] is one of those games, like Journey, that is squarely in the forefront of the “games as art” argument, so I still have mixed feelings about if a movie based on the property should be made. As we all know most video game movies are, shall we say, less than stellar (except for the first [amazon_link id=”B004MA1K1W” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Mortal Kombat[/amazon_link], you know it’s still awesome). I can only imagine basing a movie on Shadow of the Colossus may be like asking a five year old with watercolors to copy Starry Night.

If there is a small glimmer of hope it is that the director, Josh Trank, has made a pretty good movie (Chronicle) and now they have gotten Seth Lochhead to write a new script. Lochhead had previously written the movie [amazon_link id=”B005CMSDKA” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Hanna[/amazon_link], about the girl from The Lovely Bones being trained as a bada** assassin by her dad, Nero from Star Trek. Now whether he can convey the emotions that the game did remains to be seen and that is a big part of if this will be successful or not.

Now I want to watch Mortal Kombat again.

January 10, 2013
Review: Django Unchained

Bloody, Fun And Bloody Fun.

So let’s just clear this up right now. If you are not a fan of Quentin Tarantino’s films you will most likely not be impressed by Django Unchained. Everything about this film is decidedly his. The unique soundtrack, camera zooms and Samuel L. Jackson saying the f word every 6.7 seconds are all expected and produced with the director’s own flare which he has perfected over a career that now spans 20 years. Inglourious Basterds was Tarantino’s most successful film both commercially and critically so how exactly would he follow it up? With a spaghetti western that was as fun to watch as I am sure it was for the actor’s to shoot.

Our tale begins with Christoph Waltz (who stole the show in Inglourious Basterds) playing Dr. King Schultz, a traveling dentist, who happens upon a group of slave traders and begins questioning the slaves about a group of men known as the Brittle Brothers. He then purchases Django in a very Tarantino style and he tells him that he is, in actuality, a bounty hunter who is on the trail of the Brittle Brothers and if Django will help him identify them he will free him and give him 75 dollars and a horse.

After this little adventure is when the movie’s main plot kicks in. Schultz sees that Django has a talent for the bounty hunting game and decides to train him. Django tells Schultz that he is searching for his wife, who was sold separate from him by their previous owner who was angry over the slaves marrying. Schultz has a soft heart for Django’s plight and agrees to track down his wife and help free her. They find out she has been sold to a large Mississippi plantation owner known as Calvin Candie, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, complete with darkened teeth and rich southern drawl in his voice. Schultz and Django formulate a plan to disguise themselves as men who want to get into the “mandingo” slave fighting business and intend to purchase one of Candie’s fighters when they visit him at his plantation, aptly named “Candie Land”. They offer a ridiculous amount of money for a fighter in hopes that when they bring up purchasing Django’s wife, Candie will think nothing of it and sell her.

Unlike Inglourious Basterds or Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained could almost be considered a comedy. While you do have many moments of cringes from the horrors of slavery and the atrocities that were perpetrated on the African-Americans by their owners, when the movie is hitting its comedic notes I have not laughed more during a film this year. Watching Django in a mixed theater was a very good and maybe unexpected moment of clarity for me as a moviegoer that even when the subject matter is something as heavy as the bleakest moment of our nation’s history, we all can still laugh when there is a well delivered comedic line or sight gag.

Django is nowhere near as tense as Inglourious Basterds was but that is not a bad thing. Sure, there are your Tarantino scenes, like when Candie is examining a human skull, that give you those goosebumps like something messed up is about to happen but those are infrequent and it makes Django feel a bit on the lighter side of Taratino’s work but for the subject at hand (which is serious enough as it is) I am glad he went with a social comedic feel.

Jamie Foxx had a very straightforward role to play with Django. It is a role full of fire and vengeance that he plays with ease. Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie is an expert of knowing when to turn emotions on a dime. From hospitable plantation owner to bloodthirsty fight enthusiast and back to southern charm within a few frames. It seems like Christoph Waltz as Dr. King Schultz and Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Candie’s elderly house runner Stephen, get to have the most fun inside of their roles. Waltz, who won and Academy Award for Inglourious Basterds, relishes in the role of the German bounty hunter who is not as hard at heart as we are made to believe. He is not so much ruthless killer as he is public servant of the weirdest variety. His delivery walks the perfect line between fish out of water and condescending foreigner. Jackson is easily the funniest performance in the movie. He has been born and bred to serve the Candie’s his whole life that he may believe he is the closest to white any black man can get in that society. So when he begins to argue with Candie in one hilarious scene about Django staying in a guest room, you can see that he thinks he is above normal slaves.

Tarantino fills out the minor roles of his cast with a mix of big names and faces that you wonder where they have been since the 80’s. Jonah Hill, Walton Goggins and even Tarantino himself have great side roles while the likes of Tom Wopat (Dukes of Hazzard FTW) and Don Johnson make appearances. Johnson’s role is especially funny and memorable as plantation owner Big Daddy.

Is Django Unchained Tarantino’s best movie? I wouldn’t say so, but it is certainly in the upper echelon. It is good to see that the director can go less tense and serious and more comedic while keeping true to his odd and graphically bloody style. It is like Blazing Saddles and Pulp Fiction had a lively, witty kid.

NERD RATING- 8.5/10

January 7, 2013