First they took his daughter, then they took him and his wife. Now, they didn’t just take his wife, they killed her.

It’s interesting, looking at the slow and steady march down the rankings that this film series has taken. The first film sits at 58% on the Tomatometer. The second at 21%, and this the third film sits at 10%. The critics are none too pleased about this series. And it’s understandable and predictable, if nothing else.

Modest Beginnings

I think the thing I liked most about this film is it didn’t try too hard to drag us in. I didn’t feel as if the film was forcing something…

Haven’t had much to say about this film yet, but I’m most definitely looking forward to it. All the signs point to a great film from a great director. This is the guy that brought us The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol so I’m quite willing to bet that Bird is going to knock this one out of the park. The concept is quite intriguing, and as I said in a previous post, I’m a sucker for a good fantasy film. This one looks like it’s going to be a doozy of a fantasy film.

Here’s the official synopsis from Disney:

From Disney comes two-time Oscar® winner Brad…

Kingsman: The Secret Service is receiving better than expected reviews — and I’m certainly looking forward to it — but calling it, “More bad ass than James Bond” in this Super Bowl TV spot is just a bit more than I can handle. This film better be really, REALLY good and have a few aces up it sleeve to say that. Honestly.

This trailer is pretty much what you can expect from a short TV spot needing to incite hype amongst an already hyped up Super Bowl sports-watching crowd, but it’s not a bad spot and I’m still looking forward to seeing the film in a couple weeks.

Martin Scorsese and Kenneth Branaugh have had “informal conversations” about Scorsese making a movie based on Branagh’s Manchester International Festival production of “Macbeth.” First playing the fest in 2013, it hopped over to New York City last summer, and Scorsese was apparently quite taken with it. The trick of this particular version is that the audience was brought right into the action, sitting literally inches away from the battles, speeches and more, making for a truly immersive experience. So one could see what would be attractive from a filmmaking standpoint to try and bring…

“I could see where things were headed. The toy business began to drive the [Lucasfilm] empire. It’s a shame. They make three times as much on toys as they do on films. It’s natural to make decisions that protect the toy business, but that’s not the best thing for making quality films,” former Lucasfilm insider and producer of the first two “Star Wars” films Gary Kurtz told Hero Complex in 2010. He also said “the first film and ‘Empire’ were about story and character, but I could see that  George [Lucas]  George’s priorities were changing.”

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Visiting the Sundance Film Festival this…

The general consensus seems to be that this film is going to be awful, the first trailer was awful, and this trailer is awful. I still don’t feel that way about the film. Granted, it may end up being awful. I’m perfectly willing to admit that. But I do think that for the time being, people are being a bit to hard on this upcoming film and its trailers. I’m actually still kind of liking the look of things to come. I’m certainly willing to give this film a chance.

As far as people complaining that the retconning of the timeline (again) is really confusing. No really. People are complaining…

Deadline cautions that nothing has been finalized. The studio’s plans for Indiana Jones are still in the very early stages. However, they’ve heard that the studio wants to build a new Indiana Jones franchise around Pratt. He’d be playing the same swashbuckling archaeologist character portrayed by Harrison Ford in the original films.

A new Indiana Jones movie has been rumored pretty much since the last Indiana Jones movie (2008′s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), but real progress has been slow. Even after Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012, Indiana Jones 5 was said…

I couldn’t imagine doing this again. It’s enormously hard, and it [will] be, by [the time I would make ‘Avengers 3 & 4’], a good five years since I created anything that was completely my own. So it’s very doubtful that I would take on the two-part Infinity War movie that would eat up the next four years of my life. I obviously still want to be a part of the Marvel Universe – I love these guys – but it ain’t easy. This year has been more like running three shows than any year of my life. It is bonkers.

Pretty much what we expected, though it’ll be very interested to see what role he fills…

Bears like marmalade. This is an incontrovertible fact. If you supply a bear with marmalade, he’ll be your friend for life and it will supply him with all the nutrients he needs for a day. That latter part, at least, is what Paddinton insists on.

I went to see the film last night in preparation for this week’s episode of The MovieByte Podcast and I expected to enjoy it, but not to really like it. But Paddington is, in fact, quite a bit more charming, more fun, and much better than it has any right to be. It’s based on a silly children’s series, it’s had some internal political and talent…