With director James Wan's The Conjuring hitting Blu-ray/DVD this coming Tuesday, I can't encourage those who missed the film in theaters to give it a watch from the comfort of their own homes enough. As I've said before, I think it's fantastic (one of my favorites so far this year, in fact) and I can't wait to see how it holds up on multiple viewings outside of the theater. While the wife and I take great pride in our movie collection, there aren't many new releases that I consider "must haves" on day one. The Conjuring is the exception to that rule and an instant classic that any horror fan can be proud to own.
My ringing endorsement aside, this week's installment of the Top 5 includes Carrie interviews with Chloe Grace Moretz and more, the first trailer for Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, Kill Your Darlings interviews with the likes of Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan, a Star Wars editorial that argues against four rules being the key to making the franchise great again, and The Fifth Estate interviews with Benedict Cumberbatch and more. Like all the times before, a brief recap and link to each of the above resides after the jump.
1. CARRIE Interviews with Chloe Grace Moretz and More
I'm not 100% sure that there is any rhyme or reason to my feelings towards remakes of movies that I love. RoboCop remake? No thanks. Carrie remake? Yes please. I don't think one looks particularly better or more necessary than the other but, alas, I'm planning on seeing Carrie in theaters soon whereas someone is going to have to really sell me on why I need to pay to see RoboCop. All this said, for those who have a similar interest in director Kimberly Peirce's retelling, I recommend checking out Matt's review of the film and Steve's video interviews with Chloe Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Judy Greer, and Kimberly Peirce.
2. First Trailer for Wes Anderson's THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
This past week brought us the first trailer for writer/director Wes Anderson's latest, The Grand Budapest Hotel. After watching the trailer I went back to read Matt's write-up and seen where he used what I believe to be the perfect descriptor of the footage: "delightful". I wish I could put it a better way, but that one word pretty much sums it up. The color palette, the costumes, the tone...all of it's just delightful. Count this one as a most-anticipated 2014 pic for me.
3. KILL YOUR DARLINGS Interviews with Daniel Radcliffe and More
Opening in limited release this weekend is director John Krokidas' beat generation tale Kill Your Darlings. Matt lauded the film after watching it at Sundance earlier this year and this past week Steve graced the site with extended video interviews with stars Michael C. Hall and Dane DeHaan and a text interview with Daniel Radcliffe who also briefly discusses his work in another one of my highly-anticipated releases, director Alexandre Aja's Horns.
4. Editorial: These Four "Rules" Will Not Make STAR WARS Great Again
This may very well be taking the easy way out but I'll refrain from picking a side on Brad Pilcher's Star Wars editorial that ran last Saturday. For someone who has only seen four of the first six entries and doesn't have much of an emotional investment in them, I see his rebuttal against "4 Rules to Make Star Wars Great Again" as a great catalyst for debate amongst the franchise's diehard fans and something I have no business and/or desire lending my two cents to. Go ahead, get involved in the comments section and defend your position. I'll be the guy sitting in the back, happily watching sparks fly.
5. THE FIFTH ESTATE Interviews with Benedict Cumberbatch and More
If the unauthorized dissemination of classified info is your thing, then you'll do well to check out director Bill Condon's The Fifth Estate this weekend. The pic centers on the relationship between Julian Assange and Daniel Domscheit-Berg and the ground floor of WikiLeaks before it became the organization you've heard of but may know little about. In addition to Matt's 2013 TIFF review, we also peppered the site this past week with video interviews with Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Bruhl, Dan Stevens, and Bill Condon.