Tag Archives: Jon Hamm

2010s, Article, Coming Soon, Lists, News, Trailers

16 Most Anticipated Films of the Rest of 2018

Leave a comment

With the collapse of MoviePass over the past few weeks, it looks like I might need to be a little more picky in my choice of movies. I’m still going to hold onto it and I will try to use it as often as they will allow, but with service outages just about every night and no access to new releases, it will definitely be limited. Before the AMC Stubs A-List people come out of the woods to accost me, my closest AMC is about 80 miles away, so that is a no go. I’m waiting to see if Regal announces any plans, but in the meantime, I have signed up for Sinemia which allows me to see three movies a month in any format.

With that in mind, I took a look at all the upcoming films for the remaining five months of 2018 and tried my best to whittle it down to my top 15 most anticipated. There are probably three times this many that I will actually do my best to see. A lot of these only have a limited release announced and the word of mouth before and performance during that run will make the difference in whether they will ever see a national roll out. So this is me doing my part to make sure I get to see them in my neck of the woods. 

Eighth Grade – August 3rd

I figured I would cheat right out of the gate and make this list 16 instead of 15. Technically, this one hit a few theaters in July, but it hasn’t been near me until now. I haven’t seen it yet, but I am really looking forward to it. Comedian Bo Burnham makes his directing debut as we follow teenager Kayla (Elsie Fisher) as she maneuvers transitioning from middle school to high school. From the trailer it looks like something wonderful that I am going to love.

BlacKKKlansman – August 10

Spike Lee’s latest movie, produced by Jordan Peele, follows the true story of a real black police officer, Ron Stallworth, who managed to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan. This is the first I’ve ever seen of John David Washington who stars, but it also stars Topher Grace as David Duke as well as other big names like Adam Driver and Alec Baldwin. This one can join the list of 2018 films with a racially charged message (Sorry to Bother You, Blindspotting, and another coming up on this list).

Searching – August 31

I’ve heard good things about John Cho’s performance in this. It seems like he has the difficult task of holding it all together since it uses the same gimmick that we have seen a couple of times now (Unfriended), the whole movie occurs on a computer screen. 

The Predator – September 14

Director Shane Black (Hawkins from the first Predator movie), has taken the reins of the franchise for its latest chapter. Sure to be an entertaining viewing experience, the movie stars Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Sterling K. Brown, Keegan-Michael Key, and Jacob Tremblay.

The House with a Clock in its Walls – September 21

Jack Black is hit or miss. This could be bad like Goosebumps, but the kid actor (Owen Vaccaro) looks good and it seems like a cool concept. I’m more interested in this than the next Fantastic Beasts movie. That’s saying something considering the fact that I’m currently wearing a “Become an Obliviator!” t-shirt. 

First Man – October 12

Ryan Gosling and director Damien Chazelle join forces again after La La Land for this look at Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. With Gosling as Armstrong, the movie delves into the dramatic events leading up to the historic launch.

Bad Times at the El Royale – October 12

Drew Goddard’s (The Cabin in the Woods) latest movie follows the lives of seven troubled strangers as they stay at a rundown hotel in search of redemption. Jeff Bridges, Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm, and Dakota Johnson lead this star-studded cast. This could easily be either my favorite of the season or a jumbled mess. There is a thin line between the two.

The Hate U Give – October 19

Based on an acclaimed young adult novel of the same name, we follow Starr (Amandla Stenberg) as she tries to figure out the right path after witnessing her childhood friend die in a fatal shooting by a police officer. It sounds like the teenage version of the recent firestarter, Blindspotting. It looks powerful. 

Can You Ever Forgive Me? – October 19

This is a rare serious role for Melissa McCarthy. I’m always up for watching an actor stretch their creative legs and show me something I haven’t seen before. Apparently, this comes from the true story of author Lee Israel who began forging letters from literary legends when her writing career was in the doldrums. If it’s really good, we could see nominations come award season. 

Bohemian Rhapsody – November 2

Rami Malek (Mr. Robot) plays Queen front-man Freddie Mercury in this look at the band before its legendary Live Aid concert. Queen is usually my answer when asked for my favorite band, and Mercury is a very interesting figure that should make for a good watch. If all goes according to plan, Malek is looking at some major award season consideration for this one.

The Sisters Brothers – November

The Sisters Brothers are John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix. That’s enough to get me interested, but it looks like a dark comedy. This could easily be the year the John C. Reilly really breaks out. I’ve been waiting for it since Walk Hard.

Ralph Breaks the Internet – November 21

Six years after the original, Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) head off on a new adventure. This time they discover what’s out in the internet after finding a pathway through a wi-fi router. I’m hoping this is a sequel more like Incredibles 2 than Cars 2 or worse The Emoji Movie. It looks funny from the trailer and the internet creates a lot of fodder for humor, but my worry is that with as quickly as things move on the internet, this could feel stale by the time it hits DVD. 

Robin Hood – November 21

Taron Edgerton as Robin of Locksley back from the crusades with Jamie Foxx as his trainer/sidekick? Sign me up! We might be in for the best Robin Hood movie since Men in Tights.

Mortal Engines – December 14

Based on the Philip Reeve book, and written for the screen by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, this film is set in a world where cities are forced to move around in a constant chase to avoid being overthrown. Essentially, this is a real life game of Agar.io. It looks amazing, but if it is too complicated, it could end up like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. It also doesn’t really have many big names to anchor it except Jackson and Hugo Weaving. 

Alita: Battle Angel – December 21

I got worried when this film moved from a July date all the way back to December. Hopefully, this was so it could get away from juggernaut tentpole films and find a better viewership. I’m not familiar with the original manga also known as Gunnm, by Yukito Kushiro, but James Cameron has apparently been attempting to get a film adaptation made for several years. Now he has finally produced it with Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) directing. It looks like we can expect some amazing visuals. Let’s just hope this movie about a fighting cyborg girl has a bit more heart and substance than the Ghost in the Shell remake. 

Welcome to Marwen – December 21

Based on the intriguing 2010 documentary, Marwencol, about how a man copes with a brain injury through creating a 1/6th scale World War II-era town in his backyard, Robert Zemeckis takes that story and glosses it up with CGI. It stars Steve Carell in the lead role. I expect this to be top of some best of lists at the end of the year. But Zemeckis’ barbie doll CGI could turn some away. Only time will tell. 

Which of these is your most anticipated? What did I miss? Venom? Into the Spiderverse? Let me know what you’re looking forward to in the comments section below!

2010s, Action, Article, Best Movie Bracket, Biopic, Comedy, Drama, Heist, Lists, Musical, Prison, Reviews, Romance, Sports, True Story

Best of 2017: Insiders 6-10

1 Comment

After getting a bit sidetracked with Oscar predictions, let’s get back to the Best of 2017. You can see my 11-15 and 16-20 as well, but as we enter the coveted top 10, we find some truly remarkable films that resonated with me personally. I am proud of the diversity of films from drama to action to biopic. Let’s go!

10. Logan Lucky

Steven Soderbergh comes out of retirement to make his best since the original Ocean’s Eleven remake. He shows off his flair for visual storytelling and gives us a hillbilly fairy tale wrapped up in a heist movie. The cast of characters is outrageous, the premise is outlandish, and the film is outstanding.

The film centers around the Logan brothers played by Adam Driver and Channing Tatum and their plan to rob Charlotte Motor Speedway in efforts to break the 100 year old Logan family curse. Other cast members include Riley Keough, Daniel Craig, Seth MacFarlane, Sebastian Stan, Hillary Swank, Katie Holmes, Dwight Yoakam, and so many more deliciously funny characters.

I know many people who might not be as stereotypically country as these characters are but who suffer from a curse nonetheless. This curse of living paycheck to paycheck and being overlooked and derided is turned on its head as they mastermind a heist that would make Danny Ocean jealous. It is a hilariously wild ride, with a strong focus on family and a message about changing your station in life that might surprise you.

9. Phantom Thread

In opposition to the previous entry, Phantom Thread is set in the alluring world of 1950s British couture. Paul Thomas Anderson helms what is supposed to be Daniel Day-Lewis’ final performance. The previous collaboration of these two produced one of my favorite movies of all time, There Will Be Blood. I hope this isn’t the last we see from Daniel Day-Lewis because he is one of the greatest actors of our time and he has much more to give. However, if he did choose to make this film his last it would be a fitting close to an amazing career.

Hey plays Reynolds Woodcock who is a fictional mashup of several real designers from this time-frame. He is an exacting personality, he is brilliant but petulant and spoiled. The best thing about this film was the surprising humor. It arises from places you would not expect and the whole story goes in a direction that subverts the viewers expectations. It is a twisted picture of love, relationships, and power.

8. I, Tonya

Much like Phantom Thread, in I, Tonya we have a unique character study with dark humor that springs from odd places. People my age and older may think they know this story. We watched much of it play out on television. It happened right at the beginning of this new trend of 24/7 news coverage. So for weeks, you could not escape the saga of Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding.

The story is so strange because of the varied and conflicting versions of the story that come from all sides. Instead of trying to present the truth, it seemed to leave us in an ambiguous place where we are rooting for the good in Tonya while still seeing he faults and part to play in the whole fiasco. Violence was the language that these people spoke and while that does not excuse any actions, it does provide a picture of the twisted mindset that could commit this crime.

Part of me wonders how much coverage this story would have received without the media coverage that it received. Did our thirst of “news” as entertainment feed into this? Because just as soon as a bigger story came along we were off on our next witch hunt. Today, this thirst has grown exponentially to the point that this story would have been nothing more than a blip on our Twitter feeds that would disappear within a few moments as soon as the next viral video appeared.

Margot Robbie and Sebastian Stan were very good, and the visuals could almost fool me to think that Margot Robbie trained to actually complete a triple Axel just for this film. The way that they filmed the skating sequences was captivating as well with the camera moving fluidly around the skater as the perform on the ice. However, the real star and one of the best overall performances of the year was from Allison Janney who played the cartoonishly evil mother of Tonya. She was wickedly delightful.

7. Baby Driver

The more I think about this movie the higher I want to put it on my list. Looking back in a couple of years after I own this Blu-Ray and watch it 5-6 dozen times it will probably find its way well into the top five. I love that it came in with a modest budget and blew it out of the water showing that you can make original and artful cinema and still make loads of money.

When I mention Edgar Wright, you might recognize the name from Shaun of the Dead, or Hot Fuzz. Here Edgar wright uses more of his distinct visual style and uses it to craft a musically choreographed heist film. Do yourself a favor and watch the first 6 minutes of the film. If it strikes your fancy then you will love the whole film. If it doesn’t then you may be doing something wrong.

My one issue with the film is that the whole thing isn’t presented as a musical. There are certainly musical elements and complete scenes that are linked directly to the music we hear, but I would have loved to see a full blown action centered La La Land type film.

6. Lady Bird

I have to admit that I jumped pretty hard on the Lady Bird bandwagon, and it’s hard not to. It is delightful. Its simplicity is part of its charm. However, I think that the simplicity might keep it from taking home any of the 5 Oscars it is nominated for on Sunday. But that is okay. It doesn’t need to be controversial or flashy to draw attention.

I feel like Lady Bird was so well loved because the characters albeit quirky are so accessible. Have you ever wanted to spread your wings and escape from your town or your school or your family? Everyone has! So much of this comes from the performances of Soairse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf. Ronan manages to capture that odd teenage limbo between the confidence in their own abilities and the realization that they are clueless as they prepare to leave.

Did anyone else feel like Metcalf appeared out of nowhere like someone had her locked in a time capsule since Roseanne. She was so good. She was warm and motherly and cold and calculated all in the same scenes. I have to give a small shout out to Tracy Letts as well as the dad. With three teenagers or nearly teenagers of my own I always look out for great father figures and he is now up there with the likes of Stanley Tucci from Easy A.

Did you hate any of these movies? Am I out of touch because I chose an Oscar bait movie like Phantom Thread or do I need to give up my Movie cred because I liked a trailer trash movie like Logan Lucky? I want to see your top 10 lists, leave me a comment here or shoot me a message on social media!

2010s, Action, Comedy, News, Spy, Trailers

Trailer for Keeping Up with the Joneses

Leave a comment

From the guy that brought us Superbad comes a hilarious looking comedy with a skinnier Zach Galifianakis and a load of other great actors. Remember Mr. And Mrs. Smith with Brangelina? Imagine being their next door neighbors. That is the concept behind Greg Mottola’s latest comedy, Keeping Up with the Joneses. Isla Fisher and Zach Galifianakis are an ordinary suburban couple that are in for a wild ride when they figure out that Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot are not who they appear to be. I can’t imagine a better cast of characters here. The trailer had me laughing out loud a couple of times. I just hope they don’t show too much in future trailers. I’m marking this one down as a great date night movie October 21st.