‘The Imitation Game’ Review

The Imitation Game is a fantastic piece of historical theater that never fully embraces its cinematic identity.

The Imitation Game exposes a little-known part of WWII: mathematician Alan Turing’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) top-secret quest to crack the Nazi coded message system known as “Enigma”. Working at Bletchley Park alongside other accomplished code breakers like Hugh Alexander (Matthew Goode) and the uniquely gifted Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley), Turing proposes a radical concept: building a ‘thinking machine’ that can outfox the German system.

However, Alan’s greatest obstacle proves to be his own mind. With few social skills and little regard for the intellect of others, Turing quickly finds himself isolated from the group, with wolves like Commander Alastair Denniston (Charles Dance) waiting for any opportunity to tear down both him and his work. Through the patience and compassion of his fellow code-breakers, Alan slowly learns to play the socio-political game that will help him achieve his critical vision. But beating Enigma proves to be only one big challenge in the tragic life of an eccentric genius.

Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing

Based on the pivotal book, Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges, The Imitation Game is a film that manages to offer new insights into the exhausted WWII movie sub-genre, buoyed by some fantastic performances from a great ensemble cast. While the script and performances may be strong, the movie is not all that it can be on a cinematic level, providing one of more uninteresting onscreen portraits of the war itself.

Norwegian director Morten Tyldum (Headhunters) is at his best when staging the film like a stage play. The scene composition is simple, the cinematography crisp and modern, and the production design a fitting throwback to the WWII era. Tyldum lets the actors work out each scene with little intrusion, and as a result, most of the onscreen interactions between characters are intriguing to watch.

What is not so intriguing, is the depiction of the war outside of the academic mission at Bletchley. A combination of stock footage and game board-looking military sequences are supposed to depict WWII battles – and possibly the discrepancy between the code breakers’ imaginings of combat and the actual reality of the war. However, seeing well-staged scenes of conversation juxtaposed to cheap-looking recreations of warfare actually creates the atmosphere of watching a well-done (but budgeted) BBC docudrama, rather than a major motion picture. It’s not a deal-breaker of any sort, but it’s enough to keep The Imitation Game from really achieving top levels of cinematic greatness as a film – as opposed to serving as a strong actor showcase.

Benedict Cumberbatch in ‘The Imitation Game’

The film represents the first feature-length script by writer Graham Moore, and even with the usual biopic criticisms (certain liberties taken, certain information skimmed over or left out), it’s still a pretty effective narrative. Using a flashback framing device (Turing’s post-war troubles, his wartime heroism, and boyhood traumas), we get a solid character through-line tracking how this eccentric genius was always hindered by his own eccentricities, which included an ‘Asperger-ish’ personality and closeted homosexuality – the latter of which was considered a crime by British law of that time.

With a solid central focus on Alan –  and conversely a thematic focus on the rewards of genius vs. the cost – Moore is free to open things up a bit, mining great wit and deeper insight via other characters who surround Turing. Much like Cumberbatch’s star-making role as a fictional iconic Brit (Sherlock), most of The Imitation Games’ fun is found in how normal individuals react to this incredibly abnormal man.

Matthew Goode in ‘The Imitation Game’

To that end, Cumberbatch invokes part of his Sherlock character mannerisms – but manages to flesh them out with much more nuance and subtly to provide much deeper insight into the complex man Alan Turing was. It would be easy to dismiss the performance as a Sherlock knockoff (and savvy viewers may do just that), but looking at the role independently, it is quite good and worthy of some (if not all) awards consideration.

Matthew Goode (Watchmen) and Keira Knightley (Atonement) prove to be fantastic supporting foils for Cumberbatch. Goode exudes suave confidence, charm, and well-layered angst as the more personable genius, Hugh Alexander, and he and Turing’s relationship proves to be a solid secondary arc of the story. Similarly, Knightley has cute charm and strong composure as a brilliant woman living in a sexist era. Her interactions with Cumberbatch (though perhaps embellishing the real Joan/Alan story) help to ground things, and offer entry into other aspects of Turning’s personality (bad and good) aside from his lauded genius. Indeed, watching Turing attempt socialization with Hugh and Joan is often as gripping as watching the trio trying to crack the Enigma puzzle.

Kiera Knightley in ‘The Imitation Game’

The larger supporting cast includes veteran thespians like Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) and Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) – as well as quality younger actors like Allen Leech (The Tudors), Rory Kinnear (Skyfall) and Matthew Beard (An Education). No matter their respective experience, all of the actors seem to effortlessly breathe life into their respective characters, and function with snappy wit as an ensemble. Leech and Kinnear get some particularly interesting subplots to play out, and do so with such control and subtly it may be hard to spot at first (the mark of great character actors). Finally, young actor Alex Lawther gives a breakout performance as the young version of Turing struggling through a pivotal point in his life.

In the end, The Imitation Game is a fantastic piece of historical theater that never fully embraces its cinematic identity. The subject matter alone sets it apart as more interesting and insightful than the average movie memoir – and combined with the performances of Cumberbatch and Co., it’s definitely a winner. However, with limited cinematic scope it wouldn’t be a shame if you missed this one in theaters and instead, waited for home release; but if you want to get a lead on the 2015 awards race, this is definitely required viewing.
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Weekend Box Office Wrap Up: November 30th, 2014

While most of the focus this weekend was on a certain trailer, the holiday box office was fairly tepid.

In at number 1 is The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 with $56 million. Although last week’s big winner retained its top spot, it did fall about 56%, on a holiday weekend no less. Regardless, Mockingjay – Part 1 is doing just fine at the box office, with $225 million domestic and $480 million worldwide. As a matter of fact, the film is already the 7th highest-grossing domestic release of the year.

The number 2 film this weekend is Penguins of Madagascar (read our review) with $25.8 million for the weekend and $36 million since its debut on Wednesday. That’s easily the worst opening for the Madagascar franchise by a substantial margin.Madagascar 3, for example, opened to $60 million back in 2012.

Animated spinoffs are typically a risky venture but Fox and Dreamworks were willing to gamble that the Penguins had enough of a fanbase. Unfortunately, either franchise fatigue or penguin fatigue appears to be setting in.

Coming in at number 3 is Big Hero 6 with $18.7 million. Disney Animation’s latest has grossed $167 million domestic and $224 million worldwide.

Interstellar is the number 4 film with $15.8 million. Although the film has grossed an admittedly solid $147 million domestic, Interstellar is doing huge business overseas. So far, the film has made $395 million internationally, bringing its worldwide total up to $542 million after four weeks.

Rounding out the top 5 is Horrible Bosses 2 (read our review) with $15.7 million for the weekend and $23 million since Wednesday. That’s about half as much as the first film opened to back in 2011 and well under expectations for this weekend.

While the first Horrible Bosses may have been a surprise hit, few would say that it was screaming for a sequel. Clearly, audiences had their fill of the Bateman, Sudeikis, and Day trio.

In at number 6 is Dumb and Dumber To with $8.2 million. The sequel actually fared much better than expected against Horrible Bosses, dropping only 42% from last week. So far, Dumb and Dumber To has grossed $72 million.

Coming in at number 7 is The Theory of Everything (read our review) with $5 million, which brings its total gross up to $9 million. Based on the formative years of Stephen Hawking, this film has been garnering rave reviews across the board, most especially for Eddie Redmayne’s portrayal of the physicist. Look for this one to stick around for a while as awards season heats up.

The number 8 film is Gone Girl with $2.4 million. David Fincher’s adaptation continues to stick around in the top 10 and has grossed $160 million in the process.

Birdman comes in at number 9 with $1.8 million. The film actually saw a slight uptick in grosses this weekend and is now up to $17 million.

Rounding out the top 10 is St. Vincent with $1.7 million. The Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy indie comedy has made a solid $39 million sum.

Outside the top 10: Benedict Cumberbatch’s The Imitation Game (read our review) grossed $482,000 on four screens for an average of $102,500/screen.

[NOTE: These are only weekend box office estimates - based on Friday and Saturday ticket sales coupled with adjusted expectations for Sunday. Official weekend box office results will be released on Monday, December 1st]

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Jake Gyllenhaal Looks Ripped in ‘Southpaw’ Image

One of the oldest ways actors have illustrated their dedication to roles is by drastically changing their appearance. Christian Bale is one of the more popular actors to do this, having lost a lot of weight for The Machinist before bulking up to play Batman before losing a lot of weight for The Fighter before gaining a lot of weight for American Hustle.

He’s obviously not the only one (Matthew McConaughey got skinny for his Dallas Buyers Club performance) and he’ll be far from the last. Just this year, Jake Gyllenhaal dropped 25 pounds in order to play sociopath Lou Bloom in Nightcrawler, a role for which he earned critical acclaim. Based on the first image from his new film Southpaw, Gyllenhaal has outdone himself and will wow moviegoers with his chameleon abilities yet again.

For those not in the know, Southpaw is a boxing drama from director Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer) about Billy “The Great” Hope, a junior middleweight champion fighter who is forced to fight his way to redemption after suffering a personal tragedy. It was at one point supposed to star rapper Eminem in the lead role. The premise may not exactly be the most original in the world, but it’s acquired a noteworthy cast (Rachel McAdams and Forest Whitaker will co-star) and one look at Gyllenhaal will probably entice a film buff or two to put it on their radar.

Deadline unveiled the image, and it’s safe to say that the actor is barely recognizable through the 15 pounds of muscle he’s gained. It’s quite an alteration from the figure audiences are accustomed to seeing from him:

Gyllenhaal trained twice a day for seven days a week in preparation for his role. Fuqua stated that the actor spent time at Church Gym in New York, working with real-life boxers, as well as Floyd Mayweather’s gym in Las Vegas in order to acquire his physique. All that hard work has definitely paid off, and the director is beyond thrilled at the results.

Read his quote:

“Jake, my god, he’s a very electric, powerful fighter in this movie, and a guy who fights for his daughter. I’m confident that this will change how people see Jake as a leading man.”

Over the past couple of years, Gyllenhaal has started to carve out a nice career for himself as a talented character actor thanks to roles in well-received dramas like End of Watch, Prisoners, and the aforementioned Nightcrawler. One could argue that those works have already helped change how moviegoers view him, but going the extra mile and achieving the physical form of a world-renowned boxer will only help the perception that he is definitely leading man material.

Jake Gyllenhaal in ‘Prisoners’

Whenever actors go through these types of transformations, the Oscar talk almost always starts up. In the case of boxing films, it tends to work more often than not (Robert De Niro won for Raging Bull, while Denzel Washington and Will Smith were nominated for The Hurricane and Ali), but not everyone manages to earn a nomination or win. Mark Wahlberg was, rather ironically, the only principle cast member in The Fighter to go unrecognized at the Academy Awards. In that instance, the voters’ preference was the most likely culprit, but film content is typically the greater indicator when it comes to award prospects.

With backing by Harvey Weinstein, Southpaw should be able to find traction on the Oscar circuit if Kurt Sutter’s (Sons of Anarchy) screenplay and Fuqua’s direction can provide audiences with some compelling drama to supplement the “electric” fight scenes that will no doubt be the meat of the film. Fuqua was able to lead one of his stars to the Oscar stage before (Denzel in Training Day), so he’s got some experience in that department. Given Gyllenhaal’s abilities, the quality of the performance should be standout. As for the overall product, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Southpaw will be released in theaters at some point in 2015.

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Andy Serkis on Creating Ultron & Hulk for ‘The Avengers 2′

Once upon a time, fans eager for the first glimpse of a long-awaited movie would have to actually sit in a theater to see a preview. Now, of course, the Internet has made the release of a new trailer a drop-everything event. Our first good look at The Avengers: Age of Ultron arguably ushered in the next wave of blockbuster anticipation, with trailers for hotly anticipated releases like Jurassic World and Star War 7 quickly following.

We’ll be seeing Age of Ultron first, which will include the villainous Ultron, an increase in hero shots, and more of the Hulk. As an added bonus, performance capture maestro Andy Serkis is in the movie as well, and while his official live-action role is speculated to be long-time Black Panther villain Ulysses Klaw, Serkis has also been drafted to assist current Bruce Banner/Hulk Mark Ruffalo in bringing everyone’s favorite enormous green rage-monster to life via motion capture technology.

Serkis is a very busy man these days; he’ll be directing The Jungle Book: Origins for Warner Bros. and we finally have confirmation that he’s the voice of the new Star Wars trailer. Meanwhile, Serkis spoke with Empire (via Collider) about the “creative laboratory” that is his digital effects domain The Imaginarium, and provided details about the creation of the two major mo-cap characters from Age of Ultron, the Hulk and the titular villain himself.

We’ve heard from star James Spader about both the psychology and evolution of Ultron, but Serkis speaks here about what it took to figure out the physical mechanics of the evil AI-turned-robot villain, saying:

“We did some work on Ultron, on the development of Ultron before James Spader came on board. In terms of movement styles: was he gonna be human-like? Was he going to be robot-like? So we worked with a bunch of different people, from body-popping experts to dancers, to this guy called Neil who’s nearly eight feet tall…”

We’ve already seen from the available trailers how Ultron’s physicality will evolve as the film progresses, but the added value of Serkis’ input – whose mo-cap Gollum in The Lord of the Rings is still perhaps the benchmark for what the medium is capable of – no doubt provided an added dimension to both Spader’s performance the animators’ efforts.

As for the Hulk, Serkis reports that the filmmakers gave Mark Ruffalo physical manifestations of Bruce Banner’s alter ego, saying:

“We gave Mark weights, we had voice projections so he could do his Hulk roar. On screen we could have a virtual representation of the low-res avatar of The Hulk, so he could come out and feel that sense of scale.”

With The Avengers 2 supposedly featuring even more of the Hulk’s rage-fits than its predecessor – and that long-teased and that hotly-anticipated Iron Man vs. Hulk battle in store – the evidence that the motion capture technology has taken some amazing leaps forward in just these past few years is heartening to fans who were already blown away by the 2012 version of the Hulk.

We’ve heard from Mark Ruffalo himself on how liberating the current state of mo-cap can be, with heavy references to Serkis and his way of “honoring the actor,” all of which really ramps up our expectations for the mo-cap specialist’s version of The Jungle Book.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron releases in theaters on May 1, 2015, followed by Ant-Man on July 17, 2015, Captain America: Civil War on May 6 2016, Doctor Strange on November 4, 2016, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 on May 5 2017, Thor: Ragnarok on July 28, 2017, Black Panther on November 3 2017, Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 on May 4 2018, Captain Marvel on July 6 2018, Inhumans on November 2 2018 and Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2 on May 3 2019.

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‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Trailer Voice Revealed

The Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser trailer (watch it here) has been making waves all over the Internet since it was released yesterday morning. Giving us our first official glimpses into what director J.J. Abrams and his team have in store, the 88-second clip raised its fair share of questions while seemingly confirming previously leaked plot details. As fans debate the practicality of a cross guard on a lightsaber and gush over that Millennium Falcon shot, the identity of the actor whose voice was heard in the preview was one of the most talked about details.

After everyone got a chance to hear it, opinions were all over regarding who was responsible for it. Some suggested it was Benedict Cumberbatch. Others said it was Max Von Sydow. As it turns out, it was none other than Andy Serkis who did the honors, according to new reports on the matter.

Drew McWeeny of HitFlix was able to confirm that the ominous voice discussing the awakening of the dark side and the light belongs to the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes star. Steven Weintraub at Collider also verified this information.

While the news will be disappointing to conspiracy theorists who believed that Abrams had in fact managed to sneak in the oft-rumored Cumberbatch into the film, it’s still a noteworthy development for a few reasons. In typical Bad Robot style, the Force Awakens production has largely been kept under wraps, and we still don’t know who the new franchise additions (John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, etc.) are playing or what side they’re on. Knowing that Serkis provided the voiceover marks the first clue for his character.

In their writeup, HitFlix mentioned that even though Serkis won’t have a tremendous amount of screen time in the movie, he still plays a “pivotal” role. They obviously couldn’t get into specifics, but it’s more than we knew just a few days ago concerning the fan-favorite motion-capture actor.

Where we stand right now, it sounds as if Serkis will be playing a Force-sensitive individual in the new Star Wars film. The opening line in the trailer – where he asks someone if they have “felt” the awakening – supports this, since Jedi and Sith throughout the series have used the Force to sense and feel various presences and disturbances. It’s not out of the question for this aspect to be carried over in the sequels.

As for the nature of Serkis’ supposed Force-user, that, like so many other elements of Episode VII, is open for debate. His voice certainly sounds like that of an evildoer, and the pairing of his deep, baritone speech with shots of the principle cast looking nervous only adds fuel to that fire.

From what we know so far, the trio of Boyega, Ridley, and Isaac seem to be portraying the new heroes, but little is known about the villains (thought to be the Inquisitors). As the first of many marketing pushes commences, now would be as good a time as any to begin to introduce the new threat the Rebels will be facing. The prospect of a talent like Serkis sinking his teeth into that kind of part is one that would excite many fans – mo-cap or not.

Of course, this is merely speculation based on a sliver of information. For all we know, Serkis could be an ally of Luke and use the Force for good. Maybe he’s somewhere in between. Either way, the man who has been Gollum and Caesar the ape looks to be adding “Jedi or Sith” to his impressive résumé, so whatever his major role is, it should be a treat to watch.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be in theaters December 18, 2015.

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‘Frozen 2′ in Development, According to Idina Menzel

Since the thunderously popular animated musical Frozen climbed its way up the snowy box office mountain to become the highest-grossing animated film of all time, it’s no wonder that Disney isn’t quite ready to let it go. In addition to the mountains of merchandising and home video sales, Frozen will also continue in a short film called Frozen Fever, and select characters from the movie are now a part of ABC’s fairytale drama series Once Upon a Time.

Any movie that grosses over a billion dollars is bound to be put up for sequel consideration, but animated Disney sequels don’t have the best reputation. In decades past, they’ve often ended up with much smaller budgets, far worse writing and animation, and relegated to home video release only. Perhaps it’s the awkwardness of stitching an addendum onto Disney’s “happily ever after” endings, but it’s very rare to find an animated Disney sequel that’s actually watchable, let alone good (something like The Rescuers Down Under being the exception that proves the rule).

With that said, Frozen was all about breaking trends. This was, after all, the movie that openly mocked the long-standing fairy tale trope of characters falling in love at first sight and getting engaged five minutes later.

So it’s no surprise that, when asked by The Telegraph whether the rumors of a sequel and a stage musical were true, actor Idina Menzel (the voice of Elsa) replied, “They’re all in the works,” adding that while she’s not signed up for the stage show, she hopes to reprise her role in the movie sequel.

An argument could be made that Disney would be better off focusing its energies on creating a new animated film that’s as original as Frozen, rather than going the sequel route, but the same could be said of the  many, many movies that Hollywood was determined to turn into franchises. If Frozen 2 can manage to break the curse of not only animated Disney sequels but also of sequels to musicals in general (we don’t need another Grease 2 or Love Never Dies), it might well be worth making.

Before getting too excited about Frozen 2, it’s important to remember that “in development” doesn’t mean the same thing as “actually going to get made.” From what Menzel said, it sounds like the film is still in the very early stages of development and doesn’t actually have any cast members signed up yet. One possibility is that the movie could move on from Elsa and Anna to focus on their offspring (in the tradition of The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride and The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea), or center on a supporting character like Olaf.

This isn’t the only recent Disney hit that’s reportedly in the process of being sequel-ized, as it were, what with Wreck-It Ralph 2 also being in development at the moment. There’s also a real possibility that a Big Hero 6 followup could await us in the future, in light of that Marvel comic adaptation’s box office success. We’ll see about that, though; in the meantime, be sure and let us know if you think Frozen 2 is a good idea (or if Disney ought to leave this one alone).

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‘Jurassic World’ Director on New Dinosaurs, Raptor Bike Gangs & More

Isla Nublar is open for business once more, because apparently after three movies people still haven’t learned that trying to introduce dinosaurs to the modern world is a bad idea. In Jurassic World, Bryce Dallas Howard’s team of scientists are even taking things one step further by creating genetically engineered dinosaurs that combine the deadliest traits of a handful of species into one big, bad, scary package. Hopefully nothing will go wrong (spoiler: things go wrong).

The first trailer for Jurassic World was unveiled this week, and it probably raised more question than it answered. What exactly is the big bad new dinosaur that’s going to make the T-Rex look cuddly by comparison? Why is Chris Pratt’s character able to race alongside a group of velociraptors on his motorcycle without getting torn to pieces? And why don’t any of the dinosaurs have feathers? OK, we’ll chalk that last one up to artistic license.

In a new interview with Empire, director Colin Trevorrow didn’t exactly answer any of those questions in detail, but he did address some of the clips from the trailer and how the various story ideas were formed and came together. The genetically engineered dinosaurs, Trevorrow explained, are intended as something of a commentary on the insatiable greed of modern audiences, who have reached a point where encountering giant reptiles from millions of years ago just isn’t cool enough any more.

“There is no shortage of awesome [real] dinosaurs. We could have populated this entire story with new species that haven’t been in any of these movies. But this new creation is what gave me a reason to tell another Jurassic Park story. We have the most awe-inspiring creatures to ever walk the Earth right in front of us, but for some reason that’s not enough. We’re always hungry for the next thing, and those who profit from it are always looking to feed that hunger. The focus groups want something bigger than a T-Rex. And that’s what they get.”

It’s unclear whether Trevorrow is referring to fictional focus groups within the film’s world or real focus groups - probably both. That could make for an interesting bit of meta-commentary if handled well by Trevorrow and his fellow screenwriter, Derek Connolly (Safety Not Guaranteed).

‘Jurassic World’s tribute to John Hammond (and Richard Attenborough)

One of the monsters in the trailer that looks insane enough to be genetically engineered, but is actually a real dinosaur, is the monstrous mososaurus seen leaping out of the water to grab a tasty seafood treat. Trevorrow said that he was interested in featuring a creature that literally eats Jaws for breakfast.

“I pitched the mosasaurus and went off on the idea… I thought it would be cool if we had this massive animal and the park used one of our most fearsome modern predators as food. There could be a whole other facility where they used shark DNA to mass-produce them to feed the bigger beast. It’s a bonkers idea, but I’m comfortable going to Crazytown, because I used to live there when I was a kid.”

The raptors in the original Jurassic Park were arguably even scarier than the T-Rex, despite being smaller, because of their speed and intelligence. With that in mind, it was surprising to see them happily sprinting alongside a motorcycle without trying to rip its rider, Owen (Pratt), to pieces. Trevorrow warned that the clip shouldn’t be taken as evidence that the raptors have been tamed – more that Owen is a kind of raptor whisperer.

“Owen’s relationship with the raptors is complicated. They aren’t friends. These animals are nasty and dangerous and they’ll bite your head off if you make the wrong move. But there are men and women out there today who have forged tenuous connectionswith dangerous predators. That’s interesting territory to me.”

As far whether or not we’ll get to see the T-Rex itself in action, Trevorrow assures fans that, “You bet your ass you will.” Now all we need is a three way showdown between the raptors, the T-Rex and the mysterious mutant dinosaur to make for a complete family holiday package.

Jurassic World premieres in theaters on June 12th, 2015.

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‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ Images, Posters & Final Battle Details

It’s nearly time to start suiting up for battle, as Thorin’s band of dwarves (along with Bilbo) fight for the contents of the Lonely Mountain in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Before that can happen, however, there’s still the small matter of a rampaging dragon to deal with, as the last film ended with Smaug looking extremely annoyed and heading out to exact revenge on Laketown.

The ending of The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug came as something of a surprise, since prior to the film’s release it was generally assumed that the middle chapter of Peter Jackson’s trilogy would wrap up the battle with Smaug and leave the final film free to cover the squabble over the dragon’s gold. With a running time of around two and a half hours, though, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies will probably find time to cover both plot threads.

Epic battles were a major feature of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, so it was always safe to assume that The Battle of the Five Armies wouldn’t mimic J.R.R. Tolkien’s book by having the actual battle happen almost entirely off screen. Speaking in an interview with Yahoo, however, Jackson estimated that the battle will only take up about 20-25 minutes of the running time, and that there’ll be more to it than just a bunch of action shots.

“One of the things we did with the Battle of the Five Armies in particular, and in designing the script and the narrative, is that we made sure that the story that we’re telling in this third movie, that the story is continuing through the battle. So in other words, you don’t get the story to a point where everyone’s suddenly, ‘Oh, stop, we’re going to launch into a huge battle now,’ and then the battle’s over and you do a denouement in the end… We kind of pushed the story where the battle kind of interrupts the story, it gets in the way of the story, but the story kind of punches its way through the battle.”

For a sneak peek at the battle (and the various armies), check out these new images and posters for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, courtesy of Empire.

The scale of the battles in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, fleshed out as it was by thousands of CGI warriors, may have wowed audiences a decade ago, but that doesn’t mean that those same battle scenes would have the same effect if released in theaters today. Jackson explained that the same tricks he used back then wouldn’t work twice, and he had to design the Battle of the Five Armies based on what he had learned from directing the first Middle-earth trilogy.

“People are jaded now with digital shots. Entire cities get destroyed and you can do anything else, and ultimately, it’s lost its fascination really, the CG, massive, big battle shots… We discovered a rule, basically, on ‘Two Towers’ on Helm’s Deep… You kind of lost interest in it if you went more than three, four shots at the maximum without picking up on where one of your principal characters was in the battle… We actually have a lot of conflict happening between characters, we have people in different places that are needing to get to each other.”

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies has a pretty crowded cast, with almost all of the characters that Bilbo encountered over the previous two movies coming together in one place. But which characters will come out of the battle alive, and which army will emerge victorious?

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies arrives in theaters on December 17th, 2014.

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‘The Peanuts Movie’ Synopsis, Voice Cast & New Poster Revealed

One of the ways that many people celebrate the fall and winter season festivities is to re-watch the classic Charlie Brown animated holiday specials; next year, though, we’ll be getting a brand new movie featuring Chuck and pals, in the form of The Peanuts Movie (known as Peanuts for short). Charles M. Schulz’ original comic strip universe will be brought to life via computer-animation in the 2015 film, and so far the general reaction to its trailer footage has been a positive one.

Peanuts isn’t just emulating the look from old-school Charlie Brown cartoons (with itscell-shading animation style), but also the practice of casting young newcomers to voice such precocious icons as Linus, Lucy, and Peppermint Pattie on the big screen. Producer Paul Feig (director of Bridesmaids and The Heat) unveiled the Peanuts voice cast on the Today Show on Thanksgiving morning, but the related press release from 20th Century Fox includes additional information on the project.

Here is the official Peanuts Movie plot synopsis, via Fox:

In the film, Snoopy, the world’s most lovable beagle – and flying ace – embarks upon his greatest mission as he takes to the skies to pursue his arch-nemesis The Red Baron, while his best pal, Charlie Brown, begins his own epic quest.

“Epic” might be a bit of a stretch, as far as proper adjectives for the film’s narrative go. The Peanuts Movie screenplay is penned by Bryan and Craig Schulz, and director Steven Martino (Horton Hears a Who!, Ice Age: Continental Drift) has indicated that the storyline will embrace the same simple, yet timeless, philosophical outlook and moral lessons featured in Peanuts comics, TV shows, and features produced in the 20th century. Then again, Snoopy’s high-flying fantasies promise to be “Epic” in their own way, so maybe the term is appropriate enough, as used here.

Moving along – pictured below, we have Feig alongside the Peanuts Movie voice cast:

Here’s the rundown of the Peanuts Movie voice cast, along with official character descriptions of the Peanuts gang (in case your memory needs a jogging):

• Noah Schnapp (Steven Spielberg’s currently-untitled Cold War thriller) is Charlie Brown,“the lovable loser who never gives up.”
• Hadley Belle Miller (Sofia the First) is Lucy, known for “being crabby and bossy and humiliating Charlie Brown.”
• AJ Tecce (Raising Ethan) is Pig-Pen, a fellow “who happily travels in his own private dust storm.”
• Noah Johnston (Monsters University) is Schroeder, a “mini musical genius who is rarely separated from his toy piano or his idol, Beethoven.”
• Newcomer Venus Schultheis is Peppermint Patty, the “fearless born leader and a natural athlete who is up to any challenge…except studying.”
• Alexander Garfin (Saturday Night Live) is Linus, the “benevolent, blanket-clutching philosopher who always has a kind word for everybody…even his bossy older sister, Lucy.”
• Francesca Capaldi (A.N.T. Farm) is the Little Red-Haired Girl, who “has captured Charlie Brown’s heart; now, if only he could muster the courage to speak to her!”
• Mar Mar (Austin & Alley) is Frankin, “Charlie Brown’s good friend and confidant, and the only one who never has an unkind word about our hapless hero, or anyone else for that matter.”
• Mariel Sheets (a radio/commercial voice actor) is Sally, “Charlie Brown’s little sister who believes the world owes her an answer for some of its most perplexing problems, such as: why does she have to go to school?”
• Rebecca Bloom (The Tonight Show) is Marcie, “Peppermint Patty’s best friend, loyal follower, and complete opposite.”
• William Alexander Wunsch (Saturday Night Live) is Shermy, Charlie Brown’s“straight laced and dependable friend.”
• Anastasia Bredikhina (a trained dancer) and Madisyn Shipman (Sesame Street) are Patty and Violet, “best friends who always side with the popular crowd.”

As for Snoopy and Woodstock (pictured in the latest Peanuts Movie poster below), it’s been revealed that archival recordings of the late Bill Melendez will be used to provide the sound effects that give those characters “voices” in this new big screen rendition of the Peanuts universe. That’s another respect in which this new Peanuts feature, quite literally, will be mixing the old with the new.

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The Peanuts Movie opens in U.S. theaters on November 6th, 2015.

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‘Penguins of Madagascar’ Review

Its stars didn’t need their own movie, but there’s enough kid-friendly wit and non-stop humor to justify Penguins of Madagascar‘s existence.

Penguins of Madagascar takes us back in time to when three of the eponymous penguins - leader-type Skipper (Tom McGrath), brainy Kowalski (Chris Miller), and wild card Rico (Conrad Vernon) – first formed their own team, after having saved the unassuming Private (Christopher Knights) when he was still an egg. Cut to the present (which, here, is immediately after the events of Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted) and the Penguins are breaking into Fort Knox, in order to get Private a special present for his birthday.

There the Penguins are ambushed by Dave (John Malkovich), a vengeful octopus from their past – one who’s devised an evil plan that involves all penguins in captivity around the world. The Penguins escape from Dave and his octo-minions, only to cross paths with an inter-species task force – led by the arrogant gray wolf “Classified” (Benedict Cumberbatch) – that belongs to the North Wind, an organization dedicated to saving helpless animals. But do the Penguins need the North Wind’s help – or can they stop Dave and save the day, all by themselves?

‘Classified’ (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Skipper (Tom McGrath) in ‘Penguins of Madagascar’

Co-directed by Eric Darnell (all three Madagascar movies) and Simon J. Smith (Bee Movie), DreamWorks’ Penguins of Madagascar gives the titular Madagascar supporting players a feature-length spinoff to call their own, but one which is unrelated to their spinoff TV series (Nickelodeon’s The Penguins of Madagascar). The Penguins have long been presented as rather static characters, so it probably doesn’t come as a shock to hear that they struggle to work as full-blown protagonists – resulting in a movie that offers fairly routine character development and explores pretty standard themes for an animated feature aimed at younger audiences.

However, the Penguins of Madagascar script – co-written by John Aboud and Michael Colton (The Comebacks) as well as Brandon Sawyer (the Penguins of Madagascar TV show) – makes up for that by keeping the jokes moving at a mile a minute. Not every gag (be it visual, verbal, or both) lands of course, but ultimately there end up being more hits than misses; the same goes for certain running jokes, some of which result in actual payoff, while others tend to come and go at random (see: the play-on-words with celebrity names). The Penguins, as characters, remain likable as ever and thus, manage to keep the madcap cartoon proceedings emotionally anchored with justenough heart.

The Penguins of Madagascar

The animation in Penguins of Madagascar offers the same combination of cartoonish caricature and photo-realistic detail as most other computer-animated features; it clears the current bar for quality studio-backed animated fare, but still falls well short of the recent highs achieved by Pixar, Disney, and even the best DreamWorks’ releases (like the How to Train Your Dragon films). On the other hand, Penguins is one of the better recent 3D viewing experiences, offering lots of pop-out visuals and action scenes – without resorting to 3D gimmickry - that will be worth the higher ticket price for those who prefer that style of 3D cinema (those fans of immersive 3D only, you need not apply).

Penguin voice actors Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Conrad Vernon, and Christopher Knights are clearly  comfortable with their respective characters; meaning, in Penguins of Madagascar, the four leads’ personalities come through their voices as much as their shenanigans. Surprisingly, John Malkovich has never worked on a fully-animated feature before, but his hammy delivery style is a perfect fit for the (sorta) criminal mastermind, Dave (whose forgettable nature, as a villain archetype, is something of a running joke in the movie). The same goes for Benedict Cumberbatch as “Classified”; it might not be a stretch for the Sherlock star, but his delivery is dead-on for the posh character, who usually serves as the straight man (wolf?) in the film’s comedy.

The North Wind task force in ‘Penguins of Madagascar’

Classified’s North Wind team – demolitions expert harp seal Short Fuse (Ken Jeong), intelligence analyst snow owl Eva (Annet Mahendru), and the group’s pilot polar bear Corporal (Peter Stormare) – all tend to be pretty one-note, which is probably why the film doesn’t give any one of them much time in the spotlight. There’s also a vocal cameo early on in Penguins of Madagascar that should make cinephiles laugh, even as it goes over many a kids’ head (and probably a number of adults’ heads too).

Its stars didn’t need their own movie, but there’s enough kid-friendly wit and non-stop humor to justify Penguins of Madagascar‘s existence. Some adults will enjoy the film more than others, and the same goes for younger moviegoers; kids in particular might only remember their favorite jokes afterwards but then again, there’s not much else to remember. Still, when it comes to getting a handle on the art of pure silly, irreverent cartoon comedy, Penguins of Madagascar does a pretty commendable job.

Penguins of Madagascar is now playing in U.S. theaters. It is 91 minutes long and is Rated PG for mild action and some rude humor.

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Our Rating:

3 out of 5
(Good)