Matthew Monagle
Watch the First Trailer for Sundance Film Festival Standout ‘Gook’
Despite the fact that the Sundance Film Festival purports to cater to independent artists, there’s still a push towards established names over new artists. Take Gook, for example. Although the film ultimately received an audience award, you won’t find Gook on any of the pre-festival lists of highly anticipated films, perhaps suggesting that our industry still focuses a bit more on the filmmakers whose work we already know (to the detriment of those just starting out). Thankfully, the film about race relations during the Los Angeles riots found its distributor over the summer, and now audiences around the country will have a chance to see Gook in theaters.
Robert Downey Jr. Doesn’t Want to Overstay His MCU Welcome
Here’s a quick question for you, who is the most important actor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? We all know who the highest-paid actor is — that would be Robert Downey Jr. — but is he still the most important actor in the franchise as well? Has Chris Evans or Chris Hemsworth surpassed him? How about one of the characters from Guardians of the Galaxy or a newcomer like Tom Holland? Is anyone in the MCU so irreplaceable that Marvel couldn’t introduce another version of their character? It’s a very interesting question, and one that the studio and actors are no-doubt struggling with internally.
James Gunn Has Narrowed His ‘GotG3’ Soundtrack Down to ‘181 Songs’
If you spend enough time reading interviews with writer-directors, you may find yourself wondering how big a role music plays in the creative process. Hollywood is littered with movies that were written under the influence of a particularly strong playlist; filmmakers who have been given control over every aspect of production, from screenplay the final cut, can sometimes appear to be writing to the music that influenced them along the way. That’s one of the beautiful things about the work of James Gunn. Not only does he exhibit a delightfully eclectic taste in ’70s and ’80s music, he often finds ways to bring those songs directly into the action of his Guardians of the Galaxy franchise.
Catch Up on a Week’s Worth of Wacky ‘Deadpool 2’ Set Photos
Now that Deadpool 2 is officially underway, fans are no-doubt curious as to what Ryan Reynolds and company have planned for the second outing of the character. The stakes are certainly higher with audiences; sure, Deadpool blew audiences and critics alike away, but that script had been percolating for years before it finally saw the light of day. Can the creative team manage to turnaround a Deadpool sequel on a more traditional timeline without losing any of the charm of the original? I guess we’ll have to wait to find out.
Circle Michael Keaton’s Vulture in This New ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Feature
Is it strange that Marvel keeps releasing features for Spider-Man: Homecoming? The film is already riding a wave of critical and audience praise; many who have seen it have suggested that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is the best of the bunch, with the movie itself sitting near the top of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Homecoming has been the subject of trailers, features, commercials, and everything in between, and if I have any complaint with the way Disney operates, it’s this: don’t keep selling after you close the deal, my dude! We’re all super excited to see the continuing adventures of Peter Parker on the big screen.
Will Ferrell Confirms Mariah Carey’s ‘The House’ Cameo Horror Story
In a summer where most raunchy comedies seem to be flopping at the box office — Rough Night and Baywatch have certainly disappointed with their reviews and box office ratings — it looks like it might all come down to The House. The Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler comedy certainly has what it takes to win over fans; Ferrell and Poehler are both comedy stars in their own right, and the supporting cast features a mix of comedy veterans and rising stars who can and should sell every joke in the film.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Despicable Me 3’ and ‘Baby Driver’ Open at the Top
It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for, Edgar Wright fans: did the filmmaker’s action-packed Baby Driver score big with audiences? Or does this weekend belong to sequels, sequels, and more sequels? This weekend was always going to belong to Despicable Me 3— it’s a big hit with the kiddos, don’t you know— but there’s definitely some room for optimism in how the rest of the weekend Top 10 shook out. Here’s the numbers as of Sunday afternoon:
No, Andy’s Dad Didn’t Die of Polio in the ‘Toy Story’ Series
When you create a series of films as magical as the Pixar universe, you’re going to get your share of fans trying to puzzle your history out. That’s always been the case with movies like Toy Story and Monsters, Inc. Since each movie often features easter eggs that hint at the interconnected nature of each film, people have gone to great lengths to try and understand the elements of the movies not explicitly stated onscreen. Take, for instance, this past week’s video about the tragic story of Andy’s father in Toy Story. According to the host , Woody actually belonged to Andy’s father, who sadly passed away from complications due to polio before the first film. The video caught the internet by storm and was widely circulated over the weekend by most major entertainment sites.
‘Power Rangers’ Director Claims That PG-13 Rating Hurt His Film
Alright, I’m going to be completely honest: when I saw that Power Rangers director Dean Isrealite had commented on his film’s PG-13 rating, I thought we were in for another round of confusing comments about the need for R-rated summer movies. Given the worldwide success of Deadpool, we’ve seen plenty of studios succumb to the siren song of mature adaptations. Warner Bros. has openly pledged to make more R-rated DC animated movies. 20th Century Fox will reportedly push for an R-rating with its upcoming Venom cinematic universe. Even Marvel, the current lead dog of superhero films, has felt compelled to weigh in on the issue (spoiler alert: it’s not going to happen). So sure, why not add Power Rangers to the mix?
Face It, Tiger, the Early Buzz for ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Is Pretty Great
According to census estimates, there are currently 325.3 million people in the United States, which means there has to be dozens — maybe even hundreds! — of people who remain blissfully unaware that a new Spider-Man movie is hitting theaters this summer. The rest of us, however, have lived through the past several months of production rumors, trailers, teasers, teaser trailers, toy reveals, interviews, commercials, specials, features, articles, social advertising, news items, and just about any other form of audio or visual media that Marvel could commercially or organically slap a Spider-Man: Homecoming logo on. In fact, we’ve reached that point in the hype cycle where most fans are completely exhausted with marketing. Can’t we just start talking about the movie itself?