The Best and Worst Movie Trailers of 2014

+ Note: This post will focus only on trailers for movies released in 2014. So sorry, no love here for The Avengers 2: Age of Ultron trailer, even though it is great. Come back next year for that one.

We love trailers, which is why when I had to see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies last week, on top of the 150-minute runtime for the film, I also had to sit through 10 – YES, TEN – trailers. That’s an additional 30 minutes of sitting in the theater! And yet a good trailer can be so great – an excellent bonding opportunity for you and the people sitting around – and a bad trailer can build camaraderie, too. The collective groan from myself, the three bros in front of me, and the mom and her son behind me at The Hobbit when we saw the Terminator: Genisys trailer is proof of that.

So what trailers excited me most this year, and which made me want to run out of the movie theater and never come back? Read on for the five best and five worst movie trailers of 2014.

The five best trailers of 2014:

+ VERONICA MARS. You could brush off this movie as fan service, sure, but it’s extremely satisfying fan service. Take this trailer for proof: Look, all of your favorite Veronica Mars characters are back! Look, Veronica and Logan still long for each other! Look, Mac has an amazing new haircut! Look, Weevil is still the shit! Look, Daddy Mars is still doing dad stuff! Dick Casablancas is being, well, a dick! As a promise to fans, the Veronica Mars movie trailer was undeniably well orchestrated. (And so was the movie, too.)

+ GONE GIRL. The creepy vibe of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s score still haunts my dreams, as does Amazing Amy’s equally chilly, “That’s marriage.” Maybe this year’s best movie for grownups, Gone Girl delivered with a trailer that laid out the central question—Did Ben Affleck’s Nick Dunne kill his wife, the beautiful and intelligent and perfect Amy?—while also subtly analyzing the 24-hour news cycle and upending the fake-American-dream promise of suburbia. “Where’s your wife, Nick?!” Yes, where, indeed.

+ GODZILLA. Godzilla underperformed a bit this year, but I agree withfellow PDC-er Julian Lytle that it was actually one of the year’s mostunderappreciated films—a movie that excellently chose when and how to feature Godzilla to build toward the impactful (and thrilling) final action set piece. And this trailer is a perfect microcosm of that approach: Blink and you’ll miss Godzilla, but when he wants to be seen, he’s unforgettable. And Godzilla’s final, discordant scream at the end of this trailer? It’s still giving me goosebumps.

+ X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. “We need you to hope again.” Sporting the most self-indulgent-and-yet-totally-successful cast of the year was X-Men: Days of Future Past, and this trailer forced you to acknowledge how great they all are. Patrick Stewart! Ian McKellen! Michael Fassbender! James McAvoy! The internet’s best friend Jennifer Lawrence! The internet’s best friend’s ex-boyfriend Nicholas Hoult! Tyrion Lannister! Jean Valjean! And on and on and on. Regardless of whether Days of Future Past had your favorite X-Men character or your favorite X-Men actor, that was the point: they were all in there. (Well, except for Anna Paquin, but that is a complaint for another day.) The cohesiveness of the cast did wonders for the timeline-mind-fuck of a story, and brought the contrasting movie worlds together in a way that keeps the storyline moving forward. How could you not get excited?

+ INTERSTELLAR. One of my most disappointing movies of the year still had one of the year’s best trailers, a perfect distillation of the things Christopher Nolan does well: cajole excellent performances from A-list male actors who play aching, ambitious widowers (here it’s Matthew McConaughey; see Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception or Hugh Jackman in The Prestige for further proof); present smoothly envisioned, sleekly impressive visual effects; and get Michael Caine to say something wise and sad, because that is basically all Michael Caine does in Christopher Nolan movies. It was such a formula, but oh, it was effective. If only the full version of Interstellar had been this airtight.

The five worst trailers of 2014:

+ TRANSCENDENCE. Oh look, Johnny Depp’s brain got uploaded into a computer because it’s super easy to do that. How could such an interesting idea seem so generic from even the first trailer? Pass. (Also, you’re going to have Cillian Murphy in your movie, but not even mention him in your trailer? For shame.)

+ THE OTHER WOMAN. Putting feminism back a century or two.

+ TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES. Stop giving Michael Bay enough money to destroy all our childhood dreams. Stop it! And stop pretending Megan Fox can act. Seriously, stop it.

+ DUMB AND DUMBER TO. When I saw 22 Jump Street this summer, more people laughed at this supremely awful trailer than they did during the entire length of 22 Jump Street. Because for some reason a senior citizen forcing Jim Carrey to pleasure her vagina full of dust is more amusing than the amazing meta-ness of Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill. (I hate people.)

+ EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS. Noooope.

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The PDC Staff Picks the Most Overrated and Underrated Movies of 2014

Hype. The single most important word in the film industry. I know you’re thinking, "John, you’re wrong it’s obviously money!". Nay, nay I say, without the hype there is no money. Hype is the reason that we have movie trailers, and now teasers of movie trailers, and sneak peak shots of the teasers of movie trailers. You get the point. It doesn’t stop when the movie is released though. The hype train continues right on through the theatrical release to home video, and sometimes, into history. This whole aspect of Hollywood always leaves you with a few films that just don’t fit the buzz they were assigned. Some great films are just passed over while other highly lauded films leave you thinking the world is high as a kite and they forgot to pass you the doobie. We’ve got the whole of the PDC together for this list as we visit what we think to be the most overrated and underrated films of 2014.

When you're done, be sure to check out all of our end-of-year coverage here!

John Nolan

OVERRATED
 
Lucy

I know, I know, it’s kind of a weak pick. Half of you are probably sitting at your computers saying “What the hell was Lucy?”. You know, that completely forgettable movie with Scarlett Johannson where the big hook was “What happens when someone uses more than 10% of their brain?!?”, yeah…that one. I’m kind of an easy sell, if you give me something that’s halfway enjoyable I’m not going to trash it. I completely trashed this movie. I can’t remember a longer 90 minute stretch of my life than sitting through this absurdly nonsensical oxymoron of a film (how can you be full of action, yet completely boring?). No big deal, forget it and move on…and, stay with me, here’s where it earns it’s place on the list, then the reviews start coming out and people are praising it! Not in waves, mind you, but they are out there, enough to earn a fresh score on rotten tomatoes. Lucy. Overrated. Understatement.

UNDERRATED

Robocop
Something told me this one was going to be alright. I’m not exactly on my own in thinking that but it’s far from the popular consensus. I guess the original was just a case of the right movie at the right time and this remake, as good as it was, had to much of the 80s in it. Well, we are living in an 80s world and I am an 80s girl….err…guy. That’s the argument I have to make because Robocop not being universally loved makes no sense to me. As far as remakes go this should be a template. Other than a few forced call backs to the original they did everything perfectly, updating not just the look, but the story and feel to our modern world. The sad thing is, if the original Robocop had never been released, then you release this exact same movie people would have praised it, going so far as to call it prophetic. The thing is, the world created in the 1987 Robocop was implausible…a sci-fi fever dream coated in blood. The 2014 version is not only possible, but in many ways plausible. Past all this it was just a whole lot of fun, sure I could have used more blood but I can say that about anything (I’m a blast at dinner parties).

Roxana Hadadi

OVERRATED

St. Vincent

The Bill Murray hipster resurgence is exhausting. Not everything Bill Murray touches is gold, and St. Vincent is absolutely proof of that. A frustratingly formulaic movie built around on the been-there-done-that premise of "grumpy old man befriends charming child; charming child befriends grumpy old man; everyone wins or whatever," the movie asked very little of Murray and he gave very little back. And that supporting cast? Please. Melissa McCarthy has had a year full of misfires and Naomi Watts, with her terrible accent and caricature of a Russian prostitute character, did absolutely nothing to deserve that Screen Actors Guild nomination. And yet this film has somehow made $44 million, because ugh.

UNDERRATED

Foxcatcher
Foxcatcher came out strong in film festival competition, yielding a Best Director win at Cannes for Bennett Miller, tons of critical hype, and then ... nothing. The film opened quietly the same weekend as The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, and since then has struggled to find an audience, making only about $3 million. But this film has haunted me for the weeks since I've seen it - all of its weirdness and quietness, all of its unanswered questions, all of its critiques about the nature of inherited wealth and the myth of American dominance and the masculine desire to prove oneself before anyone and everyone who asks. Why haven't more people seen this movie? Why hasn't it received more award-season nominations? As John DuPont, Steve Carell's performance is determinedly, effectively off-kilter. As Olympic-gold-winning wrestler Mark Schultz, Channing Tatum is flawed and tragic. As Mark's even-more-celebrated older brother Dave Schultz, Mark Ruffalo is likable and, because the world is a terrible place, doomed. This movie will linger over you like a dark cloud, and more people should join me under it.

Julian Lytle

OVERRATED

Edge of Tomorrow

You know this one here for me is clouded by the fact that I read the manga adaptation of the original story All You Need Is Kill. I tried to go into this with an open mind and it’s also a reason I try not read a story before viewing a film version. I see many people enjoyed this movie and while I can see where it can be enjoyable too many things bother me about it. My main problem with the movie is that it totally destroys that character of Rita Vrataski. In the entire movie she only does two things helps Tom Cruise’s character get better and then just becomes a damsel in distress. You never really see how bad ass she is supposed to be at most she’s just like a person drill sergent for Cruise’s William Cage. Also I think the movie made the aliens needlessly difficult in how they work. It just doesn’t work for me, like they wanted to make a Halo Groundhog Day. In the end I’m like "really"?

UNDERRATED

Godzilla
GODZILLA 2014 IS LIFE! See I never understood what people were expecting. Folk complaining how come there wasn’t that much of the monsters fighting? Why was there so much human story? Clearly all those people either never saw a Godzilla movie or being that they were children only paid attention to the last 15 minutes when the Godzilla was wrecking. This film did a modern interpretation of 70s superhero Godzilla. He wasn’t destroying the city on purpose, he had a foe and was ready to kill them. Godzilla doesn’t half step. He befriended Quicksilver (Aaron Johnson) crashed on downtown to sleep off his bar fight and bounced in the morning like any good homie. Not only that they had great winks to Mothra and Kiryu in the film. So many folks need to get familiar.

Mae Abdulbaki 

OVERRATED

How to Train Your Dragon 2

 It doesn't really matter what many say, this sequel to the very well made How to Train Your Dragon is disappointing and doesn't live up to the original at all. A lot of people liked it, it made almost $50 million its opening weekend alone, but there's something about it that just doesn't sit well with me. Perhaps it's the fact that Toothless kills Hiccup's father and everything is hunky dory about two minutes later. Don't get me wrong, the animation itself is stunning and visually beautiful, but the film doesn't carry the same torch as the original. The inclusion of Hiccup's mother only feels like a replacement for his father, who is offed so his son can become the leader he's always wanted him to be. But I mean, if Hiccup never wanted to be a leader, don't force him into it. Astrid would have been a much better choice anyway. Sigh

UNDERRATED

Get on Up
Show of hands, who actually saw Get on Up? I hear the crickets chirping. If you did, great, because this movie is frankly not given enough love. It's not a perfect film, but it retells the story of music legend and icon James Brown, played by rising star Chadwick Boseman, in a non-linear fashion that immediately takes you into the story and keeps you there. We visit several different parts of Brown's life, but it always comes back to his present. A montage that cuts between Boseman performing and Brown's actual performances is very well done really makes you feel like you're at a concert. The wonderful performances by Boseman and the rest of the cast, which includes Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, is well worth the watch. Definitely a film that should've been seen by more people.
.
Travis Hopson

OVERRATED

Still Alice

Hey, I get it. We all love Julianne Moore. I do, too! She’s a redhead, of course I love her. Oh, and she’s an amazing actress, and is pretty great in Still Alice. But did anybody notice that none of the consequences of her character having Alzheimer’s is actually dealt with in ANY way, shape, or form? Like not at all. Her kids possibly inheriting the disease? Nope. Her career-driven husband’s awesome new job getting put on hold because he has to care for her? Nope. It’s like co-directors/writers Richard Glatzer and Wash West are averse to the very idea of confronting anything. Maybe that’s how the story plays out in the book but it doesn’t matter. I have a feeling it has to do with the lousy adaptation from the same guys who somehow made a biopic on philandering Errol Flynn (The Last of Robin Hood) boring and drab. How is that even possible? Anyway, Still Alice isn’t terrible; it’s just mediocre. Still love you, Julianne. Call me.

UNDERRATED

The Skeleton Twins
Only one movie could make me put Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” on my playlist. When I first saw The Skeleton Twins at Sundance it struck me like a thunderbolt for a number of reasons. This sweet, affecting dramedy about two highly-dysfuctional siblings features amazing performances by Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader. The SNL vets know one another so well their chemistry is flawless, all while venturing into the most dramatic territory of their careers. The film manages to stay light and funny while dealing with some heavy subjects (suicide, infidelity), a credit to up ‘n coming director Craig Johnson. I thought this film would have done more upon release but it kind of vanished in the blink of an eye, so grab someone close to you and check this movie out on Blu-Ray. You won’t be disappointed.

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Honest Trailer for 'Godzilla' has More Godzilla than 'Godzilla'

Earlier this year Gareth Evans gave us Godzilla, the best American Godzilla movie ever, which isn't really saying much at all. That's what the Screen Junkies rightfully claim in their latest Honest Trailer for the blockbuster, which grossed more than $500M worldwide while eating some pretty hefting criticism. The main bone of contention is the lack of any actual Godzilla; this trailer counting just over 11 minutes of screen time for the friggin' title character while we instead spend more time watching Aaron Taylor-Johnson run around the country accomplishing nothing. And for those who claim that we only saw Jaws for a few minutes? That was okay because the human characters were actually interesting and doing things that seemed like they mattered.

Anyway, Godzilla was a huge hit and the next two chapters will head into production once Evans wraps up his Star Wars spinoff. Check out the Honest Trailer and judge if they're accurate or not.


Honest Trailers - Godzilla (2014). by TrailerNow

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Cinema Royale #75- Reliving the Year's Best Interviews

For Cinema Royale's landmark 75th episode we're looking back at some of the best celebrity guests of the past year! Locke director Steven Knight talks about working alongside Tom Hardy; Jason Bateman joins Cinema Royale to talk about his directorial debut, Bad Words; and Godzilla director Gareth Edwards reveals all about the king of monsters!

Cinema Royale is part of the Hashtag Studios Broadcast Network and brings you movie reviews and news straight from the Nation's Capital! Go to www.cinemaroyaleshow.com and subscribe, and while there consider signing up for the premium service for more content and to be entered in our monthly prize drawing.

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Box Office: '22 Jump Street' Captures $60M; 'How to Train Your Dragon 2' Burns Up $50M

1. 22 Jump Street- $60M
Remember when the idea of Jonah Hill remaking 21 Jump Street seemed like the worst idea ever? That film went on to over $200M, becoming one of the highest-grossing R-rated comedies, and and now 22 Jump Street is poised to do even better. The sequel opened to a whopping $60M, the fifth best weekend for a comedy ever and far better than 21 Jump Street's $36M debut. That film had remarkably long legs bolstered by strong word-of-mouth, and considering the reviews for the sequel have been just as good, we could be looking at a similarly lengthy run. Obviously this is a huge feather in the cap of Hill, Channing Tatum, and cIce Cube, but probably the biggest beneficiary of these numbers is co-directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. The duo already have one 2014 hit under their belts with The Lego Movie, and if 22 Jump Street's numbers hold they will be the first directors ever to have two $60M debuting films in the same calendar year. Sony is probably already on the phone with everybody and ordering up a trip (next door, as it were) to 23 Jump Street.
2. How to Train Your Dragon 2- $50M
Dreamworks was probably expecting How to Train Your Dragon 2 to soar to greater heights, but the $50M opening weekend does surpass the first film's $43M premiere. It's just that we tend to see bigger bumps on animated sequels, although to be fair most of them don't face a buzzsaw the likes of 22 Jump Street, or strong holdovers in Maleficent, Edge of Tomorrow, X-men: Days of Future Past, and The Fault In Our Stars.There aren't a ton of family-friendly options until deep into July so the film will do well here and overseas. No matter what we're going to get How to Train Your Dragon 3 which is already set to open in 2016.
3. Maleficent- $19M/$163.5M
4. Edge of Tomorrow- $16.1M/$56.6M
Tom Cruise's Edge of Tomorrow slipped 44% from last week which is actually pretty good and suggests the positive reviews are having an effect. While these numbers are still disappointing,Cruise's global appeal has earned it an additional $111M on the foreign market.
5. The Fault In Our Stars- $15.7M/$81.7M
Good news and bad news for Shailene Woodley's acclaimed cancer drama, The Fault In Our Stars. The bad news is it tumbled hard, losing 67% after opening at #1. I guess every drop of tears was spilled last week and nobody had it in them to spill any more. The good news is the film has already banked $98M if you count international totals, more than making up the $12M budget.
6. X-men: Days of Future Past- $9.5M/$205.9M
Bryan Singer's all-star mutant jam X-men: Days of Future Past has now overtaken The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as the highest-grossing film of the summer, and currently sits at $633M worldwide.
7. Godzilla- $3.1M/$191.3M
8. A Million Ways to Die in the West- $3M/$38.9M
9. Neighbors- $2.4M/$143.1M
10. Chef- $2.2M/$14M

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Box Office: 'Maleficent' Casts $170M Spell Over the World

1. Maleficent- $70M
Angelina Jolie doesn't star in as many films as she used to, but when she does they tend to be huge. And that looks to be the case with Maleficent, Disney's latest attempt to rebrand their animated classics as live-action tentpoles. The $70M debut is bolstered by an additional $100M overseas, putting a good sized dent in the budget that some estimate was around $175M. This still comes in under the opening weekends of Disney's Oz the Great and Powerful and Alice in Wonderland, both of which had visual effects by Maleficent director, Robert Stromberg. He has to be feeling pretty good right about now and this probably puts him high on Disney's list for future reimaginings after next year's Cinderella. Before now Jolie hadn't been in a live-action film since 2010's The Tourist, which banked $270M even though it was awful. She also starred in the random action flick, Salt, which further proved her box office mettle with $290M. It'll be interesting how Maleficent plays down the line as the reviews have been mixed and some of the material a little dark for kids.
2. X-men: Days of Future Past- $32.6M/$162M
More destructive than the Sentinels was the 64% skid for X-men: Days of Future Past, which is somewhat to be expected considering the strong competition. The film has now earned $383M worldwide and should have 20th Century Fox feeling pretty good about 2016's sequel, X-men: Apocalypse. 
3. A Million Ways to Die In the West- $17M
The only thing more uncertain than a western movie at the box office is a comedy-western, and now Seth MacFarlane knows that fact intimately. A Million Ways to Die in the West opened to a flat $17M, and it's not as if we can blame the star-studded cast of Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, and Neil Patrick Harris. Part of the problem was the marketing which pushed a bunch of sight gags but not much more, and generally poor reviews (I thought it was okay) couldn't have helped.  There wasn't a tumbleweed's chance in Hell that it would come close to matching the $50M+ debut of Ted, but the expectations were much higher given MacFarlane's past successes. Fortunately the film only cost $40M and has a earned an additional $10M internationally, so when all is said and done it will make a few bucks.
4. Godzilla- $12.2M/$174.6M
5. Blended- $8.4M/$29.6M
6. Neighbors- $7.7M/$128.6M
7. The Amazing Spider-Man 2- $3.77M/$192.7M
8. Million Dollar Arm- $3.7M/$28M
9. Chef- $2M/$6.9M
10. The Other Woman- $1.4M/$81.1M

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Box Office: 'X-men: Days of Future Past' Opens to $261 Worldwide; 'Blended' Flops Hard

1. X-men: Days of Future Past- $90.7M
Seven movies in and 20th Century Fox's all-star jam, X-men: Days of Future Past, got off to a $90.7M domestic start, making it the fourth largest debut of the year. Tossing in the Memorial Day holiday and it's estimated to finish up with $107M.  But just looking from Friday thru Sunday, that's less than the critically-reviled X-men: The Last Stand back in 2006, so clearly throwing more big names into the mix wasn't the total answer. The big bucks are going to come internationally where it has already gathered $171M for a total of $261M, and with a cost of $200M Fox is going to be counting on the global numbers to carry the day.
2. Godzilla- $31.4M/$148.7M
Last week's number one film, Godzilla, crashed 66% from last week probably due to a large chunk of its audience going back in time with Marvel's merry band of mutants. Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures have already taken steps for a sequel and third film, both directed by Gareth Edwards (also involved with Star Wars now), based on the $252M it has earned worldwide in only two weeks. 
3. Blended- $14.2M
Adam Sandler's clout as an A-lister took another shot to the groin as Blended opened to a dismal $14.2M, one of the worst of opening weekends of his career for a major studio release.  This ranks down there with That's My Boy ($13M), a barely-promoted film that opened in 500 fewer theaters. The bigger difference is that Blended reunites him with Drew Barrymore for what is meant to be a family comedy, but apparently families found something better to do.
4. Neighbors- $13.9M/$113.6M
5. The Amazing Spider-Man 2- $7.8M/$184.9M
6. Million Dollar Arm- $7M/$20.6M
7. The Other Woman- $3.6M/$77.7M
8. Rio 2- $2.5M/$121.5M
9. Chef- $2.2M/$3.5M
Jon Favreau's Chef added another 420 theaters into the mix, and the results were a a solid $2.2M with a $4500 per site average. I'd like to see the numbers on dinner reservations in restaurants near where the film is being shown. I bet they've spiked something fierce. 
10. Heaven is for Real- $1.9M/$85.7M

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Cinema Royale #63- 'X-men: Days of Future Past'

Cinema Royale's loyal listeners know host Travis Hopson as the ultimate X-men fanatic, so you know this episode will be ENTIRELY DEVOTED TO X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST! Okay, not entirely, but you get the picture. We'll also take a look at the latest Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore comedy, Blended.

Plus, we'll be joined by director Jim Mickle, whose credits include the horrors We Are What We Are and Stakeland, to talk about his throwback revenge flick, Cold in July. The film was a smash at Sundance and stars Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, and Don Johnson.

Cinema Royale is part of the Hashtag Studios Broadcast Network and brings you movie reviews and news straight from the Nation's Capital! Go to www.cinemaroyaleshow.com and subscribe, and while there consider signing up for the premium service for more content and to be entered in our monthly prize drawing!

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'Godzilla' Planned as a Trilogy with Gareth Edwards Confirmed to Direct

Now that Gareth Edwards is confirmed to direct the first of what will likely be many Star Wars spinoffs beginning in 2016, that left his involvement with future Godzilla sequels in doubt. Briefly in doubt, as it turns out, because Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull confirmed to Shock Till You Drop that Edwards is on board for the sequel, while THR reports it will be for a full Godzilla trilogy.

Tull: "Gareth’s filmmaking talent makes him one of his generation’s most creative and visionary directors. The plan has always been for Gareth to direct a different film before we started on another Godzilla, but who knew it would a Star Wars installment? We have a great plan in store for Godzilla fans and I am looking forward to seeing Gareth’s imprint on the Star Wars universe."

Godzilla sequels are still a ways off as a script is yet to be written, giving Edwards the space he needs to wrap up whatever his Star Wars film turns out to be. 

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Punch Drunk Podcast: Godzilla, Million Dollar Arm, Game of Thrones recap

GODZILLA!!! It's finally here, the biggest (at least based on size) film of the summer has hit and we're here to tell you if the icon regains his crown as kind of the monsters or instead gets a giant dunce cap. We'll also be covering the feel good film Million Dollar Arm. In the world of TV we once again head to Westeros to talk about the landmark last episode of Game of Thrones where Tyrion sits for his "trial" for the death of King Joffery! It's going to be one for the ages so make sure not to miss it!

The Punch Drunk Podcast airs live every Sunday morning at 11AM.

Find Additional Film Podcasts with The Punch Drunk Podcast on BlogTalkRadio

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'Godzilla' Sequel Already in the Works

Now that the totals are in and Godzilla is a confirmed smash with $93M domestic, plus another $103M overseas, it should come as no surprise that Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures are thinking sequel. What's surprising is that they're moving on it so soon with Deadline reporting a follow-up is already in development.

Gareth Edwards' film only ran about $160M so both studios will be in the black on this one and then some, with the international market likely to power it for the long haul. One question is whether Edwards would return to direct it, or if he'll step aside and move on to other projects. Godzilla was his first big gig after the low-budget creature flick, Monsters, and he's going to be a hot commodity now. He can probably write his ticket to any project he wants. It's possible he slips into a producer capacity as he did with Monsters: Dark Continent. Edwards has talked in the past about employing a similar slow burn approach if he does another Godzilla film, and with this one performing so well there's little need to change the formula. Another question is how this will shake out on the distribution end as Legendary split off from Warner Bros. and joined Universal.

So there you have it. More Godzilla is on the way. Good news or bad news?

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Box Office: 'Godzilla' Roars to Monster $93M Debut

1. Godzilla- $93.2M
Any concern that Gareth Edwards Godzilla relaunch would go the way of 1998's just got stomped into oblivion. The film opened to a huge $93M, just under Captain America: The Winter Soldier's $95M and better than The Amazing Spider-Man 2's $91M. Not bad, especially when the $103M overseas gross is factored in, and the fact that the film only cost $160M which is small by tentpole standards nowadays. The future looks bright even with the threat of X-men: Days of Future Past looming on the horizon. So is it time to talk sequel yet?
2. Neighbors- $25.9M/$91.5M
Slipping 47% from last week but creeping up on $100M domestic is Neighbors, the Seth Rogen/Zac Efron attracting $146M worth of stoners worldwide.
3. The Amazing Spider-Man 2- $16.8M/$172.1M
Audiences over here still don't care that much about Spidey, but overseas they are quite wrapped up in the wallcrawler's adventures. Globally the film has made a total of $633M which is all the reason in the world for us to get more sequels and spinoffs.
4.  Million Dollar Arm- $10.5M
Nice try, Disney, attempting to sneak in a family film like Million Dollar Arm to appease those who may not be into Godzilla. Well, maybe they were too clever by half because nobody came to see it despite the presence of Jon Hamm, who continues to be a shaky big screen lead.  Inspirational sports movies are usually money in the bank for Disney but with bad reviews and poor marketing this one was a strike out.
5. The Other Woman- $6.3M/$71.6M
6. Heaven is for Real- $4.4M/$82.2M

7. Rio 2- $3.8M/$118M
8. Captain America: The Winter Soldier- $3.7M/$250.6M
9. Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return- $1.95M/$6.5M
10. Moms' Night Out- $1.9M/$7.3M

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'Godzilla' Poised for $98M Debut Weekend

We don't normally track the box office around here until Sunday, but in a case like this it seems appropriate. Gareth Edwards was pretty apprehensive about us calling Godzilla a "blockbuster" in our interview, but after a $38M Friday night debut, the biggest opening day of 2014, the film is on track for a whopping $98M weekend. That beats the $95M opening of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Amazing Spider-Man 2's $91M. Overall the film has been well-received, scoring 73% on Rotten Tomatoes right now, and chances are it will do well overseas.


On the other hand, Disney's Million Dollar Arm bobbled the ball and only scored $3.4M on Friday.

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Cinema Royale #62- 'Godzilla'; Gareth Edwards Interview

It's GODZILLA!!!! The King of All Monsters deserves the biggest of summer movies, and on this week's show we'll see if Godzilla lives up to all of the incredible anticipation! Plus, Godzilla director Gareth Edwards joins the show to talk about the challenges of bringing the movie monster to the big screen!

Jack Giroux of Film School Rejects joins us to talk Godzilla and the Disney baseball dramedy Million Dollar Arm starrng Jon Hamm. Plus we'll have news on Channing Tatum's future in the X-men, Zac Efron in a Marvel movie, and more.

Cinema Royale is part of the Hashtag Studios Broadcast Network and brings you movie reviews and news straight from the Nation's Capital! Go to www.cinemaroyaleshow.com and subscribe, and while there consider signing up for the premium service to get even more content!

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Let Them Fight: Julian's Top Godzilla Movies

So this week John and Travis was like “Yo Julian you should give these folks a post about Godzilla like you did last year for Pacific Rim.” And then I thought about and said yeah I should. So here we are on the day Godzilla returns to theaters 10 years after his last appearance on the silver screen. I’m going to give you a few of my favorite Godzilla movies since Godzilla is my homie. I watched these films as a kid, I saw the 1998 one and watched all the cartoons. I even have the out of print hard to find Marvel Essential collection of the Godzilla Marvel comic series (yes Godzilla even met all your favorite superheroes because he’s a boss). So over the years after watching and watching all these movies here are my top joints to watch but let me say everyone should just watch Gojira, not that Raymond Burr re-edit. The first film is part of film history and dealt with some serious issues of a nation being traumatized by the effects of being the only people hit with the atomic bomb. Now with that out of the way:

Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

This joint right here is money. This movie is way better than the previous two to me. I like Angurius but he’s basically Godzilla’s main sidekick I don’t want to see them fighting. Godzilla vs King Kong is whack because it doesn’t make sense. King Kong isn’t that big. Now this Mothra joint is on point since Godzilla is the bad guy attacking but really its just humans doing dumb stuff and messing up nature again with Mothra having to save their butts from an angry Big G. This movie feels like a fever dream because of the pacing and the fact there are these little women and they do this song and then there is caterpillars that webs up Godzilla. You go in thinking you’re supposed to root for Godzilla but by the end you’re riding with Mothra and her kids with these singing little women. I never get sick of this one.

Ghidorah, The Three Headed Monster (1964)

This right here is my jam. First it has that crazy three headed gold dragon. Like who's messing with that right there and he’s from SPACE! Like Dany in Game of Throne ain’t nothing until she can control King Ghidorah. I barely remember the plot what I do remember is that Mothra comes back and has a conversation with Godzilla and Rodan (a giant pterosaur) who are fighting for no reason at all about teaming up to beat this dragon and it’s the best. It’s essentially Godzilla and Rodan on some “humans can kiss my giant lizard asses. MuhF**kas never loved us.” And go back to fighting. Mothra the female gets fed up, calls them dumb goes to fight Ghidorah by herself and proceeds to catch a bad one when they show up on some damn she’s a G let’s merk this dude. Then when it’s over they all go home. Best. Ending. Ever.

Destroy All Monsters (1968)

I wrote about this last year. This movie is like the Avengers of Kaiju movies. It has all the best monsters in it. They get mind controlled by Aliens then Godzilla and his crew ain’t having it. They pull out that old punk King Ghidorah and he gets dealt with and Godzilla lets the Alien’s know who runs this. Don’t watch this looking for plot just look at it for seeing all the monsters and the destroying of cardboard cities.

Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

This joint should be watched for one thing and one thing only. JET JAGUAR!!! He’s like a mashup of Mazinger (aka Tranzor Z in the states) and Ultraman. This movie is basically a like Tokusatsu superhero movie that has Godzilla in it. I love this movie because Godzilla got more special powers and IT HAS A ROBOT THAT GROWS HUGE AND DOES SPECIAL MOVES!! Do you understand how amazing that is? Super. Robot.

Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla (1974)

Other than King Ghidorah MechaGodzilla is Godzilla’s other big enemy. You know how Superman has Lex Luthor and Brainiac. Well Mecha is his Brainiac. Think about this, you’re a kid and you like Godzilla and one Saturday morning after watching your cartoons like Real Ghostbusters and Captain N you get to Soul train and American Bandstand right. You’ve just had a great morning and you turn to watch monster movies today instead of kung fu and you just happen to catch Godzilla beating up his homie Angurius and you’re confused then you see another Godzilla and the one beating up the homie is revealed to be a robot. A GIANT ROBOT WALKING ON TWO LEGS THAT LOOKS LIKE A LIZARD WITH LASERS!

Think on that.

Yeah this movie is amazing then on top of all that there is a like a god monster that’s part lion and part monkey or something called King Ceaser and these dudes tag team on MechaGodzilla on some 80s WWE ish. This movie is heaven. Without this movie we would never have had the Dragonzord and that alone it should get it offerings of the people.

Godzilla vs Space Godzilla (1994)

I like this whole movie because Space Godzilla has these giant crystal things coming off of him. The 80s movies have a whole new continuity from the 50-70s ones. Yet Godzilla has a kid again and he gets captured. I never understood how Godzilla has kids because he’s a guy and there is no female Godzillas to speak of. It’s just out of the blue Godzilla is a single dad chilling wrecking cities and fighting monsters from space.

Godzilla against MechaGodzilla (2002)

This one is different. Now we are into the 2000s Godzilla and everything looks a lot better. The suits and the city sets and effects. Now in these Godzilla is pure force of nature and isn’t really good at all. He’s just wrecking stuff. Now in this one MechaGodzilla is good and is made out of the remains of the OG Godzilla from Gojira. See every time they reboot they reboot after the first movie. So this MechaGodzilla is called Kiryu and has a female pilot and a bunch of human stuff no one cares about unless it has the little Mothra ladies in it. This one is just cool for fighting to me. I’m a sucker for robots and it’s interesting to see Mecha as the good guy.

Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)

Now above when I was talking about Destroy All Monsters remember all of that? Well basically this movie is just like that but in 2014 with even more stuff in it. Better suits and better effects and more explosions. If you bring this movie up to fans their eyes light up because it’s beyond crazy dope.  It has mutant people in it for some reason and aliens want to eat the people for energy. All the monsters attack the cities all over the world. They even have US 1998 Godzilla in called Zilla and Godzilla kills him with the quickness. What makes this movie fun is that it’s just all battles. Godzilla is straight killing all the monsters he can that ever raised up on him. It’s the best. He doesn’t kill his friends, he knocks senses into them and they then team up on the aliens and guess who shows up…KING GHIDORAH AGAIN! This dragon stays as a pawn for evil aliens (not in all the movies but most of the time).  Also this movie has Mothra in it being awesome. All movies with Godzilla teamed up with Mothra are the bees’ knees all day.

That’s it. These are my favs. These are the ones I re-watch and the ones I tell people about all the time. Basically if it has multiple Kaiju and/or robots in some way it’s amazing. To be honest the people parts are never that interesting post Gojira. You just have to get past that. On some real talk though you could also add all the other movies with Mothra in them later. I love that dang gone giant Moth and the crazy little women. That’s my biggest hope that Godzilla 2014 does gangbusters so that in the next one we can US style budget for crazy effects to make Godzilla team up with Mothra and those little women to fight King Ghidorah from space. Now everyone go see this new movie so my dreams can come true!

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Review: 'Godzilla' Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bryan Cranston, and Elizabeth Olsen

There's a reason Godzilla is known as the King of All Monsters, and it only has a little bit to do with his massive size. The creature has been around for six decades and starred in more than 28 movies, begun as a metaphor for the devastating effects of nuclear weaponry on Japan and the world. A movie like Pacific Rim doesn't exist without Godzilla inspiring the entire kaiju genre, but at its heart the early films were designed as cautionary horror tales. Gareth Edwards' modern update, because frankly nobody wants to remember the 1998 film, is also steeped in heavy warnings about nature's devastating power and the dire consequences if humans choose to ignore it. But it's also those humans and their actions that are left forgotten in the need to generate just another soulless blockbuster spectacle.

Sadly, the most colossal thing about Godzilla is how underwhelming it is, and perhaps my own expectations were inflated because of all the hype. I was there on the floor of Hall H when Edwards made the big Godzilla announcement and showed his early vision for the reboot, and the room was thick with the energy of anticipation. That excitement really never subsided thanks to a smart marketing strategy that kept the monster largely out of promos and trailers. The mystery is what mattered, and that tension over Godzilla's arrival is a large reason why the film works so well initially, yet is so disappointing once he appears.

The atomic era serves as sturdy ground for the story, penned by relative newcomer Max Borenstein (with a Frank Darabont assist), building on old fears of planet-killing nuclear destruction. Edwards uses stock footage from Hiroshima and other nuclear events, and later on uses many of these tragedies as a visual road map to the epic disasters he's capturing on screen. The film is at its best long before Godzilla ever enters the frame thanks to a superb cast adding such rich, emotional stakes one forgets this is supposed to be just another summer popcorn flick. Bryan Cranston is Joe Brody, a physicist struggling to get past the death of his wife fifteen years earlier when she was killed by an accident at a Japanese nuclear plant. Having lost his job, Joe has also lost the respect of his son, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who believes his father to be a total whack job obsessed with conspiracy theories that the Japanese government is hiding something big. The father/son dynamic is easily the best aspect of the story early on, with Cranston and Johnson playing off one another beautifully. Joe's haunted quest for the truth lends dramatic thrust to what is essentially a slow burn mystery. Ford, who now a husband, father, and soldier in the Ordinance Disposal unit (that'll come in handy later), is reluctantly dragged into exploring the quarantined zone where the original disaster occurred. There they discover a secret that threatens the world, and Ford learns that his dad wasn't a total nut job all these years.

From there all of the compelling emotional stakes and familial dynamics get roasted like they were caught in Godzilla's atomic fire. The typically-awesome Ken Watanabe doesn't do much but look bewildered as Dr. Ichiro Serizawa, a scientist who has been studying these disasters for decades and knows the truth about them. Now he's working at a secret facility where cocooned radioactive energy-sapping creatures are being housed in secret, even though their mere presence screws with all electronics and threatens the whole planet. It's also just kind of stupid in general terms. When the creatures inevitably escape and cause all types of havoc, another monster awakens to combat them, with Serizawa hypothesizing it's nature's way of finding balance. Godzilla has often been portrayed as an avatar of Mother Earth, a protector of the planet, and the film works this aspect into the story seamlessly without going too far with it. Nobody wants to see Godzilla turned into Captain Planet or anything like that.

The humans scramble around to make their plans to stop all of the monsters walking (or flying) the earth, and as one might expect it involves nukes and lots of gunfire, things we know are never going to work. Meanwhile, Ford is bouncing from location to location trying to get back home to his family, but he's really sort of adrift without a whole lot to do. There comes a point where human focus leaves Joe and shifts to Ford, and the story never quite recovers from that. We have no emotional investment in ford other than his return home, while the long-held tension he had with Joe provided the greatest heft. Elizabeth Olsen is sorely wasted as Ford's wife, and the same can be said for other bit players Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, and David Strathairn. The amount of talent gone to waste here is phenomenal. As I said before, Godzilla movies all tend to leave their human characters in the background or relegate them to stock roles, and this is no different. Mostly the humans fumble around dumbfounded while the monsters cause wide scale disasters, and the whole thing just comes off as empty and pointless. We know it will be Godzilla who saves the day in the end, so where's the drama in everything that comes before that?

Poorly executed story aside, Godzilla is often the jaw-dropper we were always hoping it would be.  This is the first big movie by Edwards, who floored many with his small-budget creature feature, Monsters. That film was an immigration parable clearly inspired by Godzilla movies, and here he throws in a dose of Spielberg-ian wonder to much of the spectacle. The visuals are impressive and will have you geeking out over the awesome scale of it, especially the design of Godzilla himself. He looks great and there's an incredible level of detail in every movement. Edwards keeps him hidden in a thick haze of smoke, fog, and shadow until the time is just right for maximum impact. The way he builds tension is a thing of pure beauty.  Less impressive are the other monsters, called MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Objects) which look hastily thrown together and rather generic. This severely hurts the monster clashes which never quite live up to the exhilarating display they ought to be.

There are good ideas here, and Edwards is a genuine talent and perhaps does the best with a modern Godzilla film than anybody could have hoped for. Godzilla as a character simply doesn't hold a lot of appeal outside of being a force of nature. He's awesome to look at and be in awe of but without human characters audiences can connect with, Godzilla might as well keep that mighty roar to himself.

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Interview: Gareth Edwards Talks 'Godzilla', Honoring the Creature's Origins, His Influences, and More

Roaring into theaters this weekend is Gareth Edwards' Godzilla, a big screen rebirth of the legendary movie monster who has been around for sixty years and more than thirty feature films. Edwards impressed with his debut feature, the small-budget monster movie appropriately titled Monsters, which showed he has a gift for visual effects and creature design, and obviously it convinced Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures he was the right man for the job. They certainly gave him an excellent cast to work in Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, and Juliette Binoche.

Tim Gordon and I had a chance to talk to Gareth Edwards for our show, Addicted to Film, and he talked about the challenges of bringing Godzilla back and doing it right. He also talked about Godzilla's construction, coming up with a fresh origin that respected the past, and some of his concern taking over such a huge studio project. You can watch that interview below.

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'Godzilla' Emerges from the Sea in New Clip

Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures aren't letting up on the marketing for Godzilla, even as the king of all monsters prepares to stomp his way into theaters in just a few days. While the cast is top notch and look as if they'll have plenty of opportunity to be put through the emotional wringer, the real hook is the monster himself, brought to life by director Gareth Edwards in his first big studio film. So how does it look? The latest clip gives a pretty good idea of the film's ominous mood as Godzilla emerges from the sea for an attack.

Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, Juliette Binoche, and David Strathairn, Godzilla opens in theaters on May 16th.

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Godzilla See It Before It Hits Theaters!

Summer movie season is kicking off with a roar! I know, that sounds terribly cliche, but this time it's literal! Not to mention it comes from a 20 story lizard who has become an icon of all things cinematic, hell...he IS the original movie monster, King Kong had too many redeeming qualities to win that prize. I don't see it until next week, so I can't tell you how good it is...but something tells me this is going to be miles ahead of our last visit from Godzilla back in 1998 (though that movie did have one shining light in the song "Come With Me", make fun of me all you want but you know that song was off the chains). Here's the official synopsis: 

In Summer 2014, the world’s most revered monster is reborn as Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures unleash the epic action adventure “Godzilla.” From visionary new director Gareth Edwards (“Monsters”) comes a powerful story of human courage and reconciliation in the face of titanic forces of nature, when the awe-inspiring Godzilla rises to restore balance as humanity stands defenseless.

The screening is this Monday, May 12th 7PM at the Regal Majestic in Silver Spring. We have 20 pairs of tickets and winners will be chosen at random. You just need to do two things 1) If you're already a fan of the PDC Facebook page then invite 10 friends to become fans 2) Tell us who was Godzilla's greatest monster adversary.

Send all entries to punchdrunkcritics@gmail.com. Winners will be notified Sunday evening.

That's it! Good luck and thanks for reading!

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New Images and Five Clips from 'Godzilla'

By now a handful of top critics have had a chance to experience Gareth Edwards' Godzilla, and while they aren't allowed to reveal their thoughts on it just yet, some early word is beginning to sneak out. For some, the return of the legendary screen monster is one of the most anticipated events of the summer, and apparently even when the film arrives audiences will be waiting awhile for Godzilla to appear on screen. That should have been obvious just based on the marketing campaign that has kept Godzilla largely out of view, but now there's some confirmation of it.

So it seems as if this Godzilla movie will be more of a pot boiler, a tension-filled horror movie rather than just a straight-up disaster film, and we get more of a sense of that in five new clips and some newly released images. The cast is superb with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, Bryan Cranson, Sally Hawkins, Juliette Binoche, and David Strathairn all on board to survive the creature's rampage. For me the image of Strathairn and Watanabe together

Godzilla opens on May 16th.


Godzilla - Right to know by Teaser-Trailer.com


Godzilla Movie CLIP You Need To Get Out Of There (2014) by MovieClips Trailers


Godzilla Movie CLIP This is My Job (2014) by MovieClips Trailers


Godzilla Movie CLIP MUTO (2014) by MovieClips Trailers


Godzilla Movie CLIP Let Them Fight (2014) by MovieClips Trailers

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