Split (2017) movie review. M. Night Shyamalan's redemption.

Movie Split, directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring James McAvoy and  Anya Taylor-Joy. The story is about three girls, who were kidnapped by a psychopath, who has 23 personalities inside him, containing 9 year old boy, woman and a usual, seemed to be normal, guy. Imprisoned, girls try to convince one of the multiple selves of James McAvoy's character to let them go.

From the beginning, the film seems like a good thriller, with a good mystery and frightening atmosphere, and the script is really good, trying to involve the audience into director's thoughts, the way of explaining, what he was trying to tell. And it was magnificent, I am absolutely serious. I was so invested and interested, I was thinking of that twist, everyone buzzing about, for the whole movie, and it was very smart, and I am not talking about it anymore in this review, not to ruin anything for anyone. 

James McAvoy's performance was one of the best he did in his career. I loved his approach with portraying all his different characters, and of cause, the movie, after all, is more about him, then these girls, who tries to escape. I had such a good time, speculating, pondering about little clues, M. Night Shyamalan was giving for an entire movie. 

There were things that I didn't like, but overall, this movie is very well made, much more superior, than most of the thrillers nowadays. It has a little forgotten feeling, that during scary movie, you can be interested in thinking, rather than sitting and watching something, that just tries to scare any way possible and takes you for a fool. 

The LEGO Batman Movie VIRAL VIDEO - Gotham Cribs (2017)

New LEGO Batman video released, featuring The Batman, showing his Bat cave, some behind the scenes stuff.  Everything about this new LEGO movie excites me to watch it. I think this marketing campaign was awesome: the tone they used, including the music choices and making fun of everything related and iconic for Batman. Overall what they have been doing with this movie is so fun and original, making it a jewel of this February. 

I hope that this little, so called, behind the scenes are just marketing tools and non of this footage will be used in the movie, which already has critic ratings on rotten tomatoes at 91 percent.

It is definitely a kids movie, but it really attracts my attention, because I just love fun and well made films, weather it is an animated or a live action. And this one sticks out for me as an exceptional idea - making fun of Batman - one of the most serious superheroes. There is nothing wrong with this, Batman will always be an iconic character with this kind of vibe of a scary vigilante, who saves his city, but only in more serious films.  

The LEGO Batman movie will hit theaters on February 10th. 

Life (2017) Super Bowl TV spot released

Life starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds and Rebecca Ferguson now has one trailer and ready to launch TV spot for the Super Bowl. The movie, which will come out on March 24th, will tell the story about an international space crew, which discovers life on Mars.

Here is the synopsis: 

Six astronauts aboard the space station study a sample collected from Mars that could provide evidence for extraterrestrial life on the Red Planet. The crew determines that the sample contains a large, single-celled organism - the first example of life beyond Earth. But..things aren't always what they seem. As the crew begins to conduct research, and their methods end up having unintended consequences, the life form proves more intelligent than anyone ever expected. 

Life already has one official trailer, which came out three month ago, and it intrigued a lot of people, teasing a similar plot to the Alien (1979), about finding life beyond Earth. It also showed a nice concept of determining humans as species, so maybe that will have something to do with this particular story. Having such a fantastic cast of extremely talented people adds even more anticipation. The only concern I have, is that if it will be too similar to the Alien. Whatever they found out there in space will try to destroy them, and as you know it is pretty much what the Alien (1979) was all about.

A new trailer will arrive in 24 hours, as the official site teases, so we will see more details on what this movie is about. 

The TV spot for the Super Bowl shows even more similarities with the Alien, so it might be a premise of Gravity (2013) and the classic Alien (1979) in one movie, as we can see a lot of space operations and action.

James Cameron has finished scripts for all new four Avatar sequels. And his thoughts on future of the Terminator.

Legendary writer and director James Cameron already finished four new Avatar scripts, and ready to start shooting in August. 

He was asked about his focus on Avatar 2, and here is his reply:

"The thing is, my focus isn’t on Avatar 2. My focus is on Avatar 2, 3, 4, and 5 equally. That’s exactly how I’m approaching it. They’ve all been developed equally. I’ve just finished the script to Avatar 5. I’m now starting the process of active prep. I’ll be working with the actors in the capture volume in August, so I’m booked in production every day between now and then. Our volume is up and running, and everything is designed, and so we’re going full-guns right now. I feel like I’ve been let out of jail, because I’ve been in the writing cave for the last two years. I’m actually enjoying life. I don’t enjoy writing. I wouldn’t wish writing on a dog."

I love his comment on his way of working, and I think that he is a revolutionary filmmaker. The thing with Avatar is that it will never make as much money, as it did in 2009 and 2010. Only, if Cameron will market the hell out of this new sequel. Actually, his movies are always such a huge event, so I wouldn't be surprised, if it will beat some movies in Top 10 of the most grossing films of all time.

Cameron also talked about future of the Terminator franchise: if it was hijacked, and if it is relevant to make another one nowadays:

It hasn’t been hijacked. It’s really just stumbled along, trying to find its voice again. There’s probably some degree to where it’s lost relevance, you know? Maybe the things that made it good back then are kind of a yawn now. It’s easy to remember fondly the things that kick off a franchise. It’s hard to keep a franchise vigorous, and relevant. I haven’t had my hand on the tiller since Terminator 2, and that was 1991. So what’s that? Twenty-six years? But look, I think it’s possible to tell a great Terminator story now, and it’s relevant. We live in a digital age, and Terminator ultimately, if you can slow it down, is about our relationship with our own technology, and how our technology can reflect back to us—and in the movie, literally, in a human form that is a nemesis and a threat. But also in those movies, in the two that I did, it’s about how we dehumanize ourselves. In a time when people are being absorbed by their virtual-social world, I mean, just look around. I always say: if Terminator was about the war between the humans and the machines, look around any restaurant or airport lounge and tell me the machines haven’t won when every human you see is enslaved to their device. So could you make a relevant Terminator film now? Absolutely.

Great comments. Correct as always, but I am afraid, that Cameron will be too busy to take over and direct a new one, as soon as the rights will be returned to him. 

New Logan 2017 TV spots.

Brand new TV spots for Logan, which hits theaters in a month, have dropped on YouTube. These are well made TV spots, giving a little bit more depth for the story, and making you even more excited for the movie, so after watching, there is more room for anticipation for this movie. 

As for me, I love everything Fox does with their marketing campaign for Logan. It reminds me of Deadpool's campaign, when everyone said, that it was the best that year. They definitely marketed it right. 

Super Bowl Transformers TV spot is much hotter than the previous trailer.

Recently a new TV spot, which will be shown during a huge cultural event of Super Bowl has dropped. It is the best way to promote a movie, so a lot of money spent to show those little TV spots, and marketing departments are really concerned that those little videos to be great. 

The last Transformers trailer wasn't great. It was disappointing for many people, who always loved Transformers trailers. And as for right now, the fifth part called "The Last Knight" (O boy, I hope that this title is just a coincidence) is not doing great, because everyone is aware that the quality of those movies is terrible and everyone knows what they get going on a movie like that. Plus the first trailer wasn't good enough to fool people again and convince them that this one is a turning point. I am glad that transformers franchise must make a real step forward in quality in order to keep the audience from floating away and keep them coming back on those dump popcorn action flicks with a budget of small country's GDP. 

So, that TV spot, that just dropped. It had much more depth, then the trailer for me. I felt a well build story through this little video. It just made me feel better then the trailer after watching it. And I am one of those people who never liked transformers trailers that much, so they never made me convinced to go to the movie theater on these movies. 

There is another story I read today, about Michael Bay talking on directing and keep coming back to this franchise. He explained it as he always does, that he just loves to do it and this kind of stuff. But, he also told, that a whole team of brilliant writers worked on the script this time, and that they had plenty of time, and worked together in order to connect all previous movies and bring depth to the mythology to the Transformers franchise. Also Bay confirmed, that he is done with Transformers, this time for real, and made a pretty interesting statement:

'It’s bittersweet for me. With every Transformers film, I’ve said it would be my last. I see the 120 million fans around the world who see these movies, the huge theme park lines to the ride and the amazing Make- A-Wish kids who visit my sets, and it somehow keeps drawing me back. I love doing these movies. This film was especially fun to shoot. But, this time might really be it. So I’m blowing this one out.There comes a moment in everyone’s life when we are called upon to make a difference.

In Transformers: The Last Knight, the hunted will become heroes. Heroes will become villains. Only one world will survive: theirs, or ours.'

To be fair, Bay always did his best to bring good action, but it never worked as a good movie for me.

If this movie suck, that will mean, that literally nothing can help this franchise to be good, and it always will stay this cheesy stupid thing it is now, until it will be rebooted into something brand new.

Collin Farrell in talks to join Denzel Washington in Dan Gilroy's "Inner City"

Variety reports, that Collin Farrell might join or already joined Denzel Washington in the legal drama from "Nightcrawler" director Dan Gilroy. 

In the report says whom will be Washington's character:

'Washington plays a hard-nosed liberal lawyer named Roman J. Israel, who’s been fighting the good fight while others take the credit. When his partner has a heart attack, Israel suddenly takes on the role of the firm’s frontman. He soon uncovers details about the crusading law firm’s history that run afoul of his values of helping the poor and dispossessed, and finds himself in an existential crisis that leads to extreme action.

Collin Farrell will play another attorney in the firm. 

Farrell rises like a fenix from the ashes after his career being a little down after some poor projects. But seeing him performing masterfully in Lobster or True Detective makes me think, that that era of him being a guy to make a fun of is over. He most recently starred in Harry Potter spin-off "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" and was really good in it. So very much looking forward for Inner City. It has Denzel Washington, who recently won SAG award nomination for best performance of the year, and his "Fences" are getting a lot of Oscar buzz, so I am pretty excited what this trio of great artists can do together in a drama. 

Kong: Skull Island final poster released.

A new poster for a new King Kong movie has been released and it is inspired by Apocalypse Now.

This is a wonderful poster, filled with a nice atmosphere of Vietnam War, but with this giant ape in the middle. The look of it is terrifying, and those choppers at the sunset is such an iconic look. And I think, that this movie must be great or it will make so many people angry, just because of high expectations, which this poster creates as well as other marketing tools they used. The trailers were fantastic, the cast is great and the promised quality definitely raises the expectation bar so high, that the failure is just unacceptable. 

The movie stars Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel. L. Jackson , John Goodman and John C. Reilly. Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts. Written by Dan Gilroy, Max Borenstein and John Gatins.

The movie hits theaters on March 10th. 

'The Lost City of Z' trailer tells a story about obsessed explorers.

I have become dying to watch this movie after this trailer. It hooked me on this idea of finding an existing undiscovered city and a whole civilization. The tone of the trailer is great, I am a big adventure fan, so that movie already feels like a beautifully set up story about explorers. After this trailer, I just want to watch the movie. This is what trailers do, so I think that this is a great one, it did it's purpose. 

Here is an official synopsis for the movie:

Based on author David Grann’s nonfiction bestseller, THE LOST CITY OF Z tells the incredible true story of British explorer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam), who journeys into the Amazon at the dawn of the 20th century and discovers evidence of a previously unknown, advanced civilization that may have once inhabited the region. Despite being ridiculed by the scientific establishment who regard indigenous populations as “savages,” the determined Fawcett – supported by his devoted wife (Sienna Miller), son (Tom Holland) and aide de camp (Robert Pattinson) – returns time and again to his beloved jungle in an attempt to prove his case, culminating in his mysterious disappearance in 1925. An epically-scaled tale of courage and obsession, told in Gray’s classic filmmaking style, THE LOST CITY OF Z is a stirring tribute to the exploratory spirit and those individuals driven to achieve greatness at any cost.

This movie is already shown to some movie critics and received almost mind-blowing reviews, so it shook my expectations about it, and now I am looking forward to it without any suspicion about it being bad. That is fancy that this movie is made by Amazon Studios, and it is about exploring Amazon. 

Leonardo DiCaprio to Star in 'The Black Hand'

Iconic actor, successfully won the Oscar last year, Leonardo DiCaprio has found himself a new movie to star and produce. It is an adaptation of Stephan Talty's book, and it is about a genius detective, Joe Petrosino, who is tasked to take on the Italian Mafia in the yearly 1900's. Reported by Variety.

Paramount has been busy acquiring material for DiCaprio following his new first-look deal, which he signed in 2015. 

It would be interesting to see, what is coming. Is it a new Oscar worthy performance or just another great deal for DiCaprio? As far as we know he is always very precise in choosing projects. It is hard to tell, which was the last flop for a DiCaprio movie, so I think Paramount has a great deal to have this kind of an actor on board for their movie. Which doesn't have a director yet. All is known is that Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Jeremy Bell of The Gotham Group will produce. DiCaprio’s producing partner, Jennifer Davisson, will also produce with Gotham, as well as Nathaniel Posey on behalf of his Appian Way Productions.

Great news by the way. I love early 1900's, and I can not wait to see ,as he was called, 'Italian Sherlock Holmes', on screen. That excites and brings hope, that 'The Great Depression' time period is not a dead end for studios to make their movies in. I really love this idea, and DiCaprio is a genius, so everyone should expect this movie, as a big cultural event. I hope, that DiCaprio's name involved will bring talented director, and the movie will turn out to be great.