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Showing posts from December 20, 2015

BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE Featurette

Movie Review: 'The Hateful Eight'

The Hateful Eight is a torrid, exceedingly violent, and thrilling dance. Review by Matt Cummings Depending on your circles, Director Quentin Tarantino is either a brilliant and influential filmmaker or an over-the-top potty mouth who violates every social convention with his exceedingly violent fare. For me, I'm somewhere in the middle, ready to quote Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction but aware that he sometimes goes too far at the expense of his work. If you find yourself standing in the latter corner, you're going to despise The Hateful Eight for its excessive runtime and unnecessary violence. But if that's the case, you shouldn't have bought a ticket to this visceral throwback that's as crass and ugly as anything we've seen this year. Stuck in a 1880's haberdashery in Wyoming, eight unsavory characters are forced to survive a blizzard, until two untimely deaths open the dogs of war and a bloody battle rages. On one side is the Union so...

#Deadpool Red & Green Band Trailer

It's Christmas Day, when Deadpool decorates with trailers Red & Green. One that's "nice" and one that's "naughty" (the way it's meant to be seen). Based upon Marvel Comics’ most unconventional anti-hero, DEADPOOL tells the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life. Watch the green band trailer after the Jump... Please Leave A Comment-

Movie Review: 'Point Break'

The visually appealing but illogical Point Break also lacks an emotional core. Review by Matt Cummings As a moviegoer, you probably have a unique relationship with 1991's Point Break . You either love it for the over-top-action by Director Kathryn Bigelow or your hate it for Actor Keanu Reeve's now famous 'brah' shtick. Regardless of what side of the fence you ride, it's clear that a remake probably wasn't at the top of anyone's Most Anticipated List. And while sports some of the best real-life action of the year, it fails miserably to set up a believable tale of extreme crime and our growing environmental crisis. Extreme sports dude Johnny Utah (Luke Bracey) quits the game for the FBI after his partner dies. Filled with guilt over the matter, he soon becomes entrenched in a series of extreme sports crimes, one that costs the United States millions of dollars when a money shipment over Mexico is compromised. But the team, headed by the ...

Movie Review: 'The Big Short'

The 2007 housing crisis is viscerally played out in this bittersweet, memorizing, and terrific ensemble piece. Review by Matt Cummings As a person intimately aware of the 2007 housing crisis, the story behind The Big Short has served as a narrative for too many of my friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Lured by the promise of cheap money that could be refinanced in a over-priced housing market, many lost their homes when the rates became too high and home values began to plunge. The ensemble drama/comedy The Big Short analyzes both the back and front end of the crisis, hoping to finally get people interested in a topic that still demands our full attention. Set in the years leading up to the 2007 housing crisis, The Big Short follows three stories of investors trying to make money for their clients. The housing market has boomed, allowing literally everyone the chance to own a home. As a result, those who have sought to open the doors to de-regulation have made trem...

Movie Review: 'The Danish Girl'

The Danish Girl is a powerful, poignant frontrunner in a home-hum Oscar race. Review by Matt Cummings In a time when transgender and gay rights have taken center stage, a film about an early 20th Century pioneer might seem like someone trying to jump onto the Caitlin Jenner Bandwagon. But The Danish Girl is much more than that, rising to become an instant Oscar frontrunner with its witty and tragic storytelling and awards-worthy lead performances. The Danish painter Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne) and his wife Gerda (Alicia Vikander) are a loving and successful couple whose open sexuality make them something of nuisance to early 20th Century conventions. But hidden deep in the recesses of Einar's mind is the alter ego Lili Elbe, who worries about the reaction society might have if they learn of her existence. When a chance event allows Einar to unleash his doppleganger, Gerda realizes that this is no passing fancy. Struggling to maintain her marriage and her san...

Movie Review: 'Concussion'

The NFL head trauma drama is by-the-numbers Oscar bait. Review by Matt Cummings It's hard to find a film these days which surrounds a current event: studios spend so much time worrying about lawsuits that many times a 'topical subject' really isn't so. Fortunately, the film Concussion arrives just in time to reignite old anger about a continuing NFL cover-up. Unfortunately, it's paint-by-the-numbers Oscar bait that neither reaches high emotional drama nor tells the whole story. When former Pittsburgh Steelers star Mike Webster (a very good David Morse) is found dead of an apparent suicide, the pathologist Bennet Omalu (Will Smith) discovers that Webster's brain has been badly damaged through years of hard hits on the gridiron. As he begins to uncover a frightening amount of former players that have also died prematurely, Omalu brands the deaths a result of CTE. But instead of listening to him, the NFL begins a smear campaign to discredit Omalu a...

Movie Review: 'Daddy's Home'

Daddy's Home is serviceable holiday gluttony that will make you fatter from consuming it. Review by Matt Cummings If 2014 proved that comedies were back, 2015 has almost reeled that statement back in. The Night Before , Get Hard , and Entourage proved that male-lead laughfests were nothing of the sort, while female-driven ones (Spy, Sisters, and Trainwreck) were far superior. The final comedy of 2015 Daddy's Home sadly proves our point. Brad (Will Ferrell) is newly married to Sarah (Linda Cardellini) and is stepfather to two kids who don't like him very much. No matter what Brad does to lighten their day, the kids don't recognize him as their father. Brad's style doesn't help: on the edge of being labeled effeminate, he places inspirational notes in the kids' lunchboxes, and tears up when one of them reluctantly asks him to the daddy-daughter dance at school. Unfortunately, the arrival of the real dad Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) turns Brad'...

Movie Review: Joy

Joy to the world, J-Law has come. Review by Brandon Wolfe If anyone deserves to have living sainthood status bestowed upon them, it has to be Joy Mangano, the put-upon heroine and real-life inventor played by Jennifer Lawrence in David O. Russell’s Joy . Joy was told at a young age that she was special and destined for great things by her doting grandmother Mimi (Diane Ladd), but every other member of her family unconsciously conspires to keep Joy down. When we catch up to Joy in her adult life, she’s running herself ragged trying to meet the needs of her ramshackle brood, with absolutely no one stepping forward to assist, or even to offer a simple thank-you. Her mother Terry (Virginia Madsen) is a shut-in who sits in bed all day, refusing to tear herself away from her soap operas. Her father Rudy (Robert De Niro) is a cantankerous wreck, always on the lookout for a new relationship to replace whichever previous one he’s destroyed. Her half-sister Peggy (Elizabeth Rohm) makes no att...

#LootCrate Review: December 2015

Loot Crate's December GALAXY box ends the year on a positive note. Review by Matt Cummings The subscription box war is about to take a Christmas break, allowing winners and losers time to collect their dead, assess losses and gains, and consider past choices and how those will impact 2016 boxes. We've witnessed such a whipsaw in terms of quality, with only Marvel Collector Corps emerging as the box of choice. But Loot Crate has one more salvo to fire, and its contents might make an emphatic statement about their philosophy for next year. Before we get into the details, let's consider an important announcement Loot made a couple of weeks ago: all future boxes will once again contain a shirt. That could signal an important change in the LevelUp program, which required subscribers to pay $14.99 for a shirt, usually shipped separately and continually the wrong size. That change almost made us cancel, but it appears feedback to the company yielded an important ...

Guy Ritchie’s #KingArthur Gets Pushed Back

Deadline is reporting Guy Ritchie ’s untitled King Arthur film is moving to Presidents Day weekend. Warner Bros said today the film starring Charlie Hunnam as the British folk hero will open February 17, 2017. It’s part of a plan to capitalize on kids on winter break holidays — not just here in the States but also overseas, where the title is being prepped to roll out throughout Western Europe. The pic had been slated for July 22, 2016. After seeing the success of February hits last year like 20th Century Fox’s The Kingsman: The Secret Service , which made $128.3M at the domestic B.O. and another $286M abroad, WB is hoping to emulate similar success with Ritchie’s version of the classic tale. Furthermore, the director’s Sherlock Holmes series has played strongly during the winter months. On its new date, King Arthur rubs up against Sony’s Bad Boys 3 and Fox’s YA trilogy finale Maze Runner: The Death Cure. Taking King Arthur’s place on July 22 is the newly titled New Line horr...

#12DaysofDeadpool @IMAX Poster & Trailer

#12DaysofDeadpool has revealed a new IMAX poster & clip. Based upon Marvel Comics’ most unconventional anti-hero, DEADPOOL tells the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life Please Leave A Comment-

Jeremy Renner To Star In #RockyMarciano Biopic

According to THR Jeremy Renner is stepping into the ring for a Rocky Marciano biopic. The Hurt Locker star will play the famous boxer who held the heavyweight crown from 1952 to 1956 in Undefeated: The Rocky Marciano Story. Marciano is the only heavyweight champion to retire from his professional career undefeated, with a record of 49-0. Morris S. Levy, who owns the rights to the life story, will produce the film. The project, written by Samuel Franco and Evan Kilgore, is currently seeking a director. The film will follow Marciano's life from childhood until his death in a plane crash in 1969. Please Leave A Comment-

First Images From Kindergarten Cop 2

Of all the blockbusters heading our way in 2016, we know the one you're most looking forward to is Kindergarten Cop 2 , starring the mighty Dolph Lundgren . So it's with no deficit of Christmas cheer that we bring you this handful of new stills and a new synopsis. See all the images after the Jump... It's 25 years since Arnold Schwarzenegger first went undercover at a nursery and yelled at some kids as Detective John Kimble. This time it's Dolph, playing a different undercover cop - Agent Reed - who has to infiltrate a different kindergarten to recover a flash drive containing sensitive information stolen from the Witness Protection Programme. Reed must deal not only with the kids, but also the school's "politically correct environment" as the Albanian bad-guys close in. Damn that political correctness. Curse those Albanians. This isn't the first time Dolph has appeared in a sequel to a film that first starred a fellow Expendable. ...

EVERYBODY WANTS SOME Trailer & Poster

Check out the trailer and poster for Richard Linklater’s spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused . Set in the 1980s, the film follows the lives of college freshmen who are also baseball players. Please Leave A Comment-

TRUTH Arrives On Digital Jan. 26 & Blu-ray & DVD Feb. 2th

Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford Star in the Newsroom Drama that Nearly Changed the Course of a U.S. Presidential Election TRUTH . Also Starring Topher Grace, Elisabeth Moss, Bruce Greenwood & Dennis Quaid . Arrives on Digital Jan. 26 and Blu-ray™ & DVD Feb. 2 Experience an incredible true story that rocked the world of television journalism when TRUTH premieres on Digital Jan. 26 and Blu-ray™ and DVD Feb. 2 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Directed and written by James Vanderbilt (writer Zodiac, The Amazing Spider-Man 2), TRUTH is based on award-winning TV producer Mary Mapes’ memoir, Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power, which chronicles the story of Dan Rather ( Robert Redford ) and Mary Mapes’ ( Cate Blanchett ) investigation into a sitting President’s military service. But when doubts arise, sources change their stories and accusations fly, their story becomes one of network news’ biggest scandals. The TRUTH bonus fea...

Enter For A Chance To Win Passes To See #TheRevenant In Phoenix

Enter For A Chance To Win Passes To See The Revenant on January 6 at 7PM in Phoenix. Inspired by true events, THE REVENANT is an immersive and visceral cinematic experience capturing one man’s epic adventure of survival and the extraordinary power of the human spirit. In an expedition of the uncharted American wilderness, legendary explorer Hugh Glass ( Leonardo DiCaprio ) is brutally attacked by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team. In a quest to survive, Glass endures unimaginable grief as well as the betrayal of his confidant John Fitzgerald ( Tom Hardy ). Guided by sheer will and the love of his family, Glass must navigate a vicious winter in a relentless pursuit to live and find redemption. THE REVENANT is directed and co-written by renowned filmmaker, Academy Award® winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman, Babel). Make sure to  LIKE   SandwichJohnFilms  on  Facebook  and follow us on  Twitter  for all your entertainme...