Godzilla: King Of The Monsters Has Screened, Here Are The Early Reactions

Godzilla: King Of The Monsters Has Screened, Here Are The Early Reactions

The summer movie season is officially here! Avengers: Endgame set one hell of a precedent, but there's no small amount of movies willing to rise up to take the crown for themselves. Working perfectly with my metaphor, one of those movies is Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which will see a titanic showdown between Godzilla and his arch-nemesis, King Ghidorah. Fans have eagerly been awaiting some kaiju mayhem and it sounds like they are getting their wish.

Early reactions for Godzilla: King of the Monsters are hitting the web and the verdict is almost unanimous: this movie rules. I'll let CinemaBlend's own official Twitter account speak for itself as we throw plenty of praise at the film's action.

It seems like most critics are in agreement over the sequel. If you are looking for non-stop, over-the-top, monster-fighting action, then King of the Monsters is exactly what you are looking for. With Godzilla, Ghidorah, Rodan, and Mothra, the movie has plenty of action to spare, according to Erik Davis from Fandango.

Those who were left disappointed by 2014's Godzilla will find plenty to love in the sequel. Fans and critics weren't too fond of Godzilla's first outing as there wasn't quite as much monster fighting as expected. The monsters are definitely the stars of the show here, says Andre Meadows of Black Nerd Comedy.

Meadows went on to say that the movie is so full of easter eggs that it's easy to tell the movie was made by people who love Godzilla.

King of the Monsters will have plenty of action, but the film also has a real respect for the Titans (what kaiju are called in the film). According to Paul Shirey from JoBlo, the sequel has a real passion for the Titans and there's no question they are the stars of the show.

Based on the critical reaction, King of the Monsters is exactly what you want from a summer blockbuster. It's loud, ambitious, and blows you away with action on an epic scale. Director Michael Dougherty brought his A-game for this one. With King of the Monsters currently projected to gross more than $50 million opening weekend, this could be one of the summer's most memorable flicks.

Thankfully, we don't have too much longer to wait until Godzilla: King of the Monsters stomps into theaters. The epic sequel arrives on May 31. To learn as much as you can about Godzilla and all his frenemies before then, here's what we know so far.

However, there's a lot more to look forward to this summer. You might be catching Detective Pikachu this weekend, but here's everything else that should be on your radar in our movie release guide. For more movie news, keep it right here at CinemaBlend.

Read More

Pet Sematary Has Screened, Here Are The Early Reactions

Pet Sematary Has Screened, Here Are The Early Reactions

Sometimes dead is better, but not better than getting an early chance to see the new Pet Sematary movie. The 2019 Stephen King adaptation premiered Saturday night, March 16 at South by Southwest, giving lucky critics and fans a first look at the horror movie before it opens wide in the U.S. on April 5.

So far, it sounds like Pet Sematary is a big win. The film highly impressed many viewers, including CinemaBlend's own Sean O'Connell, although he admitted he missed a few little things from Stephen King's original story:

Collier's Perri Nemiroff absolutely raved about the movie, praising directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, along with young star Jeté Laurence as Ellie Creed.

Erik Davis of Fandango praised the film, adding that it should please fans of Stephen King's novel. He also pushed Captain Marvel's Goose out of the way to make room for Pet Sematary's Church -- as if what we really need isn't a buddy movie starring both cats.

Take me to Church! Chris Evangelista of /Film also noted that Pet Sematary isn't 100% faithful to Stephen King's novel, but that didn't damage his opinion of the movie at all. He called it one of the best King adaptations to date.

(The Ramones have a song called "Pet Sematary," if you didn't know.)

Some fans at home -- myself included, I'll admit -- have worried the Pet Sematary trailers may have given away the entire story. Critics like Heather Wixson of Daily Dead tried to put those fears to rest, adding expectations of some major twists.

Since we're talking about a horror film, Meredith Borders of Fangoria emphasized that it delivers on one major requirement -- scares.

Stephen King published Pet Sematary in 1983, and a horror movie adaptation was first released in 1989. We already know from the trailers that this film makes one semi-big change to the source material, but apparently there are more changes ahead.

The 2019 adaptation stars Jason Clarke as Louis Creed, Amy Seimetz as Rachel Creed, John Lithgow as Jud Crandall, Jeté Laurence as Ellie Creed, and both young Hugo Lavoie and Lucas Lavoie as Gage Creed.

Pet Sematary opens opposite DC's Shazam!, which will be some serious competition at the box office. Early estimates put Pet Sematary's opening anywhere from $20 million to $30 million at the domestic North American market. The movie could skew higher after all of these rave reviews -- including promises of secrets not revealed in the trailers -- driving more curious fans to the theater.

Watch Pet Sematary in theaters starting April 5, as one of the many films to keep an eye on with our 2019 movie release date schedule.

Read More

Jordan Peele's Us Has Screened, Here Are The Early Reactions

Jordan Peele's Us Has Screened, Here Are The Early Reactions

Moviegoers have been greatly anticipating the release of Us, the next horror film from the Oscar-winning Jordan Peele. Peele knocked it out of the park with his first film, Get Out, and people are eager to see what else the writer-director has in store. Us has looked great and super creepy in trailers, but the film finally got in front of an audience during the SXSW film festival this weekend. Critics were quick to share their thoughts and they had some extremely high praise for the movie.

CinemaBlend's own Sean O'Connell praised the film's storytelling, scares, and "gut punch of a twist." He was one of many critics to single out Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o's performance in particular.

Written and directed by Jordan Peele, Us follows a family of four as they are taken hostage in their home by twisted doppelgangers, bringing to life the notion that we are our own worst enemies. Given what a success Get Out was, people have high hopes for Us and it sounds like there will be no sophomore slump for Peele. Critics are teasing that this is a great film worthy of plenty of rewatches and it's especially strong work from Peele.

Wow! Masterpiece is not a word that is thrown around lightly, and critic Clayton Davis was not afraid to put it to use. Davis has loads of praise to give Jordan Peele, writing that we are witnessing the birth of a modern day Alfred Hitchcock. Again, wow! That's seriously high praise and, ordinarily, I would say to temper expectations to avoid being over-hyped, but this isn't the only critic gushing about Us.

Critic Jen Yamato writes the the film is a precise challenge to your nerves and that it will likely traumatize the young people who sneak in to see it in theaters. She also pointed the spotlight on star Lupita Nyong'o, who gives one hell of a performance as the family matriarch and her creepy doppelganger. Plenty of other critics also praised Nyong'o's and co-star Winston Duke's acting.

So, the film is extremely well put together, but this is a horror film. How scary is it? Well, it sounds like it's going to curl your toes.

If I was going to trust any critic about the scariness of a movie, it would be one whose last name is Fear. Critic David Fear simply writes that the movie is "fucking terrifying," so horror fans are in for a real treat.

Other critics have said that the film isn't quite the same as Get Out, and it might push its runtime a bit with ambitious ideas, but it's still thrilling and very well put together. At least a few critics have said that the film resembles an extra long episode of The Twilight Zone, which is especially good news for the upcoming reboot.

We'll all be able to see Us for ourselves when the film arrives on March 22.

Read More