Month: March 2013

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The Croods

Posted on by skulkaew

The Croods is a prehistoric animated comedy-adventure that follows the Crood family, led by their patriarch Grug (Nicolas Cage). While his neighbors have succumbed to the perils of their time, Grug has kept his family safe by living in a state of constant fear, sticking to simple mantras etched into their cave walls. His credo is: “Fear keeps us alive. Never not be afraid.”

But despite the writing on the wall, their world is literally crumbling down around them when tectonic plates shift, and the family become homeless. Amid thick vegetation and new predators, they meet Guy (Ryan Reynolds) who warns of imminent destruction that propels our protagonists on a quest towards higher grounds, which may prove difficult given that the Croods aren’t used to being so vulnerable.

Christy Lemire of the Associated Press writes, “The animated adventure features a strong, star-studded cast and dazzles visually in wondrously colorful, vibrant 3-D. Brisk and beautiful, much of the lush landscape and vivid details propel these stronger segments.” HSX is predicting that The Croods opens at around $42.5M; FilmGo is anticipating upwards towards $47.5M.

The Croods

Rating: PG // Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy // Runtime: 1 hr. 38 min. // Starring: Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone // Directed by: Kirk De Micco, Chris Sanders // Written by: Kirk De Micco, Chris Sanders // Produced by: DreamWorks Animation // Distributed by: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

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The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

Posted on by skulkaew

Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carell) and Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) are a successful pair of old-school magicians who have been performing magic tricks together since they first teamed up as kids to entertain their classmates and have subsequently ruled the Las Vegas Strip, raking in a fortune with illusions as big as Burt’s growing ego. Their greatest deception, however, is their public friendship as the two have secretly grown to loathe one another. The straw that critically injures the figurative camel comes when Anton is, literally, critically injured by Burt during one of their performances, resulting in the two parting ways.

It’s only when Burt is overshadowed by a popular street-magician named Steve Gray (Jim Carrey), whose cult-following surges with each outrageous stunt (e.g., not blinking and/or urinating for days on end), that he must convince Anton to return to the act, so he can salvage his title – as well as their friendship – and get back in touch with what made him love magic in the first place.

Shaun Munro of Whatculture.com writes, “Even if all the beats unfold exactly as you expect, it’s the film’s quirkily unrestrained sense of humor that sees it through, from the cartoonish exaggeration of the characters to the ludicrously overblown nature of the tricks themselves. It’s clear that everyone working on the project is having a lot of fun, and this transpires through to the audience. It’s got a clever undercurrent running through most of the humor, though its foremost concern is to beguile with its off-kilter nature.”

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is opening tonight, Thursday the 14th, with special 10pm screenings. HSX is predicting that the film will earn around $18M in its debut weekend at 3,100+ theaters. For a hilarious gallery of TV spots and stills from the movie, check out the official homepage linked above where you can also “Wonder-fy yourself” by inserting a picture of your face onto any of the Burt Wonderstone posters.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Topper, Bravo Design

Rating: PG-13 // Genre: Comedy // Runtime: 1 hr. 40 min. // Starring: Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin, Jim Carrey // Directed by: Don Scardino // Written by: Chad Kultgen, Tyler Mitchell, Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley // Produced by: New Line Cinema, Benderspink, Carousel Productions // Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures

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Jack the Giant Slayer

Posted on by skulkaew

Based on the folk tale Jack the Giant Killer,  Jack the Giant Slayer is the story of Jack (Nicholas Hoult), a young orphan-farmhand who reignites a war that has spanned centuries between humans and giants over a crown we may or may not have taken from them [we did] and the giants’ subsequent banishment. The only thing is that the giants live somewhere between Earth and heaven, and there isn’t really a way for people to go up or the giants down, so it’s not a war in its most traditional sense.

Enter Jack.

Having been given some magic beans by a monk after selling his horse, he’s explicitly warned not to get them wet. Unfortunately, a single bean gets dropped during a storm, and a giant stalk sprouts in nanoseconds taking Jack’s love interest, Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson) up to the giants’ world. Not only do Jack and Elmont (Ewan McGregor) have to spearhead the rescue expedition whilst protecting Isabelle from plus-sized giants, they have to take on one particularly terrifying two-headed monster, General Fallon (Bill Nighy).

Claudia Puig of USA Today writes, “With deftly etched computer-generated imagery, the film looks like an illustrated storybook come to life. The tale is engaging, running circles around January’s dreadful Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and other recent fairy-tale adaptations.” HSX is predicting that Jack the Giant Slayer earns about $28M in its opening weekend.

Rating: PG-13 // Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy // Runtime: 1 hr. 54 min. // Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Stanley Tucci, Ewan McGregor // Directed by: Bryan Singer // Written by: Darren Lemke, Christopher McQuarrie, Dan Studney, David Dobkin // Produced by: New Line Cinema, Legendary Pictures, Original Film, Big Kid Pictures, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Warner Bros. Pictures // Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures