Tag Archives: featured

Movie Trailers

Pratt, Denzel shoot it out in ‘Magnificent Seven’ trailer

I’ve always loved westerns. There aren’t nearly enough of them made these days in a world of superhero movies, and sequels and remakes —

Speaking of remakes, the trailer for the “Magnificent Seven” remake has hit today and it looks pretty damn good.

Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt headline Sony's remake of "The Magnificent Seven". (Columbia Pictures)
Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt headline Sony’s remake of “The Magnificent Seven”. (Columbia Pictures)

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, the film stars Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Haley Bennett, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ethan Hawke, Matt Bomer, Byung-hun Lee, and Peter Sarsgaard.

It’s a remake of the 1960 classic starring  Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, and Charles Bronson — which itself is a remake of the Akira Kurosawa’s epic “Seven Samurai” (1954).

Release date: September 23, 2016

Official synopsis: With the town of Rose Creek under the deadly control of industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Sarsgaard), the desperate townspeople employ protection from seven outlaws, bounty hunters, gamblers and hired guns – Sam Chisolm (Washington), Josh Farraday (Pratt), Goodnight Robicheaux (Hawke), Jack Horne (D’Onofrio), Billy Rocks (Hun Lee), Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier).

As they prepare the town for the violent showdown that they know is coming, these seven mercenaries find themselves fighting for more than money.

Magnificent Seven teaser trailer — Property of Sony Pictures

Movie News, Reel Hooligans

‘Major League’ named Best Sports Movie Ever

The Reel Hooligans have spoken. “Major League” is the Best Sports Movie Ever according to the podcast, hosted by film critic Timothy English.

Taylor, Hayes, Dorn, Vaughn, and Cerrano gather around Jobo. (Paramount Pictures)
Taylor, Hayes, Dorn, Vaughn, and Cerrano gather around Jobo. (Paramount Pictures)

The show features a rotating panel of guests who love movies. This week’s Hooligans included David Cain, Jason Haugland, Jessica O’Shea, and Bryan O’Connor, in addition to English.

The Reel Hooligan Movie Madness tournament began with 32 movies, which were divided into four regions, Skippers, Rivals, Underdogs, and Legends. Each Hooligan voted, winners advancing. If a tie occurred, then and only then would Tim vote.

“Major League” claimed the title as the BEST. SPORTS. MOVIE. EVER. with a 3-1 vote over the 1984 classic, “The Karate Kid” after defeating “The Sandlot” in the tournament semi-finals. “Karate Kid” earned a spot in the final by upsetting #1 overall seed “Rocky” 3-1 in the semis.

Listen to the podcast: Tim and the Reel Hooligans ep. 102

Bob-Uecker
Bob Uecker as the legendary Harry Doyle. (Paramount Pictures)

Originally released in 1989, “Major League” was written and directed by Academy Award winner David S. Ward (“The Sting” 1973). The film proved to be a major break through for stars such as Charlie Sheen and Wesley Snipes and became a cult-favorite providing memorable scenes and lines of incredibly witty dialogue that has been quoted for years and years.

ML1
James Gammon as Coach Lou Brown. (Paramount)

Major League — Paramount Pictures (1989)

Running time: 1 hour 47 minutes

MPAA rating: R

2016 Movie Reviews

‘The Jungle Book’ movie review: Never finds a balance

As Disney continues to adapt every single one of their animated classics into big budget, live action adventures, they’re going to be hit and miss. “Cinderella” was ok. “Maleficent” was meh. “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” had it’s moments but was mostly a misstep.

“The Jungle Book”, the tale of the orphan Mowgli, and his adventures in the jungle with Bagheera and Balooo, his battles with Kaa and Shere Kahn, is just kind of one big WTF.

Mowgli (Neel Sethi) with Baloo (voiced by Bill Murray) in Disney's Jungle Book
Mowgli (Neel Sethi) with Baloo (voiced by Bill Murray) in Disney’s Jungle Book

There’s really no other way of putting it.

Everyone is raving about the way it looks. I’m going to have to take their word for it. Yeah, I saw it…but I saw it in 3D. Unless they saw a cleaner version than I did…the 3D does more harm than good here, which seems to be par for the course for Disney’s live action.

That being said, the artistic design of the film is amazing. It is entirely CGi, meaning the only thing that is real is little Mowgli. The jungle looks amazing and the animal designs are pretty sweet. It’s just the damn 3D makes it too dark and blurry to really enjoy it.

Is it for kids? That seems to be the debate. The movie establishes a pretty dark mood early on and struggles in the second act when characters like Baloo (Bill Murray) and King Louie (Christopher Walken)  are introduced. It gets kinda funny, then weird, then scary again. It’s kind of all over the place, not really sure if it wants to scare you or make you laugh.

Full The Jungle Book movie review

Rating: 6/10

Release date: April 15, 2016

Directed by: Jon Favreau

Written by: Justin Marks

Starring: Neel Sethi, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Scarlett Johansson, and Bill Murray

MPAA rating: Rated PG for some sequences of scary action and peril

Running time: 1 hour 45 mins.