Fox Searchlight Pictures debuts new trailer and poster for Youth

Fox Searchlight Pictures released their official U.S. trailer for Youth, the latest film by Paolo Sorrentino. Starring Michael Caine, the film follows an elderly retired composer who goes on a retreat in the Swiss Alps with his old friend (Harvey Keitel), who is a filmmaker. While there, they get into some interesting - sometimes existential - conversations with the other local patrons at the retreat.

Just from the 2-3  minute trailer, I'm very interested in seeing Youth when it comes out. I've loved every movie I've seen Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel in, not to mention that they are joined by a strong supporting cast: Rachel Weisz, Paul Dano, Jane Fonda, and Ed Stoppard. Youth looks to be a pretty funny, yet sweet film sure to be a hit during awards season.



Youth will first make an appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, and then be released in a limited engagement on December 4, 2015.

Source: First Showing

Disney has hired Jurassic World's Colin Trevorrow to direct Star Wars IX

Jurassic World's director, Colin Trevorrow, has found his next project with Star Wars: Episode IX. It had been previously rumored for quite some time that he was being considered by Disney and Lucasfilm to direct, but it was confirmed earlier this year during the D23 Expo in California. In an official press release by Disney on the Star Wars website, "...While production won’t begin for a few years, Trevorrow is heading to Lucasfilm this year to begin working with artists and his fellow Star Wars directors."

Also as part of the press release, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy stated that "...Colin is someone I’ve been interested in working with ever since I saw Safety Not Guaranteed...The power of that film paired with the enormous success of Jurassic World speaks volumes about his abilities both as a storyteller and skilled filmmaker. We are thrilled to have such an incredible talent as Colin join our family and step into the Star Wars universe."

Colin himself seemed pretty excited to enter into the Star Wars universe: “This is not a job or an assignment. It is a seat at a campfire, surrounded by an extraordinary group of storytellers, filmmakers, artists and craftspeople. We’ve been charged with telling new stories for a younger generation because they deserve what we all had—a mythology to call their own. We will do this by channeling something George Lucas instilled in all of us: boundless creativity, pure invention and hope.”

Now that Colin is directing Episode IX, all but two Star Wars films have a director attached. Josh Trank was going to direct a second Star Wars spin off, but with his Fantastic Four adaptation drastically failing at the box office, he has stepped away from the project. As of now, the lineup of directors is: J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: Episode VII), Rian Johnson (Episode VIII), Colin Trevorrow (Episode IX), Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story). A Han Solo origin film is planned but is being pushed back until 2018, and since Josh Trank left his project, there is not a new director attached.

I haven't seen Safety Not Guaranteed, but I did see Jurassic World (which you can read my review here), and despite not being that big of a fan overall, I do have to give Colin credit for making a very entertaining movie. While I am a bit skeptical, I'm willing to give him a chance to see what he can bring to the Star Wars universe.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens will arrive in theaters December 18, 2015; Episode VIII will arrive May 26, 2017; Episode IX will come out two years later in 2019 on a currently unknown date; Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is due out December 16, 2016.



Source: First Showing and Star Wars

Mad Max: Fury Road

In the bleak and dry dystopian desert of Australia, things like water and fuel are more precious than even diamonds or gold. Control water and fuel, and you can control the masses. Immortan Joe built an empire by accomplishing this. In a stone citadel he hoards water, only letting his people receive a small portion per day. The fuel he steals from other clans during raiding missions, using it to power his war machines. During one such raid, Immortan Joe is betrayed by one of his generals from his makeshift army named Imperator Furiosa. Furiosa escapes with several of Immortan Joe's concubines, and attempts to flee across the Australian wasteland in search of a place rumored to be green with life. Along the way Furiosa comes across a lone drifter named Max, who helps them escape from Immortan Joe and his army. 

I'm just going to come right out and say it - Mad Max: Fury Road has earned a spot on my top 5 worst movies to come out this year. About 20 minutes in I was very seriously considering walking out of the theater - and I probably should have - but I decided to finish it and give it a chance. I waited to see it until it was at the local dollar theater, and even then I thought it was a waste of money. There aren't very many movies that make me feel that strongly. There was barely any story to tell, the acting all around sucked, and even Mad Max who was supposed to be the main character was barely in the movie. I was excited to see it beforehand due to all the hype from friends and other people who had seen it and loved it, as well as the fact that I had seen the first Mad Max with Mel Gibson and enjoyed it. Unfortunately, Fury Road was nowhere near worth it. For the people who are adrenaline junkies and love movies with literally nonstop action from start to finish, then I guess you would actually like it. For the rest of you, it's better if you skip it. It's not even worth a rental in my opinion.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

If there's anything to be said about Ethan Hunt, it should be noted that he is the go-to guy for getting the job done, no matter the cost. Sure, a building - or two - might be reduced to rubble in the process, or the bad guy might see a grave instead of the inside of a jail cell, but at least Ethan saves the day in the end. After almost 20 years, however, it seems the U.S. government has had enough of Hunt's escapades and proceeds to try and shut him and the rest of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) down for good. In the world of spies, "shutting down" basically boils down to "kill or be killed". Never mind the lingering issue of a rogue spy network trying to eliminate the IMF and take over the world, Ethan Hunt now has to watch his every step to avoid his own government from catching him. It's a mission that on the outside seems...impossible.

I'm a huge fan of the Mission: Impossible series, and before I saw Rogue Nation, I considered Mission Impossible 2 to be the best in the series. After seeing Rogue Nation, I had to go back and watch the rest in the series to see how each holds up after not seeing any of them for so long. Since then, I think I would have to change my order of favorites. From most favorite to least, I think I'd have to put them in the following order: Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation,  MI:3, Mission: Impossible, and MI:2. Looking back I'm not sure what I saw in MI:2 to make it my favorite, but whatever it was, I must have either forgotten it, or saw something different when watching it after a few years that made me like it less. I do still love the entire series though. I've heard Tom Cruise is already working on a sixth Mission: Impossible. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can come up with next. Oh, and not to mention, I am seriously hoping Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, and Jeremy Renner all return for the next film.

Inside Out

Change can be a scary thing, especially when that change involves moving away from home to a whole new place. 11 year old Riley knows the feeling all too well - she and her parents moved from her home in Minnesota to San Francisco to start a new life when Riley's dad begins a new job. Deep within the recesses of her brain at the main control center, Riley's core emotions - Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear - try to help her cope with the change. Things seem to go well until Sadness gets ahold of some core memories and makes Riley fall into a pretty deep depression. In an attempt to fix the damage, Joy and Sadness are separated from the others and must navigate their way back into the main control center if they want to help Riley get over her depression and cope with her new surroundings.

The one thing I've always loved about Pixar is their ability to make movies geared towards kids, but have adult messages and content so that parents can enjoy them as well. It's no different with Inside Out. Inside Out goes into some pretty deep stuff with the concept of emotions and dealing with change, but also keeps its child-like spirit at heart with the humor and colorful characters Pixar is known for. Going in, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect - the trailers made it look funny, but also one geared more towards younger kids than kids of all ages. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. However, I found Inside Out to be slightly overrated, to be honest. It was funny, had an engaging story and all that, but to me the emotional depth wasn't anywhere near as strong as other Pixar films such as Toy Story 3, Monster's Inc., or even Up. Some of the sad parts meant to make a tear come to your eye felt forced. I ended up enjoying Inside Out, but I also left the theater wanting something more. I wanted to be more emotionally attached, but I wasn't. That was probably the most disappointing thing to realize.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Since the events in New York involving Loki and the Chitauri, the Avengers have tried to keep the peace around the world. While things have been quiet for some time, the thought on everyone's mind is when the next big attack is coming. To combat these feelings and get ready for whatever big threat is coming Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, comes across an old artificial intelligence program called the Ultron program and decides to implement it into his own Iron Legion so that the Avengers can protect the world without actually being there. Bruce Banner, a.k.a. The Incredible Hulk, gets wind of Tony's plan and warns him that they don't understand the program enough to even consider using it as a defense program. Stark doesn't listen, and as a result he resurrects an artificial intelligence that becomes powerful and bent on the destruction of the human race. Iron Man, the Hulk, and the rest of the Avengers must now work together to somehow defeat an enemy far stronger, faster, and smarter than any of them have ever faced.

Out of all the movies in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), there's really only been three I thought were good, yet probably wouldn't ever watch again: Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and Age of Ultron. Funny thing is, all three seem to have the same problem of focusing more on humor and setting up future MCU movies rather than focusing on setting up its own stand alone story. To its credit, out of all three movies Age of Ultron had the least amount of issues of setting up the upcoming Captain America: Civil War and Infinity War part 1 & 2, and failing to craft a good story around it. I did appreciate how the audience got to see more of Hawkeye's background, so his character was a bit more fleshed out than in the first Avengers movie; the same goes for Black Widow's character.  I can only hope the things being set up for future movies are worth sitting through Age of Ultron. Otherwise I'll be even more disappointed than I originally was. Not to say Age of Ultron was completely bad, but I was expecting so much more.

Jurassic World

20 years ago, John Hammond captivated people around the world by creating a theme park built to house real, live dinosaurs, not just props or animatronics. His dream was to use the park as an educational experience, as well as a scientific facility. That dream turned into a nightmare when one of the dinosaurs escaped and wreaked havoc on the park, leaving it to a paleontologist to save the day. Fast forward to the present, and a new park has been opened, and all of the mistakes previously made have been taken care of and the new park has been running smoothly. So smoothly, in fact, that business has stagnated, so investors demand new advances in attractions in order to bump up the numbers. As a result, the scientists in charge of the park have worked hard to both resurrect previously extinct dinosaurs, as well as new variations created by combining DNA of different species into one dinosaur. The result of these experiments ends up being a massive dinosaur called the Indominus Rex. Hoping to be the next big attraction, the park's staff release the Indominus Rex onto the island. Nothing can go wrong. With all of their precautions it's not like this new creation can break out of its cage and start terrorizing the island. Or can it?

I'll be honest, unlike the majority of my generation who grew up with Jurassic Park, I was never *that* big of a fan. I mean, I liked it of course, but it's nowhere near my top 10 films ever. Quite frankly, I'm not even sure if I'd put it in my top 20. With that said, I wasn't necessarily looking forward to watching Jurassic World when it was announced. I waited about a week after it was released to go see it, unlike everyone else I know who went opening night. After seeing it,  I will say that it was more entertaining than I was expecting, but I also still think it's a bit overrated. If anything, I thought it didn't really bring much new to the table that Jurassic Park hadn't 20+ years ago. Being the fourth in the franchise, I'm actually really surprised it's lasted this long. Granted, I haven't actually seen the second or third films, but everything I've heard is that they were the same stories except with different dinosaurs used, as well as being on different islands. If this series continues they're going to have to get really creative on setting up future installments, because the same "create park, fill it with dinosaurs, have them escape and wreak havoc" concept is getting old pretty fast. That might be just me who thinks that, but I can't help but wonder how this series can continue past maybe one more installment. Even that is pushing it to me. It also makes me wonder if Jurassic World would have been such a big box office smash if it had been the first in the franchise instead of the fourth. I don't doubt it would have been a box office hit, but I'd be willing to bet money it would not have been anywhere near as high. Time will tell if this dino-monster series can keep the entertainment value high on the next installment or two.