In Theaters: May 30th, 2014

Two wide releases this weekend.

Maleficent

First time director Robert Stromberg helms Maleficent, Disney's new twist (or something) on Sleeping Beauty.  Mr. Stromberg is a noted visual effects man, with nearly one hundred credits to his name in the visual effects department alone.  Including matte paintings on two different Star Trek shows!  Cool.  Also, it's worth mentioning that he was the production designer on three major releases including Avatar.  That's kind of a big deal.

There are eleven writing credits here.  Only one of them actually worked on this movie (the rest are all associated with source material).  And she wrote The Lion King and stuff, so no complaints there.

My biggest question is why this is a movie at all.  Out of all the classic Disney animation movies, Sleeping Beauty is the one with which I am least familiar.  Maybe that's why I don't get it.  I can't help but wonder if this has anything to do with the success of Wicked the musical.  The old "take a classic story and turn it on its head so the original villain is your protagonist" gag.  I won't be seeing this one anytime soon, but that's just a matter of taste, I think.

A Million Ways to Die in the West

Seth McFarlane reckons he can make it as a comedic leading man.  He's made it behind the camera in comedy, so why not?  He stars in, directs, and wrote this comedy western.  For those who don't know, Seth McFarlane started his career by creating the very successful Family Guy television cartoon series.  Then came American Dad, Ted, and now this.

I think it'll have its moments, but at the cost of being 95% hard R humor.  And, yes, that is a cost in my mind.  Too high a cost, in fact, which is why I will be skipping this one.

One good thing could come of this, however, and that is more westerns.  Some said last year's The Lone Ranger was the final nail in the coffin of westerns.  Could this be the modern western's only hope?  Imagine that.  If it is, and it works, than Seth McFarlane of all people will have brought them back to life.  Probably not something he set out to do.

      The one.  The only.  Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: May 23rd, 2014

Two wide releases this weekend!  Including one you will not want to miss.

Blended

Think of it as a prequel to Yours, Mine and Ours.  Before the Ours.

This actually looks kind of funny to me.  Both leads play single parents who go on a blind date with each other that doesn't go well.  Later, both families are vacationing in the same place (seemingly by chance, but it is a movie)!  From there the two main characters probably fall in love.

I'm not sure what else to say.  It's not like this duo has never been in the same movie before.  They've co-starred in four films starting with 1998's The Wedding Singer.

Director Frank Coraci is known for a couple other Sandler films including The Waterboy and Click, as well as Kevin James films Zookeeper and Here Comes the Boom.

I honestly have no trouble recommending this UNLESS you are only planning on one movie this weekend.  Because if that's the case you should definitely skip this (unless you don't want an action movie) and see . . .

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the genuine article, the real deal, the official bananas.

For this follow-up to X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men: First Class (2011), and The Wolverine (2013), BRYAN SINGER returns to direct.  Yes, the prodigal son has returned.  After eleven years of wandering among kryptonite, nazis, and beanstalks, Bryan Singer returns to where he started it all.  

You see, sometimes movies are put into production because it just sounds like a good idea.  But most of the time movies are put into production (greenlit) because another similar movie came before and was successful.  The current trend of superhero movies - and lots of them - started with Bryan Singer and X-Men fourteen years ago.  All of the "greenlighting" of superhero movies can be traced back to X-Men in 2000.  Bryan Singer is the one who started it all.  And he started it well.

After X-Men he went on to do X2: X-Men United (2003) which to date is one of the most loved superhero films!

After that he kinda jumped ship since he always wanted to direct a Superman movie and he got his chance with 2006's Superman Returns.  But enough with the history lesson.  He's back!

In 2012 The Avengers came out and now everyone wants their superheroes from different movies to come together in the same movie.  For Sony that means Spider-Man spin-off movies, Sinister Six and Venom.  For Warner Bros that means Batman and Superman come together in 2016.  For Fox the answer was staring them right in the face and IT.  WAS.  BRILLIANT.

They already had an "old" X-Men cast and a "young" X-Men cast.  The meeting about what to do next could not have gone very long.

Days of Future Past is a major fan-favorite storyline from the original comics.  I should emphasize it is a MAJOR FAN FAVORITE.  Like, when I heard that was the title of this movie I literally freaked out.  In the story the X-Men from the future (what's left of them) send someone back to warn the X-Men of the past about a key event that they can change to fix the future.  Pulling out this bit of source material right now for these movies may be the best production decision ever made.  I am so not even kidding.

This movie is also my pick for the biggest movie of the year.  Early reviews are in, by the way, and they are very positive.  I already have my ticket.  Where's yours?

      The one.  The only.  Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: May 16th, 2014

There are two wide releases this weekend, and each lead is famous for leading an AMC original series.

Godzilla

In this corner we have Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad fame!

I don't watch Breaking Bad but I like Bryan Cranston just fine.  Same with Aaron Paul.  Aaron Paul had his own outing earlier this year (Need for Speed) that didn't do so well at the box office.  Let's hope this one does better.

Director Gareth Edwards is now the only non-Japanese film director that can be considered a veteran of giant monster movies.

Gareth Edwards directed one film before this, and he did it on a budget of less than $500,000.  Godzilla's production budget is estimated at $160,000,000.  And this time Mr. Edwards doesn't have to do all the special effects himself (he did on his previous film, Monsters).  Anyway the point is that with all these resources he aught to be able to make a good movie.

The writers are iffy on this one.  One is known best known for writing a movie that hasn't come out yet and the other is best known for The Expendables.  But under this production team I trust them well enough.

Plus the trailer looks sweet.

Million Dollar Arm

And in this corner Jon Hamm of Mad Men fame!

Jon Hamm is a good actor.  I like him in stuff.

Director Craig Gillespie seems to take work where he can get it.  He doesn't stick to any type of movie.  Either he's versatile or he doesn't really care.

Writer Thomas McCarthy also wrote Up and a few other things.

I don't know about this one.  Marketing for it will have to work extra hard since that title makes everyone think of the six million dollar man.

The studio executives were like:

"We aughtta do, like, an inspirational true story type thing."

"Nah.  As a genre those kind of died out."

"We can rebuild it.  We have the technology."

      The one.  The only.  Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: May 9th, 2014

Yesterday I completely ignored my blogging "responsibilities" and I watched a full twelve episodes of 24 instead.  It was totally worth it.

There are three wide releases this weekend.

Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return

This is an independently produced animated film with ambitions.  Normally when the word "independent" is spoken with regard to film you think of young filmmakers with beards who want to change the world.  That's a good bit of them.  But some of them are actually interested in having a career that is centered around audiences rather than critics.  It is that type of independent filmmaker that is responsible for this latest adaptation from Oz.

Here we have a bunch of directors and writers who have experience in animated features.  I'm sure all were excited to not have studio big wigs breathing down their necks at every creative juncture, but studio big wigs have their place.  For every one time they get things wrong, they get it right about two times (actual ratio is 1:2.1).  So with more leeway than they are used to, can they pull it off?  That's the big question with this one.

Oh, before I forget!  This movie has two directors.  And I think one of them wanted Toto to be a cat.  And they must have met in the middle or something, because . . . 

Toto

Moms' Night Out

Mother's Day is this weekend.  That is literally all I need to say about this movie.  See the trailer here.  Has a more mom-target-audience movie been made ever?  Possibly not.

Okay, I'll say more.  It's heartwarming and stuff.  And if "Time Out for Women" had an official movie, I'm sure this would be it.

Neighbors

Isn't every Seth Rogen movie the same?  Do I really have to go into details here?

Well Seth Rogen is in it therefore it's an R-rated comedy.

Seth's character has a wife and small daughter.  The house next door is available for rent and it becomes a fraternity house.  You get it.

      The one.  The only.  Big Shot Critic