Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Paramount Pictures chairman and chief executive officer James N. Gianopulos makes a big entrance, riding in a rocket chair like he’s competing in a Jackass stunt. After changing out of his Evel Knievel gear, he presented his roster, which includes Jackass Forever, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and Lost City, which stars Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum in a silly adventure that’s out April 22. He then called for studios and theaters working together as allies to not just survive but thrive and spoke of the needs to adapt.
Video of Tom Cruise working on a super dangerous motorcycle jump that turns into base jump for the next Mission: Impossible. The training and rehearsal with the crew are intense, and he did the stunt six times. I am curious how they are going to incorporate it into a story. There were rumors that Top Gun 2 was going to be shown, but turns out we just got the first reel, roughly 13 minutes. Because an admiral wants to focus on a drone program, he intends to shut down the plane program Maverick is involved with because the plane hasn’t got to Mach 10, even though it’s only supposed to go Mach 9. Naturally, Maverick, in his typical fashion, says lets give it one last go before the admiral shows up. It’s a thrilling scene and heightened my anticipation for the film.
The film that was shown was Clifford the Big Red Dog. Rather a surprising choice as that’s a kid’s film and the audience is mostly adult. The folks at Paramount has to be surprised at the reaction as a large portion of the audience left.
Last up was Lionsgate. They opened with a look at a trio of films from Kingdom Story Company who focus on the Faith space. The Jesus Music is a documentary about Christian music that includes Amy Grant, Mike W. Smith, and Kirk Franklin. The Unbreakable Boy is about Austin, who has osteosos inpertca which causes his bones to break easily, and the struggles of his family. The film as a message as Austin teaches others to live in the moment. American Underdog is about NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner played by Zachary Levi with Anna Paquin as his wife. Based on the book, it tells the story many football fans already how he went from grocery store to Super Bowl champ. In addition to a teaser trailer is clip of Kurt and Dick Vermeil (Dennis Quaid) talking about working together to prove the doubters wrong about both of them. It’s set for Xmas Day.
The opening scene of Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall shows a satellite repair mission going haywire as something attacks them, sending everything spinning. A tornado of this something comes out of the moon. Will this disaster film be a disaster? Find out 2/4/22. Producer Paul Burke has The Devil’s Light, which has a nun meeting demon. The footage was mostly jump scares with loud noises.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent finds Nicolas Cage playing a fictional version of himself, as he takes a job for $1 million to go to a party and meet his biggest fan, Javier Guitierrez (Pedro Pascal). But it turns out Javier is bad guy so Nic has to work for the U.S. Government. This premise has great potential but could be a big misfire. Am definitely intrigued. James Brooks is producing an adaptation of Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. There’s another film based on a video game, Borderlands And all seems right with the world as the short sizzle reel makes clear John Wick 4 is on its way.
