Movies

It's hard to explain where fanaticism develops, but for anybody who has experienced it, they can commiserate on how it feels. They understand the planting of this seed and how it grows, burns, and consumes, driving people to follow something. When most people think of extremely passionate people, they automatically think of “nerds” or “geeks”. But, frankly speaking, everybody experiences fanaticism, whether it's being a football fan and buying a player's jersey or going to the shoe store three times a week for just “one more pair” of boots.

MOCKINGJAY PART 1 is the continuing story of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and is the 3^rd movie adaptation of THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy of books written by Suzanne Collins. The film picks up where CATCHING FIRE left off, without very much time lapse in between. Katniss wakes up in District 13 (the district below ground that was always thought to exist, and which no one -- not even President Snow -- knew where) after surviving the Quarter Quell, saving the life of her partner, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) and seemingly putting an end to the Hunger Games for good.

Does anybody remember the 80s movie CAN'T BUY ME LOVE that launched nerdy Patrick Dempsey into becoming a sex symbol?

Don't worry if you missed it, because with CBS Films' and Lionsgate's THE DUFF you'll get another shot at the plot. Mae Whitman plays Bianca, a high school student who learns by accident that she is the DUFF of her group -- the Designated Ugly Fat Friend, whose job it is to make all the others look better by comparison. Determined to make herself over, she recruits the popular athlete (Robbie Amell), offering to tutor him into passing his science exams if he will teach her how to de-DUFF herself. But she runs into opposition from the school's Queen Bee (Bella Thorne) who doesn't like it when people try to bust out of the labels she's slapped on them.

Melissa McCarthy's titular character, Tammy, is having a rough day. She hits a deer, is late for work, gets fired, goes home to find her husband at the table with another woman, and moves back to her mother two doors over, where she promptly announces she's shaking the dirt off her feet from this nowhere town -- again. This culminates in a wild, mouthy road trip with her grandmother (played by Susan Sarandon) to Niagara Falls, with no map, no plan, and no filters.

When I sat down to watch LEGENDS OF THE KNIGHT, I confess my expectations were low. I elected to review it because I'm a lifelong Batman fan. At 6, I had converted the top bunk into Wayne Manor, with a hand-drawn picture of George Washington tacked to the wall that, when trouble arose (as it inevitably did) I would turn around so that it displayed the convenient sign "To the Batcave -->" after which I would then slide down the bedpost and prepare to save the world. (My youthful impressions of Batman were obviously informed by the Adam West / Burt Ward television adventures.)

I knew, at its most basic level, that LEGENDS OF THE KNIGHT was going to focus on individuals who were also Batman fans, and I assumed I would be meeting up with some kindred spirits divided among collectors and obsessors.

A single scene can elevate a mediocre film into a great film. By the same token, a single scene can take a mediocre film and taint it to the point that it's all audiences will remember.

At this point, I'm thinking the Farrelly brothers have to still be debating whether or not it would be worth the cost to recall all the prints of DUMB AND DUMBER TO just to excise about thirty seconds -- little more than a cameo, really -- that drew groans from preview audiences.

DisneyToon Studios (not Disney*Pixar, as would be an easy mistake to make) brings us the next installment of PLANES -- set in the world of CARS -- with PLANES: FIRE & RESCUE. Dusty Crophopper (Dane Cook) continues to make a name for himself as a world famous racing plane, which makes his small airport town of Propwash Junction a tourist mecca as the annual Corn Festival approaches.

But during a routine training session with his coach, Skipper (Stacy Keach), Dusty experiences an irrepairable mechanical failure. If he pushes himself to maximum torque any more, he risks his engine flaming out entirely -- and the part that's failing is out of production.

“Big Hero 6”…are you kidding me? When I heard that Marvel had greenlighted this project sometime back, I just shook my head. “Ant-Man?” “Guardians of the Galaxy?” “Big Hero 6?” Did somebody lose a bet? How are they going to get movies of these screwball comics when they haven’t yet mined obvious gold from the classics, like Power Man and Iron Fist, Black Panther, Dr. Strange, or put out a Black Widow solo feature? Then I heard it was going to be a Disney animated film. Oh, well, okay then. Disney knows a thing or two about making successful animated films.

He's got no string to tie him down -- just a boundless curiosity, an eager enthusiasm, and metal parts.

Neil Blomkamp directs and co-writes this Hugh Jackman / Sigourney Weaver vehicle that, at first blush, appears to be a little bit of WALL-E and a whole lot of SHORT CIRCUIT. And to be certain, a lot of the memes of the latter are evidenced in the trailer for CHAPPIE, as we see the robot go through scenes of artistic expression and melancholy, scenes of comic misunderstanding and of panic when attacked for being different. If I could put a tagline on the film, it would be something like, "You will believe a robot can cry."

In this trailer for Blomkamp's modern PINOCCHIO, I found my initial cynicism dissolving until, by the end, I was actually excited to see this film. With MARVEL'S AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON also coming next year, 2015 may just be the Year of the Artificial Intelligence.

Check out Sony's trailer below and see if you dig it as much as we do.

Roland Joffé started his career with back-to-back Oscar nominations for best director on the strength of “The Killing Fields’ and “The Mission” in the mid 1980s. He followed that with a string of Razzie nominations for “The Scarlet Letter” and “Captivity,” and he was also hand in the live-action “Super Mario Bros.” which was an absolute train wreck. His latest film, “Before I Go to Sleep,” isn’t even worth wasting a perfectly good Razzie on.

Dan Gilroy has always been a solid screenwriter, He wrote one my favorite early 90s sci-fi movies, the under-appreciated “Freejack,” which starred Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, Anthony Hopkins and Gilroy’s wife, the beautiful and talented Rene Russo. He followed that up with “Chasers”, a silly comedy featuring Baywatch beauty Erika Eleniak, Tom Berenger, and Crispin “George McFly” Glover. More recently he wrote “Real Steel,” the robot boxing movie with Hugh Jackman and “The Bourne Legacy” starring Jeremy Renner. Most of his films have done pretty well, and with his most recent effort, “Nightcrawler,” he finally gets to sit in the director’s chair. With one of the most versatile lead actors in the business and a couple of always-reliable supporting actors, and a juicy story to tell, Gilroy’s first directorial effort is not only a hit, it could get some Oscar nominations.

Critics weren't kind to DIVERGENT, but audiences held a different opinion (41% to 71%, respectively, as ranked by Rotten Tomatoes). So how to ensure a better take on the sequel, THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT?

By going 3D, of course! Summit Entertainment has made it official, and to get fans of the series pumped up for the March 20, 2015 release, they've released a set of interactive 3D character posters.

This contest has ended. The randomly selected winner is:

Diane V of Chesterfield, VA.

Ah, the digital life! We no longer have to set aside valuable space in our homes to store our movies. Now they can reside in cyberspace, or on our hard drives.

And that's the crux of our giveaway this time: One lucky entrant will win a Digital Download code for THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. Just enter your information in the form below and be entered into the contest. Be sure to review all the rules regarding eligibility. CriticalBlast.com will not, does not, doesn't plan to, and will never share your personal information, and all entries are deleted upon confirmation of prize delivery to the selected winner's address. (Thank you, U.S. Postal Service, for online tracking!)

A haunting version of Pinocchio's "I've Got No Strings" trills chillingly through this trailer for "Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron" trailer, and the action we are seeing here is the most intense of any Marvel movie to date. Thor vs. Tony Stark. Iron Man (in the Hulkbuster armor) vs. The Hulk. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in action. The broken shield of Captain America, symbolizing, perhaps, the broken S.H.I.E.L.D. post "Captain America: The Winter Soldier."

It's the kind of trailer that makes you want to run out right now and buy a ticket, then wait in the front row for the lights to dim -- until you realize there's still six months left to go before you'll see the actual film.

James Spader's narration over the trailer is convincingly menacing, as we watch the separate stories our heroes have just completed converge into a connected arc, with the world falling down around them. You will believe this could be the end of the team as we know it.

Who doesn't love a free film, even if it's a short one? Disney•Pixar has released online the new Monsters University short, "Party Central," part of a Halloween Spooktacular! The film is currently available for iPhone or iPad, or at DisneyMoviesAnywhere.com. (Psst! You can download the app at http://di.sn/hvV.)

Billy Crystal and John Goodman reprise their roles as Mike and Sully, who return to Oozma Kappa for a party with their frat brothers. When nobody shows up, the two buddies hatch a plan to make sure "Party Central" is the most epic party the campus has ever seen!

Check out the clip below for just a taste.

Dark Sky Films delivers a Swedish treat that explores all the dark corners of the average put-upon man. In LFO (which stands for low frequency oscillations), sound engineer Robert Nord (Patrik Karlson) is a socially inept Walter Mitty personality who discovers a combination of sound frequencies that serve to immediately bypass and shut down the brain's sensory receptors. It not only puts the body into a state of complete relaxation, but it opens the mind to accept commands. In short, LFO's conceit is the ultimate in mind-control fantasy, put into the hands of a man with no immediate long-range plans on how to use it.

“Witching & Bitching” is a campy, off the cuff, over the top sci-fi comedy that just screams to be the next cult classic. This film by Alex De La Iglesia is made in Spain with English subtitles and is available on DVD from IFC films.

“Venus in Fur” takes place in a Paris theater, where the director of a play about a woman entering into an agreement to dominate her male counterpart, feels exhausted and frustrated after holding auditions all day for the woman’s role and not finding anyone remotely close to what he is looking for. Just as he is getting ready to leave for the day, in from the rain barges a pushy domineering actress bent on getting an audition even though she is not prepared (or so it seems at first).

I tend to avoid pre-release publicity and trailers because I want to be surprised. I skimmed the press screening synopsis and saw the words, “Kill,” “Jeremy Renner,” “and “CIA.” My cursory glance at the press invite and the film’s title had me thinking action flick. It isn’t. It’s a thinking man’s thriller, a “JFK” for this generation. Michael Cuesta, more noted for directing episodes of Six Feet Under, Dexter, and Homeland than for film, has crafted a masterpiece of political intrigue and the cutthroat world of American mass media with “Kill the Messenger,” but I’m afraid it may not fare as well as it should in the box office. As Jack Nicholson famously said in “A Few Good Men,” “You can’t handle the truth!” I’m looking at you, America.

“Dracula Untold” is PG-13. If you’re hoping for a gory, bloody-squirting everywhere fang-fest, that simple sentence probably tells you everything you need to know. If, however, you’re not particularly a horror fan but like over-the-top action with a little tongue-in-cheek humor mixed into your violence and don’t take liberties with history as being sacrilegious, you might enjoy it.

Or, to put it another way, this is Dracula, the superhero. Ponder that. I’ll wait. 

Before you get all spastic about the lack of sparkles and shaved chests on werewolves (while the rest of us old school Universal Pictures horror buffs cringe at the same thought, and anything involving Kristen Stewart), take a deep breath and change your perspective a little. What other possible way can a movie studio possibly depict Dracula? He’s been done as the classic European gentleman bloodsucker, he’s been a blaxploitation caricature, and he’s been used to sell breakfast cereal.  It’s been done.