Posted on Thursday, January 23rd, 2020 by Ethan Anderton
The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.
In this edition, check out nearly four dozen Easter eggs from the latest trailer for the upcoming seventh and final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Plus, listen as Will Ferrell tells some stories from behind the scenes of Saturday Night Live, and retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink breaks down combat scenes in movies like Lone Survivor, American Sniper, and more.
First up, Screen Crush takes a closer look at the trailer for the seventh and final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars for some extra details and Easter eggs. For example, at an important strategy meeting between Jedi and Clone Troopers, you can spot a young Caleb Dume, who you know better as Star Wars Rebels hero Kanan Jarrus.
Next up, Will Ferrell tells stories from his days at Saturday Night Live. Find out why he wore the same outfit from one of his sketches everyday for a year, what he used to do in the writer’s room as Lisa Kudrow’s brother Chip Kudrow, and how he interrupted Puff Daddy’s rehearsal as a weird character named Ron. There’s even some video of the latter escapade.
Finally, retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink has plenty of experience in the field, so GQ had him break down the accuracy and realism of combat scenes from military dramas like American Sniper, Zero Dark Thirty, Captain Phillips, Navy SEALs, Act of Valor and Lone Survivor. What do they get right, and what do they get wrong? Find out above.
Posted on Wednesday, January 8th, 2020 by Ethan Anderton
The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.
In this edition, watch as visual effects artists react to more scenes from Lord of the Rings, including the Battle of Helm’s Deep and the Balrog fighting Gandalf. Plus, an SAS soldier reviews the accuracy of military scenes in movies like Commando and American Sniper, and the cast of the new Star Wars trilogy reveals which questions they never want to answer again. Read More »
Following SAG and the PGA, the Writers Guild of America has just unveiled its list of nominees for the 2014 nominees. For anyone who’s been watching the awards race, the list won’t contain many surprises. The WGA likes American Hustleand Dallas Buyers Club just as much as everyone else does. Additionally, several of the most notable absences can be chalked up to disqualifications. 12 Years a Slave, considered a favorite for the Best Picture Oscar, was deemed ineligible, as was Golden Globe nominee Philomena.
One that did qualify but failed to secure a nomination nonetheless was the Coens’ Inside Llewyn Davis, which similarly struck out with both SAG and the PGA. And one unexpected outcome was a nomination for Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor, which hasn’t come up in too many awards seasons conversations as of yet.
Posted on Monday, December 23rd, 2013 by Angie Han
If you’re both 1) desperate for some distraction from the holiday hubbub and 2) eager to get a leg up on the rest of your office for the annual Oscar pool, here’s a way to kill two birds with one stone.
Over thirty screenplays for some of 2013’s top films have just been made available, legally and for free, through the studios. Highlights include John Ridley‘s 12 Years a Slave, Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, and Julie Delpy‘s Before Midnight, Terence Winter‘s The Wolf of Wall Street, and many more.
Normally, the director has 100% final say on a film set. He’s the man. However, that was not the case on the set of Lone Survivor. Director Peter Berg and producer/star Mark Wahlberg were so committed to realism on the set, they hired several Navy SEALs as advisors and told them they could stop filming or call B.S. on anything, at any time.
The film tells the harrowing true story of four Navy SEALS on a mission in Afghanistan who are posed with an impossible decision with unthinkable ramifications. Wahlberg stars as Marcus Luttrell, the real life SEAL who wrote a book about the experience, and he was among the SEALs on set with this unusual filmmaking power. Luttrell, along with Wahlberg and Berg, spoke about this at a recent screening of the film at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, presented by Film Independent. Read the quotes below. Read More »
Posted on Friday, November 8th, 2013 by Russ Fischer
Here’s the second full trailer for the true war story Lone Survivor, which is based on the book by Navy SEAL Marcus Littrell, who was part of a small group of SEALs that found itself ambushed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Peter Berg directs stars Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster & Eric Bana. Check it out below. Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, October 23rd, 2013 by Russ Fischer
Peter Berg‘s new film, Lone Survivor, is heading towards theaters with a bit more subdued promotional push than is typical for the director’s last few films. But the first trailer was compelling, as it shows men in the Navy SEAL team who targeted an al Qaeda subject in Afghanistan, and was overwhelmed by an unexpected Taliban force.
Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Ali Suliman, Alexander Ludwig, and Eric Bana all feature in the film, and you’ll see them in some new footage in this featurette. There’s also some explanation from Berg about the mission on which the film is based. In fact, the source for the movie is the book Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell, who was (as the title suggests) the one survivor of the operation. He speaks up here, too, hoping that this feature will get his story out to a bigger audience than ever. Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, July 31st, 2013 by Russ Fischer
Director Peter Berg‘s last movie was Universal’s gigantic Battleship. By comparison, his new movie, Lone Survivor, is really sneaking up on us. The first trailer for the film was released relatively quietly today, and it shows Mark Wahlberg in the role of a Navy SEAL on a mission to take out a Taliban figure. It’s a true story, based on the book Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10, by Marcus Luttrell. The actual tale has gone down as a dramatic moment in recent military history, and this trailer suggests that Berg is taking it very seriously.
Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch and Eric Bana are also part of the story, but as the title suggests, things don’t go super-well for some of them. Oh, and as soon as the trailer really kicks into gear it plays out to the tune of Peter Gabriel mournfully covering David Bowie’s “Heroes.” Check out the trailer below. Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, February 29th, 2012 by Russ Fischer
In the wake of this weekend’s successful opening of the ‘real Navy SEALs’ movie Act of Valor, expect to see other similar movies go into action. While we wait to hear that Kathryn Bigelow is actually rolling on her movie about the SEAL Team 6 hunt for Osama Bin Laden, we’ve got word of another Naval special-ops adventure.
Over the past couple years Universal has developed Lone Survivor, based on the memoir of the same name by Marcus Luttrell. The author was one member of a SEAL team ambushed in Afghanistan, and the book tells of the team’s struggle to survive.
Peter Berg has been part of the project since the beginning, and now it looks like Berg will direct the film this fall as his follow-up to Battleship. He’s got Mark Wahlberg in talks to play Marcus Luttrell, and Ben Foster in talks to join Taylor Kitsch as other men on Luttrell’s team. Read More »
