Out in Theaters: FANTASTIC FOUR

August 6, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Jamie Bell, Josh Trank, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller, Out in Theaters, Reg E. Cathey, Reviews, The Fantastic Four, Toby Kebbell Leave a comment

My feelings for Fox’s rebooted Fantastic Four property, much like the film itself, are all over the place. With director Josh Trank squaring the focus on the men and women (or, in this case, boys and girls) behind the powers, Fantastic Four had the opportunity to be, at the very least, something different from the crop of annual superhero movies, those with their quick quips and even quicker action beats hogging the entirety of the run time. If they got it right, you leave the theater wide-eyed and sugar rushing, “When’s the next one?” Fantastic Four is not that movie…until it is. And then it tries so hard to be just that that it ends up cutting its nose to spite its face. Read More

Out in Theaters: DARK PLACES

August 6, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Charlize Theron, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christina Hendricks, Corey Stoll, Dark Places, Gilles Paquet-Brenner, Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Tye Sheridan 3 Comments

The charge for any movie based upon a popular novel is two-fold. First, they must remain faithful to the source material. You can’t have a writer bandying critical alterations in plot or character, lest they invite the chagrin of a million swarming fanboys, ready with pitchforks and sub-reddit comments. Secondly, they must inject some modicum of vision into the material. To transform a novel into a film without tact or some place of purpose is to present an audience with a run-down of in-book events without much-needed personality or intent. Think James Franco adapting Faulkner or Angelina Jolie taking on “Unbroken”. They failed because they were “adaptations” and nothing more; they changed the medium, but lost the soul. Read More

Talking With Jason Segel of THE END OF THE TOUR

August 5, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Interviews Tagged David Foster Wallace, End of the Tour, Interviews, James Ponsoldt, Jason Segel Leave a comment

At the risk of forever emasculating myself, I’ll admit that after seeing the End of the Tour, I wept. I broke down into meaty sobs on the blustery streets of Park City, Utah. There was this pounding feeling of despair that washed over me that I just couldn’t shake. Bleary-eyed and shell-shocked, I wept for humanity, and it’s all James Ponsoldt and Jason Segel’s fault. Read More

Out in Theaters: THE END OF THE TOUR

August 5, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Best of 2015, Danny Elfman, David Foster Wallace, David Lipsky, Jason Segel, Jesse Eisenberg, Out in Theaters, Reviews, The End of the Tour Leave a comment

*This is a reprint of our 2015 Sundance review*

To put a pin in the beauty of The End of the Tour is a philosophical venture potentially as challenging as James Ponsoldt‘s latest accomplishment. Detailing a three-day exchange between Rolling Stones journalist David Lipsky and rock star author David Foster Wallace, Ponsoldt’s film is talky and emotionally whirling, thick with dry-mouthed moments and cemented with a kind of human earnestness that cannot be bought or bartered for. Read More

NETFIX: 6 Great New Films That Made No Money (Because You Didn’t See Them)

August 3, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Lists, Most Popular, Netfix Tagged Faults, Girlhood, Lists, Netfix, The Double, The Guest, The One I Love, Zero Motivation Leave a comment

The great thing about Netflix is that it gives you a lot of TV and movie watching options. The bad thing about Netflix is that it gives you…a lot of TV and movie watching options. To cut down on your Netflix search and discover time, Netfix aims to ease the process of parsing the good from the bad. The great from the not so great. From action films to foreign dramas, we’re raked the catalogs to offer only the finest that the preeminent streaming service has to offer. So settle in, get your remotes ready and prepare for the red wave of Netfix to wash over you.

Out in Theaters: IRRATIONAL MAN

July 31, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Emma Stone, Irrational Man, Joaquin Phoenix, Out in Theaters, Parker Posey, Reviews, Woody Allen 1 Comment

To “get into character,” many actors have taken it upon themselves to devastate their money-making temples. History credits Robert De Niro with starting the trend; his packing on pounds for Raging Bull set a record, as well as the stage for silver screen physical transformations. Today, Christian Bale is a particularly looney example of someone willing to batter himself with physically implausible weight-gain and loss but, to his credit, it informs his performance in oft tremendous ways. Read More

Out in Theaters: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION

July 30, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Batman & Robin, Christopher McQuarrie, Drew Pearce, Jack Reacher, Jeremy Renner, Joe Kraemer’, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Reviews, Robert Elswit, Sean Harris, Simon Pegg, tom cruise, Ving Rhames 3 Comments

For the sake of honesty, I’ll report this: I loved 2011’s Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol too much. So much so that it earned a slot in my top ten that year. To this day, it’s my favorite of the series and an improbably rewatchable event film. Even with a somewhat spotted past (Mission Impossible 2 is fun though objectively not the greatest film accomplishment), the Mission Impossible franchise is one of my sleeper hit favorites, with the last two entries – the aforementioned addition from Brad Bird and J.J. Abrams‘ Phillip Seymour Hoffman-starring threequel – delivering some of the series’ absolute best material. When it was announced that Christopher McQuarrie (director of Jack Reacher, screenwriter of Batman & Robin) had mounted the directorial stool for the fifth iteration of Ethan Hunt’s impossible missions, my anticipation shuttered and cautiously withdrew. Read More

Out in Theaters: VACATION

July 28, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Chevy Chase, Chris Hemsworth, Christina Applegate, Ed Helms, John Francis Daley, Jonathan M. Goldstein, Leslie Mann, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Ron Livingston, Skyler Gisondo, Steele Stebbins, Vacation Leave a comment

Harold Ramis took the family vacation movie off cruise-control in 1983, proffering a deliciously crass road trip film lead by an insolent (and borderline sociopathic) father figure in Chevy Chase and penned by none other than the mighty John Hughes. A sickly twist on nuclear morals and unadulterated, thoroughly punitive obsession, National Lampoon’s Vacation etched a dark twist on small town American dreams, couching the woes of extended family, the thirst for adventure and the troubles of enclosed spaces in with themes of adultery, abuse, abandonment and totally warped family values; with a corporate theme park ironically standing in as a last bastion of joy. Ramis’ was no small feat – he had crafted a thing of jet black social commentary that sang out with sharp barbs of comedy. Read More

Out in Theaters: PAPER TOWNS

July 23, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Austin Abrams, Cara Delevingne, Halston Sage, Jake Schreier, John Green, Justice Smith, Nat Wolff, Paper Towns 1 Comment

Paper Towns is as infantile as it is pointless; a sloppily rendered, paint-by-numbers filmic blunder that celebrates femininity and the free spirit without understanding either. It’s a glossy venture through teenagedom (emphasis on “dumb”) that both takes itself too seriously and is too fantastical and inconsequential to be taken seriously. As such, it simply fails to grasp anything of value, though its fingers remain greedily extended. Though acted with suitable gusto by its young cast, Paper Towns is the movie equivalent of a rambling troglodyte, spouting words and ideas without having much to say at all. Read More

Talking with Kris Swanberg of UNEXPECTED

July 23, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Interviews Tagged Cobie Smulders, Interviews, Joe Swanberg, Kris Swanberg, Unexpected 1 Comment

Kris Swanberg rightfully fancies herself as far more than the wife of illustrious mumblecore director Joe Swanberg. She is a filmmaker in her own right. Though she may still be perfecting her craft. With her third film, Unexpected, the female Swanberg sought to thoughtfully divorce “pregnancy films” from the comedic context that it’s been hedged into time and again. Instead, she intended to make some earnest, genuine and from the perspective of an actual woman going through these actual motions. And for the most part, she has succeeded. Read More