All the worthwhile movie news from the week.
Fast & Furious 7
Looks like my list of successors needs a few names trimmed from the list. Universal will "retire" Paul Walker's character by tweaking some of his footage already shot, and adding a few new scenes. In a movie about car racing, killing his character off would've probably been a bit too on the nose, re-casting his character would have been tasteless, and re-shooting the movie to completely remove him would have left a huge elephant in the room. "Retiring" is about the only route they could go, and yet it still doesn't seem satisfying.
Read: Paul Walker's Fast & Furious Character to be Retired
Looks like my list of successors needs a few names trimmed from the list. Universal will "retire" Paul Walker's character by tweaking some of his footage already shot, and adding a few new scenes. In a movie about car racing, killing his character off would've probably been a bit too on the nose, re-casting his character would have been tasteless, and re-shooting the movie to completely remove him would have left a huge elephant in the room. "Retiring" is about the only route they could go, and yet it still doesn't seem satisfying.
Read: Paul Walker's Fast & Furious Character to be Retired
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Released on New Year's, there's a bit of new footage from the next Spider-Man movie with the annoying hyphen and adjective in the title (I think Hollywood is trolling me with verbose titles at this point). This clip, complete with an unnecessary, dubbed-in countdown to try to make it seem relevant to New Year's, shows Spider-Man (I might as well run with the hyphen) facing off against Emperor Palpatine - sorry - Electro, played by Jamie Foxx. I'll give Foxx credit for taking whatever roles he pleases - tarnishing the descriptor "Academy Award Winner" be damned! - but this film seems to have abandoned the "practical effects whenever possible" mentality of the first film in favor of some shoddy-looking CGI.
Watch: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Footage
Released on New Year's, there's a bit of new footage from the next Spider-Man movie with the annoying hyphen and adjective in the title (I think Hollywood is trolling me with verbose titles at this point). This clip, complete with an unnecessary, dubbed-in countdown to try to make it seem relevant to New Year's, shows Spider-Man (I might as well run with the hyphen) facing off against Emperor Palpatine - sorry - Electro, played by Jamie Foxx. I'll give Foxx credit for taking whatever roles he pleases - tarnishing the descriptor "Academy Award Winner" be damned! - but this film seems to have abandoned the "practical effects whenever possible" mentality of the first film in favor of some shoddy-looking CGI.
Watch: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Footage
Million Dollar Arm
Based on a true story, a down-on-his-luck sports agent gets the idea to stage a reality show searching for the best cricket players to potentially pitch in the big leagues. It's a Disney movie, so it will definitely tug on a few heartstrings, but is it just my man-crush on Jon Hamm, or does this still look pretty watchable?
Watch: Million Dollar Arm Trailer
Based on a true story, a down-on-his-luck sports agent gets the idea to stage a reality show searching for the best cricket players to potentially pitch in the big leagues. It's a Disney movie, so it will definitely tug on a few heartstrings, but is it just my man-crush on Jon Hamm, or does this still look pretty watchable?
Watch: Million Dollar Arm Trailer
Shia LeBeouf
After admitting to plagiarizing the work of Daniel Clowes for his short film Howard Cantour, Shia LeBeouf then proceeded to plagiarize his apologies from other famous mea culpas. In his incredibly un-talented mind, this probably seemed edgy, ironic, or both, but just came off as entitled and obnoxious. He capped the whole thing off with a skywritten apology that seems original, just pretentious.
Read: Shia LeBeouf Commissions Skywriting Apology to Daniel Clowes
After admitting to plagiarizing the work of Daniel Clowes for his short film Howard Cantour, Shia LeBeouf then proceeded to plagiarize his apologies from other famous mea culpas. In his incredibly un-talented mind, this probably seemed edgy, ironic, or both, but just came off as entitled and obnoxious. He capped the whole thing off with a skywritten apology that seems original, just pretentious.
Read: Shia LeBeouf Commissions Skywriting Apology to Daniel Clowes