Matthew Monagle
It’s Rough Nights All Around in the Latest Batch of ‘Ghost in the Shell’ TV Spots
After nearly six months of writing about teasers, trailers, and rumors for Paramount Pictures’ live-action Ghost in the Shell film, I figured it was time to sit down and actually watch the original 1995 animated movie. And I am here to tell you that it cleared up nothing for me. I’ll admit, the animation, production design, and soundtrack are all as impressive as rumored — the manga’s influence on the Wachowski Sisters is pretty hard to ignore in hindsight — but one movie was not enough to clear up my confusion regarding the Ghost in the Shell characters and universe as a whole.
Jack Sparrow Loses His Pants in the International Trailer for ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’
For many movie fans, international trailers are an afterthought, an attempt to repackage previously released footage for a new market. But given the popularity of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies abroad, it’s probably safe to say that Disney takes its international footage pretty seriously. After all, the previous film in the franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, grossed a total of $240 million domestically and $804 million internationally. Put another way: the film failed to make back its budget ($250 million) in the United States but tripled it abroad.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Logan’ Claws Its Way to the Top
With Hugh Jackman’s Logan opening in theaters this weekend, the top spot of this list was never in doubt. The questions were always whether audiences would respond well to the first major R-rated superhero movie. Was the big opening of Deadpool an abberation or a sign of things to come? If today’s numbers are any indication, the answer is, maybe a little bit of both.
James Cameron’s ‘Terminator 2’ 3D Re-Release Will Hit Theaters in August
In a piece of news bound to make you say, “Wait, is this still a thing?”, it looks like we’ll still be getting that Terminator 2 3D conversion after all. Scroll back through our archives and you’ll find our very first mention of the Terminator 2 re-release in December of 2015. Back then, word was that James Cameron and company would time the theatrical re-release of the film to its 25th anniversary on July 3. For one reason or another, though, the studio missed that window, and thousands of people around the world were only able to relive their love of the Terminator franchise in the same boring two dimensions they’d always had. Sad.
Deadpool Ain’t No Superman in the NSFW ‘Deadpool 2’ Teaser Trailer
Isn’t it just like Ryan Reynolds to upstage a colleague? After listening to critics sing the praises of Logan for the past few weeks, fans around the country took their seats on Friday night ready to watch Hugh Jackman strap on his metal claws one last time. And so it came as quite a surprise when the first superhero to appear onscreen wasn’t Wolverine but Deadpool, everyone’s favorite violent and profane superhero — and, if we’re being honest with each other, the entire reason an R-rated Wolverine movie was greenlit by 20th Century Fox.
Our Favorite A-Holes Save the Galaxy (Again) in This New ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ TV Spot
It’s funny how things work out. When Marvel was putting together the cast for Guardians of the Galaxy, they probably never dreamed that it would be former professional wrestler and MMA fighter Dave Bautista who would emerge as the film’s most likable character. And yet, with his deadpan line deliveries and awesome physicality, Bautista stood out among his live-action costars — I mean, nobody was going to beat Groot — as the funniest and most sympathetic of all the Guardians. Just like that, Bautista was a bonafide movie star and one of the biggest strengths of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
A ‘Deadpool’ Screenwriter Explains Their Anti-Disney Success Story
Few superhero movies captured the imagination of audiences last year quite like Deadpool. While Marvel releases were praised for their sleek storytelling and progressive characters, Deadpool went the other route, earning hundreds of millions of dollars on the strength of its raunchy sex scenes and immature sight gags. It was choppy, it was unpolished, and, occasionally, it was noticeably cheap around the edges. In other words, it was everything that Marvel movies are not.
American Humane Disproves ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ Animal Abuse Video
With everyone’s feeds full of horrible news stories these days, you’ve probably already forgotten about the video of alleged animal abuse on the set of A Dog’s Purpose. Back in January, TMZ shared leaked footage of animal handlers aggressively dragging their canine star into a tank of water. The clear signs of the dog’s panic caused an internet firestorm, with star Josh Gad distancing himself from the project and PETA calling for an immediate boycott of the film. A Dog’s Purpose still performed well enough in its opening weekend, but the scandal no doubt cost it ticket sales at the box office.
Jason Isaacs Nearly Turned Down ‘Harry Potter’ Because He Didn’t Want to Play Another Villain
While not exactly a household name, Jason Isaacs has very quietly put together an impressive resume of villains over his 30 years in Hollywood. Anyone who was in high school in the late ’90s will remember him from Mel Gibson’s The Patriot — I can’t possibly be the only person who had a lazy substitute history teacher, right? — but he’s also worked regularly in film and television, from frequent collaborations with Resident Evil director Paul W.S. Anderson to his most memorable role in the Harry Potter franchise. Often evil, always great.
Robert De Niro’s Still Trying to Lure Joe Pesci Out of Retirement for Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’
Like most cinephiles, I was vaguely aware that Joe Pesci has been retired from acting for a while now, but I assumed that meant he had made a few low-budget movies in the early 2000s and walked away. Imagine my surprise, then, when I realized that Pesci has made exactly two live-action movies since Lethal Weapon 4 in 1998. One was The Good Shepherd, the Robert De Niro-directed 2006 drama about the early history of the CIA. And if a close friend can lure Joe Pesci out of retirement once, maybe he can do it again.
Hugh Jackman Explains the ‘Slightly Different Universe’ of ‘Logan’
How about that last Logan trailer, huh? While the first trailer will probably be remembered as the one that got everyone excited for a mature Wolverine movie, the second trailer — even without the Johnny Cash music playing in the background — is the one that really sets the hook. What was hinted at in the first go-around now feels lived in and personal; Hugh Jackman’s Logan has never seemed more tired, and Dafne Keen’s X-23 has never seemed more dangerous.
Watch Chewbacca ‘Disarm’ an Enemy in This ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Deleted Scene
While Star Wars: The Force Awakens was an international smash hit, it wasn’t devoid of criticism. Some people felt that the film veered a little close to the storyline of the original Star Wars film; others felt that the family friendly action didn’t quite line up with the darker tone they expected from movies like The Empire Strikes Back and Revenge of the Sith. So to those fans, I offer you the above deleted scene (via i09) where Chewbacca rips out the arm of Unkar Plutt. It may be another throwback to the original movies, but at least it’s one with a little bit of bite.