Lego is kicking off the holiday season with a Lego Star Wars mini-movie called “The Bombad Bounty”.
Between the clip I was shown in advance and the title, my guess is Darth Vader is angry at Jar Jar for foiling his attempt to capture a ship he’s working as a janitor on and hijinks with Boba Fett ensue.
From what I was shown, it looks as though they’re in keeping with the cut scenes from the Lego games with a very tongue in cheek humour geared towards kids and adults alike (just like Jar Jar was in the prequels):
They gave me the code before the video went live, so I haven’t seen the entire piece yet, but I will update this with my thoughts later.
I’m such a dickweed… I watched this movie on DVD with the intention of reviewing the DVD… but I completely forgot to check what special features that were on the disk… therefore the review is based entirely on the movie itself… Since it was the first time I’d seen the film I think this is the most important part. I might update this post at a later interval after I watch the special features… Anyway… the review…
The Killer Inside Me, stars Casey Afleck, whom I’d never seen in a performance before, but whom I’d heard good things about… and also starring Jessica Alba, whom is attractive, which sums up anything I’ve ever heard about her or her acting. It was directed by Michael WinterBottom, which as you can read is a silly name… He has directed a lot of things in the past, but nothing that would prepare him for a film about a lying cheating murderer… In my opinion.
The film follows Casey Afleck around, who is a sheriff’s deputy in a small town, it begins with him being sent on a simple errant to remove Jessica Alba’s character from town, because she is a prostitute. But rather than throwing her lousy no-good ass out of town, you find that he is remarkably attracted to JESSICA ALBA…. weird.. They end up sleeping together continually… Another small detail about their sleeping together, is that they both are sexual deviants that derive pleasure from violent sex… Which is basically the beginning, and things eventually get more complicated and dramatic as he begins to kill people and attempts to get away with it, but remains in the very small town, where he is a prime suspect…
In many ways, this film reminds me of the Talented Mr. Ripley, in that there is a lot of suspense built around thinking the main character should flee town to avoid the drama that surrounds him… Although, I have to say, Casey Afleck’s character isn’t very likable, and so therefore I never really had a strong sense that I wanted him to get away, just that he was an idiot for not doing so.
I didn’t take that much from this movie… the action wasn’t exquisite… if you’re looking for violence, there are really only two scenes that would fit this criterion… one near the beginning, and one closer to the end… (Unfortunately the first one made me laugh out loud.) I was a little disappointed, because I didn’t feel like I was taken into the mind of the killer… which seemed to be an expectation that I had from reading the title… The script wasn’t fabulous, but I really think the problem with the film is that it was too slow for no reason… it sounds weird, but I would have preferred to see someone like J.J. Abrams direct this film… I don’t think the acting was really good or bad… it’s kind of hard to assess, since I think the script was a real problem, but I still think Casey Afleck did a fine job… Jessica Alba is pretty gorgeous and you get to see her buttock and partial boobs. So, if that’s your thing, you might check out this film for that reason alone. Finally, I will mention that the twist at the end didn’t work for me… not because it wasn’t awesome… but because it was poorly handled and I didn’t care.
I’m sorry film, you looked good, were basically competently directed and acted, but I didn’t think you were that great. You have received 6 out of 10 stars… you certainly exist… good bye.
First on the list being released today is Disney’s Toy Story 3. Pixar outdid themselves with this film. They truly did. After Toy Story 2, I wasn’t sure they could cram any more heart or care into a film about these toys and I was proven wrong in every way. Following Buzz, Woody, and the gang to their final adventure through a day care and eventually to their final fate. This film is a tearjerker, and I know a lot of people who were too macho to go see it in the theatres and have been waiting for this release to watch it in the privacy of their own home where they can cry unseen. It’s worth every penny you’ll spend on it.
The Blu-ray looks fantastic, as it does with every Pixar release. They’ve really set a standard in home video picture quality and they manage to exceed it with every subsequent release.
The Day and Night cartoon that was featured before the film theatrically has a spot on this DVD and is one of the most clever and beautifully executed shorts in animated film history and I was incredibly pleased to see it again.
All of this is combined into a 4 disc package (Blu-ray, Special Features, DVD, Digital Copy) that make it a hard to resist purchase for anyone.
An old school favorite of mine is hitting a Blu-ray release today: The Bridge on the River Kwai. Starring William Holden and Alec Guinness, this World War II film directed by David Lean is perhaps one of the finest of the genre.
If you’ve never seen it before, I give it my highest recommendation.
The next big, important release of the week is a Blu-ray release of The Goonies. The DVD release of the Goonies was pretty special, including a great video commentary that reunited the whole cast of the film and Richard Donner as they recorded their thoughts and memories of the film.
One of my biggest guilty pleasures of my childhood is getting a Blu-ray release today: Highlander. Starring Sean Connery, Clancy Brown, and Christopher Lambert, and featuring a great soundtrack by Queen, this is one of the best sci-fi action movies the 80s had to offer. This release is the directors cut, which features some great scenes cut from the theatrical edition that take place during Connor’s time in World War II, among others.
Highlander II came out, also, but let’s all just forget that movie ever happened.
Maybe it’s just me, but I expect a lot out of a comedy starring Robert Downy Jr. and Zack Galifanakis… I’ve actually not seen many things with Zack Galifinakis in a staring role, but I’d watched his short’s online called Between Two Ferns, and they were funny enough to raise my expectations of this film to something.
The premise of the film is pretty loose, I thought it might lend itself to the comedy genre, but it really fell short. Basically, Peter Highman (Robert Downy Jr.) is getting on an airplane bound for Los Angeles, where his pregnant wife has a c-section scheduled. He is seated on the airplane in close proximity to Ethan Tremblay (Zack Galifanakis) at which point hijnx ensues… or so they’d have you believe… Ethan gets both of them thrown off of the plane, and straight onto a no flight list, additionally Peter looses his wallet and therefore can’t rent his own car. Ethan offers to drive him across the country to make it in time for his child’s birth, Peter accepts, they are trapped in a car together, and that’s that.
What I didn’t like about this film is that it was a comedy that wasn’t very funny… Kind of like a Woody Allen film… sure there were several parts that inspired a giggle, but they were few and far between… which would be okay if I was entertained in some other way while waiting. For instance, they had several cameo roles throughout the film, but none of them were played by comedians. Instead of a comedian, The Rza played a part, which is sort of infuriating… Jim Jarmusch is allowed to bring the funny with the Rza… not the idiot that directed Road Trip…
Jamie Foxx also had a cameo roll… The guy that played Ray Charles a few years back… The last time he was in a comedy was in Booty Call… the movie about chick’s asses.
I’d like to say a lot more, but there really isn’t anything worth mentioning, this film was bad at the one thing it needed to be extraordinary at. Meaning it was worthless, and in no way worth discussing… Zack Galifanakis and Robert Downy Jr. are both fine actors, and they didn’t do anything to destroy this film, it is a problem purely in the script. The jokes either didn’t go far enough, or else they went too far in the wrong direction… The script did call for a little bit of honest drama from the cast, and they delivered, but this just made me think that Todd Philips is the poor man’s Judd Apatow… whose films I don’t like… On the plus side, I would feel very comfortable bringing a date to this movie, as there are only two unfunny masturbation scenes… Damn I hated this movie… I honestly feel I was being generous when I said the jokes were far and few between…
Well, that’s all for me, I apologize for this hastily written, poorly worded review… I’m giving the film 3 out of 10 stars… and this review of the film 2 out of 10 stars… So I’m ending with the mention that the movie is at least 1 star better than this review, Get it while it’s hot! It comes out November 5th!
Last night, Disney set up screenings across the country of snippets from the new Tron film Tron: Legacy in IMAX 3D.
Their point was obviously to rile up support for the film (being released December 17, 2010) and work longtime fans who came into a frenzy.
Put simply, based on this 20 or so minutes, my opinion is that this is going to be the film to beat for the holiday movie season. Sure, Harry Potter is coming out and will automatically do great, but this movie looks fantastic. (So does Harry Potter, but that’s besides the point.)
For longtime fans of the Tron mythology like myself, this batch of footage was spine-tingling. The first scene shown was one between Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner from the original film) coming to visit Sam Flynn, the despondent, thrill-seeking son of the hero from the first film. It seems as though Sam’s father (Kevin Flynn, Jeff Bridges in both films) disappeared some time ago, but a mystery has begun and Alan seems to think that Sam needs to investigate, starting at Flynn’s Arcade. My only problem with this scene was that Boxleitner was a little stiff (on the cheesy side, even) but it established the story of a father and son quite capably and powerfully.
Reluctantly, Sam then seeks out Flynn’s Arcade.
This is the Flynn’s Arcade we all saw in the first film. Every detail seems perfect. This is where the Nostalgia Factor his highest for me. The sets here were dusty and covered with plastic, but it has been so lovingly and perfectly recreated from the original film that I swooned. In fact, there are shots of Sam in the upstairs office of the Arcade that mirrored shots of Jeff Bridges in the original film and it gave me the chills. The detail is perfect and it’s obvious that this has been made by people who love the original film as much as the fans like us do.
Sam is then led downstairs, to a hidden office of his father’s and though he doesn’t recognize what he’s getting himself into, we do. The same laser that digitized Kevin Flynn in the original film is stationed directly behind the seat Sam takes and we know what to expect from here.
Then we see Sam fall into the grid.
He’s picked up quickly by a Recognizer and abducted. This gave us our first real look at the world of Tron in 3D. The Recognizer and all of its captives flew over the city in breathtaking vistas, offering us a look inside the computer world as such we’ve never seen before. This was full of awe for the character, doubly so for the audience.
There was a moment here, as they were assigning Sam to “The Games” (something so frightful the program before Sam commits suicide when he’s assigned to them), that I really missed the look of the old film. That grainy old school black and white with neon color… Don’t get me wrong. Once you’re acclimated to this world, it’s leaps and bounds better than the original, but for a moment it did seem jarring because we’ve grown up knowing what this world looks and feels like and this is a much more sleek X-Box 360 version of the world, as compared to the original’s 8bit roots.
Sam is then suited up and given his programming disc and sent to play in a life or death series of games. First we’re treated to a battle with the programming discs and then we get a taste of the light cycles. This is where the 3D really shines. They’ve added so many dimensions of space to the games that it might be hard to get your bearings but it’s visually stunning. The effects are incredible and this was the moment where I knew I had to see this on IMAX 3D when it came out (which I suspect was the point of this entire Tron Night exercise.)
At this point, Olivia Wilde’s character, Quorra, busts Sam out of the games in order to bring him to his father, who seems to have been trapped in this world for the last 25 years. She is absolutely stunning. I was mesmerized by her. I really, really couldn’t take my eyes off of her. And she’s good, too. (Why do I get the feeling she’s going to turn out to be a bad program?)
But it was the reunification of father in son that provided an unexpectedly emotional moment that was almost overpowering to the point of tears. They build up so capably in the snippets of film they showed prior to this (built solidly on the foundation of the original film) that their reunion is so heartfelt and perfect that I don’t know how well to describe it. There’s also that overwhelming wash of emotion that comes of seeing Jeff Bridges once again inhabit this world. And there’s something not right about it, too. He seems despondent. And, in a big tip-off for what might be future problems or the hint of a well laid trap, he seems oblivious to the message that got out of the grid and into the real world that brought Sam there in the first place. It raised a lot of questions for me and I’m going to die in the next two months waiting for answers.
After this heartfelt and somber scene, we were treated to a montage of images, beginning with a shot of Michael Sheen and Daft Punk leading into a pulse-pounding trailer for the rest of the film, including a look at the new aerial battles of the world of Tron. We’re also introduced to Clu 2.0, which is a digital version of young Jeff Bridges. I’m a little wary of him, but the movie looks so good I don’t care if digital Jeff Bridges is in it.
You can see some of the shots I talked about in this Daft Punk video trailer for the film below that Disney released yesterday called “Derezzed”:
I was also a little worried about Daft Punk, to be honest. I don’t know much about them and don’t specifically care for their music, but the use of music in the snippets of footage they showed us were perfect, for lack of a better word. Not just their music but the use of classic 80s anthems, too.
Long story short, I hope this movie blows my mind. And I will definitely be signing up to see it in IMAX 3D as soon as possible.
And be sure to look out for the new episode of The Geek Show Podcast on Monday. We recorded three episodes from the theatre and I was a guest panelist. In the first episode (coming out Monday) we all offer our initial thoughts of the footage. (As if you weren’t already pumped up about this film enough.)
Entertainment Weekly has your first look at Cap himself, Chris Evans! You can check out the issue for yourself once it hits newstands tomorrow (October 29) which includes and interview with Evans and director, Joe Johnston. You can get a tease of the article online now over at EW, and they also make it sound like there will be more pictures than that on the cover, but until tomorrow, enjoy a few excerpts!
. . . Evans — on his second tour of Marvel duty, having played the Human Torch in Fox’s Fantastic Four films — explained he was reluctant to accept the call of Captain America, in part because he had already portrayed a Marvel-ous mystery man. Of course, he also worried about the potential cost of failure, but he also worried the potential cost of fame should the movie be a hit.
“At the time, I remember telling a buddy of mine, ‘If the movie bombs, I’m f—-ed. If the movie hits, I’m f—-ed!’” After declining the part three times, Evans took a meeting with Marvel execs and Johnston and was dazzled by their plans for the movie. He still felt wary about suiting up for Captain America — but then he had an epiphany. “I was just scared,” he says. “I realized my whole decision making process was fear based, and you never want to make a decision out of fear.’” Evans signed a six-picture deal with Marvel to play the character, and he has no regrets: “I can’t believe was almost too chicken to play Captain America.”
The year is 1942, and Steve Rogers is a scrawny lad who desperately wants to fight Nazis for his country but can’t because he’s been deemed physically unfit. His fate — and his physique — is radically transformed when he signs up for Project: Rebirth, a secret military operation that turns wimps into studs using drugs and assorted sci-fi hoo-ha. There’s a love interest (Major Peggy Carter, played Haley Atwell), there’s a sidekick (Bucky Barnes, played by Sebastian Stans), and there’s the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), Hitler’s treacherous head of advanced weaponry, whose own plan for world domination involves a magical object known as The Tesseract (comic fans know it better as The Cosmic Cube).
From Marvel Comic variant covers to the huge light bike movie display, Tron Legacy promotion is everywhere. Here’s an online shopping list of my favorites.
1 TRON Hoodies and T-Shirts Threadless.com has some really cool Tron inspired hoodies and t-shirts that glow in the dark. Be the coolest kid under the black light!
2 TRON Limited Edition 3D glasses
Ever go to the movie theatre grumbling about the extra 2 dollars for 3-D? And then the glasses feel huge? Oakley has an overwhelmingly expensive answer!
Only $150!
3 TRON mouse and keyboard
What are you clacking on right now? Ridiculous! Get this high end gaming mouse and keyboard from the artists at RAZER
This was on MTV Splash page today, definitely an interesting tidbit.
One of the great tragedies about the death of Sam Raimi’s fourth “Spider-Man” movie is the presumed mass cleansing of their original trilogy’s cast — specifically, the removal of J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson.
Simmons’ portrayal of the easily irritated Daily Bugle chief was one of the most widely appreciated facets of Raimi’s “Spider-Man” films, but in order to establish a new continuity for director Marc Webb’s upcoming reboot, it appears that Simmons won’t have a role. That doesn’t mean Triple J will be on the sidelines, of course.
Hollywood Insider reports that the “Spider-Man” team is hoping to lock down an actor to play J. Jonah Jameson as the next major piece of casting — and according to the report, two of the candidates for the part have already appeared in Marvel Comics movies.
Up first is John Slattery, currently best known for his role as immature advertising executive Roger Sterling on AMC’s “Mad Men.” Slattery had a brief role as Howard Stark in “Iron Man 2,” playing Tony’s father in a series of pre-recorded video tapes. Despite his status as a Marvel veteran, Slattery has the right balance of snark, age and rage to bring JJJ to life; the question is, can fans handle seeing him in two Marvel roles?
The second contender is Sam Elliott, who has actually appeared in not one but two previous Marvel movies: he played General Thunderbolt Ross in Ang Lee’s “Hulk” and, more recently, the Caretaker in “Ghost Rider.” Pushing himself to three Marvel roles might be a bit of a stretch, but more importantly, Elliott’s slow southern drawl isn’t exactly the attitude one pictures when imagining Jameson’s big city presence.
Both actors have their merits, but in the race to play J. Jonah Jameson, Slattery gets my vote. Still, it’s hard to imagine anybody replacing Simmons; if Sony can find a way to secure the sitting Daily Bugle editor-in-chief for Webb’s reboot, I’d be a much happier camper.
Christopher Nolan spoke to the LA Times’ Hero Complex and gave a few important details about his third installment to his gritty Batman franchise.
First, the title of the third film will be The Dark Knight Rises. To be completely candid here, my first thought is that the title sounds a bit cheesy – but, it does seem to fit (theme-wise) with the direction Nolan is taking this trilogy. And that’s an important thing to remember, Nolan has insisted that he will only be doing a Batman trilogy and that his story has a beginning, middle, and most importantly, an end. So, even if Warner Bros. picks up other directors to take this particular continuity further, this will most likely be the end of Nolan’s story he wants to tell.
The second important point made during this interview was not a revealing of who the villain will be, but who it won’t be, and frankly, I’m a bit surprised, but we all know Nolan tends to zig when we expect him to zag.
. . . the Gotham City auteur isn’t ready to reveal the villain of his 2012 film, he did eliminate one of the big contenders: “It won’t be the Riddler,” Nolan said in an exclusive interview with the Hero Complex.
With all the speculation around the Riddler being the next villain and the various actors to may have portrayed him now being 100% debunked, I’m interested to see what villain the rumor mills turn to next. What villain could be made to be epic enough for Nolan’s Batman swan song? Let the guessing and rumors begin! Liz Baylen from Hero Complex seems to think Hugo Strange would be a logical choice . . .
Finally, and to me, the best news to come from this: The Dark Knight Rises will not be in 3D! Christopher Nolan convinced the studio that 3D was not suited for his film and got them to agree. So those, like me, who aren’t fans of this latest resurgence of the 3D craze can breathe a sigh of relief.
Head on over to the BSR! Forum to share your thoughts about The Dark Knight Rises and your speculation on who might be the next Batman baddy!
It’s time once again for another installment of The Big Movie Mouth Off, starring Jeff Vice from MSN and Jimmy Martin from SLUG Magazine (and both are regular panelists on The Geek Show Podcast)
These are available exclusively on Comcast in Utah. Soon they’ll be available On Demand. For now, they’re available nightly on Comcast Channel 6 at 11pm. After their exclusive run there, they will be appearing on Big Shiny Robot! and across the Internet. (iTunes/podcast versions coming soon by popular demand.) They are produced and directed by Bryan Young (myself) and Elias Pate both from Big Shiny Robot! and ShineBox Media Productions.
