Summer Won't Be Easy for Wimpy Kid

While not a fan of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid films, I remember seeing the last two and giving them a pass due to not having a lot of negative things to bring up about the film. I do, however, have to bring bad news: I'm not feeling this trailer. I take it back. The only character I'm looking forward to seeing again is Patty. No, actually I do have one negative: the insertion of Holly. The character just makes me think of the young, shallow, stereotypical blond girls most people have seen recently and in years past. She's too much of the early version of Lila from Hey Arnold when I know good and well there's more to the character than what's on screen. If you watch Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, you'll be annoyed by the character as well. As for the rest of the cast, I think they're fine with what they're doing in their lives. I can't say the same of Holly and Chirag's actors who have, and continue to be given, bad material within Disney Channel's Jessie. Zachery Gordon's too old to return to the franchise since I've thought that, to this point, it's been about a year/year and a half since the first film. Never would I have known that his voice would have gone deep between the films. If that's the case, there could be a replacement coming down the pipes. As for the rest of the cast, perhaps they'll surprise me come August. For this to be released after the heavy hitters of the Summer giving this season a run for its money, Wimpy Kid: Dog Days will have an audience provided the kids aren't seeing The Dark Knight Rises, Brave, and The Avengers, to name a few, with their folks. Fox, you might have pulled a terrible move for the film to be released before the kids return to school. In fact, besides seeing those mentioned movies, kids will probably be on vacation with their families, getting school clothes, and saying their good-byes to their mates at camp. So many factors can result in this film making less money as the other two films, but it might do better than Judy Moody.

 Trailer #1 can be seen here.

21 Jump Street (2012) Film Review

Want to see the 21 Jump Street film review?

Check it out through here: 

http://www.tumblr.com/blog/moviedmania25

You'll find not just that, but other film reviews from the past and random findings within The Grand World of Tumblr. what are you waiting for? Check it out now!

'The Lorax' Preview

This post was written originally on March 02, 2012, but here it is now for your viewing pleasure.

“I’m not one to go commercial very easily. I like my little creatures kept in their little circle.”

Words spoken by the widow of the great Dr. Seuss a.k.a. Theodor Geisel in last Friday’s USA Today may not be what Hollywood execs want to hear if they begin to ask if they can make celebrities out of Yurtle the Turtle or Daisy-Head Mayzie. If she feels that the cherished tales written by her husband were sabotaged throughout the years past their animated incarnations starting from the year 2000, there’s a possibility that can be the truth. While youngsters will enjoy Ron Howard’s take on ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’, those men and women who saw the film, whether it was the first time hearing about the character, is on the verge of beginning to read Dr. Seuss’ books, or seen the Chuck Jones cartoon, memories of the film being a bit raunchy for its audience might be what they can remember. Never mind the bits about him wanting to steal the holidays away from the people of Who-ville. Wanting the entire town to kiss his butt cheeks with mistletoe placed above it burns within the mind even for today. Never mind about the unfunny ‘The Cat in the Hat’ and skip over to ‘Horton Hears a Who’. The latter actually manages to avoid being set in live-action and is remodeled to fit within that where CGI roams free giving plenty of opportunities to make the characters a bit more silly to get the audience in chuckles. The film, however, has its flaws especially when the lone Who, Jojo (voiced by Jesse McCartney), helps the town, a speck of dust on a flower, from being destroyed. He could have been done without him looking tired as if the character represented the fans of the classic stories for being through the mud of seeing everything held so dear in the audience’s childhoods being torn apart for the sake of major studios wanting money from the sugar filled pancakes from iHop to SUVs being driven within the forest that The Lorax fails to prevent due to the vehicle’s pollution. In 2012, Universal Pictures takes another stab with wanting to stay close to Dr. Seuss’ classic tale about the forest guardian yet the advertising, with the examples stated above, have the fans shaking their heads again in shame.         

The story of ‘The Lorax’, from someone who has never read the book, is about Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) trying to impressing the beautiful but too old for him red-headed environmentalist neighbor Audrey (voiced by Taylor Swift) by going out to see the Once-ler (voiced by Ed Helms) after being told by said neighbor that the world, once upon a time, was filled with real trees rather than the artificial ones operated through the town. The task becomes complicated once the film’s antagonist, and possibly another crooked mayor, Mr. O’Hare (voiced by Rob Riggle) wants to ensure that the plan to repopulating the world of the trees is foiled. Between a villain that would fit right at home with the rivaling bad guys from Illumination’s first film in partnership with Universal, ‘Despicable Me’, the flashbacks about how the Once-ler became who was seen in the trailer, and the “love” story between Ted and Audrey, some fans have asked themselves, “What about The Lorax”? Some fans will see the film as “a bloated mess of a movie stuffed to the gills with all the same boring tropes and cliches we've seen in every other animated movie ever made, bogged down with whichever celebrity voice actors they think will get the biggest box office returns…”[1] Some families might read the book at the local library and save their money. 

The film, so far, has a 63% rating on rottentomatoes.com which doesn’t sound bad but isn’t good news either. It’s doing better than another film opening this weekend, ‘Project X’, but deciding on who’ll win the Box Office this weekend is entirely up to the people. After this film, let’s not speak about another Dr. Seuss adaptation in about another ten years. Go on and continue ruining the legends of vampires, werewolves and zombies. Oh you didn’t know there’s a love story that’s soon to become a full fledged film with a zombie? That’s for another time.

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[1] Warner, J.B. “The Lorax (Pre-Release Talkback)”. http://www.toonzone.net/forums/showthread.php?288024-The-Lorax-%28Pre-Release-Talkback%29. 2012, February 27.

Cheap Tragedy: The Exploitation of 9/11

During this time, we, the people, have gone through many tragedies especially in the first decade of the 21st century. The most popular of them all was 9/11 which has been brought to general audiences in many ways including film. It's been a while since we had one that focused about the events after the terrorist attacks, but the popularity of the event has been beaten into our heads repeatedly including the recent coverage of its 10th anniversary. It has also been used as a cheap method to make us have emotion for certain characters in films. In Remember Me, one of the many Rob Pattinson films that failed to impress audiences in theaters, the set-up as to how the tragedy is used is too long to explain. The result is we're supposed to cry for the loss of Pattinson's character since he also have gone through many losses throughout the film and no longer having to deal with feeling alone or angry when he begins his relationship with a woman who also has been going through some trials of her own. However, using the tragedy to set up his demise was, again, a cheap trick since there is the possibility that the writers could not think of another way for him to go and end the film.

Recently, the trailer and poster for the movie Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close premiering on Christmas Day starring Tom Hanks as a father who also died during this tragedy. According to Spill.com (trailer can be found on Apple.com), his son who has a lot on his plate including his long list of future occupations, is sent on a journey through the city to discover a message left behind his late father that will open up a wider explanation of what goes on in the world.

I wonder why 9/11 continue to be the major selling point to drive the point that, for those who didn't lose any relatives or who didn't die themselves, we made it through this ordeal. Having us to remember it hurts. Some of us wish that the attacks didn't happen. We wish that the day was all a bad dream even though it really happened and will forever be a part of the history books forever. I believe that we should be free from having movies, unless they're documentaries, and other forms of media to repeatedly remind us to Remember 9/11. We also wish that this should happen every time we hear about the signs of times leading to the End of the World. If next year doesn't turn out to be like Roland Emmerich's fantasy or what we've seen so far with a zombie apocalypse in Zombieland and The Walking Dead, it goes to show that Hollywood, book companies, and record labels will continue to make bank from our worry and pain.

'The Dark Knight Rises with Holmes in Tow'

Here it is ladies and gents, the teaser poster for The Dark Knight Rises. While the poster looks legit, keep in mind that the images can change. If the final product is released in theaters later this year, it will be proof that this photo's not a lie.

Check out the official teaser trailer this Friday with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II this Friday in theaters in 2D, Real D 3D, and IMAX 3D.

Source: http://bit.ly/p6CKQq

Also discovered yesterday, two teaser posters for the latest film from director Guy Ritchie: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows opening in theaters December 16th, 2011.

Source: http://yhoo.it/nSoWzM