Posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 by David Chen
I wasn’t a huge fan of Michel Gondry’s Be Kind, Rewind, but I loved the film’s take on “sweded” videos, which had amateur filmmakers and actors recreating iconic scenes from beloved films. My absolute favorite one had to be the Terminator 2: Low Budgment Day video, but Gondry actually created a hilarious sweded version of the trailer for his own movie. While some might see the process of sweding as reductive, derivative, or just plain ridiculous, the film seemed to argue that there’s something beautiful in the art of interpretation that comes through in these low-rent films.
I was reminded of Be Kind, Rewind when I saw a piece over at Cinematical about a stage production version of Roland Emmerich’s 1996 film, Independence Day. Hit the jump to see some video of the production, and for a few more details.
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Reuters is reporting that for the first time since 2002, consumers in the United States spent more to see movies theatrically than purchasing films on Blu-ray and DVD. According to the figures from Adams Media Research, U.S. consumers spent an estimated $8.73 billion for movies on DVDs and Blu-Ray, a drop of 13 percent from the year before.
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Posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 by David Chen
Those of you itching for a more detailed look at Joe Carnahan’s new A-Team movie need not wait too much longer: According to a report by a movie theater projectionist over at AICN, the trailer should be out for public consumption this upcoming weekend. The same projectionist also provided a pretty good description of the trailer. Here’s an excerpt:
Believe me, this trailer does everything a good teaser should, it touches all the right bases without giving too much away. I don’t know where you’ll be this June 11th, but me personally? Even if it’s just for two hours, I’ll be hiring… the A-Team.
The trailer clocks in at 1:41. Head on over to AICN for the full description. In the comments below, feel free to let us know if you’ve seen the trailer, and if so, what you thought of it. You can see all of our coverage of the A-Team movie by clicking here.
One of the last two serious barometers for the potential Oscar race is the nomination list for the Best Picture award, aka the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures, bestowed by the Producers Guild of America. Ten films are nominated this year, and the shortlist is actually a bit surprising. Three big sci-fi films made the cut, and Up landed in both the primary theatrical nomination list, and the animated list. If this is truly an indicator of many of the likely Best Picture Oscar nominees, it’ll be an interesting ceremony. Read More »
Last Supper-inspired art is beginning to become a tradition for the final seasons of serialized television series. First The Sopranos did it, then Battlestar Galatica, which is probably the most famous. The latest Last Supper-inspired final season art comes for the tv series LOST. After the jump you can see the two new Last Supper promos for Lost (which would make great desktop wallpaper). I’ve also included the previously mentioned Sopranos/Battlestar versions, and a couple more Last Supper parodies.
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Following up on the earlier news about Pierre Morel (District B13, Taken) directing Dune, we now have the second trailer for his next feature, From Paris with Love. The film stars John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and concerns a young embassy worker who teams up with an unruly FBI agent to stop a terrorist attack in Paris. It’s pretty obvious who’s who. Luc Besson is also credited with the film’s story, not unlike many other films he produces. Instead of Besson’s regular screenwriting bud Robert Mark Kamen, Paris’s script was written by Adi Hasak.
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Going a bit against the grain when it comes to piracy discussions, Reid Rosefelt over at the Speedcine blog makes an interesting case why Wolverine’s unprecedented leak may have actually helped the film. Rosefelt compares the film’s $85 million opening weekend gross against other major release openings throughout 2009, and shows that it actually doesn’t stack up too badly.
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As part of his thesis in film at the savannah college of art and design, /Film reader Lee Keeler re-imagined The Lorax by Dr. Seuss as a retro grindhouse movie trailer.
“A twist on the original text: ‘The Lorax: He Speaks for the Tress’ is a mock Grindhouse trailer that chronicles the badassssss adventures of The Lorax, an ex-lumberjack-cum-pimp with a green thumb way up the keister of industrial America. The Onceler, his power-CEO arch-nemesis, kidnaps the Brown Barbaloots an holds the world for ransom under his maniacal chainsaw assaults.”
Watch the trailer embedded after the jump.
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We’ve known for some time that Edgar Wright’s upcoming Scott Pilgrim vs. the World adaptation would be based on all of the Bryan Lee O’Malley graphic novels (the sixth, and final book, is due out this year), but we’ve yet to hear if that meant there was absolutely no possibility of sequels. In a recent chat with Collider for Youth in Revolt, Michael Cera mentioned that he hasn’t signed for a sequel and hasn’t heard any other sequel talk either.
It’s not entirely surprising, but don’t be shocked if the film is wildly successful and O’Malley decides to continue the story like Frank Miller did for the upcoming 300 sequel, Xerxes.
Did you know that James Cameron’s Avatar is just Disney’s Pochontas in disguise? Of course, this isn’t very surprising. If you know anything about screenwriting or storytelling, than you know about Joseph Campbell’s Heroes Journey, the mythic structure that has been utilized in many many Hollywood films. You might remember that popular video from College Humor which compared JJ Abrams’ Star Trek to the original Star Wars. Someone once created a similar comparison between Star Wars and Harry Potter, which also humorously demonstrated the underlying structure of Campbell’s teachings (I’ve also included that after the jump).
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