Month: May 2017

It’s Time For – More – Animaniacs! Spielberg and Amblin Pursue New Iteration

Indiewire is reporting that Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Television are toying with bringing back the classic cartoon Animaniacs with Steven Spielberg expected to join in. It’s important to note that these discussions are still very young, and this may be nothing in the end.

Animaniacs felt a resurgence due to the original series hitting Netflix recently, and many fans found themselves falling back in love with the cartoon.

I personally don’t think that new Animaniacs will hit with viewers. Sure, it may keep the old fans subdued but I just don’t think it has the steam to bring in anyone new. Perhaps if it hits Netflix, but I think if you expect people to tune in for new episodes, I just don’t see it happening.

What do you think? Are the Animaniacs ready for a return? Are you excited? Let me know/Drop a comment below!

 

-Kyle A. Goethe

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Prepare to Be Unimpressed Again; Boo 2! A Madea Halloween set for October

Lionsgate made the announcement on Thursday that Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween is set for release this coming October. The film will be directed by Perry from a script he wrote and will follow Madea as she and her friends on the run from monsters at a campground.

The original Boo! A Madea Halloween opened last October and was critically trashed but managed to do reasonably well at the box office for its modest budget due to a successful marketing campaign.

I saw the original film earlier this year and I have to say, it was drudgingly terrible. The jokes fell flat, the performances were terrible, and the film altogether was a bore. That’s coming from someone who was genuinely excited for the film after watching the trailer. I thought the camp level would work well and the trailers featured some interesting moments which actually brought me in. But the film was trash.

Am I excited for a sequel? No.

Because Tyler Perry doesn’t learn. He has had some great acting moments, but his films and plays are a big piece of mush and he shows no abilities to take feedback and develop his skills. I will be spending my money elsewhere. Like, literally anything else.

But what do you think? Are you excited for Boo 2!? What did you think of the original? Let me know/ drop a comment below!

 

-Kyle A. Goethe

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Actor Powers Boothe Dead at 68

Sad news to report this morning as it appears that actor Powers Boothe, most recently seen in a stint on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., passed away yesterday in his sleep. The death has been attributed to natural causes. Boothe was 68.

Boothe was a hell of a character actor, winning an Emmy for his work as cult leader Jim Jones in Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones. He was also known for his other villainous roles in films like Sudden Death and Frailty, but he will likely be remembered for his work on Deadwood. He will be missed.

Selected Filmography:

  • Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones
  • Southern Comfort
  • Red Dawn
  • Tombstone
  • Sudden Death
  • Nixon
  • U Turn
  • Men of Honor
  • Frailty
  • Sin City
  • Deadwood
  • 24: Redemption
  • MacGruber
  • The Avengers
  • Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
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Incredible Blade Runner 2049 Trailer Likely to Capture Fans and Newcomers

So we have our official Blade Runner 2049 trailer. After the interesting for short teaser a few months back, the first theatrical trailer is here and it is glorious.

The trailer gives us our first look at Jared Leto as replicant manufacturer Wallace in a conversation with Ryan Gosling’s Officer K. There are also a few moments showing off Robin Wright, Dave Bautista and Ana de Armas, but the trailer focuses heavily on the world of 2049 as well as revealing a bit more of the meeting of K and Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford).

And what a world this is. Set three decades from the original film, the trailer shows not so much a different world but one that has advanced even more since Ridley Scott’s film, and Blade Runner 2049 doesn’t look to disappoint in the awe factor.

So what do you think? Will you be seeing Blade Runner 2049? What’s your favorite Denis Villeneuve-directed film? Let me know/Drop a comment below.

 

-Kyle A. Goethe

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Doug Liman Talks Leaving Gambit

In a recent interview with Collider, director Doug Liman talked about his reasons for leaving the X-Men film Gambit. Liman, who is currently promoting his newest film The Wall, said:

“I never formed a connection. Many of these movies, I don’t have the connection on day one, but I find the connection. I just never found it. I don’t always find a connection. I want to make a movie that, if anybody else made it, it would be different.”

Liman continued to describe that his version of Swingers portrayed Vince Vaughn’s character Trent as a likable character and that someone else making that film perhaps wouldn’t have made it the same way. This served as the primary reason for Liman’s departure from the project.

I would rather see Doug Liman’s take on Justice League Dark to his take on Gambit, but this stems from a personal confusion as to the appeal of Gambit. I just don’t see Gambit getting his own film and I agree that it will take someone who has a real love for the character to bring that to the screen.

Thankfully, Liman has plenty of interesting projects on the way like the sequel to Edge of Tomorrow and the aforementioned Justice League Dark, and I’m excited to see The Wall.

What do you think? Who should helm Gambit? Let me know/Drop a comment below!

 

-Kyle A. Goethe

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[Editorial] Yes, I’ve Seen Footage from Transformers: The Last Knight

Hey everyone, I thought I would share some takeaways from a recent screening I attended in which Transformers: The Last Knight footage was revealed. I should note that we were told early on that some of the footage was incomplete, but overall, I got the sense that most of it was.

The footage started with an introduction from director Michael Bay who walked the audience through the process of creating and filming with IMAX 3D cameras, and he informed us that this film was the first to be entirely shot in IMAX 3D.

We are then presented with what I expect to be the opening, involving King Arthur battling a Cybertronian dragon and a major battle in the past.

We also see the introduction of Izabella and her Autobot friend Sqweeks as well as Canopy, the garbage-Autobot revealed in promotional material. Canopy seems like a tremendously stupid idea, but I liked what I saw from Izabella and Sqweeks.

We are reintroduced to Cade Yeager (played by Mark Wahlberg), who returns from Transformers: Age of Extinction, who has now taken up residence at a junkyard with Bumblebee and Grimlock, the Dinobot recently introduced in the previous installment. Grimlock seems to be taking on the personality of a pet dog, which I thought was kind of funny, but I also imagine that it won’t make the fanbase too happy.

We also got our first look at Anthony Hopkins’ character as he is the one who sets Cade on his quest. He also has some fun rapport with his Autobot caretaker which I though was pretty good.

All in all, there weren’t a whole lot of surprises in the viewing, but at least I didn’t have a whole lot of groans. The movie looks like standard Transformers fare, but at least it has a new writing team after the writer’s room created 14-plus Transformers films over a year ago. Let’s just hope Michael Bay didn’t inject too much bayhem here.

Are you excited for Transformers: The Last Knight? What’s your favorite installment of the franchise? Let me know/Drop a comment below!

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[Harry Potter Day] Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Director: David Yates

Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Ezra Miller, Samantha Morton, Jon Voight, Carmen Ejogo, Ron Perlman, Colin Farrell

Screenplay: J.K. Rowling

133 mins. Rated PG-13 for some fantasy action violence.

  • Academy Award Winner: Best Achievement in Costume Design
  • Academy Award Nominee: Best Achievement in Production Design

 

Today, to honor the 19th Anniversary of The Battle of Hogwarts, we look back at the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a film that exists in the Wizarding World Cinematic Universe (yep, that happened) but takes place decades before Harry Potter was even born.

Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything, Jupiter Ascending) has arrived in 1926 New York with a mysterious case full of amazing and exotic creatures, but when a tiny mix-up with aspiring baker Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler, TV’s Secrets and Lies, Kung Fu Panda) causes several of his fantastic beasts to be released upon the No-Maj (America’s term for Muggles) society. Now, it is up to Newt, Kowalski, and ex-auror Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston, Inherent Vice, Steve Jobs) to retrieve the missing creatures before they are discovered by the non-magical citizens of New York City.

There are many things to love about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but I have to start with the performances. Eddie Redmayne absolutely disappears within his role as Newt and becomes the magi-zoologist with apparent ease, and his foil in Kowalski is expertly lovable and comedic due to Fogler’s performance. I was also blown away by Ezra Miller’s (We Need to Talk About Kevin, Suicide Squad) work as Credence Barebone, the adopted son of a religious zealot being manipulated by the sinister Auror Percival Graves (Colin Farrell, Phone Booth, Solace). There’s also some nice supporting work from Samantha Morton (TV’s Harlots, John Carter), Jon Voight (TV’s Ray Donovan, Mission: Impossible), and Ron Perlman (TV’s Hand of God, Hellboy).

The collaboration between screenwriter J.K. Rowling and director David Yates (The Legend of Tarzan, The Girl in the Café), who has now directed five films in this franchise, is electric to say the least. Yates has an understanding of how to treat the fans, and Rowling’s decision to use creatures hinted at in the books and previous films to further enhance the experience is something to dazzle at. For me, getting to see an actual Bowtruckle and Nifler, two creatures mentioned in novels but never put to film, was very exciting.

I also would like to point out the excellent score in the film, courtesy of James Newton Howard. Howard is one of my favorite working film composers, and his work here is some of his best. When you compare the score of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them to, say, something like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, it is clear to see where one score outdid the other. Howard’s music entices us with callbacks to the original music, and when it does, it’s pitch perfect, but at the same time, he creates a plethora of new music to further guide this franchise into the future.

As for issues, I felt like the New Salem Philanthropic Society felt a little rushed in their exposition. I would like to know more about them but they don’t get the full exposition needed to really consider them a threat. The same thing with Jon Voight’s character, Henry Shaw, and the secondary plot thread with him doesn’t really go anywhere. Finally, as for the twist (if you can call it that), it’s a little easy to spot, and I feel like there was a better way to do what was done at the end of the film. Thankfully, these problems only affect secondary characters and our main characters are more or less unaffected by them.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is an exquisite and sophisticated return to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Thanks to some clever callbacks to creatures and major plot points of the franchise like the Deathly Hallows, the film feels new but also honors what came before. It’s a clever film that will have something for everyone, as long as they are a Harry Potter fan. I don’t think this new entry will win over any new fans, but anyone who has taken the ride this long shouldn’t have any trouble going around again.

 

4.5/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

 

 

For my review of Chris Columbus’ Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, click here.

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