this aint Narnia, kiddo…

Oscars 2010 – not too bad… [updated]

Best Picture

Who will: Avatar
Why: wanting to obviously appeal to more viewers (hint: no one watches the Oscars anymore), the Best Picture nom now includes 10 movies.  The contenders will not change at all, but it gives more fans more reason to think that ‘their’ movie has a chance to win.

Who should: The Hurt Locker
Why: besides being a very powerful film, this movie successfully portrayed the life of a militant over in the east without sounding at all political.  Without stereotyping, it portrayed one of the most natural feeling male relationships and, without a half billion dollar budget, put one of the years most intense scenes into the passenger side of a busted sedan.

Animated Feature Film

Who will: Up
Why: as did they last year with Wall-E, Pixar makes amazing movies.  And, although not at the same time as most critics, I even cried.

Who should: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Why: I was never a large fan of Wes Anderson’s movies, he is the type of director that tries to be artistic and filmy.  That being said, this movie was fun, smart, charming and quick.  Not short, but quick; I was entertained all the way through and barely ever felt a null in the story.

Directing

Who will: Avatar
Why: because the direction of Avatar is the only thing worth any of the praise this mediocre film has received.

Who did: The Hurt Locker
Why: partially because this is the first of such Oscar ever given to a female director, and because it damn well deserved it.

Film Editing

Who will: James Cameron
Why: Because it is James Cameron and because the money he made saved a whole lot of theatres.  Also, because I am rather indifferent on the category.  That, or blind to it.

Who did:  Hurt Locker
Why: because, other than this part of my original prediction list being deleted for some mysterious reason, it managed to create tension and grit without having to show much action itself.

Music (Original Score)

Who will: Avatar
Why: because, even though I did not notice any of the score, it was still made by James Cameron.

Who should: Up
Why: as with many a Pixar movie, the story can be told with the soundtrack itself, but unlike Avatar, it is done without the song titles.

Fuck you Film Riot and fuck you /Film, now everything I see is orange and blue

A while ago, /Film released an image posts on reddit.  As an avid movie goer and avid movie aficionado, this was the definition of something I could not un-see.  It has been a while since then, and I am sure most of you are familiar with said image, but if you missed out, here you go.

I apologize if you had not yet seen it, as it will now ruin watching movie posters for the rest of your natural life.

What are the odds that, in the second episode of Film Riot that I ever saw, a video of the exact same non-un-seeable concept?

This is hardly even anything of surprise, and makes the same sense the movie posters did.  You have seen it, you will see it countless times in the future and, if you are watching any Hollywood movie, you are seeing it right now.

I have never hated a colour combination as much as I hate this very one.

So, again, fuck you Film Riot, fuck you /Film and, I especially mean this one, fuck you colours orange and blue, you have ruined my life.

Oh, and in the spirit of the /Filmcast, spoiler warning: the world assplodes.

If I had the money… I would finish "His Dark Materials" [update]

I do not even remember where I saw the trailer for The Golden Compass attached to, but I saw talking animals, Daniel Craig and a giant, badass polar bear panserbjørne – I was sold! Weeks after that momentous occassion, I went to a friends place for some pizza/ scrabble and, amid casual conversation, I mentioned the new Daniel Craig movie I saw a trailer for (and how much I love the man). Lucky for me, my fellow guest was an avid fan of the novels, and told me all about them.

This was some time before the summer of that year, during my breaks at the camp I work at, just as avidly read the full series. Along with the new Deathly Hallows book, the full Death Note manga series. I was in love and I anticipated the movie more than anything I can remember.

And then the movie did come out – I was excited.

And then I watched the movie – and it was fantastic.

And then I watched the second half of the movie – and I was scared like a man of his libido with a flury of nude vampiric women trying to entice his pants off.

The movie was entertaining, the casting was great and Iorek was just as I was wishing for. But then the ending threw all that hope away, removing most of the scene in the Arctic and the daemons’ escape, as well as the ending scene with Lyra and her friend, Roger. When my brother saw it, he had the feeling there was a bunch of stuff cut out. When I bought the DVD, I saw they were keeping the stuff cut out to themselves.

So, if I had the money, I would finance to film the latter two books in the series (Subtle Knife, Amber Spyglass) and make sure to keep the religious aspects to the film. I would also re-cut and re-print the first movie as well as, were it possible, put the religion back into the movie. As a Christian, I find it more offensive to try and keep out anything that someone may find sacrilegious; this fiction novel written by a noted Atheist, shone a better light on religious problems than Religulous ever could have been.

(And that was an I am Legend joke (I just finished reading it), not some crappy Twilight “vampire”…)

Chistopher Nolan to bring Batman to Metropolis?

That is one hell a  Google-bait of a title, isn’t it, eh?

It may have been Nolan’s Dark Knight that brought a much needed seriousness to comic book and superhero movies, it was Marvel’s Spider-man (and subsequent) films that brought the market.  With the popularity of the ’second generation’ of movies in Iron Man, Hulk and the upcoming Thor and Captain America, so is it bringing a market towards team films.  At least, I hope so.

As someone who was oft the butt of a joke about a new Superman Returns movie (as in, sarcastic optimism), it came as most joyous surprise to hear that Christopher Nolan, director of the previous two Batman films, has taken it upon himself  to reboot the movie I still wish Kevin Smith would have a chance to write – Superman Returns… Again.

According to Finke, Warner Bros. has asked Nolan to “play godfather” on a reboot of the Superman movie franchise that will not include Bryan Singer or Brandon Routh, but rather start afresh, a la Nolan’s own Batman Begins. The project is said to be in “early development,” with Finke claiming that Nolan is currently busy working on the third Batman movie with brother Jonah and David Goyer. [http://bit.ly/9Gl0P1]

Now, in regards to this post title, there has been no promise made by Nolan that he will actually be bringing the greatest superhero of all time with the most iconic superhero of all time.  But with the speed that DC responded to news of an Avengers film,  I believe any suspicion of this happening is well within warrant.

Soon after the latest Wolverine movie release/ was terrible, a Deadpool spin off, and as terrible as the movie was, Ryan Reynolds was a great Deadpool.  Although Reynolds has taken the role of Green Lantern, he is still sticking to the Deadpool movie.  And being as that is, if this connection is true, odds are they will incorporate Green Lantern into the roll, and with that character bringing the movies deeper into space, as Superman’s origin is little more than a backstory in the films, it would be a good time to introduce The Watchtower.

And for all you Smallville fans, this is the one in space, not the one with Chloe.

Oscars 2010: the who will and will not [updated]

The Oscar season means a few things, namely blog posts about the nominations made and nomination screeners appearing on torrent trackers.  As seems to be the cape of cynical bloggers, I, too, think them to be bunk.  And besides damn predictable and self-masturbatory, they seem to be so damn political…

It was last year that I called most of the awards won, not to be  self-congratulatory, but a movie about poor Indian kids and a dead guy that should have won the year before?

As for the categories of which I made no comment, of the 5 filmes nominated within it, I will have either seen less than 2 of the films, or am not well red in the category to make a cynically intelligent review.

Best Picture

Who will: Avatar
Why: wanting to obviously appeal to more viewers (hint: no one watches the Oscars anymore), the Best Picture nom now includes 10 movies.  The contenders will not change at all, but it gives more fans more reason to think that ‘their’ movie has a chance to win.

Who should: The Hurt Locker
Why: besides being a very powerful film, this movie successfully portrayed the life of a militant over in the east without sounding at all political.  Without stereotyping, it portrayed one of the most natural feeling male relationships and, without a half billion dollar budget, put one of the years most intense scenes into the passenger side of a busted sedan.

Animated Feature Film

Who will: Up
Why: as did they last year with Wall-E, Pixar makes amazing movies.  And, although not at the same time as most critics, I even cried.

Who should: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Why: I was never a large fan of Wes Anderson’s movies, he is the type of director that tries to be artistic and filmy.  That being said, this movie was fun, smart, charming and quick.  Not short, but quick; I was entertained all the way through and barely ever felt a null in the story.

Directing

Who will: Avatar
Why: because the direction of Avatar is the only thing worth any of the praise this mediocre film has received.

Film Editing

Who will: James Cameron
Why: Because it is James Cameron and because the money he made saved a whole lot of theatres.  Also, because I am rather indifferent on the category.  That, or blind to it.

A guy named Mike and a movie named Avatar

There are not many things I can preface this video that have either been said before or would have much point.  This post is not about things I have to say, its about things I want to you to watch;  it is accompanied only with some snotty diatribe where I tell you to watch it, possibly some context as well;

Where have you heard this guy before?    Not long ago, he made a 70 minute series of video clips so aptly titled; Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Review.  I recommend it a gander, as it is definitely more entertaining than the movie of which it speaks.

Where "Avatar" even stole the leaf scene from "Fern Gully"…

Really?  The only thing more specific than the tumbling-down-some-leaves scene is the paralyzed military brother premise…

"Spider-man 4" dies, reboots all comic-book style

“A decade ago we set out on this journey with Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire and together we made three Spider-Man films that set a new bar for the genre. When we began, no one ever imagined that we would make history at the box-office and now we have a rare opportunity to make history once again with this franchise. Peter Parker as an ordinary young adult grappling with extraordinary powers has always been the foundation that has made this character so timeless and compelling for generations of fans. We’re very excited about the creative possibilities that come from returning to Peter’s roots and we look forward to working once again with Marvel Studios, Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin on this new beginning,” said Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

That’s right, folks, “Spider-man 4” is starting with a new slate.  I am a fan of Sam Raimi, I did like what he did with “Spider-man” and “Spider-man 2” and I understand the power of the producers that was forced upon him to spew out the mess that was “Spider-man 3“.

Years ago, James Vanderbilt released that he had written a script for a potential 4th and 5th “Spider-man” movies.  Since then, it has been plagued by a myriad of rewrites, from David Lindsay-Abaire to one by Garry Ross.  The part that scared me most of the last option was his working relationship with Tobey Maguire, who, although not confirmed then, almost guaranteed a re-casting as Peter Parker.

Another problem that this announcement brings to a close is that of a certain villain.  No, I do not mean the recently confirmed Vulture casting, but that of… the Vulturess.  Sure, Anne Hathaway is great, but I prefer my actors to play real imaginary characters, not fake ones.

I have not heard anything about the possible villains in the original “Spider-man 4” script, but odds are it did include the Vulture, as Raimi halted production of the movie, insisting on the character.

As great as this news is, someone hurry up and give me a damn Lizard!

"The Plot of Avatar In Under A Minute, Complete With Visual Aids"

I knew I recognized something about them dragons!

"Avatar" script released to the public