The Revenant has been anticipated since April of 2014, when Alejandro G. Iñárritu announced that he had started to work on the project with Leonardo DiCaprio in the leading role. The story was to be based on a novel of the same name detailing the true events of a fur-trapper on the American frontier at the beginning of the nineteenth century. After the world saw the heights Iñárritu was capable of with Birdman, that anticipation skyrocketed, and we are fortunate to finally get a brief look at The Revenant with a haunting teaser trailer which revels in the mood of a dark, savage thriller. Watch the teaser below:
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Tag: Action
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So I definitely found all the fun in the DCCU, and it looks like I was right – it is going to come from the villains. Look no further than the recently released trailer for Suicide Squad, where I finally get the sense that there is more to the DCCU than brooding, gritty darkness. Somehow, the characters that are supposed to be the baddest and meanest have the most time to have fun, joke around, and lighten the mood. That’s not to say there aren’t some really disturbing visuals, though. Have a look:
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It is no secret that the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) has darker ambitions than its brightly colored and quip-filled Marvel counterpart. Since the DCEU is late to the shared universe party, they are tasked with differentiating themselves, and if Man of Steel and the teaser trailer for the follow-up Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice are any indication, they want to skew more serious and dramatic. This is fine, as Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy leaned more realistic and was a success. But, this strategy could be quite dangerous if applied across the board (including Man of Steel, 13 DCEU films are in various stages of planning). While a single film can focus on the darker aspects of the world, I feel like the weight or power of such a choice is diminished by each successive trip to that well. With that in mind, I looked to the new Batman v Superman trailer with the question: is there ever going to be any fun at all in the DCEU?
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The rumor mill has been churning of late with regards to the standalone Batman film. The expected timeline for new Batman appearances in the DC Cinematics Universe (DCCU) are actually fairly complex, though. Of course, the first look we get at the rebooted Batman with Ben Affleck will come next March 26th with the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Then, in August of 2016, Batman will appear in some fashion in Suicide Squad, but this role is expected to be ancillary. Once we get into 2017 and beyond, we have three announced films: The Justice League Parts One and Two, and an untitled Batman standalone film. Rumors are that the film will simply be titled, “The Batman”, but that has yet to be confirmed. What has been confirmed, though, is that Ben Affleck will not only be in front of the camera for the reboot, but also behind it and in the writers’ room with DC’s Geoff Johns.
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The Iron Giant was perhaps the last masterpiece of American hand-drawn animation. The film was the directorial debut of Brad Bird, and may be the best entry in his filmography to this date, despite how crazy that sounds. When it was released in 1999, I was not aware of it and missed seeing it in theaters, but it looks like I will be getting a second chance. On September 30th, 2015, The Iron Giant will be shown in select theaters under the title The Iron Giant: Signature Edition with two new scenes added. Soon thereafter, the film will be available for digital purchase in this re-mastered state. Apparently, Warner Bros. is not particularly interested in producing a Blu Ray edition flushed with extras, so this digital release is what we get.
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Ayrton Senna navigated the racetracks of Formula One as Beethoven navigated the symphony. Born in São Paulo in 1960, Senna and his career racing Formula One is the subject of the Asif Kapadia documentary Senna. The film uses archival footage of Senna’s interviews, racing coverage (including on-car cameras), and voice-over interviews from his friends and family to document his ascent through the sport, culminating in multiple World Championships. The strength of Senna lay in its ability to transport the viewer into Ayrton’s head as we ride along with him at over 200 miles per hour. We feel his frustrations, experience his triumphs, and even see through his eyes during tense races. What emerges is a story exploring themes of the weight of immense ability and the inspiration that such ability can provide, all amid the backdrop of heart-stopping, tense racing action and political intrigue.
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All four previous entries of the franchise use a time-traveling event as the kernel of a larger story, and the best two films (which I don’t even need to name explicitly) relegate this to the very beginning of the first act. Terminator: Genisys limps along its narrative by using time-travel plot elements like a crutch. The result is a film without a logical plot, populated by paradoxical characters and foolish plans. Occasionally, things get so muddled and unclear that characters are forced to halt the drama on screen to provide expository dialogue, but even these shoehorned explanations fail to settle the questions that arise. Due to the various temporal contortions of this film, we realize that Terminator: Genisys is not merely a sequel in the Terminator franchise, but a stealth re-boot of the whole storyline. Sadly, the plot of Genisys erases the events of the previous films as though they never happened and leaves this once-great franchise an incoherent husk of its former self.
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Over the last week or so, details regarding a pair of space adventure sequels have started rolling in, and while there isn’t much to interpret as of yet, I do think it is interesting to consider the choices being made by these two franchises. I am speaking, of course, of the Star Trek franchise, and the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, both of which are set to release films in the next two years (the former in July 2016, the latter in May 2017). It is interesting to consider these franchises side-by-side, as both are basically space operas but differ wildly in terms of tone and execution. And, despite being the more nascent franchise, I am of the opinion that it is the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise which actually has a brighter future – especially with regards to the next entry.
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When the Independence Day sequel is released next year, it will be just shy of 20 years after the original alien invasion disaster film debuted. Fox has announced that the film will officially be titled Independence Day: Resurgence and has provided a brief synopsis. In the years since the invasion, humanity has reverse-engineered the alien technology to create a planet-wide defense system in case more aliens attempt to invade. Of course, they do anyways, apparently with even more advanced technology. Most of the stars not named “Will Smith” will be reprising their roles, and we also got a couple of cool photos of a spaceship / mech. So, I am excited, right? Far from it – this will be an unmitigated disaster.
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You would be forgiven for thinking that the powers that be had already decided on the new Spiderman for the second reboot of the beloved web-slinger and his introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Many movie news outlets were quick to anoint Asa Butterfield a couple of months ago, but all of them were quick to pepper these “stories” with nebulous phrases like, “in the works”, “in discussion” and “about to ink deal”. This is a common and frustrating eventuality in the movie news cycle: intent on breaking the story and generating as much traffic as possible to their site, many of these online outlets throw up garish headlines declaring that so-and-so is involved in such-and-such. Then, when you actually click and read the article, you realize that it is all basically hearsay. This infuriates me. I make a concerted effort not to post any news item until the ink is actually dry on the contract, so now that such a thing has happened vis-a-vis Spiderman, I must say that I am at least a little concerned.
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Plot and Theme 