In Theaters: January 2nd, 2015

CAN YOU BELIEVE I WROTE A POST ABOUT EVERY WIDE RELEASE IN 2014?

NOW ON TO 2015!

Before I begin I have a very important request for all my readers.  I want to know what you want to see in these posts.  So far I've done it my way, only guessing at what sort of information you want to read here (sometimes adding things I know you won't care about - just because I want to and it's my blog).  So if you could take just a moment of your time and write in the comments (here or on facebook) what you want to see, and what sort of things you want to read about that would be MUCH APPRECIATED.  Thank you.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

There is only ONE wide release.  The first weekend in January is commonly occupied by a cheap horror film.  So it is this time.

The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death

The first Woman in Black was actually not bad at all.  In fact, I enjoyed it.  It was a more traditional horror movie, favoring suspense and tension over jump scares and violence.

I believe the only returning people who were also involved in the first one are the producers, and that means this movie could easily be terrible.  Furthermore, there is no star power.  All in all it feels to me more like a direct to video effort than a full theatrical release.

The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death is rated PG-13 for some disturbing and frightening images, and for thematic elements.

So at least it seems like they're sticking with the less gory and more suspenseful approach - truly a superior recipe for horror if made right.  Maybe it won't be awful!

      Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: December 26th, 2014

There are FOUR wide releases this week and they were all released on Christmas Day.

Big Eyes (Thursday Release)

You can definitely file this under "snuck past my radar."  I must have taken one look at the poster and the talent and assumed it was an independent movie.  I never heard about it in the news.  Evidently it's a Tim Burton movie.

I knew nothing about this movie until two minutes ago when I finished the trailer.  Amy Adams plays a painter in the 60's or so who marries Christoph Waltz' character.  She paints the portraits - all with big eyes - and they are sold under his name, "because people won't buy lady art!"  Eventually I guess Amy Adams' character gets tired of it and stuff gets a little crazy.  Why not?

I'll tell you why not.  Because that does not sound like something I want to watch for two hours.  Even if it is based on a true story.

Big Eyes is rated PG-13 for thematic elements and brief strong language.

The Gambler (Thursday Release)

Or the alternate title: "The only reason we know Rupert Wyatt isn't dead."

I don't know what else to say except it's a movie about a gambler who gets in deep.  And Mark Wahlberg plays the gambler.  Done!

The Gambler is rated R for language throughout, and for some sexuality/nudity.

Into The Woods (Thursday Release)

I don't like Meryl Streep and I don't like Anna Kendrick.  I have no interest in this movie.  Except maybe Emily Blunt.

Into The Woods is basically Shrek before Shrek existed.  It's a stage musical that is a mash up of many well known fairy tales.

Rob Marshall is a somewhat notable director though.

Into The Woods is rated PG for thematic elements, fantasy action and peril, and some suggestive material.

Unbroken (Thursday Release)

Finally a movie coming out this Christmas that doesn't look awful!

Director Angelina Jolie brings us the true story of a man who was punched in the face many times in a row, Louis Zamperini.  But more than that, he was also an olympic athlete, survivor of a plane crash in the ocean, and survivor of a Japanese POW camp during World War II.

My only concern for this movie is that true stories can be tricky.  Especially in a story like this where there are three majorly impressive events it can be hard to tie them all together thematically and with good coherence.  On top of that Angelina Jolie is still unproven as a director.  The cinematography and costume design look great though.

Unbroken is rated PG-13 for war violence including intense sequences of brutality (see two paragraphs above), and for brief language.

      Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: December 19th, 2014

There are THREE wide releases this weekend.  And I'm on vacation so I might make this really short.

Annie

It's a hard knock life.  For us who don't want Annie remakes.

I shouldn't be too hard on it, this movie actually looks enjoyable to me.  But be warned: if it's really important to you that Annie has red hair you will be disappointed.  She's black this time, so it's curly but not even close to red.

Annie is rated PG for some mild language and rude humor.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (Wednesday Release)

I'm all about these Hobbit movies.  Sure, they're not as good as The Lord of the Rings movies, but they're so much fun!

Go see it, it should be good.  But don't take it too seriously.  Taking things to seriously leads to fear, and fear leads to anger - anger leads to hate - and hate leads to suffering.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is rated PG-13 for extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence, and frightening images.

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

I liked the first one (enough to buy it) and I didn't see the second one (because it looked stupid).  I have very low expectations for this movie that will likely never be met or exceeded because I will probably never see it.  If I had to guess I would say all the funniest parts are featured in the trailer - and they aren't that funny.

I would skip this one.  You could do a whole lot worse, but you could also do better.  If you're looking for a family movie this weekend I would go to Annie.  Just don't go to a theater that is screening The Interview.  You might get nuked by North Korea.

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb is rated PG for mild action, some rude humor and brief language.

      Big Shot Critic

In Theaters: December 12th, 2014

There are TWO wide releases this weekend.

Exodus: Gods and Kings

Ridley Scott is at it again.

This year we've already had one major motion picture based on an Old Testament story.  And it was a disaster.  I have to wonder if that will have an impact on this movie.  I remind my readers that in 2010 we saw one of the worst westerns ever made (Jonah Hex) followed later that year by one of the best (True Grit).  So it may be with Exodus.  Personally, I feel this is kind of unpredictable.  There is certainly a large collection of serious talent here, but if you don't think Ridley Scott can mess that up you forgot about The Counselor.  Early reviews are split down the middle.  Some say it's Scott's best film since Gladiator.

It relieves us to hear that Ridley Scott has taken a much more *faithful* approach to the material than Aronofsky did with Noah earlier this year.  From what I gather Moses is portrayed in "the grey area between mad man and prophet" but the plagues do happen in the movie.  And the Red Sea and everything.  Pretty sure that answers that question.  And he does not, at any point in the movie, try to kill any babies (I'm talking to you, Darren Aronofsky!).

All the reviews say that Batman and that dude from the Gatsby movie are great as Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner, respectively.

Exodus: Gods and Kings is rated PG-13 for violence including battle sequences and intense images.

Top Five

I just watched the trailer for this movie and I still have no idea what it's about.  I'll try my best to explain anyway.

Written and directed by Chris Rock, this movie stars Chris Rock as a comedian turned actor who isn't funny anymore and people want to know why.  So, except for the part about people wanting to know why, and the part where he was funny in the first place, this movie is about Chris Rock.

Top Five is rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, crude humor, language throughout and some drug use.  Don't see this movie.

      Big Shot Critic

Editorial: Spectre, James Bond, and My Favorite Movie

Bond 24 is officially titled "Spectre" and we are all very excited about that around here.  My relationship with the Daniel Craig Bond films is a special one.  When I began paying serious attention to movie news the casting of Daniel Craig as James Bond was one of the first major news stories.

I remember being a junior in high school in the Spring of 2006.  During Physics class we could sometimes use the computers for whatever we wanted after we were done using them for certain tasks assigned by the teacher.  I took the time to show my classmates the following promotional photo.

It was big news at the time.  Especially for my age group.  The last time a new James Bond was announced there really wasn't an internet to report about it.  It was all in print.  And my classmates and I would have been between four and six years old.

Although there were very mixed (mostly negative) opinions around the world of a blonde actor playing James Bond, I was very much in favor of Daniel Craig.  I also took the time to learn things like the fact that Casino Royale was based on the very first James Bond novel, and therefore should have - at the very least - excellent source material.  I knew the prior Bonds had gone a bit wrong after GoldenEye, and I knew they were rebooting it.  In short, I had faith.

The prior year (2005) I had had my first truly bad experience at the movie theater.  I expected Sahara to be a great adventure movie along the lines of Raiders of the Lost Ark or (to a lesser degree) 1999's The Mummy.  Even though the movie wasn't that bad I really didn't like it because my expectations were so high.  I knew that my expectations for Casino Royale were very high and I knew the risk I was taking, but I decided that if it didn't at least meet my high expectations then it didn't deserve to be enjoyed.  By me.  I'm not full of myself or anything.

Anyway the movie finally came out in my senior year and I went and saw it and it basically changed my life.  Slowly but surely.  First I just loved it and thought it was really great.  It exceeded my expectations.  Then the more it sunk in the more I realized that this one movie represented everything I love about movies.  Eventually I decided it actually was my new favorite movie (beating out the life-long incumbent - Return of the Jedi)

the force is strong with this one

To make a long story short, while neither Quantum of Solace nor Skyfall are as good as Casino Royale in my opinion, I love Daniel Craig as James Bond so much that my love carries over very much into his other Bond films.  Despite the fact that I would have had no particular love for Quantum of Solace or Skyfall had it not been for Casino Royale.

And now there is another one coming out next year.  SPECTRE.  For the uninitiated, Spectre is an evil organization that has butted heads with James Bond more than once (and in more than one movie) in the past.  It's been at least thirty years since a Bond film has featured Spectre.  But most of the reason I am excited for Spectre is everything I have written above.  I love Daniel Craig as Bond.  Casino Royale is my favorite movie.  

Let's take a brief look at who is involved in Spectre.

• SAM MENDES returns to direct.  This is good and bad to me.  Good because Skyfall was technically beautiful and very successful, bad because he has a theater background and that was manifest in a lack of action.
• John Logan/Neal Purvis/Robert Wade return to write (sort of).  Last time Neal and Robert wrote it then John did a once over.  This time John wrote it and Neal and Robert did a once over.  This I like because John is the very thematic one and Neal and Robert are the more experienced action writers.
• Daniel Craig, Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Wishaw, and Rory Kinnear return as James Bond, Eve Moneypenny, M, Q, and Tanner, respectively.  They all did great before.
• Noted newcomers are Andrew Scott (Moriarty from the BBC's Sherlock), Christoph Waltz, and Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer from Guardians of the Galaxy).  I like all three actors.
• The Bond girls are Monica Bellucci and Léa Seydoux.  We have no opinion on them.

If you don't know why Andrew Scott is of interest, watch the BBC's Sherlock.  If you don't know why Christoph Waltz is of interest, you're probably normal.  It's because he's a very talented actor.  And there are rumors that he will be playing Blofeld, the mastermind at the head of Spectre.  If you don't know why Dave Bautista is of interest go see Guardians of the Galaxy.  His character is an alien in that movie so it wouldn't really translate directly into the Bond universe, but his career is interesting because he's not an actor originally.  He's an MMA fighter who got the role in Guardians for his physique.  Besides that he's a really kind and sweet guy in real life.

As for the Bond girls, Monica Bellucci has been around for a while.  Although the only film I can think of off hand is Shoot 'Em Up.  I guess she's kind of B list.  Léa Seydoux is hot off the critical success of a recent foreign film called Blue is the Warmest Color.  She's one of the leads and it's about lesbians.  It looks like a VERY inappropriate movie.  We like that she's coming into the realm of "real" movies.  Real movies tend to be more appropriate than independent movies because they are for the masses, not for the critics.

Another indicator of good things is that Bond 24 and Bond 25 were planned as two parts of the same story (in this era of franchises the pressure to serialize is immense) but it was later announced that that idea was scrapped.  In other words, there is a God.  The Bond franchise has many strong traditions, and NOT being serialized is one of those traditions.

All in all Spectre will place Daniel Craig in a tie with Pierce Brosnan for third place for number of Bond films made.  Mr. Craig's original contract didn't even cover four films but it had the option for up to four films.  Is this his last one?  Is he too old now?  The answer to those questions will only come from himself, Barbara Broccoli, and Michael G. Wilson.  The important takeaway here is that this could be his last - it's possible.  I have a feeling it won't be, but it could be.

In the meantime we will all look forward to November 6th, 2015 and the release of SPECTRE.


      Big Shot Critic