This Hangover Will Officially Be Cured in Returning to Vegas

Yesterday on March 6th, the first official poster for the movie The Hangover Part III was released. It showed one of the main characters, Alan, played by Zach Galifianakis, “facing off” with Leslie Chow, the main “villain” in every movie in the franchise, played by Ken Jeong. Today, the official teaser trailer was released. Not much was revealed, except that it will take place in Las Vegas, as the first movie did, it will have many of the same characters as the previous first two films, and that it will be the final movie of the series. Source:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/06/hangover-3-poster-new-teaser_n_2822265.html#slide=more219711

This is big news in the movie community, considering the first movie is presently the highest-grossing R-rated comedy ever in the United States, and the second movie out-grossed its predecessor in worldwide earnings to become the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time, even internationally. The first movie received very positive reviews, some critics acclaiming it is one of the funniest movie ever made, however the second movie was regarded with much less positive reviews, with many complaints directed towards it being too similar to the first movie.

Personally, I thought the first movie was a fantastic film, and probably one of the funniest movies I have ever seen, with the second being still very funny, even though the storyline was a bit too similar to that of the first movie. I am excited to see what happens in the finale, what characters the movie focuses on, and how they end the extremely popular franchise while incorporating the setting used in the first movie. The movie opens in all United States theaters on May 24, 2013. Source:

http://news.moviefone.com/2013/03/07/hangover-3-teaser-trailer_n_2829335.html

Official Trailer:

MacFarlane Not Much of a Family-Guy Last Sunday

Last Sunday, the 85th Academy Awards were regarded as entertaining and satisfactory by some, and plain bad by others, mostly due to the performance as Seth MacFarlane as the host. However, there were big winners in the night, including “Life of Pi” winning four awards, the most for the evening, including Ang Lee for the Best Director category, and “Les Misérables” and “Argo” winning three awards, including “Argo” for best picture, a second win for Ben Affleck, director in this case, in the history of the Academy Awards. Additionally, in the acting categories, Daniel Day-Lewis won Best Actor for “Lincoln,” and Jennifer Lawrence for Best Actress for “Silver Linings Playbook.” Source:

http://oscar.go.com/nominees

There were also many notable several first-time feats, including “Argo” becoming the first Best Picture winner in 23 years not to have a Best Director nomination, and Daniel Day-Lewis became the first actor in the history of the Academy Awards to win three Best Actor awards (1989, 2007, and 2012). Additionally, First Lady Michelle Obama presented the Best Picture award over telecast, drawing some appraisal by some, and criticism by others.

A hot topic following the Oscars pertained to Jennifer Lawrence and her like-ability and quirkiness in post-Oscar interviews, including:

Another was Seth MacFarlane and his hosting abilities and jokes. His job received criticism, including his jokes carried too much ideals of sexism, racism, antisemitism, and homophobia, with National Public Radio calling it “one of the worst hosting performances in Oscar history.” However, many liked his performance, with The Chicago Tribune saying “he kept a solid handle on the proceedings, and opened with a series of jokes that were bona fide winners, landing on just the right tone: confident but not cocksure.” Regardless, two days after his hosting, he said he will never host again, even though he had fun doing it.

I believe that each winner deserved their award, especially “Argo.” I thought Argo was undoubtedly the best movie I saw this year, and although I thought it would not win, I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed MacFarlane’s performance as well, as he has always been crossing the line, so it was to no surprise what his jokes entailed. I liked this year’s Oscars, and I hope to see who will be hosting next year’s Oscars and am excited to see some great movies this year.

Many Firsts for The 2013 Oscars

This Sunday (February 24th) the 85th Academy Awards will be hosted at the Dolby Theatre in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. It will be hosted by “Family Guy” and “Ted” creator, Seth MacFarlane, with it being his first time ever.

There are nine pictures up for the Best Picture category, with five nominations in the Best Director category, including Steven Spielberg for “Lincoln,” with “Lincoln” also up for Best Picture.  The films receiving the most nominations was “Lincoln” with twelve, followed by “Life of Pi” with eleven.

There are also a number of special achievements in the 85th Academy Awards, such as “Amour” (French) becoming the first film in twelve years to be nominated for both Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film, with the last film doing so in 2000. Emmanuelle Riva, at 85, became the oldest nominee in the Best Actress category as well in the history of the awards. “Silver Linings Playbook” also became the first film in 31 years to receive nominations in all four acting categories, with the last film accomplishing this in 1981. Additionally, for the first time in the history of the awards, the Best Supporting Actor category consists only of previous winners, with Alan Arkin, Tommy Lee Jones, Christoph Waltz, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Robert De Niro being nominated in the category. (Now that is a star-studded [supporting] lineup.)

I have seen five of the nine nominated films for the Best Picture category, (“Argo,” “Django Unchained,” “Lincoln,” “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Zero Dark Thirty”,) and I thought all of them were equally great films in their own respective ways. Each film is completely different from the next, but whether it was comedy, drama, or action, the films were great examples of superior filmmaking, and I am excited to see which film comes out on top.

More Information:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/oscars/2013/

Super Bowl Sunday Helping the Super-Hero

Last Sunday, February 3rd, the Super Bowl showed a trailer for Iron Man 3 during the commercials. This movie will be the third installment of the Tony Stark legacy, and for the Iron Man series. This is big news for the movie world, because of the past success and records that the previous Iron Mans have won.

The original Iron Man, which was released in 2008, soared in the box office, grossing $35.2 million on its first day, giving it the thirteenth biggest opening day of all time currently, and grossing almost $99 million on its opening weekend, making it the ninth biggest wide release in terms of theaters of all-time, along with also having the second-best premiere for a non-sequel, and the fourth biggest-opening for a superhero film. In 2010, Iron Man 2 grossed $128 million in its opening weekend, making it the fifth-highest opening weekend ever. Both films also were nominated in the Academy Awards in their respective years, with Iron Man up for nomination for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Editing, and Iron Man 2 additionally for Best Visual Effects.

Directed by Shane Black, the movie will star some new people in this installment, including Oscar-winner Ben Kingsley as the villain, The Mandarin, and Rebecca Hall, who starred in 2010 film The Town as Ben Affleck’s love interest. It was also announced, that there will be a fourth film released as well. I have seen the first two films, and I thoroughly enjoyed both, with both films having a great combination of comedy and action, so I am excited for this third installment, as are many other people I am sure. Iron Man 3 will be released May 3rd, 2013 in all United States theaters.