Recently, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas had some candid words about the direction in which they see the world of movies going. It was honest and interesting, and it came from two directors who have long since passed the point where their careers could be hurt by not playing politics. As such, we thought it a good idea to consider their take, and throw in our opinion about what they nailed, and what they were a bit off on.

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“Finding Nemo (3D)” / “Beauty and the Beast (3D)” / “Monsters Inc. (3D)” = $100 million profit total
“Marvel’s The Avengers”: $73 million in “profit”

This week, the box office was “Purged” as ‘The Purge’ took the top box office spot. What in the world? Will Smith doesn’t want to do blockbuster films anymore after the flop that is ‘After Earth’ which is too bad. And there’s lots of ‘Man of Steel’ stuff going on, and TJ is looking forward to the film which is receiving mixed critical reception, but that might be a good thing. ‘White House Down’ gets an extended trailer and looks like ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ on steroids. John M. Chu will direct ‘G.I. Joe 3’. Sigh. ‘Star Wars VII’ is rumored to be following the storyline of the novels. ‘300: The Rise of an Empire’ gets a trailer’. ‘The Wolverine’ also has a new international trailer out. ‘Elysium’ also joined the trailer fun. Lots of trailers this week. And finally, TJ talks about what you will want to see in theaters this weekend.

Hmm, let’s see, I wonder if there’s anything to see this weekend… I don’t  know if…

zOMW MAN OF STEEL!!!!1!!!11! Yeah, I might be a little excited about that one.

New in Theaters

Man of Steel — PG-13

I have slowly come around to wanting to see this film very badly. I believe this film is going to be one of the better films of the summer. Whether it will be the best or not remains to be seen. My initial hesitance was only due to the fact that I loved Superman Returns so much. To date it is my favorite Superman film (though Superman the Movie will always have a special place in my…

I’m trying to imagine the pitch for Monsters, Inc. when Pete Doctor first decided it should be a thing. Maybe it went something like this: “Hey fellas, I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we make a movie about monsters who scare the living nightlights out of children, and then harvest the screams as a kind of natural energy to power their world? Families will love it.”

Crickets.

Funny thing is, families did love it. They still do. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Monsters, Inc. is widely regarded as one of Pixar’s finest offerings. So with a sequel (Monsters University) scheduled to hit…

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg think the film industry is heading towards a cliff. The pair behind some of the most successful franchises in movie history think that conservative programming choices and rapidly evolving distribution schemes have set the stage for a massive upheaval — and internet-based services may become the dominant medium when moviegoing as we know it crashes and burns.

Crazy, right?

Barreling from opinion to opinion throughout the discussion, Lucas presented a clear vision of this post-crash entertainment landscape: a world where going to the movies is no…

Snyder has been busy directing features such as Alan Moore’s graphic novel, Watchmen, and the computer animated Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, while also writing and directing the female action flick Sucker Punch. His latest directorial effort, the highly anticipated Superman origin story, Man of Steel flies into theaters this coming Friday, June 14.

The last few Wisdom Wednesdays have revealed the intelligent, wise, and sometimes hilarious Golden Rules of directors Danny Boyle, Steve Buscemi, and Jim Jarmusch. This week MovieMaker brings you Zach Snyder’s 10 Golden Rules…

Sounds like there’s some bad news about the Zombie Apocalypse according to Brad Pitt in this latest promo — a clip from ‘World War Z’. I’m hearing stirrings that this film takes itself very seriously in a The Dark Knight kind of way, and this clip would seem to confirm that as men around Brad Pitt’s character scramble for information about their homes and loved ones and Brad doesn’t have good news for them.

You’ll be able to see about this zombie apocalypse for yourself, in theaters on June 21^st.

When the first trailer came out, I wrote about how I wasn’t sure I was going to like the message of the film. I worried about the idea of taking form the “haves” to give to the “have nots”. And I still think that potential is there for this film. A lot of people get confused about the concept of people who have, versus people who actually oppress. But I think this trailer makes it a little more clear that what is going on here in this film may be actual oppression, and that message is one I can get behind.

In any event, the film looks like it has the potential to be really good, I love…

TJ and Joe are back! First a side topic about how many podcasts they listen to and a recommendation for ‘The Incomparable’. Then they’re off to talk about ‘Man of Steel’, the trailers, and promos, the general excitement, how they felt about the previous ‘Superman’ films and more. ‘The Blue Umbrella’ is an upcoming Pixar short that takes a photo real approach, which is interesting and worthy of a little bit of time talking about. HISHE made a great video for how ‘Iron Man 3’ should have ended, TJ and Joe loved it!. TJ goes off on a bit of a rant about patent and copyright issues in the United States. Then there’s the upcoming film ‘World War Z’. And of course, the two main topics this week are ‘Now You See Me’ and ‘After Earth’. Listen in on the fun!