Tuesday, 30 April 2013
Monday, 29 April 2013
"Mr. Go" Is The Korean Gorilla-Baseball Movie You Didn't Know You Were Waiting For
Hat-tip to BAD and Twitch for putting this one on my radar: "Mr. Go" is a Korean sports comedy(?) about an oversized gorilla who joins a baseball team:
Yup. That's about all that's needs saying, but hit the jump for a... "making-of trailer," I guess (is that a more commonplace thing in Korean theaters?) that shows off their motion-capture tech (anyone who reads Korean care to tell me who Go's mo-cap performer is?) and a little more of the plot - apparently there's a second, presumably "evil" gorilla in there, too...
Yup. That's about all that's needs saying, but hit the jump for a... "making-of trailer," I guess (is that a more commonplace thing in Korean theaters?) that shows off their motion-capture tech (anyone who reads Korean care to tell me who Go's mo-cap performer is?) and a little more of the plot - apparently there's a second, presumably "evil" gorilla in there, too...
Go Big Or Go Extinct
Warner Bros. has released the previously WonderCon-exclusive longer trailer for Guillermo Del Toro's "Pacific Rim," which closes on a shot that - in a just world - should end up being the single most memorable image of the entire 2013 schedule. Holy. Shit....
I remain REALLY worried about the prospects for this one. Oh, it'll almost certainly be a magnificent film... but I feel like the studio and others might be way overestimating the prospects for it. I'm loathe to admit it, but all the military/LeBeouf/Fox douchebag bullshit that Bay etc piled on top of "Transformers" is what got that first movie to open as a mainstream blockbuster instead of a niche nerdstalgia property. "Rim," on the other hand, looks like much more of a "pure" version of what it is - a movie aimed at monster/robot/dinosaur/scifi-fixated 10 year-olds (and adults who never outgrew it) without much interest in getting "Fast & Furious's" (unironic) audience into seats. That's commendable, and will likely make for a better movie... but I can easily imagine Hollywood's precious teen-bro demographic saying "This looks GAY!" and taking a pass.
But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe "The Avengers" has changed the game already in that regard. Does anyone reading this have kids and could maybe attest to whether or not they're running ads/promos for this on Cartoon Network daytime or Nick or whatever? Because I think what'll make the difference on this one is if it become a pre-release "must-see" among the actual children at whom this kind of material is always best received when done right. We'll see.
I remain REALLY worried about the prospects for this one. Oh, it'll almost certainly be a magnificent film... but I feel like the studio and others might be way overestimating the prospects for it. I'm loathe to admit it, but all the military/LeBeouf/Fox douchebag bullshit that Bay etc piled on top of "Transformers" is what got that first movie to open as a mainstream blockbuster instead of a niche nerdstalgia property. "Rim," on the other hand, looks like much more of a "pure" version of what it is - a movie aimed at monster/robot/dinosaur/scifi-fixated 10 year-olds (and adults who never outgrew it) without much interest in getting "Fast & Furious's" (unironic) audience into seats. That's commendable, and will likely make for a better movie... but I can easily imagine Hollywood's precious teen-bro demographic saying "This looks GAY!" and taking a pass.
But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe "The Avengers" has changed the game already in that regard. Does anyone reading this have kids and could maybe attest to whether or not they're running ads/promos for this on Cartoon Network daytime or Nick or whatever? Because I think what'll make the difference on this one is if it become a pre-release "must-see" among the actual children at whom this kind of material is always best received when done right. We'll see.
The Golem (1920)
The Golem is one of the classics of German expressionist horror. Released the same year as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, it's neither as famous nor as great as that genre-defining landmark, but it's still an interesting film with a striking visual style. Directed by Carl Boese and Paul Wegener, and shot by the always fantastic Karl Freund, The Golem has a moody gothic style and some rudimentary
Jet Li's Flying swords of Dragon Gate
Description: “International action star Jet Li leads an incredible cast in a gripping story of power, pleasure and revenge. Vigilante general Zhao (Li) is determined to restore order to the royal throne by tracking down corrupt officials, including Yu, an incredibly determined eunuch. Yu and his soldiers are on their way to the new Dragon Inn, where they hope to find a runaway pregnant palace concubine and a tough swordswoman who have sought refuge there. As a legendary sandstorm lays hold of the region, fighters, treasure-seekers and assassins alike will find themselves in the midst of a powerful, unforgettable showdown of good vs. evil. Winner at the Asian Film Awards, The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate is a martial arts masterpiece filled with spectacular special effects delivering knock-out action that has to be seen to . . . [believe].”
Category by FTI Movie House: Action
Note: The video that I originally posted here, which was an English dubbed and subtitled, was removed from its host website on copyright ground. As a result, what we have here is just an English subtitled video. Nonetheless, as soon as another English dubbed one gets available, I'll post it here. Click on "cc" at the bottom of the player to show the English caption. Thanks.
Sunday, 28 April 2013
Saturday, 27 April 2013
Friday, 26 April 2013
Escape to The Movies: "Pain & Gain"
2013 German Film Award Winners
Posting winners as they are announced via Twitter and facebook. When info becomes available at official site, will confirm winners. All winners are confirmed in official site that you can check here.Honorary Lola goes to Werner Herzog; Audience Award Lola to Schlussmacher by Matthias Schweighöfer and Torsten Künstler.
Seems that Oh Boy will win most major awards... only one to go... and went to Oh Boy, which becomes the big winner tonight.
Winners are in BLUE.
3/22/13
A few hours ago the Deutsche Filmakademie (German Film Academy) announced the nominees for the Deutscher Filmpreis (German Film Awards) -better known as Lolas- and Cloud Atlas leads the pack with 9 nods including top award and Best Director closely followed by Jan Ole Gester's debut film Oh Boy with eight nods.
These are the nominees for all the 16 categories.
Best Film
Cloud Atlas, Lana Wachowski, Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer
*Hannah Arendt, Margarethe von Trotta BEST FILM IN SILVER
*Lore, Cate Shortland BEST FILM IN BRONZE
*Oh Boy, Jan Ole Gerster BEST FILM IN GOLD
Quellen des Lebens, Oskar Roehler
Die Wand (The Wall), Julian Roman Pölsler
Best Director
*Jan Ole Gester for Oh Boy
Margarethe von Trotta for Hannah Arendt
Lana Wachowski, Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer for Cloud Atlas
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Martina Gedeck in Die Wand (The Wall)
Birgit Minichmayr in Gnade (Mercy)
*Barbara Sukowa in Hannah Arendt
Best Supporting Actress
Margarita Broich in Quellen des Lebens
Friederike Kempter in Oh Boy
*Christine Schorn in Das Leben ist nichts für Feiglinge
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Edin Hasanovic in Schuld sind immer die Anderen
*Tom Schilling in Oh Boy
Sabin Tambrea in Ludwig II
Best Supporting Actor
*Michael Gwisdek in Oh Boy
Robert Gwisdek in Das Wochenende (The Weekend)
Ernst Stötzner in Was Bleibt (Home for the Weekend)
Best Screenplay
Pam Katz and Margarethe von Trotta for Hannah Arendt
*Jan Ole Gerster for Oh Boy
Anna Maria Praßler for Schuld sind immer die Anderen
Best Cinematography
Adam Arkapaw for Lore
Jakub Bejnarowicz for Gnade (Mercy)
*John Troll and Frank Briebe for Cloud Atlas
Best Art Direction
Susann Bieling for Die Abenteuer des Huck Finn
*Uli Hanisch and Hugo Bateup for Cloud Atlas
Udo Kramer for Die Vermessung der Welt (Measuring the World)
Best Editing
*Alexander Berner for Cloud Atlas
Anne Fabini for More Than Honey
Anja Siemens for Oh Boy
Best Sound Design
*Christian Bischoff, Uve Haussig and Johannes Konecny for Die Wand (The Wall)
Benjamin Krbetschek and Holger Lehmann for Du hast es Versprochen (Forgotten)
Stefan Soltau, Björn Wiese and Dominik Rätz for Gnade (Mercy)
Markus Stemler, Ivan Sharrock, Frank Kruse, Matthias Lempert, Roland Winke and Lars Ginzel for Cloud Atlas
Best Film Score
*The Major Minors and Cherilyn MacNeil for Oh Boy
Max Richter for Lore
Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil for Cloud Atlas
Best Costume Design
*Kym Barrett and Pierre-Yves Gayraud for Cloud Atlas
Stefanie Bieker for Lore
Frauke Firl for Hannah Arendt
Thomas Oláh for Die Vermessung der welt (Measuring the World)
Best Make Up
Jeannette Latzelsberger, Gregor Eckstein, Elke Lebender, Stephanie Däbritz and Julia Rinkl for Quellen des lebens
*Daniel Parker and Jeremy Woodhead for Cloud Atlas
Astrid Weber for Hannah Arendt
Best Documentary*More Than Honey, Markus Imhoof
Vergis Mein Nicht, David Sieveking
Die Wohnung (The Flat), Arnon Goldfinger
Best Children's Film
Das Haus der Krokodile (Victor and the Secret of Crocodile Mansion), Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert
*Kaddisch für einen Freund, Leo Khasin
To check the official list go here. Awards ceremony will take place on April 26 in Berlin's Friedrichstadt-Palast, will be broadcast live by ZDF and will be hosted by Mirjam Weichselbraun.
There are many interesting films among the nominees, specially the family/personal dramas that seem to have interesting stories but there are a few period films and/or historical real life people that also could be interesting. Among the documentaries The Flat has become must be seen for me. Great.
66th Festival de Cannes Official Selection Lineup - Update 1
Today organizers announced five (5) more films in the Official Selection, with Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive (with Tilda Swinton) going into the Competition, Claude Lanzmann's Le Dernier des Injustes out of competition and three (3) films in Un Certain Regard: Lucia Puenzo's Wakolda, Hiner Saleem's My Sweet Pepperland and Katrin Gebbe's Tore Tanzt.4/18/13
A few minutes ago the Official Selection lineup was unveiled and yes, there are some very positive surprises for me even when most films in the main competition are the ones everyone was buzzing and speculating will make the selection. The surprises: the latest film by master filmmaker Jia Zhangke, one of my favorite Sixth Generation Chinese directors, and none other than Amat Escalante that even when his films are quite violent, truly mesmerizes me with his particular and peculiar style. Fantastic!
My biggest non-positive surprise is to find Steven Soderbergh latest film in the Official Selection (?!) not only is a TV movie (is HBO) but the film stills and promotion material seems truly awful representation of Liberace. Obviously now I know will expect more from this movie that will premier Sunday, May 26 at 9pm on HBO.
As have been doing in previous years in one post will list ALL films that made this year selection and will update as soon as they announce new films in any section.
Competition
Behind the Candelabra, Steven Soderbergh, USA
Borgman, Alex van Warmerdam, Netherlands
Grisgris, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, France and Chad
Heli, Amat Esclante, Mexico
Inside Llewyn Davis, Ethan and Joel Coen, USA
Jeune et Jolie, François Ozon, France
Jimmy P. (aka Jimmy Picard) (Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian), Aranud Desplechin, USA
La Vie d'A Adèle (aka Le Bleu est une coleur chaude), Abdellatif Kechiche, France
La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty), Paolo Sorrentino, Italy and France
La Vénus à la fourrure (Venus in Fur), Roman Polansky, France
Le passé (The Past), Asghar Farhadi, France
Michael Kohlhaas, Arnaud des Pallières, France and Germany
The Immigrant (aka Lowlife), James Gray, USA
Nebraska, Alexander Payne, USA
Only Lovers Left Alive, Jim Jarmusch, USA
Only God Forgives, Nicolas Winding Refn, France and Denmark
そして父になる Soshite chichi ni naru (Like Father, Like Son), Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan
天注定 Tian Zhu Ding (A Touch of Sin), Jia Zhangke, China
Un château en Italie, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, France
藁の楯 わらのたて Wara No Tate (Shield of Straw), Takashi Miike, Japan
Out of Competition
Opening Film: The Great Gatsby, Baz Luhrmann, Australia and USA
Closing Film: Zulu, Jérôme Salle, France
All is Lost, J.C. Chandor, USA
Blood Ties, Guillaume Canet, France and USA
Le dernier des injustes, Claude Lanzmann, France and Austria
The JuryPresident: Steven Spielberg, director, USA
Naomi Kawase, director, Japan
Cristian Mungiu, director, scriptwriter and producer, Romania
Lynne Ramsay, director, scriptwriter and producer, UK
Ang Lee, director, scriptwriter and producer, Taiwan
Daniel Auteuil, actor and director, France
Christoph Waltz, actor, Austria
Nicole Kidman, actress and producer, Australia
Vidya Balan, actress, India
Un Certain Regard
Opening Film: The Bling Ring, Sofia Coppola, USA
Anonymous, Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran
As I Lay Dying, James Franco, USA
(*) Bends, Flora Lau, Hong Kong and China
Death March, Adolfo Alix Jr., Philippines
(*) Fruitvale Station, Ryan Coogler, USA
Grand Central, Rebecca Zlotowski, France
(*) La Jaula de Oro, Diego Quemada-Diez, Mexico
Les Salauds, Claire Denis, France
L'Image Manquante, Rithy Panh, Cambodia
L'Inconnu du lac, Alain Guiraudie, France
(*) Miele, Valeria Golino, France and Italy
My Sweet Pepperland, Hiner Saleem, Turkey, Iran, Irak
Norte, Hanggan ng kasaysayan (Norte, The End of History), Lav Diaz, Philippines
Omar, Hany Abu-Assad, Palestine and USA
(*) Sarah préfère la course, Chloé Robichaud, Canada
(*) Tore Tanzt, Katrin Gebbe, Germany
Wakolda, Lucía Puenzo, Argentina, Spain, France, Germany and Norway
Un Certain Regard Jury
President: Thomas Vinterberg, director, scriptwriter and producer, Denmark
Special Screenings
Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight, Stephen Frears, USA (TV movie)
Seduced and Abandoned, James Toback, USA (Documentary)
Stop the Pounding Heart, Roberto Minervini, Italy, Belgium and USA
Week End of A Champion, Roman Polanski, UK, 1972 (Documentary)
Midnight Screenings
盲探 Man Tam (Blind Detective) , Johnnie To, Hong Kong
(*) Moonsoon Shootout, Amit Kumar, India and UK
Cannes Classics
Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1958
Jerry Lewis' Tribute
Max Rose, Daniel Noah, USA
Gala Screening, Tribute to India
Bombay Talkies, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap and Dibakar Banerjee, India
Short Films Competition
37°4 S, Adriano Valerio, France, 11'
Bishtar az do saat (More Than Two Hours), Ali Asgari, Iran, 15'
Condom Lead, Mohammed Abou Nasser and Ahmad Abou Nasser, Palestine and Jordan, 14'
Hvalfjörður (Whale Valley, Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, Iceland and Denmark, 15'
Inseki to Impotence (The Meteorite and Impotence), Omoi Sasaki, Japan, 10'
Mont Blanc, Gilles Coulier, Belgium, 14'
Olena, Elżbieta Benkowska, Poland, 14'
Ophelia, Annarita Zambrano, Poland, 14'
Safe, Moon Byoung-gon, South Korea, 13'
Cinéfondation Selection
Asunción, Camila Luna Toledo, Chile, 21', (Pontificia Universidad Catolica)
Au-delà de l'Hiver (After the Winter), Zhi Wei Jow, France, 19' (Le Fresnoy)
Babaga, Gan de Lange, Israel, 26' (The Sam Spiegel Film & TV School)
Contrafábula de una Niña Disecada (Fable of a Blood-Drained Girl), Alejandro Iglesias Mendizábal, Mexico, 25' (CCC)
Danse Macabre, Małgorzata Rżanek, Poland, 5' (Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw)
Duet, Navid Danesh, Iran, 24', (Karnameh Film School)
En Attendant le dégel (Waiting for the Thaw), Sarah Hirtt, Belgium, 20' (INSAS)
Exil (Exile), Vladilen Vierny, France, 16' (La fémis)
Going South, Jefferson Moneo, USA, 15' (Columbia University)
În acvariu (In the Fishtank), Tudor Cristian Jurgiu, Romania, 20' (UNATC)
Mañana Todas Las Cosas (Tomorrow All The Things), Sebastián Schjaer, Argentina, 17' (UCINE)
Needle, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, USA, 21' (The School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
O Šunce, Eliška Chytková, Czech Republic, 6' (Tomas Bata University in Zlίn)
Pandy (Pandas), Matúš Vizár, Czech Republic, 12' (FAMU)
The Magnificent Lion Boy, Ana Caro, UK, 10' (NFTS)
The Norm of Life, Evgeny Byalo, Russia, 23' (High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors)
Seon (The Line), Kim Soo-Jin, South Korea, 27' (Chung-Ang University)
Stepsister, Joey Izzo, USA, 18' (San Francisco State University)
Special Screening
(*) Otdat Konci (Bite The Dust), Taisia Igumentseva, Russia
Short Films and Cinéfondation Jury
President: Jane Campion, director, New Zealand
Majida Abdi, actress, director and producer, Ethiopia
Nicoletta Braschi, actress and producer, Italy
Nandita Das, actress, India
Semih Kaplanoğlu, director, writer and producer, Turkey
(*) First film competes for the Camera d'Or
Main Competition, Out of Competition, Special Screenings and Tributes info, film stills or trailers @MOC
Un Certain Regard info, film stills or trailers @MOC
Check trailers for some Cinéfondation shorts at MOC.
Read basic info for all films but will continue finding more information, film stills and/or trailers and will upload them at MOC. So will update links to each section asap.
Thursday, 25 April 2013
Register Through ME For SGC 2013
ScrewAttack.com's gaming con, SGC, is returning June 21 - 23 of this year and I'll be a guest: Doing some panels, hanging out and I'm hoping to have a supply of books to sell and/or signby then as well.
Registration is still open, and if you do it through THIS LINK you'll be directly supporting me and The Game OverThinker series. So... think about doing that, please :)
Registration is still open, and if you do it through THIS LINK you'll be directly supporting me and The Game OverThinker series. So... think about doing that, please :)
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
21st L'ACID Selection
Reliable news have already the ACID selection even when it is not posted at the official site of L'Association du Cinéma Indépendant pour sa Diffusion, so I'm doing post and will confirm as soon as they publish at official site plus will add the special screenings and any other event they program for this year.Update
The announcement is up at official site thus films are confirmed.
These are the nine (9) feature films in the 2013 selection
Au Bord du Monde, Claus Drexel, France
Braddock America, Jean-Loic Porton and Gabriella Kessler, France (documentary)
C’est eux les chiens, Hicham Lasri, Morocco
Deux automnes, trois hivers, (Two Autumns, Three Winters), Sébastien Betbeder, France
La Bataille de Solferino, Justine Triet, France
Ô Heureux Jours!, Dominique Cabrera, France (documentary)
Swandown, Andrew Kötting, UK
The Strange Little Cat, Ramon Zürcher, Germany
Wajma, Barmak Akram, France and Afghanistan
For me it is a big surprise to find in L'ACID selection Barmak Akram's film Wajma, which won an award at 2013 Sundance as its presence in this section means that has no distribution.
Around minute 2 the list of movies begin with images in the below video, but if you wish to see the photos pleas go here.
Tuesday, 23 April 2013
45th Quinzaine des Réalisateurs Lineup
Today Edouard Waintrop, Artistic Director, announced the Directors' Fortnight selection that includes comedies, thrillers, 2 horror films, and 3 documentaries. A total of 21 features will screen with 17 world premieres selected after checking 3,311 titles.There are some surprises as Yolande Moreau's first solo film, Sebastian Silva's film, the only Romanian film in all Cannes (a short) plus the most surprising duo of Jodorowsky films (!) one by him and another about him. But most impressive is the fact that I have seen one of the films in the selection, fabulous short film Swimmer by Lynne Shelton!
Feature Films
Opening Film: The Congress, Ari Folman, Israel, Germany, Poland, France and Belgium
Closing Film: Henri, Yolande Moreau, France and Belgium
A Strange Course of Events, Raphaël Nadjari, Israel and France
(*) Les Apaches, Thierry de Peretti, France
(*) Ate ver a luz (After The Night), Basil Da Cunha, Switzerland
Blue Ruin, Jeremy Saulnier, USA
La Danza de la Realidad, Alejandro Jodorowsky, France, Chile and Mexico
(*) L'Escale, Kveh Bakhtiari, France and Switzerland (documentary)
(*) La Fille du 14 Juillet, Antonin Peretjatko, France
(*) Ilo Ilo, Anthony Chen, Singapore
(*) Jodorowsky's Dune, Frank Pavich, USA (Documentary)
(*) Last Days on Mars, Ruairi Robinson, UK and Ireland
(*) Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table!, Guillaume Gallienne, France
Magic Magic, Sebastián Silva, USA and Chile
On The Job, Erik Matti, Philippines
The Selfish Giant, Clio Barnard, UK
Tip Top, Serge Bozon, France
Ugly, Anurag Kashyap, India
Un Voyageur, Marcel Ophuls, France
El Verano de los Peces Voladores, Marcela Said, France and Chile
We Are What We Are, Jim Mickle, USA
(*) Competing for the Camera d'Or
Short Films
Gambozinos, João Nicolau, France and Portugal
Lágy Eső, Dénes Nagy, Belgium and Hungary
Le quepa sur la vilni, Yann Le Quellec, France
Man kann nicht alles auf einmal tun, aber man kann alles auf einmal lassen, Marie-Elsa Sgualdo, Switzerland
O umbra de nor, Radu Jude, Romania
Pouco mais de um mês, André Novais Oliveira, Brazil
Que je tombe tout le temps?, Eduardo Williams, France
Solecito, Oscar Ruiz Navia, Colombia, Denmark and France
Swimmer, Lynne Ramsay, UK
Beyond the selection, Directors’ Fortnight will host a range of peripheral events this year. These include the Taipei Factory, a joint initiative between Directors Fortnight and the Taiwan Film Commission to team four Taiwanese directors with four other filmmakers from around the world. The resulting shorts will be screened at Directors’ Fortnight.
Taipei Factory
The Pig, Singing Chen (Taiwan) and Jero Yun (Korea)
Silent Asylum, Midi Z (Taiwan) and Joana Preiss (France)
A Nice Factory, Shen Ko-Shang (Taiwan) and Luis Cifuentes (Chile)
Mr. Chang’s New Address, Chang Jung-Chi (Taiwan) and Alireza Khatami (Iran)
Other events includes a Tribute to Jane Campion, who this year will receive the Carrosse d'Or and the Directors' Assembly consisting of two panels to discuss key issues impacting the film industry today.
Directors' Assembly ProgramSession 1 - Saturday May the 18th
Independent directors’ experiences worldwide
From their experiences, directors will talk about film production conditions and financial support schemes for cinema worldwide. It can be about the independent cinema in the United States, financing schemes in India, China, Brazil, and about everything directors wish to point out as well… They will talk about new creative and economic momentum that they conjure up to make their films. Daring productions sometimes turn away from cinema support schemes, as their heaviness and slowness weigh on creative energy. It will be about putting those systems and those different context to the test of the filmmaking reality and the work methods of each.
A new global and multipolar cinema leads to rapid mutations of our professional practices…
Session 2 - Tuesday May 21st
The European crisis and its consequences on its Member States’ cultural policies
Often in Europe, institutional stakeholders, producers and distributors script debates about cinema economics in which directors have a hard time finding their rightful place. Re-assessment of national cinema support schemes, coproductions difficulties, European funds shrinking… what role can they play in discussions about cultural policies ?
Cinema is not just an industry, neither is it an industry like any other : between cultural ambition and economic power, how to solve the visible contradiction between regulation, competition and cultural exception ?
Will check all films for info, original names, etc. and will update post accordingly ASAP.
"Thor: The Dark World" Teaser Trailer (UPDATED!)
This will be showing up in front of "Iron Man 3." There's not especially much to report other than "bigger, darker, the gang's all back, etc.," (7 to 1 odds says Natalie Portman's Jane Foster doesn't make it out of this alive, I'd wager) but we do get a look at Malekith the Accursed, and it's nice of them to wait for the final shot to answer everyone's top question. Director is Alan Taylor, late of a bunch of "Game of Thrones" episodes.
Monday, 22 April 2013
52nd Semaine de la Critique Lineup
A few minutes organizers released a video with Charles Tesson, Semaine Artistic Director, announcing this year selection with films that seem will be the usual "strange" films, which is absolutely Great!As always there are seven (7) films in the Selection of 1st or 2nd films.
For Those in Peril, Paul Wright, UK
Dabba (The Lunchbox), Ritesh Batra, India, France and Germany
Le Démantèlement (The Dismantlement), Sébastien Pilote, Canada
Los Dueños, Agustin Toscano and Ezequiel Radusky, Argentina
Nos héros sont morts ce soir, David Perrault, France
Salvo, Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza, Italy and France
МАЙОР The Major, Yury Bykov, Russia
Special Screenings
Opening Night: Suzanne, Katell Quillévéré, France
Closing Night: TBA
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, David Lowery, USA
Les Rencontres d’après minuit, Yann Gonzalez, France
Short Films
Agit Pop, Nicolas Pariser, France
Breathe Me, Han Eun-young, South Korea
Komm und Spiel (Come and Play), Daria Belova, Germany
La lampe au beurre de Yak, Hu Wei, France and China
Océan, Emmanuel Laborie, France
Pátio, Ali Muritiba, Brazil
Pleasure, Ninja Thyberg, Sweden
Tau Seru, Rodd Rathjen, India and Australia
The Opportunist, David Lassiter, USA
Vikingar, Magali Magistry, France and Iceland
Check info, stills and/or trailer @MOC
Film info is not yet at site, but will check the net to find what is available for each film. In the meantime see the video with the announcement (has English subtitles) to check photos from some of the films.
Agent of Good
I can't possibly be the only person who gets what a spectacularly mixed-message implicit in the central joke of this new GE ad campaign, yes? No?
The Night of the Hunted
Jean Rollin's The Night of the Hunted is a typically moody, abstractly haunting film from the idiosyncratic horror auteur. More even than most of his work, this film dispenses with any actual concrete horror in favor of a vague sense of disquiet that's almost entirely psychological and mental. This is a haunting study of the nature of memory and its linkage to identity and human consciousness,
Sunday, 21 April 2013
Directed by Keanu Reeves. For Real, Yo.
Below, the trailer for "Man of Tai Chi," an action film ostensibly American-produced but made for the lucrative Chinese market (I'll be surprised if it gets more than a token stateside release.) Might as well get used to the idea of that, because it's the future. Keanu Reeves directs and stars:
Saturday, 20 April 2013
"R.I.P.D."
Below, the trailer for "R.I.P.D.," which appears to be based on the premise of "Men in Black" not already being too similar "Ghostbusters." Ryan Reynolds is Will Smith, Jeff Bridges is Tommy Lee Jones, they're deceased police officers drafted into an afterlife law-enforcement outfit that runs down rogue souls.
2013 Cannes Film Festival News
In last Thursday press conference besides announcing the lineup a few more things happened that are worth sharing. First was the release of "A Word From The President" were Gilles Jacob tells us about his vision for current edition and second, a hosting fund raising auction with Plantu & Friends in an event called Cartooning For Peace.A Word From The President
Everyone knows the Cannes event that changes every year: poster, films, juries, prizes; behind its walls, there’s also an attitude which, decade in decade out, guarantees the continuing existence of this institution. The idea is one I particularly like, and it sees the festival as a shelter for endangered artists. Our influence has a long history: in the 1970s, already, Robert Favre le Bret and Maurice Bessy fou ght over Andrei Tarkovski; next, with Pierre Viot, we invited film makers harassed in their own countries, but who would be protected by the aura of the festival. Such watchfulness set precedents. I’m not going to list the names of those who benefitted, from Eastern Europe, Asia or the Middle East, but when we come across them, even years later, the warmth of their friendship is proof of their gratitude. And our doors remain open, both to them and to others... To all the others ...
Cannes, land of welcome. The 2013 edition illustrates – quite literally – this trait of ours. Indeed, we’ve invited press cartoonists to attend, they who have their own unique way to fight for liberty. On the press floor, under the eye of Plantu, there’ll be an exhibition of satirical, sharp and talented drawings on the theme of cinema. You’ll find a note about it in your press books.
And, so it is, that cartoonists from countries where freedom of expression is not a given will be rubbing up against each other. It’s like a signal: in the freest of countries, isn’t the ultimate dream of those in power for critics of their actions to be completely ignored? We must do all we can to ensure that the light of cartoonists, their art which consists in withholding nothing while summarizing fully in a single image, that that light never goes out: it’s the very last bastion against the despotism and dictatorship of the strong over the weak. By programming an event within which lies inherent a call to insurrection, the festival should perhaps fear that one day it might fall victim itself!There is another philosophy that leaders should never forget, and that’s the hard work over many years that has enabled the identifying, help with developing, the encouraging, confidence-building and the time-saving given to successive generations of young film makers. We’ve been at this task of sifting and educating, or monitoring, rather, for a long time via a consistent process which became the Caméra d’or, the Cinéfondation and it’s Résidence, and the Atelier... I never miss a chance to say: sow and you shall reap the Fellinis of tomorrow. And the Bergmans and Buñuels. And the Jane Campions.
We thank the great artists who give of their time, expertise and enthusiasm to our young green shoots by heading up the Cinéfondation and short film jury. Helping burgeoning film makers dodge difficulties, get their projects known , and find the money to make them: that’s vocational for a few generous artists who find helping the newcomers to be vocational.
Thus, our good fairy this year is Jane Campion, who loved the idea of presiding over this jury, in the wake of Scorsese, Kusturica, the Dardenne brothers, Hou Hsiao Hsien, and all the others... Lady Jane, as I’ve been calling her since we met, is power, unity, harsh poetry and violence. She knows what she’s talking about. The three shorts of hers that we screened as a group when she first came in ’86 encapsulated everything about her world. They were great for all of the qualities mentioned, but they were also great because they were not copies of things that already existed. And then, 7 years after
Peel, The Piano won the Palme d’Or. What a beautiful example, what an inspiration for our filmmakers of tomorrow... At her side will be Maji-daAbdi, the Ethiopian director and producer, Nicoletta Braschi, the Italian actress, Nandita Das, the Indian actress and Semih Kaplanoglu, the Turkish director.
And now, it’s time to switch on the projectors, the official selection is about to be revealed...
Gilles Jacob
So, besides giving us his vision about this years' festival, praising Jane Campion and presenting us the complete Short Films and Cinéfondation jury, he announced an event that hopefully we will be able to see the works online, as yes I am curious to see the cartoons, especially those of many of my favorite directors.
The Event: Les dessins de la Liberté
The Festival de Cannes is hosting a fund raising auction sale on Monday, 20th of May at the Festival Agora to support Cartooning for Peace. This event, co-organized by Piasa, will present cartoonists Willis from Tunis (Tunisia), Dilem (Algeria), Kichka (Israel) and Plantu (Le Monde and L’Express) and will be conducted by the auctioneer James Fattori. For this unprecedented meeting between editorial cartoons and films, original collector artwork will be put on sale. The funds raised will benefit Cartooning for Peace to support their action. Created in 2008 by Kofi Annan and Plantu, Cartooning for Peace aims to promote a better understanding and mutual respect between people of different cultures and beliefs using editorial cartoons as a universal language, by subtly shaking politically correct mindsets.
The exhibition linked to the benefit event, will be presented at the Palais des Festivals, during the whole festival.
A selection of eighty cartoons portrays legendary films, the film industry and famous film directors such as Fellini, Bergman, Spielberg or Haneke, in a light and satirical tone. Some cartoons also remind us that cinema creativity is still threatened in countries such as Iran or Algeria. If a film director has a problem with authorities, cartoonists from all over the world will take his defense and report freedom of expression violations.
Freedom of expression is under the spotlight to defend artistic freedom!
Nice work Cannes.
Cheers!!!
Friday, 19 April 2013
Thursday, 18 April 2013
Got This Covered (UPDATED!)
As you might have read previously, I wrote a book and it's coming out soon through the fine folks at Fangamer.net. I still unfortunately don't have a set date date of publication to announce, but I can now officially reveal that we'll be publishing it under the title "SUPER MARIO BROS. 3: BRICK-BY-BRICK", and here on your right you can see the cover-art (UPDATE: Now without unnecessary hyphens) that the fine folks at Fangamer put together for it.The basic premise is a "novelized let's-play." I've re-played SMB3 (my favorite game and my unscientifically-chosen candidate Greatest Game Ever Made) and chronicled not only every step of the journey (along with corresponding noteworthy events of my real life during the months-long experience) but analyzed each and every graphical, sound and narrative element encountered along the journey for their aesthetic, historical and cultural details. Also included: A history of the "Super Mario Bros." franchise and a separate account of my own personal history as a fan, student and critic of this series in particular and video games as a whole.
More details to follow, and YES we're planning an E-Book. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, 17 April 2013
What Is Superman Fighting In This "Man of Steel" Clip?
Below the jump (in case this turns out to be some kind of spoiler) are three frames of footage taken from approximately the 2:06 - 2:07 mark of the new "Man of Steel" trailer that seem to show Superman in combat with... something...
(POSSIBLE SPOILERS!)
So! Big swirly vortex, what look very much like tentacles or tendrils of some kind, possibly a glowing "eye" or orb of some kind at the center? Could be mechanical in nature, could be a creature, could be something else entirely?
The "arms" immediately make me think of Starro The Conqueror... but I can't believe Nolan and company would go for that. Brainiac? Some new, weird version of the Phantom Zone?
(POSSIBLE SPOILERS!)
So! Big swirly vortex, what look very much like tentacles or tendrils of some kind, possibly a glowing "eye" or orb of some kind at the center? Could be mechanical in nature, could be a creature, could be something else entirely?
The "arms" immediately make me think of Starro The Conqueror... but I can't believe Nolan and company would go for that. Brainiac? Some new, weird version of the Phantom Zone?
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
Captain America's New Costume Kind of Sucks
Aw, Marvel... you were doing so fucking well with this stuff! Bad form. Very bad form.
 |
| Original image: JFX Online |
Too bad. Won't lie - bums me out. Doesn't necessarily indicate a "bad" movie by an stretch (Batman, for example, has had a shitty costume in every single live-action movie he's ever appeared in and those average-out pretty good overall) and maybe there's a story-reason for it (i.e. maybe the good one got damaged? Maybe it's temporary? I can hope?) but it's aesthetically dissapointing: Comics being a largely visual medium, part of the fun of adaptation is seeing iconic imagery played-out in the flesh; and that's significantly diminished when the various characters look not only "not like themselves" but look boring.
FWIW, there have been a few "concept art" sketches seen around showing the same basic new suit for about a week now. I didn't post them before partly because I was really hoping it was a fake and also because I'd seen other official concept-art that showed him wearing the "classic" outfit.
"Man of Steel" New Trailer (UPDATED!)
Well, here's this then:
And that would be why Warner Bros. is supposedly so pysched about this particular movie. Some potentially-spoilery thoughts after the jump...
Interesting that, though by all accounts the film is really, really action-heavy, WB is still mainly leaning on the iconography and the American Pastoral stuff as the selling point.
Equally interesting that they're not going the traditional route of selling the central threat/villain harder than the hero. There's still very little Zod in here - no real sense of what his motives, personality or "plan" are.
So now Lois is hunting around for Superman even before he's put on a costume and publicly declared himself to be such, rather than just meeting him within a week or so of meeting Clark Kent at work. Clever shift, makes her more immediately proactive, wondering how they avoid Superman coming off like a stalker if he decides to put on a human-disguise and get hired at her workplace after this, though.
It looks like Krypton goes down in a war or some kind of invasion this time around. Not liking the idea of that, particularly if Zod or some other "major evil" force is somehow behind it.
That little exchange at the end? Cute. Less cute? The idea that the writer/producer team who decided they needed to jump through seven or eight different hoops to explain whyCatwoman All-Purpose-Crime-Lady wore high-heels and goggles that kinda-sorta-from-some-angles looked like cat ears will now treat us to a tedious, wholly unnecessary explanation for why Superman is dressed like Superman. Yes, I know the comics also like to do the "here's what the S-shield really means" business, but it's usually a toss-off and done in the understanding (an understanding, incidentally, that Team Nolan has never quite managed to grasp) that anyone who'd be seriously bothered by stuff like this was never ever going to watch this movie to begin with.
Still, though... looks good. I'm not knocked-out a'la "Pacific Rim," I'm not comfortably assured of impending awesome a'la "Avengers"... but it looks good. I'm not expecting it to be as good as the '78 movie, or "Dark Knight," or even Snyder's own "Watchmen;" but if the only thing this manages to get right is reminding the world that Superman isn't inherently "boring" by using him to deliver a huge actioner, maybe that'll be good enough.
And that would be why Warner Bros. is supposedly so pysched about this particular movie. Some potentially-spoilery thoughts after the jump...
Interesting that, though by all accounts the film is really, really action-heavy, WB is still mainly leaning on the iconography and the American Pastoral stuff as the selling point.
Equally interesting that they're not going the traditional route of selling the central threat/villain harder than the hero. There's still very little Zod in here - no real sense of what his motives, personality or "plan" are.
So now Lois is hunting around for Superman even before he's put on a costume and publicly declared himself to be such, rather than just meeting him within a week or so of meeting Clark Kent at work. Clever shift, makes her more immediately proactive, wondering how they avoid Superman coming off like a stalker if he decides to put on a human-disguise and get hired at her workplace after this, though.
It looks like Krypton goes down in a war or some kind of invasion this time around. Not liking the idea of that, particularly if Zod or some other "major evil" force is somehow behind it.
That little exchange at the end? Cute. Less cute? The idea that the writer/producer team who decided they needed to jump through seven or eight different hoops to explain why
Still, though... looks good. I'm not knocked-out a'la "Pacific Rim," I'm not comfortably assured of impending awesome a'la "Avengers"... but it looks good. I'm not expecting it to be as good as the '78 movie, or "Dark Knight," or even Snyder's own "Watchmen;" but if the only thing this manages to get right is reminding the world that Superman isn't inherently "boring" by using him to deliver a huge actioner, maybe that'll be good enough.
Big Picture: "Shock Treatment"
Here's a show about Bioshock Infinite, because once in awhile I like to talk about small, obscure things that aren't getting attention from every corner of the internet.
MAJOR SPOILERS!
MAJOR SPOILERS!
66th Festival de Cannes Short Films and Cinéfondation Lineup
While the Official Selection of feature films for the 66th Festival de Cannes will be revealed on Thursday 18th April, the list of Short Films is unveiled today.
As we already know the Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury, presided by Jane Campion, will announce the award winners for the Short Film Competition and the Cinéfondation Selection.
Short Films Competition
This year, the Selection Committee received 3,500 short films, representing productions from no fewer than 132 countries.
Nine films will compete in 2013 for the Short Film Palme d’Or, to be awarded by Jane Campion, President of the Jury, at the Closing Ceremony of the 66th Festival de Cannes on 26th May. For the first time, a Palestinian film will take part in the Short Films Competition.
37°4 S, Adriano Valerio, France, 11'
Bishtar az do saat (More Than Two Hours), Ali Asgari, Iran, 15'
Condom Lead, Mohammed Abou Nasser and Ahmad Abou Nasser, Palestine and Jordan, 14'
Hvalfjörður (Whale Valley, Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, Iceland and Denmark, 15'
Inseki to Impotence (The Meteorite and Impotence), Omoi Sasaki, Japan, 10'
Mont Blanc, Gilles Coulier, Belgium, 14'
Olena, Elżbieta Benkowska, Poland, 14'
Ophelia, Annarita Zambrano, Poland, 14'
Safe, Moon Byoung-gon, South Korea, 13'
Cinéfondation Selection
The Cinéfondation Selection selected 18 films (14 fiction films and 4 animated films) among the 1,550 submitted this year from 277 schools from all around the world
By focusing on the quality of work submitted by lesser-known institutions, the Selection is a true reflection of the diversity of film schools. This year sees a particularly significant broadening of scope, with a third of the schools being selected for the first time and one country – Chile – which has never previously been selected.
The following are the short films in competition; the schools are in parenthesis.
Asunción, Camila Luna Toledo, Chile, 21', (Pontificia Universidad Catolica)
Au-delà de l'Hiver (After the Winter), Zhi Wei Jow, France, 19' (Le Fresnoy)
Babaga, Gan de Lange, Israel, 26' (The Sam Spiegel Film & TV School)
Contrafábula de una Niña Disecada (Fable of a Blood-Drained Girl), Alejandro Iglesias Mendizábal, Mexico, 25' (CCC)
Danse Macabre, Małgorzata Rżanek, Poland, 5' (Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw)
Duet, Navid Danesh, Iran, 24', (Karnameh Film School)
En Attendant le dégel (Waiting for the Thaw), Sarah Hirtt, Belgium, 20' (INSAS)
Exil (Exile), Vladilen Vierny, France, 16' (La fémis)
Going South, Jefferson Moneo, USA, 15' (Columbia University)
În acvariu (In the Fishtank), Tudor Cristian Jurgiu, Romania, 20' (UNATC)
Mañana Todas Las Cosas (Tomorrow All The Things), Sebastián Schjaer, Argentina, 17' (UCINE)
Needle, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, USA, 21' (The School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
O Šunce, Eliška Chytková, Czech Republic, 6' (Tomas Bata University in Zlίn)
Pandy (Pandas), Matúš Vizár, Czech Republic, 12' (FAMU)
The Magnificent Lion Boy, Ana Caro, UK, 10' (NFTS)
The Norm of Life, Evgeny Byalo, Russia, 23' (High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors)
Seon (The Line), Kim Soo-Jin, South Korea, 27' (Chung-Ang University)
Stepsister, Joey Izzo, USA, 18' (San Francisco State University)
The three Cinéfondation Prizes will be awarded at a ceremony prior to the screening of the winning films on Friday 24th May in the Buñuel Theatre.
Check trailers for some Cinéfondation shorts at MOC.
After reading, see film stills and/or trailer for all short films, can say that some seem very interesting; unfortunatelly not all have trailers and/or film stills but will be frequently checking to post at MOC trailers when they are released.
Cheers!!! Cannes has started.
As we already know the Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury, presided by Jane Campion, will announce the award winners for the Short Film Competition and the Cinéfondation Selection.
Short Films CompetitionThis year, the Selection Committee received 3,500 short films, representing productions from no fewer than 132 countries.
Nine films will compete in 2013 for the Short Film Palme d’Or, to be awarded by Jane Campion, President of the Jury, at the Closing Ceremony of the 66th Festival de Cannes on 26th May. For the first time, a Palestinian film will take part in the Short Films Competition.
37°4 S, Adriano Valerio, France, 11'
Bishtar az do saat (More Than Two Hours), Ali Asgari, Iran, 15'
Condom Lead, Mohammed Abou Nasser and Ahmad Abou Nasser, Palestine and Jordan, 14'
Hvalfjörður (Whale Valley, Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, Iceland and Denmark, 15'
Inseki to Impotence (The Meteorite and Impotence), Omoi Sasaki, Japan, 10'
Mont Blanc, Gilles Coulier, Belgium, 14'
Olena, Elżbieta Benkowska, Poland, 14'
Ophelia, Annarita Zambrano, Poland, 14'
Safe, Moon Byoung-gon, South Korea, 13'
Cinéfondation SelectionThe Cinéfondation Selection selected 18 films (14 fiction films and 4 animated films) among the 1,550 submitted this year from 277 schools from all around the world
By focusing on the quality of work submitted by lesser-known institutions, the Selection is a true reflection of the diversity of film schools. This year sees a particularly significant broadening of scope, with a third of the schools being selected for the first time and one country – Chile – which has never previously been selected.
The following are the short films in competition; the schools are in parenthesis.
Asunción, Camila Luna Toledo, Chile, 21', (Pontificia Universidad Catolica)
Au-delà de l'Hiver (After the Winter), Zhi Wei Jow, France, 19' (Le Fresnoy)
Babaga, Gan de Lange, Israel, 26' (The Sam Spiegel Film & TV School)
Contrafábula de una Niña Disecada (Fable of a Blood-Drained Girl), Alejandro Iglesias Mendizábal, Mexico, 25' (CCC)
Danse Macabre, Małgorzata Rżanek, Poland, 5' (Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw)
Duet, Navid Danesh, Iran, 24', (Karnameh Film School)
En Attendant le dégel (Waiting for the Thaw), Sarah Hirtt, Belgium, 20' (INSAS)
Exil (Exile), Vladilen Vierny, France, 16' (La fémis)
Going South, Jefferson Moneo, USA, 15' (Columbia University)
În acvariu (In the Fishtank), Tudor Cristian Jurgiu, Romania, 20' (UNATC)
Mañana Todas Las Cosas (Tomorrow All The Things), Sebastián Schjaer, Argentina, 17' (UCINE)
Needle, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, USA, 21' (The School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
O Šunce, Eliška Chytková, Czech Republic, 6' (Tomas Bata University in Zlίn)
Pandy (Pandas), Matúš Vizár, Czech Republic, 12' (FAMU)
The Magnificent Lion Boy, Ana Caro, UK, 10' (NFTS)
The Norm of Life, Evgeny Byalo, Russia, 23' (High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors)
Seon (The Line), Kim Soo-Jin, South Korea, 27' (Chung-Ang University)
Stepsister, Joey Izzo, USA, 18' (San Francisco State University)
The three Cinéfondation Prizes will be awarded at a ceremony prior to the screening of the winning films on Friday 24th May in the Buñuel Theatre.
Check trailers for some Cinéfondation shorts at MOC.
After reading, see film stills and/or trailer for all short films, can say that some seem very interesting; unfortunatelly not all have trailers and/or film stills but will be frequently checking to post at MOC trailers when they are released.
Cheers!!! Cannes has started.
FREEEEEEEZE IN HELL, SPIDER-MAN!!!
The Daily Mail has the first snaps of Jamie Foxx in his makeup as Maxwell Dillion aka Electro for "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," restoring equilibrium to the movie-verse by stopping the slow drip of shockingly-NOT-shitty-looking/sounding-stuff gradually being revealed about the project."Hey, Jamie Foxx! Congratulations on headlining one of the biggest and most critically-lauded hits of the year - what are you gonna do next!?"
"I was thinkin' I'd put on Arnold's metallic-blue bodypaint from "Batman & Robin" to play second-fiddle to Less-Expensive-Robert-Pattinson in the sequel to a cheap reboot that even people who liked it largely shrugged off. Sounds fun, right?"
"..."
Here's the thing about Electro: I love the guy. He's one of my favorite Spider-Man nemesis, and he's also one of the more prominent figures in the "powered-up bank robber" tier of Marvel Universe villainy. Problem is, the reason for both of those is pretty-much his iconic costume - without it, he's really just another lightning-throwing electricity baddie - which probably wouldn't "work" in live-action period and definitely won't be a good fit with the po-faced "realism" aesthetic of Gritty Reboot Spidey.
Okay, fine, a redesign is in order (the shabby state of the pants and hoodie indicate they're part of the "costume" at least for this scene, as opposed to "Mr. Foxx is chilly today") but it looks to me like they're going with a variation (almost-innevitably to be augmented with VFX) of his blue "charged up" form from Ultimate Spider-Man. Probably the easiest route to go (in the newer USM animated series he does both looks, but I wouldn't count on that here) but somehow the prospect of "Spider-Man Versus Much Less-Powerful/Less-Interesting Doctor Manhattan" doesn't exactly set my world on fire.
But okay, it is what it is. Now, let's see what it looks like with the glowy CGI lightning stuff... and whatever they have planned for The Rhino.
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