Movies
Friday, December 18th, 2009
by Jeff
James Cameron doesn’t do anything small. Just about every motion picture he directs turns into a major blockbuster: Terminator, Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, The Abyss, and the highest grossing movie of all time Titanic. (Let’s just pretend Piranha Part Two: The Spawning never happened okay?)
With a track record like that, it’s hard for a movie studio to say no when he comes along and asks for $300 million to make a movie. Lucky for us. After watching Avatar you can clearly see that $300 million went all over the screen in dazzling three dimensions.
Avatar is quite simply ground breaking cinema. As the theater experience gets better and better at home, it gets harder and harder to get people to leave the house to see a movie. Why not just wait for it on Blu-Ray and watch it at home on your 60″ plasma with 7.1 Dolby Digital surround sound? The movie studios needed to kick it up a notch and make movie going an experience again. The entire movie industry should be thanking James Cameron right now for doing just that.
What Avatar does is what Star Wars did in 1977 when you saw the Imperial Star Destroyer fill the movie screen and give you a sense of size unmatched in cinema. Avatar immerses you in a world that you know does not exist, yet feels so real as you watch it that you almost forget it’s all created with microprocessors.
Oh and there’s a plot too.
In 2154 humans are colonizing the planet Pandora, an exotic jungle like world with an atmosphere toxic to humans. The 10 foot tall blue skinned native life forms called the Na’vi are viewed by the humans much like the native Americans were viewed by the European colonists of North America. Humans want to drive the Na’vi out of their land to take precious minerals from the ground which are suppose to fix the energy crisis that had overtaken Earth.
To interact with the Na’vi in the deadly-to-human atmosphere, humans connect with a genetically engineered human-Na’vi hybrid called an Avatar. The human stays safely at a base while they control and feel all the sensory input from their Avatar.
The plot has a very predictable anti-war/save the planet message, but it’s no less enjoyable because of it. Even though you can guess what’s going to happen, you still can’t wait to see it play out on the screen because every scene dazzles the senses.
Motion capture technology has been around for a long time, but James Cameron takes it one step further. Not only are the actors movements captured and translated to a computer generated character, their emotions are captured as well. It’s the one thing that has always been lacking with CGI characters. Sure they can walk, jump, fly and look like and do things like no human can, but they just can’t act. Their faces always look like puppets.
Not so with Avatar. You see something in these characters eyes. You see emotions you never thought possible. You see love, anger, worry, hatred, sorrow. You can connect with these characters and think that they are actually real. Zoe Saldaña should get an Oscar nomination for her performance even though she’s never physically on camera.
The same feelings occur with the planet Pandora and everything on it. It’s a lush, vibrant colorful world, so exotic you know it’s not real, yet you’re still surprised when its animal life does something you never expected but seems perfectly natural here.
Avatar is an event you must experience at a theater, and preferably in IMAX 3D if you can. It’s worth the extra ticket price for the experience. As great as your home theater set up is, a lot of Avatar will be lost in a home viewing. If you never saw Star Wars in a theater you missed out on a similar experience. Here’s your chance to make up for it. Go buy your ticket now!
Sunday, August 16th, 2009
by Jeff
It’s not very often I remember a dream, and even more rare when I remember it vividly. I watched Knowing this week so this must have been what prompted this one.
I was camping alone and watching TV on a beach when out across the water I saw a bright beam of light shoot out of the sky and hit the water as it made a high pitched noise. I looked down at my TV to see what the news said and it was just Sharon Rose reporting about another ATV rider somewhere in northern Maine who was killed.
Now suddenly I’m on the same beach, but it’s in South Portland and across the water I see a new beam hitting One City Center. The building isn’t destroyed, but somehow I know that everyone inside was vaporized.
Still nothing on the news about it yet and Sharon is now doing the intro to that segment where they show pictures of kids catching fish. I’m glad the beam hasn’t gotten her. I like her.
Now I’m in an abandoned building and suddenly the bright beam is right above me about to fire. So I grab my XBox controller in my pocket and move a blinking cursor next to the light and press A. Another blinking dot flies up into the air from right next to me and explodes next to it in a jagged pixel shape as I hear white noise. It takes out the beam and I’ve saved the world.
I look down at the TV that is still at my feet and Sharon is now doing a story about how I have saved the world with this graphic behind her.
Yep. I saved the world with my Atari 2600 Missile Command skills. Then I woke up. You’re welcome.
Sunday, March 8th, 2009
by Jeff
There are several types of people that will go and see Watchmen. There are the people who have been waiting for this movie for twenty years ever since they first laid their hands on the 12 issue comic series back in 1986. There are those that may not really like comic book movies, but always check out any big budget, effects laden flick that is getting a lot of buzz. Then there are those that really wanted to go see Slumdog Millionaire, but their significant other won when he called heads. Hopefully I can address all these people with my thoughts on the film.
Watchmen is about a group of superheroes in an alternate version of 1985. A 1985 where Richard Nixon is still president and blimps fly through the sky in New York City, and the United States and Soviet Union are inching closer and closer to nuclear war. Someone is killing off these superheroes, and one named Rorschach is trying to find out why. The film follows his investigation while bringing other heroes into the mix from the Batman-like Nite Owl II to the god like Dr. Manhattan. Oh and just a warning. Dr. Manhattan glows bright blue and walks around naked. Yes ALL of him is blue.
Don’t be fooled. This is not really a comic book movie. It’s a movie with a deep, philosophical story that just happens to revolve around superheroes. If you want to go watch people in capes beat up bad guys, you get plenty of that. You also get a great story that really makes you think about the world we live in, even if this world is not exactly like ours. It examines what lengths we would go to to achieve world peace and a utopian society, and what the consequences might be if those steps aren’t taken.
If you’re a fan of the comic you won’t be disappointed. There are changes that had to be made, particularly to the ending (which actually is a change for the better) but as I watched this movie there were scenes that seemed to be taken panel for panel from the art work of Dave Gibbons. It truly was like watching the comic book come to life.
A Watchmen scene from the comic and its movie counterpart
One of the things I found amusing was how many real life people were portrayed in this film. I saw Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Ted Koppel, John F. Kennedy, and Pat Buchanan. There were a ton more that I either missed or didn’t recognize as most are not named in the film. When you watch it see how many of them you can spot, and then come back here for the full list below that I grabbed from the movie credits.
For the comic book fan, Watchmen doesn’t disappoint. For the big budget movie fan, there is plenty of eye candy here. For the movie fan who loves a great thinking story there’s plenty here for you too. If you like mindless entertainment like You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, stay home.
If you are new to Watchmen and want to have a bit more of a background into what you are going to see, I highly recommend this primer from newsarama.com. It will definitely help for those WTF moments when you aren’t quite sure what is going on.
I absolutely loved this movie, and can’t wait until the DVD comes out that hopefully puts back in some of the things that were left on the cutting room floor. Even at 3 hours, you can’t squeeze everything from a 400 page graphic novel into a movie.
Now here’s the list of famous people to try to spot:
Richard Nixon
John McGlaughlin
Pat Buchanan
Elanor Clift
Henry Kissinger
Truman Capote
John F. Kennedy
Jackie Kennedy
Fidel Castro
David Bowie
Mick Jagger
Andy Warhol
Annie Leibovitz
Leonid Brezhnev
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
by Jeff
Hollywood lost a legend today. Ricardo Montalban, famous for his roles as Mr. Rourke in Fantasy Island and Khan Noonien Singh in the Star Trek episode Space Seed and movie “The Wrath of Khan” died today at the age of 88. He had been ill and confined to a wheelchair for quite some time.
When I posted the news on Facebook and Twitter, I had a few responses from people who had no idea who he was. Wrong. Maybe you don’t recognize the name, but you certainly have seen or heard him before. Take a look at this collection of some of his most famous work.
Star Trek : The Original Series – Space Seed (1967)
Chrysler (1975)
Fantasy Island (1978-1984)
Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Naked Gun (1988)
Monday, November 17th, 2008
by Jeff
To have a successful movie you have to appeal to a wide audience, and that’s the thought that J.J. Abrams has about his latest endeavor, Star Trek.
Full disclosure. I’m a Star Trek geek. My introduction to Star Trek was technically in 1979 with the Star Trek The Motion Picture Happy Meal, but at the age of eight, I was more concerned with the french fries. It wasn’t until I saw Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan on HBO in 1983 that I totally got hooked.
I now own all ten movies, all seven seasons of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, 7 starship models, 20 novels, 5 technical manuals, and every crappy Trek video game ever made. Am I biased toward the new movie? Yup.
So are other Trek fans. When the above picture of the new design for the Enterprise was released, Trek nerds practically called for J.J. Abrams head on a platter for ruining the look of the 1960’s Enterprise. You know the one that was done on a shoestring television budget that looked like it was hanging off…well a shoestring?
There are a lot of changes in the new movie that the Trek purists will claim that Star Trek’s creator Gene Roddenberry is rolling over in his grave about. Although this movie doesn’t look or feel exactly like the original Trek, I think it’s going to kick ass! I love the new Enterprise, love Zachary Quitno from Heroes as Spock, and sure I will love Leonard Nimoy as old Spock.
I’m curious what the non-trek fans think though. Never seen Star Trek or only seen a few episodes? Watch the trailer above and leave a comment to let me know what you think. This is the crappy YouTube version, so if you want to see it in HD quality, head on over to the Apple Trailer site and watch. Or be a real geek like me and download it and stream it over your network to your HDTV via the XBox 360. Scotty taught me how.
Friday, November 14th, 2008
by Jeff
One of the only perks of having to work so early in the morning is being able to go see movies on the afternoon they premiere and avoid the crowds that night. You get the best seat in the theater and don’t have to deal with snot nosed teens kicking the back of your chair.
That’s the perfect way to watch the new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace. The last thing you want is to be distracted during this film.
So here’s your warning. Some minor spoilers are coming up so if you want to go in fresh, stop reading now.
Quantum of Solace is the second Bond film since the big Bond reboot of 2006 with Casino Royale. The reboot allowed the writers to throw out all the established canon with James Bond and start fresh. Even though I was cautious when I first heard the word "reboot" associated with James Bond, it’s worked extremely well for the franchise.
Don’t expect your father’s Bond. The writer’s have thrown out some Bond staples. There are no lines in the movie like "Bond. James Bond," and "Shaken not stirred." There’s no Q to give Bond an arsenal of fancy high tech gadgets for his mission. In fact there aren’t really any fancy high tech gadgets at all with the exception of a Microsoft Surface like table at MI6 headquarters. You also won’t hear much of the classic Bond theme or see the Bond gun barrel sequence until the end credits.
Quantum of Solace is also different from other Bond films in that it is the first direct Bond sequel. It picks up right where Casino Royale left off. It’s not necessary to have seen Casino Royale recently or at all to enjoy the movie, but it certainly will help fill in the background on a few things that get referenced.
Solace is jam packed full of stunt filled action sequences. You want an action filled chase scene? Sure. How do you want it? Car? Boat? Plane? On foot? All four are in this one. Okay so you might look at some of the scenes and say "There’s no way Bond would survive that," but if you think like that you shouldn’t be watching a Bond film in the first place.
This Bond is more bad ass than wise ass. Two scenes involving Bond taking out a guy on a motorcycle, and holding a guy over the ledge of a building portray Bond as the bad ass that make you pump your fist and say "Yes!"
Movie Mom described what they’ve done with Bond the best by calling it "The Bond Ultimatum." It’s shot very much like the Bourne movies, with cameras that shake during fight scenes and follow Bond through doors and windows when he’s in pursuit of the bad guy. It tries to put the viewer in the scene, which I don’t mind, but seems a little over used here. At times I just wanted the camera to hold still so I could take in everything in the frame without feeling nauseous.
In the end though, I thought Solace was one of the better Bond films. They all have their own uniqueness. Connery’s Bond is different than Moore’s who’s is different than Brosnan’s and on and on. Craig’s is a Bond for a new era.
Now though I want to go back and watch all of them again. I’ve got a vacation in a month or so, and that might be just enough time to watch all 22 of them.
You’ll also get a big bonus watching Quantum of Solace. One of the trailers shown is the new J.J. Abrams Star Trek trailer, and it totally blew me away! This is another franchise reboot, and it looks incredible for even non Trek fans. I’ll have more thoughts on that when the trailer appears online on Monday at 10am.
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
by Jeff
From DirectTV’s website:
“Effective April 15, 2008, DVR recordings of PPV movies will be available for 24 hours of unlimited viewing after purchase. Major movie studios have required that satellite and cable providers alike may no longer allow their customers to view these recordings for longer than 24 hours. During the 24 hour viewing period, you will continue to enjoy all of your DVR features such as pause and rewind.”
So I pay $3.99 for a pay per view movie and the clock starts ticking. Better watch that thing within 24 hours or it’s stolen from the hard drive of your DVR and you have to pay for it again if you want to watch it. It’s not even 24 hours from when I start watching the movie, it’s from the second I order it. Idiots.
When will the movie companies learn the lesson that the record companies are finally learning? The more restrictions you put on content the more you encourage piracy. The record companies have finally begun selling music in high quality with no copy protection, and I’m buying more music than ever before.
We time shift everything these days. As I write this, Lost has started on ABC. I plan to watch it tomorrow or this weekend, because I work early in the morning and will be going to bed as soon as I post this. Imagine if I had only 24 hours to watch Lost, and that clock started as soon as I began recording. The studios seem to want to model our behavior to fit them, not the other way around. What other business treats its customers like this?
The MPAA continually moans about piracy and how it costs them billions of dollars every year. Yet rather than make their content readily and easily available for the customers in the ways that are convenient to them, they place restriction after restriction on them, which then encourages the very thing they want to prevent.
I just bought the DVD of I Am Legend which comes with a digital copy. That’s great, but I can’t put it on my iPhone, I have to have a Windows machine to watch it, and I need to have an Internet connection to unlock it. Thanks for nothing. Instead, consumers will break the copy protection and then do whatever they want with it.
I’m just hoping that the movie and television industry will learn the lesson, that so many media outlets aren’t getting. We live in a new technological world now, and you have to adapt to it in order to survive. Customers should be number one, and when you tell them what they can and can’t do with the things that they pay you money for, they’ll continue to rob you blind.
Recording PPV Titles To Your DVR
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
by Jeff
From my new site for the soon to be launched video podcast This Awesome Show:
We might have an end to the writer’s strike if things go well this weekend when the Writer’s Guild of America debates a proposal to end the three month long walk off.
There’s still some I’s to dot and T’s to cross, but things are looking up for the first time in a while.
Has the writer’s strike even mattered to most viewers? A lot of the biggest shows like American Idol, Deal or No Deal, Survivor, and Dancing With The Stars don’t need writers. The only thing I’ve noticed is a shortened season of “Heroes” and “Lost” which just now restarted anyway. I’ve actually been catching up on some shows I wasn’t into before the strike like “The Shield” and the canceled “Firefly.” I’ve also been watching a lot more movies and video podcasts.
Even if they do manage to resolve this strike, it will take months for production companies to start churning out new shows. Networks would be foolish to run these new shows during the summer, so it seems like this season is a loss.
Striking writers to debate labor deal on Saturday – Yahoo! News
Monday, January 21st, 2008
by Jeff
Remember what going to the movies was like before the Internet? No spoilers, no script leaks, no spy pictures of shooting, and no way to know what trailers would be playing before what movie. Well not only has the Internet changed all that, it’s also given us free porn. I digress.
I knew going in that the new Star Trek teaser trailer would be playing before “Cloverfield”, and being the trekkie that I am (I’m old school, so I’m not a trekker), I was probably the only one in the theater that knew what we were about to see during the trailers when the Paramount and Bad Robot logos appeared on screen.
The trailer opens with a welder in goggles, well, welding something. It’s followed by quick shots of something big being constructed on Earth. The sounds of JFK and NASA communication from the 60’s plays over these shots, followed by Leonard Niimoy saying the famous words “Space. The Final Frontier,” as the camera pans up to reveal the saucer section of The Enterprise being constructed. It fades to the Starfleet logo as the first few notes of the Trek theme play, finishing with the words “UNDER CONSTRUCTION.” Nice!
I’m sure the Trek fanboys will freak about some things, like the Enterprise being built on Earth not in space, and oh no! The font used for the Enterprise name on the hull is not the same! Let’s get over that people. Let J.J. Abrams do his thing, and pass judgement after you watch the movie, which I’m sure you will. Personally, if the movie lives up to the stylistic portrayal of Star Trek we see in this itty bitty teaser, I will be a happy Trek fan.
The trailer should be online at the official movie site after this weekend.
So to review, here’s my must see movies in 2008:
And it’s only January.
EDIT:
The trailer has now been released on the official site, as well as a viral marketing campaign at www.ncc-1701.com Here’s the trailer in case you don’t want to go hunt it down:
Sunday, January 20th, 2008
by Jeff
I got this email from Andrea off the radio station website:
I never write but…I turned down the volume when movie mom talked about “Clover Field” (while you left the room thinking it would be fun) and then went to see the movie on Sat. knwing nothing w/ my husband…and we HATED it!! It was such a rip off…it was a cross between Godzilla, War of the Worlds, World Trade Center, & Blair Witch Project…Cover Field was so unoriginal, predictable & a huge disappointment…I had a headache when I left & am getting another one just thinking about it again…that movie sucked so bad & it was a huge waste of $$$ Tell Lori & Meredith not to see it, they’d hate it too. Have a nice day:-)
I expected some reaction like this. It’s a movie that a select few really get. Oh well. I’m sure there’ll be a Dodgeball 2 someday.
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