Guillermo del Toro has been hired to direct two movie adaptations of J.R.R Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
His previous directing credits include Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, and Blade II, none of which I’ve seen but Ebert’s review of Pan’s Labyrinth has me curious.
I’m one of the few fans Tolkien’s books that enjoy The Hobbit more than the Lord of the Rings, so news of the new movies has me fairly excited. I’m not sure how I feel about Peter Jackson sitting in as producer instead of director, but you can bet they will be filmed in a way that seamlessly completes the series.
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The Oscar nominations for the 80th annual Academy Awards were released yesterday. The nominations in the class of Best Animated Short Film are:
- I Met The Walrus (Josh Raskin)
- Madame Tutli-Putli (NFB, Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski) View
- Meme Les Pigeons Vont Au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go To Heaven) (Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse) View
- My Love (Moya Lyubov) (Alexander Petrov) Part one, part two, part three
- Peter And The Wolf (Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman) View DIVX version.
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The new Star Trek movie teaser has been leaked. Trekkies and Trekkers alike, enjoy it while it’s still up.
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Last night I went to see Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
The critics are giving it rave reviews, but don’t be deceived. If you have a sinking suspicion, this movie is not for you, go with your gut.
On the other hand I enjoyed it for what it is, a chance for Tim Burton to do the kind of work he does best. It’s dark, macabre, and stereotypically Burton. What was once the bloodiest musical in stage history is now the bloodiest in film history.
And what a lot of blood! Fans of gore will not be disappointed. Wow.
It should be noted that, if stylized animation and HDR imagery are your thing, the opening credits will please you.
If this movie intrigues you, Brian Sibley’s review, offers the kind of insight that only someone from London who has seen the musical could offer.
Queue the John Williams theme song, finally a movie from a franchise worth watching is under way.
For the first time since 1989, Harrison Ford dons the familiar costume on Thursday, June 21, 2007, as the upcoming Indiana Jones adventure begins production under the direction of Steven Spielberg. The new Indiana Jones movie is set in the 1950s and stars Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, John Hurt, Ray Winstone and Jim Broadbent. The Lucasfilm Ltd. production will be released by Paramount Pictures worldwide on May 22, 2008.
Please make it a good one Mr. Spielberg.
A group of clever and always hilarious New Media students from the University of Lethbridge came together to produce a comedy student film titled “Inside Charlie”. I understand that they hired union actors and raised the production costs themselves. It sounds like it’s actually going to be a really funny movie.
The premiere of our High Definition short film, “Inside Charlie” will be finally happening in February! Along with 4 to 5 other shorts which were shot in the Fall of 2006, our films will be premiering in the SU ballrooms on February 3rd, 2007. A short synopsis of Inside Charlie for those of you who haven’t heard…
Charlie – photographer and father - parks on a set of train tracks, determined to take a picture that will save his career. When the train comes earlier than scheduled, he refuses to let his career slip between his fingertips. In the seconds before impact he is overcome by a flash of memories—will his mind reveal the one clue that can save his life?
“Inside Charlie” is a short comedic drama written, filmed, and produced by six Canadian artists. It is an exploration of the mind that exposes the emotional complexities that can drive a human being to choose their career over everything else in their life. Our short film, entitled “Inside Charlie”, uses absurd humour and formalistic satire to take the viewer on a journey inside the protagonist’s mind moments before he could possibly lose his life. In what is to be his final moment on Earth, Charlie relives a lifetime of memories and comes to understand that he has a reason to live, even more important than his career.
Come support your friends and have some drinks at the Zoo! Ticket sales will be in January and February, see below for more details!
Ticket Price:
$8 for U of L students and/or faculty (bring ID card)
$10 for general publicYou can purchase tickets in one of three ways:
- At the “Inside Charlie” Promo table in the atrium of the University of Lethbridge during RUSH week or on one of these dates:
Tuesday January 16th from 12:00pm to 2:00pm
Thursday January 18th from 12:00pm to 2:00pm
Monday January 29th to Friday February 2nd from 12:00pm to 2:00pm each day- From one of these five members of Inside Charlie:
- Arden Rhine
- Ian Flaig
- Rod Leland
- John Poliquin
- Dave Grant
- At the door of the event! Doors open at 7pm, show starts at 8pm so come early!
The first 100 people into the Zoo will get free Inside Charlie buttons, so make sure you’re there on time! As well, we will have DVDs and posters for sale, $6 dollars each, or a DVD/Poster package for $10 dollars.
We are excited for you to come out and support your local New Media artists, and can’t wait to share this dream of ours with you. There will be a Q&A session after the screening as well, so you can dive into the minds of the creators. Hope to see you there!
Check out http://www.insidecharlie.com for more details.
(Disclaimer: I’m friends with Ian, Dave, and Rod—but they didn’t ask me to advertise for them, I just think their movie will be fun to watch.)
With the end of the Simpsons series just a couple of seasons away, comes The Simpsons Movie. Check out the teaser.
I love this teaser for Seinfeld’s new CG animation Bee Movie. It based on the premise that the movie was originally live-action and we’re seeing how the shooting was going.
See the ifilm clip, the official site, or USA Today’s article about the ad.
Malcolm Gladwell’s New Yorker piece on predicting box office hits with algorithms relates the Hollywood’s efforts to determine the value of a movie when it’s still in script form. The major problem they are facing is that with so many variables it hard to tell which elements are helping or hindering box office returns. It seems to boil down to the fact that in the end, “nobody knows anything about anything” or do they? As Gladwell’s works usually are, this one is a tremendously good read.
In the tradition of making movies out of Saturday Morning Cartoons from the 80’s, some folks in Hollywood are producing a feature length live-action Transformers Movie (flash site with teaser).
I haven’t actually decided whether or not I’m going to see this movie, but I’m posting this here because hearing the transforming sounds and seeing my childhood imagination being transformed into reality brought on some great memories and if nothing else, I think we could all use a little science-fiction nostalgia to brighten our day.
Last night I enjoyed watching “La Grande séduction” with my friend—I’ll call her A.L., (whom is coincidentally from Lethbridge and even works as a lifeguard at my old pool, but whom I only met recently on my trip to Québec).
The movie was great. It’s about a tiny fishing village on a small island in Québec where almost all of the residents are on welfare. When a much-needed boost, in the form of a new factory, is promised, providing they can secure a full-time Dr. into taking residence there, the mayor starts a massive recruiting project. The main problem being, the microscopic island doesn’t really have much to offer—so the villagers scheme together to make their little village a tiny piece of heaven for their potential MD, Dr. Lewis by creating an elaborate façade of how wonderful the place is. They even go so far as to tap his phone to “understand him better”; hilarity ensues.
Though it’s actually a French movie, we wimped out and watched it with English subtitles, because the two of us weren’t that confidant in our French skills, but I’d totally watch it again only in French this time. But despite the fact that it’s not in English, I highly recommend it. You might need to look for it under its English name, “Seducing Dr. Lewis”. (Personally I like the French title better). So go out and get it, I promise you won’t regret it.
If you’ve got 20 minutes to kill, check out this Kevin Smith clip as he shares his interesting and very funny experiences rewriting the new Superman movie. Previous Superman story post, but Kevin tells it best. (Oh and by way of warning, if you’re not familiar with Kevin Smith you might want to know he’s infamous for his colourful language).
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]
This clip is from a double DVD entitled “An Evening with Kevin Smith.”
(via The Sneeze)
Most of the readers here will have already seen the all three movies, but for a bit of nastalgia, check out the Lord of the Rings Trilogy movie trailer (640×272 MOV) created as if the three parts were one.
I just read a review on Cars by Michael Howe and in case it’s hard to tell, I’m so excited to see this film I’m about to explode!
From the review:
It’s been over 1 ½ years since Pixar released their last film and—if anything—that last extra half-a-year has probably added to a growing eagerness to see this film. In this day and age, it’s difficult to find decent films, let alone those that will leave families feeling that their hard-earned money was well spent. For those who may be wondering, “Cars” is definitely worth it and more. Pixar has never talked down to their audiences, and it shows. The parents will get some of the jokes, and the kids will laugh at some, and then later—when they grow up—they’ll go “Oh, that’s what he meant.” I’m already planning to see it again with my friends when it comes out, and I know they’ll enjoy it as well. Personally, this is the first time this year I’ve been so eager to put down $9.50 to see a movie again!
Update: Ok, I went to see the show last night and I absolutely loved every minute of it. Actually there was one thing I did not love but I’ll get to that in a moment.
First off the technical aspects of the movie, (ie. the rendering and animation) are brilliant. Pixar has really outdone themselves on this one; if it wasn’t a great story, this movie would still be fun to watch just for the amazing imagery. The animation was also extremely well done. I love how something as stiff and inflexible as a car normally is can be turned into a living personality with feelings and emotions all the while keeping the cars realistic by not turning them into some kind of mushy mess.
You’ve also got to love the personalities in this movie. They all have their perfect place and I didn’t feel that any one character was overdone. I agree with Michael Howe’s review that Paul Newman did a particularly fantastic job as Doc Hudson, The Hudson Hornet. It was a magical moment seeing Doc race around the dirt track hitting that turn just right.
But the thing about this movie is that it’s FULL of magical moments. Every character has their moment and their chance to shine.
Now for the one thing that I did not love. I’m the kind of guy that occasionally likes to stay and watch the credits after a movie I liked has reached the end. For a Pixar movie, it’s a given that you’re going to stay to watch the cute “extra” jokes they through in at the end. I was particularly looking forward to it as I’ve heard from some of the early reviews that this movie has some good ones.
The credits came up and before they could even get going… SQUEEEEEEEERTCH! The focus went really bad as the film either jumped off its track or started to bunch up in the projector. Either way the show was over and I didn’t get to see the “post credits” jokes. I guess I’ll have something to look forward to the next time I watch Cars, because it’s worth seeing again. Seriously everyone who goes will love this movie—and if you don’t well then it’s time you started to let yourself feel again.
Oh I should also add the One Man Band short, while cute wasn’t nearly as memorable as the Boundin’ one from The Incredibles. Having said that, one pre-movie bit of entertainment that really stoked my fire was the sneak peak at Pixar’s Ratatouille (Apple Trailer) coming out in 2007.
The following embedded video, apparently a clip from the documentary Trinity and Beyond (IMDB link), shows the destructive power of the atomic bomb as one is detonated underground.
It appears to me that the tall stilts on the side of the trailer provided a way for scientists to measure the powerful compression against the structures, and what tremendous power it is!