Category Archives: based on a book

“The Front Runner” Trailer, Featurette & Posters

based on a book, drama, true stories, , ,

Directed by Jason Reitman, The Front Runner is based on a true story starring Hugh Jackman. Jackman plays the charismatic politician Gary Hart in a movie that might prove to be a  thrilling drama.

The movie focuses on the rise and fall of Senator Hart, who captured the imagination of young voters and was considered the overwhelming front-runner for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination when his campaign was sidelined by the story of an extramarital relationship with Donna Rice.

American experienced its first taste of tabloid journalism while political journalism merged for the first time. Senator Hart was forced to drop out of the race – events that left a profound and lasting impact on American politics and the world stage.

The movie is available on Blu-ray/DVD and is streaming as well. So, if you haven’t seen the movie yet, nows your chance or you can see it again.  I recommend seeing the movie because Hugh Jackman is such a brilliant actor.

Also starring Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons, and Alfred Molina, The Front Runner is written by Matt Bai & Jay Carson & Jason Reitman, based on the book “All the Truth is Out” by Matt Bai.

The featurette captures the feel of the movie.

The movie trailer depicts the era when Gary Hart’s fiasco occurred. Today, this type of situation seems to happen once a month. When in fact, Hart’s is the first ever for ruining a political career.

The second poster shows more of the story behind the movie. Jackman looks to the side and tries to avoid being hounded by the press or the situation that is out of control.

Watching the trailer and knowing Reitman, I sense a bit of wit and sarcasm.

“The Little Stranger” Trailer, Movie Clips, and Posters

based on a book, drama, horror, , ,

I become giddy when I find a horror movie I know I will enjoy and appreciate as a production. Such is the case with The Little Stranger. Based on a bestseller directed by Lenny Abrahamson,  the story follows Dr. Faraday, played by Domhnall Gleeson, the son of a housemaid. He built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor.

During the long, hot summer of 1948, the doctor is asked to visit a patient at Hundreds Hall, where his mother once worked. The Hall has been home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries. The doctor is surprised to find the home is no longer grandiose but in decline, and its inhabitants, mother, son, and daughter, are haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life.

He takes on his new patient with no idea how closely and disturbingly the family’s story is about to become entwined with his own.

The featurette clearly explains the story and how the director works with the story.

The movie clip shows how the young doctor wants to climb social status. Perhaps his desire prevents him from seeing the darkness within the family.

Watching this clip is the reason why I want to see this movie. It is suspenseful and horrific in a daunting way.

The movie clips show how Abrahamson keeps the movie centered on the doctor but with undertones of suspense. This is going to be a great horror movie.

“Hunter Killer” Trailer, Movie Clip, and Posters

action, adventure, based on a book, war, , ,

Directed by Donovan Marsh, Hunter Killer is a movie that has the potential to be great. Though, Marsh directorial credits are limited to such movies as Spud and Spud 2. The Spud movies are a far cry from an action thriller as any director can get.

Hunter Killer is based on a story that comes from a novel of the same name written by Don Keith and George Wallace. The screenplay is by Jamie Moss and Arnie Schmidt.

The “Joe Glass” movie clip shows how the movie is filmed to create intensity. Here we have Common and Gary Oldman going at it to move the story along.

The movie is a contemporary story about an unproven American submarine captain, played by Gerard Butler. The captain teams with U.S. Navy Seals to rescue the Russian president, who has been kidnapped by a corrupted general.

The final poster reminds of the original poster for the movie The Hunt for Red October starring Sean Connery and Alex Baldwin. It’s a great movie and highly, highly recommend you see it.

Gary Oldman is in Hunter Killer, but the studio is hush-hush about his role in the movie. The other cast members are Caroline Goodall, John Taylor Smith, and Common.

The second trailer tells us more about the story and each role the actor plays.  Comparing it to the first trailer, it looks like there is a lot more going on than I thought.

You need to watch the trailer because your juices will get pumped.

“Boy Erased” Trailer, Movie Clips, Featurette & Poster

based on a book, drama, true stories, , , ,

Directed by Joel Edgerton, Boy Erased is based on a memoir of a teenage boy whose parents encouraged him to attend a gay-deprogramming through a Christian-sponsored program. 

The movie stars some hefty actors like Oscar winners Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe and Oscar-nominated Lucas Hedges. Openly gay singer and songwriter Troye Sivan plays one attendee of the church-sponsored program.  In the trailer, Sivan appears to keep up with the other talented actors, and I am happy for him. 

The movie isn’t about being gay and accepting homosexuality. It’s about accepting your child or people.  Parents can mold their children into being what they want to be. I know it is cliche,  but parents have to accept who their children are and love them unconditionally.

This isn’t an anti-religion movie because, truly, it is about loving and caring for people and letting people be who they are.

Edgerton is an actor, and this is the fifth movie he’s directed.   He also wrote the screenplay based on Garrard Conley’s book Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family.

The featurette shows how much Edgerton is respected for directing this movie.

These two movie clips pretty much say what the movie is all about. Great acting, watch the clips and you will see what I mean.

The movie clip shows Troye Sivan playing a boy at the church-sponsored program.

The movie trailer tells the story and the frustration the boy and parents went through and the outcome we will find out when we watch the movie.

“Unbroken: Path to Redemption” Trailer, Movie Clips, Switchfoot Featurette, & Poster

based on a book, drama, sequels, , ,

Directed by Harold Cronk, Unbroken: Path to Redemption follows Louis Zamperini, played by Samuel Hunt, as he returns home after undergoing a plane crash, weeks of floating on a makeshift raft in the Pacific, and then years of torture as a prisoner of war.

Angelina Jolie directed Unbroken, a movie about Zamperini’s hardship before returning home. The Coen brothers wrote the script for Unbroken.

They based the movie on Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling book of the same name. The story begins where the popular movie Unbroken concludes. Still, Zamperini’s story must be told because nightmares of his torment haunted him. Zamperini does not see himself as a hero.

He battles with anger and alcohol abuse. He senses an obligation to go on the Army tour and raise money for War Bonds. Instead, he spends more time in bars than selling War Bonds.  

They sent Zamperini to the beaches of Miami for some R&R. He meets Cynthia, played by Merritt Patterson, a young woman who captures his eye—and his heart. They marry and move to Los Angeles.

Nothing goes well with the Zamperini’s marriage and they are heading for a divorce when Cynthia attends Billy Graham’s 1949 Los Angeles Crusade where she finds faith in God and a renewed commitment to her marriage and her husband. Now, her most fervent prayer is for God to help her husband. She prays he finds peace and forgiveness. His grandson, Will Graham, plays Graham.

The screenplay is co-written by Richard Friedenberg and Ken Hixon. Cronk has directed several other faith-based movies. The cast rounds out with David Sakurai and Gary Cole.

The movie clips below are really good. I am impressed.

The movie clip is intense, and it’s like the viewer is right there with him.

The featurette offers details about the making or Switchfoot and the creation of this song “You Found Me” for the movie.

The movie trailer tells the story, and it is easy to guess how it ends if you saw the first movie directed by Jolie.

The Truth About “City of Lies” Trailer and Poster

based on a book, drama, mystery, thriller, , ,

Directed by Brad Furman, City of Lies, based on an authentic story, stars Johnny Depp as Russell Poole and Forest Whitaker as Jack Jackson. The movie follows Poole and Jackson as they investigate the murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious BIG spark.

The screenplay is by Christian Contreras, who adapted the story from Randall Sullivan’s non-fiction book. Contreras also wrote the script for Zero Dark Thirty.

Furman is best known for directing The Lincoln Lawyer, and the movie trailer shows a tight and well-crafted movie.

“Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween” Trailer and Posters

based on a book, children movies, family movies, kid movies, , , , ,

Directed by Ari Sandel, kids are going to have a tree on Halloween. Goosebumps comes alive once again in a brand-new comedy adventure based on R.L. Stine’s 400-million-selling series of books.

The screenplay is by Rob Lieber who also wrote Alexander the Terrible and Peter Rabbit.

The cast includes Wendi McLendon-Covey, Madison Iseman, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Caleel Harris, Chris Parnell, and Ken Jeong.

The second poster colors are much better. The lettering is on the bottom of the poster. Otherwise, both posters are almost similar.

Amazon’s “Eat. Race. Win.” Trailer and Poster

based on a book, documentary, ,

Eat. Race. Win. takes a behind-the-scenes look at the off-the-bike adventure into one of the biggest annual sporting events in the world – The Tour de France.

The movie follows Chef Hannah Grant on her race within the race as she sources performance food for Australia’s pro cycling team, Orica-Scott.  Sports Director Matthew, with Orica-Scott, rallies his riders to victory.

Grant and her team competently create a daily menu of food that is delicious tasting and geared to fuel riders for over 2200 grueling miles. Along the Tour and across the culinary landscape of France, Grant—known as the Queen of Performance Cooking and the first chef of elite pedigree in racing—shows us exactly what it takes to perform at the edge of human endurance for 21 race days.

All six episodes will stream during the release of Grant’s cookbook of the same name.

“The Girl in the Spider’s Web” Trailers, Movie Clips, Vignettes & Posters

action, based on a book, drama, thriller, , , , , , , ,

I read the late Stieg Larsson’s books and thought they were fantastic. I remember an abundance of coffee. I even asked a friend from Sweden, “Do people in Sweden drink that much coffee?”

He said they did. I thought Americans and Italians drank a lot of coffee. Larsson’s stories feature lots of coffee served day and night.

Directed by Fede Alvarez, we again follow the dynamic figure and title character of the celebrated book series created by Larsson. Claire Foy plays the vigilante Lisbeth Salander this time. Salander returns to the movie screen in The Girl in the Spider’s Web, a first-time adaptation of the recent global bestseller.

Looking at the photos and footage of Foy as Salander, it is refreshing to see the Golden Globe winner play the outcast vigilante defender. Steven Knight, Fede Alvarez, and Jay Basu adapted the screenplay.

Alvarez is from Uruguay and is best known for his movie Don’t Breathe, a horror movie

The cast includes Sverrir Gudnason, Lakeith Stanfield, Sylvia Hoeks, Stephen Merchant, Claes Bang, Christopher Convery, Synnøve Macody Lund,  and Vicky Krieps.

The red poster is fantastic because it shows the pensive character and her intent to pull off this unbelievable twist in the circumstances.

The Vignette shows us Lisbeth Salander as Foy describes her character.

The three movie clips are intense and offer a moment of entertainment. Claire Foy’s accent in the “Sisters” clip is unbelievable. She nails it.

The trailer below is called the third trailer, but I don’t know where the second trailer is. Anyway, the movie is looking good. I just saw Claire Foy win an Emmy for The Crown. This girl can act. Is that her sister?

“Juliet, Naked” Trailer, Movie Clips, and Poster

based on a book, comedy, romance, , ,

Directed by Jessie Perez, Juliet, Naked follows Annie, played by Rose Bryne, the long-suffering girlfriend of Duncan, played by Chris O’Dowd.  Duncan is not willing to commit to a relationship, get married, settle down, and have children.  Added to that, Duncan is obsessed with Tucker Crowe, played by Ethan Hawke, a faded, singer-songwriter.

Annie starts and unlikely transatlantic romance with Duncan after making an obvious cliche statement about his recent comeback song.  The trio conflict begins and the story unfolds.

The movie is based on Nick Hornby’s novel. Hornby two other books, About a Boy, and High Fidelity were both made into movies as well. He seems to capture the romantic tug with a spice of realistic comedy.

The movie credits a handful of screenwriters to adapt the book including Perez’s sister Evgenia. Evgenia has worked with her brother on another occasion with the movie Our Idiot Brother.

The movie is streaming and is available on Blu-ray and DVD. Now is your chance to see it or see it again.

The movie clip shows the dark side of Crowe with a conflict between Crowe and Duncan about to start. We also find out about Crowe’s several relationships resulting in children.  But, his son is such a cutie.

I like the flow of this next movie clip where we can see the chemistry formulating between the three characters.

The interesting movie clip is rough but spontaneous.

The trailer pretty much tells you the story without giving away the ending.