In Case You Missed It: News of the Week 3.7.15

avengers-marathonOn Demand

HBO GO Expiring – 3/15/15: Here Are 5 To Catch Before It’s Too Late

Tanks, Diaries, Fire, Cons & Secrets: 5 New Movies on Netflix

Buzzard04In Theaters

10 years Later… ‘WTC View’ is being released on iTunes. Liz interviews Director Brian Sloan and star Michael Urie

3 Movies For the Price of 1: The Animal Trilogy: ‘Buzzard,’ ‘Ape,’ ‘Coyote’ at BAM

Want to Attend Marvel’s ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ Premiere with Robert Downey Jr?

product-1184x665-YOS-0107aTV News

Orphan Black Season Three Trailer is Here!

Community Season 6 Trailer is Here and It’s Spectacular

Are The Expendables Headed to TV?

NBC Releases Summer Premiere Dates Including Hannibal!

Jada Pinkett Smith Not Returning for Season 2 of ‘Gotham’

avengerstrip-125471Movie News

The Ultimate Marvel Marathon is Coming to Theaters!

Jeremy Renner and Amy Adams to Star in Sci-Fi Film ‘Story of Your Life’

‘Imitation Game’ Producer Takes on Roger Clemon’s Biopic ‘The Rocket’

Rumor: Drew Goddard Writing and Directing New Spider-Man Movie

First Look at Oliver Stone’s ‘Snowden’

Walt Disney Animation Studios Reveals ‘Zootopia’ Concept Art

dabs_myla-MA_logo_painting-14248148862015 MTV Movie Awards Nominations Announced

Saturn Awards Nominations Have Been Announced!

‘Independence Day 2′ Finds It’s Lead and Adds A Familiar Face!

RIP Albert Maysles

Disney’s Upcoming ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Adaptation Has Found its Beast..and Gaston!

‘Wolverine 3′ Will Shoot Early Next Year

‘Toy Story 4′ Won’t Continue Story from ‘Toy Story 3′, says Pixar president

Indy Film Fest Fave ‘Ben’s at Home’ is Getting a Web Series…Hell Yes

Our First Look at Jared Leto’s Transformation into The Joker!

Furious7onelastposterbigTrailers & New Clips

The New Trailer for ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ is Here! Oh..and Our First Look at Vision!

The International Trailer for ‘Dark Places’ Starring Charlize Theron has Arrived!

Extended First Look at ‘Furious 7′ Has Been Released!

Potential Description of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Teaser Trailer 2!

1251623 - ChappieReviews & Interviews

Michael’s Review: ‘Chappie’- This Robot Story Doesn’t Compute

Jeremy’s Review: Riley Stearns’ ‘Faults’ Gives a Killer Twist on Cult Life

What the hell is ‘BUZZARD’?! It’s only the best thing ever – Liz chats with Writer/Director Joel Potrykus

Post-Oscar Rants & Raves on The Reel Big Show

Liz’s Review: ‘X/Y’ and why we’re not all fine.

Liz’s Review: ‘OCTOBER GALE’ is a quiet storm

Michael’s Review: ‘Chappie’- This Robot Story Doesn’t Compute

Chappie

South African-born filmmaker Neill Blomkamp returns for his third science fiction film in the last 6 years, Chappie, a film about a a robot who becomes the first of his kind with the ability to think and feel for himself. Like all of Blomkamp’s films, class warfare takes center stage as an underdog must rise up to fight against the high tech authoritative establishment. While with good intentions and a strong cast to support the story, Chappie is a film that starts off with a huge amount of potential, but ultimately succumbs to it’s shortcomings. A film caught in an identity crisis somewhere between Short Circuit and Robocop.

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The year is 2016, and Johannesburg’s crime has reached an apocalyptic level. The police have enlisted the help of robotics company Tetravaal and their latest creation, a robotic police forces, to help decrease the need for police activity across the city. A young scientist, Deon (Dev Patel), the chief engineer behind the creation of these robots, has his sights set on the next level of his creation, a machine with the ability to think and feel on its own. Company CEO Michelle Bradley (Sigourney Weaver) doesn’t share Deon’s enthusiasm about the next evolution of their prized technology and denies Deon’s request for more research. Former soldier and current Tetravaal engineer, Vincent (Hugh Jackman), has also created his own police robot, the “Moose”, a robot which looks eerily similar to the ED-209 from the 1987 Robocop film. Seeing Deon’s creation as a threat, Vincent aims to make the young scientists A.I appear inferior to his creation at all costs. 

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Deon decides to continue his research, without consent, and steals a decommissioned robot for further evaluation. Local criminals Ninja and Yo-Landi (played by Ninja and Yo-Landi Visser of the South African rap group Die Antwoord), along with Yankie (Jose Pablo Cantillo), manage to kidnap Deon in order to steal his access to control the robots. After realizing that Deon is in possession of a robot, the trio demand that he program the machine to do their bidding. Seeing this as an opportunity to test out his new self learning program, Deon agrees and Chappie is born. Deon, excited about the possibilities, demands to continue his work on the newly born robot but Ninja has other ideas and schemes to use the robot to pull off a major heist.

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As Chappie begins to learn, he is presented with two very different teachers in Deon and Ninja. One is educated scientist with aspirations of turning Chappie into a shining representation of what A.I could evolve in to, and one is a street raised, gangster thug with goals of wealth and power. But it is the caring voice of Yo-Landi that mesmerizes Chappie. The young woman becomes a surrogate mother to the robot and tries to help him learn and understand what it’s like to be loved, but Ninja’s influence becomes dominant and Chappie must chose between what’s right and what’s wrong. Convinced that Deon is up to something, Vincent sets out to find the answers. When he finds out what Deon has created, he sets out on a path to destroy the legacy of the young scientist and expose Chappie as a threat to society.

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Blomkamp has created a thought-provoking, yet entertaining, action film with effective visuals that has all the makings of a blockbuster success if it weren’t for it’s shortcomings. The story starts strong, but loses it’s charm somewhere around the halfway mark of the film. The transformation of Chappie from newborn robot to confused Robothug is, at times, cringeworthy. The vocal work of Blomkamp veteran Sharlto Copley loses it’s appeal after a while and the portrayal of the titular character becomes little more than a Ali-G type portrayal of a young street kid. Hugh Jackman is equally as ineffective as the films antagonist. There are glimpses in the film that the character of Vincent might offer some juicy confrontations, but the chemistry between Jackman and costar Dev Patel is nonexistent. Patel plays a similar character to his “Neil” on HBO’s Newsroom and never seems to find a way to flush out his character. The interaction between Patel and Copley’s Chappie is close to what you expect from a creator to his creation, but the two are left with few opportunities in first half of the film to gain any momentum. 

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Ninja and Yo-Landi Visser are actually serviceable as street hardened versions of their real life selves. The caring nature from which Visser creates her character is a nice touch while Ninja depicts a loathsome, street thug with precision. Jose Pablo Cantillo has a few chances to achieve a noteworthy performance but ultimately the actor is merely there to support Ninja and Visser. The biggest let down for me is the under use of Sigourney Weaver, whose character was prime for a super villain type reveal, but Blomkamp opts for a more sterile type of performance.

Overall, Chappie will not win many audiences over this weekend and will surely disappoint fans of Blomkamp’s District 9. While not as disappointing as Elysium, this film will leave you wanting so much more from a director who has proven he has so much to give.

Stars:

2 1/2 out of 5

 

Trailer:

Trailer Time! Kevin Costner in ‘McFarland’ – Jamie Foxx in ‘Annie’ & Robots in ‘Chappie’

McFarland poster

Inspired by the 1987 true story, “McFarland, USA” follows novice runners from McFarland, an economically challenged town in California, as they give their all to build a cross-country team under the direction of Coach Jim White (Kevin Costner), a newcomer to their predominantly Latino high school, with whom they ultimately bond to build not only a championship cross-country team but an enduring legacy as well.

MCFARLAND, USA opens in theaters February 20, 2015!

Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Morgan Saylor, Martha Higareda, Michael Aguero, Sergio Avelar, Hector Duran, Rafael Martinez, Johnny Ortiz, Carlos Pratts, Ramiro Rodriguez, Danny Mora, Valente Rodriguez, Vanessa Martinez, Chris Ellis

Follow MCFARLAND, USA on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mcfarlandusa
Follow Disney Pictures on Twitter: https://twitter.com/disneypictures
Tweet the Hashtag: #McFarlandUSA


 

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A Broadway classic that has delighted audiences for generations comes to the big screen with a new, contemporary vision in Columbia Pictures’ comedy Annie. Director/Producer/Screenwriter Will Gluck teams with producers James Lassiter, Jada Pinkett Smith & Will Smith, Caleeb Pinkett, and Shawn “JAY Z” Carter, Laurence “Jay” Brown, and Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith with a modern telling that captures the magic of the classic characters and original show that won seven Tony Awards. Celia Costas and Alicia Emmrich serve as Executive Producers. The screenplay is by Will Gluck and Aline Brosh McKenna, based on the musical stage play “Annie,” book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and on “Little Orphan Annie,” © and ® Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

In Theaters December 19th

Academy Award® nominee Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) stars as Annie, a young, happy foster kid who’s also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they’d be back for her someday, it’s been a hard knock life ever since with her mean foster mom Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz). But everything’s about to change when the hard-nosed tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx) – advised by his brilliant VP, Grace (Rose Byrne) and his shrewd and scheming campaign advisor, Guy (Bobby Cannavale) – makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in. Stacks believes he’s her guardian angel, but Annie’s self-assured nature and bright, sun-will-come-out-tomorrow outlook on life just might mean it’s the other way around.


Chappie poster

Every child comes into the world full of promise, and none more so than Chappie: he is gifted, special, a prodigy.

In Theaters March 6, 2015

Like any child, Chappie will come under the influence of his surroundings — some good, some bad — and he will rely on his heart and soul to find his way in the world and become his own man.

But there’s one thing that makes Chappie different from anyone else: he is a robot. The first robot with the ability to think and feel for himself. His life, his story, will change the way the world looks at robots and humans forever.

www.facebook.com/ChappieMovie
www.twitter.com/ChappieTheMovie
www.instagram.com/ChappieMovie