By Chris Kavan - 10/07/15 at 02:05 PM CT
I asked for more and boy, have I been rewarded. A huge update this week featuring a whole slew of upcoming films - including DC's flagship film to compete with Marvel's cinematic universe, Dawn of Justice. Beyond that we have a potential Oscar nominee, horror, comedy, politics and animation. Quite the haul and quite the diverse lineup - if you are a fan of movies at all, there's sure to be something here to pique your interest.
By far the biggest film on this list has to be Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Warner Bros. is big chance in hoping this film will be their launch point to their own cinematic universe revolving around the Justice League. While Marvel and The Avengers tends to play things fast and loose (and throw in a big of levity) it looks like Dawn of Justice is going the route of gritty tension - much like The Dark Knight and Man of Steel. Sure, it's going to be different, but I'm not sold on whether it's going to be on par with Disney's monster team. I know I'll still watch it but we have a bit of wait until we find out if this series is going to break new ground or simply break down. The film earns a PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action throughout, and some sensuality.
For a film that is sure to please critics, arthouse crowds and probably Oscar voters, we have The Danish Girl. Fresh off his Oscar win for The Theory of Everything, Eddie Redmayne is gaining a lot of attention in this film playing artist Einar Wegener - who, after his wife, Gerda Wegener, portrays him as a woman in one of her paintings, finds himself identifying more and more as a female until she emerges as Lili Elbe, the first person to attempt male-to-female sex reassignment. The red-hot Alicia Vikander plays Wegener while Amber Heard, Matthias Schoenaerts and Ben Whishaw round out the cast. Transgender roles and issues are front-and-center right now, so The Danish Girl couldn't be released at a better time. I expect this to be up for awards and Redmayne has a better-than-average chance of repeating his Oscar win. The film gets an R for some sexuality and full nudity.
I'm going to go all out here and highlight not one, but two comedies shortly hitting theaters. Up first is the political-themed Our Brand is Crisis. Featuring an all-star cast including Sandra Bullock, Zoe Kazan, Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie, Scoot McNairy and Joaquim de Almeida, the film centers around a group of spin-masters who help a South American win his election even as his country threatens to fall apart around him. It looks interesting but more in a streaming kind of way. The film gets an R for language including some sexual references. The second comedy is Bill Murray's Rock the Kasbah..Barry Levinson directs the film about a music manager at the end of his rope who find a diamond in the rough while finding talent for Afghan Star - if the local laws and customs don't wind up getting him killed. Fish-out-of-water combined with music? As long as they don't get too wrapped up in stereotypes and tropes. We'll see, but besides Murray the cast looks good - Zooey Deschanel, Bruce Willis, Danny McBride, Kate Hudson, Scott Caan and Taylor Kinney. The film is rated R for language including sexual references, some drug use and brief violence.
Going from comedy to horror, we have the latest in the long-in-the-tooth found-footage franchise Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension. Let's face it, the genre has pretty much run its course and the franchise should have ended like three movies ago. However, the series has one thing going for it: cost. As in, the films don't cost much and making a profit is pretty easy. That being said, I have a feeling this may (finally?) be the final entry, but, who knows, they may stretch this whole demon/cult thing out for another five movies or whatever. It's coming out right before Halloween, so at least they have the timing down. No surprise here - rated R for language and some horror violence.
Finally a family-friendly title and another movie that looks to buck the "bad video game adaptation" trend. The animated Ratchet and Clank won't drop until April of next year, but if the movie can capture the humor and quirky characters (and those crazy weapons), I don't see why it wouldn't be at least a moderate hit. Besides the top-notch vocal talent that has worked on the games, the movie also has some big names - Sylvester Stallone, Rosario Dawson, Paul Giamatti, John Goodman and Bella Thorne joining the fun. With this, Uncharted and World of Warcraft all on the near horizon, one can hope the stigma of video games on the big screen will finally be washed away... hopefully. The film earns a PG for action and some rude humor (the best kind, right?).
A lot to look forward to for sure - here is the full ratings bulletin:
BATMAN: BAD BLOOD
Rated PG-13 for violence throughout and some suggestive content.
BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action throughout, and some sensuality.
BLOOD FATHER
Rated R for strong violence, language throughout and brief drug use.
THE DANISH GIRL
Rated R for some sexuality and full nudity.
THE HATCHING
Rated R for horror violence, gore, language, drug use and brief sexuality.
AN OPEN SECRET
A cut version is rated PG-13 for disturbing thematic content involving child sexual abuse and its ramifications.
The uncut Version is now unrated after the previous R Rating, for some descriptions of sexual abuse, was surrendered.
OUR BRAND IS CRISIS
Rated R for language including some sexual references.
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION
Rated R for language and some horror violence.
RATCHET AND CLANK
Rated PG for action and some rude humor.
ROCK THE KASBAH
Rated R for language including sexual references, some drug use and brief violence.
THE SOUND AND THE SHADOW
Rated R for language.
TALES OF HALLOWEEN
Rated R for strong bloody horror violence throughout, language and brief drug use.
TERMINUS
Rated R for violence and language including a sexual reference.
ZULU
Rated R for strong violence, grisly images, language, sexuality/nudity and drug content.
