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Movie News: Sam Elliott will be a part of Draft Day

The cast for Draft Day just keeps growing.

According to Deadline, the latest actor to join this football flick is none other than Sam Elliott. Elliott, best known for his amazingly awesome voice, will play a “college coach whose quarterback is the top NFL draft pick.”

Elliott joins the cast one day after Tom Welling signed on. They will be joined by Kevin Costner, Denis Leary, Jennifer Garner, Chadwick Boseman and Frank Langella in an Ivan Reitman-directed film about the Cleveland Browns general manager who tries to garner the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft to help his team.

Movie News: Mark Ruffalo reassures fans about Marvel’s casting

Well if you’re a Marvel fan, you may be able to breathe a little bit easier. We’ve discussed on a couple of occasions that Robert Downey Jr. may be done with Iron Man, but that may not be the case.

Mark Ruffalo has come out to reassure fans that he hasn’t heard of any recasting plans, which hopefully means that Downey Jr. will be back. He also says he has every intention of reprising his role as Dr. Bruce Banner.

“I haven’t caught wind of any of that,” says Ruffalo of the recasting rumours. “I was surprised to hear it, because I don’t even think anyone’s really started negotiating yet.”

“I’d be really sad if they did,” continues Ruffalo. “I can’t imagine that. That would be bad. ‘That would not be good,’ as Joss Whedon would say… I’d love to come back as The Hulk. I don’t foresee not coming back as The Hulk.”

Ruffalo also discussed some other Phase 2 appearances he may or may not be in. If you aren’t up to date or haven’t seen Iron Man 3, this may be a spoiler.

However Ruffalo’s appearance in Iron Man 3, was a little surprise, yet pretty entertaining. Here’s a little of what he had to say about it.

“We were doing the Academy Awards and Robert [Downey Jr.] said, ‘Hey, what do you think about coming and doing a cameo in Iron Man?’” says Ruffalo. “So he pitched the idea of the theme and I said, ‘I would love to do that.’

“So, ten days later, I’m on a plane to L.A. and we’re shooting that scene. It was a lot of fun. It was written, but we improvised a little bit and Shane [Black] gave us some adjustments. I haven’t seen it yet, though. Robert thought it would be a good cap to all of the rest of the Iron Man story.”

It’s always a little fun to hear how things come together and hopefully Ruffalo is right about the recasting. It wouldn’t be the same without any of them.

Movie News: Michael Pena to join Fury with Brad Pitt

Michael Pena is the latest to join David Ayer’s latest project, Fury. After Pena’s Fox pilot, The List, didn’t work out, he was picked up quickly to join the film that will star Brad Pitt. Shia LaBeouf and Logan Lerman are also set to star.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Pena will play a member of the crew. The story is set in World War II and centers around the commander of a Sherman tank with it’s five-man crew behind enemy lines in April 1945.

This is a great pickup as Ayer worked with Pena on last year’s amazingly underrated cop movie, End of Watch. According to sources, Ayer apparently wrote the part specifically for Pena, but had to wait until the pilot pickups were announced. If that is true, Pena will fit it amazing well in the film, unlike LaBeouf. I’m not sure how he will fit?

Movie News: New clip for Before Midnight asks dangerous question

In just a few short weeks, the amazing relationship between Jessie and Celine will be back in Before Midnight. These movies are incredible and some of the most graceful and articulate scene’s you’ll see in film. Well a new clip was just released and Celine asks Jessie a dangerous question.

Jesse is played by Ethan Hawke and Celine is played by Julie Delpy. Before Midnight comes to us May 24, 2013.

Podcast: Top 3 Classic Novel Movie Characters

On Episode 12 of our InSession Film Podcast, we went over our Top 3 classic novel movie characters in film. Brandi’s list is a little bit different based on her criteria, but she articulates it really well.

Nate
(Note** Nate was sick and was not on the podcast, but his list is just as good)
1) Michael Corleone – played by Al Pacino (The Godfather 2)
2) Willy Wonka – played by Gene Wilder (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)
3) Atticus Finch – played by Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird)

JD

1) Frodo Baggins – played by Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings)
2) Ralph – played James Aubrey (The Lord of the Flies)
3) Ray Ferrier – played by Tom Cruise (War of the Worlds)

Matthew

1) Rochester – played by Michael Fassbender (Jane Eyre)
2) Tom Joad – played Henry Fonda (The Grapes of Wrath)
3) Hugo Goulding – played by Josh Hartnett (O)

Brandi

1) Allie and Noah – played by Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling (The Notebook)
2) Bob Cratchit – played Kermit the Frog (Muppets Christmas Carol)
3) Pocahontas – played by Irene Bedard (Pocahontas)

Podcast: The Great Gatsby and Top 3 Novel Movie Characters – Episode 12

On Episode 12, we review Baz Luhrmann’s new film, The Great Gatsby, discuss our Top 3 Novel Movie Characters, start a new game called “What Are the Chances” and have a bittersweet farewell. We also have our first female guest appearance as the lovely Brandi Woodrum joins us since Nate is out sick again. She does a marvelous job too.

The Great Gatsby Review
Grades
Nate: B
JD: A
Matthew: B
Brandi: A-

Our Top 3 Classic Novel Characters

– What Are the Chances?

300: Rise of an Empire pushed back to 2014
William Fichtner joins TMNT
Jurassic Park 4 put on hold

– What We’ve Seen This Week

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InSession Film Podcast – Episode 12

Movie Trailer: The Congress

What the hell did I just watch?

The first trailer for Ari Folman’s The Congress was released today and it is something else to say the least. The film, which has live action and animation, stars Robin Wright (as herself) and Harvey Keitel and is about Wright’s movie star likeness and qualities being bought by a mysterious corporation.

Yes, it is weird. But very intriguing nonetheless.

The Congress premieres at Cannes Film Festival this month and should hit theaters sometime later this year.

Movie News: A remake of Gremlins is happening

Prepare yourself: A remake of Gremlins is on its way.

According to Bloody Disgusting, Warner Bros. is officially moving ahead with a remake to the 1984 classic produced by Steven Spielberg, directed by Joe Dante and written by Chris Columbus. Gremlins is the film about a boy who breaks three important rules when it comes to his new pet Mogwai (the awesome Gizmo) and unleashes some nasty creatures upon his little town.

A director and writer have yet to be found but Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg will produce. Grahame-Smith also has writing experience with Dark Shadows and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, so it’s likely that he may write the screenplay.

This is already shaping up to be a disaster. The original is a classic and something that shouldn’t be messed with as it still holds up. But everybody’s into the remake business nowadays so let’s prepare ourselves for a bunch of CGI gremlins causing mayhem (in 3D).

Movie News: Tom Welling joins Draft Day

Tom Welling is the newest member of Draft Day.

According to Deadline, Welling has landed a role in Draft Day, an Ivan Reitman-directed film about a Cleveland Browns general manager (played by Kevin Costner) who attempts to trade up for the first pick in the NFL draft. Welling will play Brian Drew, a “veteran quarterback in the crossroads of his career.”

Welling, who is best know for playing Clark Kent/Superman on the CW’s Smallville, joins an already solid cast. Along with Costner, Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary, Chadwick Boseman, Terry Crews and Frank Langella will also star.

Since Reitman (Ghostbusters, Junior, Kindergarten Cop) and the story involves the Cleveland Browns becoming an actual decent football team, I’m just going to go ahead and assume Draft Day is going to be a comedy. That’s the only plausible explanation, right?

Draft Day already started shooting, getting real footage from last month’s NFL draft. The film is expected to open sometime next year.

Movie Poll: Is Star Trek or Star Wars the better sci-fi film?

On this weeks poll we’re asking the ultimate sci-fi question. Vote below and let us know which side of the fence you stand on!

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Box Office Report: Gatsby starts off strong

The Great Gatsby started off strong for Baz Luhrmann and crew as they pulled in a pretty strong $51 million debut in U.S. theaters. However, it wasn’t quite enough to catch up to Iron Man 3, which captured another $72.5 million. While both movies made around $19 million on Friday, Iron Man 3 had a huge Saturday which put it over the top for the second week in a row.

A lot of “experts” predicted The Great Gatsby to be around $45 million, so Luhrmann’s adaptation of the classic novel did break those barriers for a strong open. I was glad to see that people were going to the theater as I thought the film was pretty good. I’m not sure if everyone agrees with my take or not, but I’m glad that people still went to see it after a strong marketing campaign.

Gatsby is easily the biggest opening for a Lurhmann film, way ahead of Australia which opened at $14.8 million. The opening $51 million was about the entire domestic earnings from Moulin Rouge!, which was his biggest earner before The Great Gatsby.

As for Iron Man 3, it was a 60% drop from last weekend, but the blockbuster has raked in a total of $949 million which will most likely break the $1 billion by next weekend. I’m sure Shane Black and co. are still happy and bathing in the millions of dollars it has so far.

After a so-so start to the year, the last few weeks have been pretty good for movies. I particularly liked Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain, which didn’t do well at the box office, but critically I gave it a B. Iron Man 3, while it had many issues, overall it was still a good action piece which landed a B- for me. And to top it off, I extremely enjoyed The Great Gatsby, at which I graded it an A and is easily the best film of the year so far for me.

Hopefully the year will continue that trend and get better and better. Did you get a chance to see anything over the weekend?

Movie News: Steve Jablonsky to score Ender’s Game

If there is anything that Steve Jablonsky is really great at, it’s scoring sci-fi movies. Well it’s being reported that Jablonsky is going to get the nod to score Gavin Hood’s new film, Ender’s Game, which will end up being a great choice. Jablonsky’s score for the Transformsers films are absolutely incredible and is the best superhoero/comic book movie score of all-time in my opinion.

Jablonsky has written some really great scores for reality-based films such as Pain & Gain, Gangster Squad, Desperate Housewives and other documentaries. On Episode 10, we discussed his score Pain & Pain quite a bit as it was one of the better parts of that film (I would also say the same thing for Gangster Squad as well).

However, Jablonsky shines more in the fantasy/sci-fi world, which is where he’s really great. As I mentioned, his Transformers score is absolutely amazing, but he’s also written great scores for Battleship (the only good thing in that film), Gears of War (video game), Command & Conquer (video game), The Island and the animated film, Steamboy.

Personally, I think this is a really great choice. He’s done a great variety of work, which will give Hood many options as far as the direction he wants to go with the score.

Ender’s Game stars Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Viola Davis, Nonso Anozie, Stevie Ray Dillmore, Andrea Powell, Moises Arias, Conor Carroll, Aramis Knight, Brandon Soo hoo, Jimmy “Jax” Pinchak, Suraj Parthasarathy and Khylin Rhambo.

In the near future, a hostile alien race called the Formics have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training only the best young minds to find the future Mazer.

Ender’s Game opens in theaters November 1, 2013.

Movie News: First shot of Paul Giamatti in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 revealed

Want to know what Paul Giamatti’s The Rhino will look like in next summer’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2? Well, here you go.

Director Marc Webb recently tweeted a photo of Giamatti as Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich AKA The Rhino (top photo). He’s obviously mad about something, probably has something to do with Spider-Man (bottom photo, courtesy of SuperHeroHype).

Giamatti is a great actor and he usually plays a pretty good villain, so it will be interesting to see his take on The Rhino. I’m also curious if he will get any screentime with the other villain, Jamie Foxx’s Electro. Spider-Man is going to have his hands full.

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The Amazing Spider-Man opens in theaters on May 2, 2014.

Movie News: New Man of Steel posters are out

These new Man of Steel posters are just absolute torture. I need to see this film immediately.

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New-Man-of-Steel-Poster

Man of Steel hits theaters on June 14.

Movie Trailer: August: Osage County

Whether August: Osage County turns out to be a good film or now, one thing is certain: It put together one of best casts of the year.

You have Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Sam Shepard, Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Abigail Breslin, Margo Martindale, Juliette Lewis and Dermot Mulroney. Wow, just wow. It will be interesting to see them get into this material based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play and directed by John Wells.

August: Osage County comes out on November 8.

Movie News: Robert Downey Jr. is about to become a Chef

Robert Downey Jr. better learn how to cook.

According to Deadline, Downey Jr. will reteam with Iron Man and Iron Man 2 director and co-star Jon Favreau for the ensemble comedy Chef. Favreau wrote the script and will direct.

Chef, an original idea from Favreau “about a man who loses his job as a chef and starts a food truck to reclaim his artistic promise,” will also star Sofia Vergara, John Leguizamo and Bobby Cannavale.

Downey Jr. is pretty much the biggest movie star in the world right now and can do whatever he wants. He’s a very funny guy and I like that’s he’s moving away from the bigger franchises like Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes he’s been involved with recently.

Red-Band Trailer: Inside Llewyn Davis

The Coen brothers new film is arriving and we get it’s first Red-Band trailer. The film is about a singer/songwriter in the 1960’s who is navigating the folk music scene. The movie will star Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman and Oscar Isaac as Llweyn Davis.

Inside Llewyn Davis comes to theaters December 6.

Movie News: Latest release date for 300: Rise of an Empire pushed to March, 2014.

It’s not surprising to me that this is the case given the fact there has been little marketing, but 300: Rise of an Empire has been pushed back until March 7, 2014. The original release date was August 2nd so it’s weird that there would be very little marketing and zero trailers. Warner Brothers announced that it will take the slot originally filled with Doug Liman’s film, All You Need is Kill.

In a statement yesterday, Warner Brothers said that they wanted to start off the year in an epic fashion, similar to its predecessor, 300. This is probably a smart if there’s nothing to compete with it. The spring time tends to be hit or miss so if it stands out, it could get a lot more people in the seats than toward the end of summer.

What you guys think, good idea?

Movie Review: The Great Gatsby


Director: Baz Luhrmann
Writers: Baz Luhrmann (screenplay), Craig Pearce (screenplay), F. Scott Fitzgerald (novel)
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joel Edgerton, Tobey Maguire

Synopsis: A Midwestern war veteran finds himself drawn to the past and lifestyle of his millionaire neighbor.

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DIRECTION
Before I get into the direction for Baz Luhrmann here, I wanted to lay some foundation. Regardless of what you may think of Luhrmann, you need to look at this from the perspective of the film itself and not your opinions of him. Lay down your expectations and live in the moment as this is Luhrmann at his very best. If you’re a fan of the book, you’ll like the direction of this film as it stays pretty straight forward to F. Scott Fitzgerald classic novel. I love the narration by Tobey Maguire’s character, which the story is through the lens (or in this case pen) of Nick Carraway. The camera movements are fast but elegant and with purpose. The transition shots are fantastic and perfectly executed which puts you right into the brilliant pace of the film. Everything is in rhythm. People walking out the doors, wind blowing curtains, music playing and natural elements you see in real life; all in a perfect and intentional rhythm that is beautiful and graceful. Luhrmann uses slow motion to capture certain emotions and moments in the movie to lure in the viewer to be apprehended by the drama. The music unbelievable and executed perfectly. This is probably going to be the biggest criticism Luhrmann gets, especially if you’re not a fan of Jay-Z or modern elements being incorporated into classics. To me, it was perfect. A green light leading the way with gorgeous visuals and a Baz Luhrmann style that’s uniquely his.

Grade: A+

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SCRIPT
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic masterpiece has been revered for a long time and for good reason. It’s a great story filled with drama and love with layers and layers underneath. The script makes the characters interesting, flawed and full of drama, not unlike many stories today. The parallels written back then are very prominent and just as relevant today than ever before, which makes the transition to big screen very easy. Luhrmann and Craig Pearce’s screenplay is well written, keeps to the novel well, and re-creates the story in a beautiful way. The humor was great for the most part and the emotions were real and raw. Two and half hours goes by and you hardly notice it.

Grade: A

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PERFORMANCES
Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby is passionate and perfectly casted. He brings lots of emotion and life to that character whom by the end you can’t help but pull for. As love being the driving force for everything he does, he brings charisma, appropriate awkwardness, anger, and passion. Tobey Maguire is also great in this film, although I feel like his performance drops in certain scenes. He’s intentionally drawn internally in some parts while showing his wild side in one scene. Overall though, as the story narrator, writer, and main element to Gatsby’s story, Maguire brings it. Joel Edgerton is at his best as Tom Buchanan. A cocky, selfish millionaire whose morals are always in question is a tough character to play, but Edgerton does it with ease and attitude. Carey Mulligan will probably get some criticism, but I loved her as Daisy Buchanan. She’s cute, innocent and plays the role magnificently. She gets a little cheesy at times with some of her quirks but it worked for the most part. She was big in drawing in the love and emotion that character needed. Jason Clark, Isla Fisher and the other supporting roles I thought were good too.

Grade: A-

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SCORE
The Great Gatsby is perhaps the best soundtrack of 2013 so far. Scored by Craig Armstrong and produced by Jay-Z, the musical elements lift this film into a whole new level. Modern hip hop in a 1920’s era piece doesn’t make sense on the surface and it some places it’s pretty strange, but what would expect from a Luhrmann film? But it works so great amazingly well for me. Jay-Z rapping over a bright-lighted crowded New York City is perfect. A fun hip-hop beat mixed with some dubstep even (Yes, dubstep in The Great Gatsby) during a party scene shot in slow motion was fun, energetic and exactly what it needed. Throw in some jazz and some french horns and you have a classic 1920’s feel that is modernized in a way that could of only been done by Shawn Carter (that’s Jay-Z folks). I haven’t even mentioned that while Craig Armstrong is in the background on this movie, his score is very fitting and is very good. It’s emotional, raw, and brings the right gracefulness you need a story like this.

Grade: A+

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Overall Grade: A

The Box Office: Movies opening May 10, 2013

Several movies coming out this weekend including the latest from Baz Luhrmann.

The Great Gatsby
Peeples
Sightseers
Venus and Serena
Aftershock
No One Lives
One Track Heart: The Story of Krishna Das
Java Heat

Which movie are you looking forward to seeing this weekend? The Great Gatsby was pretty good!

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