R.I.P.D. — Review

1.5 of 5 stars
R.I.P.D.

One word: WHY.

The Story

R.I.P.D. tells the story of Nick Walker (Ryan Reynolds), a police officer who opens the film with the burying of some mysterious pieces of gold under an orange tree in his backyard. We quickly learn that the gold was found by him and his partner, Bobby (Kevin Bacon), during a drug bust, but Nick tells Bobby that he has decided to return the gold. Later that day, during a raid, Bobby shoots Nick, killing him and sending him to the office of Mildred Proctor (Mary-Louise Parker), head of the Rest In Peace Department, or R.I.P.D. for short. The organization’s purpose is…

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‘Captain America 2’ Features “Significant Shift” in Marvel Universe

‘Captain America 2’ Features “Significant Shift” in Marvel Universe
Russ Fischer - /Film

Technically speaking, is this a sequel to Captain America or is this a sequel to The Avengers? The title suggests one thing, but the chronology suggests another.

Joe Russo: It’s a little bit of a sequel to both. I mean obviously the character has advanced. He’s been frozen for seventy years. It has narrative elements that tie to the first movie and it has narrative elements that tie directly to The Avengers and also has narrative elements that tie directly to Avengers 2. I think, and Kevin [Feige] has said this, it’s as big of a bridge of any of the Phase 2 movies from Avengers to Avengers…

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Box Office Report for July 22, 2013

Box Office Report for July 22, 2013

Well, well, I was hoping to avoid writing about The Conjuring because I simply have no interest in this film whatsoever. But it’s my duty now to at least let you know that it has topped the box office charts over the weekend. I don’t know, it just doesn’t look at all good to me. But the people have spoken, and apparently they were willing to throw their money behind it this weekend.

#1 — The Conjuring

Budget: $20 Million (Can’t fault them for overspending I guess)
Totals: $41.5 Million Weekend Gross / $3.4 Million Foreign Total / $44.9 Million Worldwide Total
Week Number: 1

Look,…

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SUPERBATMAN! — Zack Snyder to Direct Crossover Film

SUPERBATMAN! — Zack Snyder to Direct Crossover Film
Russ Fischer

OK, here’s the official word about the future of the DC Universe on screen via Warner Bros. Or the official suggestion. Zack Snyder took the stage at the end of the DC panel, gesturing that moderator Chris Hardwick should move aside. Snyder said, “I’m gonna take the lectern from you, because some shit’s going to happen up here.”

Snyder continued:

It’s official that we are going to make another Superman movie. And you say, Zack, what is the movie about? But you don’t want me to tell you that. You want to go and see the movie. But I can say that maybe there’s a single element that will…

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‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’ — Joss Whedon Reveals the Sequel!

‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’ — Joss Whedon Reveals the Sequel!

Because there’s so much info on this, I’m going to quote several sources on this. So instead of making this a Linked List post to a single item, this is a big conglomeration of info about the second Avengers film.

First up, Russ Ficher of /Film:

Joss Whedon took the stage at Hall H today to intro a brief teaser clip for a new film. The footage featured animated close-ups of metal being pounded into shape as we hear clips of dialogue from The Avengers. But as the metal object revolves and the camera pulls back the head of Ultron is revealed.

Smash cut to title: The Avengers: Age of…

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What To See: Weekend of July 19, 2013

What To See: Weekend of July 19, 2013

This weekend the box office is zipping right through a dose of nitrous oxide into the world of the dead to bring you some folks who are retired but extremely dangerous.

New in Theaters

Turbo — PG

To be honest, this film doesn’t look great to me. Dreamworks has always been a bit hit or miss for me, and especially in the the past they’ve tended to be a bit copy cat like with some of their films.

But, I do have it on good authority that this film is better than one might expect so I’ll have to see it and form my own opinion.

Turbo (Ryan Reynolds) is a speed-obsessed snail with an…

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‘Inferno’ Set for December 2015

‘Inferno’ Set for December 2015
Deadline.com

Tom Hanks and Ron Howard, the star and director, respectively, of Sony’s first two tentpole movies based on Dan Brown’s novels, are returning for Inferno, we’ve learned. Hanks had been expected to reprise his role as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon for The Lost Symbol, the third novel in Brown’s book series. But Howard had bowed out of that project, which is now on the back burner, saying he wanted to produce it with Brian Grazer and their Imagine Entertainment but not direct. Now we’re hearing he’ll return for Inferno.

Please make the madness stop! How can we get this movie to not

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Box Office Projections

Box Office Projections
Pamela McClintock - The Hollywood Reporter

Pre-release tracking has been notably soft for R.I.P.D. considering its $130 million production budget, and it could have a hard time fending off Summit’s adult action pic Red 2 and New Line’s low-budget horror entry The Conjuring. At this point, they are all tracking to open in the $17 million to $20 million range, although those projections could shift when final tracking is released Thursday.

The three movies begin rolling out on Thursday night, while DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox’s Turbo opens Wednesday.

Turbo, looking to benefit from being an original story after…

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Pacific Rim — Review

4 of 5 stars
Pacific Rim

Whatever you can say about Pacific Rim you cannot say that it lacks vision, guts, story, or monsters (lots of monsters). It also doesn’t have a very complicated plot, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

I went into this film with slightly elevated expectations than I had originally set for myself when I saw the first couple of trailers, but they still weren’t extremely high expectations. The idea of a monster movie with big, crash ‘em, mash ‘em robots sounds like the ultimate summer blockbuster movie in the same legacy left to us by the horrible Transformers franchise. Thankfully,…

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Hollywood Or Silicon Valley: Where’s the Money?

Hollywood Or Silicon Valley: Where’s the Money?
NYT’s Bits

If you had to put your money on an investment in the latest summer blockbuster, or the latest startup of Silicon Valley, which would you choose? Which appears to be a more worthy or risky venture?

Nick Bilton asked this question on NYT’s Bits:

“Hollywood and Silicon Valley really exist because of a few big successes,” Mr. Strebulaev said. “If you take a random movie, it loses money. Hollywood makes money from its big hits. The exact same is true with Silicon Valley; the average investment loses money.” He said both were considered “alternative investments.”

Still, in some ways, the…

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