Insurgent (2015)

Insurgent, based on the second book in the science fiction series of young-adult novels by Veronica Roth, takes us back days after the events of the first film. Divergent director Neil Burger is replaced by Robert Schwentke and so are the screenwriters. It's too early to say if this was a bad move, and again, it doesn't matter. Here's why: Insurgent is basically a rehash of Divergent but with added visual effects and a bit more violence than expected in a YA film. In other words, if you've missed the first film, Schwentke brings you up to speed with the post-apocalyptic remains of a dystopian Chicago. Tris (Shailene Woodley) is haunted by the massacre of her parents. Along with her boyfriend and instructor Four (Theo James), brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) and fellow survivor Peter (Miles Teller), Tris must do all she can to outrun, outgun and ultimately outsmart forces sent by main antagonist Jeanine (Kate Winslet).

The movie is good if you haven't read the book. I am really disappointing and OK, I know the book is always better than the movie, but the first one was almost the same as a book (perfect movie it was). This one, however, was not. I think I like the first director more because this one throw out some really important scenes and the end is a lot different and I hate thing that the relationship between Tris and Four in the movie is perfect but in the book it has its ups and downs. This movie has a lot of special effect that gave a headache. The first one was perfect adaption, but now, just MEHH

Spongebob : Sponge Out Of Water (2015)

I was a big fan of the show when i was younger and would watch it every morning before school, so i went into this film expecting to see the same type of humour that made the show so great. And this film captured the overall tone of the show and really felt like a long episode. Now, this film is definitely for kids now and those who watched it when they were younger, I would think not too many other people would enjoy it as much if you weren't familiar with the original show.

When a diabolical pirate above the sea played by Antonio Banderas, steals the secret Krabby Patty formula, SpongeBob and his nemesis Plankton must team up in order to get it back. SpongeBob Sponge Out of Water was for me a pleasant surprise while watching the film. I didn't had much expectations for the movie, but i have to say i was pleasantly surprised. The movie had a good mix between classic cartoon style and CG. When i first saw the trailer i thought the film would be nothing but CG spongebob characters.

2015 SXSW Winners (complete)

Trey Edward Shults' feature directorial debut "Krisha," and Benjamin Dickinson's urban sci-fi drama "Creative Control," received top honors at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival awards ceremony, along with Scott Christopherson and Brad Barber's "Peace Officer," a documentary that confronts some of the most difficult issues and questions facing law enforcement, through the eyes of one of its own.

Other notable winners included Don Hertzfeldt's animated short, "World of Tomorrow," and the Ross Brothers' documentary, "Western." The latter will next screen as part of the New Directors/New Films Festival, which kicks off tomorrow in New York City.

This is the full winners

Run All Night (2015)

Run all night starring Liam Neeson and Joel Kinneman. the story revolves around a mob hit-man named Jimmy Conlan and his son Micheal ( Michael lives a peaceful life with his family with apparently no connection to his hit-man father. Working as a Limo driver, he is caught in the wrong place at the wrong time witnessing a brutal murder involving the mob his father is affiliated with. With a hit out on his son, Jimmy must choose between his long time partner and his son who resents him.

The story is well told, and I was pleasantly surprised with how suspenseful this story is. I usually think these liam neeson roles are completely cheesy, but I like the chemistry between him and Joel Kinneman, InfactI would say Joel outshined him and only enhanced the Neesons character development. you could really feel the hatred he had for his father and how much he hated having to rely on the one person who was not there for him.

Cinderella (2015)

I'm not going to lie. I was not all that excited for this movie. In fact, I was much more anticipating paying for the ticket just so I could check out the new Frozen short that brought back a sense of nostalgia to the older days of Disney and Pixar where they would show a short mini-feature film before the main feature.

It was a big pawn for Disney to remake their animated properties to live-action since almost all of them had sunk to notoriety. (Hello Maleficent and Alice in Wonderland.) And it was also a big pawn for the audiences to get invested in these stories that had been told better. So, with that in mind, I lessened my hopes for the 2015 Kenneth Branagh version of Cinderella, since the source material had been beaten to death many times; heck, Disney previously released a version of Cinderella in Into the Woods, two months prior its US release. But that pessimism had all faded when I was so blown away by what the film turned out.

2015 SXSW Film festival (Full Line Up)

Ten world premieres, ten unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. Selected from 1,372 films submitted to SXSW 2015.

6 Years
Director/Screenwriter: Hannah Fidell
A young couple bound by a seemingly ideal love begins to unravel as unexpected opportunities spin them down a volatile and violent path and threaten the future they had always imagined. Cast: Taissa Farmiga, Ben Rosenfield, Lindsay Burdge, Joshua Leonard, Jennifer Lafleur, Peter Vack, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Molly McMichael, Jason Newman. (World Premiere)

THE BOY
Director: Craig Macneill, Screenwriters: Craig Macneill, Clay McLeod Chapman
THE BOY is an intimate portrait of a 9-year-old sociopath's growing fascination with death. Cast: David Morse, Rainn Wilson, Jared Breeze, Bill Sage, Mike Vogel, Zuleikha Robinson, Aiden Lovekamp. (World Premiere)

Creative Control
Director: Benjamin Dickinson, Screenwriters: Benjamin Dickinson, Micah Bloomberg
In near future Brooklyn, an ad executive uses a new Augmented Reality technology to conduct an affair with his best friend’s girlfriend...sort of. Cast: Benjamin Dickinson, Nora Zehetner, Dan Gill, Alexia Rasmussen, Reggie Watts, Gavin McInnes, Paul Manza, Himanshu Suri. (World Premiere)

Funny Bunny
Director/Screenwriter: Alison Bagnall
Funny Bunny is a serious comedy about a friendless anti-obesity crusader and a trust fund manchild who vie for the heart of a reclusive animal activist, releasing her demons and forming an unlikely 'family' in the process. Cast: Kentucker Audley, Joslyn Jensen, Olly Alexander, Anna Margaret Hollyman, Josephine Decker, Louis Cancelmi, Grace Gonglewski, Nicholas Webber, Caridad de la Luz. (World Premiere)

2015 Tribeca Film festival (Spotlight Section)

Along with highly-anticpated new projects from notable TFF alumni like Neil LaBute, Michael Winterbottom and David Gelb, this beloved TFF section also showcases stories from up-and-coming filmmakers and auteurs like Ken Loach, Paolo Taviani, and Vittorio Taviani. Audiences will also be treated to exciting performances from established actors such as Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Oscar Isaac, Jessica Biel, Adrien Brody, and Arnold Schwarznegger and soon-to-be breakout stars like Julia Garner and Alba Rohrwacher.

Aferim!
Directed and written by Radu Jude, co-written by Florin Lazarescu
(Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic) – North American Premiere, Narrative

A police officer and his son travel across Wallachia in 1835, hunting down a runaway gypsy slave. In their journey across the countryside they encounter people of different religions and nationalities, each with their own prejudices and opinions on the state of the country. Shot in black-and-white, Radu Jude'sAferim! is a gripping look into the political and religious landscape of 19th century Romania. In Romanian with subtitles.

Aloft
Directed and written by Claudia Llosa
(Canada, France, Spain) – New York Premiere, Narrative.

In parallel narratives, single-mother Nana (Jennifer Connelly) has a mysterious experience at the hands of a traveling healer, years later her troubled son Ivan (Cillian Murphy) sets out in search of his now absent mother. Academy Award®–nominee Claudia Llosa’s (The Milk of Sorrow) decade-spanning family drama is a dreamlike rumination on faith, forgiveness, and family, set against an otherworldly frozen landscape. A Sony Pictures Classics Release.

2015 Tribeca Film Festival (Special Screening)

Filmmaker Nelson George will debut A Ballerina’s Tale, his documentary on trailblazing dancer Misty Copeland, which will be followed by a conversation with Copeland and a special performance by her protégées. DJ Z-Trip will perform a new live film score to Harold Lloyd’s silent classic Speedy and the comedy crew from Rifftrax will provide laughs with a live-commentary on The Room. Additionally, TFF alumni Alma Har’el and Patrick Creadon will also screen Work In Progress cuts of their latest documentaries: LoveTrue and All Work, All Play. New York audiences just got 6 more reasons to get excited about this year’s Festival. 

A Ballerina's Tale
Directed and written by Nelson George
(USA) – World Premiere, Documentary

Join us for a world premiere screening of Nelson George’s much-anticipated, behind-the-curtain documentary about the daily routine of Misty Copeland, the first African-American female soloist at New York’s American Ballet Theatre® in two decades.

Followed by a Q&A with Misty Copeland and a special ballet performance by her mentees Erica Lall (American Ballet Theatre's Studio Company) and Naazir Muhammad (ABT's JKO School), sponsored by Under Armour. 

Mary J. Blige - The London Sessions
Directed by Sam Wrench
(U.K., USA) – World Premiere, Documentary

Join Mary J. Blige in London, where over ten days she will record her 13th studio album. Featuring a behind-the-scenes look at her work sessions with some of Britain’s hottest recording artists, including Sam Smith, Disclosure, Emeli Sandé, Naughty Boy, and Sam Romans.

A performance from Mary J. Blige will follow the screening.

2015 Tribeca Film Festival (Midnight Section)

This eclectic program, which will bring you vengeful anthropomorphic bananas, evil mutant wasps, unhinged babysitters, corrupt cops and more, will end with a memorable screening of Tommy Wiseau’s cult classic The Room together with a live performance from the cinephile comedy group, Rifftrax. Get ready to stay up late with these scary, funny, surprising Midnight tales. 

Bodyslam: The Revenge of the Banana!
Directed and written by Ryan Harvie and John Paul Horstmann. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative

Ronald McFondle, Eddie Van Glam, and other social outcasts made up the Seattle Semi-Pro (SSP) Wrestlers, an off-kilter family of cabaret fighters that spoofed the pros. When a newcomer Paul, The Banana, fell on the wrong end of the joke, he ran to the government to disband the SSP. Bodyslam: The Revenge of the Banana! captures the wrestlers’ fight to keep the theatrics alive. 

Emelie
Directed by Michael Thelin, written by Richard Raymond Harry Herbeck
(USA) – World Premiere, Narrative

After their regular babysitter Maggie can’t make it, the Thompson family turns to her friend Anna to supervise their children while the parents go out to celebrate their anniversary. At first Anna seems like a dream come true to the kids, allowing them to eat extra cookies and play with things that are usually off-limits, but as her behavior becomes increasingly odd, the kids soon find out that her intentions are dark and twisted, and she is not who she seems to be.

2015 Tribeca Film festival (Viewpoint)

One struggle individuals from all nationalities share is finding their identity, both on a personal level and as members of their communities. For the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, our team of programmers took that subject into considerationand curated a selection of films which contains both narrative and documentary features from around the world. From intimate personal portraits to a varied selection of powerful coming-of-age stories to larger, more public struggles, the films in this year’s Viewpoints section examine the search for identity from all angles.  

All Eyes and Ears
Directed and written by Vanessa Hope
(China, USA)—New York Premiere, Documentary

When former Utah governor Jon Huntsman was appointed United States Ambassador to China, the charming career politician arrived at his new post with his entire family—including his adopted Chinese daughter, Gracie. Huntsman's diplomatic struggles and triumphs are explored in the broader context of China’s relationship with the rest of the world, and intersected with Gracie's personal experience living in China as a Chinese-American. In Mandarin, Cantonese, English, with subtitles.

Applesauce
Directed and written by Onur Tukel
(USA)—World Premiere, Narrative
TFF alumnus Onur Tukel plays a husband who innocently reveals on talk radio the worst thing he's ever done. Though his gaffe never makes it on air, it sets off a chain of hilariously uncontrollable events that draw his wife and another couple into an uneasy mixture of infidelities, confessions, and severed body parts.

2015 Tribeca Film Festival (World Narrative Competition)

The diverse group of filmmakers contending in this year’s World Narrative Competition reflects the best of the best of international cinema. Their films offer fascinating stories set in exotic locales such as Iceland, Costa Rica, South Africa, and Denmark as well as ones taking place in our own backyard, New York City. Take a look at the program below: 

The Adderall Diaries
Directed and written by Pamela Romanowsky
(USA)—World Premiere

Elliott (James Franco), a once-successful novelist inflicted with writer’s block and an Adderall addiction strives to escape his problems by delving into the world of a high-profile murder case. Amber Heard, Ed Harris, and Cynthia Nixon co-star in this adaptation of Elliott's best-selling memoir.

Bridgend
Directed by Jeppe Rønde, co-written by Jeppe Rønde, Torben Bech, and Peter Asmussen
(Denmark)—North American Premiere

Sara (Hannah Murray) and her dad arrive in a town haunted by a spate of teenage suicides. When she falls in love with Jamie (Josh O’Connor), she becomes prey to the depression that threatens to engulf them all. Jeppe Ronde's debut is based on the real-life Welsh county borough of Bridgend, which has recorded at least 79 suicides since 2007.

2015 Tribeca Film Festival (World Documentary Competition)

Reflecting the remarkable diversity of the Festival, these films delve into such far-ranging subjects as the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe, Cuban drag racing, the art of sake making, the history of The New Yorker’s single-panel cartoon, and romance among autistic adults. Take a look at the World Documentary Feature Competition, sponsored by Santander Bank, N.A., below for more details:

Autism in Love
Directed by Matt Fuller
(USA)—World Premiere

What does it mean to love and be loved? With remarkable compassion, director Matt Fuller examines the reality of autistic adulthood and shows how the members of this often-misunderstood community cope with the challenge of keeping romance alive. Autism in Love is a celebration of accepting the differences in others, and in ourselves.

The Birth of Saké
Directed by Erik Shirai
(USA)—World Premiere

Traditional and labor-intensive, the production of Saké has changed very little over the centuries. Erik Shirai’s love song to the artisans who have dedicated their lives to carrying on this increasingly rare artform follows the round-the-clock process for six straight months, offering a rare glimpse into a family-run brewery that’s been operating for over 100 years. In Japanese with subtitles.

Democrats
Directed and written by Camilla Nielsson
(Denmark)—North American Premiere

In the wake of Robert Mugabe’s highly criticized 2008 presidential win, a constitutional committee was created in an effort to transition Zimbabwe away from authoritarian leadership. With unprecedented access to the two political rivals overseeing the committee, this riveting, firsthand account of a country’s fraught first steps towards democracy plays at once like an intimate political thriller and unlikely buddy film. In English, Shona with subtitles.

Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)

Keep in mind that I've read the book. The writing is laughable and sophomoric. It's the literary version of redtube. If you pay close attention, you'll realize that it's Twilight fan fiction. As for the movie, this is ndoubtedly the most hyped film of the year so far with much anticipation from the millions who've already read the book, and those with 'singular' interests. There are so many poor qualities in the film, it has little or no redeeming features.

The cinematography looks fine, but the film lacks substance. Many other reviews will point out the flaws, but the main problem is I wasn't able to engage with the story or the characters. The exercise seems to have been just to fling parts of the book on the screen and see if it sticks. The film is always choppy, with many unanswered points left dangling - but the sex scenes are introduced to distract the audience from these discrepancies.

Chappie (2015)

Artificial intelligent premise has been done so many times, the recent Transcendence and Automata come to mind. Most of them fail to utilize this classic futuristic formula. Now a lot of hope rests on Neill Blomkamp's shoulders to put unique twist, and although Chappie has some decent visual effects, it is excruciatingly bland, juvenile and overly quirky to establish any sort of emotional connection. It worked slick as hell in District 9, failed a bit flat in Elysium. But in Chappie, there really is no end to the logical flaws, extremely underdeveloped characters, rushed, fairytale of an excuse of a storyline to push events in the movie forward etc.

Let me start off by saying i'm a huge fan of Blomkamp. In my opinion, District 9 is one of the best films of the last decade, and I'll forever love him for that fine work of metaphorical beauty. Chappie on the other hand tries to deliver the same experience but with the director and writers' hands tied behind their back as they try to flesh this out.

Focus (2015)

I had high expectations before watching this movie. I was bored 50% of the time. The other half was enjoyable.  Oh and honestly there was a bit of a twist and it made me rethink the whole logic of the movie after ward. One of the weakest crime syndicate movies I've ever seen. I know most crime films like fast and furious aren't really that believable, but they do a good job with "suspension of disbelief" so you don't sit there questioning the events that you are watching. This movie for some reason never did that for me, I kept seeing things and thinking they were too far fetched.

When seasoned con man Nicky (Will Smith) encounters amateur pickpocket Jess (Margot Robbie), he's immediately intrigued by her charm and enthusiasm. Agreeing to take her on as something of a protégé, Nicky teaches Jess to hone her prowess at deception and thievery so that the duo can transition from simple wallet snatches to complex scams involving an entire team of swindlers. But as Nicky steadily falls for Jess, and the two find themselves on opposite sides of a dangerous scheme to defraud a billionaire racecar owner (Rodrigo Santoro), they must learn to trust each other in order to pull off the biggest con of their careers.