Watch how THE GOOD DINOSAUR reacts to the Halloween Asteroid’s (Asteroid TB145) near miss this morning.
An asteroid just passed by Earth today, it was a near miss – if you consider 300,000 miles away a near miss (the moon is 238,900 miles from Earth). According to NASA, the asteroid, TB145, is estimated to be 2,000 feet wide and traveling at 78,000 miles per hour. The object could actually be a dead comet.
Peter Sohn, director of Disney•Pixar’s THE GOOD DINOSAUR, says the event reminds filmmakers of the idea that launched the film, which hits theaters – so to speak – on Nov. 25, 2015. Says Sohn, “This whole thing started off with the idea: What if the asteroid that theoretically wiped out all the dinosaurs 65 million years ago missed? What would have happened? We had a lot of fun evolving the dinosaurs. Herbivores became farmers; carnivores became ranchers.”
THE GOOD DINOSAUR asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? Pixar Animation Studios takes you on an epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo (voice of Raymond Ochoa) makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of.
Directed by Peter Sohn and produced by Denise Ream (“Cars 2”), Disney•Pixar’s THE GOOD DINOSAUR opens in theaters on Nov. 25, 2015.
From Alcon Entertainment and Phoenix Pictures comes the unforgettable true story of THE 33.
In 2010, the eyes of the world turned to Chile, where 33 miners had been buried alive by the catastrophic explosion and collapse of a 100-year-old gold and copper mine. Over the next 69 days, an international team worked night and day in a desperate attempt to rescue the trapped men as their families and friends, as well as millions of people globally, waited and watched anxiously for any sign of hope. But 200 stories beneath the surface, in the suffocating heat and with tensions rising, provisions—and time—were quickly running out.
A story of resilience, personal transformation and triumph of the human spirit, the film takes us to the Earth’s darkest depths, revealing the psyches of the men trapped in the mine, and depicting the courage of both the miners and their families who refused to give up.
Based on the gripping true story of survival – and filmed with the cooperation of the miners, their families and their rescuers -THE 33 reveals the never-before-seen actual events that unfolded, above and below ground, which became nothing less than a worldwide phenomenon.
The international cast is led by Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche, James Brolin, and Lou Diamond Phillips, with Bob Gunton and Gabriel Byrne. The main cast also includes Mario Casas, Jacob Vargas, Juan Pablo Raba, Oscar Nuñez, Tenoch Huerta, Marco Treviño, Adriana Barraza, Kate Del Castillo, Cote de Pablo, Elizabeth De Razzo, Naomi Scott, Gustavo Angarita, and Alejandro Goic.
Patricia Riggen directed THE 33 from a screenplay by Mikko Alanne, Oscar nominee Craig Borten (“Dallas Buyers Club”) and Michael Thomas, based on the screen story by Jose Rivera and the book Deep Down Dark by Hector Tobar.
THE 33 opens Friday, November 13th.
WAMG invites you to enter for a chance to win a pass (Good for 2) to the advance screening of THE 33 on Monday, November 9 at 7PM in the St. Louis area.
We will contact the winners by email.
Answer the following question:
What date were the 33 miners rescued?
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OFFICIAL RULES:
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3. No purchase necessary.
The film is rated PG-13 for “a disaster sequence and some language.”
Playing in theaters now, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION is the horrifying conclusion to the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY films.
WAMG has your free passes to see the movie for the first time or to see it again!
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION is produced by Jason Blum and Oren Peli, based on the film PARANORMAL ACTIVITY by Oren Peli. Story by Brantley Aufill and Jason Harry Pagan & Andrew Deutschman, with a screenplay by Jason Harry Pagan & Andrew Deutschman and Adam Robitel & Gavin Heffernan.
Directed by Gregory Plotkin. Starring Chris J. Murray, Brit Shaw, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Dan Gill, Ivy George, Jessica Brown, Chloe Csengery, Don McManus, Hallie Foote and Cara Pifko.
For your chance to win RUN-OF-ENGAGEMENT passes to see the film in the St. Louis area, enter:
YOUR NAME AND E-MAIL IN OUR COMMENTS SECTION BELOW. WE WILL CONTACT YOU IF YOU ARE A WINNER.
OFFICIAL RULES:
WINNERS WILL BE CHOSEN FROM ALL QUALIFYING ENTRIES.
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.
The film is rated R for language and some horror violence.
BY THE SEA – written, directed, produced by and starring Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie Pitt and also starring and produced by Academy Award winner Brad Pitt – will be the Opening Night Gala of AFI FEST 2015 presented by Audi on Thursday, November 5.
On Friday, Universal Pictures released a brand new trailer for the upcoming film.
BY THE SEA follows an American writer named Roland (Pitt) and his wife, Vanessa (Jolie Pitt), who arrive in a tranquil and picturesque seaside resort in 1970s France, their marriage in apparent crisis. As they spend time with fellow travelers, including young newlyweds Lea (Laurent) and François (Poupaud), and village locals Michel (Arestrup) and Patrice (Bohringer), the couple begins to come to terms with unresolved issues in their own lives. In its style, and its treatment of themes of the human experience, BY THE SEA is inspired by European cinema and theater of the 1960s and 1970s.
Jolie Pitt is joined behind-the-scenes by a key crew that includes cinematographer Christian Berger (THE WHITE RIBBON), who used his Cine Reflect Lighting System to shoot the film; production designer Jon Hutman (UNBROKEN); editor Patricia Rommel (THE LIVES OF OTHERS); and costume designer Ellen Mirojnick (WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS). Pitt joins her in production duties, while Chris Brigham (INCEPTION), Holly Goline-Sadowski (UNBROKEN) and Michael Vieira (UNBROKEN) serve as executive producers.
Opening in theaters on March 4, 2016, check out the red-band trailer for director Louis Letterier’s THE BROTHERS GRIMSBY.
The comedy stars Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong, Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson, Gabourey Sidibe and Penélope Cruz.
Warning: this trailer is NSFW.
Nobby (Sacha Baron Cohen), a sweet but dimwitted English football hooligan, reunites with his long-lost brother Sebastian (Mark Strong), a deadly MI6 agent, to prevent a massive global terror attack and prove that behind every great spy is an embarrassing sibling.
Nobby has everything a man from Grimsby could want, including 11 children and the most gorgeous girlfriend in the northeast of England (Rebel Wilson). There’s only one thing missing: his little brother, Sebastian, who Nobby has spent 28 years searching for after they were separated as kids. Nobby sets off to reunite with Sebastian, unaware that not only is his brother MI6’s deadliest assassin, but he’s just uncovered plans for an imminent global terrorist attack. On the run and wrongfully accused, Sebastian realizes that if he is going to save the world, he will need the help of its biggest idiot.
If you are uptight and faint of heart, SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE is not your movie. Still here? Ok, good. If you aren’t easily offended, and are looking for a laugh mixed with some jump scares, this movie is for you!
In SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, three life-long scouts team up with cocktail waitress after a zombie outbreak spreads through their town. They don’t have long to use their survival skills and try to make it out before it’s too late.
Sound like a familiar plot? Sure… but I promise that you haven’t quite seen a zombie movie like this. This movie is completely predictable, but fun! Director Christopher Landon combines the modern-day tale with elements of 80’s horror and adventure films. In other words, there are plenty of cheesy, raunchy moments… and yes, even boobs. I’m an old school, campy horror fan, so I found this movie to be funny. Some won’t. I guess you could say that this film is like blue cheese… it’s not for everyone!
Cast members Tye Sheridan, Joey Morgan, and Logan Miller work together extremely well. You can tell that they really got along, and they were believable as friends. Actress Sarah Dumont, on the other hand, was hit and miss. There were moments where her kick-ass, bad girl act really paid off, and moments where she fell really flat. She kind of has this flat, hard to read acting style going on to where I couldn’t tell if it was part of her character, or not. David Koecher is funny as usual, but he’s not in the film enough to be a huge influence. Cloris Leachman, on the other hand, wasn’t in the film enough, but really added the laughs for me! To have a legend do what she does in the film is incredibly ballsy, and it paid off!
One cool thing that Landon did in this film was use practical effects. This is always a big plus for me, because I think it really pays off in the end. It’s so easy for filmmakers to cop-out and use CGI, and the slightest mistake with it throws you out of the movie. With practical effects, the audience tends to be more forgiving. Plus, no one wants an animated zombie. Give me a real human splattered with blood and flesh wounds!
The jokes in this film are really going to upset some people, and make them cringe. There are plenty of crass, ‘I can’t believe they went there!’ moments. Even I made a few audible gasps in the theater. If you are easily offended, I’m going to tell you to just stay home right now. This movie is just going to piss you off. Sometimes we need a break from our PC society, and I commend Landon for having the balls to tell jokes with no apologies. I know critics are going to eat this film alive, but can’t we just go into a movie and take it for what it is? It’s not trying to be the next big Oscar contender… It’s just trying to have fun! Take it, or go rent FORREST GUMP.
TRUTH examines the events around the 2004 “60 Minutes” report on then president George W. Bush’s military service, which led to Dan Rather’s resignation and producer Mary Mapes’ firing. But in truth, the film is as much about the pitfalls of news reporting under the pressure of the 24-hour news cycle, and journalism’s traditional mission, the search for truth. Viewers may think they already know this story but, like the document at the center, not all is what it seems, and the truth is more complicated.
Robert Redford plays Dan Rather and Cate Blanchett plays his long-time producer Mary Mapes, in this drama based on Mapes’ book “Truth and Duty: The Press, The President, and The Privilege of Power.” The report, which aired in the heated atmosphere of a presidential election, purported to show that George W. Bush not only used family connections to obtain a slot in the National Guard, avoiding service in Vietnam during that war, but was actually AWOL during part of his service. The document that was shown as proof of the later was immediately scrutinized and questioned by people on the internet, the first case of citizen journalists vetting a news report. The resulting firestorm of questions uncovered flaws in the reporting, undermined Rather’s reputation and lost Mapes her job.
Response to this film is likely to be divided, based mostly on how the viewer feels about Dan Rather. Just as many were prepared to believe the document that Rather reported on had been fabricated by biased reporters, or a least by their source, bent on bringing down the president as soon as the internet questions surfaced (just as others were eager to believe it on face value), there will be those who do not want to see this film and risk the possibility there is something more complex underneath. But the curious, the more open-minded or those concerned about the state of journalism in this country would do well to give TRUTH a look.
Mapes produced the “60 Minutes” segment that exposed the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, which won her an Peabody award – or at least CBS, after they fired her. She is the real focus of this film, not Rather, and the story is told from her viewpoint.
Topher Grace plays Mike Smith and Dennis Quaid portrays Lt. Colonel Roger Charles, two of Mapes’ research team, whose cross-cultural bickering provide much of the comic relief in the film.
Director and scriptwriter James Vanderbilt uses a restrained tone, evoking earlier films about journalism like ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, although this is a very different kind of story. The film takes a straight-forward approach to events, starting with the seed of the story, and detailing the pressures of getting a story out in a timely manner while doing due diligence on fact-checking.
The document a source had brought to Mapes was a copy, which limited the kind of testing that could be done to verify it, and officer whose signature appeared on it had since passed away. On the strength of handwriting expert verification and with sources verifying the content, the decision was made to air the report despite imperfect documentation.
Questions were raised immediately and the media firestorm ensued. Once doubts were raised, Mapes found sources recanting or even revealing deceit. As the film reveals, Mapes and her team were able to clear up all the issues raised about the document eventually, but it did not matter – once the internet talkers seize it, the scandal became the story, not the content of the report. Fact-checking no longer mattered.
Blanchett does an excellent job as the woman journalist at the center of this scandal. She portrays the doubts and uncertainties she grapples with, balancing the time needed for vetting and mixed results from that process with a looming deadline and pressure to get the program on air before the election. Redford plays Rather like an old-school journalist, committed to uncovering the truth in Edward R. Murrow-style, but perhaps too trusting of his long-time producer and protege Mapes. Late in the film, there is a powerful, chilling scene where Redford as Rather talks about how television news morphed from a public service that made no money into profitable info-tainment. The film is worth seeing for that scene alone.
TRUTH is a strong film about the challenges of journalism now, told through a famous incident that brought down a man who had been seen as a giant of TV journalism and which marked a shift in who reporting was perceived.
TRUTH opens in St. Louis
on Friday, October 30th, 2015
With the success of last summer’s surprise hit CHEF, it was inevitable there would be more movies about professional cooking. The nation seems obsessed with chefs right now, and shows about professional cooking and kitchens dominate TV programming. BURNT stars Bradley Cooper as a once successful chef at a top Paris restaurant, who lost it all and is now trying for a comeback, with the help of sous chef Sienna Miller. But while CHEF charmed audiences with a look into how real professional kitchens work, BURNT goes another route – the reality-show version where temper tantrums trump actual cooking. Those who love chef Gordon Ramsay’s screaming antics will be entertained by BURNT’s over-the-top kitchen melodrama. In fact, Ramsey coached Cooper for the film.
Cooper plays Adam Jones, a talented but hot-tempered young chef who ran his own Paris restaurant and earned two coveted Michelin stars before flaming out over alcohol and drug addiction, leaving a swath of broken friendships in his wake. Now sober and drug-free, Jones is in London, trying to stage a comeback to try for a third Michelin star. The question is whether he can find anyone to finance a restaurant for him, or talented staff willing to work for him, given his disastrous reputation. Despite past betrayals, he earns the backing of hotel-owner Tony (Daniel Bruhl) and recruits a team of former restaurant staff, plus a rising young sous chef Helene (Sienna Miller). Meanwhile, Jones has to contend with an old rival Reese (Mathew Rhys), whose restaurant boasts a high-tech approach to cooking verses Jones’ more traditional style. Supporting roles are also played by Emma Thompson, Uma Thurman, Alicia Vikander, Omar Sy, Lily James and Sam Keeley.
The film is being billed as a kind of romantic comedy about second chances. There is very little comedy in this tale, and not that much romance. Adam is such a jerk and has done such awful things to his former co-workers, so it is amazing anyone wants to give him a second chance when he suddenly turns up in London. At most, you would expect a restauranteur to take him on as a cook, or sous chef, in their kitchen until he proved himself reliable again. Instead, someone finances a new restaurant for him. It seems all he has to do is smile and sparkle his blue eyes.
As the wife of a former chef and one-time restaurant owner, this reviewer recognizes that director John Wells gets lots of restaurant world details right. BURNT takes us inside some gorgeous restaurants and tricked-out kitchens, and serves up some wonderful looking dishes, with a view of the hot London restaurant scene. While the film gets little details about presentation and trends in cooking right, it misses the bigger picture of how real restaurants run. Good professional kitchens have the speed and controlled chaos of a busy hospital emergency room – abrupt, brusque, business-like – but with surprisingly few of those emotional meltdowns that play so well on TV. Sometimes, you see that in BURNT – and clearly the cast trained and these scenes also feature some real kitchen staff – but too often it is all about the screaming. The kitchen staff working at full-blast was one of the things CHEF got so right, as well as the camaraderie after the kitchen closes for the night. There is none of that bonding of the workplace here in BURNT’s reality-show kitchen.
Actually, it is not just the kitchen that rings false in BURNT. While this film has a good cast, pretty restaurant locations and plenty of shots of luscious food, it is far more style than substance. The whole enfant terrible star who fell and is staging a comeback is a familiar trope, whether the fallen star is in music, movies, or cooking. Everything about this story is familiar – the ex-friend wooed back, the burned backer who decides to take another chance on the star, the egoism and lessons still to learn, the new romance. The story contrives some heated rivalry between Cooper’s Jones and fellow chef … over style of cooking – “cook my way or else” – while real chefs might just disagree. When Jones garners a good review, his rival destroys his own restaurant in one of those artistic tantrum scenes movies love – and which would never really happen unless the chef wanted to be fired and maybe sued by his backers. But it sure makes a nice mess.
BURNT missed an opportunity for a real-world glimpse inside professional cooking and the ones who are really burned in this film are audience members hoping to taste something fresh and real. BURNT is a dish that should be sent back.
“There are not many men yet. Just a few tribes scattered across the wilderness. Never venturing far, unaware that other tribes exist even. Too busy with their own lives to be curious. Too frightened of the unknown to wander. Their laws are simple: the strong take everything. This is Akhoba, leader of the Rock Tribe…”
So what’s brewing at Webster University’s Strange Brew award-winning cult film series this month? It’s Raquel Welch in the movie that made her a star! Raquel teamed up with a fur bikini, special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen, fellow 60’s starlet Martine Beswick, and Hammer Studios in 1966 for ONE MILLION YEARS B.C., one of the very best films of the 1960’s! The sexy prehistoric fun happens at Schlafly Bottleworks Restaurant and Bar in Maplewood (7260 Southwest Ave.- at Manchester – Maplewood, MO 63143) next Wednesday, November 4th. The movie starts at 8pm.
Long before Spielberg made dinosaurs popular with the Jurassic series, a prehistoric creature craze hit this country in the 1960’s. Fueled both by 1950’s monster movies and new archeological discoveries, dino’s began popping up everywhere—in toys, television, and the movies. For their 100th film project, Hammer Studios in 1967 acquired the rights to remake the old 1940 Hal Roach programmer ONE MILLION B.C. This tale of the Shell people and the Rock tribe attempting to survive deadly volcanoes, dinosaurs, and each other was entertaining and visually exciting, if not historically accurate (dino’s and humans missed each other by at least several million years). Ray Harryhausen created a large variety of creatures for this remake, which is often chided for including sequences of live animals, such as a giant iguana, at the expense of animation; however, this was actually Harryhausen’s idea in an attempt to add variety (and a lower budget) to the effects sequences. Things start slowly with the iguana and a few glimpses of a brontosaurus, then there’s a rampaging turtle! But Harryhausen makes up for these with three awesome scenes: an attack by an allosaurus, a battle between a triceratops and a ceratosaurus, and the climactic attack/fight involving a pteranodon and a pterodactyl. The movie was a huge success and spawned two sequels along with countless copycats. Harryhausen often remarked that he wasn’t sure what was the bigger attraction, the dinosaurs or Raquel Welch in her fur bikini. A relatively unknown starlet with only one (as yet unreleased) major studio credit at the time, Welch actually dominates much of the film with her beguiling looks and intelligent manner. ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. not only launched her career on a sex symbol trajectory that would last for decades, but also created one of the most iconic images in film history—the strong, beautiful, prehistoric goddess defiantly ready to face any challenge.
The movie starts at 8pm and admission is $5. A yummy variety of food from Schlafly’s kitchen is available as are plenty of pints of their famous home-brewed beer.
Sony Pictures Classics has released the official trailer and poster for director Nicholas Hytner’s brilliant THE LADY IN THE VAN.
Maggie Smith gives the best performance of 2015 and her career.
Alan Bennett’s story is based on the true story of Miss Shepherd (played by a magnificent Maggie Smith), a woman of uncertain origins who “temporarily” parked her van in Bennett’s London driveway and proceeded to live there for 15 years. What begins as a begrudged favor becomes a relationship that will change both their lives.
Filmed on the street and in the house where Bennett and Miss Shepherd lived all those years, Hytner reunites with iconic writer Alan Bennett (The Madness of King George, The History Boys) to bring this rare and touching portrait to the screen.
Produced by Kevin Loader, Nicholas Hytner and Damian Jones, THE LADY IN THE VAN also stars Alex Jennings as Alan Bennett.
The film was photographed by Andrew Dunn, BSC and edited by Tariq Anwar. John Beard was the production designer, Natalie Ward was the costume designer and Naomi Donne created the makeup and hairstyling. The score was composed by George Fenton.
THE LADY IN THE VAN will have its awards season qualifying run in NY & LA beginning December 4th and open wide in theaters on January 15, 2016.
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