Trailer Tuesday - The Last Five Years

We've been graced with a lot of great entertainment news over the past week or so. We got the Star Wars The Force Unleashed and Jurassic World trailers. We found out that James Bond will go up against Spectre in the new film. And there was a rather remarkable image released of Sherlock and Watson wearing period clothing in the Sherlock special due in 2015. So, yay for all that! But on today's Trailer Tuesday, I want to talk about something completely different.

Anna Kendrick has 3 movie-musicals coming out within the next 6 months. Three. Uno. Dos. Tres. We start with Stephen Sondheim's modern twist on the Grimm Brothers with Into the Woods in just a couple of weeks. Fast forward to Valentine's Day and we're delivered what is sure to be a heartbreaking look at love and loss in The Last Five Years. Then, we get pitch slapped by the Barden Bellas in May with the sequel to everyone's favorite musical about college a capella groups.

Aside from Cups, which was overplayed and lost any charm that it had in Pitch Perfect, I'm glad to see so many musicals on the scene. Annie is sure to be a crowd-pleaser and a hit at the Christmas box office. I was a little apprehensive about it since Jamie Foxx is hit or miss with me, but the more trailers I see for it, the more jazzed I am. Though, bless their little hearts, the kids who appeared on the float at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, including Quvenzhané Wallis, were a bit off their game.


But yes, the real reason for today's Trailer Tuesday post. Yesterday, a new official trailer for The Last Five Years hit the web. The Tony Award winning musical by James Robert Brown stars Jeremy Jordan and Anna Kendrick as Jamie and Cathy, a young couple whose story is told through the music of their love. Cathy's part of the tale begins at the end of their relationship and Jamie contributes the beginning. It all leads up to the moment that Jamie proposes. Still Hurting, which is heard in this new trailer, is Cathy's response to the situation in which she finds herself. The vocals by Kendrick sound great. Still Hurting was the first song from the show that I heard before I knew the plot. It's a hauntingly beautiful song and I think that both Johnson and Kendrick are going to be fantastic in their roles.

The Last Five Years will be released on February 13.

Be sure to like Kentucky Geek Girl on Facebook and follow my daily updates on Twitter! If you have any questions or want to discuss partnership opportunities, be sure to send me an email.

Trailer Tuesday: Dan Stevens Two-Fer

Trailer Tuesday is back with a duo of films coming out in the next few weeks starring none other than Dan Stevens. You may remember him from Downton Abbey, as the adorable heir to the Crawley estate. But Stevens has struck out into Hollywood with roles in The Fifth Estate, Summer in February, and an upcoming role as Lancelot in the third in the Night at the Museum franchise. Stevens is suddenly almost as many places as Benedict Cumberbatch and I'm okay with that.

Trailer Tuesday: Kingsman: The Secret Service

This post Memorial Day weekend pitted Maleficent and A Million Ways to Die in the West against one another in a box office grudge match. However, X-Men: Days of Future Past was able to hold on to the Number 2 slot for the weekend box office and knock the Seth MacFarlane comedy to Number 3. I'm going to be honest, I'm not terribly impressed with the offerings for the rest of the summer. I'll see Transformers: Age of Extinction since I saw the other three films in the theater and really the summer is all about getting to August to see Guardians of the Galaxy. In between, there's really not to offer me at this point. This week's Trailer Tuesday feature is for a film that comes out even later in the year, October, to be specific.

Five on Friday: A Christmas Carol Favorites

I absolutely love the Holiday season. I love Christmas lights, decorations, music, wrapping presents badly. I love baking cookies and spending time with people I care about. I believe in spreading love and joy all year round, but particularly at Christmas am I moved by the spirit. This year I'm undertaking a pretty ambitious (and secret) Christmas project, but I'm pretty excited.

I'm also the type of person who starts listening to Christmas music well before Thanksgiving. I listened to both Star 93.3 out of Cincinnati and 94.5 MixMas from Lexington on November 1, but as my Spotify playlist will attest, I'd been working on my playlist since last Halloween. As we settle in to the Holiday season, I'll be sharing Christmas-themed posts like holiday shopping guides, favorite Christmas TV episodes, movie moments, etc. This week, for a new feature Five on Friday, I'm looking at five of my favorite adaptations of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Trailer Tuesday 11/15

Okay, so I've got a bunch of movies that I need to see soon including Twelve Years a Slave, About Time, and Thor: The Dark World. Catching Fire doesn't come out for a couple of weeks, but I'm anxiously awaiting it. And of course The Day of the Doctor, which will be in theaters one night only on Monday, November 25. There are still quite a few movies that are coming out before year's end that I'm eager to see, including Frozen (which I will see because it's Disney then I'll pass judgement), August: Osage County, and Saving Mr. Banks.

In fact, Christmas Day is going to be an all-out grudge match with The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, August: Osage County, The Wolf of Wall Street, and American Hustle all opening against each other. I suppose there will be something for everyone.

Trailer Tuesday 10/29

Gravity ruled the box office for several weeks since the last Trailer Tuesday. The Fifth Estate quickly tanked, though its star garnered much acclaim. Honestly, I had no intention of seeing it, even for Benedict Cumberbatch. I am excited, however, to see him in Twelve Years a Slave and August: Osage County, the latter I believe might be my family's Christmas movie now that Monuments Men has been moved to February. And, of course, I'm waiting patiently for The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. This pretty much is the year of Cumberbatch and I'm perfectly okay with that.

Flashback Friday - Awesome 80s Horror

With Halloween just 13 days away, I thought I'd use the next couple Flashback Friday posts to delve into the macabre, to excavate the terrifying, to unearth the otherworldly. Today I'm going to talk about some of my favorite horror movies from the 1980s. Having been born in 1987, I'm in this weird place when it comes to being an 80s kid or a 90s kid. I kind of have the best of both worlds. Watching a lot of cable TV as a kid, I got to watch a lot of awesome movies, especially horror films. We also had a couple of really great movie stores in Flatwoods, first Movie House Video then Monster Video, which specialized in scary flicks.

I've put together a few of my favorite horror movies from the 1980s. This is (as are all of my Flashback Friday lists) by no means exhaustive, I just wanted to showcase a few of my favorites, which is also why my posts aren't usually ranked.

I've always loved to be scared. I watched Are You Afraid of the Dark and read Goosebumps and Fear Street like it was my job, graduating to Stephen King when I got a bit older. I think it's a sign of a good movie when it stays with you for days, weeks, even months after. Though they both came out in the 1990s, a couple of examples of this is Jurassic Park and Ernest Scared Stupid. The former I didn't actually see until it premiered on NBC, but I watched it in its entirety and continued to have dreams about dinosaurs for weeks after. My mom took me to see the latter and the opening scene with the troll scared me so much I begged her to take me home. Yes, I know I'm a weenie.

But without further ado, here are a few of my favorite 80s horror movies:

Trailer Tuesday 10/1

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 dominated the competition this weekend with over $35 million in box office earnings. I highly doubt that it will catch this year's animated powerhouse, Despicable Me 2, which has a total gross of over $361 million. Let's get to the trailers.

Trailer Tuesday: September 17th

I had yet to watch any trailer for Keanu Reeves' new movie 47 Ronin. Having taken a course on Japanese history and studied the legend of the real Forty-seven Ronin through fictionalized accounts called Chūshingura, I was excited for a modern adaptation of these mythic tales.

Here's a very brief history lesson: Samurai was a class of Japanese military nobility that existed from the medieval age through early modern Japanese history. By the 12th century, Samurai was associated with the middle and upper tiers of the warrior class. A Ronin is a Samurai without a master and in the case of the Forty-seven Ronin, they went on a mission to avenge the death of theirs. The story is compelling and I really enjoyed studying about it during my classed called Age of the Samurai. But this movie doesn't even come close. I'm not even including the clip here on Trailer Tuesday, but you're welcome to watch it on your own and comment with your thoughts. I wish I'd recorded a reaction video or at least taken a picture of my face because I was embarrassed for Japan.

Now, on to some decent trailers.

Trailer Tuesday 8/27

I've been a terrible cinephile lately. Having started out the year seeing (at least) a movie a week, I've really slowed down in my film viewing. I did see Pacific Rim last month and then Elysium and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones in the past couple of weeks. With a slew of highly anticipated movies this Fall and Winter, I know that I'll be back to my regular routine in the coming months. Hit the jump for trailer goodness.

Trailer Tuesday: A Hodgepodge of Fall/Winter Releases

Coming this week will be two reviews of movies that I found to be just excellent: Red 2 and Pacific Rim. Pacific Rim was released this past weekend, and the follow-up to the 2010 Bruce Willis movie comes out on the 19th. I was very, very disappointed that Grown Ups 2 and Despicable Me 2 beat out Pacific Rim, especially because the Adam Sandler vehicle was so critically panned. It slightly infuriates me. Trailers after the break!

Trailer Tuesday: YA Fantasy, Horror, and Hugh Jackman, Oh My!

After a few mediocre weeks, the Hollywood box office, Man of Steel kicked it up in June and has now broken the half billion mark. It really needs to continue to do well  in order to get a Justice League movie off the ground. You can check out my review and see if you agree! World War Z is exceeding my expectation and has already grossed $250 million in the last two weeks. I still don't foresee it breaking even, because $700 million is a pretty hefty price tag. I was pleasantly surprised to see that The Heat, the buddy-cop comedy starring Melissa McCarthy and Sandy Bullock, out-grossed White House Down, which is essentially Die Hard with Jamie Foxx impersonating Barack Obama.

Hit the jump for trailers!

Movie Review: Man of Steel

Image courtesy of LA Times

***WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD***

I’ve appreciated Superman all of my life, but he was never my favorite superhero. The George Reeves version was really enjoyable and Lois and Clark was my jam. It was a fantastic show. I did like Smallville, but I admit that I didn't watch past the first couple of seasons. I confess that I’ve never actually never seen the 2006 venture. It never actually appealed to me and I’m glad to understand that I’m not missing anything. When they announced that they were doing a new Superman movie, Man of Steel, and it was going to be produced by Christopher Nolan and directed by Zack Snyder I thought it should be good. I’d been following it and Henry Cavill seemed like a good actor. I was excited for the addition of (Kentuckian!) Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, and Diane Lane. I hadn’t planned on seeing it opening weekend. Now, I’ve seen it twice, first on opening night in 2D, and even with all of the action, I felt that it was very flat. It made the CGI look way over done. Seeing it in 3D, the CGI looked very well done, and it did look very realistic, with debris, flying things. I would definitely suggest to go see it in 3D.

Movie Review: The Internship

Let me begin by saying that I was quite apprehensive about this movie. I'm not generally a fan of this kind of goofball humor, The Hangover and 21 and Over (which I reviewed earlier this year) being the exception. I've enjoyed movies like Not Another Teen Movie and the original Scary Movie, which parodied their respective genera, but no movies like Wedding Crashers or Old School have ever really jumped out at me. So, when the opportunity to see The Internship presented itself this week, I went in with a great deal of timidity.

Trailer Tuesday: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and more!

This week's edition of Trailer Tuesday is going to look at both movies and television. This was a big week for the entertainment industry as the networks announced their pick-ups and cancellations for the Fall season. NBC seemed to almost gut the network while CW kept all of their programming. Along with the announcements made from the various networks, trailers were released for many of the new shows that have just found their home. Hit the jump for this week's trailers!

Terrible Mothers of Popular Culture

Today's Geeky Question of the Day in the Kentucky Geek Girl community on Facebook asked, "Who is the best mom of Popular Culture?" The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there are some pretty terrible moms in Pop Culture as well, even specifically in Science Fiction. Folks in the ?otD thread included some great moms such as Molly Weasley, Catelyn Tully, and even *shudder* Lori Grimes, but I thought that there has to be a flip side to this. So, I put on my Thinking Fedora and came up with a sampling of terrible mothers of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror.

Jackie Tyler is one of the best moms in pop culture

These are by no means in-depth character analyses.This is more just a fun look at the way people perceive characters, not a true character study. I don't necessarily agree with all of these points 100%, but I think that there some pretty obvious points. Also, there will be spoilers, which I am sorry is a bit unavoidable. If you haven't seen these TV shows or watched these movies, then either don't read or prepared to have some details spoiled. List after the break.

Matt Smith Shaves His Head: I Am Disappoint

Filming has begun on Matt Smith's new project How to Catch a Monster, directed by our favorite lover of everything we love Ryan "Hey Girl" Gosling.

This is the current synopsis on IMDB:

A single mother is swept into a dark underworld, while her teenage son discovers a road that leads him to a secret underwater town.

So, that's cool. Filming has just begun in Detroit, so there's not a lot about the movie out there. I did see that they're still casting for the movie. What I do know, however, thanks to Buzzfeed, is that Matt Smith has had to shave his beautiful head for this role. The pictures are a bit unsettling. Hit the jump to view them.

Trailer Tuesday: Ender's Game and More

Brand new this week is a trailer from the science fiction novel Ender's Game, but Hollywood trailer makers have been very busy over the last few weeks gearing up for this summer's movie season. Trailers after the jump!

'Matilda' and 'Kinky Boots' sweep Tony nominations

It's that time of year again, my friends! The Tony Award nominations were announced this morning! As a lover of Broadway, I take this as an opportunity to see what musicals that I should be listening to. I mean, I'm nowhere near New York and I don't think I'll be visiting any time soon, so I really must live vicariously through Official Cast Recordings and the stories of my Twitter followers that jet set to the Great White Way.

This year, four musicals rose to the top to be considered the best of the season: Bring It On, Matilda, A Christmas Story, and Kinky Boots. One striking thing about all four of these titles is that the stories originally appeared on the silver screen at some point in the last thirty years (Kinky Boots most recently in 2005). Furthermore, with the exception of Bring It On and Kinky Boots (which is based on a true story), the movies that came before were adapted from books. Even in Broadway it's a great year for bibliophiles.

Trailer Tuesday: Star Trek Into Darkness and Man of Steel Bring Out the Big Guns

It's Trailer Tuesday. We've got two great trailers from very different movie franchises after the jump!