movies

What is the Best Will Smith Movie? (Podcast)

best will smith movie

Click here to download this week’s episode. Or just press play above.

Hey conspirers! This week on the show, we review Will Smith’s latest movie, Focus. But we also discuss our favorite Will Smith movies and quiz each other on some new trivia for the movie.

So our question of the week is pretty simple! What is the best Will Smith movie in your opinion? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

In our new segment, TWIL (this week I learned), we each bring our own news story in the world of entertainment that you might find pretty interesting. Links below.

As always, we serve up our Netflix Recommendation of the Week and finish the show with movie releases for this coming weekend.

Enjoy the show, and be sure to rate the show and subscribe on iTunes! We always appreciate your awesomeness.

Cool things we mentioned:

Mary Poppins sings Death Metal

Leonard Nimoy’s amazing, final Tweet (RIP)

Ducktales is coming back. On Netflix. Seriously.

Song of the week:

Young Chasers by Circa Waves. Their new album, T-Shirt Weather, has just been released!

Being the First Fan In The World To See The ‘Fantastic Four’ Teaser.

fantastic four teaser

The ‘Fantastic Four’ Teaser Just Dropped, And It’s Surprisingly Epic:

Simply put, The Fantastic Four is a superhero science fiction movie. And I think it might be the first one…

In the same way I fell in love with the lore behind Panem and Katniss Everdeen, I’m starting to really enjoy this new take on a familiar, but entirely different universe. 

Seriously, the parallels are there. A group of young adventurers with one-in-a-million powers rising above obstacles? Got it.

This is an excerpt from my teaser breakdown of The Fantastic Four, which was released alongside the teaser on Moviepilot. I was the first fan in the world to watch it, or so I was told by 20th Century Fox.

On Monday, I flew to Los Angeles to visit the 20th Century Fox lot. At my side was Aaron Kelly, the Director of Community at MP, along with Andrew Marco, Josh Weinstock, and Britt Frizzell (all MP staff and good friends of mine).

It was a fun time. I met a few of the people in charge of Fox’s marketing, including George Dewey. They invited us to a private screening room (remember, this is Monday afternoon) where we could sit down and watch the teaser a few times.

They didn’t tell me what to say, or lead me into making nice comments about the teaser. The representatives there simply wanted to gauge my reaction. I can’t blame them considering the amount of vitriol surrounding this movie’s sheer existence. They must have been quite curious.

I wrote the breakdown that evening, which was a surprisingly short process. I’m not used to being harshly edited when I write about movies, so what you’re reading above is quite close to the first draft. My breakdown was released in the morning, shortly after the trailer dropped, and to my chagrin, it was retweeted by a few of Fox’s Twitter accounts.

This was definitely a memorable experience, and it makes me excited about this new trend in fan empowerment. Movie studios can only benefit from allowing fans a chance to see how the shawarma is made.

I’ll be sharing more of this experience (and other thoughts on the teaser) on Monday’s episode of Now Conspiring. Also on the show, fellow MP writers, Maria Garcia and Adonis Gonzalez will share their own experiences this week at Sundance and the world premiere of Project Almanac. It’s going to be a great episode.

And yeah, we’ll talk about how you can get the opportunity to do cool things like this, as well.

Review: ‘Paddington’

paddington

The original book series by Michael Bond is now a live-action family film, but for once, that’s not a bad omen.

Paddington is a breezy, unrelentingly imaginative story about a talking bear taken in by a British family. Their effortless charm is so apparent, plant life within their storybook house is altered according to the events of the movie, and that’s just one clever piece of imagery intended to make you fall in love with these characters.

While frenetic gags and slapstick humor are something to be frowned upon in kid-friendly movies, Paddington reminds moviegoers of why those jokes were once so effective, and it has little to do with the actions themselves. The results of each gag speak louder than the set ups, forcing you to laugh more at the emotions and subtle realizations of the characters, rather than what someone wrote independent of the script in order to infuse more laughter.

But that doesn’t mean Paddington is a lightweight on symbolism, as its immigrant themes are front and center through the adopted bear simply looking for a home. It’s telling, then, that the various people of London care little about the fact that a bear can talk. All they can really register is an aversion to immigrants, or someone different, which is a surprisingly smart and powerful message for such an old property.

Even the villain (well played by Nicole Kidman as a taxidermist) is given a full story arc that eschews mustache twirling for a misguided search in legacy, playing nicely with a main story that more or less follows the same beats with the bear (voiced by Ben Wishaw) and each of his new family members.

The marketing for Paddington has been a huge misfire for marking the quality of this standout children’s film, unless this was an intentional decision to underplay expectations. Whatever the case, Paddington is a delightful surprise.

Grade: A

Extra Credits:

  • A stunning reminder that reboots don’t need to be gritty reimaginings.
  • I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a performance from Kidman. Yes, counting Australia.
  • No celebrity cameos. No pop culture references. No problem.
  • I forgot to mention the CGI itself, which is impressively done with Paddington and his environments. It’s not transcendent, but your immersion will remain intact throughout.
  • I wouldn’t be surprised if Wes Anderson secretly consulted for this movie. The absolutely British framing devices scream his style.

 

20 Most Anticipated Movies of 2015

20 most anticipated 2015 movies

 

This week on Now Conspiring, Maria and I start off the new year by highlighting which movies we’re looking forward to the most in 2015. We even have a list of movies that aren’t sequels, reboots, or adaptations!

PLUS we talk about the worst movies of 2014 that have been nominated for a Razzie. We share our thoughts on The Interview, Into the Woods and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. And finally, we talk about the new movies coming out this weekend that you might want to check out.

Enjoy the show, and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes if you don’t want to miss a single episode!

Question of the Week:

Which movies are you most excited to see in 2015? 

 

The 10 Movies That Made 2014 Incredible

I don’t usually do “top lists” for movies because, well, who cares what I think? So, instead I made a list of the “best” highlights of 2014.

As usual, I watched plenty of movies this year, but I didn’t see all of them. If there’s a movie missing from this list (or just something about movies in 2014 that you loved), don’t hesitate to share in the comments!

 

#10 The One I Love

the one i love

Mad Men‘s Elizabeth Moss was in a movie with The League’s Mark Duplass this year. But unless you regularly scroll through your Netflix queue (like I do), you probably missed The One I Love, which was one of 2014’s most inventive, and unsettling, films.

It’s hard to describe the movie without spoiling it, but I will say that it’s a dark romantic science fiction comedy (sorry for being so vague) centering around a couple trying to make their marriage work during a weekend getaway.

The movie wins this spot on my list (from Reese Witherspoon’s incredible performance in Wild) simply for being one of the few movies in recent memory to actually make me think critically about relationships and love. In a way that I probably never would have.

This one was 2014’s BEST romantic anything.

 

#9 Captain America: The Winter Soldier

captain america winter soldier

This is the superhero movie that made superhero movies cool again. And with Captain America, no less.

TWS wasn’t just an excellent sequel, it was one of Marvel’s strongest films period, even compared to The Avengers.

It was the perfect film to kick off what turned out to be a fun summer for movies, and it was the first case study of how Marvel can nail just about any genre with their capes.

2014’s BEST hero.

 

#8 Nightcrawler

nightcrawler

Imagine my surprise when this low-profile Jake Gyllenhaal movie about filming crime scenes in LA turned out to be one of the best films in Gyllenhaal’s already incredible career.

I still hold Lou Bloom as Gyllenhaal’s best role yet, and it was easily one of 2014’s most memorable characters.

2014’s BEST car chase.

 

#7 The Imitation Game

imitation game

This isn’t a perfect movie by any means. I think Keira Knightley was miscasted (her final, excellent scene notwithstanding), and parts of the script dragged on. When the credits rolled, I didn’t feel like I knew enough about Alan Turing, though I think that’s the point.

Still, Benedict Cumberbatch did a fantastic job as the genius who invented the first computer, only to be shunned for his private life. The Imitation Game had the most teary ending of any of the movies on this list, and the end still gives me chills when I start to think about it.

Sorry Fury, this was the BEST WWII movie of the year (that I saw, anyway).

 

#6  Snowpiercer

Snowpiercer

A post-apocalyptic science fiction movie about trains? Sheldon Cooper would be proud.

Easily the best sic-fi movie of the year (and there were tons of other great sci-fi movies this year), and I’m really shocked that Chris Evans managed to be in two movies on this list. Never thought I’d see the day circa 2007.

Snowpiercer brings back the overused post-apocalyptic premise that audiences declared “stale” back in, I don’t know, 2012, I guess. It also recycles the familiar rich vs. poor/revolution message that sci-fi has been throwing at us since before my parents watched movies.

Despite this, Snowpiercer was almost impossible not to like. The action, cinematography, and overall tension of watching abused survivors fight their way up the last train on Earth is one of the best ways you can spend a weekend.

And yes, it has the BEST twist ending of 2014.

 

#5 Guardians of the Galaxy

guardians of the galaxy

If Captain America made superhero movies cool again, then Guardians of the Galaxy is the movie that made space operas cool again. And I can’t think of a better way for Disney to tell us a year early that they can handle Star Wars.

This was one of the biggest movies of the year (the biggest in the U.S. for sure), and for good reason. It was funny, the characters were lovable, and the action was on-point.

BEST soundtrack, by the way.

 

#4 How to Train Your Dragon 2

how to train your dragon 2

The subtitle for this movie should really be: Don’t worry Pixar fans! We’ll make a great animated movie for you while you wait for the next Pixar movie in 2015!

This was my favorite animated movie of the year (sorry Big Hero 6. You were a lot of fun, but DRAGONS), and I would even say it’s neck and neck with Captain America for the year’s best sequel.

BEST animation of 2014.

 

#3 Boyhood

boyhood

I watched Boyhood on a plane to Florida recently, and I noticed two important things about the movie: it’s my childhood, but in movie format — I couldn’t stop watching.

A lot of people give Boyhood flack for being a bit of a “gimmick” movie. Its main selling point is that it’s one of the most ambitious films of all time, in that it filmed the same boy (and other actors) for over 12 years. We literally watch him grow up onscreen.

But honestly, that’s not what makes the movie great. Strangely, the movie’s lack of narrative worked for me, and I normally hate mosaics (think Tree of Life or anything else by Terrence Malick). In a way, the boy’s life is the story, which made me connect with Boyhood in a way I don’t think I’ve ever connected with a fictional character.

This one had the BEST script of 2014.

 

#2 Gone Girl

gone girl

Like Boyhood, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the screen as I watched the movie where even the twists have twists.

Gone Girl is filet mignon. It’s a movie that just gets everything right and cooks it perfectly. The pacing, acting, story, dialogue, and even Ben Affleck are executed brilliantly in this creepy thriller about a man whose wife goes missing.

In my opinion, the BEST story of 2014.

 

#1 Whiplash

whiplash

It’s tragic that this movie hasn’t reached a broader audience yet, but I’m really hoping it will as we enter the new year. Featuring Miles Teller (the future Mr. Fantastic) and J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson and TENZIN), Whiplash is the chaotic tale of how obsession separates ordinary people from legends.

But the real draw of the movie was watching Simmons play the brutal Jazz instructor, Fletcher. His character was the most memorable villain of 2014, I think, and his terrorizing teaching tactics were a real thrill to watch.

And of course, if you’ve seen the movie already, you know that it has the BEST ending of 2014.

whiplash

 

But these aren’t the only movies that made 2014 such a great year for movies. Here are some other standouts:

BEST Cinematography: Birdman

BEST Wit and Humor: Grand Budapest Hotel

BEST Premise: The LEGO Movie

lego movie

BEST Biopic: Selma

BEST New Character: Baymax (Big Hero 6)

BEST Onscreen Pair: The Skeleton Twins

BEST Prequel: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

BEST Special Effects: Interstellar

BEST Actress: Reese Witherspoon in Wild

BEST Action: The Edge of Tomorrow

BEST New Universe: John Wick

BEST Use of Michael Fassbender: Frank

frank

 

Have a great 2015!

You Can’t Pirate Anything Off Of ‘The Pirate Bay’ Anymore

pirate bay

Chris Morran | The Consumerist:

The Pirate Bay, perhaps the most popular — certainly the best known — destination for anyone looking to score pirated movies, music, books, games, and other digital content, was taken offline earlier today after a raid by police in Stockholm.

TorrentFreak reports that the site, which connects users for peer-to-peer file sharing via BitTorrent, went offline earlier today without notice. Shortly after came news that authorities in the Bay’s home country of Sweden had seized servers and computers from an unspecified location.’

This is a big win for artists. Especially filmmakers.

Dory’s Origins Revealed In New Story Details for ‘Finding Dory’ and ‘Inside Out’

finding dory story

In the last few days, Pixar has come out with a wealth of new details surrounding two of its most-anticipated films: Finding Dory and Inside Out. I’ve compiled some of the new things we’ve learned below!

Finding Dory: Turns out Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) was born and raised at the Marine Biology Institute of California. She was released into the ocean at a young age, and this Finding Nemo sequel will be about the forgetful fish trying to reunite with her long-lost parents,

Go on…Dory’s Origins Revealed In New Story Details for ‘Finding Dory’ and ‘Inside Out’