Film News Roundup: 5

            Sad news for cinephiles this week; two major Oscar contending films seem to be out of running.  

Rumor is that Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, and Matthew McConaughey, might not make its Nov. 15 release date due to the length of the first cut. It’s reported that Scorsese’s cut of the films stands at 180 minutes long; Paramount studio’s executives are hoping that the director can cut the running time of the film.

Rather than being pushed out of awards season completely, Paramount is hoping it can still make a push for the film during the Christmas holidays. The studio is likely to push back Kenneth Branagh’s “Jack Ryan”, starring Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, and Kevin Costner, from its Christmas date to Jan. 17 in order for “The Wolf of Wall Street” to stay in the awards race.

It’s also being reported that Sony Pictures Classics has decided to delay Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher to 2014, completely taking it out of the awards race. The decision was based on giving Miller more time to finish the film.

“Foxcatcher” is based on the true story of Olympic wrestling champion brothers Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) and Dave Shultz (Marl Ruffalo) and their relationship with the eccentric multimillionaire John du Pont.

On a more exciting note, filming is underway for Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s sequel to “Dumb and Dumber.” The first images of Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels back in their character costumes have hit the web.

The sequel, titled “Dumb and Dumber To,” picks up 18 years after the events of the first film. I’m sure many fans, like me can’t wait to see this film and see what other ridiculous things Harry and Lloyd will be up to.

Check out the image below. “Dumb and Dumber To” is set to hit theaters in 2014.

In casting news, Jennifer Lawrence is reuniting with her “Hunger Games” director Gary Ross on a new adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel, “East of Eden.” Steinbeck’s novel is a retelling of the story of Abel and Cain, concentrating on two families: the Trask and the Hamiltons.

Lawrence is set to play the mother of the Trask brothers, Cathy Ames; a cold and cruel mother. Ross and Lawrence will also be busy on another upcoming novel adaptation of Hanna Kent’s novel, Burial rites.

Lawrence is easily one of the most highly touted young actresses in film and undoubtedly will be seeing from her for years to come. Coming off her Oscar winning performance in “Silver Linings Playbooks,” Lawrence can be seen next in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and David O. Russell’s “American Hustle.”

Until next time, this has been Matinée Idol.

Film News Roundup: 4

Filming for James Wan’s “Fast & Furious 7” is currently underway and its cast just got a tad bigger. Joining the ensemble cast is Lucas Black. Black will be reprising his role of Sean Boswell: the lead character of “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.”

It’ll be interesting to see how Black’s character will fit into the storyline that has been established in the last two films. Nonetheless, the “Fast & Furious” franchise has made a fan out of me with its last two outings. The films series has redefined itself into the most popular ongoing action franchise with its excellent use of car chases and mind-numbing action.

The film stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jason Statham, Djimon Honsou, and Dwayne Johnson. “Fast & Furious 7” opens in theaters July 11, 2014.

In other news, Disney yet again made more changes to their upcoming slate of films.

Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur” has been bumped from its May 30, 2014 release date to November 25, 2015. This comes on the heels of director Bob Peterson being removed from the film project.

2014 will mark the first year since 2005 without a Pixar film being released.

Also shifting dates from November 25, 2015 to June 17, 2016 is Andrew Stanton’s sequel “Finding Dory.”

This is definitely sad news for Pixar’s fans. Pixar has arguably made the best animated films of the last twenty years. It’s disappointing to hear that I will have to wait longer to see these films but my anticipation has grown exponentially at the same time.

Sticking with animated films, Universal Pictures has moved its “Despicable Me” spinoff “Minions” from its December 19, 2014 release to July 10, 2015.

The minions have become a fan favorite of children and adults alike. With Despicable me 2” grossing $840 million worldwide, there’s no doubt that Universal’s “Minions” is going to be massive for the studio, come summer 2015.

Finally, David Ayer’s World War II drama, “Fury,” has started film and we have our first official image of the cast in costume.

The film stars Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Michael Peña, Logan Lerman, and Jon Bernthal. Pitt plays the leader of the tank crew Fury, as they make their way through enemy lines on the final days of the war.

“Fury” hits theaters November 14, 2014. Check out the image below.

Until next time, this has been Matinée Idol.

Film News Roundup:3

            This week Disney made two changes to its summer 2015 film lineup.

            Previously scheduled for a Nov. 6, 2015 release, Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man” has now been bumped to the summer date of July 31, 2015. The Edgar Wright helmed film will hit theaters just two weeks after Warner Bros. untitled “Man of Steel” sequel.

            Relatively unknown to the public, Ant-Man is the superhero guise of Biophysicist Dr. Henry “Hank” Pym. After creating a chemical substance that enables him to alter his size, Pym created a helmet that allows him to communicate with ants, subsequently becoming the hero knows as Ant-Man.

            While this new date gets “Ant-Man” away from the next installment of the James Bond film series, it pins the film into an already highly competitive 2015 summer. Hopefully, Disney’s confidence in the film will show at the box-office come 2015.

            Speaking of confidence or the lack thereof, Disney has decided to push the reportedly titled “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” from its July 10, 2015 date. The fifth installment of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series is now slated for a 2016 release date.

            Apparently rumors have surfaced that co-directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg have ordered rewrites to the script, which has delayed production.

            That being said, the quality of the sequels has dipped since the mostly beloved first film. Personally, my expectations aren’t too high but who knows, I might be surprised by the final product.

            Similarly, Universal Pictures had news of their own this week. The studio has set their fourth installment of the “Jurassic Park” franchise, now titled “Jurassic World” for the release date of June 12, 2015.

            Back in March, it was officially announced that “Safety Not Guaranteed”- an excellent and charming film-director, Colin Trevorrow was set to direct. However, production was delayed after rewrites were done on the script. Deeming it impossible to reach their release date of June, 13, 2014, Universal pushed the film back.

            The addition of “Jurassic World” to the summer film slate of 2015 is going to make it an unbelievable time at the summer box-office. I couldn’t be more excited to see what this film adds to what Steven Spielberg started twenty years ago. The film seems to be in very capable hands with Trevorrow; that being said, who doesn’t want to see dinosaurs roaming in today’s world, I know I do.

            Easily the biggest film announcement made this week was by Warner Bros.  After the world wide success of the “Harry Potter” franchise, it seems that we’ll be getting a new film series revolving around J.K. Rowling’s “World of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” Rowling herself is onboard to make her screenwriting debut, penning the script to her book “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”: the fictional textbook used by students at Hogwarts.

            “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” will be an original story set in New York 70 years prior to the events of “Harry Potter.” The film series will focus on the author of said textbook, Newt Scamander.

            This is definitely exciting news to all the fans of Rowling’s “Harry Potter.” It will be fascinating to see the expanded universe that Rowling has created hit the big screen in the near future.

            Until next time, this has been Matinée Idol.

Weekly News Roundup: 2

            After months of speculation, the leads for Sam Taylor-Johnson’s adaptation of E.L. James’ novel, “Fifty Shades of Grey” have been cast.

            Dakota Johnson is set to play Anastasia Steele, a 21-yearl-old college senior who begins a relationship with the titular character Christian Grey. Johnson, the daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith,  is best known for her supporting roles in films such as “The Social Network,” “21 Jump Street,” and “The Five-Year Engagement.” She also starred in the Fox comedy series “Ben and Kate.”

The charming and business mogul Grey will be portrayed by British actor Charlie Hunnam. Hunnam presently stars as Jax Teller on the FX series “Sons of Anarchy” and his film credits include “Cold Mountain,” “Children of Men,” and this summers’ “Pacific Rim.”

James’ erotic romance novels have been best sellers across the globe. However, the series has attracted plenty of criticism. Reception has ranged from mixed to poor, most criticizing its lack of prose and its origin as “Twilight” fan fiction.

While I’m not sold on the idea of this film being made, I’m buying the casting of Hunnam and Johnson. Both are young and talented actors who have a chance to be huge breakout stars, if the film manages to entice the mainstream audience, like myself. Until then, we have to wait for the first round of footage to be shown. “Fifty Shades of Grey” hits theaters on Aug. 1, 2014.

Filming is currently underway for the fourth installment of the “Transformers” film series, directed by Michael Bay. Earlier this week Paramount Pictures officially announced the tittle of the sequel: “Transformers: Age of Extinction.” Also, the studio released the first teaser poster for the upcoming film.

            The films have been highly successful at the box-office but the quality of the actual films themselves has been poor to say the least. With an all new cast including Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer and the inclusion of the fan favorite Dinobots; lets hope this installment is a bright fresh start for the series.

“Transformers: Age of Extinction” open in theaters June 27, 2014. Check out the film’s teaser poster below.

This past Thursday the Toronto International Film Festival officially commenced with the screening of Bill Condon’s “The Fifth Estate,” starring Benedict Cumberbatch. While the film underwhelmed with some critics, Cumberbatch’s performance as Wikileaks founder Julian Assange received high praise. Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph says, “Benedict Cumberbatch is inspiredly cast, serving up a technically ingenious performance which may be his juiciest ever.”

If Cumberbatch wasn’t on your film radar, he will be this year and for many more to come. After his villainous turn as Khan in “Star Trek Into Darkness”, Cumberbatch can be seen in the upcoming films “12 Years a Slave,” “August: Osage County,” and “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.” Also, he will reprise his role as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC TV series “Sherlock” airing at the beginning of the New Year.

Furthermore, the film that has captured audiences and critics alike so far at the festival is Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave.” Already being hailed as a surefire Oscar contender, the film continued its run of praise from its screening at the Telluride Film Festival a week earlier, by receiving a standing ovation Friday night

“12 Years a Slave” is based on the 1853 autobiography of Solomon Northrup, a free African-American man kidnapped and sold into slavery.

The film has drawn comparisons to Stephens Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List,” a film that portrayed the gruesome real life events about human conditions.

Eric Kohn of IndieWire says, “More than a powerful elegy, ‘12 Years a Slave’ is a mesmerizing triumph of art and polemics.”

 William Goss of Film.com went on to praise Chiwetel Ejiofor’s performance as Solomon Northrup. Goss states, “Ejiofor’s tightly clenched conviction perfectly embodies hope and righteousness against all odds.”

“12 Years a Slave” is one of my most anticipated movies this fall. After reading and hearing the praise coming from Toronto, my enthusiasm for the film has skyrocketed.

Hopefully, this is one film you check out for yourself this fall. The film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Sarah Paulson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giamatti and Brad Pitt. “12 Years a Slave” opens in limited release, Oct. 18, 2013. You can check out the trailer below.

Until next time, this has been Matinée Idol.

Weekly News Roundup: 1

Welcome to Matinée Idol! This blog is dedicated to inform readers about the latest headlines in the world of film. Along with posting about film related news, I’ll be giving my two cents on said news.

Let’s begin with a couple of major casting announcements. In the wake of Warner Bros. announcing  Ben Affleck as the new Bruce Wayne/Batman in the untitled “Man of Steel” sequel, Marvel Studios announced the casting of James Spader as the evil robot Ultron in “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”

While not stealing the headlines as Warner Bros. did with their announcement, Marvel Studios addition of Spader is excellent casting. Mostly known now for his TV work on shows like “Boston Legal” and “The Office”, Spader should be able to bring his trademark creepiness to the sentient robot.

            As far as we know Spader will be voicing Ultron; but will he be donning a motion capture suit to bring the character to life? That hasn’t yet been revealed.

            You can catch Spader and the rest of the Avengers coming to a theater near you in May 1, 2015.

            Marvel Studios also announced that Bradley Cooper will be lending his voice as Rocket Raccoon in James Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Fresh of the heels of his Oscar nomination for Best Actor in “Silver Linings Playbook”, this marks the first time that Cooper will be doing voiceover work. For those who don’t know, Rocket is a gun wielding raccoon that is well-versed in high powered firearms and a master tactician and strategist.

Cooper and the rest of the Guardians hit theaters Aug. 1, 2014.

            Finally, the summer movie season concludes this weekend at the box-office. The 3D concert film, “One Direction: This Is Us” won the three day weekend with an estimated $17 million. However, the film might be overtaken in the four day holiday by “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”, which came in second at an estimated $14.74 million.

            The weekend didn’t fare so well for Warner Bros. new release “Getaway.” The thriller starring Ethan Hawke and Selene Gomez barely cracked the top ten with an abysmal $4.5 million from 2,130 theaters.  The film also had the distinction of scoring a 2 percent critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a C+ Cinemascore from audiences.

            Come back next week as we recap more film news and the start of the Toronto International Film Festival. Until next time, this has been Matinée Idol.