No matter how incompatible your personal tastes might be with his work, it’s impossible to deny the impact that Christopher Nolan has made and continues to make in a cinematic landscape forever changed by COVID-19 and the rise of the nostalgia market. Even now, with a box office that bows almost exclusively to fandom films, Nolan is still capable of pulling massive audiences with his standalone juggernauts, the next of which will be an adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey. 6s233u

But it was Interstellar that marked the beginning of the latest and greatest Nolan era as the first film to follow the conclusion of his Dark Knight trilogy. Since then, Nolan’s films have flourished on the back of his singular impulses more than ever, and try as some folks might, the effectiveness and perseverance of his style is undeniable.

And the Netflix charts would agree. Per FlixPatrol, Interstellar is currently the eighth most-watched film on the United States’ Netflix film charts at the time of writing, though it seems to be having a tough time keeping up with a fifth-place Despicable Me and a sixth-place Despicable Me 2. Indeed, depending on the day, even IMAX-worthy spectacle will struggle against the calculated gibberish of Universal’s one-eyed merchandising critters.

Interstellar stars Matthew McConaughey as Joseph Cooper, a former NASA pilot living on a dystopian, blight-ridden Earth who’s recruited for a mission through space in the hopes of finding a new home for mankind. A wormhole just might lead him to the answers he’s looking for, but perhaps those answers are closer to home than he initially realized.

Nolan famously forgoes immediately comprehensible logic for the sake of a viscerally cinematic experience if need be, and Interstellar is certainly one such case. The awe-inspiring biomes, scientific density, and existential girth of Interstellar makes for a particularly chunky soup that doesn’t easily accommodate the film’s plot (or, depending on who you ask, the film’s xerox of a plot).

In this way, however, Nolan’s filmmaking method fundamentally challenges the way that most people tend to watch movies, and arguably invites viewers to actively think about how they watch movies, and how they can change those habits. With that in mind, Interstellar is perhaps the quintessential Christopher Nolan film, as it prompts us to think about ourselves and our place in the universe, and how we’re capable of addressing our relationship to our existence, just as Nolan’s style prompts us to reconsider our relationship to watching a film.

As for how exactly Interstellar does that, there’s perhaps no better example than this quote on love from Anne Hathaway’s character, Dr. Amelia Brand: “Maybe it’s some evidence, some artifact of a higher dimension that we can’t consciously perceive. I’m drawn across the universe to someone I haven’t seen in a decade, who I know is probably dead. Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space. Maybe we should trust that, even if we can’t understand it.”

I hope you liked Despicable Me 2, because there is now no shadow of a doubt that we’ll get Despicable Me 3, Minions and possibly a TV show, breakfast cereal, more video games and anything else the marketing folks at Universal can come up with. Why is this you ask? Well, the number crunchers at the studio have discovered that Despicable Me 2 was, in fact, Universal’s most profitable move EVER. That’s right. Ever. How did Universal come to this conclusion? Well, Despicable Me 2 has pulled in a $663.5 million gross to date, on a budget of just $76 million. That’s quite a profit, and a low budget for an animated film nowadays. The Croods and Turbo both cost $135 million, while Epic cost $100 million; none of them made the money that Despicable Me 2 did. What does this mean for the future? Spin-offs, naturally, and at least one more sequel. Unfortunately, it also means that Universal has now come to the conclusion that original ideas are not where it’s at. They plan to continue to focus on their franchises. No one at Universal seems to consider that before a Despicable Me 2, you have to have a Despicable Me; before a franchise happens, someone, somewhere, needs to take a risk. 2013’s top grossers were almost all part of franchises, but then again that might have something to do with the number of franchise films that have been released this year. It’s all very well to sing the praises of franchises, but at a certain point – often out there around the third or fourth film – people begin to get a little weary of the same material over and over again. We’ll have to wait and see what this all means for the future of Universal. They recently partnered with Legendary Pictures, which has a strong dedication to developing original content outside of Universal’s major franchises. Maybe that partnership will be a good balance for Universal. What do you think?

Kristen Wiig, a name synonymous with comedy. A name that up until a few years ago, wasn’t all that well known. Truth be told, it wasn’t until 2011 that Wiig really broke out, thanks to the mega-successful Bridesmaids. Yes, she had a long list of respectable credits before that but after Paul Feig’s hilarious ensemble comedy, Wiig became an A-list talent and now, she’s hotter than ever. This month, Wiig has Despicable Me 2 coming out and recently, she attended the film’s press day in Los Angeles to participate in a roundtable interview, which we were fortunate enough to be at. Check out what she had to say below. What was the most attractive thing about the Lucy character? What made you want the role? Kristen Wiig: After doing and seeing the first one, and loving the movie, when they asked me to be in the sequel I said yes right away. I knew they wanted to make this character very enthusiastic though. She has to be able to bring Gru back and at the same time have that personality that he would be attracted to. I’ve never really played anyone like that before and it was a lot of fun. You’ve played characters who’ve had bigger problems with romance than this one but she’s still a little romantically impaired. Where do you fall on the scale?  Kristen Wiig: Aren’t we all romantically impaired? [laughs] In the beginning of any relationship you always feel a bit awkward and you’re nervous because you’re meeting someone for the first time. I don’t know how I would rate myself though. [laughs] After appearing in the first film, and then returning and playing a different character, how different was the experience for you? Kristen Wiig: It was very different. The characters are polar opposities in how they act and look. When they asked me to do the sequel I was very excited but I knew that my character from the first film wouldn’t be in it. But then they approached me with this new character and luckily it all worked out. You and Steve [Carell] both have sketch comedy experience, was there room for ad-libbing in this film? Kristen Wiig: You would read the script, which was great, and try it a bunch of different ways, and they would need you to try it a bunch of different ways for editing purposes. But there were also times where they would say “ok go crazy” or “do your take on it,” so it was a mix. Mostly by the script though. What was your first reaction to the methed-out, purple version of the Minions? Kristen Wiig: It was really funny actually. And I liked how when they were evil, they had hair. Very crazy, bushy hair. I just thought it was an interesting take on having everything go wrong. How do you find the voice for a character? Do you have to see the character first? Kristen Wiig: It kind of depends. On this one we didn’t really veer too much from my own voice, just kind of amped it up a bit. It depends on the project though and here they wanted Lucy to be more down to earth and real sounding. Continue reading on the next page…

The more I think about Despicable Me 2, the more depressed it makes me feel. The 2010 original is one of my favorite non-Pixar American animated films of the 21^st century, a hilarious and heartfelt family comedy with a strong, poignant emotional core and vivid, three-dimensional characters. Despicable Me 2 follows not in the footsteps of its predecessor, but in those of the endless, generic cookie-cutter animated sequels of recent times, like Shrek 3-4, Ice Age 2-4, Madagascar 2-3, and Kung Fu Panda 2. Where the original film felt like it had something to prove, boasting a creative energy and thematic confidence that was absolutely refreshing, Despicable Me 2 coasts 100% on autopilot, if that. It is a thoroughly lazy, disengaged mess of mediocrity, and while the animation is very nice, and the majority of the vocal performances are reasonably strong, it feels as if little to no effort went in to virtually every other element of the film. I have seen much worse movies this year, but as I have said before, and sadly suspect I shall say again in the future, nothing makes me more depressed about the state of Hollywood than cash-grab animated sequels like these. If I sound harsh, that is because I feel very, very strongly that animated and family films should be judged as critically as anything else, if not more so. Kids deserve the best, and just because Hollywood clearly can make disgusting piles of cash without going the extra mile (or even making any creative effort to begin with) does not mean they should. No, children are not particularly discerning consumers of media, but that is because it is an acquired skill, one that correlates directly to the quality of what they are shown, and how engaged the material allows them to be. I have no problem with mindless, goofy fun – that is absolutely an integral part of childhood – but many of these animated sequels barely operate on that level, while the films of Pixar, and studio outliers like the original Despicable Me, have proven that such fun can absolutely be had while married to a genuine story with compelling characters (and films that achieve this are, not coincidentally, the ones that tend to have the biggest box-office success). In short, I only ask that Hollywood respect the children that drive so much of their financial success – that ‘just decent enough’ for theatrical distribution stop being the creative standard for these sequels. I understand how integral franchising is to the industry’s bottom line, and while I would prefer the studios try developing more original properties for children and families, I do not believe these sequels have to be so frustratingly insipid. At the end of the day, all it really takes is a good story; no matter how little a film may call for it, a sequel can absolutely be a rewarding creative endeavor if a strong story and central theme can be identified (the recent Monsters University is proof of this). Even with the majority of the original creative team returning, though, this is where Despicable Me 2 falls short. The plot – a new, mysterious super-villain has stolen a dangerous chemical compound, and an espionage organization recruits reformed bad-guy Gru (Steve Carell) to help track him down – is not necessarily uninspired, and I think you could hang a reasonably fun family spy adventure on that premise, but the execution is paper-thin. Gru is given a goofy partner, Lucy (Kristen Wiig), and in one of the most inexplicably unimaginative set-ups in recent memory, the two establish their operation in a shopping mall to investigate local business owners, one of whom might be the bad guy. I am inclined to say ‘antics ensue,’ but that would only be partially accurate, as the mall conceit is really just an excuse to get the main characters out of the way and keep them busy while the minions – those popular, hyper-energetic yellow creatures that have become Illumination Entertainment’s mascots – engage in various slapstick shenanigans. The minions were, of course, the breakout characters of the original, and a major reason why that film garnered such extreme popularity, and it is abundantly clear that the core purpose of making this sequel, both creatively and commercially, was to give the audience more of them. Much more. The structure of the first two acts alternates between a scene with Gru and the human characters, then a mildly amusing slapstick sketch with the minions. Wash, rinse, and repeat, over and over again. Even the Ice Age films never went this heavy on their mascot character, Scrat, and while the minions continue to get some chuckles, I found myself increasingly disillusioned the more apparent it became that quantity of minions, not quality of minions, was the goal at hand. Gru and Lucy’s investigation does not even have a chance to develop into anything funny, exciting, or interesting, because the movie is constantly in a hurry to return to the minions, thus leaving every Gru sequence rushed and underdeveloped. Gru and Lucy basically discover who the bad guy is the moment they move in to the mall, and then proceed to move in circles until the climax is thrust upon them (at which point the minions, as one might guess, basically take over the show). It never feels, for a second, like the creative team had any interest whatsoever in returning to the human characters for this sequel, and that is reflected in the core character arcs of the picture. I actually think one could take the relationship between Gru and his three adopted daughters established in the first film in several interesting directions – had Pixar made this sequel, I suspect they would have told an interesting story about fatherhood and adoption – but Illumination chose the most obvious, insultingly saccharine route possible: the girls want a mother, and Gru needs a wife. It is a cliché sequel direction audiences have seen over and over again in the past, and at this point, I find myself actively offended by it. Many of the kids who will go see Despicable Me 2 this weekend are no doubt raised by single parents. There is nothing wrong with single parenting, nor is there anything bad about being single. A kid can have a perfectly happy and fulfilling childhood without two parents, and a mom or a dad can do just fine without a partner. The quality of parenting is not determined by its adherence to social normalcy, and that is a message I suspect many children of single parents would benefit from hearing. Outside of Toy Story, after all, how often do we actually see Hollywood portray healthy single-parent families? It is a common trope in family films to have one parent missing, and to then present the story in such a way where the ‘absence’ must be ‘corrected.’ In some cases, this results in fertile emotional or dramatic material (think of Marlin struggling to do right by his son in Finding Nemo), but for the most part, the message tends to be that there is something inherently wrong with non-nuclear families, and that is a negative stereotype. What frustrates me so much about Despicable Me 2 is that, coming out of the original, they have the absolute perfect opportunity to avoid these pitfalls, and explore the process of single parenting through Gru and the girls. Gru is established to be a good father, after all, and the girls are shown to be extremely happy with him in their life. What is missing there? I cannot tell you, because the film does not defend or develop its own thematic core. The entire arc basically boils down to the youngest daughter, Margo, mentioning twice that she wants a mom, Gru resisting outside efforts to make him date on two or three occasions, and then Gru and Lucy suddenly falling in love and getting married. That’s it, not that there is time for anything more substantial with so much of the film being given over to the minions. In any case, simply declaring the arc of the picture, without depicting any clear reason why Gru and the girls need a mother figure to feel ‘whole,’ is not only lazy writing, but disrespectful to the single parents and children in the audience who have probably heard this insipid Hollywood drivel far too much in the past, and might like to identify with a meaningful representation of their lives for once. Now, will kids genuinely be aware of the problems I have outlined here? No, most likely not. But quality still matters, because whether or not a child is critically cognizant of the media they watch, this material still affects them. Despicable Me 2 is empty calories, loads of bright colors and simplistic slapstick without anything particularly beneficial to hang it on, and while that hurts children more as a trend than a singular experience, I cannot in good conscience recommend the film when it so thoughtlessly plays in to this trend. Despicable Me 2 is not a bad film; there are legitimately amusing bits here and there, and while I think the character arcs are recklessly underdeveloped, there is nothing here children will be worse off for seeing. But neither is there anything that would do a child any good, and that is the harmful trend I speak of. Especially in these animated sequels, Hollywood is conditioning children to expect hollow, easily digestible mediocrity, and if this really is all the industry is interested in offering, I wonder how a kid who only watches the new, major releases can be expected to grow up into a critically discerning adult viewer. Media is important. It is one of the major filters through which we experience the world around us, and I feel very, very strongly that this should be reflected in children’s entertainment. On its own, Despicable Me 2 is just a lazy, disappointing sequel. As part of the larger cinematic experience we are collectively living through at this moment in time, though, it acts as further affirmation that Hollywood animation is growing increasingly useless, and that children and families are being treated with active commercial contempt. That depresses me, and I can ensure you I feel no joy whatsoever in reporting depression as my core emotional takeaway from a sequel to a film I loved.

Though he’ll likely always be ed for his role as Michael Scott on the hit TV show The Office, Steve Carell his making his mark on the film world and is doing so in an effective manner. After starring in the surprise-hit animated flick Despicable Me back in 2010, the actor is back to reprise his role as Gru in the sequel, aptly titled Despicable Me 2. Last week, Carell was in Los Angeles doing press for the film and we were lucky enough to attend a roundtable interview with him. Among other things, he discussed what it was like coming back to play the character, how he came up with the voice for Gru, the music of the film, and much more. Check it out below. Steve, you have a teenage daughter… Steve Carell: She’s twelve. That’s getting there. Steve Carell: Don’t push it. (laughs) You’re rushing it. Are you experiencing similar things that Gru is experiencing with his daughter? How’d it make you feel doing that part? Steve Carell: We’re not quite there and I hope I’m not the same sort of dad. I hope I don’t act that way with a freeze-ray gun. It’s tricky, because I don’t want to be that overprotective dad, but at the same time, I do want to protect them. I understand what the character in the movie is going through, because you don’t want to see your kids get hurt. That’s the main thing. You know they’re going to have their hearts broken at some point. You can’t ultimately protect them from having that happen. I’m just enjoying their childhood as long as I can, because I know there’s going to be another period of time that’s going to be very different and difficult growth period for everybody, my wife and I as well. How do you like returning to the character and what do you think of the evolution of the character? Steve Carell: I love it. I think the movie itself is an evolution. I think it’s an extension of the first movie, which I thought was smart. The characters changed and grew, no pun intended, but at the same time, the sense of the movie feels familiar. The tone of it is the same as the first one, but the family is different. That dynamic is different. He’s no longer officially a villain. Not to put too fine a point on it or overanalyze the movie, but there are certain things that struck me about the movie. One, that Gru is searching for what he is going to do. He thinks he’s going to start a jam and jelly business, but that doesn’t seem to be working out. He can’t go back to being a villain, but ultimately needs something that will fulfill him, which I think is a very relatable thing for parents. When you do have kids, I found that it becomes all about the kids and it’s very easy to lose your sense of self within that. You do have to keep your career and that side of it intact, because ultimately I think that makes you a better parent. I think the movie is very timely with Father’s Day and was wondering was there any message in regards to single dads or the aspects of adoption? Steve Carell: I think it celebrates family more than anything. I think it celebrates a sense of love and commitment to one another, but I don’t think it has any sort of political stands on anything. I think at its heart that it’s a very sweet, kind movie with these sort of dark trappings. That’s one of the things that attracted me to the first one. It’s a movie that doesn’t condescend to children. It plays to the top of their intelligence. I know, when I was a child, I wanted to be challenged. I wanted things that might be a little bit scary. “Edgy” might be too strong a word. I wanted things to challenge me, even as a kid. That’s one of the things that attracted me about it. I think underlying all of that is just a real sense of family and warmth. The first one just made me feel good when I saw it. That’s why I wanted to do this one, too. I think it does the same thing and it’s funny. In The Way, Way Back, you play a decidedly more dysfunctional parental figure. As an actor, which is more fun to play? Which can you learn more from it? Steve Carell: They’re so different. Keep in mind that I show up and I provide a voice. So much of this character is the animation, really most of it. They’re geniuses at it. You see the final product and you want to claim credit for all of it. I only have to do with but a small percentage of what goes into the movie. It’s just fun. There’s an enormous freedom to fail and you can do anything. The voice is really simple and easy. I keep saying that with the accent, I really set the bar low for myself, because it’s not really an accent. There’s no doing it wrong, because it’s a conglomeration of every European country in the world plus a little Latin America and some French. It’s really all over the map. I made it very, very simple for myself in that way and very easy. It’s just fun. It’s just light. I don’t know if there are necessarily lessons to be learned within it, but I think there’s a sense of goodness, and I don’t want to overstate it, but the movie is just very kind. It’s very simple in a way and it has a good heart. It’s so much fun to do a kind of villainous, but comedic character within that. In The Way, Way Back, the guy is kind of a jerk. He’s somebody, in my opinion, who might have had a trying childhood. I liken him to a coach. I had a lot of coaches that were very hard on the kids in the name of building character. But It could have the opposite effect on kids. Both are identifiable for different reasons and I think for different results. Continue reading on the next page…

Oscar-winning scene-chewer Al Pacino has abruptly vacated his role in Universal Pictures’ animated sequel Despicable Me 2 only two months before its release. It’s being reported that actor Benjamin Bratt (Miss Congeniality, Traffic) will step in to assume the role left open by Pacino, which is that of the film’s antagonist El Macho.   The reason cited for Pacino’s departure is “creative differences,” naturally leaving everybody to question what sort of creative differences could arise while making an animated family film. Pacino has been known to go to the extreme with every character he plays, so it may be related to his technique. If I had to venture a guess, I would predict the directors were hoping for some of his Scarface intensity for the villain which perhaps Pacino was reluctant to provide.  Again, your guess is as good as ours. Despicable Me 2 has been a priority project at Universal since the first film raked in a jaw-dropping $543 million worldwide.  It includes the voice talents of Steve Carell (Anchorman, Crazy Stupid Love), Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids, Adventureland) and Russell Brand (Rock of Ages, Arthur). I have to it, I was initially surprised to hear that Pacino decided to do a voice in an animated film.  It seemed very out of character (no pun intended) for the veteran actor, but I guess it was a wise move considering the direction his career has taken in recent years. At one point, this film had Javier Bardem attached to the “El Macho” character, but he was forced to drop out at the last minute.  The last great Al Pacino film I can was director Michael Mann’s brilliant masterpiece The Insider.  I still can’t decide if this move is going to hurt or help Pacino. What do you think?  Tell us in the comments below. Despicable Me 2 hits theaters on July 3rd.

A couple of years ago, I walked into a screening of the first Despicable Me not knowing anything about it and not really expecting to get much out of it. Little did I know that it would actually be a very surprising film, even making my top ten list of 2010. Now that we’re faced with a sequel, the aptly-named Despicable Me 2, I’m actually finding myself anticipating an animated film, something that hasn’t happened in quite some time. Today, thanks to First Showing, we have a new Halloween trailer for the film that features comedy, suspense, and even an alien abduction. From this trailer, it’s hard to pin down just what the film will be about, if it even has anything to do with it at all. Last time we saw these characters, Gru had adopted some kids that he was originally going to use in one of his schemes, so presumably it will pick up somewhere from there. Unfortunately, the plot is still being kept a secret for the time being, so we’ll just have to keep guessing as to where the story could possibly go from where the original left off. Hopefully the filmmakers will deliver something that’s just as memorable this time around. Despicable Me 2 hits theaters next summer on July 3, 2013. Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think in the comments.

Those little yellow guys are back as Universal has released the first teaser trailer for Despicable Me 2. Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, Despicable Me 2 will have Steve Carell reprising his role as Gru while Al Pacino will be ing the cast as the villain. Being only a teaser, all we really get here is a short, yet cute, clip of the minions doing a little song. No real footage and unfortunately, no hints as to what the plot will be. This is really more of an announcement trailer but the minions should be enough to draw people in. They were the main attraction of the first film and how can anyone resist their rendition of the Beach Boys’ Barbara Ann? Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think. Despicable Me 2 will hit theatres on July 3rd, 2013.

Academy Award winner and Spanish heartthrob Javier Bardem is in talks to voice the character El Macho in Despicable Me 2. Few details are known about the character except that he will be the villain, will have a son named Machito, and presumably, he’ll be hilariously evil. Bardem‘s voice will be perfect for a Spanish villain, considering the fact that he plays a flawless bad guy (i.e. No Country For Old Men) and his accent is appropriately Spanish. Hopefully Bardem’s El Macho will be as funny as Jason Segel‘s Vector, the original antagonist. In the first film, Steve Carell does the voice of Gru, a cliche villain who is just trying to find himself in the bad guy world, when he ends up opening his heart for three orphaned girls. One can only assume that most of the main characters from the first film will be in the second, putting Carell, Miranda Cosgrove, Russell Brand, Will Arnett, and a trough of other comedians in Despicable Me 2. Do you think Javier Bardem would make a good addition to this cast? Let us know in the comments.

Universal Studios has released a new teaser poster for their animated feature, Despicable Me 2. The first film grossed over $251 million on an estimated budget of only $69 million. That is quite impressive for an animated film that wasn’t a sequel or an adaptation of a comic/show/book. It’s no surprise Universal Studios and Illumination Entertainment were so eager to get another film off the ground. While I personally wasn’t a fan of the first film, I can certainly see why people enjoyed it. It managed to bring a level of comedy to the film that was both funny for kids and adults, which made it easy on the parents who had to drag their kids to it. There isn’t anything else confirmed about the film other than a summer 2013 release date, but I can assume Steve Carell will return as the leading role. Check out the teaser poster below, thanks to LatinoReview: