The opening paragraph is typically a space
occupied by movie recommendations and, in a
way, today is only a minor deviation. I was
recently gifted a hardcover edition of Mark Millar
and Dave Gibbons‘ comic series Kingsman: The
Secret Service and I enjoyed it enough to not only
throw a book recommendation your way but to
also say I’m firmly on board for Matthew Vaughn
(who earned a co-plotting credit on the comic)
and Jane Goldman‘s movie adaptation due out in
February (see the latest Red-Band trailer here).
Embedded in Millar’s hyper-violent action are
noble lessons about the value of public service,
remembering where you came from, and the
importance of recognizing stereotypes while
having enough self-esteem to avoid letting
yourself being defined by them. As for the movie,
the bits I’ve seen look to be just as entertaining
as the book albeit with more parkour action. After
the work Vaughn and Goldman did on X-Men:
First Class , I have every confidence that it’s
going to be worth checking out.
Recommendations aside, this week’s Top 5
features interviews for and Matt’s review of
Exodus: Gods and Kings , an insanely cool new
trailer for Mad Max: Fury Road, Matt’s review
of Inherent Vice to go along with a new trailer for
the film, the first full-length trailer for Pixar’s
Inside Out, and a recap of the 2015 Golden Globe
nominations. Keep reading for a brief recap and
link to each of the above.
1. EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS Interviews and
Review
Even if you’re not all that interested in the biblical
story of Moses, you have to respect director
Ridley Scott’s ambition to tell it in such
magnificent scale in Exodus: Gods and Kings .
The film is a spectacle to behold even if, as
Matt’s review offers, the end product is more
style than substance. For more on Exodus, check
out Steve’s video interviews with Ridley Scott &
Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton as well as this
nifty video that intercuts his interviews with
footage from the film.
2. New Trailer for MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Is
Absolutely Crazy
It feels like George Miller’s fourth entry in the
Mad Max franchise is going to be worth the thirty
year wait. Warner Bros. released a new trailer for
Mad Max: Fury Road this past week and it looks
utterly insane in all of the best ways. Desolate,
hopeless, and violent. Those are the three words
that best sum up the world in Fury Road . “Batshit
crazy” fits in there as well but that’s technically
two words so it misses the cut.
3. INHERENT VICE Review and New Trailer
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice opens in
limited release this weekend (in advance of its
January 9th wide release) and to celebrate we’ve
got Matt’s review (feel free to compare/contrast
with Perri’s review from NYFF) and a new trailer
that plays up the paranoid time in which the
movie takes place. Even if, as our reviews have
suggested, its plot borders on convoluted and
wacky, I still consider new PTA films a must
watch.
4. First Full-Length Trailer for Pixar’s INSIDE
OUT
Pixar released the first full-length trailer for Pete
Docter’s Inside Out this week and, in less than
two-and-a-half minutes, I’m reminded how much I
love it when the studio focuses on original stories
rather than sequels. The way this cut dissects an
everyday parenting situation is equal parts smart
and funny which is exactly what we’ve come to
expect from the studio. I realize I’m not going out
on a limb here, but I have high expectations for
this one.
5. 2015 Golden Globe Nominations Announced
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association
announced the nominees for its 2015 Golden
Globe awards this week with Alejandro González
Iñárritu’s Birdman leading the film category with
seven nods and FX’s Fargo leading the television
category with five. Question the integrity of the
HFPA all you want, the Globes are still a solid
resource for predicting future Academy Award
nods and they earn my attention as a result. Also,
any ceremony that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler
host gets bonus points from me.
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