Blackhat
Director Michael Mann has a very unique feel to his movies. They all feel very grounded and real, almost like you're watching a documentary. At least they have in the past. If you like that sort of thing, and a thriller about taking down a hacker/international criminal sounds good to you, then this is your movie. Blackhat is likely to be the ultimate hacker movie. That's how Michael Mann rolls.
And it's got Thor!
Blackhat is rated R for violence and some language.
Paddington
I realize the poster says Christmas last year, but the date was changed only recently and the posters were not. It actually comes out on Friday, I promise.
From the very beginning I've felt good vibes about this movie. It's a very British children's book and this is a very British film. They sort of have a way with children's stories, don't they? There was a whole bit about that in the opening of the London Olympics in 2012.
Paddington is based on Paddington Bear, a story of a bear who ends up in London and is taken in by a kind family. The main conflict in this version comes when a taxidermist (Nicole Kidman) wants to add Paddington to her collection!
Count on this one to be good. Early reviews are very positive. This is one I will likely sneak off and go see.
Paddington is rated PG for mild action and rude humor.
The Wedding Ringer
Kevin Hart is still a major comedic force.
The Wedding Ringer is about a groom who has no best man so he hires one. He hires Kevin Hart to be his best man. I'm not sure how that concept alone can support a feature length movie.
The Wedding Ringer is rated R for crude and sexual content, language throughout, some drug use and brief graphic nudity.
Wow. That is a very hard R-rating for a movie that advertises itself as a goofy comedy.
American Sniper (Expanding)
It's very common from late autumn into early spring for smaller films to get limited runs in just a few theaters and then expand to a wide release after a few weeks. Mostly this is because these are all awards contenders and this is the awards season for films. I originally set out to only cover films that go straight to wide release, but I can deviate from that as I please, of course, because this is my blog.
American Sniper is the true story of the life of Chris Kyle, the most lethal sniper in American military history. It profiles the full effect of war, right down to the effect it has on your family life.
The widow of Chris Kyle has seen the film and appreciates it quite a lot, even saying that watching Bradley Cooper on screen was almost like seeing her husband on screen.
American Sniper is rated R for strong and disturbing war violence, and language throughout including some sexual references.
Big Shot Critic
What do you guys think? Should I profile limited releases that go wide? Just awards contenders? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!!?? Leave a comment. Thanks!
All of them, Big Shot, DO THEM AAAAAALLLL!!!
ReplyDeleteI think that whether you cover movies that go wide release after a limited release depends entirely on what kind of movies you want to cover. As you mentioned, it's your blog. If we are talking about whether a limited release that garners enough attention to justify a wide release qualifies as a wide release film, I would say that it does. Regardless of how a film is originally released, it's peak distribution is what defines its classification, at least in my mind. There are many films, such as American Sniper, Birdman and Imitation Game, that were given very limited releases (often at film festivals) at first, even though some of those films had feasible wide release potential. After their initial run, and a healthy dose of Oscar buzz, they were ultimately released nationwide. In reality, all wide release films end their theater run in limited release (as they get replaced by other films) so why should a film that starts as a limited release and ends up as a wide release be classified differently? In short, you can talk about whatever you want but, to me, the highest peak of the distribution cycle is what determines its classification.
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