Quantum of Solace, the latest Bond movie currently in production, has suffered a string of mishaps that have many wondering if the film is cursed. While I don't put much faith in superstition, I think accidents will continue to happen until they change the name of this f'n movie.
In the latest mishap, Daniel Craig has injured his hand during filming and received medical attention. This comes a week after Daniel suffered an undisclosed facial injury and two months after a couple of stuntmen were seriously injured performing a car chase sequence.
Cheeta the Chimp is a movie star, currently retired and living in Palm Springs at the ripe old age of 76, which is a World Record of some note, considering the average chimp lives 40-45 years.
There have been six attempts to get Cheeta a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in such movies as Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), Tarzan and His Mate (1934), Dr. Dolittle (1967) and perhaps the best movie of all time, Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952). All six times, Cheeta has been denied his proper place on the Walk of Fame, the same stretch of sidewalk that has stars for such talentless hacks as Rick Dees and Ryan Seacrest.
Joe Valenti, aspiring filmmaker, recently directed a short movie called The Amazing Adventures of Little Batman, starring a cast of 5-year-olds in all of the major roles. It's a nice piece of quality work with above average production values, though I have to wonder, how much longer will it be before DC Comics has a fit and demands this be removed from the net?
Now we're talking synergy! It's been the holy grail of comic-based movies, having characters from one movie appear in another character's tale. While it may only be a cameo, Robert Downey reprises his role as Tony Stark for a brief scene in the forthcoming Hulk, further extending the reality of the Marvel universe. You'll find evidence of Stark's appearance in the clip below. If we can somehow get Iron Man and Spider-Man joining forces in the future, well, there will be a ton of happy fans.
Last year, acclaimed film director Francis Coppola asked that his classic movie The Godfather receive a digital makeover. The original print, which dates back to 1972, had been fading and degenerating. Coming to the rescue was Robert Harris, known for his amazing restoration work on Hitchcock's Vetigo and Lean's Lawrence of Arabia. The culmination of this effort will be released in September, no doubt appearing on Blu-Ray.
Harris believes it’s critical for a cinematographer to be part of the restoration process, and because Willis lives in Massachusetts and could not be in Los Angeles for the many months the restoration would require, Harris asked Daviau to consult on the project. “Allen standing in for Gordon was one master standing in for another,” says Harris. “Allen has the best eyes in the business —he’ll see a quarter-point difference shot to shot. The first thing I asked him to help with was figuring out exactly what ‘black’ is in these films; that was our biggest challenge in terms of Gordon’s work. Allen donated his time, and without him and Gordon, we would have been lost.”
In his conversations with the restoration team, Willis emphasized that the most important visual aspect of The Godfather was its color structure. “It’s yellow-red in much of the lighting as well as the lab work, and that ties all three films together,” says Willis. “So my main concern was to get the color right.” Harris was able to track down original dye-transfer prints of The Godfather, and one of them, from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Technicolor collection, was screened for Willis, who determined it to be an accurate color reference.
“Gordon kept saying all three pictures look the same, that they have the same rhyme and rhythm and use of contrast, and it’s true,” says Daviau. “A lot of people wouldn’t notice that, but when you’ve dealt with the color correction, you see he’s right.” Willis notes, “The repeatability of the visual structure really has to do with making the right choices. The initial choice is taste, and maintaining the look is craft. There’s great elegance in simplicity. My choices in lighting and the overall color were designed to create a mythic, retrospective feel, [one] without clutter.
The future of Spider-Man movies isn't so hazy anymore, as Sam Raimi, director of the successful franchise, has told ComingSoon that not only is he interested in returning to the series but that a script for #4 will be done in a few months.
"James Vanderbilt is writing the script and I'm excited to read it. I think it's going to be done in a few months," Raimi told us, adding, "I'm hoping it's as great as our discussions were about it and I'm hoping it feels right for me because I love Spider-Man. I'm hoping I'm well rested enough to embrace it and I'm hoping Sony wants me to do it. If all of those things come together, I would love to do it. There are a lot of unknowns about the future."
This should come as great news for all those people who were scared shitless that Brett Ratner would somehow weasel his way into directing duties.
When people ask me what I consider to be great science-fiction movies I only have a few titles I rattle off, namely 2001, Blade Runner, Alien and Brazil. Of those four films, Ridley Scott has directed two, which by my math makes his one of the best science-fiction directors of all time. Unfortunately, Ridley hasn't tackled the genre in over 20 years, which is sad and depressing. All that is about to change.
Eclipse Magazine recently conducted an interview with Ridley Scott where the following exchange occurred:
QUESTION: You directed Blade Runner and Alien, which are seminal science fiction films. Why have you not done more science fiction films?
RIDLEY SCOTT: I am going to do one. I waited for a book for 20 years and I have got the book. I am not going to tell you what the book is but that film is going to probably be written within the next month. That will definitely be what I do next after Nottingham, the Robin Hood film that I am doing now in England.
So Ridley has the rights to some mysterious science-fiction book. It could be a classic or it could be something relatively recent. Or, he could have the rights to a book that hasn't been published yet. Whatever it is, I can't wait for the old Ridley Scott to deliver another visual masterpiece.
Like every self-respecting geek, I went and saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull this past week, and while I had prepared myself for a disappointing outcome, I left the theater more confused and conflicted than anything else. It isn't bad, but at the same it isn't very good. It's Indiana Jones, but at the same time it isn't. That's not to say the movie doesn't do some things well, but every time the movie takes one step in the right direction, it takes two steps back. So what did the movie do wrong? See for yourself:
Just a quick note: There are obviously spoilers in this list, so if you haven't seen the film, consider yourself warned.
1. The gopher
I have to get this one out of the way first, because it's the first thing that will likely piss people off about the film. When the movie opened with a shot of a CG gopher, I actually heard someone in the theater say "God damn you George Lucas!" It wasn't Jar-Jar, but it was bad. It's a sign of how little faith I have in Lucas anymore when I almost expected the gopher to start dancing to Kenny Loggins music a la Caddyshack, marking my cue to exit and give up on the film altogether. Little did I know that the CG rodent was only the beginning of Indy 4's problems.
The Coen Brothers haven't been sitting around looking longingly at their new collection of Oscars. Instead, they've been making a film called Burn After Reading, which tells the tale of a couple of gym employees who find a CD belonging to a CIA agent and make the unwise decision to blackmail him.
The newly released trailer shows the Coens returning to comfortable territory, in essence making a screwball comedy along the lines of Fargo, something I welcome with open arms. Unfortunately, you're going to need iTunes in order to view the preview.
I don't know who made this, as the site of origination is in Spanish. Nor do I know what its intent is, so if anyone has further information, I'd love to know. Lack of information aside, the photo stands on its own.
Reviews are now in for Uwe Boll's latest masterpiece, though the critics apparently haven't comprehended Mr. Boll's delicate and effortless talents as a top-notch director. He's so misunderstood, much like Kubrick.
This movie's about as dangerous (or as funny) as a mouthy, caffeinated teen punk from the suburbs who just saw his first s***-flinging GG Allin performance on YouTube. - Village Voice
Having already demonstrated the worst that the horror, action and fantasy genres have to offer, Uwe Boll tries his hand at political/cultural satire with Postal and comes up with something smelling awfully similar to feces. - Slant Magazine
From the scoring and lighting to the acting and editing, the thing wouldn't earn a passing grade from even the most lenient film professor at the chintziest community college. - Cinematical
Only a handful of critics truly appreciate Boll's gifts as a director, namely Prairie Miller of NewsBlaze, who opines:
Along the way to its parking lot showdown, a wacky property damage conspiracy to commit insurance fraud is uncovered between Osama and Bush. The darker, zany recesses of America as viewed from the Twilight Zone. Move over, Borat.
Warner Brothers has announced that shooting of Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, better known as Terminator 4, has begun. With the announcement came a few nuggets as to what we can expect from the story.
From Warner PR:
"In the highly anticipated new installment of "The Terminator" film franchise, set in post-apocalyptic 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet's operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind."
Okay, Castlevania makes some sense, but a Pac-Man movie? I pity the poor sod who has to write that script. According to Variety, Crystal Sky Pictures has signed a $200-million deal with Grosvenor Park that includes 5 films: Pac-Man, Castlevania, an adaptation of Richard Branson's (Virgin) memoir, a sequel to John Woo's Hard Boiled, and The Lady, a new film by Italian master Giuseppe Tornatore.
Need reasons to not get excited? Okay, here we go: Crystal Sky produced last year's horrendous Bratz, one of the worst reviewed movies of all time. How's that for confidence?
The official site for Batman: Gotham Knight is now up, and offers a ton of exciting content for those that can't wait for the direct-to-DVD release in a few weeks. On the site, you'll find a chapter-by-chapter synopsis of the movie, plenty of images and videos, along with downloads and character bios to be added in the future. There are also links to the movie's MySpace and Facebook pages. Keep reading for a full breakdown of the synopsis straight from the site, and I've even assembled preorder links through Amazon after the post.
Batman: Gotham Knight comes out on July 8, but the graphic novel version ships next week!
Whoops. Things aren't looking too hot for Will Smith's latest film, Hancock. Just last week we heard about its struggles to lose an R rating, and now it seems that the movie's world premiere, scheduled for June 10 in Sydney, Australia isn't happening. Why? The film won't be ready. The $150 million dollar superhero flick is still in post-production, with reshoots being worked on as recently as a week ago. Instead, Hancock's work premiere will take place a week later in France, but at this point does anyone even care? Nothing I've seen of Hancock inspires confidence, and the only reason I'm contemplating seeing it is the rumor of a Quantum of Solace trailer. Is anyone out there remotely interested in Hancock?
ships next week!
