Trailer: The Fifth Estate


Hearing Benedict Cumberbatch talk here reminds me of Alan Rickman as Snape, for Cumberbatch has a certain accent of pronouncing his words. Upon some research, he's pulling off an Australian accent. This just proves that he does very well with voice acting, as his accent for the Star Trek film and his talking voice in Sherlock are different, therefore disguising his persona from one character to another. Here he plays the founder of WikiLeaks, an organization I'm not familiar with (sorry!), and how its services became a game changer. It looks interesting enough, and it has Benedict Cumberbatch on it. Hopefully it is as thrilling as it appears. 

Despicable Me 2

Cast: Steve Carell, Kristin Wiig, Benjamin Bratt
Director: Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud

You know when your Instagram/Facebook/Twitter feed is being flooded with friends showing off their minion things/food items? It just made me want to check out Despicable Me 2, even though I wasn't a fan of the first installment. On the day that I was spending with my kid sister, there was this big time gap between afternoon nap and dinner party, so I thought, why not catch a movie? Granted that I was spending the day with her, this was the only choice (although there really wasn't much of a choice, considering Pacific Rim and The Lone Ranger were the only other movies) we had. My sister did enjoy the movie, and while it was filled with the promises of the cute minions, I found the succeeding flick undermine its predecessor in terms of substance. 

In the Loop

Cast: Peter Capaldi, Harry Hadden-Paton, Tom Hollander
Director: Armando Iannucci

It's such a rare treat to see a political film that doesn't involve a physical form of violence, or a well-scripted dialogue, or a moment of intensity when a person is the ultimate focus of the entire ploy. Here we see a satirical take on political games, when one man's words may cause actions that can change the world. While I found bits of the movie funny, it may not be for everyone as it's not really the content of the conversations that matter in this piece, but rather how the key characters move along as they handle and manipulate the information provided.

Trailer: Out of the Furnace


Christian Bale sure is keeping himself busy after his Batman days. The cast list alone puts this on my to watch list, but I'm having reserved feelings on how it will deliver. Either it's going to be a good one; with all the talented actors involved, surely fine performances will be expected, or the plot might not be enough. Either way, I think I'm going to wait for reviews to come out before seeing this piece. Hopefully it will deliver, as it has a great cast behind, so performance wise, I think this is going to be ok.

How I Met Your Mother

How I Met Your Mother has been dragging too long, gunning in its last season (season 9) before finally revealing to us who the mother is. Although some seasons and episodes have been dwindling in terms of content, I think it's too late to give it up now. It's only going to be on air for one more season. While this show has given laughs, this sitcom also has a grasp on reality. They show the low parts, moments that bring pain. Life's not all fun and games. I was thinking of doing a list similar to my Friends list, but it's the low moments (experiences of the characters) of this show that struck me. Hit the jump for the 8 saddest/lowest moments in How I Met Your Mother.
Edit: I wrote this before the season finale, the episode they revealed the identity of the mother.

A Single Man

Cast: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult
Director: Tom Ford

The first time I saw this, I was left speechless. The film was beautifully shot, especially the aesthetics. I've written a review about this before, but after seeing it the second time around, I felt that my initial review wasn't justifiable. Taking a second look at a brilliant film by Tom Ford, it would not only be the aesthetics that I would look at. There was some poetry playing at hand, being an aide into being the beauty of a simple story. While I've ranked this a tad lower than the first viewing, there was more elements that I was able to grasp and enjoy, still making this film a favorite from all actors involved. 

One Season Wonder: Wonderfalls

Series creator Bryan Fuller was primarily known for his previous show Pushing Daisies, but is making headlines with the success of Hannibal. Wonderfalls is his lesser-known project, as it got cancelled four episodes after airing. A disappointment, really, considering Dead Like Me pulled three seasons and Pushing Daisies got two, with Hannibal renewed for a second season. Wonderfalls also deals with the supernatural, enacting through an underachiever. It's quite a charming show despite its surreal circumstances.

Trailer: Thanks for Sharing


If you go to the YouTube page of this trailer, the Hulk/Pepper Potts/Iron Man comments are pretty much out there, but I'm not going to go into that. It's basically about coping up with sex addiction and moving past that to have a viable relationship that isn't pretty much triggered by sex. The fact that Mark Ruffalo is the star of this movie is the only reason why I'm putting this on my watch list. Despite the acting credentials he has, he is pretty much an underrated actor for me. I haven't watched much of his filmography, but based on the handful of films I've seen, I'd say he likes to mix it up. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. While the trailer pretty much spells out how the entire movie is going to pan out, I'd still see it for Ruffalo. 

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

Cast: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Artenton, Famke Janssen
Director: Tommy Wirkola

I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but one look at the movie's poster and I could already tell that this was going to be bad. However, this was a successful bad movie that is currently spawning a sequel, a sequel that I am going to find myself watching in one way or another. Hollywood turns back to its fairy tale book to pull out the next story, and they did, with this adaptation of Hansel and Gretel, grown up and bad-ass.

Trailer: The Family


All I can say is that this looks laid back and fun. A kind of entertainment that doesn't leave you with all these thoughts, but can get you immersed in the moment. While I personally think this won't change, or bring anything new to the genre, it looks entertaining. Plus it has Robert De Niro and Tommy Lee Jones, and I've been wanting to see them in a movie together. 

Batman Returns

Cast: Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny DeVito
Director: Tim Burton

Before I begin to write down my thoughts, I want to make one thing clear: I haven't seen Batman (1989) and  maybe I should have started with that. So if you see anything that can be explained using the first movie, refer to the first sentence of this review. It's hard to enjoy the previous Batman films if you've seen Nolan's versions...well, at least for me. I found it difficult to not compare the previous versions to the recently released ones, but I am going to try to make this as objective as possible.

Trailer: The To Do List


I can see this movie going either way; it will either be a hit or a flop. It has a great cast list, with Aubrey Plaza leading the roster. I love her in Parks & Rec and I like how she's slowly making the transition into movies (although she has to be careful of her choices, as she may end up getting typecast). It looks like a fun movie. On the other hand, it might not be a hit that they quite expect, and may spurn out in the disastrous end. I think I'm going to wait for the reviews to roll before I see this one. 

The Heat

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Damian Bichir
Director: Paul Feig

The Heat was somewhat a highly publicized movie (Face it, there isn't a recent article where The Heat is not attached to Sandra Bullock or Melissa McCarthy's name. That itself makes publicity). Besides knowing that it's an action/comedy flick, there's not much I knew of it. So when this was showing, my sister and I totally abandoned our previous movie plans and went for this. It's Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, what could go wrong? There was going to be crazy antics and explosions; those had to be fun. While the movie has its flaws, and it felt a bit too long, it made for some fun entertainment, watching Bullock and McCarthy exchange lines as two women with different comedic backgrounds take the stage for their first flick together.

June Round Up

New movies seen: 14
Rewinds: 2
Total: 16

June has gone by in a blur (sort of). Kind of surprise that I caught 16 movies, considering the slow pace I've been on. I launched my new soon-to-be feature, if I don't get derailed into writing the new one. If you haven't seen it, click on the A Gifted Man image on my sidebar (or you know, just click the link). I watched the remaining Batman flicks I haven't seen this month (reviews to be up soon!). I'm also in the middle of reading A Game of Thrones, which is really long but I'm halfway through. Hopefully I'll be done by the end of this month. I was planning this entire movie marathon for this past weekend, but plans fell through. 

Links

I think Game of Thrones' Red Wedding was the biggest television thing to hit this month. Read Sati's (from Cinematic Corner) recap of the episode. On a related note, an interview with Richard Madden about this particular episode from Rolling Stones.

Read Alex's (from And So It Begins...) list of actors/actresses whose career faltered post-Oscar win.

Jon from The Artifice lists 15 coming of age films worth a look. Also from The Artifice: A Crash Course with Woody Allen films by Ana, Top 10 Roles of Tom Cruise by Thomas.

Heather from Man, I Love Films lists her top bromance pairs.

Dave from Dave Examines Movies reviews one of my favorite movies, Stranger than Fiction.

Paul from The People's Movies mentions his top teen flicks in relation to Spike Island.

Pinar from My Modern Met posts a couple of behind the scene photos from movies and tv.

A couple of lists from The Playlist: Meta flicks, Apocalypse movies, workplace comedies and directoral debuts from screenwriters.

Vulture weighs on troubled marriages between Mad Men and Game of Thrones; they also give a list of toughest TV farewells that ended this 2012-2013 run. If you're not on a Game of Thrones withdrawal (10 months of waiting!), here's this season in infographics.

How to Make a Sofia Coppola Movie according to Louis from BuzzFeed.

What's next for July?
More reviews, hopefully.