The Retreat That Saved The World. “Dunkirk” Review

By Eric Gasa

The battle of Dunkirk was hardly one to begin with. It was a miracle decided by hours, a near calamity in sight of home, a retreat that may have foolhardily saved the war. In history books, the evacuation of Dunkirk is little more than a tidy little paragraph; a footnote in time but its impact cannot be understated.

Operation Dynamo lasted little more than a week but saved the lives of over 400,000 Allied soldiers trapped on the shores of France. It’s within this brief and under-looked facet of the war that director Christopher Nolan expands a weeklong rescue into a telling, intimate statement of innocence, war, and humanity’s undying will to survive.

Dunkirk’s opening scenes are serene yet surreal. A group of British soldiers appear on a deathly quiet and abandoned French street. They skulk around looking for water, smokes, or any signs of hope or life. A light breeze carries a flurry of German pamphlets onto the soldiers.

A beleaguered grunt reads the scrap: “WE SURROUND YOU,” it says, “Surrender + Survive!”
Emboldened arrows point to the Allies last vestige of hope at Dunkirk like pitchforks. The year is 1940 and the German advance has the Allies’ backs up against the wall.
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Action-Packed “Blade Runner 2049” New Trailer Released

By Creative Media Times

“No one can outrun the truth” in new trailer for “Blade Runner 2049.” Its amazing to think that we are two years away from the original Blade Runner’s dystopian Los Angeles of 2019. Though that film left a lot of unanswered questions and people confused, it has since garnered a cult following.

Now we have a sequel which takes place 30 years after, possibly answering many questions born out of the original. Some of those questions involve the nature of Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) and the trailer shows plenty of the character. We also have a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), out to search for replicants, but could be the one capable of saving the world.

The trailer looks beautiful and spectacular, with a lot more action than the film’s previous trailers. On paper, the movie is in good hands. The director, Denis Villeneuve, not only knows his science fiction, but also directed some really compelling, critically acclaimed films, including Prisoners, Sicario, and last year’s sci-fi hit film Arrival. He is also working on a reboot of “Dune” another 80s sci-fi cult classic.

The film also stars Robin Wright, Jared Leto, Ana de Armas, Barkhad Abdi, Lennie James, Mackenzie Davis, and Sylvia Hoeks.

Here’s the film’s official synopsis:

Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.

“Blade Runner 2049” opens on October 6th 2017.

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Disney’s ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ Trailer Shows Plenty Of Star Power

By Creative Media Times

Walt Disney Studios


Director Ava DuVernay’s live-action adaptation of the classic science fantasy novel is mesmerizing. Disney released the new trailer during the film’s panel at D23 Expo in Anaheim, California on Saturday.

The trailer features scientist Dr. Alex Murry (Chris Pine) talking about traveling through time and space. “What if we are here for a reason? What if we are a part of something truly divine. Imagine, 91 billion light years traveled like that.” The trailer then changes pace as he snaps his fingers and the haunting cover intro of Eurythmics’ 80s hit song “Sweet Dreams” starts playing on the background.

Mrs. Which (Winfrey) then pick up the narration, explaining to Meg Murry (Storm Reid) that “your father has accomplished something extraordinary but also dangerous. He’s trapped by a darkness that’s actively spreading throughout the universe. And the only one who can stop it is you. Be a warrior.

We then see a series of fantastical end-of-the-world scenes, collapsing trees, characters falling from the sky, and disturbingly strange characters in suburban settings.

‘A Wrinkle in Time’ is based on a 1963 novel by Madeleine L’Engle. It was first adapted for a 2003 television film of the same name which, unfortunately, didn’t receive much attention.

‘A Wrinkle in Time’ stars Storm Reid, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Mindy Kaling, Deric McCabe,Levi Miller, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, André Holland, Michael Peña, Zach Galifianakis, and Oprah Winfrey.

The film opens March 9th, 2018.

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Gary Oldman As Churchill In New Trailer For “Darkest Hour”

By Creative Media Times

Focus Features

Gary Oldman is Winston Churchill in the intense new trailer for “Darkest Hour”, Joe Wright’s upcoming political drama about Britain’s wartime prime minister, out later this year.

Ever a chameleon and versatile actor, Oldman is unrecognizable in the trailer, which shows Churchill after his appointment as Prime Minister, his decisions under the looming pressures of Nazi Germany, and the fight he instead chose to make.

Joining Oldman is a sterling cast: Ben Mendelsohn as King George VI, Kristin Scott Thomas as Churchill’s wife Clementine, Ronald Pickup as Neville Chamberlain, Stephen Dillane as Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, and Lily James as personal secretary of Churchill Elizabeth Nel.

Here’s the film’s official synopsis:

A thrilling and inspiring true story begins on the eve of World War II as, within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill (Academy Award nominee Gary Oldman) must face one of his most turbulent and defining trials: exploring a negotiated peace treaty with Nazi Germany, or standing firm to fight for the ideals, liberty and freedom of a nation. As the unstoppable Nazi forces roll across Western Europe and the threat of invasion is imminent, and with an unprepared public, a skeptical King, and his own party plotting against him, Churchill must withstand his darkest hour, rally a nation, and attempt to change the course of world history.

Focus Features will release Darkest Hour in select cities on November 22, 2017. Watch the official trailer below:

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“The Shallows” Director Frontrunner For “Suicide Squad 2”

By Creative Media Times

Warner Bros. Pictures


Jaume Collet-Serra, who scored a hit last summer after directing the Blake Lively film The Shallows, has emerged as frontrunner to helm Warner Bros’ Suicide Squad 2, Deadline reports.

The past few months, it seemed that the studio was pursuing a few big names to helm the sequel, including Mel Gibson and David S. Goyer. So Collet-Serra is a bit of surprising choice. “The Shallows”, however, proved to be a profitable hit last summer, grossing $119 million worldwide on a modest $17 million budget, and was generally well received by critics.

Stepping aside is David Ayer, who wrote and directed the original film. Although the DCEU’s antihero film was panned by critics last year, “Squad” was a global success, grossing $745,600,054 million worldwide. This left little doubt about the sequel being green lit, and as well as a spin-off based on fan favorite Harley Quinn, tentatively “Gotham City Sirens”, with Margot Robbie reprising her role and which David Ayer set to direct.

The Spanish film director has been busy; he recently helmed “The Commuter” starring Liam Neeson, an action thriller set for release early next year. Neeson and the director are frequent collaborators, having previously worked together on action thrillers “Unknown” (2011), “Non-Stop” (2014) and “Run All Night” (2015).

Suicide Squad sequel currently have no official release date.

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Gerard Butler Will Try To Save The World In New ‘GEOSTORM’ Trailer

By Creative Media Times

Warner Bros. Pictures


Skydance Productions and Warner Bros. Pictures has released a new trailer for ‘Geostorm’, the big budget disaster action sci-fi from producer Dean Devlin about weather controlling satellites, and it is big as one can imagine. Gerard Butler leads the cast as a scientist who is out to save the world from catastrophes.

Here is the synopsis for Geostorm:

After an unprecedented series of natural disasters threatened the planet, the world’s leaders came together to create an intricate network of satellites to control the global climate and keep everyone safe. But now, something has gone wrong—the system built to protect the Earth is attacking it, and it’s a race against the clock to uncover the real threat before a worldwide geostorm wipes out everything…and everyone along with it.

The trailer shows plenty of humor, quite a relief from disaster flicks that take itself seriously. The film’s marketing also puts “From The Producer of Independence Day” front and center. That is of course “Dean Devlin” in his feature debut as a director. Devlin also co-wrote and produced the film. So there is plenty of potential for a breakout hit here.

Also starring Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris and Andy García, Geostorm will be in theaters on October 20th.

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‘The Grudge’ Is Getting A Reboot

By Creative Media Times

Columbia Pictures


Fans of the franchise should be delighted to know that Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures and Good Universe is set to do another take on “The Grudge”, this according to Deadline. Set to direct and write the film is Nicolas Pesce (The Eyes of My Mother). Pesce is currently working a psychological thriller called “Piercing”.

The 2004 horror film “The Grudge” starring Sarah Michelle Gellar is itself a remake of “Ju-on: The Grudge” and was also produced by Sam Raimi together with Robert Tapert and Takashige Ichise.

Directed by Japanese filmmaker Takashi Shimizu, who also is credited for being the creator of the Japanese Ju-on series, The Grudge was released in October of 2004 to boxoffice success, earning $187 million on a budget of $10 million, making it one of the highest grossing horror remakes of all time. This paved the way for a sequel released in 2006, also by Shimizu, and a third film in 2009 directed by Toby Wilkins.

There’s the synopsis of the 2004 version:
Sarah Michelle Gellar (TV’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer ) stars as an American nurse who has come to work in Tokyo. Following a series of horrifying and mysterious deaths, she encounters the vengeful supernatural spirit that possesses its victims, claims their souls, then passes its curse to another person in a spreading chain of horror. Now, she must find a way to break this supernatural spell or become the next victim of an ancient evil that never dies, but forever lives to kill.

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‘Fantastic Beasts’ Sequel Starts Shooting. New Details Revealed.

By Creative Media Times

Warner Bros. Pictures


The currently untitled sequel to Warner Bros. 2016 fantasy film “Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them” starts principal photography today at Warner Bros Studios Leavesden outside London. The sequel will be directed by David Yates, who also directed the final four films in the Harry Potter film series as well as the original ‘Fantastic Beast’ blockbuster hit.

To mark the announcement, the studio provided new plot details, per Variety, wherein “Grindelwald has made a dramatic escape and has been gathering more followers to his cause – elevating wizards above all non-magical beings. The only one who might be able to stop him is the wizard he once called his dearest friend, Albus Dumbledore. But Dumbledore will need help from the wizard who had thwarted Grindelwald once before, his former student Newt Scamander.”

Redmayne returns as Newt Scamander, along with Katherine Waterston as Tina Goldstein, Alison Sudol as Queenie Goldstein, and Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski. Johnny Depp is also back as the dangerous dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, as well as Ezra Miller, Mary Lou’s troubled adopted son Credence Barebone, and Zoe Kravitz who appeared as moving photo from Newt’s past, Leta Lestrange.

New cast member Jude Law was previously announced as a young Albus Dumbledore. Also new are Callum Turner (as Newt’s brother Theseus Scamander) and Claudia Kim.

Also written by J.K. Rowling, the Fantastic Beasts sequel is set for release on November 16, 2018.

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First Trailer to “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”

By Creative Media Times

Columbia Pictures. Distributed by Sony Pictures.


Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart is pulled into a video game while Guns N’ Roses play in the background in the new trailer for “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”, the stand-alone sequel to the 1995 hit film, “Jumanji”. “I think we got sucked into Jumanji and we’ve become the avatars that we chose,” Johnson’s Spencer character says after landing inside the jungle video game setting.

That setting is a new modernized twist to the original film starring the late Robin Williams, wherein Jumanji was a board game as opposed to a vintage video game in this Sony-Columbia reboot.

Joining Johnson and Hart are Jack Black and Karen Gillan. They play avatars of four teenagers after they are transported and stuck inside the game setting. For them to return to their world, they must get through all the obstacles and finish the game. This plot is somewhat a reverse of the original, wherein stampeding elephants and other heard of animals are released into the real world as the characters play the game.

Directed by Jake Kasdan (“Bad Teacher), “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” also stars Nick Jonas, Ser’Darius Blain, Alex Wolff, Madison Iseman, and Morgan Turner. The film is set to hit theaters later this year on Dec. 20.

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England Is Mine: New Biopic of former Smiths singer out August 4

By Eric Gasa

England Is Mine. Honlodge Productions


The dark, brilliant, and narcissistic story of Steven Morrissey is finally getting the silver screen treatment. The new biopic, titled England Is Mine, arrives in theaters August 4 and centers on the singer’s youth before forming his iconic band, The Smiths.

The Smiths are revered as the most important British band of the 1980’s, and paved the way for other rock groups like The Stone Roses and Oasis. Morrissey’s heartbroken falsetto, combined with Johnny Marr’s guitar riffs made the group into a rock & roll landmark. Though the band broke up in 1987 their music and story remains popular to this day hence this new release.

Directed by Mark Gill and starring Jack Lowden as Morrissey, England Is Mine’s early setting will give viewers a peek into Manchester’s vibrant punk scene and the singer’s personal life. The trailer, released June 30, is sleek, propulsive, and shows a bashful yet pretentious Morrissey trying to make his way into the spotlight.
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