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#Barry: well technically its not a new kid so you dont win
batcavescolony · 3 years
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Clark (upon hearing that theirs a batwearing crime boss in Gotham): Bruce did you recently adopt a crime lord?
Bruce: .....I did not recently adopt a crime lord.
Diana: so you didn't adopt a crime lord?
Bruce: I didn't recently adopt a crime lord.
Clark: Bruce did you ever adopt a crime lord?
Bruce: No
Clark+Diana: oh thank-
Bruce: I adopted a child that grew up to be a crime lord.
Clark+Diana: BRUCE
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weekendwarriorblog · 5 years
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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND February 22, 2019  - HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY
February comes to an end with the Oscars on Sunday and another family sequel hoping to escape the fate of the disappointing The LEGO Movie 2, plus Fighting with My Family becomes the widest WWE Films release since John Cena’s The Marine back in 2006.
Just a reminder that you can read my box office analysis and predictions over at The Beat, as well as my thoughts on Black Panther’s chances at winning a few Oscars this Sunday.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD (DreamWorks Animation/Universal)
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Written and directed by Dean DeBlois (How To Train Your Dragon,How to Train Your Dragon 2) Voice Cast: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrara, F. Murray Abraham, Cate Blanchett, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kristen Wiig, Kit Harrington MPAA Rating: PG
A mere three weeks after the animated sequel The LEGO Movie 2disappointed at the box office, DreamWorks Animation returns with its first movie since 2017’s Captain Underpants, as well as the first movie under its new distribution deal with Universal. It’s also the first movie from DreamWorks Animation sans CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg who left after Comcast bought the company after building it up into quite a brand.
It’s pretty amazing that DreamWorks Animation has gone ahead with this threequel after it’s been delayed seemingly for years, but clearly, Universal/Comcast wanted to get its dragons in a row before bringing them back for an epic finale, especially with the company’s mixed success with their last few offerings. (DWA’s 2017 release The Boss Babyactually did quite well, just slightly less than How to Train Your Dragon 2’s domestic gross.)
The good thing going for the latest How to Train Your Dragonis that DreamWorks Animation has been keeping the franchise alive with a number of animated series that have streamed on Netflix, and kids definitely know these characters well. They’ve also been able to bring back almost all of the cast, including Cate Blanchett, Kit Harrington (from “Game of Thrones”) and introducing F. Murray Abraham as a new villain named Grimmel and a new lady “Light Fury” to match with Hiccup’s dragon pal Toothless. This generally should help revive the animated company who has made such an impact in the early ‘00s. So far, reviews have been far better than anyone expected, and Universal wisely gave the movie a Fandango-only screening a few weeks back where it grossed $2.5 million.
Mini-Review: I’ve seen both the previous How to Train Your Dragon movies, and I liked them just fine, but not enough to warrant a rewatch before the third movie is released five years after the previous one. Fortunately, it doesn’t take long to get up to speed at least in terms of figuring out who everyone is, though it does take some time before it gets into gear as far as storytelling.
Things have settled down at Berk, as Hiccup and his pals continue to save dragons from trappers and being them back to their safe haven, but new villain Grimmel (voiced by F. Murray Abraham) who wants to kill the last of the Night Furies aka Hiccup’s own dragon pal Toothless. In order to do so, he uses a white female “Light Fury” as a honey badger to capture the lovelorn dragon, as well as all the other dragons in Berk.
The problem is that there are way too many unfunny human characters and even more dragons that are hard to keep track of. The film begins by throwing so much at the viewer, but not in a good way, and it took a long time for me to be even vaguely interested in what was happening.  Surprisingly, Abraham makes for an equally bland villain, especially considering how great he’s been in such a role in movies like Amadeus, but the storytelling is obvious and even corny at times that it begins as a disappointing finale to the epic trilogy.
Granted, this is still an amazing technical achievement with all of the colorful environments and creatures, yet the dragons are generally more interesting than the humans, other than maybe Hiccup and his girlfriend Astrid. The dialogue-free moments between Toothless and his paramour tend to work far better than the attempt at getting laughs using the annoying humans.
Where the film really starts picking up steam is in the last act where the action starts to build to a peak, and we’re finally reminded what made the earlier films so special. In some ways, it’s hard to believe a movie that starts off so grueling and boring manages to deliver enough of a third-act payoff to win the viewer over, and it’s quite an amazing recovery to end the series on a high note.
Rating: 6.5/10
FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY (MGM)
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Written and Directed by Stephen Merchant (co-creator of “The Office” and “Hey, Ladies!”) Cast: Florence Pugh, Jack Lowden, Nick Frost, Lena Headey, Vince Vaughn, Dwayne Johnson MPAA Rating: PG-13
I’ve already written quite a bit about this comedic biopic already between my reviewand my interview with WWE superstar Paige, so I’m not sure how much more I have to say about this film which tells the story of how Paige came to the WWE. Produced by Dwayne Johnson, who also makes a couple appearances in the movie, this is a wonderful film that will definitely appeal to WWE fans, especially those who have been following the Women’s Revolution, but I think it will appeal to others as a fun inspirational story about an outsider making good. The movie opened in New York and L.A. this past weekend, but it will expand nationwide on Friday, and I hope that audience will give it a look, especially with so few strong movies in theaters right now and the box office being so dismal.
LIMITED RELEASES
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One of the standouts this weekend is Suzannah Herbert’s doc WRESTLE (Oscilloscope), co-directed by Lauren Belfer, which just won two Hoka Award at the Oxford Film Festival last week, and that’s after winning awards at a number of other festivals. It follows five varsity wrestlers at a small-town Alabama high school who are competing to help take their school to the State Championships, but there’s a lot more at stake than a trophy. Each of the wrestlers has had domestic issues that has made going to college a struggle, and placing in the Championships would give them a chance for scholarships that would make a huge difference in their lives. The movie will open at the Village East Cinemas in New York on Friday with Herbert and Belfer in attendance to discuss this inspirational film. It will then open in L.A. on March 1.
I don’t know much (or actually anything) about the faith-based film RUN THE RACE (Roadside Attractions), hitting select theaters this weekend, but apparently it’s exec. produced by NFL star Tim Tebow and directed by Chris Dowling (Priceless). It involves two brothers dealing with the death of their mother and abandonment by their father as All-State athlete Zach’s hopes of earning a college scholarship are sidelined by an injury. With that, his younger brother David steps up to help get him and his brother out of town to a better future. (Actually, this movie seems to have quite a bit in common with the doc Wrestle.)
Metrograph Pictures makes its debut with its initial release, the French doc The Competition (Le Concours) from filmmaker Claire Simon, marking her first film to get a U.S. theatrical release. It takes a look at the entrance process for the prestigious French film school La Fémis, where hundreds of ambitious filmmakers in all aspects of the craft seek to be taught how to perfect said craft. I have to be honest that as I watched the movie, I didn’t realize it was a doc, because it reminded me of 120 BPM (Beats Per Minute) or The Class, where there was just so much talking and most of it just seemed like pretentious showboating by students trying to impress the entrance panel. In fact, the educators and filmmakers’ reactions to the students is far more interesting, but this only had a few moments that captivated me in its 2-hour running time.  You can find out where else it will play after its Metrograph debut Friday on the Official Site.
Opening at the Cinema Village in New York Friday and in L.A. on March 1 is Barry Avrich’s doc Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz, which takes a look at the last surviving prosecutor of the Nuremberg Trial who continues to fight for the law and peace.
Opening in Texas Friday (and expanding to other markets over the coming weeks including even MORE Texas theaters on March 1) is Ty Roberts’ adaptation of Tom Pendleton’s 1966 novel The Iron Orchard (Santa Rita Film Co.), starring Lane Garrison as Jim McNeely, a young man thrown into the brutal world of the West Texas oilfields in 1939, shortly after the Great Depression.
Lastly, there’s Stuart McKenzie and Miranda Harcourt’s adaptation of Margaret Mahy’s novel The Changeover (Vertical), starring Erana James as 16-year-old Laura Chant who lives with her mother (the always wonderful Melanie Lynskey) and four-year-old brother Jacko in a poor suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand and ends up in a supernatural battle with a spirit draining the life out of Jacko. Also starring Tim Spall, it opens in select theaters and On Demand Friday.
LOCAL FESTIVALS
A couple festivals and film series worth nothing is the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Neighboring Scenes: New Latin American Cinema, presented with Cinema Tropical, which will include Belmonte   from Uruguay, Carlos Reygadas’ Our Time, and many other films, none of which I’ve seen.
Also, the 22nd New York International Children’s Film Festivalbegins on Friday, running through March 17, opening with the East Coast Premiere of Chiwetel Ejiofor’s directorial debut The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which will also premiere on Netflix on March 1. The festival will be spread out across the city from the Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyin to the IFC Center to the Cinepolis Chelsea, Quad Cinema, SVA Theater and even the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. You can find out more about the films and schedule on the Official Site.
STREAMING AND CABLE
Fresh from its Sundance premiere, Mark Duplass continues his relationship with Netflix, appearing with Ray Romano in Alex (Blue Jay) Lehmann’s PADDLETON, in which Duplass plays a man diagnosed with terminal cancer who asks his neighbor (Romano) to end his life before he dies from cancer.
This week’s foreign Netflix offering is Elizabeth Vogler’s French film Paris is Us, which involves a woman named Anna who misses her flight to Barcelona, which she misses, which starts her questioning reality and her relationships.
Because HBO is picking up so many great films out of festivals, I’m going to include them here whenever I can. Who knows? Maybe someone at HBO will see this and hook-up with a free HBO Now account. (And I’ll accept free Hulu, Amazon and Showtime accounts and any others while we’re at it, if those companies want to be included.)
One of my favorite films from last year’s Tribeca Film Festival was Madeleine Sackler’s O.G. starring Jeffrey Wright (who won an award for his acting) as former gangleader and lifelong inmate Louis, who is coming to the end of his 24-year sentence, when he takes the younger Beecher (Theothus Carter) under his wing, trying to keep him from him following the same downwards path he took. You can read more about my thoughts on the movie in my Tribeca Film Festival diary. O.G. will premiere on HBO this Saturday.
REPERTORY
METROGRAPH (NYC):
Produced by David O. Selznick concludes this week with screenings of The Third Man, Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound and one last screening of Rebecca, plus the Metrograph’s Valentine’s Day offerings continue, including Casablanca  (1942) and Heaven Can Wait (1943). Late Nites at Metrograph is the Anime Ghost in the Shell (1995) and the Playtime: Family Matinees  is Disney-Pixar’s Oscar-winning Inside Out (2015)
QUAD CINEMA  (NYC):
The Goldblum Variations concludes with screenings of The Life Aquatic of Steven Zissou (Thurs.), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Fri.) and Earth Girls are Easy, but there’s also the week-long New York premiere of the 2k restoration of Joan (Hester Street) Silver’s 1977 movie Between the Lines  (Cohen Film Collection), also starring Goldblum, along with John Heard, Lindsay Crouse and more.
THE NEW BEVERLY  (L.A.):
Another busy weekend at Tarantino’s repertory theater with a number of Burt Reynolds double features, Hooper (1978)and Physical Evidence (1989) on Weds. and Thurs, plus his 1977 movies Smokey and the Bandit and Semi-Tough on Friday and Saturday. This weekend’s midnight movies are Tarantino’s Oscar-winning Pulp Fiction on Friday and the 1972 concert film Fillmore on Saturday.  The Kiddee Matinee of the weekend is Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis’ 3-Ring Circus (1954), and then Sunday and Monday, there’s a double feature of Sandra Dee’s Gidget  (1959) and Dick Clark’s Because they’re Young (1960). The Monday Matinee is Bill Duke’s 1992 thriller Deep Cover, starring Laurence Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum, and Tuesday night’s Grindhouse offering is Burt Reynolds’ 1987 movie Malone and his 1986 film Heat. (All that Burt Reynodls movies makes me want to live in L.A.!)
FILM FORUM (NYC):
The downtown rep theater presents the 5 ½-hour version of Bernardo Bertolluci’s 1976 drama 1900, which will be shown in two parts, and this weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is the 1953 sci-fi thriller The War of the Worlds in a new 4k restoration.
EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):
The Egyptian screens Death in Venice (1971) on Thursday, as part of the Luchino Visconti: Cinematic Nobility series.
AERO  (LA):
On Saturday night, the Aero is screening a triple feature of Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm (1979) – with Coscarelli and producer Paul Pepperman in attendance -- along with Three O’Clock High (1987) and 10 to Midnight  (1983), as part of its Cinematic Void 2019 series. Otherwise, the theater seems to be playing Jean-Luc Godard’s The Image Bookaround the clock.
IFC CENTER (NYC)
Waverly Midnights: The Feds continues with John Woo’s Face/Off (1997), starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, Weekend Classics: Early Godard will screen the classic Band of Outsiders  (1964) Friday through Sunday, while Late Night Favorites will once again show Ridley Scott’s Alien. (It really IS a Late Night Favorite!)
LANDMARK THEATRES NUART  (LA):
On Friday at Midnight, the Nuart will show Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy, starring Nicolas Cage.
FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER(NYC):
Sergey Bondarchuk’s epic 1968 film War and Peace continues to run (in four installments) through Thursday.
BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):
Starting Friday, BAM starts its ten-day Living with the Dead: The Films of George Romero, commemorating the life and career of one of the greatest horror filmmakers of all time, the late George Romero. It will be held together by a new 2K restoration of his 1968 film Night of the Living Dead, which will screen Friday night, Saturday afternoon and on Feb. 28. Other movies in the series include Dawn of the Dead  (1978), Day of the Dead  (1985), The Crazies  (1973), Monkey Shinesand some of Romero’s newer films. The series will also have special guests like Romero’s daughter Tina Romero and producer Richard Rubenstein over the course of the series.
MOMA (NYC):
Modern Matinees: Sir Sidney Poitier offers Norman Jewison’s In the Heat of the Night  (1967) on Weds, Blackboard Jungle  (1955) on Thurs and Stanley Kramer’s The Defiant Ones (1958) on Friday.
That’s it for this week… next week, Tyler Perry’s Madea is back in Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral, presumably the last Madea movie ever… be afraid and glad at the same time! Also, Neil Jordan returns with the psychological thriller Greta.
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