Quote :

"Open Road Films has released the first teaser trailer for Oliver Stone’s thriller Snowden, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Looper) and Shailene Woodley (“The Divergent Series”), which features the same upside-down American flag imagery he used for 1994’s Natural Born Killers. Snowden is written and directed by three-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Stone (Platoon, JFK). The script is based on the books “The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man” by Luke Harding and “Time of the Octopus” by Anatoly Kucherena. The latter book mainly deals with former information analyst Snowden’s time in Russia hoping to get asylum while the United States was demanding his extradition to potentially face jail time for leaking classified information. The film co-stars Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Tom Wilkinson, Rhys Ifans and Nicolas Cage. Snowden is produced by Moritz Borman, Eric Kopeloff and Philip Schulz-Deyle, and is scheduled for release on December 25 of this year."

7/1/2015 1:32:01 PM

really...already?

7/1/2015 1:38:41 PM

There is a huge dearth of original ideas in Hollywood. Everything is either a remake or touching upon social/political/economic circumstances of the last decade. Very few original ideas like Edge of Tomorrow, Grand Budapest Hotel, and Whiplash are actually being made into movies. It is a bit disheartening but studios are in it for the money, not the artistic endeavor.

Regardless I have learnt to stop being a snob about these things and enjoy the movie for what it is, an escape from reality. For example, as a film Jurassic Park remake was pretty terrible. As someone who loved the original movies as a kid it was extremely entertaining and contained enough thrills for me to come out of that movie having felt it was worth the price. We aren't always going to get something like Interstellar or Birdman every couple of months.

[Edited on July 2, 2015 at 10:18 AM. Reason : a]

7/2/2015 10:16:19 AM

The biggest movies of the year are rarely original and this has been the case for a long time.

http://stephenfollows.com/how-original-are-hollywood-movies/

There are plenty of good original movies if you look for them outside the box office top lists.

7/2/2015 10:42:36 AM

Sign me up for Inception 2

7/2/2015 10:57:04 AM

Quote :

"There is a huge dearth of original ideas in Hollywood..."

you forgot the #getoffmahlawn

7/2/2015 11:00:24 AM

^^^true. It also depends on mood. For example I loved John Wick, it was a great movie in its own right and something not everyone will enjoy but as an action flick it was brilliant. Simple plot and direction.

I am glad networks like HBO and Netflix are giving mainstream actors and directors a chance to really explore their talent and ability. Shows like True Detective, Game of Thrones, and House of Cards have gone a long way in giving audiences what they want in original content (yes I realize some were based on books or borrowed from others but original to tv nonetheless).

[Edited on July 2, 2015 at 11:02 AM. Reason : s]

7/2/2015 11:02:30 AM

Well, make that (2016)...it's released today.

Reviews have been kinda meh:

Quote :

"On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 59%, based on 96 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Snowden boasts a thrilling fact-based tale and a solid lead performance from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but director Oliver Stone plays it perplexingly safe, sapping the story of its impact."[40] On Metacritic, the film has a normalized rating of 58 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[41] Richard Roeper gave the film three out of four stars, saying, "Snowden works best when it’s just Edward and the three journalists in that hotel room, sweating it out, or when we see the pattern of events that led him to commit acts that exposed the shocking practices of our own government but also quite possibly created serious security breaches."[42]"

9/16/2016 8:50:21 AM

I think JGL making his voice deeper to sound more like Snowden was unnecessary, he sounds dumb in the trailers

9/16/2016 9:36:24 AM

I liked the Snowden documentary but I just don't like any Oliver Stone movies. He's just one of those directors that doesn't do it for me.

9/16/2016 10:40:54 AM

Great movie. Gonna find a time to watch it.

10/16/2018 1:36:31 PM

I couldn't watch this more than like half an hour. Atrocious acting.

Quote :

"I think JGL making his voice deeper to sound more like Snowden was unnecessary, he sounds dumb in the trailers"

this.

10/16/2018 5:22:19 PM