Monthly Archives: June 2019

“Midway” Posters and Trailers Heroic Feats of Fearless Men

action, biography, drama, historical, war, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Directed by Roland Emmerich, Midway focuses on the historic Battle of Midway as a critical part of the Pacific Theater during World War II. The movie shows the clash between the American fleet and the Imperial Japanese Navy, which marked a pivotal turning point during WWII. The film is streaming on Amazon. 

Wes Tooke wrote the story based on the real-life events of heroic feats. The leaders and soldiers used their wits, instincts, courage, and bravery to overcome the odds and defeat the Japanese.

The movie’s huge cast is stellar.

Some of the top brass in the movie are Lieutenant Commander Wade McClusky, played by
Luke Evans, Edwin Layton, played by Patrick Wilson, Admiral William “Bull” Halsey, played by Dennis Quad, and Admiral Chester Nimitz, played by Woody Harrelson. The rest of the cast includes Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas, Etsushi Toyokawa, Tadanobu Asano, Luke Kleintank, Jun Kunimura, Darren Criss, Keean Johnson, Alexander Ludwig, and Mandy Moore.

Emmerich directing credits are rich with grandiose movies like The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day. Tooke writing credits include episodic TV shows like Colony and Jean-Claude Van Johnson.

The next trailer tells more about the story. Historically, the story is impressive. Doolittle and his crew perform an unbelievable mission.

“Charlie’s Angels” Posters, Trailers, Featurette, Clip & Images

action, remakes, , , , , , ,

Elizabeth Banks wrote, directed, and stars in the new Charlie’s Angels installment. Based on the trailer, it looks like a new angel, played by Naomi Scott, arrives and seems a bit naive as we follow her learning about what it is to be one of Charlie’s Angels.

She gradually becomes accustomed to the other Angels as they solve cases the standard police aren’t equipped to solve. With a woman director and strong female roles, the next generation of fearless Charlie’s Angels looks like a fun movie to watch as long as it is not too ridiculous.


Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska work for
the mysterious Charles Townsend

The modern and bolder version follows the Angels, which also includes Kristen Stewart and Ella Balinska. Still working for the mysterious Charles Townsend, whose security and the investigative agency has expanded internationally, hiring the world’s smartest, bravest, and most highly trained women all over the globe.

There are now teams of Angels guided by multiple Bosleys taking on the toughest jobs everywhere. The screenplay is by Banks from a story by Evan Spiliotopoulos and David Auburn.

Banks wrote the screenplay, stars, and directed “Charlie Angels.”
Stewart and her checking out their equipment.

The new Charlie’s Angels movie is refreshing with rapid scenes and costume changes. I only hope the new version catches the audience’s attention enough to validate the prowess of these women.

The rest of the cast looks promising with Djimon Hounsou, Noah Centineo, Sam Claflin, and Patrick Stewart.

Watching to the movie trailer, it’s good to see Stewart in an upbeat role. I knew she had it in her.

The movie comes across so campy it might actually work.

The featurette shows a lot of behind the scenes footage and soundbites from the stars.

The movie clip called “Closet” is about the second closet.

“The Current War” Posters, Clips, Trailer & Images

biography, drama, historical, , , , ,
The cast brings a whole new dimension to the story.

Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejoin, The Current War follows three brilliant visionaries set off in a charged battle for the future hold on electricity. The epic story of the cutthroat competition that literally lit up the modern world told in hush tones is now a motion picture.

Tom Holland as Samuel Insull and Benedict Cumberbatch as Edison

Benedict Cumberbatch is Thomas Edison, the celebrity inventor on the verge of bringing electricity to Manhattan with his radical new DC technology. On the eve of triumph, his plans are upended by charismatic businessman George Westinghouse, played by Michael Shannon, who believes he and his partner, the upstart genius Nikolai Tesla, played by Nicholas Hoult, have a superior idea for how to rapidly electrify America using AC current.

The poster is like the first one, but this poster says “Director’s Cut,” and that is fascinating. The movie has not been released, and there is a new version of the movie.

As Edison and Westinghouse grapple for who will power the nation, they spark one of the first and greatest corporate feuds in American history, establishing for future Titans of Industry the need to break all the rules.

Michael Shannon as Westinghouse

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon is best known for directing Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Michael Mitnick wrote the screenplay and is also one of the producers of the movie. Mitnick adapted The Giver and scripted the episodic Vinyl.

The movie also stars Katherine Waterston, Tom Holland, Matthew Macfadyen, and Tuppence Middleton.

The next group of movie clips tells the tale of the war between Westinghouse and Edison. From the looks of it, Edison was a greedy man who only wanted fame and money.

Tesla’s vision surpassed any person at this time.

“Queen & Slim” Trailers, Featurette, Clips & Poster

action, drama,
The first date turns into running from the law.

Directed by Melina Matsoukas and written by Lena Waithe, Queen & Slim follows a young couple on their first date in Ohio. A black man, played by Daniel Kaluuya and a black woman, played by Jodie Turner-Smith meet on a first date.

They are pulled over for a minor traffic infraction. The situation escalates, and the man kills the cop in self-defense, living a sudden and tragic end.

The movie is available on Blu-ray, DVD, or streaming on Amazon.

Terrified and in fear for their lives, the man, a retail employee, and the woman, a criminal defense lawyer, are forced to go on the run. But the incident is captured on video and goes viral, and the couple unwittingly becomes a symbol of trauma, terror, grief, and pain for people across the country.

As they drive, these two unlikely fugitives will discover themselves and each other in the dire and desperate of circumstances and will forge a deep and powerful love that will reveal their shared humanity and shape the rest of their lives.

It’s riveting to see their transformation from the first date to criminals on the lamb.

The movie is about something that could happen as a serious and unfortunate incident. The trailers show how something so ordinary, but endearing, can go wrong in a world of racism and idiocy.

It’s a sad movie because these two loving souls are in big trouble.

The featurette introduces us to the director and screenwriter of the movie. They tell us their vision and their hope to inform and inspire us about the Black culture.

Here are two movie clips that define the story. The chemistry between these two actors is dynamite.

The early reviews of the movie are positive, and the clip backs them up. You can feel the undertones between the uncle and her.

The next two featurettes fit into the promotion of the film because they talk about the screenwriter, director, and set photographer.

“Black and Blue” Poster, Trailer, Featurettes & Clips

action, crime, thriller, , , , , ,

Directed by Deon Taylor, the movie Black and Blue follows a rookie cop, played by Naomie Harris. The fast-paced action thriller begins when she inadvertently captures the murder of a young drug dealer on her body cam.

After realizing that the murder was committed by corrupt cops, she teams up with the one person who is not a cop, played by Tyrese Gibson, from her community who is willing to help her as she tries to escape both the criminals out for revenge and the police who are desperate to destroy the incriminating footage.

The last two movies Taylor directed were The Intruder and Traffik, and the screenplay is by Peter A. Dowling who wrote the script for Flightplan.

The rest of the cast includes Frank Grillo, Mike Colter, Reid Scott, Beau Knapp, and Nafessa Williams.

The featurette shows a movie worth seeing. The scenes look tight, and the story is strong.

The next two movie clips are in the trailer, but you see more of the storyline.

The featurettes tell a little more about the movie, but the footage is almost the same. There is also a little more footage not in the prior clips and trailer.

“Bad Trip” Trailer

comedy,

Directed by Kitao Sakurai, Bad Trip is a ridiculous movie similar to Jackass and Bad Grandpa.

The producers seem to think a hidden camera with raunchy pranks is funny and makes a comedy worth seeing.

Tiffany Haddish stars in the movie about two best friends on a cross-country road trip full of hilarious, inventive pranks, pulling its real-life audience into the mayhem.

Amazing and Uplifting “Trolls World Tour”

adventure, animation, children movies, family movies, fantasy, kid movies, sequels, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Directed by Walt Dohrn, Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake return in a massive cast of talented stars to the sequel Trolls World Tour. The movie is an adventure. We follow Poppy, played by Kendrick, and Branch, played by Timberlake, to a place where they discover they are but one of six different Troll tribes. Each scattered over six different lands and devoted to six different kinds of music: Funk, Country, Techno, Classical, Pop, and Rock. Their world is about to get a lot bigger and a whole lot louder.

The movie is now available on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD.

A member of hard-rock royalty, Queen Barb, played by Rachel Bloom, aided by her father King Thrash, played by Ozzy Osbourne, wants to destroy all other kinds of music to let rock reign supreme.

Because the fate of the world at stake, Poppy and Branch, along with their friends — Biggie, played by James Corden, Chenille, played by Caroline Hjelt, Satin, played by Aino Jawo, Cooper, played by Ron Funches, and Guy Diamond, played by Kunal Nayyar — set out to visit all the other lands. They visit the different territories to unify the Trolls in harmony against Barb, who’s looking to upstage them all.

Cast as members of the different musical tribes is one the largest and most acclaimed groups of artistic talent ever assembled for an animated film. The cast list continues with the land of Funk are Mary J. Blige, George Clinton, and Anderson. Paak. Representing Country is Kelly Clarkson as Delta Dawn, with Sam Rockwell as Hickory and Flula Borg as Dickory. J Balvin brings Reggaeton, while Ester Dean adds to the Pop tribe. Anthony Ramos brings the beat in Techno, and Jamie Dornan covers smooth jazz. World-renowned conductor and violinist Gustavo Dudamel appears as Trollzart and Charlyne Yi as Pennywhistle from the land of Classical. And Kenan Thompson raps as a hip-hop new Troll named Tiny Diamond.

Dohrn served as co-director on Trolls and is co-directed by David P. Smith and co-produced by Kelly Cooney Cilella, both of whom worked on the first Trolls. Trolls World Tour will also feature original music by Justin Timberlake, who earned an Oscar nomination for his song for 2016’s Trolls, “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”

The second trailer is fun to watch, and I guarantee you will laugh because it is so silly.

The String by String featurette shows some behind the scenes clips with Justin Timberlake. Kids will enjoy the story and watch it over and over again.

Enjoy the featurettes below!

“The Peanut Butter Falcon” Posters, Clips & Trailer

adventure, comedy, , ,

Co-directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, The Peanut Butter Falcon is a modern-day adventure story with quirky characters and lessons learn like a Mark Twain story.

The movie follows Zak, played by Zack Gottsagen, a young man with Down syndrome, who runs away from a residential nursing home to follow his dream of attending the professional wrestling school of his idol, The Salt Water Redneck, played by Thomas Haden Church.

The Peanut Butter Falcon won SXSW Film Fest Audience Award 2019.

A strange turn of events connects him with Tyler, played by Shia LaBeouf. Tyler is a small-time outlaw on the run, who becomes Zak’s unlikely coach and ally. Together they wind through deltas, elude capture, drink whiskey, find God, catch fish, and convince Eleanor, Dakota Johnson, a kind nursing home employee charged with Zak’s return, to join them on their journey.

Both Nilson and Schwartz are new to directing but have a strong desire to make meaningful movies. The Peanut Butter Falcon won SXSW Film Festival Audience Award 2019.

The “Kidnapping” clip shows how the relationship between these three people develops.

Three more movie clips show the actors working together. Watching them, I am not sure where the movie is going with these two men. Dakota Johnson adds a tremendous amount of validity to the story. Watch the first two clips, then the one with her in it, and you will see what I mean.

The featurette is an eyeopener about three actors coming together and making a movie about a young man with Down syndrome.

“Ready or Not” Poster, Images, Clips, Featurettes & Trailer

comedy, horror, , , ,

Directed by Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Ready or Not is a quirky horror movie about newlyweds who go through a deadly ritual with the family after the wedding.

The movie is available on Blu-ray, DVD, and streaming outlets, just in time for Halloween.

Samara Weaving plays the young bride, and Mark O’Brien plays her new husband. Her husband’s family is wealthy and eccentric, played by Adam Brody, Henry Czerny, and Andie MacDowell, in a time-honored tradition that turns into a deadly game where everyone fights for survival.

The screenplay by Guy Busick and Ryan Murphy is funny, but it might miss the mark. Here are the red band and green band trailers.

The first available clip sets up the story well. The characters are a little overdramatic, but it’s supposed to be the humorous side of the movie.

The “Heat Start” movie clip shows the dangerous side of the game, while some of the family members are hesitant to play the inevitable game.

The following three featurettes show how the movie filmed the scenes and the different costumes of the same wedding dress get thrashed.

Redband Featurette

“Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles” Poster & Trailer

documentary, drama, true stories

The documentary is directed by Max Lewkowicz and he brings together some extraordinary talent to discuss the message of the musical Fiddler on the Roof. The story, though original, is universal and so timely.

It is one of Broadway’s most beloved musicals and its creative roots in early 1960s New York tells a story of when “tradition” was on the wane as gender roles, sexuality, race relations, and religion were evolving into what we have today.

The musical is popular around the world with community and academic theaters. The message that “tradition is changing and we can’t fight it but embrace it” is powerful.