Sequels need to look forward. They almost never do; it’s very difficult to conceptualize an interesting new character in the first place, and doing so out of the blue means tying them in concretely to the story of the introduction, which usually also has a concrete end. Their lives may go on, but the most…
About six weeks ago, I got a press pass to cover the Running Universal Featuring Jurassic World 10K race. I’m a pretty athletic person, so I figured I could do this. I’m not a runner though, so I started training right away. Having never done one of these before, I thought I’d share what the…
Vital Thrills recently attended the Frozen 2 press conference and got new details about the anticipated Walt Disney Animation Studios sequel. Attending were directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, as well as Frozen 2 cast members Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff, Evan Rachel Wood, and Josh Gad, as well as composers Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. Kristen Bell, who…
As frequently funny as it is frequently messy, the newest iteration of the Charlie’s Angels franchise has all the ingredients for success but never gets them together. A strong supporting cast, a solid vision for the film, and top-tier department heads should and occasionally do create a zippy action comedy with just enough more on…
To use a baseball metaphor, the idea of Tom Hanks playing Fred Rogers is a lot like a 70-mile-per-hour fastball pitched right across the plate to someone like Hank Aaron or Mickey Mantle – you just know that little white stitcher is long gone. Who else but Hanks to play Fred Rogers? You could cast…
In the trailer for Ford v Ferrari, Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) takes Henry Ford Jr. (Tracy Letts) on something of a test ride in the new race car that has been built to attempt to beat Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France. Shelby drives very fast, making hairpin turns, the race…
There are good films, there are bad films, and there are the worst films — the cinematic equivalents of a five-talent ballplayer who never gets out of the minors. They sound good on paper but just never live up to their potential. Last Christmas is one of those films that should be so much better…
Martin Scorsese is no stranger to the gangster genre. While his oeuvre stretches across almost the entire breadth of 20th-century American cinema (no Western on there… yet), it’s no accident that he is primarily associated with his forays into crime film. They are the touchstones around which his career has been built and — fairly…
If the Terminator films have taught us anything, it’s that freezing an object makes it brittle and easily broken, and putting it back together again requires a lot of molten steel to come pouring out of the smelter you’ve just driven a tanker truck into. At least one of those observations is pertinent to Terminator:…
Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep joins a rapidly rising tidal wave of Stephen King adaptations Hollywood has been releasing in recent years. While the direct sequel to both The Shining novel and movie opens and expands upon the lore within the story’s universe, it does take the film a while to pick up steam. I swear,…
What makes Maleficent: Mistress of Evil so boring? Is it the ramshackle plot that flits from character to character, building up a giant climax without stakes or interest? Is it the strangeness of grafting large action pieces and violent character death onto children’s story characters? Is it the focus on world-building and mythology over character…
Unlike the Twinkie (supposedly), zombie movies don’t seem to have an expiration date. And so we get Zombieland: Double Tap, a 10-years-later sequel to 2009’s Zombieland that, at first blush, doesn’t seem to be a movie we necessarily needed or wanted. Ruben Fleischer’s original film was an enjoyable comedy with some fun, gnarly zombie kills and…
Avengers: Damage Control is a brand new virtual reality experience from Marvel Studios and ILMxLAB. We recently had a chance to check out a press preview day. The experience is coming to select locations at The VOID starting October 18 for a limited time. Tickets for the four-week event are available now at TheVoid.com. If…
Another important aspect of Sam Mendes’ 1917, besides the amazing camerawork to make it all a single shot, is the two soldiers that the story follows. The two 1917 soldiers include Schofield, played by George MacKay, and Blake, played by Dean-Charles Chapman. MacKay is the better-known of the two actors, having co-starred with Viggo Mortensen in…
For all the questions about the nature of humanity inherent in the premise, no one has yet made a good movie about cloning. From The 6th Day to Never Let Me Go to even Parts: The Clonus Horror or Duncan Jones’ superior Moon, everyone who comes into contact with the subject seems to prefer it…
Last week, Vital Thrills attended a special New York Comic Con panel held by Universal Pictures to preview Sam Mendes’ upcoming World War I film 1917, which will be released on Christmas Day. Mendes was joined on the panel by co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, producer Pippa Harris, cinematographer Roger Deakins and two of the primary cast: George…
Disney’s Maleficent: Mistress of Evil opens in theaters next week, and we recently got a chance to attend the press conference for the film. Participating were director Joachim Rønning and Mistress of Evil cast members Angelina Jolie, Michelle Pfeiffer, Elle Fanning, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sam Riley, Harris Dickinson, and Ed Skrein. Opening in theaters on October 18, Maleficent:…
Gemini Man, starring Will Smith, Clive Owen, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, opens in theaters on October 11, and we got a chance to check out the press conference featuring director Ang Lee, Smith, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Owen, Weta VFX supervisor Guy Williams, and VFX supervisor Bill Westenhofer. Gemini Man is an innovative action-thriller starring Will Smith (Disney’s Aladdin, Suicide…
Conflict is the basis of drama, and there are few dramatic conflicts as powerful as the exploration of class. Everyone alive feels that conflict – the societal obligations for those who are not well off to rise above their status, while those who are already well off strive to keep their positions while, consciously or…
Rian Johnson’s Knives Out is an engine of perfect entertainment. From the opening moments, we are swept into the story and characters, and it feels completely confident and effortless. It’s old-fashioned in all the best ways but it also has modern sensibilities and themes that give the film weight and substance. The murder mystery, as a…