On April 16, the latest trailer for the highly anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens dropped at the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, California. The first trailer premiered back in November, and this second one was allegedly attached to Avengers: Age of Ultron, thankfully however Disney released this trailer a solid two weeks before Ultron‘s premier.
This second trailer of J.J. Abrams’ first foray into the Star Wars universe shows us much more than the first. Much of the trailer features a voice-over from presumably from Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) himself. We are treated to glimpses of a burned and melted Darth Vader helmet, the first images of R2-D2 in this new film, being touched by a robotic hand (also presumably Luke Skywalker), more insight into the new characters introduced into the Star Wars franchise (i.e. Oscar Issac’s Poe Dameron, John Boyega’s Finn, and Daisy Ridley’s Rey), and finally the we see Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca seemingly back aboard the Millennium Falcon.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens finally enters theaters on December 18, 2015, exactly 8 months from tomorrow. Will you go see it? Watch the trailer, courtesy of the official Star Wars YouTube page, below!
As I mentioned in the original Welcome post, this website would also act as an outlet for any and all original films produced by my amateur production company Leary Productions (bio here). Well, I am enthused to announce that The Company, Leary Productions’ first film, is now up and running!
Premiering in August 2014, The Company stars Tommy Bezreh, Danny Federico, and Nick Merlino as three government agents who carry a devastating national security secret. When their secret becomes threatened, allegiances are tested and truths are revealed.
The Company was mass released on Facebook in August 2014, and will now live here on my blog. Click this link to watch The Company!
Music is what makes a film. Sure a movie can have good actors, solid directing, and an award winning script, but the film score is what brings the picture to life. As frightening as he was, Jaws would have been just a little less intimidating if not for that iconic John Williams Jaws theme. The impact Interstellar left on audiences would not be the same if not for the controversially loud Hans Zimmer score. With this being said, here are my top seven film scores:
7. “Main Theme / Rebel Blockade Runner” from Star Wars
Composer: John Williams
There isn’t a person on Earth who couldn’t tell you what this score was if you asked them. Certainly iconic, the main Star Wars theme, still used today, identifies across generations; while not the best ever, “Main Theme / Rebel Blockade Runner” is a film classic.
6. “The Fellowship” from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Composer: Howard Shore
The Lord of the Rings is arguably one of the best film trilogies to date, and it comes with arguably one of the best scores. “The Fellowship” or “The Breaking of the Fellowship” is the iconic song from LOTR and this beautiful piece of music has now stretched across 6 movies and over a decade of film.
5. “Hedwig’s Theme” from the Harry Potter series
Composer: John Williams
Another franchise and score lasting at least a decade, “Hedwig’s Theme” is the sound everyone identifies with the Harry Potter 8-film series. Composer John Williams once again expands his musical pallet and stretches into the world of wizards and muggles, creating yet another all-time score.
4. “The Avengers” from Marvel’s The Avengers
Composer: Alan Silvestri
A surprise on this list (even to myself, and it’s my list), Alan Silvestri’s composition for Marvel Studio’s groundbreaking superhero film is an epic. To make The Avengers stand out, the film needed a suspenseful, enticing main score to identify with audiences, and that it did.
2. “Duel of the Fates” from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
Composer: John Williams
Regardless of the overall quality of The Phantom Menace (it sucked), the one good thing that came from the first Star Wars prequel was this score. In 1999 John Williams returned for the 4th film in the George Lucas space epic franchise, and delivered what I believe is the best score of the Star Wars franchise, beating out the main theme of Star Wars (above), and the iconic “The Imperial March” (listen here). In a tie for the number 2 spot on this list, “Duel of the Fates” still scares the you-know-what out of me whenever I listen, which is what makes it so damn good.
2. “He’s a Pirate” from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Composer: Klaus Badelt
Short and sweet, composer Klaus Badelt’s main theme to the Pirates of the Caribbean original film is fast, intense, motivational, and just plain awesome. While severely different than “Duel of the Fates,” “He’s a Pirate” is just as great in it’s own right, worthy of sharing the number 2 position on this list.
1. “Theme from Jurassic Park” from Jurassic Park
Composer: John Williams
With over 40 years as a composer, John Williams’ best score, and in my opinion the best film score ever, was in 1993 for Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. Williams composes a stunning work of music for one of the most recognizable films in history. The beauty of this score perfectly captures the breathtaking dinosaur theme park, and captures first prize on the list of best films scores ever.
What do you think? Is “Theme from Jurassic Park” the best film score ever? Sound off in the comments below!
On Friday, Columbia Pictures dropped this first teaser trailer for Spectre, the 24th film in the James Bond franchise.
Fresh off the success of 2012’s Skyfall, Spectre picks up after charred belongings from the Skyfall mansion are returned to 007, spearheaded by a burnt photo of Bond as a child, and older man, and another child who’s face has been conveniently seared off.
The memories from his past send Bond (Daniel Craig) down a dark path, finding his old friend Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz), and uncovering the sinister terrorist organization SPECTRE.
Spectre comes to theaters November 6 of this year. Will you be in line to watch?
With just 40 days to go before the release of Marvel’s incredibly anticipated movie Avengers: Age of Ultron, we finally learned some specifics about Ultron‘s first follow-up film: Captain America: Civil War.
The film, slated for a May 6, 2016 release (just 370 days after Age of Ultron), was announced at a special Marvel Studios event in October. Very little was know about the film, just that it would follow the Civil War storyline from the comics where Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), and Captain America (Chris Evans) find themselves on opposite sides of a law that the world’s governments had passed, and the two waged war over the law. Well now we know more.
The film has begun casting extras, and earlier this week the unofficial synopsis was released stating:
Following the events of Age of Ultron, the collective governments of the world pass an act designed to regulate all superhuman activity. This polarizes opinion amongst the Avengers, causing two factions to side with Iron Man or Captain America, which causes an epic battle between former allies.
Via ScreenCrush
While the synopsis does reveal the basic plotline, it is very vague. Coming from the comics, the Superhero Registration Act required all superheros or vigilantes to sign up to work for the government, and reveal their identities to the world. Any hero who did not sign up would either have to hang up the spandex or be imprisoned for abreaking the law.
The plot of the film will more or less be the same (with Spider-Man now a part of the MCU), except for the fact that the majority of superheros in the MCU do not have secret identities. However as ScreenCrush points out, this is not the entire plot of the film. Last we saw of Captain America, he and the Falcon (Anthony Mackie) were setting out on a mission to find Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). The plot does not address the return of Brock Rumlow/Crossbones (Frank Grillo), nor does it address the arrival of a new character played by Daniel Bruhl (presumably the Marvel villain Baron Zemo).
Collider also learned last week that filming on Captain America: Civil War will start on April 1st, just over 1 week from now. That gives Marvel about a year to complete the entire, MCU shaking film.
With Iron Man on the pro-Registration said and Captain America against the act, there is but one question:
19 years ago, satirical comedy and legitimate news were married, and the ceremony was officiated by one Jon Stewart. Of course satirical comedy (political and otherwise) had been around long before Mr. Stewart, and so had The Daily Show (Craig Kilborn hosted the show for the first 3 years), Jon Stewart changed the fake news industry and formed it into what it has become today.
But what is fake news? Although it sounds like fabricated news stories, the industry of the fake news programs pertains to shows such as Stewart’s The Daily Show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report. These shows will look at the recent national and global news, real headline subjects, and report and break down these news pieces, presenting themselves as an actual news program would.
Fake news has always been popular, dating back to the early Craig Kilborn days on The Daily Show, which has been a staple on Comedy Central for over 2 decades. While not making jokes of legitimate news stories, these shows will use comedy to explain, and maybe make a complicated story easier to understand. For example, here is a piece John Oliver did on his show about Ferguson, Missouri and Police Militarization, courtesy of Last Week Tonight‘s YouTube page:
In the piece, Oliver details the events in Ferguson, MO and dives into the issue of police militarization in Ferguson and across the country. Oliver then goes on to add his own commentary, creating an informational-editorial broadcast instead of traditional report-and-move-on style broadcasting from actual news networks.
Part of where these fake news programs succeed is in their ability to cut through biased reporting, and often call these reports on their bias. For the most part these shows are able to walk the line and stay in the middle. For example, Last Week Tonight will show a clip of a biased report, to which Oliver will say something along the line of “to be fair,” and try to present some side where the comment would be acceptable. And then he will come at the argument from the other side and attack it. Where Fox News is notoriously biased in favor of Republicans, and CNN has shown bias in favor of Democrats, the fake news entities due their part to stay in the middle, often times giving the most accurate reports.
Another success for the fake news is that people like to laugh. The sad truth is that, when you look at it, the world is kind of a depressing place. Most news is negative, scary, or downright sad. John Oliver and Jon Stewart have a way of making make the bad news a little less bad, and making people want to watch the news. The shows have a good following as well. The Daily Show airs weeknights at 11, and Last Week Tonight airs Sundays at 11. This is not a primetime viewing hour, and viewers will go, and have gone, out of their way to watch these shows and realistically watch the news.
In the end: Fake news is on the rise. The genre as been established over the past couple decades with the likes of Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, and Bill Maher. Their surprisingly honest reporting on events that actually matter in the world lends credibility to the brand and the shows, and make the fake news programs worth watching over the real news programs.
Worth a Watch? I haven’t seen all the fake news programs, but yes.
Long before Walter White became Heisenberg, there was Saul Goodman. But before Saul Goodman there was… Jimmy McGill?
Set six years before Walt (Bryan Cranston) met Saul (Bob Odenkirk) on Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul follows small-time do-gooder lawyer Jimmy McGill (Odenkirk) on his path to becoming the slimy, criminal, TV lawyer everybody loves.
Introduced as the comic relief in an increasingly dark show (and to give Dean Norris’ Hank a true purpose), many were skeptical if a Saul Goodman fronted show could work. Sure he was loved on BB, but in a supporting role. Could it work with Saul at the center?
Yes.
What the world forgot was that Saul was, in fact, a supporting character. Meaning there was an entire backstory (and eventual future set up in the final hours of Breaking Bad) to be tapped into.
Enter Jimmy McGill. Enter Jimmy’s older brother Chuck McGill (Michael McKean). Enter Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn). And re-enter Mike Erhmantraut (Jonathan Banks). These four make up the core cast of Saul and give it the kind of diversity it needs to be separated from Breaking Bad, as much as it can be of course.
Jonathan Banks (left) and Bob Odenkirk (right) in Better Call Saul
Where Saul and television genius Vince Gilligan succeed is the blend of humor expected with Saul Goodman, and the risk taking and bold story telling that made Bad so successful. Many were expecting a goofy, happy-go-lucky story about a sleazy lawyer, but were instead treated to a high stakes dramedy (emphasis on the drama) at the pinnacle of television today.
A deterrent from Saul may have cited would be “but I haven’t seen Breaking Bad yet.” No need. Better Call Saul is a prequel to Bad, and while there are some small instances where scenes would be appreciated more having seen Saul‘s predecessor, the current show isn’t handicapped in the least bit.
In the end: Cable television has been on the rise for years, with the creation of shows like Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Mad Men, and Game of Thrones. With Breaking Bad now off the air and Mad Men soon to be gone itself, Better Call Saul leads the regime change of new, creative, and exciting original cable programming.
Worth a Watch? Yes.
Better Call Saul airs Monday nights at 10 P.M. on AMC
Starring: Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Samuel L. Jackson
Director: Matthew Vaughn
MPAA Rating: R
What do you get when you cross Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson with a surprisingly humorous lisp, and a 25 year old Brit with an accent too thick to understand? Kingsman: The Secret Service.
Instead of launching into a two paragraph long half-synopsis of the film’s plot, I’ll just jump straight to the point: basically, Samuel L. Jackson develops an app that brings out people’s aggression and forces them to attack and kill each other, saving the world from itself. Enter the Kingsman, a secret agency hidden in a tailor shop, that work to prevent global disaster from occurring.
To sum up Kingsman in one word: ridiculous. Which is a shame because the movie did have potential to be one of the next great spy thrillers. Instead what audiences are thrust upon is 2 hours and 9 minutes of over-the-top violence (and not the good kind), unfunny one-liners, and subtle references to the obviousness of the film (Colin Firth and SLJ have numerous conversations about what type of movie this film is on screen).
Taron Egerton in Kingsman: The Secret Service
The acting isn’t bad. Colin Firth is fine, SLJ did what he could with what he was given (more on that later), and Egerton is OKish (I haven’t seen enough of his work to compare to). Where the movie fails is in it’s over-dramatized fight scenes (I’m sorry, but I refuse to believe that a kid with a spy umbrella can take out almost an entire army of men with machine guns single-handedly). Also, I really don’t need to see a bullet hole in someone’s face every five minutes – I can go watch a good movie if I wanted to see that.
Now I want to spend a minute on Sam Jackson. What are you doing man?? You’re Jules Winnfield! You’re Frozone! You’re Nick Fury! What are you thinking getting involved in garbage like this? (The same can be said about Colin Firth, but I’ll leave him alone). SLJ, one of the great actors of his time, and any time, has lost credibility due to his role here. His talent is completely wasted here, and while I’m here that lisp he gave his character made him sound like a 12 year old with braces (imagine SLJ saying “dope ass smoking jacket” with a heavy accent on the “S.” Yeah, it’s that bad).
In the end: This one’s real simple: please don’t go see Kingsman. There are far better things to spend your $10 on, like a pair of socks or Sharknado. The time we spend on Earth is precious, so save yourself the 2 hours and do just about anything else.
** WARNING: The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS from Season 3 of Netflix’s House of Cards. Read at your own risk.
Kevin Spacey (left) and Robin Wright (Right) in Netflix’s House of Cards
Good news! If you’re a fan, Season 3 of House of Cards is #NowOnNetflix. Having premiered one week ago, millions have already binge-watched their way through the latest thirteen chapters of Francis (Kevin Spacey) and Claire (Robin Wright) Underwood’s rise to the top of the political food chain; and if you haven’t watched yet, you really should. Longtime fans of the thriller however will come to notice that there’s a different feel this year compared to years past.
If you have not yet watched Season 3 and plan to spoil-free, stop reading here. If you’ve already watched, let’s dive in:
While Season 2 began with the surprising death of journalist Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara), Season 3 began with the equally surprising resurrection of Frank’s right hand man, Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly). Last time we saw Doug, he had been bludgeoned and left for dead by Rachel Posner (Rachel Brosnahan), his complicated love interest. Much of the first episode is devoted to Doug and his recovery, and we live the first few months of the Underwood presidency through Doug, instead of alongside Frank and Claire.
Where Season 3 excels is it’s managing of two completely separate, season-long storylines. On one hand, you have Doug dealing with his recovery and desire to get his job back, and on the other hand you have Frank dealing with the presidency an all that that entails.
Personally, the more compelling storyline was that of Stamper’s. We are introduced to a new side of Doug this season, as he battles with his inner demons and ultimately falls off the wagon. Doug struggles immensely with getting back in the game, eventually having to take a job with Francis’ enemy, presidential candidate Heather Dunbar (Elizabeth Marvel). Stamper is also forced to resume his dealings with FBI hacker Gavin Orsay (Jimmi Simpson), with Doug in desperate need to find Rachel and deal with her appropriately – the only way the Underwoods know how.
Surprising as it sounds, working in the Oval Office seemed to dull Frank Underwood down a bit. For the past two years we’ve seen Frank and Claire claw, fight, and cheat their way to the top of the country, but now that they are there, the show lacks a sense of urgency it once excelled in. Through the final few episodes of Season 2, I remember saying to myself: “something big is going to happen here, something’s coming down.” I never felt this way during Season 3.
Lars Mikkelsen (left) and Kevin Spacey (right) in Netflix’s House of Cards
That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the season. House of Cards is one of, if not the best written and performed show on television today. My point is simply there is a different feel to the season. There is a sub-plotline that deals with the United States’ affairs with Russia, led by a Putin-inspired President Viktor Petrov (Lars Mikkelsen). There is an episode that deals with Russia Anti-Gay Propaganda law, and an overlapping arc where Claire is the United States U.N. Ambassador. Season 3’s main plotline however focuses on the relationship between Francis and Claire, something that has always been at the heart of the series, and the cracks that the presidency brings upon their marriage.
One disappointment I had about Season 3 was the finale. While less-obvious than seasons past, this most recent finale was beyond anti-climactic, and rushed as well. Season 1 ended with Frank scheming his way to Vice President. Season 2 ended with Frank scheming his way to President (how cool was this?):
Season 3 however ended with a rushed Claire speeding out of the White House, and instead of going with Francis to New Hampshire to campaign, she meets him with “Francis, I’m leaving you.” To which Frank responds: “Claire.” Cut to black.
In the end: Is House of Cards Season 3 worth it? YES. Season 3 is not bad television, it’s just different from seasons past and not what I had been expecting. It’s unreasonable to expect a show that changes so much to not have a different tone every now and then, but it’s worth noting that something about this season was off. That being said, I will 100% stand by my statement that House of Cards is undoubtedly one of the best shows currently on television.
Brian Leary 