Five for the Fifth

A monthly feature happening on the fifth day of the month where I give five random news item/observation/trailer, etc. and then turn it over to readers to share their take on that given topic

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Five for the Fifth: SEPTEMBER 2016 Edition

Welcome to FlixChatter’s primary blog series! As is customary for this monthly feature, I get to post five random news item/observation/poster, etc. and then turn it over to you to share your take on that given topic. You can see the previous five-for-the-fifth posts here.

1. Still can’t believe it’s Labor Day weekend already! For some reason I haven’t asked this before in the previous September editions. Most Americans will get a day off today in the first Monday of September to celebrate the creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.

WorkplaceMovies

It made me think of films that’s filmed in a workplace, whether it’s a factory, restaurant, 9-5 office job, etc. Having just rewatched Working Girl a couple of months ago, as well as Equity just last week, there are definitely a ton of films made about Wall Street. But there are a lot of memorable films about less glamorous jobs, i.e. Waitress, High Fidelity, Extract, Office Space, The Good Girl, Up in the Air, just to name a few. I’d also include Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. that takes place inside a scream factory.

So which workplace movie(s) is your all time favorite? 

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2. Ok, for this month FFTF, I want to feature two trailers from films by female directors. The first one stars Marion Cotillard, whose film Allied I actually featured last month. Well, as I said before, anything with miss Cotillard gets my attention!

From The Land of the Moon (Mal de pierres) trailer doesn’t have a subtitle yet but here’s the synopsis per IMDb:

Adaptation of Milena Agus’ novel, set after WWII following Gabrielle (Marion Cotillard), a passionate, free-spirited woman who is in a loveless marriage and falls for another man.

The film is directed by French actress/filmmaker Nicole Garcia also stars Louis Garrel and Alex Brendemühl. I love WWII romances, so I’m automatically intrigued by this. Apparently Sundance Selects has picked up the U.S. rights to the film back in March, and the film opens in France in mid October, but the US release date hasn’t been announced yet.

Here’s a clip that does have English subtitles:

Now this one takes place closer to home for me in the US.

Certain Women focuses on the lives of three women intersect in small-town America, where each is imperfectly blazing a trail.

I love the casting of the three main actresses: Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, and Kristen Stewart. I’m not familiar with filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, but I did remember her film Meek’s Cutoff (also starring Michelle Williams) was quite acclaimed. Certain Women is set for release on October 14th.

Thoughts about either one of these films? 
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3. Well, now that the dust has sort of settled on the Summer blockbuster season, a bunch of articles are lamenting that 2016 is one of the worst Summer seasons. The New York Times lists over a dozen movies as financial disappointment (including The BFG, ID4 sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Warcraft, etc. and perhaps the biggest dud of all, the Ben-Hur remake.

DontBreathe

But it seems that we’re only looking at big, tentpole movies. Seems that quite a few smaller movies like Lights Out, Bad Moms, The Purge: Election Year, Sausage Party, and this weekend’s box office winner for a second week in a row, Don’t Breathe have beaten industry expectations. Most of those movies’ budget are well below $20 mil, but have grossed at least twice its budget.

Which of the Summer sleeper hits are your favorite?
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4. It just dawned on me after I started watching Netflix’s Stranger Things that I’ve been watching two big 80s/90s stars making a comeback on TV. Winona Ryder is one of the stars of Stranger Things, and of course you all know Christian Slater has won acclaims for his performance in Mr. Robot.

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I don’t remember either one of those working steadily, apart from some small roles here and there. But there are some 80s/90s actors who have been working pretty steadily up until now, the likes of Robert Downey Jr. (since his comeback in Iron Man), Rob Lowe, Arnie, Sly, etc. It made me think of their peers a couple of decades ago who I haven’t seen in ages… Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz, Sherilyn Fenn, Molly Ringwald, and pretty much everyone in The Breakfast Club, boy those were big names when I was in high school!

So which of your favorite 80s/90s star would you like to see make a comeback on TV?
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5. This month Five for the Fifth‘s guest is Mark from Marked Movies! I’ve talked about it a few times the topic here but it’s always a fun one to discuss.

What actors people take a disliking to? Not that they’re bad actors but there’s something about their style, or even appearance, that you just don’t take to.
Or alternatively, what actors people have previously disliked but over time began to appreciate them?
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Well, I’m sure you have an answer for either one of Mark’s question. Let’s hear it!

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Well, that’s it for the SEPTEMBER edition of Five for the Fifth, folks. Take part by picking a question out of the five above or better yet, do ‘em all! 

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Five for the Fifth: AUGUST 2016 Edition

Welcome to FlixChatter’s primary blog series! As is customary for this monthly feature, I get to post five random news item/observation/poster, etc. and then turn it over to you to share your take on that given topic. You can see the previous five-for-the-fifth posts here.

1. I’ve been excited about Christopher Nolan’s DUNKIRK for some time and the teaser couldn’t have arrived at a better time… that is as I’m prepping my FFTF post🙂

DunkirkTeaser

I think most of you already knows what this is about. Now, I’m not always into war movies, mostly because it tends to be way too violent. But man, this looks so darn epic and with Nolan at the helm filming this on 70mm, I’m SO THERE!

Behold its epicness…

The cast is pretty amazing, some of which have been in Nolan’s previous movies… Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh… AND my new Welsh crush Aneurin Barnard!! One thing I wish Nolan hadn’t done is hire that kid from One Direction as I guarantee there’s gonna be a bunch of teenybopers swarming this just to get a glimpse of him. I mean I can’t even google this movie without seeing his face! In any case, we still have a year to wait for this as Dunkirk isn’t released until July 2017!

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LovingVincent

Now, this one apparently has been released for some time but I had just seen it for the first time thanks to my daily lunch-hour reading of BBC news, I found it in the culture section. It’s the world’s first feature-length painted animation!

Per its official site, Loving Vincent features over one hundred and twenty of Vincent Van Gogh’s greatest paintings. The plot, drawn from the 800 letters written by the painter himself, lead us to the significant people and events in the time leading up to his unexpected death. Every frame in the Loving Vincent movie is an oil painting on canvas, using the very same technique in which Vincent himself painted. Check out the amazing trailer, I sure hope it’ll get a decent release worldwide.

Thoughts on either one of these projects? 

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2. This week we also got a first look at romance war drama ALLIED. I didn’t even know is in the works but hey, anything with miss Cottilard gets my attention!
allied-first-look
The synopsis per IMDb:

Allied takes place in 1942. Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) and Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard) are undercover allies who begin to fall for each other. Max is a British intelligence officer sent to Casablanca to plan an assassination attempt. He works with Marianne, a French Resistance fighter who goes undercover as his wife.

I kind of like the pairing of Cotillard and Pitt, and Pitt actually looks decent without all the weird facial hair he’s been supporting for a while. This film seems so under the radar despite the cast though, I mean I haven’t heard a peep and no trailer yet even though the release date is November of this year.

The rest of the cast include Matthew Goode (yay!), Lizzy Caplan, and Jared Harris. The director is Robert Zemeckis whose last two features, Flight and The Walk, I haven’t seen yet.

Are you excited for this one?
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3. Speaking of trailers… ahhh what we’d do for our movie crushes [sigh] I followed this twitter account for trailer updates and it says there’s supposed to be a trailer for Ben Wheatley’s FREE FIRE attached to Star Trek Beyond. So naturally I was super excited and while initially I was fine waiting a week or two to see it, I immediately booked Friday night showing. As you know, my dahling Sam Riley is in Free Fire, though he’s probably only gonna be in the trailer for all but 5 seconds. But no matter, that’s enough to persuade me to actually see a movie on the big screen. Alas, the trailer was NOT shown at STB :( There were more than a half dozen trailers in front of it but none of it was Free Fire! Suffice to say I’m no longer following that trailer account. Heh, I wish I lived in London!!!

I’m curious, have you ever been compelled to see a movie on the big screen because a certain trailer is attached to it? 
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4. Ok this question is inspired by this weekend’s release of Suicide Squad. I’ll be writing the review this weekend but for now I can say that I enjoyed it, definitely not as bad as what the critics made it out to be.

It’s no surprise DC fans are up in arms about the negative reviews. Heh, every day there’s always news about people getting angry about the most trivial things. This time the subject of DC fans’ wrath is the Rotten Tomatoes site:

Actually, last time I checked the petition‘s got 18,495 supporters. The guy who started the Change.org petition wrote: “We need this site to be shut down because critics always give The DC Extended Universe movies unjust, bad reviews. And that affects people’s opinion even if it’s a really great movie,”

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RT score as of 10pm US Central Time

Now, I don’t really trust these critics aggregator sites anyway, because their algorithm is just baffling to me. Sometimes I’d click a rotten review that actually gives a movie 3/5, now I wouldn’t exactly categorize that as rotten. I’d think 3/5 is average and even 2.5/5 is below average, so not exactly in the horrible category. But to think that they’re biased against a certain film company is just absurd. Ok so I was left scratching my head that Age of Ultron got 75% fresh rating. I think that bloated movie is a big fat meh, not to mention the cringe-inducing Hulk/Black Widow *romance.* But I think it was still better than Batman V Superman, which got 27%, the exact RT score of Suicide Squad right now. If that’s the final score I think people are gonna think it’s a giant conspiracy, ahah.

What do you think about this supposed Marvel vs. DC *bias* and/or your thoughts about film critics site in general?
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5. This month Five for the Fifth’s guest is Ian from Ian the Cool Blog! He actually left a comment on my review of The Secret Life of Pets and it’s a great question that I asked him if it’s ok that I included it here. Here it is in his own words:

You confirm a lot of what I’m hearing, that [the movie] is really unoriginal and we’ve seen it all before. I guess the question is, does that matter for a kids movie? Kids won’t know its being unoriginal, because they don’t have the same film background we do. They will care about having funny characters they care about. Then again, should family movies have the bar set lower? When there are movies like Inside Out raising that bar, is the family argument an excuse anymore?

Well, what do you think? Should kids movies have the bar set lower compared to movies for adults?

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Well, that’s it for the AUGUST edition of Five for the Fifth, folks. Take part by picking a question out of the five above or better yet, do ‘em all! 

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Five for the Fifth: JULY 2016 Edition

Welcome to FlixChatter’s primary blog series! As is customary for this monthly feature, I get to post five random news item/observation/poster, etc. and then turn it over to you to share your take on that given topic. You can see the previous five-for-the-fifth posts here.

1. Happy Tuesday everyone! To my American friends, how was your Fourth? Hope you had an awesome three-day weekend! For some of us, Fourth of July weekend means family time, whether it’s at a state park, beach, lake, or at the movies!

FindingDory

So apparently Pixar’s latest Finding Dory threepeats this weekend, as Box Office Mojo called it, landing at #1 again at the box office for its third weekend. The Legend of Tarzan brought in about $45 million, followed by The Purge: Election Year at around $34 million and The BFG ends in fourth place with $22 million. Hmmm, I think we all know the major winner is The Purge 3 as its budget is merely $10 million, wow!

Did you see any new release movie on the big screen this weekend? 

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2. Now, in relation to this weekend’s box office. Well, The BFG turns out to be a bust, earning a paltry $22 mil in its first weekend when the budget is $140 mil!

I haven’t got a chance to review it yet as I was out and about all weekend, but I wasn’t that impressed with it. I barely remember any of it when I saw it over a week ago, but I found it a bit tedious as it took forever to get going. Variety wrote this piece wondering if Steven Spielberg has lost his blockbuster touch.

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Spielberg w/ BFG star Ruby Barnhill – image courtesy of Vox.com

I did like Spielberg’s last film Bridge of Spies, though I haven’t seen Lincoln yet. War Horse was overly sentimental despite a few moment of greatness, and I enjoyed The Adventures of Tintin mostly because I adore the Belgian comics. All the way to 2000s, Spielberg’s films were still relatively successful,from A.I. (2001), Catch Me If You Can (2002), Minority Report (2002), and War of the Worlds (2005), and of course the abominable Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) still raked up over $300mil! As he gets older though, his films seem to make less money. Bridge of Spies only made $72mil (on a $40mil budget).

What are your thoughts on Spielberg? Is his box office mojo behind him now?
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3. Ok, time for a few new trailers that caught my eye. I always like to mix things up so these two couldn’t be more different from each other.

Based on the extraordinary true story of Operation Anthropoid, the WWII mission to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich, the main architect behind the Final Solution and the Reich’s third in command after Hitler and Himmler.

I always love a good WWII thrillers, and Cillian Murphy is always solid in everything he’s in. Not really a fan of pretty boy Jamie Dornan but glad to see him doing something serious instead that Fifty Shades crap.
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A suburban couple becomes embroiled in an international espionage plot when they discover that their seemingly perfect new neighbors are government spies.

I hadn’t even heard of this movie before, but when I saw the trailer it made me laugh! It’s obviously inspired by Mr & Mrs Smith, with two absolutely beautiful couple Gal Gadot and Jon Hamm (who’d make the perfect match for a Wonder Woman + Superman flick!). Zach Galifianakis & Isla Fisher look pretty funny here, it looks like it’ll be a hoot like Melissa McCarthy’s SPY.

I was hoping Ben Wheatley’s upcoming movie Free Fire (starring a great ensemble cast including my beloved Sam Riley) will have its trailer out by now (it’s shown with A24’s Swiss Army Man, so I’ll add it here once it hits.

What do you think of these trailers?
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4. I’ve talked about my excitement for Idris Elba’s casting as the Gunslinger on Stephen King’s The Dark Tower adaptation. Well, I just saw some pics on Just Jared from the NYC set and I just had to share!

Idris_Gunslinger1

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Oh my, he certainly looks the part doesn’t he? I certainly wouldn’t mind roaming the Old West with THIS Roland Deschain😉 I guess it’ll be a while before we’ll see a trailer, as the film won’t be released until February 17th next year. But for sure I look forward to seeing Idris in the role and Matthew McConaughey as Roland’s adversary Man in Black.

What’s your initial thoughts on ‘The Dark Tower’? 
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5. This month Five for the Fifth’s guest is Zoë from Sporadic Chronicle of a Beginner’s Blogger! I LOVE that her question is in keeping what I’ve been obsessing lately, that is historical series (as I’m still nuts over The White Queen and finally finished BBC’s War & Peace this weekend).

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Here’s Zoë in her own words:

I’ve been watching a lot of Downton Abbey and Vikings lately and I’ve been loving both shows (as always). There are many shows under this genre, whether fictitious or factual, or a blend of both.

Which historical/period series are you currently watching and loving? 

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Well, that’s it for the JULY edition of Five for the Fifth, folks. Take part by picking a question out of the five above or better yet, do ‘em all! 

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Five for the Fifth: JUNE 2016 Edition

FiveForFifth2016_Spring

Welcome to FlixChatter’s primary blog series! As is customary for this monthly feature, I get to post five random news item/observation/poster, etc. and then turn it over to you to share your take on that given topic. You can see the previous five-for-the-fifth posts here.

1. Summer blockbuster is officially here folks! Some of the June screenings I’m going to be seeing are Finding Dory, Legend of Tarzan, Now You See Me 2, etc.

To be honest with you, I’m not super excited about any of the June releases. So I’m setting my sights on a movie that won’t even be here until March 2017, that is the live-action version of Beauty & The Beast!

Apparently the teaser trailer broke the viewing record, and beats even the latest Star Wars (91.8 million times in its first 24 hours compared to 88 million times for The Force Awakens). I have to admit I was rather meh when it was first announced, but since I’m quite looking forward to it. But man, the main cast was spot on! Emma Watson looks perfect as Belle, as well as Dan Stevens with his baby blues as the Beast/Prince and Luke Evans as Gaston. Heck, Evans looked like the splitting image the animated version of Gaston it’s uncanny! I wish Jean Dujardin had been cast as the French Casanova candelabra Lumière instead of Ewan McGregor though.

Are you excited about this live-action remake of ‘Beauty & The Beast’? 

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2. Last week the rumor mill went into overdrive with this report that Daniel Craig reportedly turned down nearly $100mil to play Bond in two more films. No, I’m not going to ask who you’d want to replace Craig as until there is an actual formal announcement from Barbara Broccoli herself that he’s no longer playing Bond, every actor mentioned is just speculation and wishful thinking. I posted on Twitter who I’d love to see as Bond as I think the Yorkshireman all the requirements for a definitive cinema super spy in my book😉

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One thing for sure, Craig will follow up his Bond role with a TV series called Purity, a dramatic thriller based on Jonathan Franzen’s novel of the same name. Per THR, the story centers on a young woman named Purity (who is known by the name of Pip) who, in search of answers about herself and her family, winds up interning in South America at the Sunlight Project, a group which deals with all the secrets of the world. It’s described as a story about youthful idealism, fidelity and murder. Like Bond movies, the story is also set in multiple locations, Berlin, Bolivia, New York, California, etc. Craig is to play Andreas, a German provocateur who crosses paths with Pip who sounds a lot like Julian Assange.

Premium Cable TV Showtime has ordered 20 episodes of it and production will begin next year. This project sounds pretty intriguing actually. I’m curious to see who else will join the cast, especially in the role of Pip.

What do you think of the premise of ‘Purity’ series?
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3. For some reason I missed this news from a while ago that Sandra Bullock will be leading an all female cast of Ocean’s Eleven movie. According to The Playlist, director Gary Ross (The Hunger Games, Seabiscuit) came up with the idea and brought the idea to the original ‘Ocean’s’ franchise director Steven Soderbergh. I certainly welcome the idea, and it certainly could be fun. We’ll see if this might spurn all kinds of controversy the way the all-female Ghostbuster movie had been (frankly I think all those haters have no life nor an iota of imagination), but heck, I’ll so watch it! Well, there’s now reports that another Oscar winner, Cate Blanchett, might join the cast. Wahoo!!!!

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Who else would you like to see join the cast of this movie?
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4. Speaking of on-screen pairings, this question is inspired by the latest buddy cop action comedy The Nice Guys in which we see the unlikely pairing of Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. I haven’t seen it yet but lots of people praise the two actors’ on-screen chemistry. I guess it shouldn’t surprise us the fact that director Shane Black’s classic Lethal Weapon had one of the best on-screen pairings ever with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. I also like the pairing of Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with Val Kilmer & Robert Downey Jr.

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There have been other great buddy cop duos, comedic or otherwise. Robert Downey Jr & Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes, Colin Farrell & Brendan Gleeson in In Bruges, and even the small screen pairing of Matthew McConnaughey & Woody Harrelson in True Detectives season 1 was an audience favorite.

I had asked this question six years ago and posted my dream picks of MALE on-screen duos. My absolute dream would be to see Timothy Dalton & Alan Rickman pairing, alas that’s never gonna happen now. In any case, right at the top of my head, I’d love to see the pairing of:

  • Sam Riley & Daniel Brühl (he’s actually played opposite Sam’s wife Alexandra Maria Lara in Rush)
  • Idris Elba & Christian Bale
  • Viggo Mortensen & Daniel Day Lewis

I could go on and on… boy it must be REALLY fun being a casting director!

So just for fun, which male on-screen duo would you like to see on either films or tv? 
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5. This month Five for the Fifth’s guest is Eddie from Sidekick Reviews Blog & Jaccendo.com!

Movie reshoots are a standard practice. Recent examples are Star Wars: Rogue One and Suicide Squad which haven’t been released yet.

RogueOneReshoots

Some reshoots mostly add extra footage like Lord of the Rings, some make significant changes to endings or even characters like turning Shredder in TMNT back into an Asian character. A lot of classic films like Blade Runner, Jaws, Back To The Future, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Apocalypse Now, etc. have undergone reshoots.

So which movie(s) do you think was made better or worse by major reshoots?

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Well, that’s it for the JUNE edition of Five for the Fifth, folks. Take part by picking a question out of the five above or better yet, do ‘em all! 

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Five for the Fifth: MAY 2016 Edition

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Welcome to FlixChatter’s primary blog series! As is customary for this monthly feature, I get to post five random news item/observation/poster, etc. and then turn it over to you to share your take on that given topic. You can see the previous five-for-the-fifth posts here.

1. Happy Cinco de Mayo! Well, per tradition on the Fifth of May, I always feature a Mexican actor/actress (or actors of Mexican descent). I’ve been a fan of Michael Peña for some time and I think he’s a terrific actor. I can’t tell you where I first saw him, it might have been Crash, as his scene is no doubt one of the most memorable out of that overrated film.

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He’s the kind of actors who’s memorable even in small supporting roles. He was such a hoot in American Hustle and recently, Antman and The Martian. My friend Nostra made this awesome ‘many faces’ post on the actor, which you should check out here. I look forward to seeing him in CHiPs which I think will be a hoot because he’s in it!

So what’s your favorite role of Michael Peña?

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2. I was going to post this trio of trailers last week but I had to change it to a tribute to Prince instead😦 Well these three movies couldn’t be more different from each other and that’s kind of the point.

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The Girl on the Train

The first two trailers here feature an actress I haven’t heard before, Haley Bennett. Boy she seems to have come out of nowhere and getting some really high-profile roles. But the main draw for me here is Emily Blunt and Rebecca Ferguson, and the premise sounds intriguing as well. The fact that it’s based on a mystery/thriller novel by a woman (Paula Hawkins) with female-driven characters automatically made me think of Gone Girl, but director Tate Taylor (The Help, Get On Up) ain’t no David Fincher so we’ll see how this one fares.

The Magnificent Seven

I totally forgot this film was even in development. I’m not a big Western fan but with THIS cast, it certainly piqued my interest. The story still centers on seven gun men in the old west gradually come together to help a poor village against savage thieves. The new remake stars Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, and Peter Sarsgaard. Well it’s certainly a pretty diverse cast! Heck, if Brit Sam Riley can play a German-speaking American cowboy in The Dark Valley, who’s to say you can’t cast a Korean actor as a cowboy? Confession: I haven’t seen the original yet. Yes I probably should get on that before this one comes out.

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

Now I didn’t watch the British tv show regularly, but of the episodes I saw they were hilarious!! Jennifer Saunders & Joanna Lumley as BFFs Edina (Eddy) & Patsy respectively are a pair of hard-drinking socialites and this time they’re thrown into a media firestorm when they accidentally kill Kate Moss. The trailer looks like a hoot and it’s got a great supporting cast too, not to mention a slew of celeb cameos. I adore The Vicar of Dibley and Dawn French, so I’m excited to see her in a cameo as well.

Any of these trailers strike your fancy?

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3.  One of the movies I re-watched this past weekend was The Mummy. I still enjoyed it immensely as it was one of my fave movies from the late 90s. But man, I couldn’t help but think about Brendan Fraser’s career trajectory. You might’ve read articles why Hollywood won’t cast him anymore and it’s just sad. I mean, I’m not a huge fan of his or anything but he was likable and some of his earlier movies were pretty fun.

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In any case, The Mummy reboot is well underway with the still-as-hot-as-he-was-in-the-80s Tom Cruise as the star. As with anything with Cruise in it, projects always get made… and fast! The new release date is June 9, 2017 and as of today, there’s reports per Variety that Russell Crowe is joining the cast! WOW!

Thoughts about Brendan Fraser and/or’The Mummy’ reboot? 
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4. This question is inspired by my recent viewings of films with open-ended endings. I’ve watched quite a few of ’em in the past surely, but I haven’t really brought up this topic before on this blog. I mentioned in my review of A Copy of My Mind, which happens to be from my home country Indonesia, how the ending frustrated me even though overall it was a good film. Then a week later I saw The Lobster which also had an ending that’s very open to interpretation.

I don’t expect (or want) every film to be wrapped neatly with a pretty red bow, but I often wonder if certain films have open endings because the filmmakers simply don’t know how to end it. Of course that’s not always the case, and some open-ended films can be really thought-provoking and more profound the more you think about it. There are also seemingly ambiguous ones perhaps aren’t that ambiguous after all, but that’s for another discussion.

So what do you think of films with an open-ended ending & what are some of your favorites?
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5. This month Five for the Fifth’s guest is Jordan from Epileptic Moondancer blog! Well, as we both have been watching quite a few indie foreign films (that is films set in a language other than English), we’re curious what some of your faves are.

In Jordan’s own words:

My favourite foreign film of this year was Son of Saul, which was an incredibly confronting holocaust drama from Hungary, a first-time effort from Laszlo Nemes.

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The un-subtitled German orders and unique camera-work makes it an immersive and almost horrifying experience about a group of men in Auschwitz who had a particularly horrifying duty.

What’s YOUR favorite foreign film(s) from the past few years?

Well, that’s it for the MAY edition of Five for the Fifth, folks. Now, please pick a question out of the five above or better yet, do ‘em all!😀

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Five for the Fifth: APRIL 2016 Edition

Welcome to FlixChatter’s primary blog series! As is customary for this monthly feature, I get to post five random news item/observation/poster, etc. and then turn it over to you to share your take on that given topic. You can see the previous five-for-the-fifth posts here.

1. Ok let’s start off with some on-set photos from Doctor Strange that have been bombarding my Twitter feeds this weekend…

Honestly I don’t know much about this character at all, but given the cast I’m intrigued. No I’m not one of the Cumberbitches, though I think Benedict Cumberbatch is a good actor. But I do love Chiwetel Ejiofor and Mads Mikkelsen so their involvement made me more excited about this project. The Jedi-inspired costumes are, well, interesting… they looks so bright and colorful in these pics but I’m sure they’ll darken it in post-production.

So are you excited for Marvel’s ‘Doctor Strange’ and do you think Cumberbatch is a good casting choice?
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2. A couple of intriguing new trailers that caught my eye…

The Lost City of Z

Based on the 2009 nonfiction by David Grann, the story centers on early 20th century explorer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam), who disappeared while searching of the lost city in the Amazon in 1925, and Grann’s attempts to find out what happened to Fawcett, by visiting the Amazon himself (per Screenrant).

The pairing of Hunnam and Robert Pattinson as Grann is intriguing, both are good looking Brits who’s not afraid to take riskier roles.

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Pattinson especially is keen in hiding his looks, this time under hideous facial hair. Sienna Miller plays his wife and Spider-man du jour Tom Holland also stars. Not too familiar w/ director James Gray‘s work however, as I’ve only seen The Immigrant which was pretty good but a little on the slow side.

Elvis & Nixon

Now this one I’ve blogged about back in February when the first still was released. Apparently the Nixon & Elvis photo was the most-requested photo from the US Archive. Now we’ve got a trailer! I don’t know about you, but this is the kind of movie to see just for this duo alone.

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Ok so neither Kevin Spacey nor Michael Shannon really resemble the real people they’re portraying, esp. Shannon as Elvis, but like Michael Fassbender with Steve Jobs, the most important thing is he captured the essence of the character. It’s also directed by a woman, Liza Johnson, which is always a big plus in my book.

So what are your thoughts about either one of these trailers?

3. Ok I already mentioned this on my March recap post, but right now I’m about halfway done with the Len Deighton spy novel SS-GB that’s similar to Amazon’s Man in the High Castle but set in London. It’s an alternative history novel and the novel’s title refers to the branch of the Nazi SS that controls Britain. It’s a real page-turner and I absolutely can’t wait to watch the BBC’s 5-part miniseries with Sam Riley as the protagonist Douglas Archer, a British homicide detective assigned to Scotland Yard.

SSGB_BBCminiseries

The spy-pedigree is a strong one given that the miniseries is written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who’ve written a bunch of Bond movies. I do hope it’s more Casino Royale than Spectre though. It’s got a largely European cast, but Kate Bosworth has joined the cast as an American journalist who’s also Archer’s love interest. I’ll be sure to blog more about this once the trailer’s been released.

Of course there are a plethora of other projects out there based on a novel.

So which book adaptation currently in development are you looking forward to the most?
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4. It seems there are a lot of music biopics released around the same time. Last night I finally saw the Chet Baker biopic Born to Be Blue. The internet connection at home was terrible so the online screener kept stalling but I stuck it out and my patience was rewarded. It’s an affecting and beautifully-acted biopic, featuring stellar performances from Ethan Hawke and Carmen Ejogo. Interestingly enough, his rival Miles Davis’ is getting a cinematic treatment as well with Don Cheadle as Miles. Both Born to Be Blue and Miles Ahead are unconventional biopics that don’t try to cram the entire span of their lives but focused on a certain timeframe.

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There are female music icon biopics as well. We’ve got the documentary AMY last year and the Nina Simone movie NINA which controversial casting has been all over the media recently. Not sure what’s behind the biopic boom but I think music biopics have always been marketable.

So which musical artist do you wish would get their own biopic?
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5. This month Five for the Fifth’s guest is Table9Mutant from Cinema Parrot Disco blog! Well, as The Walking Dead finale just aired this weekend, and a lot of you are likely to be anticipating the latest season of Game of Thrones, it’s most appropriate to have a TV-related question this month.

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Now, as those two shows are known for killing off its characters, we’d like to know…

Which character would you most like to see killed off in any current TV show?…

Well, that’s it for the April edition of Five for the Fifth, folks. Now, please pick a question out of the five above or better yet, do ‘em all!😀

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Five for the Fifth: MARCH 2016 Edition

Welcome to FlixChatter’s primary blog series! As is customary for this monthly feature, I get to post five random news item/observation/poster, etc. and then turn it over to you to share your take on that given topic. You can see the previous five-for-the-fifth posts here.

1. Ok let’s start off with the casting news that’s likely still on everyone’s minds. I know it must be on my pal Ted S.’s mind as he’s a huge fan of of the book, right Ted? The forever-in-the-works adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower finally has casting in place: Idris Elba will play the gunslinger Roland Deschain and Matthew McConaughey will play the villainous Man in Black.

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King himself has confirmed the casting:

I know there’ll be fuss about the race thing just like when Elba played Norse god Heimdall in Thor, but I personally think Elba’s one of those actors that can pull off ANY role, regardless of what skin color the character’s supposed to be. But I haven’t read the book so I don’t know if he’d actually fit the character of Roland in terms of personality, etc.

So what do y’all think about this casting news? 
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2. Now, a lot of you already know I’m currently into British actor Sam Riley. I’ve also been obsessing over Pride and Prejudice and Zombies where he played a charming but dangerous Mr. Darcy [the only Darcy I ever hyperventilate over😉 ]. If it’s still playing in theaters near me, I’d gladly go again for a third time!

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This epic fight that takes place after Mr. Darcy’s first proposal scene is nothing short of epic. Riley and Lily James have such a scorching chemistry, and they’re now my favorite Lizzie & Darcy. It’ll definitely make it to my top 10 favorite scenes I’d watch over and over again from 2016… and beyond!

So tell me, which film(s) you’ve seen more than once in the theater this year? Feel free to share your favorite scene from that movie, too.…

3. Last Wednesday I saw Knight of Cups… I mentioned in this post that I knew going in that the latest Terrence Malick’s film has no script. I’m still curious about it because of the cast.

KnightOfCups

Well, suffice to say, if you’ve never been into Malick’s style, I’d say best to avoid this one. It’s basically a 2-hr visual poetry set to classical music. As beautiful the visuals is, lensed by Malick’s regular, triple Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki. But y’know what, his cinematography work here actually made me nauseous! I had to close my eyes several times to keep from hurling. I generally like most of his films, save for Badlands and To The Wonder which I haven’t seen yet. But I’m kind of put off by this one that I don’t think I want to watch ANY film without a script ever again. Heh, screenwriters exist for a reason Mr. Malick. I’m hoping his next film Weightless actually has a script, as it’s really hard to resist THIS ensemble cast!

What are your thoughts about Terrence Malick’s style? Yay or nay?
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4. Per tradition, there are a couple of trailers I want to highlight today. Both are female-driven, though they couldn’t be more different in terms of genres.

Let’s start with Despite the Falling Snow, which I had been anticipating for some time. I had blogged about it when I posted about 5 new-to-me actors I’d like to see more of, as Rebecca Ferguson plays the lead in this one. It also has one of my new fave actors Sam Reid from Belle, woo hoo! There are so few romantic thrillers out there and I LOVE the premise of this. Forbidden romance set in wartime setting, with intrigue and suspense thrown in, I’m SO there. Plus it’s also directed by a woman, UK-based filmmaker Shamim Sarif.

DespiteFallingSnow

In Cold War Moscow, a female spy steals secrets from an idealistic politician – and falls in love with him.

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Now THIS is a reboot I’m actually looking forward to: GHOSTBUSTERS! This is likely to be one of Summer’s biggest hits. I LOVE the female cast, it just looks like such a hoot. This will be Melissa McCarthy‘s fourth time with Paul Feig, after starring in Bridesmaids, The Heat, and Spy. I’ve only seen the last one which was a blast, and Kate McKinnon is my fave SNL cast member from the current season.

30 years after Ghostbusters took the world by storm, the beloved franchise makes its long-awaited return. Director Paul Feig brings his fresh take to the supernatural comedy, joined by some of the funniest actors working today.

Thoughts about either one of these trailers?
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5. This month Five for the Fifth’s guest is my pal Wendell from Dell on Movies.  Blockbuster season will begin in earnest in March, starting with Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice later this month, The Jungle Book in April and Captain America: Civil War + X-Men Apocalypse in May.

Which 2016 blockbusters do you absolutely have to see and which will you skip?

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Well, that’s it for the March edition of Five for the Fifth, folks. Now, please pick a question out of the five above or better yet, do ‘em all!😀

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Five for the Fifth: FEBRUARY 2016 Edition

FiveForFifthVday

Welcome to FlixChatter’s primary blog series! As is customary for this monthly feature, I get to post five random news item/observation/poster, etc. and then turn it over to you to share your take on that given topic. You can see the previous five-for-the-fifth posts here.

TheChoice1. Well, it’s February and V-day is next weekend. It seems that there are always a slew of romance-themed films coming out in February — and it’s the month that’s undoubtedly cornered by Nicholas Sparks. He’s got yet another one of his romance drivel drama out called The Choice, and it made me realize that I’ve only seen ONE film based on his books, The Notebook and since then I have no desire to see another project of his again.

Heck I’d rather watch Pride and Prejudice and Zombies ten times over before I rent, oh I dunno, Dear John? [Interestingly enough, the actor who’s in the choice was in Seth Grahame-Smith’s crazy mashup Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, ahah] But hey, obviously Sparks must’ve strike a chord with people otherwise his movies won’t continually get made.

So out of curiosity, do you like Nicholas Sparks’ movies? 
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2. Speaking of February, glad there are definitely alternatives to romantic films. Yes I know many of you are excited for Deadpool [which I had just watched last night], but another movie out later this month that’s somehow escaped me is Triple 9. My goodness, how in the world have I not blogged about this movie before? This is a movie I’d watch just for the cast! Casey Affleck, Kate Winslet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Teresa Palmer, Gal Gadot, Clifton Collins Jr. and Aaron Paul. Check out the character posters below:

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A gang of criminals and corrupt cops plan the murder of a police officer in order to pull off their biggest heist yet across town.

Check out the trailer:

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Now granted I haven’t seen any of director John Hillcoat‘s films yet (The Proposition, Lawless, The Road) which all sound so dark and bleak, but I’m looking forward to seeing this one. I always love a good heist movie!

Will you be watching Triple 9? 
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3. Apparently February 4 is PIXAR’s 30th Birthday!

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Since 1986, Pixar has made so many great animated classics, most have stand the test of time. There are 16 total Pixar films so far, three of them are sequels (per Wiki). With the exception of Cars, Cars 2 and the latest one, The Good Dinosaur, I have seen ALL of Pixar movies and pretty much love them all in varying degrees. Though I’ve been watching Pixar films for a couple of decades, it’s cool that some people have just discovered them. Jordan just posted his review of Inside Out which he loved, and he’s never seen a Pixar movie since he was a kid.

Now, would you name three of your absolute favorite Pixar movies? 
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4. I’m so bummed that I missed Hail, Caesar! press screening last Tuesday thanks to the darn snow storm. Now, I’m not one of those people who anticipate the Coens’ movie every time it comes out, but I couldn’t wait to see this one so we’ll definitely go see it on Friday night.

I was reading an interview with the Coens on Variety and one of the questions was the frequent collaborations with the same people. Ethan said they’ve done four films with George Clooney and three with Josh Brolin, and probably a dozen with Joel’s wife Frances McDormand.

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The Coens on set w/ Josh Brolin & George Clooney

Here’s Ethan’s answer as to why they tend to work with the same actors:

It’s a combination of things. Personally liking them figures into it. You got to not only work with them, but also have lunch; you’re spending time with them. When they are good at what they do, you want to spend more time with them. It’s self-perpetuating. But frankly, it’s also a bit of a crutch. If you know them well, you think: “What would be interesting for them to play?”

I personally don’t mind the frequent collaborations of the Coens and some of his actors. Some other fruitful director/actor collaborations I like are Christopher Nolan + Michael Caine/Christian Bale, Wes Anderson + Bill Murray and Ridley Scott + Russell Crowe, just to name a few. But even after three films, I’m already sick of seeing David O. Russell movies with Bradley Cooper/Jennifer Lawrence combo [shrug]

What director/actor collaborations you think you’d never grow tired of?
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5. This month Five for the Fifth’s guest is Tiffany from Presents from the Past blog! It’s a site dedicated to modern reimaginings of the fashion and beauty of period dramas, so naturally her question revolves around costume design.

Some of her favorite costumes are from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the TV movies Lady Chatterly’s Lover and The Go Between. Click each thumbnail to see a larger image:

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For me personally, since I’m also a big fan of period dramas, I LOVE Carey Mulligan’s clothes in Far from the Madding Crowd, especially this one:

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So which 2015 film(s) you think have the best costumes?

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Well, that’s it for February 2016 edition of Five for the Fifth. Now, please pick a question out of the five above or better yet, do ‘em all!😀

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Five for the Fifth: JANUARY 2016 Edition

FiveForFifth2015

Welcome to FlixChatter’s primary blog series! As is customary for this monthly feature, I get to post five random news item/observation/poster, etc. and then turn it over to you to share your take on that given topic. You can see the previous five-for-the-fifth posts here.

1. Well, since it’s the first Five of the Fifth of 2016, I’ll just start with something easy as I reckon it’s still fresh in your mind.

For me, the last one I saw last year was The Force Awakens and the first one of the year was this masterfully-crafted German noir drama Phoenix that I saw on Netflix. I still can’t get it out of my head how beautiful and mesmerizing it was, I can’t recommend it enough folks!

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A disfigured concentration-camp survivor (Nina Hoss), unrecognizable after facial reconstruction surgery, searches ravaged postwar Berlin for the husband (Ronald Zehrfeld) who might have betrayed her to the Nazis.

What’s the last film you saw in 2015 and the first film you saw in 2016? 
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2. Now that I’ve posted my Top 10 films of 2015, it made me think about films that early in the year I thought would likely make my list. Of course we have our list of most-anticipated movies, and we set our expectations high on them. But then as the year wind down, those films barely even crack your top 20!

MacbethStill3For me that film was Macbeth which I thought I’d love given that I usually enjoy Shakespeare. But I find it too tedious and didn’t have the emotional oomph I was looking for. As a friend said to me after the screening, ‘beautiful but boring.’ Oh and Spectre, given that Skyfall was in my top 10 of 2012 the fact that it doesn’t even merit an Honorable Mentions is disappointing.

On the flip side, there are films that critics absolutely loathe than I actually didn’t think was all THAT bad. Case in point: Agent 47. I actually had a good time watching that and liked it more than the first remake from a few years ago.

So, what’s the biggest film surprise of 2015, either good or bad?
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3. Five days into the new year, I’m already setting my sights on 2016 films! Despite being dismayed time and time again by my own expectations, I still can’t help anticipating upcoming movies!

Well, it should be no surprise to anyone that the Star Wars fever is as high as ever, just like many things in life, everything old is new again😉 According to Fandango survey, apparently Star Wars: Rogue One, a spin-off of the saga already tops the list of most anticipated movies of 2016! (per Variety)

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I’m surprised that Dawn of Justice is more anticipated than Captain America Civil War [huh?]  As for ‘Most Anticipated Comic Book Character Debuting in a Major Role,’ at the top of the list is Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and I’m on board with that. I think she’ll be good in the role, but she probably won’t get to do much until her standalone film in 2017.

I’ll be making a list of movies I’m anticipating later this year, but the films I look forward the most in 2016 is pretty much anything my crush Stanley Weber is in [natch!], I don’t care if he’s sporting a dorky haircut as a Cistercian priest!Pilgrimage_still

Stanley’s supposedly got a few films out that’s due out later this year but the most likely one I’ll be seeing first is Pilgrimage with Richard Armitage, Jon Bernthal (who’s playing the Punisher in Daredevil) and Tom Holland (aka the new Spider-man).

Let’s put the big-budget ones aside for a moment, what’s an indie film you look forward to the most this year?
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4. Ok now we’d have to wait two years to see this one but I was excited about it when I read this during my vacation in late December. Even though I wasn’t totally blown away by Interstellar, but Christopher Nolan is still one of my fave directors so naturally I’m still curious what he’ll tackle next.

Apparently French newspapers first reported the news upon learning that Nolan and his brother, screenwriter Jonathan Nolan, had been scouting location in Dunkirk. Per Variety, Nolan will direct Dunkirk from his own original screenplay as his next project. Nolan will also produce the film with his longtime producing partner and wife, Emma Thomas.

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The story is set during the legendary evacuation of the northern French city during WWII. Nolan and his casting department recently began testing teenagers in London for lead roles, but the director also wanted to nail down some choices for the few adult roles in the film before the holiday.

Now, the adult roles casting certainly piqued my interest greatly. Three of them are on my MVP list of 2015, with Kenneth Branagh as director of Cinderella. Anything with Tom Hardy is fantabulous in my book, this will mark the third time he’ll be working with Nolan after Inception and The Dark Knight Rises. Mark Rylance is phenomenal in Bridge of Spies. He’s a versatile actor who I think will elevate everything he’s in. I’d love to see a strong female performer (or two) among the cast as well, hopefully the script isn’t just strictly ‘boys only’ story.

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Warner Bros. has dated the film for July 21, 2017. It’s certainly a project I’ll be keeping an eye on.

Thoughts about this project and its casting?
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5. This month Five for the Fifth’s guest is my pal Ted S. It’s a two-part question, so here goes.

What are your favorite TV shows that don’t have re-watchable appeal? For example, I love The Walking Dead, Justified, Breaking Bad and The Americans but I have no desire to watch the episodes I already saw.

On the flip side, I can re-watch many of my favorite films. So for the second part question, what are your favorite films that you can watch over and over again?

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Well, that’s it for first 2016 edition of Five for the Fifth, folks. Now, please pick a question out of the five above or better yet, do ‘em all!😀

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Five for the Fifth: DECEMBER 2015 Edition

FiveForFifth2015

Welcome to FlixChatter’s primary blog series! As is customary for this monthly feature, I get to post five random news item/observation/poster, etc. and then turn it over to you to share your take on that given topic. You can see the previous five-for-the-fifth posts here.

1. Can’t believe the end of the year is upon us folks! As we anticipate December movies, I can’t help but setting my sights into movies opening in the Spring. Well, it looks to be a battle of Marvel vs DC, in which the two movies will consist of their own heroes fighting each other, ahah. Batman vs Superman aka Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War are initially going to open on the same day, before Zack Snyder moved the release date of Dawn of Justice to March 25.

So here are the two recently-released trailers:

Heh, they pretty much given up the entire movie in the trailer! And despite all the hoopla of Batman fighting Superman, they practically downplayed the most intriguing aspect of the movie to introduce the huge monster Doomsday as the main villain. That’s just idiotic, why not build up more of the tension between the two behemoth heroes? I thought the 50-second teaser was far more interesting and ominous (see below), but the tone of the trailer is too playful it’s almost comedic which is just so messed up.

The only cool part of trailer 2 is seeing Wonder Woman in that last still shot, but man Jesse Eisenberg wins Most Annoying Villain ever as Lex Luthor.

On the other hand, I’m even more pumped to see the battle that goes down between Captain America and Iron Man!

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The Captain America franchise has become my favorite of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the story arc is definitely the most interesting. I LOVE seeing Bucky in the trailer back on Capt’s side again. The reason why Capt. and Tony Stark are fighting each other make total sense and it’ll be a bad ass and emotional battle for both parties.

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Nice seeing Black Panther here and his ambiguous allegiance makes his character all the more intriguing. May 6th can’t come soon enough!!

So what’s your thoughts on each of these trailers?
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2. Switching gears to one of the most anticipated TV series returning next year. Both are supposed to be premiering in SPRING!!

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One is Netflix’s DAREDEVIL… the teaser is over a month old but it’s still cool to see it again. Between Elektra and Punisher, Matt Murdoch’s got his work cut out for him! BRING. IT. ON.

As for the other series, well most of you who know me well should know by now how much I’ve been anticipating Outlander season 2, given how huge my crush is on hunky Frenchman Stanley Weber😉

So yeah, one of the biggest reasons I look forward for season 2 is Comte St Germain. But I mean seriously, can you blame me? He still looks so damn hot in powdered wig, but I sure hope the producers know how to make the most of his talents. He’s largely unknown in the States but based on what I’ve seen him in so far, he’s SO much more than a pretty face and be both charming AND menacing at the same time. Can’t wait to see that staredown scene between Le Comte and Claire.

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What’s YOUR most anticipated returning TV series?
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3. In the next few weeks I hope to do a Top 10 MVP of both male and female performers of 2015 (in a separate list). I might wait until January though so I can see as many new releases as possible. But I have a pretty good idea who would surely make my list based on what I’ve seen so far, these two would certainly make my top 10:

Charlize_FuryRoad

Thank you George Miller for making Mad Max: Fury Road a female-driven film and infused it with the most breathtaking, fun and emotional cinematic ride I’ve seen on the big screen all year. Charlize Theron is so freakin’ bad ass as Furiosa that it’s definitely one of the most memorable female performances of 2015.

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Ahhhh Tom Hardy… the scene stealer in practically everything he’s in gets to show his chops playing TWO characters as the Kray Brothers in LEGEND. He’s really the only reason to see the film. Absolutely mesmerizing despite the so-so script, and practically Bond-like as Reggie Kray. Please Broccolis, you’ve GOT to offer him 007 post Daniel Craig!

So if you could just name one male & female MVP of the year, who would they be?
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4. Now, this question might be an easy or a tricky one. But I hope this topic will spark some discussions amongst you movie lovers.

Do you think 2015 has been a good year for movies? Please let me know your rationale regardless which is your answer.
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5. This month Five for the Fifth’s guest is Keith from Keith and Movies Blog!

The question relates perfectly to the one above, as each of us certainly bring different expectations to certain films. I think for me, given how I feel about the recent Bond movies, I’d think Spectre is one of my biggest disappointments of the year.

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With the movie year winding down, what was your biggest movie disappointment of the past year?

Well, that’s it for the year end’s edition of Five for the Fifth, folks. Now, please pick a question out of the five above or better yet, do ‘em all!😀

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