Author: Loren Elliott

Weekend Watch – 1/6/17

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Welcome to the Weekend Watch. Where we try to point you towards the best ways to spend your viewing time (or, at least, steer you clear of the garbage).

 

Movies

Underworld: Blood Wars

Loren: Huh, I guess it’s good to see Len Wiseman working, and by that extent Kate Beckinsale.

RDT: There have been 5 of these?!?!?!?

Rick: Listen, I’m all for Kate Beckinsale showing up in skin tight outfits, but I’m not sure it needs to be in yet another Underworld movie. I guess trying to get blood from a stone is all Sony Pictures is capable of these days.

Jen: Even Kate Beckinsale’s got boat payments nowadays. Also, want to feel old? The first of these movies came out 14 years ago.

I, Daniel Blake (Limited)

Loren: I don’t know what to say about this one. It’s an important topic and it looks like it handles it well enough but I don’t think I’m going to see it.

RDT: This looks interesting, but I’ll be honest, I doubt it’s gonna stay on my radar.

Rick: I have a few of Ken Loach’s films in my library that I, unfortunately, haven’t gotten around to yet. I’m compelled to dig them out before going to see this.

Jen: For a good few seconds I thought this might be a really well-shot documentary. I doubt I’ll see it but it does feel worth seeing. Continue reading →

Episode #47 – Year End Holiday Spectacular Jamboree

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It’s the end of the year so the guys brought in co-contributors Rick and Jen to cover all things 2016.

The gang talks their biggest surprises of the year in Movies and Tv as well as their biggest disappointments. They also give their top and bottom three movies from 2016. You could go as far as to call it a romp.

Everyone here at the Hollywood Picture News thanks you for spending the year with us and wishes you all a very happy and healthy holiday season. We’ll see you next week in 2017!

As always, please check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

Don’t forget to rate/review on iTunes and now Stitcher, too. We’d really appreciate it!

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Episode #46 – We’re Heading Back Up The Uncanny Valley

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This week the guys are talking a little known SciFi movie that hit the cinemas a few of you may have seen… Rogue One (Spoilers from 01:17:00 – 01:24:45). Also all the news bits from last week like:

  • F8 of the Furious Tr4il3r.
  • Pacific Rim and Godzilla sequels get lacklustre title changes.
  • King’s Revival gets a Crowe.
  • The next Pirates movie gets Knight(ley)ed.
  • Incredibles 2 starts recording so we talk for too long about other Pixar movies.
  • The most TV reboots imaginable. Single White Female, Taken, Star Trek, The Honeymooners, How I Met Your Father, Riverdale, Foxy Brown, Ducktales etc.
  • Marco….Polo….Marco…Polo… I can’t find the $200m you lost. You’re Cancelled.
  • Amazon gets Sneaky with Pete.
  • Julia Roberts heads to TV while Taran Killam heads to Broadway.
  • F*ck this F*cking Universe gets an Ocean Master, Batflick News, and Gotham City Sirens might happen
  • Hugh Jackman gets paid less to make something more for Logan.

All of that plus the Weekend Watched and all of the usual tangents.

As always, please check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

Don’t forget to rate/review on iTunes and now Stitcher, too. We’d really appreciate it!

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Weekend Watch – 12/16/16

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Welcome to the Weekend Watch. Where we try to point you towards the best ways to spend your viewing time (or, at least, steer you clear of the garbage).

Movies

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 

Loren:!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Etc.

RDT: Yeah, I guess I’ll see it.

Rick: Now that I’ve fallen ill (*grumbles*), I’ll have to wait and see this when I’m healthy. So, I guess I won’t be on the internet for like a week…

Jen: DUH!

Collateral Beauty 

Loren: I’m good. It’s like one of those holiday movies (Love Actually, New Years Eve) but with Tragic Circumstances being the holiday.

RDT: I saw this and Jen and Rick are both 100% right with what they said below. It’s cloying, manipulative, Oscar bait. It’s also predictable as hell (as I said on Facebook “It’s the moviest movie that ever movied”). And I desperately wanted to hate it. But the cast and the performances really elevate the writing (which is not good). What we got is not good, but there is a good movie in there somewhere.

Rick: Is it “Will Smith Wants An Oscar” season already? Pass.

Jen: Can we have an adult drama that doesn’t deal with someone’s kid dying? It seems the in thing, of late, to define your protagonist by the loss of their child. I find it cheap, manipulative, and, yes, painful. Move on Hollywood. Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About The First Spider-Man: Homecoming Trailer

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I’ve said it on the podcast, much like RDT’s favorite Superhero is The Flash, mine’s Spider-Man. Ever since I was a little kid Spider-Man is what got me into comics as a whole. He’s that guy that most people reading comics at the time felt was totally relatable (you know except for the incredible super powers thing). But Peter Parker had the same problems that you did, plus added threats of the The Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, or The Vulture. He was easily the most accessible superhero.

Over the years Spider-Man movies have ranged in their quality. We got two pretty great stories in the first two movies, though a lackluster Peter Parker in Tobey Maguire. Then we got a terrible hodge-podge of a Spider-Man/Venom/Sandman/Green Goblin story that reeked of studio interference in the abysmal Spider-Man 3. Sony rebooted the franchise just 5 years later with The Amazing Spider-Man. In that we got another origin story, a too cool for school Peter Parker, an incredible Gwen Stacy from Emma Stone, and (I had to look this up because I couldn’t actually remember who it was) the Lizard as the villain. Followed by and even more lazy sequel with another Green Goblin (sort of) and Electro as the villains.

This brings us to Marvel Studios deal with Sony to re-acquire the use of Spider-Man. Long story short years ago Marvel was going bankrupt and sold off the film rights to a lot of their characters. Spider-Man went to Sony, The X-Men and Fantastic Four went to Fox, Hulk went to Universal etc. Some of those properties reverted to Marvel after they weren’t used (Daredevil). Some have been churning out whatever they can to keep the property (Fantastic Four) but Sony realized that they were losing money on the Spider-Man franchise and couldn’t get the right version of the character out there. Marvel had wanted to use Peter Parker/Spider-Man (and presumably, many of their other characters) so they struck a deal adding a new Spider-Man to the already existing MCU. Still basically owned by Sony, this Spider-Man could show up and interact with MCU heroes like Iron Man and Captain America. Cue Captain America: Civil War where we got our first glimpse of this Spider-Man and the rest is history. Now Marvel, in co-production with Sony is releasing the first stand alone movie featuring Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. But enough history, let’s talk about the first Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer: Continue reading →

Episode #44 – A Crossover Of Like 2.52 Shows

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This week we’re talking the big CW DC Crossover event where the heroes from Supergirl, Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow take on invading aliens. Also we’ve got news like:

  • There most likely won’t be a Rogue Two
  • Escape for New York gets a PreBootQuel
  • There’s a teaser for the Mummy trailer
  • Alpha 5 looks creepy AF (see below)
  • Female 21 Jumpstreet and MIB23 still in the works
  • Jon Favreau is going all animated for the foreseeable future
  • Star Trek: Discovery adds Doug Jones and Anthony Rapp but loses Bryan Fuller
  • Riverdale FINALLY gets a teaser trailer
  • TVLine tells us why people aren’t as into The Walking Dead as they used to be
  • Netflix adds download functionality for offline viewing of some of their media
  • DC gets a new LEGO Batman poster and a release date for Aquaman
  • Guardians Vol 2 hits us with a fantastic teaser trailer
  • Luke Cage gets it’s official season two
  • We get a release/airdate for Inhumans in IMAX and on ABC

All of that plus the Weekend Watched and all of the usual tangents.

As always, please check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

Don’t forget to rate/review on iTunes and now Stitcher, too. We’d really appreciate it!

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Episode #42 – The Worst Terminator Movie

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All news, all the time. This week the guys are talking:

  • That fancy new Logan Poster up there.
  • Linus returns for Ocean’s 8.
  • The Green Hornet is back but The Crow and Stargate probably aren’t.
  • Emilia Clarke might have joined the Empire.
  • Fox is developing a crazy scifi show that they totally won’t f*ck with.
  • CWs four show crossover gets detailed and they move Legends to Tuesdays in January.
  • Full Frontal and Westworld are getting season 2s. No Tomorrow and Frequency? Not so much.
  • Y The Last Man gets it’s shot at FX.
  • The Nintendo Switch is rumored to be super cheap.
  • Justice League Dark animated movie gets a hauntingly bad trailer.
  • Will we get a Green Lantern in Justice League. Probably. I guess. I don’t know.
  • The Inhumans are coming! The Inhumans are coming. To ABC? Oh and also IMAX, kinda.
  • Deadpool hires John Wick(‘s Director).

All of that, plus the usual tangents, including one that starts the show!

As always, please check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

Don’t forget to rate/review on iTunes and now Stitcher, too. We’d really appreciate it!

 

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Weekend Watch – 11/18/2016

~ Loren Elliott ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to the Weekend Watch. Where we try to point you towards the best ways to spend your viewing time (or, at least, steer you clear of the garbage).

Movies

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Loren: I honestly forgot this was coming out this weekend. I wonder if it’s a good thing that they didn’t have too aggressive of a marketing campaign. That said this looks pretty good. If I get a chance I’ll catch it in the theater but it’s not 100% necessary.

RDT: I once said that if I ever had twin boys I would name them Fred and George. So, yeah, I’m a bit of a Potter fan. Count me in, probably this weekend.

Rick: Word on the street is they’re going to make five of these. Call me skeptical, but we all got burned before by Warner Bros. stretching one tiny book into more movies than necessary. I’ll probably check this out eventually, but I’m not super gung ho for it.

Jen: Is a hippogriff easily offended? (Yes, yes they are, and, yes, yes I’m in)

Bleed for This

Loren: I said it earlier this year when Hands of Stone came out that boxing movies aren’t my thing. Couple that with Miles Teller not really being my thing and I think I’ll pass. Too bad, it looks interesting, just not enough to keep me in.

RDT: Like Rick below, I like a good boxing movie. Not sure this is a good one, as I don’t love Mr. Teller. But I’m sure I’ll check it out eventually.

Rick: I’m a mark for boxing movies, so this is a no-brainer. I’m hoping it fares better than this year’s other boxing flick, Hands of Stone, which was in theaters for about half a second before it vanished.

Jen: I wish this didn’t give me a chronic case of the “mehs” but here we are.

Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About The New Beauty and the Beast Trailer

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So in an effort to not only do breakdowns for action movies, comic book movies, and Star Wars movies I figured I’d give this a whirl. Don’t get me wrong it’s a great trailer and looks gorgeous it’s just not completely in my wheelhouse.

RDT and I have talked a lot about how Disney is remaking many of their classic animated movies as live action affairs. Beauty and the Beast follows Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Pete’s Dragon, and of course the cinematic masterpiece 101 Dalmatians (Glenn Close’s finest work). This is just the start as they have upwards of 18 more live action versions in the pipe, like Aladdin, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid. Basically your childhood brought to life.

Alright there’s a good deal to get into in this trailer so let’s not waste any more time. Let’s talk about the new Beauty and the Beast trailer: Continue reading →

Episode #40 – Dr. Thanksgiving Smith

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We got your pop culture news right here. Stories like: 

  • All the live action Disney you can shake a stick at.
  • But Universal wants in that game too. 
  • James Cameron thinks glassesless 3D is a thing he can do
  • Scifi reboots galore.
  • Dark Tower and a whole slew of others delayed.
  • The lowest rated Flash still beats Agents of SHIELD.
  • Timeless gets some extra hours.
  • Lots of info about the View Askewniverse, The True North trilogy, and Supergirl?
  • Is the DCEU in peril? (Kinda)
  • Everything is Batman!
  • Some Defenders confirmations.
  • Scoring news about different Marvel properties.
  • We saw Doctor Strange but aren’t talking about it until next week. 

All of that, plus the usual tangents.

As always, please check us out on Facebook and Twitter.

Don’t forget to rate/review on iTunes and now Stitcher, too. We’d really appreciate it!

 

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