The First Superman: Getting To Know Doc Savage

The First Superman: Getting To Know Doc Savage

Doc Savage

The news that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will play the role of superhero Doc Savage in a live-action film has got fans of the movie muscleman excited. Yet many of the younger generation are probably wondering who this legendary character is. Heck, even I wasn't too familiar with Doc Savage, other than the fact that there was once a movie released in 1975 and a Batman crossover written by Brian Azzarello.

Yet, as I dove into this character, I found that Doc Savage was extremely popular back in the day and was considered the original Superman. Doc made his debut in 1933, whereas the Man of Steel was originally released by Action Comics in 1938. Created by the trio of Henry W. Ralston, John L. Nanovic and Lester Dent, and first published by Street & Smith in 1933, Clark Savage, Jr., known all over the world as the Man of Bronze, had absolutely no superpowers whatsoever. Yet the man had a particular set of skills that would classify him as the baddest black ops guy ever!

So Who Is Doc Savage?

Doc Savage was an actual doctor as well as a scientist, inventor and explorer. In his origin story, a team of scientists brought together by Doc's father trained Savage's mind and body to near-superhuman abilities from the moment he was born. Savage had above-average strength and a pro-athlete level of endurance. He developed a photographic memory and had extensive knowledge of all the sciences. And he's also a master at hand-to-hand combat.

X-Men: Apocalypse is what happens when a superhero franchise runs out of ideas

X-Men: Apocalypse is what happens when a superhero franchise runs out of ideas

Oscar Isaac as X-Men: Apocalypse's unfortunate title villain.

To really understand X-Men: Apocalypse, you have look back to director Bryan Singer’s first film about the team of superpowered mutants. Released 16 years ago this summer, X-Men was the first fully formed entry in the modern superhero movie canon, and it played a major role in launching the current comic book movie boom.

X-Men succeeded largely on the strength of its faithfulness to the tone and character of the comics. It boasted strong performances in the main roles, particularly from Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart as the leaders of dueling mutant factions, as well as from newcomer Hugh Jackman, who delivered a career-making performance as the grizzled, tri-clawed mutant Wolverine.

Singer’s approach blended cleverly staged comic book action and soap opera-style character drama with an air of cultural inclusivity, casting the mutant heroes as all-purpose social outcasts struggling to gain acceptance in a world that demanded conformity. His 2003 sequel, X2, expanded and improved on these ideas with high-concept action and a deeply political sensibility; it's still one of the high points of superhero filmmaking.

Singer started work on a third X-Men film, but left before production began to direct Superman Returns, an elegant but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to revive the Superman franchise. He then tooled around in Hollywood for a few years, working on films like Valkyrie and Jack the Giant Slayer before returning to the X-Men franchise in 2014 with the widely praised Days of Future Past.

Singer, in other words, has been working on the X-Men franchise for the better part of two decades. And it’s finally starting to show.

Apocalypse is the sixth film in the main franchise and the ninth in the X-Men universe if you count solo outings from Wolverine and Deadpool; it's also the fourth one Singer has directed. And while it’s not quite an awful movie, it is a deeply tired one, in which the kinetic spark and social engagement that animated Singer’s previous entries has been entirely drained, replaced with a glum sense that everyone involved is merely going through their contractually obligated motions.

It’s a movie, then, that should serve as a warning to other filmmakers and studios as they pursue a strategy that bets heavily on superhero movies and other long-running film series: This is what happens when a franchise runs out of ideas.

Apocalypse squanders what should be a very strong cast

Almost every element of Apocalypse feels like a wasted opportunity, but the characters and performances are probably the biggest disappointment. The movie manages to fail almost all of its cast members.

Oscar Isaac plays the title character, the movie’s main villain. He's one of the most promising and appealing young actors in Hollywood today, blessed with the skill to effortlessly switch between moody indie-film character parts and effortlessly charming leading-man roles. And yet Apocalypse manages to make him both uninteresting and faintly ridiculous, dressing him up in goofy purple face paint and piling on prosthetics until he looks like a castoff from a Star Trek fan film. Worst of all, the movie disguises his voice, giving it a deep, computer-generated rumble — he sounds like he’s talking through a 1980s synthesizer.

But maybe that's fitting, since the character — an ancient mutant with vaguely defined, god-like powers and no discernible motivation whatsoever to explain his pursuit of world domination — feels more than a little like a bad prog-rock concept album figure come to life. He’s a cheesy villain, not a relatable character with a reason for his actions.

That’s a big transition from Singer’s previous X-films, which grounded their mutant battles in culturally relevant debates about how outcasts should engage with the rest of society. Most of those debates were housed in the relationship between the leader of the X-Men, Professor X, who argued for an open and productive relationship with human society, and the mutant rebel leader Magneto, who tended to support a more aggressive, oppositional stance against humans.

But in Apocalypse, that conflict is almost entirely absent, and so is the rivalry between Professor X and Magneto that has long served as a backbone for the series. Without it, or anything else to define them, both James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, who have played the two mutant leaders in recent installments of the franchise, end up delivering flat, unconvincing performances.

Just about every player in the movie seems adrift: Returning supporting cast members like Nicholas Hoult and Rose Byrne have almost nothing to do except deliver snippets of exposition, and the slew of new, young heroes are unmemorable at best, grating at worst.

Sophie Turner, for example, appears as a young Jean Grey, a role previously played by Famke Janssen. Turner is usually solid as Sansa Stark on HBO’s Game of Thrones, but here she comes across as both whiny and emotionally blank.

Tye Sheridan, who plays a teenage Scott Summers, seems entirely out of his element, and he has none of the preppy swagger that James Marsden brought to the role in the first three X-Men films. Ben Hardy, Alexandra Shipp, and Lana Condor as Angel, Storm, and Jubilee, meanwhile, fill out what looks to be a new, young team of X-Men, but barely make any impression at all.

The characters' and motives are largely missing and/or illogical

The problem for all of the characters is essentially the same: None of them have any basis for doing what they’re doing, which eventually turns out to be battling each other in a clunky, computer-generated finale that casually destroys a handful of major global metropolises. They’re just going through the motions of appearing in a superhero movie, because that’s what movie superheroes do, and superhero franchises have to go on forever.

Even Apocalypse’s best moments are weighed down by a sense of obligation and repetition. A cameo by one of the franchise’s most beloved characters delivers a bloody, violent kick, but doesn't offer anything new or interesting about said character. There's an elaborate, extended sequence showing off Quicksilver’s powers, but it doesn't inspire the same unexpected thrills as the similar sequence that wowed us in Days of Future Past. It’s entirely perfunctory.

Several older characters, including Grey and Summers, appear in the form of newly recast young actors via the magic of the complex time-travel related continuity reset at the end of Days of Future Past. But the specifics of the how the new continuity works, and how all the different timelines fit together, are terribly unclear. They appear to have been worked out mostly to allow for the cheaper, younger cast to step in and take over.

Viewed this way, the motivations start to make more sense — not as narrative, but as franchise imperative. X-Men: Apocalypse’s story and characters only make sense as a series of business decisions. It’s less of a movie and more of a two-and-a-half-hour-long announcement of a new franchise marketing plan.

The movie only exists because the X-Men franchise must go on, at least in the studio's eyes

This is one of the big dangers for the extended franchise model of filmmaking — that characters and series will be kept alive not because there’s a story to tell, but because the franchise must be kept alive.

We’ve already seen this happen with Sony’s ho-hum efforts to reboot the Spider-Man series — leading to two competent but essentially repetitive Amazing Spider-Man films that struggled to justify themselves. Like X-Men: Apocalypse, they were franchise placeholders, existing only because some movie with Spider-Man in the title had to exist.

Industry leader Marvel has largely avoided this problem, in part by expanding its universe to include a wider variety of characters, some of whom are not obvious bets for standalone movies, and in part by letting those characters play off of each other in ways that generate character-driven tension and conflict.

Indeed, one reason Spider-Man was so successful in Captain America: Civil War was that we got to see the character interacting with the larger cast of Marvel universe characters, playing his youthful sensibility off the older heroes. It wasn’t exactly a risky move, but it placed him in an environment we’d never seen him in before — in contrast to Sony’s dull reboots, which insisted on showing him in situations we’d seen so, so many times already.

Ultimately what these sorts of long-running, fantasy film franchises thrive on is a continual injection of fresh ideas, and a willingness to try new things. It’s not an accident that Marvel Comics has long referred to itself as the House of Ideas. Marvel’s films have their flaws, but they are stuffed, maybe even overstuffed, with ideas. Not all of those ideas work, but enough of them do. (This is part of what made Deadpool work as well.)

X-Men: Apocalypse, in contrast to both Marvel and Singer’s earlier X-films, is a by-the-numbers production with no ideas at all, just a dutiful sense that something like it has to exist. It's primarily an advertisement for the franchise’s future, and it’s not a promising one — especially given the recent news that Singer has been put in charge of expanding the X-Men franchise into an entire, Marvel-style universe of films. It’s clear at this point that Singer doesn’t have enough material for even one more X-Men movie, let alone an entire universe of them.

source: www.vox.com

X-Men: Apocalypse Actor Wants to Team Up With Deadpool in X-Force Movie

X-Men: Apocalypse Actor Wants to Team Up With Deadpool in X-Force Movie.

"It would definitely be cool to see Deadpool and some of the other X-Men characters gather for an X-Force movie," Olivia Munn said.

With X-Men: Apocalypse n theaters now, people are looking towards the next movies in the X-Men's cinematic universe. In an interview  with USA Today, Psylocke actor Olivia Munn said she wants her character to team up with Deadpool in an X-Force movie.

"That would be a really cool thing to do. What [Ryan Reynolds] did with Deadpool was genius and I'm so excited for him," she said. "It would definitely be cool to see Deadpool and some of the other X-Men characters gather for an X-Force movie. I think that's what the whole world is coming to--everybody unites together, right? It's never just one character any more. We all just become one movie."

Munn also discussed her big fight scene with Beast, which she trained from April to September for. She said it was the last scene on the last shooting day in Montreal, and it didn't seem like they'd be able to get it done in time. She asked for 30 minutes of overtime and got it done in five takes.

“You only have 30 minutes to set up, light it, get everything ready, get up there and then get into the harness, flip, flip, flip, flip, flip, and then call it a day and everybody gets to go home," she explained. "It was one of those things where if someone had given us more time, we'd probably mess up a lot more. It was the panic that got us to do it."

Munn talked about her character, Psylocke, in a previous interview, where she explained why you won't see her telepathic powers used in the film.

"Psylocke is telepathic and telekinetic. In the movie, we see her being a telekinetic. It's a decision [we made], because this is the first time we've really been able to see the character of Psylocke and have her really, truly exist in the movie," she said.

"When you are telepathic, I feel that it's a power that you want to hold close to your chest. It's a card that you don't want a lot of people to know about because it's so much more powerful when people don't know that you have this power."

In GameSpot's review, critic Tony Guerrero said, "[X-Men Apocalypse] juggles a lot of characters, and many don't get the time to be fully explored or utilized, but the movie never fails to keep you entertained for its entire running time thanks to the action and heart of the protagonists."

source: www.gamespot.com

X-Men: Apocalypse stars build their ideal mutant garage band

X-Men: Apocalypse stars build their ideal mutant garage band.

The mutants of X-Men: Apocalypse may make a great crime-fighting team, but according to the cast, they might make an even better band. Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Evan Peters, Lana Condor, James McAvoy, Rose Byrne, and writer Simon Kinberg sat down with EW to pick which of the X-Men they’d want by their side as a presidential running mate, as a partner on The Amazing Race, and as a brunch companion. But the question that sparked the most discussion? Which mutant they’d want to form a band with.

“If I were going to be in a garage band with anyone, I’m gonna get Sophie [Turner], because Sophie is on them vocals,” Shipp said. “I’d go for Evan because I feel like he kind of plays the bass. I would also, finally, go with Michael [Fassbender] because Michael has the voice of a frickin’ angel.” “Like a male siren,” Peters added. “Lures you in.”

source: www.ew.com

'Alice Through the Looking Glass' is more blunder than wonder

'Alice Through the Looking Glass' is more blunder than wonder.

Alice Through the Looking Glass.

“Alice Through the Looking Glass” is a movie for anyone who ever skimmed a passage of Lewis Carroll and thought, “This is great, but it could use a bit more ‘Terminator.’”

In Disney’s crass, pointless sequel to its similarly crass, pointless “Alice in Wonderland” (2010), our heroine doesn’t just tumble down a rabbit hole or step through a magic mirror. Availing herself of an early DeLorean prototype called the Chronosphere, Alice (played again by Mia Wasikowska) goes careening back and forth through time, embarking on a frenzied quest to save her friend the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) by plumbing his messy family history and correcting the mistakes of the past.

It’s a pity she doesn’t set the device for 2007: Perhaps she might have retroactively persuaded the director Tim Burton and the decision-makers at Disney to spare us the further desecration of a literary classic. Their live-action “Alice in Wonderland” was less an adaptation of its source material — which included both Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” (1865) and “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There” (1871) — than an exercise in what the Mock Turtle memorably termed “Uglification.” A gloppy-looking 3-D eyesore weighed down by noisy action sequences and other soul-deadening focus-group notions of what kids want from their fantasy entertainment, the movie reproduced none of Carroll’s cleverness, imagination or mastery of language, or even the easygoing charm of Disney’s 1951 animated version.

Still, it was enough of a box-office hit to garner a follow-up, this time under the direction of James Bobin (who directed the two most recent “Muppets” movies). Burton's devotees will be relieved to learn that, even in his absence, “Alice Through the Looking Glass” is a feast of garishly overwrought, effects-encrusted production design. Meanwhile, the returning screenwriter Linda Woolverton (best remembered for “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King”) has again plundered elements from Carroll’s books and reshuffled them into a pedestrian narrative, replacing his sui generis nonsense with her own strenuously unimaginative and literal-minded storytelling.

Picking up more or less where its predecessor left off — and no, I couldn’t remember where, either — the film begins with Alice on the high seas, captaining her late father’s ship, the Wonder, through perilous waters in search of trade routes to China (reintroducing a perhaps unintended metaphor for the global challenges presently facing the movie industry). As played by Wasikowska with grown-up, no-nonsense seriousness, Alice is a trailblazing explorer and a Victorian-era role model: Decked out in the latest in 19th century Sino chic, she is beset on all sides by sneering men who want to either marry her or see her fail.

From there, the story quickly whisks Alice through the proverbial looking glass and back to Wonderland — or Underland, as it is inconsistently referred to here. Before long she is reunited with the ethereally ditzy White Queen (Anne Hathaway), the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry) and the imperious butterfly Absolem (occasioning a few poignant final line readings from Alan Rickman). Her old friends are happy to see her, as it seems only Alice can cure the Mad Hatter of his recent descent into catatonic depression.

As a rule, unless you’re Spike Jonze adapting Maurice Sendak, it’s not a great idea to turn your fantasy-world characters into moody therapy cases. “Alice Through the Looking Glass” is rarely more tiresome than when it’s probing the Hatter’s deep-seated daddy issues, which can’t help but feel like a tired holdover from familiar Burtonian territory (see, if you must: “Big Fish,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”). Depp, again sporting multihued makeup and a Carrot Top wig, isn't playing Mad so much as Morose as he tries — with simpering, sometimes nauseating results — to unlock the tragic clown within.

The Hatter isn’t the only one suffering the effects of some distant family trauma. There’s also the head-hungry Red Queen, played once more by Helena Bonham Carter with a witchy cackle and a severe case of computer-generated macrocephaly. We learn exactly how she and her younger sister, the White Queen, became lifelong enemies, in flashbacks to their checkered past that play like outtakes from “What Ever Happened to Baby Queen?” Of all the ways to bring Carroll’s characters to life on screen, is there anything more tedious one could do than try to explain them — to subject them to the tenets of modern-day psychoanalysis? What’s next? Humpty-Dumpty’s secret history of sexual deviance? “Tweedledum and Tweedledee: A Study in Codependency”?

The inconvenient truth of the original books is that they have never been particularly well suited to cinematic adaptation. As anyone who has spent hours poring over Martin Gardner’s marvelous “The Annotated Alice” knows, the two-part Alice narrative is less a traditional story than a brainy free-associative labyrinth — densely packed with puns, poems, parodies, allusions and riddles, and assembled with an almost architectural rigor and complexity (Carroll was, among other things, an accomplished mathematician).

Understandably, filmmakers have tended to seize on the fabulous images offered up by the author’s work, but the truest version of “Alice” would be a verbal achievement first and foremost, not a visual one. But even allowing for a less faithful, more free-form adaptation, “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” like “Alice in Wonderland” before it, represents a profound failure of imagination and a betrayal of the material’s spirit.

At every turn the filmmakers have simplified, banalized and sentimentalized Alice and her psychological landscape in ways that reek of ignorance at best and cynicism at worst. Watching these movies, you would never guess the Jabberwocky was the subject of one of the most linguistically inventive poems ever written; he’s just another forgettable, fire-breathing CGI beastie. And while it’s never unpleasant to spend time in Wasikowska’s company, the actress doesn’t seem to be playing a strong fantasy heroine so much as some vague, derivative concept of what a strong fantasy heroine should be.

As Alice flies between past and present, her chief nemesis — and eventually, her ally — is Time itself, played here as a sort of tyrannical, Teutonic-accented man-clock by Sacha Baron Cohen (who previously worked with Bobin on “Da Ali G Show”). The jab at German efficiency elicits a small chuckle, and your jaw might drop at the sight of Time’s castle — a massive mechanical enclave that brings the gears and pulleys of Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” to mind and serves as a nicely gothic contrast to the film’s bright, gaudy colors. For a brief moment, time really does seem to stand still, and you may stop begrudging this misbegotten movie for wasting yours.

sourcce: www.latimes.com

What Hollywood Has in Store in Upcoming Months

Romance to Fantasy Fiction: Watch What Hollywood Has in Store in Upcoming Months.

Hollywood is all geared up for an incredible superhero year with movies of DC and Marvel Universe lined up in advance. However, there is a lot more to the year than just masked evil and good action. Horror genre is getting revived with indie and popular production houses investing in bone-chilling storylines, alike. Romance is getting a new flavour and Disney practically owns the remaining year with a release or two every month.
Spy action is going for a touchdown, promising action Hollywood is known for. While there is a long list of films to be released, News18 brings to you the much talked about top 10 'to-be releases'. Get ready to experience love, fantasy, drama and action in the Summer and Fall.

Have a look at the trailers that promise a great Hollywood-filled year:

Me Before You 

Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin and a popular novel-romance. Do we need anything else?

Alice Through The Looking Glass 

Alice is back and this time racing against the time! Johnny Depp is ack as Mad Hatter and so are the advanced graphics. Seriously looking through time for this!

Legend of Tarzan 

If you thought 'The Jungle Book' is going to be the only wildlife experience of this year, you were wrong. Tarzan is all set for a return and the canvas this time is much larger!

Pete's Dragon 

Disney never cease to amaze us! This beautiful, another fantasy fiction trailer is going to leave you intrigued!

The BFG

Another one from the magical closet of Disney. This Roald Dahl adaptation of 'The Big Friendly Giant' has all the elements to give a surreal experience.

The Swiss Army Man

This peculiar film's trailer says a lot and confuse us in a good way. Award winner at major film festivals. 

The Conjuring 2

 

The evil spirit is back and this time the saviours need the saving. Already booking the darkest theater near home.

Light's Out 

Based on an equally scary short story, the trailer is going to send a chill down the spine. Watching this one with Light's on!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

If you were a 90's kid, and green turtles were your best evening company, you are going to love the trailer. Full of swag and action!

Jason Bourne

 

Bourne series is back and it is more mysterious, gritty, dark and action-filled than before! On a mission to watch it first day first show, sir!

source: www.news18.com

Questions I Still Have About ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in This Year of Our Lord 2016

Questions I Still Have About ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in This Year of Our Lord 2016.

“Look at me! I’m better than you because I’m a 20-year-old reading a kid’s book!” YouTube

The new teaser trailer for Beauty and the Beast has officially hit the Internet, and so far, the only new information we know is that Ewan McGregor can’t really do a French accent.
But until a full trailer drops and we get to see how an anthropomorphic candelabra will look in a non-animated film, I’m going to use that time to discuss every single problem I have with the 1993 Beauty and the Beast in the hopes that somehow, this new movie will give me some of the answers I’ve been waiting for.

Did the Beast actually deserve to be turned into a beast?

“Of course!” you’re probably thinking. “He was selfish and greedy, and cared too much about appearances! The hag offered him a rose to spend the night in his castle, and he refused her!”

Beauty and the Beast trailer

Beauty and the Beast trailer: Disney's live-action remake debuts first teaser.

How much do the folks at Disney want you to be their guest — or, at least, an extremely welcome paying audience member — when Beauty and the Beast is released on March 17, 2017? This morning, a teaser trailer was unveiled on Good Morning America for the live-action remake of the beloved animated film almost 10 months ahead of the film’s release.

The teaser gives the first look at Emma Watson as Belle, showing her arrival at the Beast’s castle. The castle’s famous residents can also be heard (“Look, it’s a girl!…What if she’s the one?”), as well as a piano version of the movie’s iconic theme.

Directed by Bill Condon (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Parts 1 and 2), Beauty and the Beast stars Watson as Belle, Dan Stevens as Beast, Luke Evans as Gaston, Josh Gad as Le Fou, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, Ewan McGregor as Lumiere, Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, Stanley Tucci as Cadenza, Kevin Kline as Maurice, and Audra McDonald as Garderobe.

source: www.ew.com

Vin Diesel Talks Beginning Filming on Fast 8

Vin Diesel Talks Beginning Filming on Fast 8: 'Paul Would Be Proud'.

Filming on Fast 8 has begun, and the cast is keeping the late Paul Walker in their hearts.

Vin Diesel, Walker's costar for seven The Fast and the Furious movies, shared a photo of himself with Walker as he gave an update after the first week on set of the new film, the first without Walker.

"Many of the crew members who have worked on several of the past Fast films are here again to help us make something special," Diesel captioned the photo that showed both actors smiling.
He continued, "One of them at the end of the week came up to me and said wow what we are capturing on film is excellent ... And then looked at me and said Paul would be proud."

Ludacris spoke to PEOPLE earlier this month about his memories of Walker.

"He was my brother. We had a shared bond over our birthdays, which are both in September," he said at a supporting Make-A-Wish Georgia event. "When you lose a family member, you lose a part of yourself."

Walker died in a November 2013 car accident at the age of 40. His daughter, 17-year-old Meadow, is currently involved in a lawsuit that alleges the Porsche the driver who caused the crash was driving was lacking basic safety features.


source: www.people.com

The Angry Birds Movie Flocks to First Place

The Angry Birds Movie Flocks to First Place.

Angry Birds The Movie

Columbia Pictures and Rovio Animation‘s The Angry Birds Movie opened to a strong $94
million at the worldwide box office this weekend. Animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks, the 3D-animated film earned an estimated $39 million in its opening weekend in 3,932 North American theaters, for an average of $9,919 per theater. The film started its international rollout on May 11 and its worldwide total is now $150 million.

Featuring the voices of Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Kate McKinnon, Sean Penn, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Bill Hader and Peter Dinklage, The Angry Birds Movie was directed by Fergal Reilly and Clay Kaytis from a script by Jon Vitti. The adaptation of the popular games cost about $73 million and was fully financed by Rovio. The Angry Birds Movie received a B+ CinemaScore from audiences.

Despite dropping to second place, Marvel Studios‘ Captain America: Civil War added another $33.1 million domestically and $30.7 million internationally for a global weekend of $63.8 million. The Anthony and Joe Russo-directed blockbuster has now earned $347.4 million in North America and $706.1 million overseas for a worldwide total of $1.053 billion. On Friday, Captain America: Civil War became the fourth Marvel Cinematic Universe film to surpass the $1 billion threshold, joining The Avengers ($1.518 billion), Avengers: Age of Ultron ($1.405 billion), and Iron Man 3 ($1.215 billion). The film is Disney’s 10th billion-dollar release out of the 25 films that have reached this milestone in the history of the industry. Made for $250 million, Captain America: Civil War has now passed The Dark Knight, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Alice in Wonderland, Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides to become the 19th highest-grossing movie of all-time to date worldwide.

Universal Pictures sequel Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising debuted in third place with an estimated $21.8 million from 3,384 theaters, for an average of $6,439 per theater. Internationally, the comedy added $6 million this weekend for an overseas total of $30 million and global sum of $51.8 million so far. Receiving a B CinemaScore, Neighbors 2 opened with less than half of the original, with Neighbors taking in over $49 million domestically its first weekend in 2014. Directed by Nicholas Stoller, the R-rated film stars Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Chloe Grace Moretz, Dave Franco, Ike Barinholtz, Carla Gallo, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kiersey Clemons, Beanie Feldstein, Selena Gomez, and Lisa Kudrow.

As far as the newcomers, The Nice Guys finished last, with the Shane Black-directed film earning $11.3 million in the fourth spot. Starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, the Warner Bros. release opened in 2,865 theaters and averaged $3,934 per theater. The film received a CinemaScore of B- from audiences.

Rounding out the top five was Disney’s The Jungle Book, which added $11 million its sixth weekend to bring its domestic total to $327.5 million. Internationally, the Jon Favreau-directed hit earned $7.4 million to take its overseas total to $530.2 million and worldwide total to $857.7 million. Staying with Disney, the studio’s Zootopia has now earned $981.8 million globally, meaning it has overtaken Despicable Me 2 ($970.8 million) to become the fourth highest-grossing animated release of all-time.

Also, in sixth place domestically, TriStar Pictures’ Money Monster earned $7.1 million its second weekend for a total of $27.1 million after two weeks. Starring George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Jack O’Connell, the thriller was made for $27 million.


Source: www.comingsoon.net

X-Men: Apocalypse Launches with $103.3 Million Internationally

X-Men: Apocalypse Launches with $103.3 Million Internationally.

X-Men: Apocalypse

While The Angry Birds Movie ruled the roost at the domestic box office this weekend, the international box office was dominated by X-Men: Apocalypse. The 20th Century Fox release earned $103.3 million from 20,596 screens in 75 markets. X-Men: Apocalypse is #1 in 71 of the markets and enjoyed the biggest Fox opening weekend ever in six markets, including Philippines ($4.9 million), India ($3.5 million), Indonesia ($3.1 million), Singapore ($3 million), Thailand ($2.7 million), and Colombia ($1.9 million). The UK led the way with $10.5 million and was followed by Mexico with $8.6 million, Brazil with $6.6 million, Russia with $6.5 million and France with $5.9 million.

 X-Men: Apocalypse opens in North American theaters this Thursday evening, in Korea on May 25, in China on June 3 and in Japan on August 11. You can view a few new promos for the film in the players below.

Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshiped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.

X-Men: Apocalypse stars James McAvoy as Charles Xaver, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert, Lucas Till as Havok and newcomers Alexandra Shipp as Storm, Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Ben Hardy as Angel, Tye Sheridan as Cyclops, Olivia Munn as Psylocke and Lana Condor as Jubilee. Oscar Isaac is starring as the film’s title antagonist.

Said to be the conclusion of a trilogy started with X-Men: First Class and continued with X-Men: Days of Future Past, the film was directed by Bryan Singer.

source: www.comingsoon.net

DISASTROUS DISASTER MOVIES

DISASTROUS DISASTER MOVIES

SOME OF CINEMA'S MOST ILL-ADVISED CATASTROPHE FLICKS.

San Andreas 

San Andreas The Movie

Imagines a devastating earthquake that tears a gash of horrific ruin through California — and plops Dwayne Johnson in the middle of the action as a heroic helicopter pilot who must brave statewide chaos in order to find his estranged daughter. It’s a good old-fashioned disaster movie, in other words, and while we’d never doubt the Rock’s ability to kick maximum butt in any cinematic setting, we can’t help but be reminded of the many times other talented folks have tried (and often failed) to thrill audiences with tales of epic mayhem and destruction, which is exactly why we’ve dedicated this week’s list to some of the worst entries in the genre. Head for cover, folks — it’s time for an all-disaster edition of Total Recall!

BEYOND THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1979)

BEYOND THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE

It arrived seven years after The Poseidon Adventure, but this utterly unnecessary sequel picked up pretty much right where the original left off — and roughly retraced the Poseidon plot in the bargain, too. Starring Michael Caine as a tugboat captain who wants to salvage the shipwreck’s cargo, Sally Field as Caine’s passenger, and Telly Savalas as the leader of a group of Greek sailors who have their own reasons for wanting to board the Poseidon, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure mustered barely a fraction of its predecessor’s box office grosses and none of its critical acclaim, adding up to one of the more bruising late-’70s blows to the sinking career of Irwin Allen, the legendary producer-director known as the “Master of Disaster.” For Roger Ebert, the whole thing was ridiculous, but not ridiculous enough to be any fun. “What did we really, sincerely, expect anyway,” he wondered, “from a movie in which Karl Malden plays a character named ‘Wilbur,’ and Slim Pickens plays a character named ‘Tex?'”.

Top Box Office Movies

TOP BOX OFFICE

Popularity

Captain America: Civil War , Audince score92% 

Captain America Civil war scene

Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson Critic Consensus: Captain America: Civil War begins the next wave of Marvel movies with an action-packed superhero blockbuster boasting a decidedly non-cartoonish plot and the courage to explore thought-provoking themes. PG-13, 2 hr. 26 min.

The Jungle Book , Audience score  91% 

The Jungle Book

Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley Critic Consensus: As lovely to behold as it is engrossing to watch, The Jungle Book is the rare remake that actually improves upon its predecessors -- all while setting a new standard for CGI. PG, 1 hr. 51 min.

The Huntsman: Winter's War, Audience score51%

The Huntsman: Winter's War

 Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt Critic Consensus: The Huntsman: Winter's War is visually arresting and boasts a stellar cast, but neither are enough to recommend this entirely unnecessary sequel. PG-13, 2 hr. 3 min.

Zootopia,Audience score 94% 

Zootopia

Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba Critic Consensus: The brilliantly well-rounded Zootopia offers a thoughtful, inclusive message that's as rich and timely as its sumptuously state-of-the-art animation -- all while remaining fast and funny enough to keep younger viewers entertained. PG, 1 hr. 48 min.

Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice,Audience score 67% 

Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice

Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams Critic Consensus: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice smothers a potentially powerful story -- and some of America's most iconic superheroes -- in a grim whirlwind of effects-driven action. PG-13, 2 hr. 31 min.

Deadpool, Audience score 92% 

Deadpool

Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein Critic Consensus: Fast, funny, and gleefully profane, the fourth-wall-busting Deadpool subverts superhero film formula with wildly entertaining -- and decidedly non-family-friendly -- results. R, 1 hr. 43 min.

The Revenant ,Audience score 85% 

                           The Revenant

Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson Critic Consensus: As starkly beautiful as it is harshly uncompromising, The Revenant uses Leonardo DiCaprio's committed performance as fuel for an absorbing drama that offers punishing challenges -- and rich rewards. R, 2 hr. 36 min.









Source: www.rottentomatoes.com

Reviews & Ratings for Captain America Civil War

Captain America: Civil War

Captain America :Civil War

• Now this is a good superhero movie!! 10/10 

Author: Vinay Sital

 Hi, I saw civil war and I come with good news; it's AWESOME! Im not gonna spoil one single thing, since this movie should be seen by only the two trailers you probably saw. Don't watch any tvspots after the second trailer or whatever! Im gonna touch a few aspects and rate them. Acting: Of course it's amazing. The characters we were waiting for were black panther and of course SPIDERMAN! Both were done amazing! Spiderman has a bigger role than I personally expected and it's done with grace. Love it. Black Panther was such a good character with great motivation why he's doing what he's doing. The acting per usual from the other characters were great! 10/10 Story: Now where another (let's leave it) unnamed superhero movie failed this year, and no I'm not talking about dead-pool.., was the story. Now this story is what I expected from the other unnamed superhero movie. I didn't know what side I wanted to be on; cap's or iron man's. I was so conflicted and even while they're fighting you don't know who to root for. The villain in this movie felt a bit, not really out of place, but unnecessary in my opinion. But Marvel always struggles to find a good fleshed out villain except for Loki & kingpin in the series. 8/10 Action/Cinematography: O boy..If you're an action freak you will love this, if you're a comic book fan.. you're gonna LIVE these amazing action set pieces. The much anticipated airport scene is AMAZING. You've seen nothing, literally nothing of the

IN MOVIE THEATERS

THE DARKNESS Evil Comes Home

The Darkness .

When a family returns from a Grand Canyon vacation, they begin noticing strange things happening in the house. Blaming young Mikey for these deviant events, it’s too late when they finally realize they’ve awakened ancient supernatural entities of THE DARKNESS. Explore The Events, but BEWARE of what you might awaken.

The prophecy

The ancient prophecy states, “When the Blue Star makes its appearance in the heavens, the Fifth World will emerge.” The signs of destruction have been fulfilled over many years. The ninth and final sign is described by the elder White Feather as, “You will hear of a dwelling-place in the heavens, above the earth, that shall fall with a great crash. It will appear as a blue star.” This will mark the end of the fourth world, as we know it.

The Anasazi

The Anasazi were an ancient Puebloan tribe that built elaborate dwellings in the cliffs and claves of what we now call the Four Corners of the Southwest. “Anasazi” is the Navajo given name, meaning “enemy ancestors.” However the Hopi, Zuni, and Puebloan tribes who all claim heritage to the Anasazi, refer to their ancestors as “Ancient Puebloans.” Bloodlines may be unclear, but a more ominous mystery remains to this day. Why did the Anasazi leave the convenience of the mesas to build sophisticated cliff villages and then suddenly vanish from history? Archaeologists believe the answer is both complicated and violent.

The Stones

It is said that shamans conducted secret ceremonies with powerful animal spirits for blessings that were paid with sacrifices and offerings. By opening a portal into their dimension, spirits gained access into our world. But when sacrifices weren’t met, five spirits turned into demons, determined to terrorize those who disturb their resting places. They manifest physically as a crow, coyote, snake, buffalo, or wolf. When one aligns the animal stones in perfect order, The Darkness ensues and an infestation of demons plagues the victims with a dark cloud of horror and destruction. If all five demons appear together, the “Blue Star” will emerge, signaling the cosmic annihilation of mankind.

Source:http://thedarknessmovie.tumblr.com/

Marvel or DC’s superhero battle

Does Marvel or DC’s latest movie win the superhero battle?

Big comic book movies “Batman v Superman” and “Captain America: Civil War” have similar themes. 

 Films compared for writing, fight scenes, characters.

  Good movies need to have top-notch villains.

Captain America VS Batman v Superman

In the span of just a little more than a month, fans of movies based on comic book characters have been given a legion of costumed characters to watch.
The DC Comics enthusiasts finally got to see the long awaited “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” that featured the brutal battle between the comic company’s two biggest characters. Fans waited even longer to see Wonder Woman join the mix and she arrived thanks to Gal Gadot.
Marvel fans got their own league of characters battling in “Captain America: Civil War,” which not only included most of the Avengers but features appearances by Spider-Man and the debut of Black Panther. You couldn’t throw a patriotic shield in the film without hitting a superhero.

Here are five ways the comic-book inspired blockbusters stack up against each other.

New Horror Film

This New Horror Film Is Being Touted As One Of The Scariest Movies Ever Made.

The Wood

A couple of very recent horror movies like ‘The Babadook’, ‘It Follows’ and ‘The Witch’ have somewhat reignited the otherwise dead genre of horror. ‘The Woods’, slated for a September release this year, is claiming to be a ‘genre bending’ horror outing. We thought it’s being branded this way to stir up the hype but its trailer made us think again.

The Wood

Starring a cast of mostly unknown actors, ‘The Woods’ treads the path of the ‘found-footage’ horror genre. The story follows a couple of college kids who go on a camping trip deep into the woods and come face to face with evil. While the story line is nothing exciting, how the movie is shot can actually make you shit your pants.
A few lucky critics who have previewed the film can’t stop raving about it. Comments like ‘Spooky af’ to the ‘one of the greatest ever made’ blessed ‘The Woods’ with a brief trending moment on Twitter yesterday. Here, check out the trailer yourself.

source: www.mensxp.com