It’s hard to put into words what I’m feeling right now. I came home to my wife and had her touch my chest so that she could feel how fast my heart was still beating over 30 minutes after leaving the theater for an advance screening of The Avengers. This is a movie Marvel has been hinting at for over four years and it more than lives up to the build up. It is, quite simply, the ultimate super hero [...]
Pass The Popcorn: Whitney Shines In “Sparkle” Trailer
Hearing Whitney Houston (even under the guise of playing a role) refer to her life as a “cautionary tale” is more than enough to give someone chills. It’s the most striking thing about the trailer to the singer/actress’s last role, in a remake of the 1976 cult classic “Sparkle.” The trailer premiered yesterday morning. The original film co-starred Irene Cara and Philip Michael Thomas, among others. This revision stars former “American Idol” champ Jordin Sparks, Derek Luke, and Cee-Lo Green, [...]
Pass the Popcorn: “Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone”
Documentaries that chronicle the rise, triumph, and inevitable fall from grace – and redemptive coda, if one is available – of an influential artist are often tricky propositions: VH1′s “Behind the Music” series pretty much cornered the market on this plotline early on, and subsequent efforts to subvert the formula either need to be either particularly innovative in style or to boast an interesting enough story to distinguish themselves. Take last year’s Pearl Jam Twenty, for example: an exemplary documentary, [...]
Pass The Popcorn: How to Fund a Time Machine
Jay Cheel, director of “ Beauty Day ,” wants your money. Why should you fork over your hard-earned money to help this relatively unknown Canadian filmmaker fund a documentary based off an allegedly elaborate hoax about time travel? Well, if that intriguing rhetorical question didn’t do anything for you, take a quick gander at this Doc Ignite trailer for “How to Build a Time Machine“… Crowd funding is an interesting concept. It’s been all the rage as of late, with Tim Schafer’s Double Fine Productions raising over 600K in under 24 hours via KickStarter [...]
Pass the Popcorn: “The Woman in Black”
A small part of me feels sorry for Daniel Radcliffe (at least as sorry as I can be for someone who, at nearly three years my junior, has already made more money than I will ever see). After starring in the monolithic Harry Potter series for a whole decade, it’s hard to imagine he’ll ever be able to break free from that iconic role. So when trailers began appearing for the new film The Woman in Black, I think everyone’s [...]
Pass The Popcorn: The Found Footage Debate
“ Chronicle ” made 22 million last weekend in the U.S. domestic box office. That’s not bad considering it’s a film cast with relatively unknown actors and for a film released in the dead season of February. This is far more impressive when considering it cost only 12 million to produce the film. How did such a film get away with such a small budget and still bring in a large audience on its opening weekend? The answer can most likely [...]
Pass The Popcorn: “Safe House”
Denzel Washington plays the bad guy once again in “Safe House.” Is this movie as good as “Training Day,” the movie that won Denzel his second Oscar? Check out our review.
Pass The Popcorn: “The Amazing Spider-Man” Trailer
Although my favorite super hero of all time will always be The Hulk, Spider-Man has always been where my heart is. He’s not rich playboy or a scientist or a God. The lure of Peter Parker is that he’s just an ordinary kid who had something extraordinary happen to him. Don’t we all wish that was our origin story sometimes? Anywho, billed as “The Untold Story”, The Amazing Spider-Man (Out July 3rd) looks to have some new twists and turns [...]
Pass The Popcorn: Oscar Nominations (Pomp & Predictability)
It’s Oscar nomination time. Blake sizes up the choices, some of which are surprising, many of which are predictable.
Pass The Popcorn: Base Humor & the Decline of the R-Rated Comedy
2011 was not a good year for comedy. Arguably the best comedy of the year, “ Bridesmaids ” was, at its best, an adequate The Hangover -esque comedy for women and, at its worst, an unnecessarily long and meandering plot with a funny diarrhea scene somewhere in the middle (fecal-spoiler). The R-Rated comedy has had a checkered past, but now that the Judd Apatow-Renaissance is upon us (“ The 40 Year Old Virgin ,” “ Knocked Up “), the theater audience has been treated with some good and often great [...]
Pass The Popcorn: “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
The first trailer for the “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” was released this week and it can be described in one word: EPIC. The film acts as a prequel to the J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and Peter Jackson returns as the director, producer, and co-writer. Guillermo del Toro also joins the team as one of the film’s co-writers, and it’ll definitely be interesting to see his take on this well-known fantasy story. The film was shot in [...]
Pass The Popcorn: “The Muppets”
The Muppets are back! The Muppets are back! Does the new movie featuring Kermit, Piggy and the rest live up to expectations?
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