Category: Movies

Batkid Begins premieres Saturday at the Slamdance Film Festival but, before that even happened, the movie’s story has a happy ending.

Julia Roberts – yes, the world famous actress – has purchased the rights to the documentary to make it into a narrative version. Roberts will produce as well as star in the film. There’s no word on who Roberts would play, but the smart money is on Patricia Wilson, the director of the San Francisco Make-A-Wish chapter that put the whole event together. She has a huge role in the documentary, which you can read our review of here. Below, read more details about Julia Roberts Batkid.

Here’s the Julia Roberts Batkid press release:

As the excitement revs up in Park City, Submarine announced today that Julia Roberts is attached to the remake rights to the new documentary BATKID BEGINS: THE WISH HEARD AROUND THE WORLD – A DANA NACHMAN FILM on the eve of its world premiere at Slamdance Film Festival.

Roberts, who will produce with partners Lisa Gillan and Marisa Yeres Gill through their Red Om Films banner, is attached to star in the feature remake of the real life story about how a Make-A-Wish event for Miles – a 5 year old boy diagnosed with leukemia – wanting to be Batman for a day turned into not only a citywide spectacle with over 25,000 San Francisco residents coming out to participate, but a worldwide phenomenon on social media with nearly 2 billion participants thanks to Mashable, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and others.

The documentary’s director, Dana Nachman, will serve as Executive Producer along with Josh and Dan Braun of Submarine under Submarine’s new remake label Sub/Version that is launching at Sundance. BATKID BEGINS… is Sub/Version’s first project.

“It’s thrilling to me that Ms. Roberts and her team watched our film and were so moved by it that they want to dedicate their time and creative capital to make sure the widest audience possible will know and love Miles’ story and the spirit of this intimate special event that went global, as much as we do,” says filmmaker Nachman.

CAA, which brought the project to Roberts, brokered the deal with Sub/Version and will represent the package.

BATKID BEGINS: THE WISH HEARD AROUND THE WORLD – A DANA NACHMAN FILM will have its world premiere this Saturday, January 24 at noon in Park City at Slamdance Film Festival 2015, and all distribution rights for the documentary are currently available worldwide. For more info: www.batkidbegins.com

The post Julia Roberts to Star And Produce Narrative Version of ‘Batkid Begins appeared first on /Film.

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On Friday I screened the first great film of the 2015 Sundance film festival. Finders Keepers is a hilarious, bizarre and sometimes devastating documentary about the true life story of two men. Shannon Whisnant purchases a storage unit at auction and is surprised to find a severed human leg inside a used bbq grill. The other man, John Wood, wants his leg back, but Whisnant isn’t about to let that happen.

Read the rest of my Finders Keepers review and see a clip from the film, embedded after the jump.

Finders Keepers Clip

Finders Keepers Review From Sundance 2015

The story offers much more depth than its “pulled from the headlines”  story might lead you to expect. In fact, it’s less about the sensationalistic hook and more about the compelling characters involved in this crazy story.  I love documentary films like King of Kong and Trekkies that let us explore the world of quirky “weirdos”. With Finders Keepers, producers Seth Gordin (King of Kong) and Adam Goldberg (The Goldbergs) give us a fascinating slice of moldy Americana.

I name drop Storage Wars in the review headline because yes, the grill was bought in a storage unit auction like the auctions seen in the reality television show. But also because like the show, its not just about the crazy pirate treasure uncovered in a purchased unit, its about the strange and interesting characters going on the treasure hunt — the Jarrod, Brandi, Darrell and Dave Hesters.

For Whisnant the leg represents his hopes and dreams of someday being famous — for what it really doesn’t matter. He believes he bought the leg fair and square and is unwilling to let his 15 minutes of fame ed. For Wood, the leg represents the unwillingness to let go of blame for the plane crash that killed his father and resulted in the amputation of his leg.

And both men are surrounded by a set of characters that will have you laughing in disbelief. One person I talked to after the screening was convinced for the first half of the movie that it was a narrative fictional feature film — but honestly, this story and characters are too strange to be fiction.

Most of this story is filmed after the fact, with the key characters recounting the events. But the characters in the spotlight of this documentary are so incredibly odd and funny that it doesn’t suffer from the problems of most talking head docs. Also it helps that the documentary collects a ton of news footage surrounding the bizarre situation. We get slices from national television news programs, reality shows, and a hero that may come from the most unexpected place — a television court show.

The documentary filmmakers do end up following the conclusion of the story in real time, which offers some needed closure and redemption, adding insightful yet unexpected perspective on the whole situation. As much as I loved the film, this documentary still feels a bit long — which is unfortunate as the running time is already a short 82 minutes. I do think it could benefit from a ten minute trim of the later half.

/Film Rating: 8 out of 10

The post ‘Finders Keepers’ Is Like The Best Episode Of ‘Storage Wars’ Ever [Sundance 2015 Review] appeared first on /Film.

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On November 13, 2013, an event happened that showed the best of what this tech-crazed, celebrity obsessed world can do. Ironically though, the person the event was about had no idea what he’d inspired. That’s the story of Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Around the World, which tells the incredibly story of Miles Scott, a young California boy diagnosed with Leukemia whose one wish was to be the real Batman. The San Francisco Make-A-Wish Foundation tried to grant that wish and as word began to spread of their plans, it became an event that – as the title says – was heard around the world.

Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Around the World premiered this weekend at the Slamdance Film Festival. Continue our Batkid Begins review below.

Directed by Dana Nachman, Batkid Begins tells the entire story of how this massive event was put together. There’s Miles’s story, the aftermath, everything you could possibly want to know about the event itself and more. It also shows the cultural side of it and how the news and social media – for the most part – fell in love with this story. How that love inspired people to do wonderful things and use technology as well as celeb obsession in the best possible way. Then, ultimately, it’s a story about how humanity is usually crappy, but sometimes we can be pretty wonderful too.

For the most part, Batkid Begins tells the straight forward story of the origin of Batkid. We meet a young Miles Scott and his family as he’s been diagnosed with Leukemia. We learn about his disease, follow him through his treatments, and find out how superheroes – specifically Batman – really helped and inspired him.

That leads to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the people there, lead by Patricia Wilson, who thought Miles’ wish to be Batman was super fun. She made a few calls – the Chief of Police, the mayor, a friend to play Batman, and the ball just keeps rolling. Social media picks up the story, more people get involved, a proposed 200 people becomes closer to 20,000 and while this is all happening, the little boy has no idea what’s in store for him.

Batkid Begins works so well as a film because the structure is so natural. There’s a very interesting build up to the actual day followed by the pay off of seeing it unfold from the ground floor. The filmmakers are with the family the whole way, at home weeks before, in the hotel room when the event starts and at every single stop. They follow the social media aspect, the people who spearheaded that, and of course talk to Miles and his family about what it all means. It’s a story that needed to be documented and they do a great job for it.

But then you start thinking in a larger context. “I use Twitter everyday and usually it’s just bad stuff.” “I hate my Facebook.” But Batkid Begins shows how those things and this tech-crazed world we currently live in can work for the best. Because of social media, this event got incredibly big. People were able to be generous with donations and helping with the event. It never would have been possible without these tools. And that makes Batkid Begins not just a really well made, emotional documentary, it’s an important one too.

/Film rating 8 of 10

The post ‘Batkid Begins’ Review: An Uplifting and Important Documentary About Everyone’s Favorite Batman appeared first on /Film.

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For months, we’ve heard two seemingly conflicting rumors about one Star Wars spinoff: one, that it’ll be about Boba Fett, and two, that it’ll be about Han Solo. The common assumption was that one or the other had to be false — but if this latest rumor is true, it could mean both of the other ones are, too.

Word is the Star Wars spinoff won’t be a Han Solo story or a Boba Fett story, but a single film that includes both fan-favorite characters. More on the Star Wars spinoff rumor after the jump. 

Latino Review is the source of the latest rumor. As usual, we warn you that Disney hasn’t yet confirmed any of this dirt, and that this claim should be taken with a big fat grain of salt for the time being.

The new theory fits several other unconfirmed reports circulating about the spinoff. Last November, we were the first to report a rumor that the spinoff would follow a group of bounty hunters hired to steal the plans for the first Death Star. (“Think the Seven Samurai or Suicide Squad meets Ocean’s Eleven in the world of Star Wars,” Germain wrote at the time.) The same source indicated Millennium Falcon would somehow be involved.

This week, Making Star Wars learned from sources in and around Pinewood Studios that bounty hunters would be “important to the film,” which is going by the working title Los Alamos. They further speculate that the temporary name points to the Manhattan Project and therefore Geonosis. Or maybe it’s just referring to the spinoff shooting in Mexico, which the site has also heard.

The recent Latino Review rumor does go against one other thing we heard about the Star Wars spinoff. Our source had said Han Solo would not appear in the movie, even though his ship would. They were unable to confirm whether Boba Fett would appear. But as I said, Disney isn’t spilling any details for now. It’s not so surprising that a couple of early rumors would contradict each other.

What we do know is that the spinoff will be directed by Gareth Edwards. Gary Whitta wrote the first draft of the script but Simon Kinberg may have taken over. Shooting begins this spring in London’s Pinewood Studios (which doesn’t mean it’s not also shooting in Mexico).

Tatiana Maslany, Rooney Mara, Kate Mara, and Felicity Jones are said to be testing for a role in the film, but character details have not been revealed. The Star Wars spinoff opens December 16, 2016.

The post Rumor: ‘Star Wars’ Spinoff Will Feature Both Han Solo and Boba Fett appeared first on /Film.

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The Bronze gets a gold medal for ambition. Directed by Bryan Buckley, it stars the Big Bang Theory‘s Melissa Rausch (who also co-wrote the film) as former Olympic hero Hope Ann Greggory. Think Kerri Strug turned Tonya Harding. A decade removed from a life-changing Bronze medal, she’s now a foul-mouthed, delusional has-been living in her father’s basement and doing unspeakable things while watching her former self.

Hope eats like crap, curses like a sailor, treats her dad (Office Space‘s Gary Cole) awful and is just generally a terrible person. Yet when her former coach dies, she’s given an opportunity to redeem herself by coaching another rising gymnast. Along the way she’ll date Silicon Valley‘s Thomas Middleditch, make fun of the gymnast’s mom played by Cecily Strong, and have the most flat out hilarious, disturbing and crazy sex in recent memory with The Winter Soldier himself, Sebastian Stan.

So does that all work? Continue reading our Sundance 2015 The Bronze review below.

The Bronze gets that ambition medal because it tries so hard to do something almost impossible. That’s create a cohesive tone with elements of a raunch R-rated comedy, feel good sports movie, teen flick and life changing drama. For the most part, the film is unsuccessful at this, but it tries so hard to be something so different, it’s admirable and often incredibly entertaining.

The biggest problem with The Bronze is Hope is so hatable. She perpetrates some sick evil stuff in the movie. Mean stuff, gross stuff, and it’s really not in service of anything except a laugh, many of which miss the mark entirely. From the very first scene of the movie, the audience is either with this film or not.

It doesn’t help that in addition to mean, Hope doesn’t feel particularly realistic. She’s almost a cartoon character in an otherwise realistic world. The female gymnast version of Roger Rabbit. Her actions are abysmal, off-the-wall and lacking motivation. The fact any of it works at all is because Rausch is incredible in the role. Sure her accent doesn’t make much sense and you don’t know why she changed from sweet talking girl to this evil human being, but we live with it because her outside venom is coming from behind sweet eyes. Hope is an intriguing character. We want to know more about her. And over the course of the film, the actress somehow makes Hope’s growth believable. 

Her nemesis in the film is Lance Tucker, an Olympic Gold medalist played by Sebastian Stan. As mean as he looked in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, that’s how much fun Stan has with this role. He’s kind of the typical jock douchebag, but there’s a truth to the performance. He’s got good intentions for Hope’s protege and he sees what we see: Hope’s hopelessness.

Later in the film – it’s a bit of a spoiler but we have to mention it – those two have crazy gymnastic sex. This scene is basically The Bronze in a nutshell. It’s absolutely insane. The rings, the uneven bars, the balance beam, name a gymnastics event and Lance and Hope end up having sex like that. Think the Team America puppet sex scene or MacGruber, but with gymnastics. That happens in The Bronze and it’s hilarious as well as memorable. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really fit in with what’s happening around it. Just like Hope herself.

For the film’s final trick, Rausch’s script – which she co-wrote with her husband Winston – attempts to transition from a Kenny Powers, Eastbound and Down vibe, to a Rudy vibe, by way of a few pretty big narrative surprises. It’s a big leap that the film has earned because it has been so brash to this point. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of ground to cover and the extra time gives the movie pacing issues.

The Bronze may get a gold medal for ambition, but the title is more accurate overall. There are a lot of good things in the movie, but they all feels at odds with each other. Either you take this wild ride and enjoy it for its absolute insanity, or you hate it for those same reasons. I, for one, fell into the first camp.

/Film rating 6 out of 10

The post Gymnastics Comedy ‘The Bronze’ Has The Funniest Sex Scene in Years [Sundance 2015] appeared first on /Film.

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As happy as we were to see Andy Serkis in the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer — because more Andy Serkis is always a good thing — we couldn’t quite figure out what he was doing there. The actor revealed his involvement in the film last year, but declined to say which character he’d be playing.

Of course, that hasn’t stopped rumors from swirling. The latest one to gain traction suggests Avengers: Age of Ultron may be just the beginning for Serkis — if it’s true, he’ll have a much bigger role to play in Phase Three. Hit the jump for the Andy Serkis Avengers rumor. 

Schmoes Know writes that a “very trusted” source has told them Serkis will play Ulysses Klaw. It’s not a very surprising reveal. Fans have been theorizing that Serkis would play Klaw for months. Still, it’s satisfying to hear we may be on the right track, even if the role is unconfirmed at the moment. Marvel is keeping its lips sealed, and Serkis’ reps have responded with a “no comment.”

According to Schmoes Know, Serkis’ Klaw will be actually be a combination of two comic book characters: Ulysses Klaw, and his father Fritz Klaue. That doesn’t mean Fritz won’t exist in the MCU, but Serkis’ Ulysses will have most of Fritz’s attributes from the books, including a connection to Baron von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) and The Howling Commandos.

If Serkis is indeed playing Klaw, he’ll likely have a huge part to play in the Black Panther franchise. In the books, Klaw is a Dutch physicist who murders Wakandan leader T’Chaka in front of his teenage son T’Challa. T’Challa (the future Black Panther) fights back by turning Klaw’s own weapon against him, permanently destroying Klaw’s right hand.

Chadwick Boseman is already set to lead Black Panther, due out in 2017, though he’ll make his first MCU appearance in 2016′s Captain America: Civil War. Serkis’ MCU debut, Avengers: Age of Ultron, is scheduled for May 1.

The post Rumor: Who Is Andy Serkis Playing in ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’? appeared first on /Film.

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Sometimes, the scariest thing isn’t what’s around the corner. It’s what’s right in front of you. In It Follows, writer director David Robert Mitchell has created a simple, perfect, and bone-chillingly terrifying horror conceit that doesn’t need blood or jump scares. It doesn’t even, necessarily, need special effects. In It Follows a normal person, walking, is enough to scare the living crap out of you.

Below, read our It Follows review which will tell you why it’s one of the scariest horror films in years.

The Curse

It Follows follows in the mold of the scariest movies of all time because it doesn’t make you jump out of your seat. It paralyzes you there with a type of terror you might feel in real life. That fear comes from Mitchell’s conceit there’s some kind of curse people pass through sex. Once you’ve passed it along (aka, have sex with someone new) they have it. What is it? A being that can take human shape and follows you. That’s it. It slowly, steadly, just walks toward you. Where ever you go. Think about that. The horror of always looking over your shoulder, never being able to close your eyes, always worried what’s coming. And then, when it’s there, seeing it slowly, steady, walking towards you. This being isn’t in any rush. It’s the tortoise, you’re the hare.

Mitchell uses this idea in a plethora of unique ways. Most of which involve a simple scene and a figure in the deep background simply walking. The walk itself becomes the villain because the curse can take any shape or form. Every person becomes a potential killer and as the camera moves around, we see the film’s characters either reacting to it – or worse – not reacting to it as the dread builds and builds and builds.

The Star and the Score

Maika Monroe, last seen in The Guest, is the main victim in the film and she plays the dread incredibly realistically. Tears, screaming running, fatigue, it’s all there as she and her friends try and figure out how to stop the curse. All the while, the film keeps adding teeny tiny bits to expand the possibilities a bit. But it never gets too wild. We never get any big explanation. It’s just a force, creeping up on the audience.

A big help to that is the score by Disasterpiece. It’s heavily influenced by John Carpenter’s score for Halloween – I think I even heard a few riffs in there –  but this score is more electronic and bassy, giving the film a scary, yet modern feel.

The Context

As good as It Follows is on a surface level, it’s also got social commentary good horror does so well. It’s about the consequences of sex and how a wrong decision can follow you forever. There are moments in the movie where men are perfectly fine to knowingly take on this curse, just to have sex. Guys – it’s your life or sex, one time! The fact so many choose the former, and the consequences are dire, definitely adds a nice thematic layer below the terrifying premise.

When I judge a horror movie, the #1 criteria is how scary is the film. After that, we can look at everything else. It Follows scared me. A lot. Like, more than probably 90% of the other horror movies I’ve ever seen. So that seems like a fair raiting. If you like to be scared, there hasn’t been a better film in years.

/Film review: 9 out of 10

It Follows played this week at the Sundance Film Festival, but we saw it as part of the AFI Fest presented by Audi in 2014. It opens in the US March 27.

The post ‘It Follows’ Is One of the Scariest Horror Films In Years [Sundance 2015] appeared first on /Film.

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The Sundance Film Festival is proving to be a source of endless delight even for those of us who are just reading reviews from home. Because while we might not be able to watch the movies from our couches, we can still enjoy the trailers as thoroughly as anyone in Park City.

The latest Sundance entry to unleash a trailer is Partisan, directed by Ariel Kleiman. At the center of the story is Alexander (Jeremy Chabriel), an 11-year-old trained as an assassin. When this dangerous but sheltered boy begins thinking for himself, he poses a problem for father figure Gregori (Vincent Cassel). Watch the first Partisan trailer after the jump.

Madman Films unveiled the first Partisan trailer on YouTube.

Partisan was another title on our list of the most anticipated Sundance titles, and the new trailer doesn’t disappoint. It keeps the plot mysterious, but the moody beauty and sense of unease come through loud and clear. Look for reviews to trickle out of Sundance starting Sunday, when Partisan makes its world premiere.

Partisan doesn’t have a U.S. release date yet, but let’s hope that changes soon. Here’s the synopsis from Sundance:

The charismatic Gregori (Vincent Cassel) saunters into a hospital maternity ward and charms new mother Susanna. Eleven years later, she and her son Alexander live in Gregori’s closed community, sheltering vulnerable women and their brood in a haven isolated from the outside world. Alexander is Gregori’s prize pupil, eldest son, and star employee in the cottage industry—in which the kids are trained to run dangerous errands to provide for the group—but Gregori feels threatened by the boy’s inquisitive nature, struck by the fear that his child might not love him anymore. Meanwhile, Alexander begins to think for himself.

In his feature debut, Ariel Kleiman (a 2011 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner for his short film Deeper Than Yesterday) crisply constructs a fascinating hidden world, then casts innocuous moments, such as a karaoke party or a child playing with a paintball gun, in increasingly sinister light. This juxtaposition cleverly deepens and undermines our understanding of this seemingly idyllic makeshift family.

The post ‘Partisan’ Trailer: Vincent Cassel Leads Sundance Thriller appeared first on /Film.

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Move over, Halle Berry. You too, Famke Janssen and James Marsden. There’s a new trio of mutants in town.

X-Men: Apocalypse director Bryan Singer has just announced that Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones), Tye Sheridan (Tree of Life), and Alexandra Shipp (Drumline: A New Beat) have joined the comic book prequel as the younger versions of Jean Grey, Cyclops, and Storm, respectively. More on the X Men Apocalypse casting after the jump. 

Singer shared the good news on Twitter.

Meet our new and brilliant young mutants: @Alexshipppp as #Storm @SophieT as #JeanGrey and @TyeSheridan as #Cyclops.
#XmenApocalypse

— Bryan Singer (@BryanSinger) January 23, 2015

Turner’s response:

OMG

— Sophie Turner (@SophieT) January 23, 2015

All three stars were named earlier this month as testing for X-Men: Apocalypse. According to that report, Sheridan was up against Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service) and Jamie Blackley (If I Stay); Turner was competing with Saoirse Ronan; and Shipp was in contention along with Zendaya Coleman (Disney Channel’s Shake It Up).

X-Men: Apocalypse will be set in the 1980s. Turner, Sheridan, and Shipp are playing the younger versions of the superheroes played by Janssen, Marsden, and Berry in the original X-Men trilogy. They join fellow franchise newcomer Oscar Isaac, who’s playing the titular villain Apocalypse. In addition, Channing Tatum is rumored, but not yet confirmed, to make his debut as Gambit.

The film also brings back the core cast from X-Men: First Class: James McAvoy as Professor X, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Nicholas Hoult as Beast. Hugh Jackman is in talks to return as Wolverine.

X-Men: Apocalypse promises to close out the First Class trilogy with ”mass destruction.” The character of Apocalypse is an “ancient” mutant born thousands of years ago. The storyline will also prominently feature Mystique and her relationships with Beast and Magneto. Simon Kinberg wrote the script based on a story by himself, Singer, Michael Dougherty, and Dan Harris.

X-Men: Apocalypse will start shooting this spring in Canada. It opens May 27, 2016.

The post ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ Adds Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, and Alexandra Shipp appeared first on /Film.

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Marvel Studios could be setting up a 12 Years a Slave reunion. Chiwetel Ejiofor is reportedly circling Doctor Strange, which will star Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character. Scott Derrickson is directing. More on the possible Chiwetel Ejiofor Doctor Strange casting after the jump.

TheWrap reports Ejiofor is nearing a deal for the comic book movie, and in fact has already begun turning down roles to make room for the Doctor Strange shoot this fall. Marvel hasn’t yet confirmed the casting, let alone revealed which character Ejiofor will be playing. Plot details are also being kept under wraps for now.

According to their trade’s source, Ejiofor will not be portraying the villain, believed to be Baron Mordo. (Daniel Brühl has been rumored for that one.) Instead, they believe Ejiofor will be playing the Ancient One. He serves as mentor to both Stephen Strange and Baron Mordo, and precedes Strange as Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme.

An earlier rumor had pegged Morgan Freeman, Bill Nighy, and Ken Watanabe as three possibilities for the Ancient One. Ejiofor seems a bit young for the role in comparison, but maybe Marvel has decided to go in a different direction for the character.

THR additionally suggests that Ejiofor may be playing Wong, Doctor Strange’s monk servant/sidekick. Although the character is Chinese in the comics, Marvel has previously demonstrated that isn’t entirely adverse to mixing up the ethnicities of supporting characters, as they did for Heimdall in the Thor movies.

Ejiofor is currently shooting The Martian for Ridley Scott and will next move on to Billy Ray’s remake of The Secret in Their Eyes. Later this year, he’ll be seen in Craig Zobel’s post-apocalyptic drama Z for Zachariah and John Hillcoat’s crime drama Triple Nine. He was recently eyed for the villain role in Spectre, but a deal was never struck.

Doctor Strange opens November 4, 2016.

The post Chiwetel Ejiofor Circling ‘Doctor Strange’ appeared first on /Film.

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