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?
Sarah: I am really excited for this
one! I think that it looks amazing and I love that it's based on a true story.
It looks like it will have some intense moments that will make you extremely
nervous for the actual people the characters are based on. I have
been diligent NOT to read up too much on what happened to the agents,
because I really would like to be surprised for this one! While I am typically
not a huge Affleck fan, I too have heard great things about his directing job
here. And the rest of the cast is killer so I don't know how they could really
go wrong.
Official Trailer for Argo
A: Good call on the great looking cast,
let's talk about that for a sec. Along with Affleck in the lead role of
real-life CIA agent Tony Mendez, we also have Bryan Cranston (TV’s Breaking
Bad) as his CIA boss, Jack O'Donnell, who greenlights the mission; Alan
Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) as Lester Siegel, a Hollywood producer
who teams with Affleck to add cache to the mission; John Goodman (Trouble
With The Curve) as real-life makeup-effects artist John Chambers, who
also teams with Mendez; Victor Garber (Legally Blonde) as Canadian
ambassador Ken Taylor, who takes in the Americans and helps with their
extraction; and then a few of the notable actors who play the Americans being
extracted include Tate Donovan (Hercules), Clea DuVall (The
Faculty) and Christopher Denham (Sound of My Voice).
That's a large, impressive cast and I’m leaving out some
other notable names, too.
S: It's a incredibly impressive cast! I
love John Goodman and Bryan Cranston, so I am excited to see them in this. I
saw Arkin and Goodman on Good Morning America and they were
so funny going back and forth in real life so I can't wait to see how they
bring that comedy to the big screen.
I will be interested to get a little more insight on how
good the performances are by the actors playing the refugees. I have seen each
of those actors in like one other thing, but other than that I haven’t seen
much of them.
A: Agreed, I really liked Christopher
Denham's performance in Sound of My Voice and I feel like
one of the most important scenes in the film will be the one you see in the
trailer where Mendez is trying to convince the refugees of the plan. This movie
is getting tons of Oscar buzz for all sorts of things, like Arkin and Goodman
for Supporting Actor; Affleck for Director, Actor, Screenplay; and of course
Best Picture. Should be a good one.
Ok, let's move on to the more family friendly fare coming
out tomorrow, the Kevin James comedy Here Comes The Boom. James plays a science
teacher whose school is about to cut funding for the music program, so he
decides to become a mixed-martial arts fighter to raise the money to save the
program. Pretty simple idea even if it is a bit preposterous like the trailer
looks. Thoughts?
S: I am so mad about this one. It looks
like a complete rip-off of Warrior! I like Kevin James and find
him funny in things like The King of Queens and Hitch,
but lately, he has been doing some really baaaad stuff. I just don't understand
it. Here
Comes The Boom looks cheesy and predictable. I just wish I knew how
these directors and producers get all these big names to be in their
films!
Official Trailer for Here Comes The Boom
A: Well remember from our discussion
about this movie on the As You Watch podcast that Here Comes The Boom is a
Happy Madison Productions film and Kevin James and Henry Winkler are two of
Adam Sandler's boys, and Salma Hayek co-starred as Sandler's character's wife
in Grown
Ups, so there's that connection, too.
But I agree with you on being upset
about the content matter of this film - mainly because I'm expecting it to kill
at the box office while looking like it's not very good, while Warrior
only made $23 million at the box office ($2 million less than its budget!), and
was our absolute favorite movie of 2011.
Now I will give the movie this - I just did some research
(read: looked it up on Wikipedia) and found out that Kevin James is good
friends with the MMA fighter Bas Rutten, who not so coincidentally also stars
in Here
Comes The Boom, and James actually trains with him so it's not like he
isn't familiar with the subject matter. (I should hope he knows it, he's one of
the screenwriters, too.) So at least it sounds like the movie won't just be
pulling stuff out of thin air, or that James isn't cut out for the role.
S: I guess I can give it that. He does
look healthier in this movie than he has in a while so that's good for him. I
just am not impressed with this one. Oh well, you're right, it will make a ton
of money and will be a huge hit with the kids. Crap movies that get put out and
make a ton of money are such a joke in the movie world. But I guess you have to
appease all audiences.
A: Ok, so on to our third movie of the
week which is decidedly NOT kiddy fare, and that's the second feature-length
film from director Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths. His first
full-length film (which he also wrote) was the great, dark comedy/drama In
Bruges that starred Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as a pair of
hitmen sent to cool their heels in Bruges by their boss, played by Ralph
Fiennes. It's a fantastic movie that I highly suggest everyone see.
McDonagh directed and wrote Seven
Psychopaths as well and by all accounts it's even better than his first
(at the time we're writing this preview it holds a 95% fresh rating on Rotten
Tomatoes after 54 reviews). It also stars Colin Farrell, this time as a
screenwriter named Marty (a not so subtle film version of McDonagh himself) who
comes up with a great name for a movie, "Seven Psychopaths." But
that's all he can think of, until his best friend Billy, a criminal played by
Sam Rockwell, and Billy's partner in crime Hans (Christopher Walken) kidnap a
dog belonging to a gangster played by Woody Harrelson - all of which throws
Marty into a crazy situation that could help him write his movie.
Official Trailer for Seven Psychopaths
From what I've read so far about the movie, Sarah, it
sounds like a very meta, hilarious comedy with plenty of winks and nods that
don't hamper the movie but instead play to the strengths of the entire cast. I
really want to see this one.
S: I am excited to see this movie
simply for the cast. This is another amazing cast that brings action and comedy
together in a way that should be incredibly
impressive. I can't quite get a good understanding of what the storyline is so
far, but at the same time I don't really want to know. I have been on this kick
lately where I want to be surprised at the movies again.
Since I haven't seen In Bruges, I don't know the
director's style and that adds a whole new element of surprise. This movie will
do very well in the box office this weekend based on the cast alone so we will
be seeing this one.
A: I hope it does well at the box
office, but I fear that the casual crowd will flock to Here Comes The Boom and Argo
(which it should for the latter).
Last but not least, because it's
October and Halloween is quickly approaching, we get a new horror movie coming
out this weekend called Sinister, starring Ethan Hawke and produced
by the team that brought us the Paranormal Activity films and Insidious.
Normaly I’d try to explain the
premise here, but it's probably easier for anyone unfamiliar with the premise
of the film to watch the trailer below, and if you have not done so and would
like do, dear reader, you can click on the link below the trailer to read my
review of Sinister as well. I explain the synopsis there, too, if you don’t
want to watch the trailer.
Official Trailer for Sinister
(Click here to read Andrew's review of Sinister)
Ok, so that will wrap things up for
us this week! Sarah, I think it's safe to assume that we'll be seeing Argo
at some point this weekend, and if possible we'll try to fit Seven
Psychopaths in there, too. Here Comes The Boom.....maybe if we
can see it for free, otherwise it might not be until DVD that we catch it.
S: Yes! So readers, be on the lookout
for possible reviews of those movies this weekend and Andrew wants to write a
new What Would Two Tickets For… Do? column tomorrow about casting Mary Jane and
Harry Osborne in the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man. So we’ll probably write
that tomorrow!
A: Correct! So look out for that, and
as always, thanks for reading!
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