Thursday, January 28, 2016

1-28-16 Movie News

        Hello ladies and gentlemen, here is some movie news with some of my thoughts and opinions (which will be in BOLD print). So without further ado...


(NOTE: All of these stories come from comingsoon.net)


        Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures have released the new The Secret Life of Pets trailer, which you can watch below. For their fifth fully-animated feature-film collaboration, Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures present The Secret Life of Pets, a comedy about the lives our pets lead after we leave for work or school each day. Comedy superstars Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet and Kevin Hart make their animated feature-film debuts in The Secret Life of Pets, which co-stars Ellie Kemper, Lake Bell, Jenny Slate, Bobby Moynihan, Hannibal Buress and Albert Brooks. Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and his longtime collaborator Janet Healy produce the film directed by Chris Renaud (Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2), co-directed by Yarrow Cheney and written by Brian Lynch and Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio. The Secret Life of Pets will open in theaters on July 8, 2016.


        This was a really great trailer. I don't know what it is about the trailer for this film but I am just having a ball and they are absolutely hilarious. I guess it's just where I'm a big pet lover especially with dogs and they remind me of my two dogs. This trailer also gave us a look at the plot of the film and while it does seem a little predictable, I think it is going to rely more on humor than anything which I think is the thing to do in a film mostly consisting of pets. This is a film I am really looking forward to and I cannot wait to see it. 



        20th Century Fox has revealed the first trailer for DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls, which is a big screen take on the ’90s collectable doll fad that’s making a comeback. You can check out the Trolls trailer below. Leading the cast is nine-time Grammy and four-time Emmy Award winner Justin Timberlake (The Social Network, Runner Runner, Inside Llewyn Davis) as the troll Branch, in addition to serving as executive music producer and performing multiple songs on the soundtrack. The film will also feature Academy and Tony Award nominee Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect, Up in the Air) as Princess Poppy, “The Late Late Show” host James Corden (Into the Woods) as Biggie, comedian Russell Brand (Get Him to the Greek) as Creek, music superstar Gwen Stefani (The Aviator) as DJ Suki, YouTube personality GloZell Green as Grandma Rosiepuff, Kunal Nayyar (“The Big Bang Theory”) as Guy Diamond, comedian Ron Funches (“Undateable”) as Cooper, YouTube personality Meg DeAngelis as Moxie and Swedish electropop duo Icona Pop (Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo) as the Fashionistas. Directed by Mike Mitchell (Shrek Forever After), co-directed by Walt Dohrn (Shrek Forever After) and produced by Gina Shay (Shrek Forever After), the film for the first time tells the story behind the beloved Trolls and their gravity defying and colorful manes. Setting out on an epic adventure that takes Poppy and Branch far beyond the only world they have ever known, their quest will test their strength and reveal their true colors – with no shortage of musical mash-ups along the way! The Trolls movie will be released on November 4, 2016.


        I really enjoyed this teaser. It sorta gave us an idea of the what the film might be about, but it was a nice little introduction to these characters. This a film I have been skeptical about for a long time mainly due to the fact that I was never a huge fan of the little troll dolls when I was younger, but they have lasted for a long time so audiences might enjoy this film. I like how the studio has a lot of confidence in the film putting it up against Marvel's Doctor Strange and even in the thick of Oscar season. I think this film can be a big hit and I'm really looking forward to seeing. 



        Academy Award winner Kim Basinger (L.A. Confidential) has joined the cast of the upcoming sequel to Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker. Variety has the news, reporting that Kim Basinger will play the novel’s Elena Lincoln. Also known as “Mrs. Robinson,” Lincoln is, in the E L James novels, both a business partner and former lover of Christian Grey’s. It is her character who introduced Grey to the world of BDSM. An erotically charged romance, the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise has capitalized on it’s naughty-but-not-too-naughty aesthetic to the tune of almost $570 million worldwide and counting. On-set conflict between author E L James and the first film’s director Sam Taylor-Johnson, however, led to Taylor-Johnson and screenwriter Kelly Marcel opting not return for the sequel. James Foley will instead direct Fifty Shades Darker, which will be penned by E L James’ husband, Niall Leonard. Kim Basinger can next be seen starring opposite Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in Shane Black’s 1970s noir detective comedy, The Nice Guys. Look for it to hit theaters on May 20, 2016. Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson are set to return as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele in both Fifty Shades Darker and a third film, Fifty Shades Freed. Expanding upon the events set in motion in Fifty Shades of Grey, the films will again aim to become the motion-picture events for Valentine’s Day 2017 and 2018. Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti, alongside E L James, the creator of the series, also return to produce.

        This is pretty interesting casting. Kim Basinger is a tremendous actress and she hasn't been on the big screen a lot lately, but it'll be great to see her back on the big screen again. However, I don't like that she is coming back with this film. After the disaster of the first film this film might actually be worse and I don't want Basinger associated with the film. I haven't read the book so I don't know how her character plays within the entire story arch, but I'm not looking forward to seeing what she does become. 



        As reported shortly after the original film opened, plans are underway to turn Andres Muschietti’s Mama into a horror franchise. The Hollywood Reporter today brings word that the writing and directing pair behind 2014’s Starry Eyes, Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, will both direct the Mama sequel and rewrite the current Mama sequel draft. The Wrap, meanwhile, reports that star Jessica Chastain is not expected to return. Whether that means that the film will recas her Annabel character or tell a wholly separate Mama story remains to be seen. The original Mama, produced by Guillermo del Toro, offered a supernatural thriller with the haunting tale of two little girls who disappeared into the woods the day that their parents were killed. When they are rescued years later and begin a new life, they find that someone or something still wants to come tuck them in at night. Five years ago, sisters Victoria and Lilly vanished from their suburban neighborhood without a trace. Since then, their Uncle Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his girlfriend, Annabel (Jessica Chastain), have been madly searching for them. But when, incredibly, the kids are found alive in a decrepit cabin, the couple wonders if the girls are the only guests they have welcomed into their home. As Annabel tries to introduce the children to a normal life, she grows convinced of an evil presence in their house. Are the sisters experiencing traumatic stress, or is a ghost coming to visit them? How did the broken girls survive those years all alone? As she answers these disturbing questions, the new mother will find that the whispers she hears at bedtime are coming from the lips of a deadly presence. The original Mama was a sizable hit, pulling in $146 million at the worldwide box office.

        This is pretty interesting news. Now I have never seen Starry Eyes (I know shocking right) so I don't know these guys's writing style. However I have seen Mama and it was a pretty terrifying film even if the ending was pretty cheesy and stupid. I think the first film built a really interesting mythology and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the sequel will build upon it. I think these writers can do a great job and I'm looking forward to seeing how they contribute to the story.



        The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty‘s Kathryn Bigelow is set to direct a crime thriller that is currently being dubbed “Untitled Detroit Project”. The feature will reteam the two-time Academy Award winner with screenwriter Mark Boal. Bigelow and Boal will also produce the Untitled Detroit Project alongside Annapurna’s Megan Ellison and Matthew Budman. The Untitled Detroit Project marks Bigelow’s tenth as a director. The film is being financed by Annapurna Pictures with casting set to begin in March. Principal photography is then slated to follow this summer. Although full details about the Detroit project are not being revealed at this time, the film is said to be a crime drama set against the backdrop of Detroit’s devastating riots that took place over five haunting summer days in 1967. Boal has been researching and working on the project, which explores systemic racism in urban Detroit, for more than a year. Although no studio is yet attached, a release date is being targeted for 2017, the 50th anniversary of the riots. The project marks Boal’s first screenplay centering around domestic conflicts. His The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, both directed by Bigelow, were set in the Middle East.

        This sounds like an awesome idea. Kathryn Bigelow is easily the best female director working in the business and basically anything she does is something I want to see. This film sounds like it is right in her wheelhouse especially when you look at her filmography. This going to be an interesting story to tell and I think Bigelow is the right person for the job although I think Ava DuVernay would've been a good choice as well. 

        So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, which of these stories peaked your interest or was there another story that interested you? Let me know in the comments section below and let your voice be heard.

                                                                                                                                        Jonah Sparks

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