What's After the Minions in The First Full-Length Trailer for "Despicable Me 2"?

UPDATE: Found a working version! Enjoy!

Andrew: Hello readers! First and foremost, Happy Halloween to you all! Secondly, it brings us great pleasure to share with you the first full-length trailer for Despicable Me 2! We're big fans of the original and all the characters involved - Gru, Dr. Nefario, Vector, Margo, Edith, Agnes (especially Agnes!) and of course The Minions.

So needless to say we're very excited about the sequel and the further adventures of our favorite super-villain/adoptive father and his crew. The trailer below doesn't really give a great idea of what the new film will be about, but apparently someone (or something) REALLY wants Gru's minions for themselves. Consider us intrigued. (I'm also a fan of the use of John Carpenter's Halloween theme in this trailer. Quite fitting considering today's date.)



Despicable Me 2 includes the voice acting of returning stars Steve Carell, Russell Brand, Kristin Wiig and also some new voices to the franchise in Al Pacino and Steve Coogan. It's slated for release on July3, 2013.

Programming Note: We will also be posting a new Six-Pack later today on our pick's for the best family-friendly Halloween movies to watch tonight!

Walt Disney Buys Lucasfilm, New Star Wars Movie Coming To a Galaxy Near You?

Andrew: Hello readers! This is going to be a brief post but it's a pretty crazy one, because Reuters is reporting that the Walt Disney Company is purchasing George Lucas' Lucasfilm studio, including the Star Wars franchise, for $4.05 billion.

Walt Disney Co to buy LucasFilm, Star Wars franchise. Two-paragraph story. Updates to come. reuters.com/article/2012/1…
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) October 30, 2012

According to Reuters' Twitter feed (@Reuters), Disney has also announced that a new Star Wars film will be released in 2015! 

"Star Wars" episode seven will come out in 2015, Disney says
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) October 30, 2012

Could this be the start of the long-rumored Episodes VII-IX? Where would a new Star Wars film even go now following the events of Return of the Jedi? I remember reading some of the Star Wars novels that were canon following the films, but will they really go in that direction or a different one instead?

Lots to talk and think about as this story evolves! Hit us up in the comments section with your thoughts!

UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter has more details, including Kathleen Kennedy becoming the new president of Lucasfilm and George Lucas becoming a consultant. Hopefully this means he won't be too directly involved with the future films, considering how dreadful Episodes I-III are!
UPDATE 2: Reuters' Twitter feed has updated saying:

Star Wars episodes eight and nine will follow, Disney says in press release. Long-term plan is feature film every two-three years.
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) October 30, 2012

Source: Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter

007 Returns With Quite Possibly the Best Bond Film Ever: Our Review of "Skyfall" (2012)

Directed By: Sam Mendes (American Beauty) 

Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes

Rating: PG-13 for intense violent sequences throughout, some sexuality, language and smoking

Run Time: 2 hours, 23 minutes

Synopsis: Following a mission gone wrong in which critical information on undercover NATO agents is stolen and 007 (Craig) is shot and presumed dead, M (Dench) and MI6 are brought under attack by a hacker named Silva (Bardem) with a vendetta against M, and a bureaucrat (Fiennes) looking to force M into retirement.

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! Last week Sarah and I were fortunate enough to catch a screening of the new James Bond movie Skyfall a full two weeks before its wide release. Skyfall stars Daniel Craig (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) in his third turn as 007, Judi Dench (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) in her 7^th appearance as M, and Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men) as a villain named Silva who has a personal vendetta out against M. We also get some new additions to the franchise in Ralph Fiennes (Schindler’s List) as Gareth Mallory, the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, who believes MI6 and M’s ways to be antiquated, and Naomie Harris (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End) as a new MI6 agent named Eve.

I, personally, have been REALLY looking forward to this film because the Bond series is by far my favorite film series (as I’m sure it is for a lot of people). I thought Casino Royale was breath of fresh air to the series and possibly even the best of them all so far, which some traditionalists might find blasphemous. Quantum of Solace was a bit of a letdown but I like it when you put it back-to-back with Casino Royale…

Sarah: Yeah, it was definitely a follow-up to Casino Royale, it fit in quite nicely following up on the effects Vesper Lynd’s death had on him. As a stand-alone film, it’s not that great.

But now you have Skyfall. Bond got his revenge for Vesper in Quantum of Solace so now we’re back to more of a stand-alone Bond film. We’re back to BOND, as it were.

Bond is back, ladies and gents, and better than ever!

Our Preview of This Week's New Releases (for Friday, October 26th)

Andrew: Hello readers! It's that time once again for Sarah and I to chat about the new releases hitting our local theatre for your reading enjoyment. Last week was a relatively weak crop with only Alex Cross and Paranormal Activity 4 coming out wide (the latter of which we reviewed HERE). This week, however, is a different story as we see four wide releases coming out this last weekend in October.

We have the epic looking Cloud Atlas, brought to us by Tom Twyker (Run Lola Run) and the Wachowski siblings (The Matrix trilogy); a new Gerard Butler film about surfboarding and based on a true story called Chasing Mavericks; a sequel to 2006's video-game adaptation/horror film Silent Hill that no one was asking for, called Silent Hill: Revelations 3D; and last but not least a Halloween-themed comedy aimed at tweens called Fun Size, which is the directorial debut of television producer/writer Josh Schwartz.

So Sarah, a lot of films coming out this week. Which one do you want to talk about first?

Sarah: Let's talk about the biggest one, Cloud Atlas. I am so confused about this one! It totally looks super confusing but has a powerhouse cast that would make any director in Hollywood jealous! I honestly don't know how I feel about this one. What do you think?

Official Trailer for Cloud Atlas

Check Out The Red-Band Trailer for 2013's "Evil Dead" Remake!

Andrew: Hello readers! Ok, so Sarah doesn't know that I'm posting this so let's keep it a little secret between all of us, but the red-band trailer for next spring's The Evil Dead remake has officially hit the internet! (I say officially because a leaked version that was taken by a cell phone camera at the New York Comic Con hit earlier this month but was taken down.)

A remake of Sam Raimi's 1981 classic is simply titled Evil Dead this time around, I was skeptical when I heard they were making this, but now that I've seen this footage I can admit I'm 100% in. It doesn't hurt that Raimi is both producing and was involved with the script, and that while Bruce Campbell's Ash is nowhere to be found in the remake, Campbell is still involved as a producer. (Some people might be worried about Diablo Cody's involvement with the script as well, but I personally love Juno and enjoyed Young Adult so I'm cool with it.)

Again, this is the red-band trailer so there is some language, DEFINITELY some bloody goodness that I hope will satiate horror fans like myself, and a very obvious homage to the original involving a possessed tree. Check it out and let me know what y'all think! (The trailer will ask you to verify your age before letting you watch it.)



Evil Dead is slated to be released April 12, 2003. It stars Jane Levy of ABC's Suburgatory and is directed by Fede Alvarez, a Uruguayan director best known for a short film called Panic Attack!

Courtesy: IGN

Sarah Interviewed Andrew For His Review of "Paranormal Activity 4" (2012) and a Discussion on Horror Movie Series Broke Out

Directed By: Henry Joost & Ariel Shulman (Paranormal Activity 3) 

Starring: Kathryn Newton, Matt Shively, Brady Allen, Aiden Lovecamp, Katie Featherston

Rating: R for some language and violence/terror

Run Time: 1 hour, 28 minutes

Synopsis: 15-year-old Alex (Newton) and her family take in a young boy named Robbie (Allen) who lives across the street when the boy's mother falls ill. Soon after, weird things start to happen and Robbie seems to be having a negative effect on Alex's little brother, Wyatt (Lovecamp). Alex and her friend Ben (Shively) set up cameras around the house to see what's going bump in the night and discover more than they bargained for.

REVIEW (warning: this is a bit of a lengthy post)

Andrew: Hello readers! Because Sarah had to work late the other night and because she wouldn’t want to see it anyways, so I saw Paranormal Activity 4 all by my lonesome. The latest entry in the popular horror movie franchise, it’s the fourth-film Paranormal Activity film in as many years about a California family haunted by a demon and the mythology of that demon in the family’s history.

So Sarah, you didn’t want to see this one with me because it’s a scary movie, so we’re going to do this review as an interview. So what do you want to ask me?

Sarah: Have all of the Paranormal Activity films followed the same family?

A: Yes. (**SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE FIRST THREE. I’M ABOUT TO SUMMARIZE THE SERIES A BIT FOR SARAH**)

The first film starts with a couple, Katie and Micah, and Katie explains during the film that weird things happened to her and her sister Kristi when they were younger. The second film shows Kristi and her family – her husband, daughter and baby son – and the events of that one sort of take place before and during the events of the first one, converging at the end with Katie killing her family and kidnapping her nephew. The third one is a prequel to PA1 and PA2 that takes place during 1988 and it shows you what actually happened to them when they were younger.

"Iron Man 3" Trailer Is Here For Your Viewing Pleasure

Andrew: Hello readers! It was a nice little surprise to wake up this morning and find out that the first full trailer for Iron Man 3 has hit the interwebs while we were asleep! Did you think The Avengers was epic? Wait until you see this trailer, because it looks like the people at Marvel aren't sitting on their laurels.

Not only are their more Iron Man suits than ever before, but we also get a slimy looking Guy Pearce but we get the awesome sauce that is Sir Ben Kingsley's voice and look of The Mandarin. Check it out!



What did you think? We're pretty stoked about it, and I know I particularly love it when a hero gets attacked at his home, so I love that shot of Tony Stark's place falling into the ocean. That said, hopefully they pull back a bit and focus more on some intimate aspects like the first one and not all lose what made the original so great as opposed to the somewhat disappointing Iron Man 2.

Iron Man 3 is slated to hit theatres on May 3, 2013. It's directed by Shane Black (director of the fantastic Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and writer of Predator) and stars Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall.

A Perfect Blend of Comedic Timing and Creative Spins of Popular Music: Our Review of "Pitch Perfect" (2012)

Directed By: Jason Moore 

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, Skylar Astin

Rating: PG-13 for sexual material, drug references and language

Run Time: 1 hour, 52 minutes

Synopsis: After a disastrous performance at the national competition the year before, Barden University's all-female competitive a cappella group, The Barden Bellas, must regroup. In doing so they manage to snag Beca (Kendrick) a loner freshman who aspires to be a music producer to join their rag-tag group, and who might just give them the fresh blood they need to beat the all-male group, The Treblemakers.

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! Last night Sarah and I braved the Friday night middle school crowd to see a film we’ve been meaning to catch for a couple of weeks now, Pitch Perfect, starring a personal favorite of ours in Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air).

Sarah: Yeah, she’s been growing on us more lately, but we’ve always been fans of hers.

A: Very true. So we caught her latest, Pitch Perfect, which is a comedy about college a cappella groups at the fictional Barden University. Kendrick’s character, Beca, is a freshman who is only going to college to appease her father who teaches at the school, because she’d rather move to L.A. to become a music producer.

But this also stars Rebel Wilson as Fat Amy, and Wilson, who’s become more famous State-side after her small role in Bridesmaids, should become a comedic star after this. Also starring in Pitch Perfect are Anna Camp (The Help) and Brittany Snow (Hairspray) as Aubrey and Chloe, the leaders of the Barden Bellas, and some new faces too…

You can tell Anna Kendricks' Beca is an outsider who wants to become a DJ because of her piercings, makeup and big earphones. But it works. It really does.

Andrew Shares a Term Paper He Wrote on His Fav Horror Film: John Carpenter's "Halloween"

Andrew: Hello readers! Sarah and I feel bad about how I was a screw-up yesterday and forgot to print off my tickets to see Paranormal Activity 4, thus leaving us without a review to post today. So I got to thinking about how Halloween is coming up in less than 2 weeks and how John Carpenter's Halloween is my absolute favorite horror film of all-time. Then I remembered I had written a couple of term papers about Carpenter's classic while studying at Central Michigan University and I decided it might be kind of cool to share the term paper I wrote for my Modern Horror Films class!

So posted below, word for word, is the term paper I wrote on John Carpenter's Halloween. I wrote this all the way back on March 31, 2008 (literally a day before I turned 21), and while it's not perfect, I find it a fun and neat little representation of who I was four and half years ago and a way to share my appreciation for a classic film.

Because it was a term paper, it's broken up into segments that my professor made mandatory, so that explains the way it's structured. We also had minimum and maximum lengths, hence the lengths of some of the sections/paragraphs. So click on to read my term paper after the jump, and we hope you all enjoy this blast from the past, and absolutely let us know what you think of it!

Our Preview of This Week's New Releases (for Friday, October 19th)

Andrew: Hello readers! It's been a little busy for us this week so we apologize for the lack of new posts, but it's time for our weekly preview and you can be sure we're gonna get this one out today!

It's actually a bit of a slow weekend for new movies as we only see two wide releases with the fourth installment in the Paranormal Activity series and the new thriller Alex Cross, starring Tyler Perry (of Madea fame) in the title role.

Sarah, let's start with the one I know we're both going to see and that's Alex Cross. It's the third film to be adapted from James Patterson's Alex Cross novel series, which is a personal favorite of ours.

Sarah: I really have gotten into the Alex Cross series over the past couple of months! When I saw that they were turning it into a movie, I was pretty excited. But here's the thing...I'm really not a huge fan of who they got to play Alex. When I think of Tyler Perry I only think of a man in drag.

Official Trailer for Alex Cross

And now we find out that our beloved series is being totally butchered by taking place in DETROIT! What?! Did they not think Washington, D.C., the 16^th most dangerous city in the country according to Forbes, wasn't badass enough? Apparently not, because they moved it to Detroit, Forbes’ #1 most dangerous city in America.

A Six Pack Of... The Most Messed Up Movies Andrew's Ever Seen

Andrew: Hello readers! We're bringing you something a little different tonight in lieu of a review or any movie news. Our friend Nick over at The Cinematic Katzenjammer is hosting a blogathon this month where he's asked fellow bloggers to post about the most messed up movies they've ever seen and share it with him.

So we're taking this opportunity to introduce a new column we like to call A Six Pack Of... where, you guess it, we'll pick a topic and talk about six things about that topic (like I'm sure we'll eventually get to A Six Pack Of... Our Favorite Johnny Depp Movies, *wink*).

We're starting this new column off by getting into the Halloween spirit, as well as the spirit of Nick's blogathon, with A Six Pack Of... The Most Messed Up Movies Andrew Has Ever Seen:

1.) Haute Tension a.k.a. High Tension (2003) – My introduction to the New French Extremity movement, when Alexandre Aja's High Tension was first released on DVD in the U.S. in 2005 it became the first DVD I purchased on reputation alone and I’m glad I did. Not only was I horrified by what The Killer does to Alex’s family, but I was totally caught off-guard by the conclusion, plus this was the film that introduced me to my favorite active band, Muse. But yeah, The Killer’s introduction, the havoc he wreaks in the cottage and how he uses his circular saw are scenes I’ll never forget. 

Affleck Proves He's One of Today's Best Directors With a Great Political Thriller: Our Review of "Argo" (2012)

Directed By: Ben Affleck (The Town) 

Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman

Rating: R for language and some violent images

Run Time: 2 hours

Synopsis: On November 4, 1979, Iranian revolutionaries took over the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 52 hostages – but 6 American diplomats were able to escape and took refuge with a Canadian ambassador. As tensions reached a tipping point, C.I.A. “exfiltrator” Tony Mendez (Affleck) hatches a plan, with the help of Hollywood makeup artist John Chambers (Goodman) and producer Lester Siegel (Arkin), to fly in to Tehran, pose with the “Houseguests” as a Canadian film crew scouting locations for a sci-fi film called “Argo,” and fly out together.

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! Yesterday Sarah and I caught a morning showing of Ben Affleck’s new drama, Argo, which is based on the true story of CIA “exfiltration” expert Tony Mendez’s mission to get six American embassy workers out of Tehran during the 1979 Iran hostage situation.

Argo is Affleck’s third directorial effort and his second in a row where he’s pulling double-duty behind and in front of the camera. It’s a film we’ve talked about at length now, Sarah, what with our appearance on the As Your Watch podcast where we talked about it and we previewed it a bit on Thursday, too.

It’s one that we’ve been hearing a lot of good things about including plenty of Oscar buzz. So now that we’ve seen Argo, what did you think of it, Sarah?

Sarah: I was thoroughly impressed! I thought that the storyline was good, but how Affleck execute the plot was amazing. The movie is based on a true story of a classified CIA operation and the general public didn’t know about it until President Clinton declassified it in 1997. (Editor’s note: Until then all the praise had been given to the Canadian government because if Iran knew the U.S. had successfully gotten embassy workers out from under them, the hostages would be in trouble.)

So the strength of the movie was that even though we knew how the story would end, the execution of presenting the story and keeping it as intense as it was was incredibly. Another strength of the movie was the cast. I really enjoyed this movie and can see why Oscar buzz is already surrounding it.

What Would Two Tickets For... Do?: Casting "The Amazing Spider-Man 2"

Andrew: Hello readers! Earlier this year we saw the release of The Amazing Spider-Man, a reboot of the Spider-Man franchise that was directed by Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer) and starred Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) as Peter Parker and Emma Stone (The Help) as Gwen Stacy. We didn't get a chance to post about this just yet, but it was confirmed earlier this year that Garfield and Stone will definitely reprise their roles in the sequel and it was recently announced that Webb will indeed return as director despite the first film's disappointing box-office performance.

That said, another story about The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has hit the web this week and it really piqued my interest. Variety reported earlier this week that The Secret Life of The American Teenager star Shailene Woodley is in negotiations to join the franchise as Peter Parker's famous red-headed love interest Mary Jane Watson. It's a choice that, at first glance, I was a fan of because I really liked Woodley in The Descendants and I feel like she fits the role of Mary Jane perfectly (especially in contrast to Kirsten Dunst's MJ in the Sam Raimi versions). But Sarah, you had a different reaction to the news when I told you, didn't you?

Sarah: I did! I wasn't impressed. I will give Woodley this, she was awesome in The Descendants but her other works have been less than awesome. I guess I am little concerned that she will play the same character that she plays in The Secret Life of The American Teenager.  I don't think that Mary Jane is supposed to be this sullen teenager. She's not who I would have cast. Especially if they have to turn her hair red to put her in the part.

Shailene Woodley is in talks to play Mary Jane Watson in
Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but is
she who we think would be the best fit?

Our Preview of This Week's New Releases (for Friday, October 12th)

Andrew: Hello readers! It's been a busy week for us here at Two Tickets For... both from a standpoint of trying to crank out more fresh content but also balancing that with out day jobs. It's also going to be a busy weekend what with FOUR brand-spanking new wide releases hitting theatres plus Sarah starts a new job this weekend. So while we may not be able to see all of the movies we'll talk about in this post by this weekend, don't fret - we'll try to find time somewhere.

Sarah, as I just mentioned we see the release of four new films in theatres that cover a fairly broad spectrum of genres. The most prominent film coming out this weekend is the latest directorial effort from Ben Affleck, Argo, but we also have a new horror movie in Sinister, a new family comedy in Here Comes The Boom starring Kevin James, and a wackier, R-rated action/comedy in Seven Psychopaths. 

(Let's take a second right now to mention that we were fortunate enough to be invited on the As You Watch podcast the other day and we talked about all four of these movies with Nick from The Cinematic Katzenjammer, Joe from Two Dude Review and Vern from Vern's Video Vangaurd. We posted about it the other day HERE and we wrote down the different time codes for the different segments of the podcast in case you'd just like to listen to the part where we discuss these films.)

So Sarah, let's talk about the big movie this weekend, Affleck's Argo, which has been garnering a LOT of Oscar buzz already. It's based on the true story of the 1979 Iran hostage situation in which supporters of Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini stormed the American embassy in Tehran and took 52 hostages. Six embassy workers were able to escape and take refuge with a Canadian ambassador but were still in danger, so CIA "extractor" Tony Mendez (played by Affleck) concocts a scheme to fly to Tehran, have the six hideaways pose a Canadian film crew for a fake sci-fi film called “Argo” and get them out alive. Sounds heavy, and the trailer makes this look amazing. What are your impressions of Argo?

If You See One Scary Movie This Year About a Pagan Deity Who Eats Kid's Souls, Make It This One: Andrew's review of "Sinister" (2012)

Directed By: Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) 

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Vincent D'Onofrio

Rating: R for disturbing violent images and terror

Run Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Synopsis: Ellison Oswalt (Hawke) is a true-crime writer who hit it big with his debut book years ago and in an effort to write his next hit, he moves his family into a house where a tragedy occurred - one child went missing while the rest of the family was killed. After Ellison discovers a box of film reels showing the previous family, plus others from diff decades, being killed - and a demonic looking figure that appears in each one - he becomes obsessed with discovering the nature of the reels.

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! So last night I was able to catch an advance showing of this weekend's new horror movie, Sinister, starring Ethan Hawke and brought to us by the same folks who brought us the Paranormal Activity films and 2010's Insidious. Sarah, you didn't go to this one with me because these kinds of haunted house/haunted family movies are not your cup of tea (and by that I mean you wouldn't have slept at all last night). So we're gonna do this the old fashioned email way and you're going to interview me. So with that said, fire away!

Sarah: Yea there was no way in hell I was seeing this one, or will probably ever see this one. That being said...what did you think?

A: In short, I thought it was one of the better horror movies to come out in a couple of years, but it's not great. If I ranked it up against the movies I mentioned earlier, I'd put the PA movies and Insidious ahead of it, and in that order.

The best part of the movie is Ethan Hawke as the main character, Ellison Oswalt. He's a true-crime writer who hit it big ten years prior with his first book called "Kentucky Blood" but his second and third efforts weren't nearly as good and one even apparently let a killer go free because he screwed up the prosecution's investigation. I liked that aspect and I liked the Hawke plays Ellison as this family man who has become desperate enough to regain that fame and fortune that he'll risk his family by moving them into a house where the prior family was murdered, and not even tell his wife that it happened.

Listen To Our Guest Appearance on "As Your Watch" Podcast!

Andrew: Hello readers! It's an exciting day for us here at Two Tickets For... because a week or so ago we were asked to be guests on an episode of the As You Watch podcast that is made by our good friends Nick from The Cinematic Katzenjammer, Joe from Two Dude Review and Vern from The Vern's Video Vangaurd. (We were filling in for their usual fourth member, Bubbawheat of Flights, Tights and Movie Nights.) 

As a disclaimer, the full podcast runs a robust 90 minutes, but these are the topics we discussed and the times in the podcast where they occurred if you wish to just jump to a particular section and listen to that:

• We introduced ourselves, our blog and our individual top three favorite movies of all-time (runs from the start of the podcast to the 10:45 mark)

• Discussed this week's new DVD/Blu-Ray releases: Prometheus, Rock of Ages, Little Shop of Horrors and The Raven (starts at 11:30 mark and ends at the 16:04 mark)

• Discussed this week's new theatrical releases: Here Comes The Boom, Sinister, Seven Psychopaths and a great discussion on Argo (starts at the 16:04 mark and ends at the 36:35 mark)

• In honor of both Argo and our later discussion of Woody Allen's 2005 film Match Point, all five of us gave our respective Top Three Favorite Directors Who Act In Their Own Movies, where I manage to instigate an interesting discussion on Ben Stiller and Tropic Thunder and Sarah surprises everyone with her top pick (starts at the 35:36 mark and ends at the 1:03:30 mark)

• Each week they watch and discuss one older movie (based on who won the prior week's podcast game) and this episode's was Woody Allen's Match Point (starts at the 1:03:30 mark and ends at the 1:26:30 mark)

• And we finished up with a fun trivia game where you can hear us all try to do a Christopher Walken impression (starts at 1:26:30 mark and ends the podcast - trust us, you'll want to listen to this part)

Sarah and I had an absolute BLAST recording this with the guys and they claim it was their best episode yet. Who are we to disagree?!

So please take some time if you could and follow the link below to listen to As You Watch Podcast: Episode VII guest starring us. You won't be disappointed. (Some NSFW language, but only a few words here or there, mainly during the trivia game out of frustration): 

Click Here to Listen to Two Tickets For... Guest Star on As You Watch Podcast

P.S. I will be seeing an advance showing of Sinister tonight without Sarah, so be on the lookout for my review of that tomorrow!

Sarah & Andrew's Top Ten Lists for 2012 So Far! (October Update)

Andrew: Hello readers! So 2012 is juuuuust over three-quarters of the way over and so Sarah and I thought it would be a perfect time for us to update our individual Top Ten lists of the year! As you may recall from our Top Ten list we made at the beginning of July that covered the first half of the year (which you can find HERE), we had some similarities between our two lists but also some noticeable differences. Well this time we’ve seen 27 movies since that first list and so there are some notable names added to our new lists that have caused others to fall out.

Again, the only criteria for our lists are: they have to be films we've actually seen and reviewed and they had to be films that were first released in theatres for public consumption in the United States in the year 2012. So with that said, check out our respective lists and let us know what you think!

SARAH'S TOP TEN LIST OF 2012 (SO FAR!)

1.) The Avengers: This is still (in my opinion) the best movie of the year. It was just so fun and was everything a superhero movie should have been. The action paired with a phenomenal cast shot this movie to #1 for many weeks in a row. This was such a fun movie to go to and it fed into the other Marvel movies so seamlessly. (Read our 5/5 review)

2.) The Dark Knight Rises: The final installment in Nolan's Batman series was epic and left us wanting more! I loved Bane, even though I could have stood to have seen a little more of him. This movie makes me really wish that in two years we would be seeing a fourth Batman movie starring Bale! Alas, it is not to be… (Read Sarah's 4.5/5 review)

3.) Prometheus: This just still goes back to my love of the Alien movies and getting a little more of that back-story was exciting! While it was not exactly a "prequel" it was still so cool and had a great cast that really brought the world that Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley would later inhabit to life. (Read our 4.5/5 review)

Take Your Hard-Earned Money and See A Different Movie This Weekend: Our Review of "Taken 2" (2012)

Directed By: Olivier Megaton (Columbiana) 

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen

Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some sensuality

Run Time: 1 hour, 31 minutes

Synopsis: Some time after Bryan Mills (Neeson) saved his daughter Kim (Grace) from being kidnapped in Paris by a sex slave operation and all seems well, he invites them to vacation with him in Turkey after his finishes a bodyguard job. What he doesn’t plan on is family members of the Albanian gangsters he killed in the first movie coming after him to exact revenge for his actions.

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! Last night Sarah and I braved the middle and high schoolers that congregate at the local multiplex on Friday nights (shouldn’t there be high school football going on???) to see this weekend’s new action film Taken 2. The sequel to 2008’s surprise Taken, it sees the return of Liam Neeson to his role as ex-CIA operative Bryan Mills. This time instead of his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), being kidnapped it is he and his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) who are kidnapped and Kim has to help save them.

So this was one I think we were both kind of looking forward to mainly because Taken is plain awesome and I guess it was an assumption that a sequel made by essentially the same crew as the first one would be just as badass.

Sarah: Well the first one was surprisingly scary, too, because Kim is taken in Paris which is not usually considered a dangerous city. I mean, every city has it’s dangerous parts, but she’s abducted and sold into sex slavery. That’s terrifying!

Taken 2, however, is a pure revenge movie where the father of one of the Albanian’s Bryan killed wants to kidnap him and his family and bring him back to Albania for justice.

Let’s do this a little bit differently and I’m going to let you start by telling me what YOU thought of this one.

A: To be quite honest, I wasn’t impressed. I really wanted to like it because I love the first one and I assumed this one would just be mindless fun. And at times it is, but for the most part it’s actually quite tedious because there are very slight variances between this one and the original, but not enough actual excitement or originality to make me enjoy it. Honestly I was bored a lot of the time we were watching this.

Yeah, Liam Neeson is still pretty badass as Bryan Mills. Too bad he doesn't do too many cool things like this in Taken 2.

Our Preview of This Week's New Releases (for Friday, October 5th)

Andrew: Hello readers! It's time again for a preview of this week's new theatrical releases! This week we don't have a large number of wide releases with only Taken 2, the sequel to the 2008 surprise hit action film Taken, and Tim Burton's new animated movie, Frankenweenie, which is coming out in time for Halloween.

There are some limited release films coming out as well such as Butter, The Paperboy and V/H/S but none of those are hitting our neck of the woods. That said, another limited release film that is increasing to more screens this weekend in The Perks of Being a Wallflower and you can read our five-clapboard review of that right here.

So Sarah, with only a couple of films to talk about, let's get down to it and talk intimately about Taken 2. Directed by Olivier Megaton, who directed last year’s fun Zoe Saldana action flick Columbiana and the third entry in the Jason Statham Transporter series, Taken 2 sees the return of Liam Neeson to the role of ex-CIA operative Bryan Mills.

If anyone's been living under a rock the last few years, in the original film Mills' daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), is kidnapped while on vacation in Paris by an Albanian sex trade ring and Mills goes on a rampage through Paris to get here back. In a word, it's awesome.

Sarah, all I'm looking for with this sequel is that it's just a badass. I'm expecting a pretty similar story but if the action is on par with the original, I'll be a happy man. It's written by Luc Besson, the somewhat legendary French filmmaker/writer who wrote the first one, so hopefully it'll be good.

The Full-Length Version of Adele's "Skyfall" Theme Is Here!

Andrew: Hello readers! The other day a snippet of the theme song Adele is singing for this fall's new James Bond movie, Skyfall, was leaked on the internet and we posted it here on our blog. After a day or so though, the media player with the snippet was taken down and we promised to repost it once it was up and working again.

Well something better is here and it's the full-length version of the song complete with a lyric music video! Gotta say, it sounds even better than the snippet promised and it makes us ever MORE excited for Skyfall (which looks like it's going to be amazing).

Check out the song below and let us know what you think!



Skyfall, Daniel Craig's third go-round as 007, hits IMAX theatres in the United Kingdom on Friday, October 26th, debuts in the US on Thursday, November 8th and goes wide on Friday, November 9th.


Source: The Film Stage

Check Out The Teaser Trailer for Die Hard 5!

Andrew: Hello readers! Busy day for us here at Two Tickets For...! First we just posted our review of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and now we have a new trailer to share and boy does it look like fun.

First of all, did you even know they were making a Die Hard 5? We can't blame you if you didn't, but we think you'll be pleasantly surprised to check out the first teaser trailer for the new John McClane movie whose actual titled is A Good Day to Die Hard. It's the first time we see our favorite cop-in-the-wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time leave the United States, as this time he's fighting generic looking bad guys in Russia.

But you know what? I'm loving the use of "Ode to Joy" that goes along with the explosions. Count me in! Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think!

A Good Day to Die Hard is slated for release on February 14, 2013, and is directed by John Moore, who also directed the underrated Behind Enemy Lines.,


Courtesy: Yahoo! Movies

The Perk of Directing Your Own Novel's Movie - Casting Your Own Characters: Our Review of "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" (2012)

Directed By: Stephen Chbosky 

Starring: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Paul Rudd

Rating: PG-13 on appeal for mature thematic material, drug and alcohol use, sexual content including references, and a fight – all involving teens

Run Time: 1 hour, 43 minutes

Synopsis: Based on the novel of the same name, Charlie (Lerman) is a teenager just starting high school who is trying to cope with the suicide of his best friend and his own mental problems. When he struggles to find new friends in school, a pair of seniors (Watson and Miller) take him under their wings and introduce him to their group of friends.

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! Last night Sarah and I were able to catch a free screening of the new film adaptation of the hit novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, directed by Stephen Chbosky, who also wrote the novel that came out in 1999. It stars Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief) as Charlie, a freshman just starting high school who narrates his story through writing letters to a nameless friend; Ezra Miller (We Need To Talk About Kevin) as Patrick, a gay senior who befriends Charlie; and Emma Watson in her second post-Harry Potter role as Sam, Patrick’s best friend and step-sister who also takes Charlie under her wing.

So Sarah, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of our best friend’s absolute favorite book and was very excited about this coming out, and in turn continually told us we would like the book. We didn’t get a chance to read the book before we saw this (sorry Eileen!), but now that we’ve seen the film adaptation, what did you think?

Sarah: I really, really liked it! I did not know that the author of the book was also the director of the movie, so now that I know that I feel more confident that this is the best adaptation from book to screen that you could get.

I absolutely loved this movie. I thought it had such heart but at the same time had a sort of dark undertone that I think will surprise the audience a bit.

A: Especially if they’re unfamiliar with the source material.

S: Yes, especially if they’re unfamiliar with the story. I thought it was going to go in one direction and it ended going in another one, which pleasantly surprised me because I’m not often surprised by movies anymore.

What did you think?