With the entry into a new year, there is a slight shift in the quality of box office contenders. Actually, a big shift.
January is called the "graveyard of movies" for a good reason. It is the time between the award contenders pushing for a nomination and the point at which those movies are rewarded. To fill in the 2014 season, two movies, "Ride Along" and "Legend of Hercules" stepped up.
In theatres Jan. 17 is the Kevin Hart, Ice Cube vehicle "Ride Along." The film is about fast-talking security guard Ben Barber (Hart) who struggles to get the approval of his girlfriend’s tough as nails brother James Payton (Ice Cube).
Trying to capitalize on last years war fervor related to Best Picture nominee "Zero Dark Thirty," is the adaptation of the story of Operation Red Wings, entitled "Lone Survivor."
Starring Mark Wahlberg as Petty Officer 1st Class Marcus Luttrell, Operation Red Wings was conducted by Seal Team 10 in 2008 to capture or kill Taliban leader Ahmad Shahd. As per the title, the four-man team is eventually taken down to just Luttrell, who is saved by a Pashtun tribe of Afghanistan, despite attacks from Taliban agents seeking to capture or kill the severely injured Navy Seal.
The film also stars Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster as Lt. Michael Murphy, Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Danny Dietz, and Sonar Technician 2nd Class Matt Axelson, respectively. In addition to Eric Bana as Lt. Cmdr. Eric Kristensen, all of whom were killed during the operation.
Around this time last year a movie titled “Life of Pi” was released and was touted in the critics circle for its brilliant cinematography.
While Ben Stiller’s “Secret Life of Walter Mitty” may not be receiving quite the same awards buzz, it is still a spectacle to behold.
Stiller directs and stars as Walter Mitty, a photo negative manager at LIFE magazine. His prominent quirk of “zoning out,” in which he becomes a far more interesting person than his meek self, seems to be the butt of many jokes in the office.
A long-awaited sequel to the cult-favorite "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" finally hit theatres nine years after the original. "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" expands on the tale of Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), the famous, or rather, infamous, news anchor of the 1970s.
Featuring the outrageous style of the 1970s, Burgundy, after marrying Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) and having child Walter, the family moves to New York. When Veronica is offered a nightly news desk spot, at the same time Burgundy is fired, he insists she choose between him and the desk. Who can blame her, when she chooses the desk over her pompous, bumbling husband?
The last three awards seasons have resonated with one name: David O’Russell.
His last two films, "The Fighter" and "Silver Lining Playbook" have earned him Best Director nods at the Oscars, with each being nominated for numerous acting awards and one taking home Best Picture.
The director is back in awards contention this year with "American Hustle," a semi-based on a true story film about the 1970s ABSCAM operations.
Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) is a con artist and owner of a local dry cleaner chain, who bonds with Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) over their mutual love for music at a party. They go into business together, as faux loan sharks and art dealers, and are finally caught when FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) draws them into an investigation that gets bigger by the day, eventually targeting corrupt politicians.
Director Peter Jackson’s fifth foray into the land of Middle Earth, entitled "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" hits theatres December 13.
This movie has the honor of being the middle child of the "Hobbit" trilogy. What this typically means is, if you haven’t seen the first one, there isn’t time to explain it to you, and most likely the end doesn’t resolve much except moving our main characters along geographically and emotionally. Which is exactly what happened here.
"Desolation of Smaug" introduces us to Laketown, a ramshackle fishing town run by the Master of Laketown (a rather grimy Stephen Fry) and his slimy assistant Alfrid (Ryan Gage). From here, our merry band of dwarves, plus hobbit and wizard, are still being tracked by the white Orc. This story progresses quickly as Azog is called away, the group faces a horde of giant spiders, and we finally get to meet the elves of Mirkwood.
The latest based-on-a-true-story film to come out of Hollywood this season is "Philomena."
Based on the 2009 book by BBC correspondent Martin Sixsmith, the film stars Judi Dench as Philomena Lee and Steve Coogan as Martin Sixsmith. The pair embark on a journey to find Philomena’s son, who she had to give up for forcible adoption by Irish nuns in the convent where she live during the 1950s.
What marks this story as extraordinary is the true to life drama that this story tells. Philomena worked in the Magdalene laundries, witnessed her son being adopted by an American family and held onto this secret for 50 years. The journey to finding Antony, or Michael as he became to be named, would be heartbreaking and empowering for the aging Philomena and a hard lesson for reporter Sixsmith.
After "Thor: The Dark World" topped the box office for two straight weeks, it was time for its blockbuster competition, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" to show up.
And show up it did. With a budget estimated at $50 million more than the franchise starter "The Hunger Games," this second installment upped the ante for effects and suspense.
"Catching Fire" picks up in the months after the 74th Annual Hunger Games. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) are preparing for their tour of the districts as the new victors when unrest in the districts sends the pair back into the arena.
The holiday season is the largest box office season after the summer. With students out of school, families are together and looking to fill the time between the excitement of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and gift giving. As a result, there are quite a few interesting offerings coming to theatres.
"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," released Nov. 22, the weekend before Thanksgiving, starts up as Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) are dealing with the results of the 74th Annual Hunger Games. When Katniss becomes too much of a symbol for the revolutions in the district, President Snow (Donald Sutherland) forces the pair back into the Hunger Games against previous winners.
With an additional $50 million in its budget, the sequel looks to improve upon the mythology of the series in a spectacularly visual and emotional way.
Opening this weekend are two drastically different films, but both embracing the sci-fi epidemic.
"About Time" and "Ender’s Game" widen the scope of movies available for audiences over the weekend, and even manage to do it without overt corniness or cringing.
"About Time" follows Tim Lake (Domhall Gleeson) in his quest for love. Upon his 21st birthday, he discovers that the males in his family can travel in time, always backwards, but never past their present moment, and dedicates this newfound power to his search for love.
He encounters Mary (Rachel McAdams), and through time travel trial and error, manages to fall in love and start a family. It is after this the time travel rules set in place by his father (Bill Nighy) go out the window.
Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass team have done it again with another hilarious movie. Bad Grandpa stars Knoxville himself as "Irving," the grandpa, and Jackson Nicoll as "Billy," his eight-year-old grandson as they head to North Carolina.
Billy gets dropped off at his grandmother’s funeral as his mother heads to jail, again. Leaving his grandfather to drive Billy cross-country to his father, a drug addict who only wants Billy for the money he might receive from the government. As the pair travels cross-country, the recently single grandfather attempts to rekindle his youth, dragging Billy into inappropriate situations.
Along the way, a bond forms between grandfather and grandson. The audience was rolling the entire film at the grandfather’ failed attempts to get women, and Billy’s childish reactions to the situations he is forced into. Grandpa assumes he could get any woman, often putting the women in uncomfortable, but funny situations. The grandfather also used his age as an excuse in several situations to get himself out of trouble.
Long before WikiLeaks reached global notoriety from the release of the Iraq and Afghan War Logs, Julian Assange was hard at work revealing the secrets of large businesses and governments the world over.
"The Fifth Estate" chronicles the time from 2007, when Daniel Berg (Daniel Bruhl) joined the organization, through the publishing of the documents in 2010. Berg initially joined WikiLeaks, believed the ruse that Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) had an army of volunteers, when in reality, it was just the pair that soon took on Swiss Bank Julius Baer, the Church of Scientology and both British and American politicians.
Unfortunately, for a movie so focused on telling the tale of WikiLeaks, it manages to leave the most important part of the organization’s history to the tail end of the film. For well over an hour, audiences are treated to the drawn out history of Assange and Berg and their efforts to recruit and gain a following within the hacking society. We are left itching for the real meat of the story that, unfortunately, never comes.
Just five years after the last installment of Sam Raimi's "Spiderman" series, Sony has set out to re-establish the web slinger in theatres.
"The Amazing Spiderman" opens May 3 and stars Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spiderman and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. Sally Field and Martin Sheen play Aunt May and Uncle Ben and Rhys Ifans plays the conflicted villain Dr. Curt Connors and his counterpart, the Lizard.
Zero 2 Sixty sets itself apart from packs of other cover bands by putting its own spin on arrangements, tinkering with its set list of songs from the sixties, seventies and eighties, according to lead-guitarist/vocalist John Carnuccio.
"Well, a lot of cover bands play exactly like the recording," Carnuccio continued.
However, Zero 2 Sixty doesn't abide by this convention, he said.
And tonight from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., the group Zero 2 Sixty plays a free show at Joe B. Barnes Regional Park in Midwest City, as a part of the Midwest Twilight Concert Series, put on by Midwest City's parks and recreation department.
