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Movie Trailers

Trailer Roundup: Danny Boyle, Halle Berry, and Jackie Robinson…

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42

42 is sure to deliver the amazing true story of the first African American to play Major League Baseball during our modern era, Jackie Robinson.  Typically, I find these films to be depressing because they uncover some of the filth our nation has been responsible for in the past.  However, it should also be incredibly triumphant demonstrating a first hand occurrence of when segregation began to deteriorate in this country.

Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) receives guidance from Brooklyn Dodgers Team Executive Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) as he breaks the color barrier of Major League Baseball.

Director:  Brian Helgeland

Stars:  Harrison Ford, Alan Tudyk, Chadwick Boseman, Kelley Jakle, Nicole Beharie, Christopher Meloni, and T.R. Knight.

Release Date:  April 12, 2013

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Movie Trailers

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Last Stand: New Trailer and Interviews

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Back in August we talked about Arnold’s big 2013 comeback, starting with The Last Stand – out this Friday. It’s been since 2003 since Arnold’s last lead role in the epically disappointing Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Now while I imagine this new one will be more T3 than T2, I still plan to visit the theater this weekend. It is Schwarzenegger after all. The basic idea is that Sheriff Arnold is too old and the FBI is too slow, and the bad guys are super fast and good. Here is the 2nd trailer for it…

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Movie News & Opinions

‘Gangster Squad’ Clips and Interviews For All To Enjoy

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So this weekend marks the release of the Gangster Squad movie that has been delayed for several months starring Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Nick Nolte and Sean Penn amongst others. This has been a high anticipated movie since last year but it was delayed due to the shootings in Colorado at a movie theater and a scene was subsequently reshot because it involved a similar event. However, we here at Grizzly Bomb were lucky enough to score some scenes from the movie and some interviews as well from on set to help mark the release of the movie. I’m looking forward myself to seeing the movie, despite the mixed reviews it has been getting, and these clips just remind me what a great cast they have in the movie and the look of old Los Angeles circa 1940s just gets me excited to see it. It may not be L.A. Confidential but hopefully it’ll be entertaining to watch. Below are seven clips from the movie and interviews with the cast so enjoy!

MOVIES

GB’s Dartboard Box Office Predictions – Jan. 11-13

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It’s been awhile since I’ve ventured back into the prediction business and after today’s Oscar nominations, I’m pretty fired up now and ready to view some good movies and see the impact it’ll have on the marketplace. That’s right people, the Dartboard Box Office Predictions are back and I’m ready to be embarrassed yet again with some misguided picks.

There are three major releases this weekend, with one of them being a wide expansion. First, we have Gangster Squad, the Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, and Sean Penn led period flick, then we have A Haunted House from Marlon Wayans, trying to recapture the glory days of Scary Movie, and then Zero Dark Thirty goes wide finally to take advantage of the Oscar nominations announcement. In regards to Gangster Squad, I’ve been trying to think of a good comparison for the movie. It’s not quite a complete A-list filled movie, just actors that are either on the cusp of movie star or rising stars ready to break out. The closest thing might be Looper in my mind with rising stars compared to Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt and the backing of an older star like Bruce Willis. With Gangster Squad sporting Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, and Sean Penn playing the role as legitimate Hollywood veteran, that’s the best comparison I could think of. Looper came out in almost 3000 screens and grossed almost 21 million with an almost 7k per screen average. I see something similar for Gangster Squad, although the movie might lose a bit of its legs because it’s getting mixed reviews. Gangster Squad opens in 3100 screens and should drum up about 6.5k per screen, so that will give it 20 million to start the weekend off.

Tougher to predict is A Haunted House. With only one Wayans brother trying to duplicate the magic of the Scary Movie franchise, it’s hard to think that this will succeed. But that might also do with the fact that the franchise was complete garbage so my initial prejudice is to completely ask this movie to bomb. However, the people always come out in force for these types of movies. The last spoof movie to come out was Vampires Suck and that grossed 12 million in 3200 theaters, which is shocking because I had no recollection of that even being in theaters to begin with. I’d like to add that I hate 90% of all spoof movies so seeing commercials for this made me want to throw up. With that, it should do something similar to Vampires Suck, which had almost 4k per screen average. A Haunted House opens on 2100 theaters so I predict a 4k per screen average for a 8.5 million opening frame. I will say that this can blow up quickly and I’m wary about under-predicting on this one. With no real competition against it, I have a feeling this will be a movie to watch closely. Despite the fact I have zero desire in seeing it.

zero-dark-thirty1Lastly, we have Zero Dark Thirty going wide and this should challenge for the top spot this weekend. Obviously they were relying on challenging Lincoln for the most nominees but surprisingly, they ended up with only 5, not even including a Best Director nod for Kathryn Bigelow. This should still receive a boost in the box office though as it moves to 2900 theaters nationwide. Last year, when The Artist expanded, it drew in a 39.8% increase on box office output, although it only increased by 235 theaters. Last year The Descendants increased their theaters after the nominations came out to 2000 theaters, a 1400 screen increase. That resulted in a 170% increased box office dollar result. I think that might be more in line but still only resulted in a 3k per screen average. Last weekend, in 60 theaters, Zero Dark Thirty averaged almost 45k per screen. Obviously that is way too out of line to be expected this week. So let’s go with a 8k average per screen for a final result of 23 million for the weekend.

As for the holdovers, we expect Lincoln to get a mini-boost, as well as the other Oscar-nominated pictures. Looking at Django Unchained first, that should only decline by 30% despite competition for the R-rated audiences so it’ll result in a 14 million dollar take. Les Miserables will also see a slight decline of 30% as people check out the Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway nominated movie so that will result in an 11 million dollar take. Lincoln should see a big increase probably from the previous week so look for a 9 million dollar weekend for them. Life of Pi will get a slight increase too but only to probably 4 million as the marketplace is flooded and the movie is already two months into its current run. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will continue it’s 50% decline, giving it 9 million for the weekend. Parental Guidance is also proving to be a solid hit and should decline about 40% to reach 6 million, as well as Jack Reacher which also will get about 6 million with new films in the marketplace to take from its demographic. This Is 40 will get about a 40% decline to result in a 5 million dollar frame as well. Texas Chainsaw 3D will probably get a MASSIVE decline of 70% and end with 8 million as horror movies never hold up over the long period of time. The horrific reviews don’t help either. Overall, let’s see how it all shapes out:

[box_dark]1.) Zero Dark Thirty: 23 million
 2.) Gangster Squad: 20 million
3.) Django Unchained: 14 million
4.) Les Miserables: 11 million
5.) (tied) Lincoln: 9 million
5.) (tied) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: 9 million
7.) A Haunted House: 8.5 million
8.) Texas Chainsaw 3D: 8 million
9.) (tied) Parental Guidance: 6 million
9.) (tied) Jack Reacher: 6 million[/box_dark]

Those are the predictions, so we’ll see. Otherwise, it’s going to be a busy weekend for me. Time to catch up as I fill up some Oscar ballots and win me some Oscar pools!

Movie News & Opinions

Here’s the 2013 Academy Award Nominations! Let the Whining Commence!

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So the nominations for the 85th Academy Awards were released and admittedly, the one thing that I figured they could not mess up, they massively screw up. I’ll get to that in a second but let’s start off with who got the most nominations. Lincoln led the way with 12 nominations, with Life of Pi coming up with 11 nominations itself. Silver Linings Playbook managed to get nominations in all the acting categories, ending with 8 nominations. Argo also got 7 nominations but it should have been 8. Again I digress so before I drop into what I thought were true crimes, let’s go over which movies I thought deserved major props.

silver linings 2I am glad that Joaquin Phoenix did make the nominee list for best actor, despite his rant on hating the Oscar campaigning process and the idea of acting awards. Yeah it’s a political process that is kind of stupid and narcissistic but that should have no effect on how great he was in The Master. I still think he’ll lose to Daniel Day-Lewis in the end but, I mean seriously, who else can stop Lincoln‘s momentum after scoring 12 nominations? As for Best Actress, I’m happy that Jennifer Lawrence got her Oscar nomination because I thought she did a great job in Silver Linings Playbook on a role that could have gone south with any other actress. Ditto with Bradley Cooper getting his first nomination for his portrayal of the bi-polar protagonist. He’s come a pretty long way since we saw him The Wedding Crashers. Also, seeing 9 year old Quvenzhané Wallis and 85 year old Emmanuelle Riva nominated is pretty cool to see, considering it creates a record for the largest age gap in nominees in Oscar history. Supporting Actor made me happy with Alan Arkin and Robert De Niro being nominated for Argo and Silver Linings Playbook respectively. De Niro did a terrific job especially with his understated role as the father struggling to help and connect with his son.

argo 4Now to the major issues I have with the list. Number one? Why in the living crap is Ben Affleck not nominated for Best Director? This is the most mind-baffling thing in the world to see considering I thought that Argo was one of the best movies of the year. It did score 7 nominations but I felt it was massively due to the deft handling behind the camera by the actor/director. This honestly kept me in shock for a few minutes before I started writing this article. I can understand why Tom Hooper was not nominated for Les Miserables because people were either loving or hating his direction but Ben Affleck made Argo work and flow beautifully. Another surprise was that Kathryn Bigelow was not nominated for Best Director as well and that Zero Dark Thirty only scored 5 nominations. With that, I think we can predict that Lincoln will have a good chance to dominate the Oscars next month at this rate.

_SHX0069.NEFAlso why the heck did Perks of a Being a Wallflower and Looper not get nominated for Adapted and Best Original Screenplay respectively? Looper was one of the most creative stories I’ve seen in a movie and it’s a crime that Rian Johnson did not  get recognition from the Academy for this one. Stephen Chbosky, in adapting and directing his own novel, should have also got recognition for the great writing and translating to the screen. It kept the spirit of the novel and yet made it entertaining and movie ready so he deserved props for that. Also, why not nominate Skyfall or The Dark Knight Rises for Best Picture? In terms of The Dark Knight Rises, that movie gets better with every viewing and while not as strong as The Dark Knight, it should’ve gotten some sort of nomination, maybe getting Christopher Nolan on the board for Best Director. Again, that’s asking a bit much considering my earlier rant on the snubbed nominees. About Skyfall, I thought it was brilliant and deserved the recognition of being one of the smartest Bond, if not action, movies in a long while. Speaking of, why not even throw in Javier Bardem at least for his Bond villain portrayal? His stuff was great and he owned the screen. Maybe even Samuel L. Jackson or Leonardo DiCaprio for Django Unchained but that Supporting Actor list is pretty solid so I can’t argue that too much. How about Ann Dowd in Compliance? I know it was an uphill battle but man, it would have been cool to see her make the list.

I could go on and on but I’m going to provide the list, thanks EW.com for getting it organized by the way, so you can argue with me on social media about it because…man, I’m a little annoyed with some of the movies and actors not getting their due. I guess we’ll find out on February 24th who the big winners will be. Although if Paperman doesn’t win Best Animated Short, I’m going to riot.

Best Picture
Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actor
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Argo
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Director
Michael Haneke, Amour
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Original Screenplay
Amour, Michael Hanake
Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
Flight, John Gatins
Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal

Best Adapted Screenplay
Argo, Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin,
Life of Pi, David Magee
Lincoln, Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell

Best Animated Feature:
Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Cinematography
Anna Karenina, Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained, Robert Richardson
Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda
Lincoln, Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall, Roger Deakins

Best Costume Design
Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran
Les Misérables, Paco Delgado
Lincoln, Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror, Eiko Ishioka
Snow White and the Huntsman, Colleen Atwood

Best Documentary Feature
5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man

Best Documentary Short
Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Open Heart
Redemption

Best Film Editing
Argo, William Goldenberg
Life of Pi, Tim Squyres
Lincoln, Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook, Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
Zero Dark Thirty, Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Best Foreign Language Film
Amour, Austria
Kon-Tiki, Norway
No, Chile
A Royal Affair, Denmark
War Witch, Canada

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Hitchcock, Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
Les Misérables, Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Best Original Score
Anna Karenina, Dario Marianelli
Argo, Alexandre Desplat
Life of Pi, Mychael Danna
Lincoln, John Williams
Skyfall, Thomas Newman

Best Original Song
“Before My Time” from Chasing Ice, music and lyric by J. Ralph
“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from Ted, music by Walter Murphy; lyric by Seth MacFarlane
“Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi, music by Mychael Danna; lyric by Bombay Jayashri
“Skyfall” from Skyfall, music and lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
“Suddenly” from Les Misérables, music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Best Production Design
Anna Karenina, Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
Les Misérables, Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
Life of Pi, Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Lincoln, Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Best Animated Short
Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head over Heels
Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”
Paperman

Best Live Action Short
Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death of a Shadow 
Henry

Best Sound Editing
Argo, Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
Django Unchained, Wylie Stateman
Life of Pi, Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
Skyfall, Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
Zero Dark Thirty, Paul N.J. Ottosson

Best Sound Mixing
Argo, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
Les Misérables, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
Life of Pi, Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
Lincoln, Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
Skyfall, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Best Visual Effects
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
Life of Pi, Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
The Avengers, Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
Prometheus, Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
Snow White and the Huntsman, Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

Movie News & Opinions

“Transformers 4” Adds to Marky Mark’s Funky Bunch Cast

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It looks like Marky Mark has his sidekick to join him and his new funky bunch, also known as the Transformers. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Jack Reynor has been cast as the new lead alongside Mark Wahlberg in Transformers 4, directed by Michael “There’s No Such Thing as a Stationary Camera Shot” Bay. Reynor is fairly new to United States shores as his only major Hollywood release is the new Vince Vaughn comedy Delivery Man, which is due out later this year.

Jack Reynor

The Transformers franchise is undergoing a casting overhaul as none of the principles from the previous movies are returning as this is a new chapter in the saga. They are still looking to cast the daughter of Mark Wahlberg, and have already undergone screen tests in order to find the Megan Fox/Rosie Huntington-Whiteley replacement. Supposedly Reynor will play the boyfriend in this story, as it will take place four years after the “Chicago War” that played out in the third movie, Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Michael Bay has said that he wants to make a different trilogy that continues the story, only with different characters and perspectives. For this franchise to pick an unknown makes sense as opposed to an established star where they might have to pay him backend on top of the initial paydays. I say good for this kid as he steps foot on to American soil and finds himself ready to take on Michael Bay and the popularity that will surely be put upon him. Shia LeBeouf was always a great choice and is a great actor, so hopefully this kid will bring the same type of charisma that he did in the first trilogy. Either that or he’ll be doomed to bar fights, pissing of Spielberg, and trolling for Lars Von Trier porn movie opportunities. Regardless, looks like he’s in for the Michael Bay right so buckle up.

Via THR