VIZ MEDIA BRINGS THE WONDROUS MINIATURE ADVENTURES OF STUDIO GHIBLI’S
THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY TO READERS IN A NEW SERIES OF BOOKS
Releases Based On The New Film By Hayao Miyazaki’s Famed Animation Studio Include Film Comics, Art And Picture Books
San Francisco, CA, January 26, 2012 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, brings the miniaturized adventure of famed Studio Ghibli’s newest animated creation – THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY – to readers everywhere with a collection of ARRIETTY film comics, art and picture books set to debut on February 7th, 2012. THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY is scheduled for North American theatrical release on February 17th, 2012.
THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY is based on the celebrated novel, The Borrowers, by Mary Norton and was produced by Studio Ghibli, the famed animation company founded by Hayao Miyazaki, which also created Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo. The new film, with planning/screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, will feature the voice talents of Bridget Mendler, Amy Poehler, Carol Burnett and Will Arnett for its English language release.
Arrietty isn’t your ordinary fourteen-year-old girl – she is small enough to make her home under the floorboards of a typical house, “borrowing” what she and her family need from the giants in whose shadows they live. A young boy named Shawn befriends Arrietty, but when adults discover the Borrowers, Arrietty and Shawn must work together to save her family.
THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY PICTURE BOOK· Rated “A” for All Ages · MSRP: $19.99 U.S. / $22.99 CAN ·Available February 7th, 2012
The colorful and easy-to-read THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY Picture Book is a full-color hardcover edition that will appeal to younger readers especially. The book uses the vividly colored animation cel art from the feature film combined with simplified text to retell the story of Arrietty and her adventures.
THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY FILM COMICS · Rated “A” for All Ages · MSRP: $16.99 U.S. each / $19.99 CAN each ·Available February 7th, 2012
The official 2-volume film comic of THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY re-tells the film’s story with vivid full-color frames.
THE ART OF THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY · Rated “A” for All Ages · MSRP: $34.99 U.S. / $39.99 CAN ·Available February 7th, 2012
Co-founded by the legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli films enthrall and enchant audiences across the world. The Art of series gives fans the opportunity to follow their favorite film from initial concept to the silver screen, thanks to hundreds of sketches, concept drawings, and animation cels, plus in-depth interviews with the creators.
“Fans and readers of all ages won’t want to miss these new additions to VIZ Media’s Studio Ghibli Library of titles,” says Masumi Washington, Senior Director, Editorial. “Studio Ghibli has mastered the ability to tell poignant and engaging stories that captivate both children and adults, and their latest film, THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY, continues this tradition. Our forthcoming picture book and film comics are fun ways for young readers to visit the world of ARRIETTY while the gorgeous art book will be a must-have for the ardent Studio Ghibli fan or those who want to know more about the evolution of the film. Discover the adventures in-store for this band of ‘borrowers’ in these new releases scheduled for February!”
More information on VIZ Media’s Studio Ghibli titles is available at www.VIZ.com.
Haven’t seen the U.S. trailer yet? Check it out here:
I remember the first time that I saw ‘The Shining’. I was 13 years old. My father, being a hardcore Stephen King fanboy, thought it was essential that me and my brother watch this horror genre diamond with him.
At this time in my life, I had yet to read a Stephen King novel or even watched a Stanley Kubrick film. To say that it was sensory overload is putting it lightly.
It blew my mind- Scanners style! from the fantastic storytelling of the books material to the LONG, brilliantly crafted shots and attention to detail or ambiguity. Not to mention the creepy pacing, the odd sights that make you jump out of you seat and supernatural elements that make chills run up and down your spine. Nothing is overused. When The Shining wants to be scary it is. And when I was a teenager, it scared me to death.
‘The Shining’ taps into fears. Fears of isolation, insanity and the fear of helplessness that we get when we find that the father figure, the person whom we rely upon when we are frightened, is the person whom we should be frightened of.
Maybe my father was trying to tell me something. Subconsciously. Or maybe it was Kubrick himself.
‘Room 237’ premieres at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival this week in Park City, Utah. Produced by Tim Kirk and directed by Rodney Ascher.
I was first introduced to Rodneys work via ‘Tucker And Dale VS Evil’ Sundance circa 2010. His short, ‘The S From Hell’ screened right before. If you haven’t seen this and enjoy the idea of logophobics tormented by the Viacom ‘V’, The Hanna-Barbera swirling star or the PBS ‘Faces’ … this will be a sureshot for you, Youtube/Google it.
While, ‘S’ dealt with the most terrifying logo of all time…’Room 237′ investigates the alleged hidden messages within the film ‘The Shining’. I had a chance to ask Rodney some questions about this and the FUTURE of Kubrick (wormfood?) here’s how it went…
How long have you been making films and videos, Rodney?
I’m afraid to count…let’s say more than a decade.
What first got you interested in film? How did you get started?
Growing up I had wanted to be a comic book artist, but since A) I wasn’t quite good enough and B) I thought filmmaking would be more of a fun adventure with a pirate army of friends…I switched courses.
At what age or time in your life did Filmmaking cross from a hobby into something more serious?
It was never a hobby. When I picked film as my major in school I just went with it.
What are some of your favorite American films? Foreign films Television shows?
In no particular order…
American: Robocop, Patty Hearst, Dark Star, Babe, Boogie Nights, eXistenZ, Mullholland Drive, Demon Lover Diary, Night of the Hunter, Stepbrothers, The Limey, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Body Double, Dr Strangelove, The Shining, Glengarry Glenn Ross, The Trial, The Thin Blue Line.
Foreign: Songs From the Second Floor, Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41, Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris, Lair of the White Worm, Alphaville, TV: Night Gallery, I, Claudius, Breaking Bad, In Search of, Upright Citizens Brigade, Peepshow (UK), This American Life.
The list could go on and on…
How would you describe your ‘film’ education?
Well, I did study film in college at the University of Miami but certainly I learned as much from sharing notes with my friends, shooting no-budget music videos for Miami’s best industrial acts, from years working on sets in every capacity from PA to storyboard artist to 2nd unit, etc, etc, going to art-houses, multiplexes and (especially?) high school weekends at AMC’s long lost Midnight Movie Express.
Or childhood Sundays parked in front of creature double feature
Where the last act of Rodan would always make me cry. I’ve been teaching editing the past two years and that’s made me think really actively about the process, which was especially useful for 237.
How would you describe your filmmaking process?
It changes from project to project but figuring out the angle of attack is job one. ‘Room 237’ was about finding the right people to interview and then piecing together freestanding 3-8 minute sequences until we crossed some Rubicon (or maybe it was deadline) and started to braid them together, finding exciting links and surprising synchronicities as we go. I shot a music video over the summer, which was about creating a chaotic atmosphere, and shooting long takes with multiple cameras and searching for little moments afterwards. Pretty different projects but I guess in each of them I tried to balance what I could plan ahead for with allowing room for unexpected, interesting things to happen spontaneously.
What do you consider the elements of a good film? A great one?
Atmosphere, characters, story, attitude, and ‘metaphoric possibilities.’ If a movie has the potential to be used as a metaphor to help me describe or understand the world around me (or the people in it) that goes a long way for me to consider it ‘great.’ In a conversation/debate I had a little while back we settled on Godzilla = Climate Change and King Kong = Endangered Species and I think their flexibility as metaphors are part of why those films (characters?) are so great.
What sort of things do you study and consider when watching a film?
Hopefully I just get lost in it and enjoy it, but one thing in particular that attracts my attention and makes me admire a film or want to study it further is strong juxtapositions between picture and sound (or even picture and picture) – Soderbergh in particular has done some great work stretching the traditional marriage of the two. From the “Walk And Talk” section in the Limey where a single conversation is shown unfolding in three different times and places simultaneously to the way a seemingly random and disconnected voice over (in The Informant!) gives us an important key into our protagonists state of mind, he upends the traditional (redundant) way picture and sound typically work together to communicate more complicated ideas.
How did you finance your first short film? I noticed that you had a ‘Kickstarter’ for ‘Room 237’ how did that go?
After college me and two friends teamed up and shot a few music videos together that the bands would pay for (or almost pay for) and when we made the shorts around the same time, we’d just make ’em. We’d keep them cheap enough that we wouldn’t really need to raise much money. The Kickstarter worked – I was a little reluctant to shake the can in public, but Tim Kirk put it together and it picked up steam pretty quickly after being written up in a few places (and then bam! one super-donor came in with 80% of what we asked for!) We’re still in the hole a little but 237 ate up a lot more time than money.
How would you define the actual role that a director is supposed to fill?
1) To clearly visualize the film (in broad strokes, anyway) and 2) help each person involved get the film closer to that vision whether that means a close collaboration or just staying out of their way.
How about the sound design of films, how do you pick the ‘right’ music?
The music (by the amazing Jonathan Snipes and Bill Hutson) was inspired by analogue synth horror scored +/- a couple years of the Shining. For me, a lot of those Goblin/Tangerine Dream scored shared a similar transcendent quality with Philip Glass, so if you could imagine the soundtrack to Lucio Fulci’s Koyaaanisqatsi, that’s kinda what we were going for. And Ian Herzon, my sound designer sat down with me for 5 days creating a deep surround mix. Again, we were going for a design heavier than a lot of more straightforward docs might use, in some ways I want 237 to play almost as a horror film itself.
What brought you to the subject, Room 237?
My friend (and 237 producer) sent me Jay Weidner’s essay about the secret meaning of the Shining and that reignited a long-standing passion for the film and soon we were down the rabbit hole reading as many analyses of the film as we could (and there’s a lot!) When we started doing 237 in earnest. It was wildly satisfying to talk to the people writing these analyses and getting them to expand on what they’ve written.
What do you believe is the real meaning of ‘The Shining’?
For me, it’s about not neglecting your family in order to pursue your own selfish interests. Of course that created a conflict for me while working on this film for no money, sitting at the keyboard working on what may or may not have turned out to be a lot of gibberish and I felt an awful lot like Jack. I just tried to be a little nicer when my wife came by asking me how it was coming.
What other films would you expect to have ‘Da Vinci’ code like messages in them?
I’d guess Jodorworsky, Greenaway, David Lynch and Matthew Barney. Though, Lynch’s movies are the only ones I know very well, and even then I’m hardly an expert. But the Shining seems to attract the most investigation, based I’d guess on Kubrick reputation, methodology, and it’s unique spot on the venn diagram between art film and popular film. I’ve certainly come across interesting thoughts on Avatar and Inception too, but nothing that compares to The Shining.
Did you get your all of questions answered by making this film about it? Or did the answers actually give you even more questions?
If my intention making 237 was to definitively discover and explain ALL the hidden messages in The Shining, I’ve utterly failed. I’ve barely been able to include the tip of the iceberg.
What are you thinking about doing next? What do have in the works?
I’ve got a handful of stuff I’d love to do, but the two that are most similar to 237 would be about the surprising origin of a popular comic book character (and the singular utopian vision of the creator) or comparing and contrasting the effects of vigilante movies and kids shows on urban decay/gentrification.
How about commercial success why has that alluded a talent like yourself?
I like to think there’s still time for that to change.
Where can out readers view your films and learn more about you?
I’ve got a couple videos up on Rodneyascher.com, though right now, I stripped it down a bit to be more relevant to 237.
And…what do you see as the FUTURE of Kubrick?
I hear they discovered a script he wrote with Jim Thompson called ‘Lunatic At Large’ (maybe I can pitch to direct it!) and his influence will continue for a long time. Oddly enough my students don’t really care much about 2001 (“too slow, those monkeys are fake”), but they’re all into The Shining.
This week’s Blu-ray pick of the week is the Hugh Jackman-starring, father-son bonding, robot-fighting flick, Real Steel. I know, I know, “Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots: The Movie!”, but hear me out before you turn your nose up.
Some friends and I went to see Real Steel in theaters expecting a sort of action flick with tons of giant robots fighting and plenty of the charming Hugh Jackman to boot. What we got instead was a surprisingly heart-felt film with less robot boxing than what may have been portrayed in any trailer or commercial for it.
Real Steel follows the story of Charlie (Jackman) who once was a great boxer, but now carts around a fighting robot to various underground venues, making bad bets and enemies along the way. Human vs. human boxing has all but been over-shadowed by the ridiculously popular robot boxing, and Charlie tries to carve out a living with his bot outside of the professional arenas. Aided by his friend/love interest/mechanic, Bailey (Evangeline Lily), Charlie is barely making ends meet and owes a lot of dangerous people a lot of money. It’s not long before Charlie’s estranged son, Max (Dakota Goyo), enters the picture through a tragic chain of events that will, of course, affect Charlie’s life in some incredible ways. Once Charlie and Max find a sparring robot they dub Atom the two really start to bond, and given the setting this actually works very well. Max has all the faith in the world that his smaller-by-comparison robot can compete with any other boxing bot out there, and as he learns more about his father, begins to have that same faith in him as well.
We’ve seen this type of father-son-bonding story before in superior films (Rocky Balboa anyone?), but director Shawn Levy executes a film that has a lot of heart and somehow manages to avoid becoming too unbelievable or cheesy despite one of the main focuses being 10-foot-plus tall boxing robots. Also, there are fighting 10-foot-plus tall boxing robots. While there may be far less robot fighting than one may expect to see, there is -in my opinion- the perfect amount to balance out the action and family drama. The robot bouts are exciting and well rendered, and unlike the Transformers films, easy to follow.
Going into Real Steel I never expected to like it as much as I did. I was expecting more of an action and popcorn flick with plenty of robot fighting to entertain me for a few hours; what I got instead was a surprisingly touching, decently acted and scripted film with the bonus of awesome fighting robots. I never expected to be making a recommendation such as this, but I’m telling you: Check out Real Steel, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Special Features:
Four featurettes:
Countdown to the Fight: The Charlie Kenton Story
Sugar Ray Leonard: Cornerman’s Champ
Making of Metal Valley
Building the Bots
Deleted and extended scenes:
Extended “Meet Ambush”
Deleted “Butterfly” Storyline
Bloopers
Audio commentary with director, Shawn Levy
Real Steel is available on Blu-ray and DVD today, you can pick it up over at Amazon.com!
Big Shiny Girlcast “Issue #2: The Guinea Pig of the Sea” is now live!
Big Shiny Girlcast is back and due to several requests we will now be recording about once every two weeks (so there’s lots of the Girlcast in your future!). The latest episode of the podcast, “Issue #2: The Guinea Pig of the Sea,” discusses Bandai, SOPA and Cosplay, DC’s New 52 2nd Wave, Thor, Avengers, Ghost Rider, Green Arrow’s possible CW Pilot, Otaku / Geek Dating, Skyrim and more! This week’s “Ask the Geek Girls” segment finds us discussing the pro’s and con’s of online geek dating – you won’t want to miss it!
To comment on this week’s episode, send us a question, or answer on of our burning questions, just leave a comment here at the bottom of the post or email the podcast at jessie@bigshinyrobot.com
Topic Timeline (for your fast forwarding pleasures):
Bandai Leaves North America = 3:58 – 18:23; SOPA and Cosplay: Yes? No? Bad? = 18:23 – 25:02; DC’s 2nd Wave of New 52 Comics: The How, What, Why and an overview of the DC Earths…there are a lot of them, and we’re somewhat confused by it. = 25:02 – 31:20; We hear ourselves echoing but forget to edit it out later (don’t judge us!)= 31:20 – 23:03; Fox News wants you to be afraid of everything – Comic Books included = 23:03 – 44:22; Movies and TV: Thor is sexy even during re-writes, The Avengers rock our world, and Ghost Rider…yeah… = 44:22 – 59:39; Green Arrow might get a CW Pilot! Is this good news or bad news, both? = 59:39 – 1:12:05; “Ask The Geek Girls” – Otaku/Geek Dating = 1:12:05 – 1:34:25; Recommendations / Ending stuff = 1:34:25 – 1:40:24.
Some ‘The Avengers’ Villain Talk in This Month’s Empire
There has been a lot of speculation as to who the villains aside from Loki may be in the upcoming Avengers film, but it appears Kevin Fiege and Joss Whedon have debunked two of the more popular theories: The Skrulls and Red Skull. Fiege had this to say first, regarding the Skrulls:
“…It’s not Skrulls, I’ve been clear about that. Beyond that, we want to hide it. The identity of the alien race is not impactful. It exists in the comic books, but we’re not setting up the Kree-Skrull war or anything like that.”
He followed it up with this regarding Red Skull:
“Was Skull vaporised at the end of the movie, or thrust into another realm?” asks Feige. “That remains to be seen. It would be fun to see Skull in future, but he’s not in this one.”
Joss Whedon also had a comment on Red Skull, but was a little more “beat-around-the-bush-y” with his non-answer:
“I do have a comment on that, it’s…oh, you’re breaking up!”
It’s probably safe to say at this point that we will most likely not being seeing the Skrulls in the Avengers film, but I’m still a little unsure on the subject of Red Skull. Upon my latest viewing of Captain America: The First Avengeron Blu-ray a week ago I strongly believe that Red Skull isn’t completely vaporized after grasping the Cosmic Cube during his final bout with Cap. If you pay attention the effect is incredibly close to the same effect that occurs in the Thor film as our heroes are transporting between the realms, right down to the sound effect. It really wouldn’t surprise me if Red Skull was transported to one of the Nine Realms and we see him at some point in the future make a villainous return . . . Perhaps and after-credits scene in the Avengers? . . .
In any case, it’s still wide open for debate as to what allegiances Loki will make to wage war on Earth and The Avengers, but luckily we only have a few more months to wait before we find out! In the mean time you can check out Empire’s Avengers covers below!
The Avengers hits theaters on May 4, 2012, is directed by Joss Whedon, and stars Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo, and Samuel L. Jackson.
The Law In These Parts (originally titled Shilton Ha Chok) is an Israeli documentary done by Ra’anan Alexandrowicz. The movie chronicles Israel’s legal system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip through the past 50 or so years.
I am someone who likes politics but I admittedly don’t know too much about certain topics, Israel being one of those topics so I went in knowing very little. The other thing is I for the most part don’t like the documentary format. I like documentary programs on the history channel or discovery channel but usually when it comes to documentaries they are so heavy handed and so biased that it’s hard for me to figure out if that’s really going on or not. But this documentary does something of which I have never encountered before. The entire film is done on a sound stage where a desk and chair have been set up with a green screen behind it. The documentarian is also the narrator and questioner and he asks a series of Israel Supreme Court Judges their takes on all of the legal issues that presented themselves in occupying a territory. He doesn’t pull any punches and he really digs deep into the legality of overtaking this group of people. While they are talking, old film reels and documentaries of the history of this area is shown on the green screen behind the judges.
But what really gets to me and made me love this film where in most documentaries I don’t, the filmmaker many times throughout the film stated and wanted to make it very clear that the information he was presenting was his own reality, done through the lens of how he understood it, that he was clearly biased towards one way or another and that he was clearly editing the interviews to best serve his own purposes. Having him be clear about that really put me at ease because I could take the information he was presenting and get enough of a basis to go out and study all of this stuff for myself afterwards as well. There was one particular part and this is a bit of a spoiler, where he was talking to one of the judges about a case where most of the actions in the case were kept private, those reasons were said to have been because the documents needed to be private for the protection and safety of the people. It was quite fishy, but then the film maker jumped in saying this interview he was having with this man was 3 hours long, and he himself is editing it down so that only the choices he chooses to show are being shown and the footage of the rest of the interview is not available to us as an audience.
The footage shown and the interviews held were very powerful and at the end it was hard to implicitly state which side is right and which is wrong in the entire argument. This movie is largely political but even so it is incredibly interesting and it never feels slow. The explanations he gives to not only the incidents but also to film making at the same time hold some interesting parallels and this movie is one I highly recommend if you can get out and see it. The movie is in Hebrew with English subtitles.
Upcoming times include Saturday afternoon at the Broadway at 3:45, as well as four more screenings throughout the rest of the week in Park City. For more information check out the Sundance page located here.
Yesterday on their blog, The Source, DC announced they would be rolling out a new logo for all of their entertainment brands. Here is the accompanying press release and photos that came with the big announcement. I’d be interested to hear peoples thoughts or opinions on the new logo. I myself don’t think I care for it, but I’m sure over time that’ll just go away as I just get used to it.
BURBANK, CA, January 19, 2012 – DC Entertainment, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company and home to iconic brands DC Comics, Vertigo and MAD, revealed today a new brand identity. The new identity is reflective of the company’s mission to fully realize the value of a rich portfolio of brands, stories and characters, distinguished by incredible breadth and depth across publishing, media and merchandise. A new logo for DC Comics was also introduced, closely aligning with DC Entertainment’s new mark.
“It’s a new era at DC Entertainment and the new look reflects a dynamic, bold approach while at the same time celebrates the company’s rich heritage and robust portfolio of characters,” stated John Rood, EVP of Sales, Marketing and Business Development for DC Entertainment. “It was just a few months ago that Superman, Batman and many of our other Super Heroes were updated when we launched DC Comics – The New 52 and now it’s time to do the same for the company’s identity while remaining true to the power of storytelling which is still at the heart of DC Entertainment.”
DC Entertainment worked with Landor Associates, one of the world’s leading brand consulting and design firms, to develop an identity that creates a visual connection among the company, its three brands DC Comics, Vertigo and MAD and its vast array of properties as well as celebrates the power of the company’s stories and characters. The design of the new DC Entertainment identity uses a “peel” effect – the D is strategically placed over the C with the upper right-hand portion of the D peeling back to unveil the hidden C – symbolizing the duality of the iconic characters that are present within DC Entertainment’s portfolio.
“It was our goal to capture DC Entertainment in a dynamic and provocative identity. Our solution is a living expression which changes and adapts to the characters, story lines and the ways fans are consuming content,” explains Nicolas Aparicio, Executive Creative Director at Landor’s San Francisco office. “The new identity is built for the digital age, and can easily be animated and customized to take full advantage of the interactivity offered across all media platforms.”
The new brand identity will come to life across all consumer touch points in order to create a clear and consistent message in support of DC Entertainment. The new identity will begin to appear on comic books and graphic novels as well as new websites in March. Consumers will also see the new identity rolled out over time on other DC Entertainment products from Warner Bros. including film, television, interactive games and merchandise.
“We believe our new brand identity will strongly resonate with our loyal fans who will want to proudly express their affinity for DC Entertainment and their passion for their favorite stories and characters, this new look allows them to easily do this. In addition we were excited to update our identity, it’s not often a company gets to revisit something as important as its brand and we took the opportunity to make sure it represented the multi-media business we set out to build with the formation of DC Entertainment,” said Amit Desai, SVP of Franchise Management for DC Entertainment.
CitizenBot does his patriotic duty and reviews Red Tails
Two things we knew about George Lucas before Red Tails: First, nobody else does epic storylines and intense action sequences with spectacular visual effects like he does. Second, when it comes to the brass tacks of filmmaking, he is less skilled, tends to micromanage, and. . . “results may vary.” That’s exactly what this film is– which isn’t to say I didn’t have a great time. This is a better movie than we deserve to see released in January.
Let me start with what I loved. When these pilots are in the air, this has all the fun we expect from Lucas. Even a couple of nods and winks to Star Wars– or should I say a reflection of the nods and winks Lucas included in Star Wars to old combat footage and serials of World War II dogfights. When Lucas went back to 20th Century Fox to ask for more money to complete his only-partially completed Star Wars, he used archival WWII dogfight footage to fill in for unfinished effects shots, so Lucas’s passion for this material and understanding of what makes it fun to watch drips from the screen. Do yourself a favor– if you’re going to see this in a theater, see it in the best theater with the best sound system you possibly can.
And then bring something to entertain yourself when they’re not flying.
There are a couple of major problems with the script, and then some incredibly good things despite those. George Lucas himself said that this movie had enough material for 3 films crammed in here, and it shows. The movie can’t decide what it’s doing, which characters it’s following, and so each is given short shrift and the none of the films many elements is ever fully developed. In its attempt to be everything, it does nothing particularly well. And its 2 hour plus running time feels that way at some points. The plot “twists” are predictable and so it makes it hard for moments that ought to be emotionally riveting to have the impact they deserve. I blame Lucas and the committee rooms full of writers who obviously penned much of this for most of this ham-fistedness.
But there are parts of the script that are good. It’s credited to Aaron Macgruder of The Boondocks fame, and there are moments of fun and genuine laughs in here. One line in particular about using the term “colored” may be my favorite line of dialogue I’ve heard since Alexander Payne’s The Descendants. But The Boondocks is a 3- panel comic strip and a 22-minute cartoon: this script feels like someone pretending to be Aaron Macgruder with extreme ADD who only knows how to write in short form like had to re-write pieces of the script (” target=”_blank”>wackity-schmackity-dooooooooo!)
Another problem is I kept comparing this movie to what it aspired to be. It’s not Glory— hell, it’s not even Remember the Titans in terms of talking about race. In terms of other war movies, this isn’t Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, or even Memphis Belle. The biggest problem? It’s not even the 1995 made-for-tv movie called The Tuskegee Airmen. *sigh*
Let’s look at the cast– in that 1995 made for tv movie I can name and recognize the excellent work of a half dozen of those actors. In Red Tails, our two most recognizable actors, Cuba Gooding Jr (who was also in that made for tv movie. . .and Pearl Harbor, but I digress) and Terence Howard don’t even play the pilots. They play the commanders who are never really in any danger. The pilots are played by people who are largely unknown to mainstream audiences. For example, the brash, hotshot pilot who always saves the day? Daniel Oleyewo, who I only recognized from the BBC spy show “MI-5” and from smaller parts in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Help.
The cast just never connected with me– and not just because they were lesser known. Compared to the kids from Attack the Block, another film full of unknowns, most of them black– those kids connected. Same with the kids from Super 8.
But this cast tries their best. Terence Howard seems to realize this movie isn’t working so well, and acts like if he can just act. hard.enough. he can single-handedly save the movie. Valiant effort, Terrence. And then Bryan Cranston shows up for 2 minutes and almost effortlessly gives possibly the best performance of the entire film (although it did seem a bit like he was trying to do a Brian Cox impression– not that there’s anything wrong with that at all).
But then there’s equally bad performances to counterbalance all of that. While the main leads do a good job, some of the side characters (including Ne-Yo? WTF?!?) almost delve into a level of racial stereotype that made me and my white-liberal-guilt-ridden-heart uncomfortable. (more on this later) But in a world post Jar Jar Binks, post Transformers 2 and its Stepin Fetchit robots, post Tropic Thunder and its discussion of Hollywood portrayals of African-Americans, it seemed. . . .overly broad. I wouldn’t say it’s offensive, but it seems at least inartful.
And now I’m going to take it all back– everything negative I said about this movie, let’s put that on a shelf for a minute.
In some ways, this movie wasn’t made for me. And not in the way Twilight wasn’t made for me. And not in the way The Smurfs wasn’t made for me. Not even in the way Tyler Perry movies aren’t made for me. But I missed the emotional resonance that I saw this had with some of the members of the audience I saw this with. Now, about 65% of the theater was filled with African-Americans. About 15% of us were film critics and various Star Wars nerds (mostly white). About 10% boys aged 10-15. And then a smattering of everyone else. As I walked out of the theaters, I heard three very different reactions.
The critics were doing our usual Lucas roast, and pointing out all of the flaws– you see that reflected in both my review and the others around the net. The kids LOVED IT. They didn’t care about the boring stuff– they just love the action. And then as I talked to some of my black audience-members, one of them literally said, “This makes me proud to be black.”
It is quite literally impossible for this movie to connect with me on that level. As much liberal guilt as I have, no matter how much cultural tourism I engage in, and especially after I lived for two years in the hood in the Bronx, I know this: I will never truly know what it is to be black in America.
I wish I felt this strongly about this movie. I wish I said, “This movie makes me proud to be an American.” It should! I am proud to be an American, and I wish I could feel unabashed pride in the accomplishments of the Tuskegee Airmen and claim that heritage as “mine.” And I’m betting most of middle class suburban white America will (unfortunately) feel the same way.
I want to like Red Tails more than I do. But I just don’t. 12 year old me loves it– the same 12 year old me who loves the podracing in Episode I. I hope that it connects with an audience who really loves it. But unfortunately this film doesn’t live up to the amazing true story that inspired it.
2 stars. **
‘Twilight’ May Not Be Over After ‘Breaking Dawn Part 2’
It appears that Lions Gate isn’t going to be done bleeding the Twitards of all their money after the final movie, Breaking Dawn Part 2 hits theaters later this year on November 16.
F$&%.
Lions Gate CEO Jon Feltheimer had this to say to the Los Angeles Times:
“It’s hard for me to imagine a movie that does $700 million-plus doesn’t have ongoing value. It’s an amazing franchise that they have done a great job of maintaining with absolutely no deterioration. So the simple answer is ‘Boy I hope so.'”
One person close to the acquisition deal but not authorized to speak publicly suggested that because Lions Gate, unlike Summit, has a television production unit, it could adapt “Twilight” for the small screen.
Double f%&$.
Of course, financially this makes sense to Lions Gate to continue on with a franchise that pulls in hundreds-of-millions of dollars – but it doesn’t disappoint me any less as I was hoping to see this awful franchise just die off after the last movie. Why not keep shoveling film making garbage adapted from literary garbage down the throats of those who want it if it means truck loads of money for the studios (the “fresh rating” of the Twilight films in order on Rotten Tomatoes are 49%, 49%, 28% and 25% respectively)? And of course, what other female role model is going to be available to young girls than one who wants to just kill herself if she can’t be with the glittery vampire she loves if this franchise comes to an end? Remember girls, you are nothing if you don’t have a man who loves you, impregnates you with a mutant baby, and gives you a c-section with his teeth.
In any case, The Hunger Games hits theaters on March 23, is directed by Gary Ross, and stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth.
One of my favorite comic book properties is Bone. Jeff Smith’s indie comic sensation is one of the single best examples of simple, elegant sequential storytelling that somehow bends influence equally from sources as widely different as Calvin and Hobbes and The Lord of the Rings.
It’s a fantastic story for kids and adults alike, charming and epic in equal parts, it’s like a Pixar film. It works on every level for every audience.
They’ve been trying to make movies from the material (and it would take at least three) for a while now. The most notable attempt was when Nickelodeon was trying to do it and idiotic studio execs decided they wanted a Britney Spears song on the soundtrack to help in marketing. This was quite firmly nixed by the creative types and we haven’t heard much about the project since.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Warner Brothers has acquired the rights and has assigned Patrick Sean Smith on script duties and PJ Hogan to direct. Hogan has directed the live action Peter Pan film from about 10 years back, as well as a bunch of other stuff that doesn’t exactly scream “He’d be perfect for Bone!”
The writer is behind a show called ‘Greek’ for ABC family.
The story follows the three Bone cousins, chased out of their hometown, but looking for a way back. In the meantime, they get drafted in a war that’s been slowly coming to a boil for a generation. I can’t recommend the books highly enough.
There’s no word in the article whether or not this is a standalone film or a proposed trilogy, as it should be. There’s also no word whether or not it will be animation, live-action, or a hybrid of the two. After seeing dreck like Alvin and the Chipmunks and Smurfs coming out, I think studios might be placing safe odds on the live-action/animation combination, not realizing that this source material demands a lot more reverence than those franchises. It also has a much wider appeal.
I hope it comes out well. This is one of my favorite series and I like it more than the source material of Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia combined.
