Monday, March 30, 2009

Moar Angels & Demons clips!

The first one (entitled "God Particle") basically explains why everyone's in a hubbub, while the second one ("First Marker") shows the scene where Tom Hanks and Aylet Zuhrer follow up on the first clue that will lead them to the anti-matter.

Good to see that Tom Hanks'd managed to tame his fly-away hair from the last movie. Although, since this is a prequel, ONE significant event (read: this movie) was probably the cause of it standing on end for the entire The Da Vinci Code.

Oh well, enjoy :)



Sunday, March 29, 2009

First look at the Fire Nation.

[Pic taken from LastAirbenderFans.com]

And here I was thinking that all of Fire Nation is going to be Indian/Middle Eastern.

[Maybe these are the stunt guys.]


Anyway, the costumes look pretty okay to me, plus I see some fake background ice blocks there, so they may just be on Water Tribe ground. I hope they'll do more post-production work on the ice, since the whole scene would just look ridiculous if the sky looks more realistic than everything else.

Friday, March 27, 2009

New Angels & Demons TV spot

About a minute-long, most of the scenes already shown in the trailer. There are a few new (but short) ones, particularly of Ewan McGregor, who plays the late Pope's closest aide in the movie. Enjoy :)

Thursday, March 26, 2009

How difficult is it to find Asian actors in Hollywood?

There was a TV spot on Dragonball: Evolution last night, where there were snippets from interviews with the actors and the directors.

[For some reason, James Marsters with dark hair and an American accent still caught me off-guard. Watdaeff.]


I'll have to admit that the movie scenes looked cool, provided you didn't know what the original looked like.

There was this bit when the director was talking about how they were following the anime and stuff. I told my mom the fans were up in arms because Goku was played by a white guy, in an obviously Japanese/Asian environment, and my mom was like, "Then why is the director saying that he stuck to the source material?"

Bingo.

I don't follow Dragonball, but even I knew that the whole movie was wrong from the first time I saw the trailer. It gave me the impression that Piccolo wasn't green (but turns out he was, in the movie), and someone had even commented that this was actually Bulletproof Monk 2.

[Gave me lulz, partly 'cuzza Chow Yuen Fat's Hawaiian shirt. Also, I found out that Master Roshi is bald in the anime.]


If they could find Asian actors (that speak good English, by the way) to play Yam Cha and Chi Chi, why couldn't they have gotten an Asian actor to play Goku? I don't think a white actor would look any less ridiculous in Goku's famous orange-and-blue outfit than an Asian actor.

Which brings me back to the topic at hand, and to Avatar. Earlier on, the cartoon creators were talking about how M Night Shyamalan was excited and will be respecting the source material

[Now we know that the word 'respecting' is to be referred to in inverted commas.]


As I've mentioned before, I don't follow DB, so I can't nitpick as I do on Avatar, but on surface value (indeed!), it looks like the Avatar movie will be disrespecting the source material even more than DB did, with the producers making radical alterations in the glaring of all aspects: appearance and race.

If DB:E could find a bunch of Asian actors (to be background fodder, but to act in the movie, no less), why couldn't the people behind the Avatar movie do the same? Oh wait, they already have. Looks like there's a trend here, folks.

It's going to be an epic failure on Paramount's part to make Avatar "the next Harry Potter" since all else points to the fact that Avatar is going to be the next DB:E, except with the elements of nature.


New Harry Potter individual character posters

[Six of 'em!]



I actually got excited seeing Ron's pic, because (hopefully!) it means that we will get to see some Quidditch action once again, having been ripped off on that in the past two movies.

Trekkies furious over premiere location.

The post is obviously from Empire. Link here. And why's Uhura in the picture? Should either be Scotty or McCoy.

The bigwigs in Hollywood have chosen the Sydney Opera House to premiere the new Star Trek movie on April 7th, a month before its worldwide release, and the Trekkies are aren't happy with that.

Trekkies, including the original Mr. Spock, have been campaigning to host the premiere of the movie in the small town of Vulcan in Canada.

[What're the ODDS!?]

Unfortunately for them, Vulcan doesn't have a cinema. Oi vey.

My question is, why Australia? Don't tell me that there aren't any places NEAR Vulcan that could host the premiere. I also get that Trekkies exist far and wide, but Star Trek is most definitely a part of American pop culture, so why not celebrate its return to the big-screen back on home soil? And what's niggling me is, why Sydney? Why not Melbourne or any other Australian city? What's so special about Sydney, that a billion ass-ton of shows/movies are shown there, while practically nothing interesting ever happens in Melbourne.

[Except for The Rocky Horror Show, and the 2008 Kids' Choice Awards, the latter of which I didn't get to go :(]

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

New Star Trek TV Spot!



Enjoy :)

New Angels & Demons poster!


Love the art for this one. The reds are the kidnapped Cardinals.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Jai Ho?

[Picture courtesy India.com]

Possibly!

India.com is reporting that at the end of Transformers 2, Jazz is going to lead the Autobots (and maybe some Decepticons) to the PCD cover of Jai Ho. Apparently, Michael Bay is pissed that Transformers did not get a single win at the Academy Awards (nope, not even Best Visual Effects; that one went to The Golden Compass. No wonder he's pissed), so he'll be mocking the crap out of Slumdog Millionaire.

Personally, I quite like the PCD cover, and I think it'd be pretty rad to see robots dancing to whichever version of Jai Ho. Whatever it is, it's gonna be a fun time at the theatre :D

How do YOU guys feel about this development?

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Another scene from Pixar's Up.



Enjoy :)

Friday, March 20, 2009

Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007)


Funny, cute, not too bad. An average pop corn movie I would rate it and definitely a feel good one when you're watching it with kids under 4 years old.

A 8/10 for a feel good time!

Angels & Demons may face Vatican boycott.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Vatican may call for an official boycott of Angels & Demons, the movie adaptation of Dan Brown's best-selling novel, although negative publicity may turn out to be publicity anyways for the movie, and get more people to go to the theatres.

My Name Is Bruce (2007)

My Name is Bruce stars Bruce Campbell (of course!) as himself, except washed-up and more of a putz than in real life. When a bunch of teenagers set loose the Chinese God of War into the world, one of them (a fan) drags Bruce into it, thinking that he can save the world (ya know, like in the Evil Dead movies). Bruce thinks that he's going onto a large-scale movie set, and as usual, mayhem ensues.

The movie was okay for me. I guess I had higher expectations, since I'd never seen any of his newer movies, but hey, it's a B-movie. It really could've been a lot worse.

With his slew of one-liners, Bruce Campbell is charming and tactless as usual. I love the part when he finds out that the deity is not a prop, and as he runs away, his random shots behind hit every other townsperson. Ted Raimi plays his agent, and the town Chinese crackpot, and this Italian painter whom we see is always changing the town pop. sign. Till he kicks the paint bucket, of course. Bad puns aside, I kinda liked his turn as Wing.

["Guan-Di has been... un-reashed!"]


Campbell fans will be able to appreciate this movie a lot more than your average movie-goer, since there are a lot of references to his previous movies. The love subplot between him and Kelly felt rushed, since it looked like her misgivings about Bruce went away in like, a second, but other than that, everything else was okay.

6/10.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Up to open Cannes.

Pixar's Up has the dubious honour of being the first animated feature to launch the Cannes Film Festival, one of the world's most prestigious and influential film festivals.

It will premiere on opening night, May 13th, and for everyone else, starting May 29th.

Full article here.


[It opens in August for us :(]

Monday, March 16, 2009

New Star Trek still.

The new pic shows us Kirk and Spock, plus what looks like a Romulan, and if so, most likely Eric Bana. Even though it looks nothing like him.

[Courtesy of CanMag's article.]


New Angels & Demons clips!

[About a minute-plus in length, but eh.]

There's no embedding option, so I'll have to link you to the article instead:

'Angels & Demons': Exclusive New Scenes!


Enjoy :)

Transformers 3 release date set!

The release date for the movie is set to be July 1st, 2011, even though the movie isn't greenlit yet, there is no writer, and there's no confirmation that Michael Bay nor its main stars will return.

[But they probably will =)]

The article also mentions that Paramount may be facing difficulty in getting financial backing for the third movie, since General Motors (who's backed Transformers 1 and 2) is kinda in rough waters now, and may not be on board for the third movie unless things improve for them.

[Since, ya know, the economy IS in the crapper.]


Also mentioned in the article is the release date for Marvel's Thor, which has been moved up a month to May 20, 2011 (from June 17, 2011).

New, rearranged Marvel release dates!

Sony has just announced (four days ago, really) the new release dates for allmost of our favourite superhero movies. Iron Man 2 is the only one with the unchanged release date. List below:

Iron Man 2 - May 7, 2010
Thor - May 20, 2011June 17, 2011 (previously July 16, 2010)
The First Avenger: Captain America - July 22, 2011 (previously May 6, 2011)
The Avengers - May 4, 2012 (previously July 15, 2011! ARGHHH!!)

Also, Spider-Man 4's release date has been set: May 6, 2011.

I stand corrected. 2011 will be the Year of the Marvel.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Upisodes!

Both videos are minute-long shorts of the upcoming Pixar film. Enjoy :)





[Isn't the fat kid ADORABLE?! xD]

Thursday, March 12, 2009

New castmembers for The Last Airbender!

Fire Nation bigwigs and an Earthbender have been cast!

Aasif Mandvi will be playing Commander Zhao

Shaun Toub will be playing Uncle Iroh
[Hey, at least it won't be an M Night cameo.]


Cliff Curtis will be playing Fire Lord Ozai
[Also not M Night. The world can breath (slightly!) easier.]


Keong Sim will be playing... Earthbending Father.
I have no idea who the heck that is.

[I don't remember a character like that, and the Google isn't bringing up anything.]

Fire Nation actors look like they're potential bad-asses, provided you ignore what their characters are supposed to look like based on the TV series. The only bright side is that M Night won't be playing a pivotal role us fans will be cringing at. Hopefully.

[He might be the Cabbage Merchant, though.]


Full article on the casting here.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Lovey-dovey Potty?

Doesn't look good for us Potter fans. Seems that the upcoming movie is emphasizing too much on the romantic aspects of the book (which wasn't a lot), rather than the ass-ton of backstory the book has.

Full article below:

"Potter spotters say film's lost the plotter."

[Don't you just love the alliteration?]


Doesn't seem to bode well for a movie with a release delayed so that they wouldn't be going up against last year's Twilight.

EDIT: Warner Bros. is denying the recent London screening, and said that The Sun had taken their material from the September '08 Chicago screening. Link to article here.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Mini-preview of the Black Freighter and what's Under the Hood.

There was no embedding option available on the videos, so Imma have to link ya to the article itself:

'Watchmen' exclusive: Video preview of 'Tales of the Black Freighter' DVD.


Video previews for The Tales of the Black Freighter DVD, about a minute-long each. Also includes Entertainment Weekly's interviews with the cast, director and original Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons.

Sneak peek on Tom Riddle's Story.

One-minute long footage from the upcoming Harry Potter movie. Enjoy :)

Hitler reacts to the Watchmen movie ending.

My sentiments exactly. Scene from Valkyrie (2008), if I'm not mistaken My apologies, the clip is from Der Untergang (2004) (Eng. translation: Downfall).

Oh well, c'est la vie. Enjoy anyways :)





[I should really watch
Valkyrie one of these days.]

Monday, March 9, 2009

New Up full trailer!



[Look at how cute Russell is... xD]

Scents of a Trekkie?

That would be a HIja'.

PC World says that Genki Wear would be releasing Star Trek-themed colognes and perfumes, which will be called 'Tiberius' (that's what the 'T' in James T. Kirk stands for), 'Red Shirt' (Starfleet uniforms) and Pon Farr (Vulcan mating rituals).

For pics of the perfume bottles, head over to the full PC World article here.

Pineapple Express short – Oscar night.

This was the Pineapple Express clip that aired on Oscar night. Enjoy :)
Okay, it seems that the stupid video is not loading properly, so here is the link to the video hosted up on SpikedHumor.com. Enjoy it anyways :)

Sunday, March 8, 2009

X-Men O character posters!

Either they've forgotten Deadpool or left him out intentionally, but eh, the others look cool anyways. Here are Wolverine's, Sabretooth's and Gambit's, and you can find the rest at this link here.






New Prince of Persia pics.

Newly-released pictures from the new Prince of Persia movie:


[The backdrop's even the same. Jake's just posed differently.]

I think this pic-release was solely targeted towards Jake Gyllenhaal's fangirls. Get them in the bag (to go see the movie), then target those who are fans of the game franchise, and aren't really confident that the movie will do the games justice.

Ya know, the people who really matter.

Smart move there, movie studio.

Watchmen opening credits!

According to Rope of Silicon, the Watchmen opening credits have been hosted online by yU+Co., the company who created it. Full article here, video below:



Sigh. Brings back memories =]

Up character posters!

Look at how adorable he is... *squee*

See the other two character posters here.

Latest Harry Potter trailer!

This one came out a few days ago. I don't remember the bridge part, but then again, I haven't really read the sixth book in a while. Oh well, enjoy :)

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Upcoming movies for summer!

Now that I've seen Watchmen, I can devote my Googleefforts on other upcoming movies. Here are the ones I'm having an eye out for:

1) X-Men Origins: Wolverine

2) Star Trek

3) Angels & Demons

4) Up

5) Transformers 2: Revenge of The Fallen

6) The A-Team (?)

7) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Kicking it off is the final trailer for X-Men O below. Expect more news on those movies (when available) in the days to come! :)

Another ending to Watchmen?

Alternate storyboard here.

[Another feather in Rorschach's bad-ass fedoracap.]

Friday, March 6, 2009

Watchmen (2009)

[This is not the movie poster used locally, but I'm going with 'cool'.]

*spoilerrific!!*


Watchmen is based on the most acclaimed graphic novelcomic book of all time (it was on Times Magazine's 100 Best Novels Since 1923 list), and is set in an alternate 1985, where costumed heroes once existed, but is now outlawed. When one of their own gets hurled out of a window 30-storeys high, his former comrade investigates his murder, and uncovers a much more sinister plan of global proportions.

I totally loved the movie, although I think I'm slightly biased because the movie looks EXACTLY like the comic book in most instances, and I'm a fan-girl. Plus, each scene is stuffed with an ass-ton of Easter Eggs that Watchmen-readers would be able to identify, and that's just pure awesomeness in my book. I didn't mind the parts that were different from the comic book; just the ending I hated. Over the past few weeks, I read rumors that the alien 'squid' (I guess 'Cthulhu' was too difficult to pronounce) was out, but the events and outcome of the ending are basically the same.

They're not rumors. The "How" of events IS different.

In the comic book, a giant monstrous creature is teleported to New York, and is genetically engineered to (massively!) explode on death (which is what teleportation does to you unless you're Dr. Manhattan), and the world unites, thinking that aliens are upon us. In the movie, a bomb is detonated not only in New York, but other major world cities as well, and is engineered to look like the Silver Surfer has visitedDr. Manhattan had chosen to create huge-ass craters in the middle of those cities. The world unites as one, fearing that ONE nation cannot hold off against Dr. Man's wrath.

Thing is, Dr. Man is an unwitting pawn in the movie's scheme.

In both mediums, all that death and destruction was engineered by Adrian Veidt, fellow retired hero. In both mediums, Veidt's machinery generates tachyons to cloud Dr. M's visions of the future, so that he cannot interfere in Veidt's ultimate plan: to unite both the US and the Soviets, and to push far back the possibility of nuclear annihilation at the height of the Cold War.

[Can't cook an omelette without breaking a few eggs.]


Yes, the movie's outcome is still the same, the world is united, bla bla bla, but I feel that Veidt is MORE underhanded than originally. It's not enough that he gives Doc Man's former acquaintances cancer (and blames Doc Man for it, by the way), but even goes to the extent of bringing him in as an accomplice without his knowledge AND framing the guy for the deaths of millions of others. Granted, nobody can touch Doc Man and he himself doesn't give a rat's ass what other people think of him, but it just doesn't feel right to me.

[And besides, the Soviets could always say, "Haha. And you thought Superman was on YOUR side," even though Kremlin's population was also reduced by a crater-full.]


On a brighter note, visually, the movie is fan-bloody-tastic. It's like 300 minus the chroma key, and more dialogue. The slo-mo is a bit awkward at times, but otherwise it's just fine. The movie doesn't have much violence, but it REALLY doesn't hold back when it does (and you can pretty much hear every bone-breaking punch because it's so loud in the theatres). I enjoyed the violent bits, although I feel that they could've reduced the violence (basically to "when necessary") and increased more coverage on the backstories. Rorschach's was severely underused, here.

Speaking of Rorschach, Jackie Earle Haley was awesome! He's really Walter Kovacs brought to life, and I would really loved it if there was more screen-time for him (like Dan going to see Adrian in the beginning instead of Rorschach, since Rorschach had taken it upon himself to warn all remaining costumed heroes). Was rather looking forward to hearing the, "Possibly homosexual. Must investigate further," line in the movie. Also, the movie made Rorschach's death more tragic and personal, as Nite Owl sees him getting obliterated, after which he goes in and beats the crap out of Adrian, unlike in the comic book where Dan just lays Laurie and everyone forgets about poor Walter.

Another neat item of note is how Veidt changes accents, American in public, and European in private as well as with his fellow costumed heroes. I thought it was a very nice previously-unmentioned aspect to his personality (according to Matthew Goode, the actor playing him, Veidt may've been a German immigrant whose parents were Nazi-sympathizers or something, so he's kind of hiding who he actually is in public. Hence, the American accent.), although, if I hadn't read interviews, I would've thought the directing/acting was inconsistent.

The opening credits at the beginning is fantastic, and way better than I thought it'd be. They've woven the Watchmen universe with ours, and you can see many familiar faces and historical incidents in the montage. The Bob Dylan song was kinda annoying, though, but nonetheless, appropriate for the credits.

[You can see the opening credits here or here.]

As I've mentioned before, I'm a fan of the comic book, so my estimation of the movie is rather biased (for me, the awesomeness is WAY off the charts! ;D), so only go for the movie if you've read the comic book, and for those unfamiliar, only if you're patient, since the violence doesn't happen often. The four people next to me left after the first hour.

9/10. Would've been perfect if not for the ending.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Another 300 movie!

This is kinda old news, but looks like there's gonna be sequel/prequel of sorts to bestmovieofalltime 300. Frank Miller will be working on the graphic novel that the second movie will be based on, and it's said to take place between the Battle of Thermopylae and the Battle of Plataea, which will put us after King Leonidas' death, and before the end of the movie, where Dilios and a million Spartans start to kick Persian ass.

Zack Snyder is also slated to direct.

Full article here, and check out the awesome fan-made poster at the end of the article.

This is made of win.



Check out ItsJustSomeRandomGuy's page for more videos with action figures!

Monday, March 2, 2009

She's the Man (2006)


Totally not logic movie! Babe, Ms Bynes was not being noticed at all after she change to be "MAN". How could they hardly even notice anything? Just because someone wears a 'short hair wig' does not mean they are TOTALLY being unnoticed at all. Released March 17, 2006, over all kind of a nice romantic yet funny movie to watch when your in lovey dovey mood, its just one thing, once a babe, always a babe (and that goes to Ms Bynes no matter what kind of hair she gets). Over all, hrmm maybe 6 1/4..

Washington Post writes on Last Airbender controversy!

The Washington Post just did a great write-up on the whole Last Airbender casting fiasco, highlighting the reasons why the fandom has been up in arms the past few months.

[Also puts the casting director in a BAD light, I feel :)]


Check out the article, linked at: In Va., Casting About For Mongolian Actors

Revisiting... I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)


Remember this? To be frank, this was actually the first movie I remember screaming in the theater when I watch it during Standard Six. I still prefer this then the after-that-and-it-seem-never-ending thriller, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, and in that movie to it seems...well never ending. This movie was nice at first, but the more you watch it, what else, you will get bored if tons of adds on are added, so it makes no sense thereafter. In the acting part, I would say an equal act by all, except the fact that Mr Prince steals it all with his all so charming pretty boy face. Over all, a 6 for this.

Probable The Last Airbender casting sheet?

According to a write-up by one of the protestors who went to the Flushing, NY casting call on March 1st, Paramount seems to be casting actors based on 'element nations'. Below is what the protestors found out on March 1st:

1) Water Tribe = Caucasian actors (evidenced by Nicola Peltz and Jackson Rathbone – Katara and Sokka)

2) Fire Nation = Indian actors (Dev Patel - Zuko)

3) Earth Kingdom = Asian actors (Jessica Andres - Suki)

4) Air Nomads = (possibly) Caucasian actors (Noah Ringer - Aang)

For a TV show with a setting that existed in an alternate universe (with borrowed elements from ours), the producers seem pretty bent on bridging the gap between our world and their's. Based on this info, this would mean that:
  • Fire Nation = India
  • Earth Kingdom = East Asian countries (China, Japan, Korea, etc.)
  • Water Tribe & Air Nomads = North Americas (or maybe Europe)

How easy they make it for us to draw parallels and similarities based solely on race.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Billy Crystal considering Oscars 2010?!!

YES YES YES YES!!!

Linkie: Oscar's Next Host: Billy Crystal?



[Random happiness: "Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal..."]

Old and fat, fat and old...

Cate Blanchett has signed on to play Maid Marian, replacing Sienna Miller, in Ridley Scott's Robin Hood thingie, alongside Russell Crowe. Miller was kicked off because she made Crowe (to be playing Robin Hood) look "old and fat".

So, what, they're saying that Cate Blanchett looks unfresh-faced and plumpish now? Last I checked, she still looks pretty good.


[P.S. Since it's going to be a Robin Hood origin story, Russell Crowe should really get back into shape soon.]

Madea se(three?)quel beats crap out of JoBros' opening weekend!

This could go for a " 'nuff said", but I'm bored now, so I will also add a

HAHAHA!!

I really don't see what's SO special about a guy cross-dressing as an overbearing middle-aged lady (like The Klumps), but how on earth is a "Concert Experience" or a "concert film", for that matter, a movie? First you have Hannah Montana, and now the Jonas Brothers. I mean, it's just a concert, with one/two hours worth of behind-the-scenes stuff.

Ya know, like the kind of extras you can get from a DVD...

Sure, it's (*jazz-hands*) "3D" and all, but it's just a concert (film). If you're such a huge fan of the JoBros (or Miley Cyrus for that matter), go to an REAL concert, where you can actually SEE and HEAR them live, and/or claim to be within a few blocks' distance of the boys on stage.

I understand that concerts are way more expensive than your average (3D) movie, but when you talk about money's worth... I say go for the concert.


[And, totally unrelated, is it me, or do the boys SO not look alike? Just a thought.]