Movie All Times

Top 10 Scariest Movies of All Time

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:06:00 +0000

Now, a lot of horror movies nowadays are lame. None of them disturb or scare me anymore, so when I say a movie is scary, amazing, or disturbing; you should definitely give it a watch! It took me some time to figure out which movies deserve to be on this list, if you do have any input feel free to comment or even e-mail me! Also note, this was extremely hard to write since I had to only pick 10 (yikes).

And now, in no particular order:

[REC]
This is one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen. The American remake, Quarantine is pure garbage compared to this Spanish version. Using the first person camera view, some scenes are a bit shaky, but it makes the movie that much more terrifying. Very 28 Days Later-esque, [REC] is scary scary scary. Do yourself a favor and skip Quarantine and go right to this. Trust me. It may be subtitled, but you’ll get past that about 10 minutes into it.

Candyman
Still to this day, I can’t watch Candyman before I go to sleep. EVERYTIME I do, I have nightmares….it’s ridiculous and it’s a classic horror film.

Nightmare on Elm Street
Ohhh how this series scared the crap out of me when I was younger! And ya know what; the first one is still terrifying to this day! And Freddy’s wittiness before he kills make the movie that much better. How can anyone forget the first kill scene? Another awesome scene was with Johnny Depp getting sucked into the bed, as buckets of blood pour out! Nightmare on Elm Street is legendary horror.

High Tension
Everyone either loves or hates this nifty little French horror flick. Personally, I love the hell out of it! Everything about this movie is incredible and outright SCARY. The death scenes are brutal (especially the decapitation, which made me giggle. If you see it, you’ll see why). The twist at the end pissed a lot of people off, but if you watch it twice, it’ll make perfect sense and you’ll truly be satisfied with what the director/writer has done. Definitely do yourself a favor and check this movie out!

Hellraiser
Clive Barker has got to be one of the most twisted writers/directors out there. Hellraiser is a visually frightening masterpiece! It’s a pure horror classic and another one that gives me nightmares.

Jesus Camp
This may go down as the scariest movie ever made. Research this movie at IMDB.com, read about it, watch the documentary and then you’ll understand why this movie scares the crap out of me.

The Exorcist
Self explanatory. That damn spider walk down the stairs scene STILL creeps me the hell out. And, well, anything religious is always frightening (see above).

28 Days Later
28 Days Later makes you wonder “…what if”? The scene of deserted London is not only beautiful, but absolutely terrifying. A MUST see.

Session 9
Sometimes all it takes is atmosphere to make a movie. Session 9’s set was the abandoned Danvers State Hospital in Massachusetts. No Hollywood made sets here! This creepy abandoned hospital is really what makes this movie scary as shit.

The Bad Seed
Oh yes. Little kids are scary. Very scary. This is a pure horror classic.

Runner-ups:
Child’s Play, Halloween, Devil’s Rejects, Showgirls

The next Batman flick

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:06:00 +0000

It's absolutely no secret that The Dark Knight director Chris Nolan is a big fan of IMAX, the latest rumors indicate his third Batman flick could make the jump from part-time to full time. The IMAX scenes fom The Dark Knight came home in frame filling 16x9 to the delight of some and the ire of others, but perhaps a movie that didn't switch between aspect ratios would have a more universally positive response. Of course, Ain't It Cool News reports this could all fall through despite the best of intentions, but, are you excited by the potential of 100% IMAX feature films?

Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 06:18:00 +0000

We have done some thorough interviews with the actors from the latest epic war film, Inglourious Basterds, but the series really isn’t complete without talking to the man behind the film, Quentin Tarantino. If you haven’t had a chance, take a look at our interviews with B.J. Novak, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Melanie Laurent, and Christoph Waltz.

When we spoke to the self proclaimed cinephile, Tarantino revealed how he came up with the idea for the film, his favorite characters, and the lackluster reviews the movie received at Cannes.

Check out what he had to say in our interview below…

In the promotions for this film Brad Pitt’s Aldo Raine is front and center, even though the story focuses more on Shossana and Landa. Where did Raine come from?

QT: I disagree with that take. This is totally not trying to bend over and make Brad [Pitt] seem bigger than he already is, but I think it is a movie with three leads. In no order, Hans Landa, Shossana, and Aldo Raine. The thing is, even the whole structure of the movie to me, was to set up the first three chapters for these three characters. You get Shossana’s backstory even though you don’t know her in the first chapter, and in the third chapter you do. I mean in it’s own way, Frederick Zoller, is one of the goddamn leads. [laughs] You know what I mean? In a way, the whole movie revolves around him. If he hadn’t done any of the things that he did, there would almost be no movie later.

To me, that is kind of the structure of it. The first three stories, and then from chapter four until the end, is like the straight-ahead adventure. If it were a Devil’s Brigade movie from the mid-60’s that Mike Myers scene would be the first scene of the movie; as he sends them on their mission. I really like proposing things and bringing them up, but not answering them, and letting you figure out stuff. You might be right or you might be wrong. As far as you’re concerned, you are always right. The minute I start throwing my two cents in then everyone lets go of what they have come up with. For instance, I don’t explain the scar; you’ve got to explain the scar. How did he get the scar?

How did you come up with Landa’s character, and why did you cast Christoph Waltz?

QT: The thing about Landa is, I honestly did not know who Christoph was when he came in. He is a TV actor in Germany, and he is well known for doing miniseries and stuff. He came in and picked up the script and half way through the reading of that first scene, I knew I had found my guy. Again it was great because I didn’t have anybody in mind, so the character could become the character. If I were writing it for somebody else, maybe he wouldn’t be so multi-lingual, because then he couldn’t do that. If Landa is just Landa, he could speak every dialogue. When I finished writing the character, it was obvious that Landa is a linguistic genius. So, I was going to need an actor who was a linguistic genius. If this character on the page is ever going to get on the screen, that doesn’t mean fluent in languages. That means a linguistic genius and that is Christoph.

How did you end up casting an African American character in a period piece like this?

QT: Yeah, I know. The thing about Marcel is you know he is a Frenchman. There were a whole lot of Blacks living in Paris in the 20’s and 30’s. The thing that is very fascinating is, I have heard some people say, “Well, wouldn’t the Nazis round them up?” No, no, no, no. Hitler was very clear about how he felt about Blacks, but they didn’t do anything to them. Basically, where they were coming from, they didn’t have a “Black problem”, the way they had a “Jewish problem”, the way they had a “homosexual problem”, the way they had a “gypsy problem”, or a “Communist problem.” France was the only place you were going to find them. They weren’t the scourges of Europe as far as Hitler was concerned. The ironic reality is this, if I was a Black guy in Nazi occupied France I’d keep a low profile to be sure, having said that, he would have more rights in Nazi occupied Paris than he would have in downtown Dallas at that same time. Marcel could walk into a restaurant and order a dinner. Marcel could walk up to a bar and sit at the bar amongst white people. Now that’s irony for you.

You have been working on this film for years now, what inspired you to make it?

QT: I just got a kick out of the original. I like the rip-off quality of Italian exploitation movies. They are kind of not serious, and that is what I like about them. This movie has that. Also, I love the title. I really did love the title. Even when I worked at Video Archives, Inglourious Basterds became our name for a bunch of guys on a mission movie. It was like a genre. That was the name that we gave the genre. Now they call it macaroni combat. But you know, it had a really interesting story. There is an aspect about the original story that I don’t do in this movie, but it was really neat. It was a bunch of soldiers that are prisoners, that are on their way to a Court Marshall. Their convoy is attacked by a German plane, so now they are in war torn France. They can’t go to the Americans because they are going to go to jail for the rest of their lives and they can’t go to the Germans, so they are trying to get to Switzerland. Now, that’s a really good idea for a story. When I bought it, I didn’t know how much of this was going to be a remake, but at least I could use the title.

How did the story evolve over time?

QT: When I started writing it years ago, I had all the characters, but I had a different story line in mind. It was just too big. I just kept making it a miniseries as opposed to a movie. It was just getting so unwieldy. I was like, “What am I saying? I’m too big for movies? Movies are just too puny a canvas for me to paint on? I can’t even possibly comprehend making it three hours? That is just too short!” You know? I kind of had to get over myself, to tell you the truth. So, I put it away and did little Kill Bill, which turned into Kill Bill Volume 1 and 2. This tells you where I was coming from at the time. When I came back to it in 2008 I loved the story, but I just couldn’t tell it as a movie. So, I came up with a whole new story, and that story is the Fredrick Zoller story; the story of him being a war hero, then making this movie, and now the mission would be blowing up the Premier. So, that’s new.

There were a lot of comments about the length of the film. Do you think you should have cut it down?

QT: Well, no. Look, I am guilty of this too, alright. It is the number one thing you say when you go to a film festival, especially when you go to Cannes. What did you think of the movie? “It was too long!” But, you are also seeing 9 or 10 movies in the course of four days. I didn’t think it was too long, but I heard those comments. You hear those comments, but I wasn’t necessarily responding to them per se. We kind of weren’t done when we were in Cannes. What happened with it is, we did tiny nipping and tucking. It is interesting because the movie is actually a minute longer than it was at Cannes. But you know what? You do some nipping, and pruning, and monkey around with a couple scenes and all of the sudden, one minute longer plays ten minutes less.

QT: It was funny though. The thing is, especially in this script, I really made it a point to be disciplined on this. I didn’t really want an unwieldy movie, and I knew I didn’t have time to shoot a bunch of stuff that may or may not make the cut. I was more disciplined with this script than I have been in a long time. So, it is not like I have tons of stuff left over. I have stuff that I wrote, but it never made the final script.

Were you influenced by the likes of Robert Aldrich, Samuel Fuller, or Sergio Leone? What other directors have had a positive effect on you?

QT: Oh, yeah. You better believe they were big influences. Sergio Leone is my favorite director of all time. I don’t think this is it, but I remember when I first started the movie after Jackie Brown, it was one of the things that I wanted to be my The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and it was. I love those guys’ work. Oddly enough though, as much as I love Sergio Leone, if you are familiar with a lot of those directors, I think my work resembles more of Sergio Corbucci. Not that I am trying to do either of those guys, but he is the other master as far as I’m concerned. I think my films are closer to his than Leone’s.

This didn’t feel like a WWII movie as much as a movie based on WWII movies. Where do your homages to these directors get your signature?

QT: Echoes of something is not the same thing as recreating scenes. It is very, very different. Look, everyone knows that I love movies, so I can’t hide that, nor do I want to hide that. Because of it, it’s like I have a target on me. Most critics are cinephiles to one degree or another, so there is nothing a cinephile loves more than showing off their knowledge. They want to play games with the mastermind when they sit down to watch my movies, and they start playing a game of “spot the reference” that a lot of is completely of their own making. The other thing is, that was legitimate when it came to Kill Bill. That was very legitimate.

Well, how do you toe the line between an homage and recreating a scene from another film?

QT: It [Kill Bill] was a “movie” movie. There was an aspect of the Bride, not just fighting through her death list, she is fighting through the whole history of exploitation cinema, with every character on that list representing a different genre. That is just such a movie mad thing that’s totally okay to have the checklist. This is different. I am not doing that. I have no problem evoking the macaroni combat. I have no problem saying, “I am working inside of a genre.” I think every movie is a genre. An Eric Rohmer movie is a genre movie, and if you make a movie like his, you are kind of making an Eric Rohmer-style movie. Thus, making it a genre. It is the same thing with [John] Cassavetes.

Your movies are very dialogue driven, and some people have complained about that. Are you concerned about losing that in your films?

QT: I have to say I get a little “huh” when they say it is too talky. When you go to a play, do you think it is too talky? I am in good company. Well, you know it comes and goes depending on the artist. I saw Funny People, and I think it is one of the best movies I have seen this year. I think it is a true auteur piece of work, and that is all dialogue. Comedies are known for having mostly dialogue. Basically, you gotta be able to pull it off. Paul Thomas Anderson, his dialogue is as good as mine, but he breaks it up where he has the 20 minute opening that is silent in There Will Be Blood.

You like to draw attention to the fact that the audience is watching a movie. Some people complain that it pulls them out of the story. What do you think?

QT: To me, that is one of those fake arguments. I don’t know about you, but I always know I am watching a movie when I am watching a movie. I have never forgotten while I was watching a movie that I was watching a movie. No more that I have forgotten I was driving a car while I was driving a car. I can have my heart ripped out, but I know I’m watching a movie.

Is there more footage that may come out on the DVD or a different Director’s Cut of Inglourious Basterds?

QT: Not really to tell you truth. We were working on this at such an accelerated pace, I couldn’t afford to shoot stuff that I didn’t think was going to make the film. I always pride myself on my director’s cut that plays in 3,000 theaters. I take a lot of pride in that. There are two sections that I shot that I’m actually not going to put on the DVD. One is because it is more of Shossana’s back-story from 1941 to 1944, and you know, I don’t want to show that at all now. I really want the audience to actually come up with it in their own mind about how she survived. I want that to be like you own movie in your head, and I want you to figure it out. The other one is a backstory on Eli Roth’s character, Donowitz. It didn’t fit into the section that I had planned it, but it worked so well that if the movie is a hit, and if I were to do a prequel with the Basterds, I could just plug it right into the other movie. So, I think I will save it on the chance that the movie is popular.

With his new film “Inglourious Basterds,” Quentin Tarantino has been restored to movie-goers' good graces after the commercial failure of “Grindhouse.” In honor of his triumphant return, let's take a look back at his filmography. Perhaps there's a movie of his that you haven't seen in awhile or one you've (shudder to think) never seen.
1992- Reservoir Dogs
A crime drama that opened peoples' eyes with its gritty violence. Homages to earlier films abound here as they do in all of Tarantino's work, but nothing is more obvious than a climax taken straight from “City on Fire”. Harvey Keitel and Tim Roth turn in some real standout performances.
1993- True Romance
Not a Tarantino film per say, but he did write it and his stamp is all over the film. As inconsistent a director as Tony Scott became later in his career, he does the plot justice here and helps to make this a genuinely good action film that quite a few people haven't seen.

1994- Pulp Fiction
Quite possibly Tarantino's greatest accomplishment. It certainly is the favorite among most critics and audiences. A series of violent stories intersect and are told out of chronological order to show that crime isn't always a glamorous endeavor. Considered not only among the best movies of the 90's but in some circles, of all-time. For better or worse, it resurrected John Travolta's career and made Samuel L. Jackson one of the coolest men on the screen.
1995- Four Rooms “The Man From Hollywood”
As part of a collection of short films that all take place in the same hotel, Tarantino's is perhaps the most low key of the bunch. It builds tension by placing the faithful bellhop (Tim Roth) in a sticky situation involving men in a hotel room who engage in a gruesome wager.
1997- Jackie Brown
A hybrid of a stylish heist picture and 70's blaxploitation cinema, “Jackie Brown” is the first example of Tarantino making a feature film that didn't appeal to as wide an audience as he was used to attracting. He seemingly began to use the power and influence that he rightly earned from his earlier pictures to make the kinds of films he wanted to, with the cast that he wanted. Pam Grier makes an impressive, if not quite iconic, return from obscurity here and Robert Forster just about steals the show. Whereas his first two features were beyond reproach, “Jackie Brown” didn't wow everyone with it's bloated run time and slight pacing problems. One could make the case that this was a transition film where he gives the film a crime base and began to explore other genres to satisfy his own interests. It would be considered more of a success if it were made by almost any other director. As it stands, a movie that is simply “very good” is a letdown at this stage in Tarantino's career. Based on the novel “Rum Punch” by Elmore Leonard.
2003- Kill Bill Vol. 1
A reunion between Tarantino and Uma Thurman from their days working on “Pulp Fiction,” this send-up of 70's samurai flicks goes so far as to cast David Carradine as the titular Bill (Warren Beatty was the first choice, though) and legendary Japanese actor Sonny Chiba as master sword maker Hattori Hanzo. What is really a simple revenge tale, albeit an incredibly bloody one, is shown with a wild visual style that is hard to forget. Five people wrong Thurman's character, The Bride, and five people have to die for it. There's an animated sequence and one climactic fight scene that turns to black and white. Even though it's technically the first half of one long movie, the division and stark differences in tone between volumes one and two has created debate about what volume people prefer. Those who like the emphasis to be more on action and less on dialog tend to lean more toward volume one.
2004- Kill Bill Vol. 2
The second part of the “Kill Bill” story places a greater focus on character development and interpersonal relationships than the first part which favored severing limbs. Bill steps out from the shadows and we see what truly happened on the fateful day of the Bride's would-be wedding. Fewer people die in this one, but all of the questions the first volume posed are answered. Audiences who found the first film too over the top with its action seem to gravitate more in favor of this one.
2005- Sin City
It's kind of a stretch to include this here, but Tarantino did have a reasonably highly-touted segment that he directed. The scene involves a conversation between a deceased character and his foe on a late night ride in a car. It's a memorable scene and displays Tarantino as an effective director without his trademark flourishes. Still, there's no mistaking that “Sin City” is a product of directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller who lovingly craft this twisted noir.
2007- Grindhouse “Death Proof”
The real shame in “Grindhouse” being a flop is that it probably means that there will be no future attempts to explore the possibilities of this kind of kitschy film making. Robert Rodriguez has expressed an interest in turning his preview for “Machete” into a feature-length film. His full-length contribution “Planet Terror” was in true grindhouse cinema spirit, complete with missing sections of the film. As for Tarantino's film, “Death Proof,” he chose to take a more refined and talky approach, using gruesome violence only intermittently. Kurt Russell's character Stuntman Mike is less of a slasher villain and more of a disturbed, but mortal, individual that kills for the enjoyment of it. He won't go down in the history books as one of the greatest screen villains, but is certainly entertaining to watch. What seem to be the true highlight of this one are the cars and stunt woman-turned-actress Zoe Bell. Tarantino doesn't even try to hide the fact that he adores the film “Vanishing Point” going as far as to extol its virtues on screen. He also gives more fuel to people who thought he was a terrible actor in “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction.” As with “Kill Bill” the two separate parts of “Grindhouse” have created a sharp division between which film they like more. Grindhouse traditionalists who want action and gore likely will take “Planet Terror” but those with the patience for a deliberate pace and a little more substance seem to like “Death Proof.”

As with many artists, some people will bemoan the fact that Tarantino didn't stay the course after his first couple films became modern masterpieces. All these years later it's easy to see that he was in danger of painting himself into a corner. His passion for cinema extends much further than crime films and he's never been afraid to wear in influences on his sleeve. With the weekend box office victory of “Inglourious Basterds,” Tarantino is back to doing what he does best, succeeding on his own terms.

Interviewing Christine Elise McCarthy

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:50:00 +0000

Courtesy of Christine Elise McCarthy

This is easily one of the most enjoyable interviews that I’ve done since joining the examiner. Most of us horror fans know Christine Elise McCarthy from Child’s Play 2 and Body Snatchers while others know her from her work on 90210. Her role as Kyle was one of my favorite horror movie heroine characters of all time. Christine is as genuine as anyone I’ve ever met and I truly enjoyed this little interaction.

How did you get involved in Childs Play 2?

"I got the job in the traditional way: I auditioned. I had just finished shooting an episode of 21 Jump St & was on the set of the original pre-Pam Anderson Bay Watch when I got the news that they had decided to cast me. It was my first feature film & I was very excited. I was especially excited to meet Brad Dourif (Charles Lee Ray, Chucky) because I had always been a huge fan. He was awesome."

What was it like working with Chucky?

"Not at all like it is watching me do it in the film. It isn't scary at all - though you sometimes forget he is not really alive. He took 7 puppeteers to run so the set was always really crowded whenever Chucky worked. The puppeteers were all pranksters & could make Chucky do anything - including flirt or make obscene gestures. Whenever we weren't shooting - they would make him smile at me & act bashful. He was incredibly lifelike. As you can see in the picture here - I was quite taken with him.

Courtesy of Christine Elise McCarthy

Did you realize, while filming, that the movie would develop into what it has?

I am not sure I know what it has developed into - so I can't really answer that question. I can say that I get stopped on the street & told by fans all the time how much they love the film - and that is pretty remarkable when you consider how old the film is now. "

"But for me - at the time - it was simply the most exciting job I had ever had. I made $5000 a week which was an obscene amount of money to me. I worked exceptionally long hours because of the fact that Chucky (and his seven puppet masters) were very expensive hourly - and Alex Vincent (Andy Barclay) was a child & worked restricted child hours. So - I was always on set working off camera for Alex & Chucky - then they all went home and I did all my acting to pieces of tape on various c-stands etc about the set. The tape marked where Chucky or Andy were supposed to be so it would look like I was reacting to them - but I wasn't. It was pretty challenging - but - I was so excited to be there that I stayed on set even after they released me. I could not get enough of it. And - the stage we shot on at Universal had the audience seating from the original Phantom of the Opera theater set still standing in it. It was the oldest existing film set in the world - and I was in love with it - but somehow managed not to take a single photograph. I think I heard that it has since been torn down.....or maybe it burned in a fire. If so - that is a great loss. But I must admit - it added to the excitement to be shooting a horror film on the Universal lot because of the history there of horror films & movie monsters. None of it was lost on me. I was in heaven."

What did you think about the other Chucky films?

"I only saw the first one - which I loved. I thought it was REALLY scary. I didn't see the third one - mainly in protest for having been left out of it Ha hah hah! But in all seriousness - I remain friendly with the writer, Don Mancini, and I have known my replacement, Perry Reeves, forever & have always liked her - so - it could have been worse. Actually - in a funny small world way - I also know Jennifer Tilly - and I like her, too. I guess I think the Child's Play folks have good taste in chicks!!!"

I’ll have more from Christine in the following article, including what she’s been working lately and a taste of her amazing photography.

Leaked 'Halloween 2' trailer has Rob Zombie pumped, pissed

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:52:00 +0000

Halloween II writer and director Rob Zombie tells EW he doesn’t know how the unused trailer for his movie (in theaters Aug. 28) leaked to the website Bloody Disgusting on Wednesday, but that he is grateful that it’s out there and that it has been so well-received by the public. ”When I first saw the trailer [cut by the company Buddha Jones], I went, ‘This is the f—ing movie we made.’ And then [Dimension Films] was like, ‘We don’t want to use it, we don’t like it,’ and they just threw it away. Then they cut all these other trailers that just look like generic, stupid f—ing slasher movie trailers, and I was f—in’ pissed. In fact, I wrote this long letter to the promotion department: ‘I hate these trailers and these TV spots, and I f—in’ hate you.’ You spend forever trying to craft something special and they’re gonna market it like a generic piece of ’80s slasher movie sh– because they think audiences are so f—ing stupid they can’t understand anything else. That trailer leaked from wherever, and I’m thrilled. The response has been like, ‘Wow, I didn’t want to see this movie until I saw this trailer.’”

“We think the official trailer and this alternate version are both great,” says Dimension’s EVP of Creative Marketing Jeff Elefterion. “They both represent the picture well, but we feel the cut we went with was the right choice and it has done a fantastic job of getting the fans excited about this sequel.” The new trailer features many of the same clips as previous spots for the movie, but a slower pace and the prominent use of the Moody Blues’ song “Nights in White Satin,” which gives it a distinctly different feel. “The Moody Blues song is very important within the actual movie,” Zombie says. “That trailer, that’s our movie.”

This isn’t the first beef Zombie has had with the marketing of his films. “It was a huge problem when I made [2005's] The Devil’s Rejects for Lionsgate,” he says. “That was from start to finish a wonderful experience — until it came time to market the movie. I go, ‘We kinda made this weird post-modern Western. They go, ‘We don’t care, we’re marketing it like it’s Saw.’ I go, ‘Well it’s not Saw. People that would like it are not gonna go see it, and people who think it’s Saw are gonna be so disappointed.’ For years and years afterward, people would be like, ‘I finally saw that movie. I love it. It’s totally not what I thought it was. It’s like this weird Peckinpah movie.’ I go, ‘I know!’ Ugggh. Now I’m going through the same thing again. What pisses me off is when you see something like District 9. When someone finally does a really interesting marketing campaign, it works because people are so jaded you need to give them something interesting.”

We’ll have to wait to see if the leak pays off in box office receipts (2007’s Halloween, Zombie’s first crack at reviving the franchise, grossed more than $80 million worldwide). But for now, there is a bit of a happy ending: “I wrote the marketing guys a thank you note,” Zombie says. “I said, ‘I don’t know if you guys leaked this, but thank you if you did.’”

AVATAR Official Movie Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:01:00 +0000

You've already seen the poster, click after the break to see the trailer!

James Cameron’s long awaited project, Avatar, has finally released its trailer. While the movie may have taken more than 14 years from conception to finish, the trailer seemed almost as anticipated. We’ve been waiting for it since our original story on the Avatar movie. Having watched the trailer, I’m impressed by the life like nature of the synthetic characters and the gorgeous 3D environments.You can see it in its entirety after the break.

The science fiction epic will focus on the conflict between humans and the Na’vi, an alien race on a distant planet. That planet is the backdrop for the film and highlights Cameron’s dedication to creating a completely immersive digital world for his actors to play in. Actors, who we should mention, are largely providing voices for digital stand-ins.

Avatar, like Surrogates, also deals with humans telecommuting into different bodies. In Cameron’s film the avatars are Na’vi-like bodies that human marines inhabit in order to interact with the aliens. The trailer alludes to how these marines in alien clothing get caught in the middle of the human-Na’vi battle. Checkout those battle scenes below!

Interview: Diane Kruger for Inglourious Basterds

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Rounding out our Basterd interviews, is the hottest on the bunch, double-agent Bridget von Hammersmark played by Diane Kruger in Quentin Tarantino’s war epic Inglourious Basterds. As we all know, it wouldn’t be a Tarantino film without some sexy, sassy blond with a mean pedicure shooting up someone.

We’ve already posted the interviews for B.J. Novak, Mélanie Laurent, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth and Nazi detective Christoph Waltz, just click their names to read our interviews with them, or keep reading to see what Kruger had to say about shooting the film…

What was it like to work with Quentin Tarantino and what was the absolute craziest thing he said to you or made you do on-set?

Kruger: (Laughs) What didn’t he ask. Well, it is everything you would imagine a Quentin Tarantino movie is like. When you watch his films it’s pretty much what he’s like on-set. You know, he’s a little larger than life. He’s very exuberant, and mad, and manic running around. There is real childlike quality to him. He can sit next to the camera and he can get so excited about the scene you’re doing. But at the same time, he can also be incredibly soft-spoken and sensitive. I think what sets him apart from other directors is that he has the ability to sense what different actors needs for different scenes. And he just knows exactly what to tell you to serve [that scene], to help you open that door.

Did he give you any advice specifically on-set on opening doors?

Kruger: No, that’s not really how it works either. You can’t open a door by saying, “Take it this way.” You know? You have to find that door yourself; it’s like going to a psychiatrist, I guess. But sometimes someone will say something to you that makes you think, well, “Oh okay, maybe I’ll do it this way.”

Who were your inspirations for the role?

Kruger: No one in particular. I guess the only character in the movie that could have maybe existed is Bridget von Hammersmark, so it’s a bit of a puzzle of different people. [Quentin] had a lot of actresses that he loved that he wanted me to watch. Of course being German I knew a lot of German actresses of that period. So I really like Hilde Konetzni. So you take a little a bit and then make it your own. But it was pretty much on the page.

We don’t really get much of a back-story on her. So, we have to take her word for it that she’s as famous as she says she is.

Kruger: Well the truth is I could tell you 20 years of back-story on Bridget von Hammersmark, which is what Quentin does, right? He tells you about your character and why and why. Without getting into too much details, because I don’t know if that’s going to be in a prequel or not, but in my head she’s truly come to despise the Nazi regime for whatever reason and truly is trying to use her power, or her influence to get rid of the Third Reich or try to end the war?

Can you tell us a little about finding the tension in your character. As with every other character, she has a larger than life quality to her but she’s grounded in true reality? Can you break that down?

Kruger: It was very important to Quentin. When you watch movies from the ’40’s, acting was very different then. It was a little more formal in how people spoke. And especially for actresses, and there was, you can call it, a commanding presence. They all spoke formal, it’s less conversational-like. Real movie stars, you could really see they were stars. The lighting, the filter, and everything. And it was important when you first see [von Hammersmark] on-screen you immediately know she’s the movie star. And when she speaks nobody else does. And also, it was important you would see that fierce intelligence that Bridget von Hammersmark is. If you doubt she’s just this ditzy movie star, you’d never believe she was able to pull off this Operation, you know. It was her idea that she has been able to be this spy for two years without being discovered. That gave me a great arc to play later on. Because you do see the real Bridget when she’s in distress. She knows what she’s doing when she steps into that office. She thinks the Basterds are morons for messing it up. There was so much to play with her.

***SPOILER***What was it like filming the fight scene with Christoph, the cast and being throttled out of your chair, looked a little rough and tumble?

Kruger: It was rough, yeah. A really funny thing about that is that it is actually Quentin who was strangling me. I know it’s like, “Are you trying to tell me something!? Did I do something wrong?” It was my last day, and he came into my trailer and he said, “Christoph is just an actor. He’s going to squeeze too hard or too little and we’re going to do it over and over. I just know exactly what we need, so I think I should just strangle you.” I’m like, “sure thing, Quentin!” And then, we see Christoph and Quentin is about two heads taller than him. So none of his costumes would fit him. So they had to make strap on and fake SS sleaves, that are strapped to the back of his collar. And here is this huge man on top of me – squeezing. He really was a lot less strong than Christoph, and I couldn’t tell Christoph, “Oh yeah, no-no [feign coughing], we can do one more.” He’s so sweet, you know.

What was the casting process like? How was your first meeting with Quentin?

Kruger: Casting with me was not pleasant. [LAUGHS] You know, he had someone in mind when he originally wrote the script so there was never going to be the opportunity to meet with him. And that didn’t work out for whatever reason, so of course, everybody calls and you have to say it’s Diane! And he says, “No, no. I want a German.” Okay, so… you know that was hard. He didn’t believe I was German. He didn’t want someone that was American that had German roots or grandparents. So it took a little while to convince him that I was German. I guess he was casting in Germany and he didn’t find the person that he was looking for. So it took awhile for him to say, “You can come to Germany if you like and meet with me.” Thanks Quentin! So I flew myself to Berlin. I had two days to prepare thirty pages of dialogue in German and in English. And when we met it was the easiest thing in the world. It was obvious, you know, that we liked each other and that we had the same sort of idea about the character. And I think the humor of the character is very important, and so, I think we both saw the same humor.

Did you grow up in Germany and how long did you spend there?

Kruger: I did. Born and raised until I was 15. So German-German.

For someone that speaks different languages, from the acting side of it, are you more comfortable with one than the other?

Kruger: Not really, but you do tend to be different in different languages. I think German tends to be a lot tougher for whatever reason, and French is like soft, and English is sort of… normal for me.

What is the German film industry like as opposed to the American film industry?

Kruger: It is a big – it’s like the studio system here, you know. It’s sort of like the legend of Germany. Some big movie stars came out of that system just like here. So it was a dream factor that I guess people are responding to.

Was it honor for you to be the foot fetish in the film?

Kruger: [LAUGHS] It was funny thing because I guess, I was lazy, I didn’t know about that. And then I was interviewed by a journalist as I just got the job. And he said, “So, ah, have you heard about this?” And I said, “no.” And he said, “Really, you don’t have a foot scene?” And I said, “actually, I do!” And then the day comes and I’m like, “Quentin, are you excited?! It’s the foot day!” And he was like, “No, it’s not true. It’s all made up. Journalists made it up.” And I was like, Okay. [Pretends to hide]. Six close-ups later on my foot and not on my face, and I thought, maybe there is some truth to it. I don’t know!

It was your foot?

Kruger: Oh yeah. It never looked better, are you kidding? The pedicure lasted forever. [LAUGHS]

How did working on this movie change or affect your attitude on Quentin?

Kruger: The truth is I feel confident. I think that’s what he does. He installs confidence in actors and he has faith in actors. And I feel you can do anything when someone has faith in you. And especially as a woman who works in Hollywood to feel valued, to be given, a dialogue that is intelligent and nuanced, and you’re not just being treated as an accessory to whatever male story is happening in the movie. It makes you – it’s empowering. He empowers women. I think women should be thanking him for the parts he writes for him.

***SPOILER*** How was it wearing a high-heeled leg cast?

Kruger: I just think it’s a genius idea when I first saw it, I thought, you’re kidding – it has a heel, really! It was genius but it was not comfortable. But it sure looked good.

How do you think this film will be received in Germany? Do you think it will be different from America because there is comedy, there’s parody in this film. Is it still a sensitive subject in Germany for going back to WWII?

Kruger: I know it’s going to play well in Germany because we premiered it there two weeks ago. It’s funny thing because journalists have asked us the same question since we’ve screened the movie in Cannes. The thing is it’s the same audience that is here, because it has been 60 years, three generations that have not lived through the war – and had to grow up with this heavy shadow on their shoulders. And honestly, they don’t want to hang out to Adolph any longer than you guys do. If they could, they would have killed him themselves. If anything, it’s even more positive towards seeing a movie like this that has so this revenge aspect, and you know, let’s change the ending of World War II.

So what was the reaction in the theaters in Germany?

Kruger: It brought down the house. It was Cannes times three. You know, my grandfather came to see it. I was a little nervous about that. And he was all like, “It was all fairytale. They messed up [Joseph] Goebbels, he didn’t talk like that!”

***SPOILER*** When you first read that you were going to rewrite history what was your first response?

Kruger: That’s why I wanted to do it. You can imagine as someone born in Germany, I get offered World War II movies once a week. And I never wanted to do it. Because why should I associate myself with that just because I’m German. So this came along, and I was like, that is cool. I will be able through Bridget von Hammersmark to bring down the Third Reich. I like it, let’s do it!

What was your favorite scene?

Kruger: They all were different. The tavern scene was exhausting to film. It was a two weeks scene. Just imagine keeping up that energy for two weeks. Ten or twelve minute takes and you’re in every shot. So even when you’re not on, you’re on… I think the funniest one was the one in the theater with Brad and the two other Basterds trying to pass for Italian. It was really hard to keep a straight face. [SPEAKS BAD DIALECT] Bongiorno! I loved it because my character could really go big. “Are you a fucking moron?!” It was so funny, like an old screwball comedy to do?

What was it like to work with Brad Pitt again after Troy?

Kruger: I’m glad I got the opportunity to meet him later on in my career because I was so green and inexperienced and completely overwhelmed when we were doing Troy. That was my second or third movie, ever. Being a little calmer about the whole thing, having experience and having such a cool character to play, and so did he. And knowing each other it helps because we were laughing, we had such a good time. His accent [THICK], “What are you talking about?” And everybody’s doing accents, and the dog’s barking. It was great.

What do you have coming up next?

Kruger: A movie I shot just before, Mr. Nobody which was just selected for the Venice Film Festival which is cool because I’ve never had a movie in competition there. So I am going to go to that. And then I’m going to do a French film in French. It’s a love project, I’ve been trying to get this movie made for years and it’s finally coming together. And I try to make one French movie per year at least.

Was it difficult or refreshing getting used to Quentin’s on-set demands and requirements?

Kruger: Well I think the ban on cell phones should be a given. I don’t know what idiot would bring a cell phone onto a movie set. Seriously, I think that’s disrespectful. I would never do that anyway. But I think that will happen because a cell phone went off while we were filming, and he went ballistic… obviously. No, but what he’s so strict about, what takes time getting used to – he’s so attached to his words – if you don’t say one word he will break a scene. He wants you say every single word. That’s an exercise that is quite difficult actually. You know because you could forget an “and” or a “but” or whatever – that takes time getting used to.

Quentin likes to play movies for his cast, I heard he played them on Thursday nights. Was there a special movie he played for you?

Kruger: All his favorite movies. He loves spaghetti westerns, so there was a lot of that. I saw The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. But the funny thing about it is, it’s not actually the movies that are so good, he has a popcorn machine and hot dogs and he sits through every one of them. He does that on every movie. He has seen all these movies 200 times, and he [MOCK IMITATION QUENTIN LAUGHTER] and you just watch him really be like a boy.

Check out Inglourious Basterds in theaters this Friday, August 21st.

Tarantino’s Lost Projects: ‘The 36th Chamber of Shaolin’

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:55:00 +0000

Almost more interesting than the films Quentin Tarantino has chosen to do are the ones he has either been rumored to be behind or has stated himself that he would like to do. In honor of Quentin Tarantino week here on the site, we thought it was time to go back and look over some of these lost projects. Some of them never got past the concept stage. Some might even still be lingering somewhere in the back of QT’s mind.

Tarantino has stated he believes the Shaw Brothers’ ‘The 36th Chamber of Shaolin,’ directed by fight choreographer Lau Kar-leung, to be the “3rd greatest kung fu movie of all time.”

For those who do not know much about the film, here is the synopsis: The anti-Ching patriots, under the guidance of Ho Kuang-han, have secretly set up their base in Canton, disguised as school masters. During a brutal Manchu attack, Lui manages to escape and devotes himself to learning the martial arts in order to seek revenge. In a short period of time he masters the deadly use of his fists, feet and palms, along with such weapons as swords, sticks, and lances. With his learning complete, he takes on the Manchus.

In 2003, in an interview with Oriental Daily, the director even let slip that he might be interested in remaking the film. The paper stated that the Shaw Brothers had even asked Tarantino to direct the film but that production wouldn’t be underway until 2006 due to schedules.

This specific plan, however, was quickly proven to be erroneous, and it came out that there were no plans for Tarantino to produce an actual remake of ‘The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.’ However, Tarantino, always the film student, was heavily influenced by the film. This can be seen in the training sequence seen in ‘Kill Bill Vol. 2.’ These are a direct reference to the classic, kung fu film. Tarantino even cast Chia Hui Liu/Gordon Liu, star of ‘The 36th Chamber,’ in two, separate roles for ‘Kill Bill.’

Despite the idea of him remaking ‘The 36th Chamber,’ being false, Tarantino has previously stated that he would like to do a Chinese kung fu movie at some point in his career.

I have that thought all the time, but not this one (’Kill Bill’). I think I will make one in the future. Certainly will be shot in China but in American way and with Chinese American as the leads. That’s because it’s impossible to blend Hong Kong actors and (mainland) Chinese actors into the whole movie. Chinese Americans are still Americans. By this way, all characters will speak the same language with the same accent. I want to shoot something of my own.

In an interview in April of 2007, Tarantino once again stated his desire to direct a Chinese kung fu story. It was reported on Sina.com that he had signed an agreement with the Shaw Brothers giving him carte blanche to direct remakes of some of their films. Among these films was ‘The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.’ Along with that film, Tarantino said he plans to produce abstractions of the storylines from ‘One-Armed Swordsman’ and ‘Dubei Dao.’ Just as Takashi Miike did with Japanese actors for ‘Sukyaki Western Django,’ Tarantino would cast Chinese actors for his new film but have them all speak in English.

While a direct remake of ‘The 36th Chamber of Shaolin’ doesn’t look like it will ever come to fruition, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Tarantino ended up making his kung fu movie. In fact, just like ‘Inglourious Basterds,’ he may actually title the film ‘The 36th Chamber of Shaolin,’ but base the film around an original story.

Tomorrow’s Tarantino Lost Project: His remake of ‘Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!‘

Opinion In A Haystack: This Generation’s Robocop

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:59:00 +0000

22 YEARS LATER, THIS GENERATION GETS THEIR ROBOCOP!!!

In 1987 there was this movie with a silly name, odd premise, a main character that looked like something out of Metropolis, and a non-A-list-celebrity in the lead role. The movie opened in theaters and subsequently kicked down the front door of Hollywood, gave it an uppercut to the jaw, and started pissing in its coffee pot. This film was Robocop.

Two decades later Hollywood had lost its way again, it forgot its lesson. Luckily, on August 14^th 2009 director Neill Blomkamp decided to crawl into the bedroom window, while Hollywood was sleeping, and knock up its daughter. He did it with a film called District 9. It was exactly what we needed.

No big-name actors to weigh down the budget, no lame attempts at adapting already existing properties, no non-sense, no entanglements… District 9, much like Robocop, is just hardcore, passionate film making from a new voice. A voice not to dissimilar from a young Paul Verhoeven.

Now, first off, if you are looking for a straightforward review of the film may I direct your attention over to the talented writings of QuickStop’s own Christopher Stipp. Second, I am in no way saying that District 9 is a “rip off” of Robocop. While there are tonal, character, comedic and satirical similarities between the two films, my point is not to insult District 9 for rehashing, stealing, or ripping off of another movie. Let me repeat that: I’M NOT SAYING THEY ARE THE SAME MOVIE; I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT PLAGIARISM; THE PICTURES ARE NOT MEANT TO POINT OUT THEFT. However I could probably say that 50 times and still some body will come on here, look at the pictures without reading anything and call me an idiot. The internet is a beautiful thing. Still, my point is one of praise. This film is not only an artistic success, but a financial one as well, much like Robocop, it will leave Studio Execs scratching their craniums wondering how and why this film worked.

Both of these movies, above all things, are social commentary. They are bloody, gritty, dirty, futuristic satires. District 9 is obviously about apartheid, political corruption and corporate greed, where as Robocop is about fascism, political corruption and corporate greed. And for people that have a hard time thinking outside the box, and tying their shoes, I suppose they are about aliens and robots as well. They are good companion pieces in that they use these rather deep socio-political frameworks to ask questions, not answer them, and to ultimately facilitate the action, special effects, gore, and humor.

The tonal similarities they share are pretty significant, to the point of being complimentary. You have two cities in dire straights, Johannesburg and Detroit. A corporation offers to swoop in, get involved politically, and take care of the problems at hand. District 9’s MNU (Multi-National United) is painfully similar to Robocop’s corrupt behemoth of industry called OCP (Omni Consumer Products). This is not theft; this similarity is simply a by-product of the fact that a giant, evil corporation with a cold-industrial moniker is the only way to skin that particular satiric-cat. When films like this are done properly, they are bound to share elements. I know I sound defensive against my own assertion that these movies are similar but, sue me, I like to argue with myself.

********************MILD SPOILERS START HERE*********************

Wikus, District 9’s “hero” is not unlike Officer Alex Murphy. The two men both start out the respective films as part of the machine that is trying to fix the problem. In the process of such, they both get injured, disfigured, loose their humanity, their ties with their family, are betrayed by their corporate superiors and are forced to use their new found situation to fight for what they see as right, all under the back drop of a much larger dystopian future. Wikus’ situation isn’t as finite as Murphy’s (as Murphy never had the option of going back to what he was, he died,) nor is Wikus a purely “good” soul as Murphy is, yet the similarities of their loss are apparent. Both futures, I might add, are very dank, dirty and covered in decade old grime. They both sport monuments of former glory, statues that depict utopia are engulfed in excrement and failure. Johannesburg is shown to be over run by a slum motif, covered in 20 years of stagnation, much like Detroit in Robocop; it is a city that looks like it has been without maintenance for several years.

*******************MILD SPOILERS STOP HERE***************************

District 9 starts out in a documentary style, which, I would argue is the equivalent of Robocop’s several commercials and news programs. In the 80’s that is simply the way they decided to break the fourth wall, today audiences are more open to characters just talking to the camera. This device in both films, leads to, or creates most of the humor. The humor being very important, cause if you’re not laughing from time to time, you will forget what the filmmakers want you to remember… this is entertainment, it should be fun. However, it’s not mindless fun, there is depth, and sometimes it’s damn funny.

Neither film bothers to deal with the grandeur of the devices at hand. Robocop’s narrative isn’t about the technical developments of robotic technology; District 9 isn’t about the complex nature of the alien’s world, society, and knowledge. In fact, District 9 shows audiences something very new to this decade, aliens that aren’t all that remarkable. They are about as smart and physically vulnerable as us, they just happen to have lived long enough to develope space travel and superior munitions technology… other then that, they are just humans that look different. A fresh, gut-punch approach to such sci-fi material is what made Robocop so biting in the 80’s. Same goes for District 9.

If you look at a lot of the criticism of District 9, you will see a pattern. My opinion is not fact, nor is anyone’s, but it seems to me that those that have put the movie in a negative light are not seeing the movie for what it is, they are simply seeing the premise. The premise sounds stupid, much like Robocop (which also has the added opposition of have a name that sounds ridiculous.) However, there is still people to this day that don’t “get” or “understand” the love for Paul Verhoeven’s sci-fi-horror-action classic… they are so dense that all they see is a stupid violent movie about a robot cop. The same goes for District 9, which is confusing, since even critics that are fully aware of the African Apartheid plot device still seem as though they aren’t in on the “joke.”

If everything I just said about the comparison between the two films seems like just a meandering mess… then at I’ll give you a good, clean, surface comparison. District 9 had its own ED-209:

That proves nothing, and goes against the angle of approach I was taking, but why fight it, let the internet have its fun.

The biggest similarity that the films share is in what they represent for mainstream entertainment at the time of their release. These are real films, not adaptations, written and directed solely for the screen and the screen alone. Big-budget science fiction films, with substance, made with passion instead of a goal (i.e. “We want a movie based on this toy line… do it, do it right, and do it so everybody can understand it!”) They are huge, filled with counter-culture ideas, abnormal themes, for a select audience, and most of all heavy with questions. That is what you get when studios get behind things other then the bottom line. So thank you to Neill Blomkamp, Paul Verhoeven, and even Peter Jackson for “mavericking” the hell out of cinema. Let’s hope that Hollywood doesn’t try to emulate-rape the premise… the last thing we need is the Robocop 3 version of District 9, I wouldn’t buy that for a dollar.

SORORITY ROW

Really? So did we just have a script lying around from the lame horror trend of the 90’s that a studio thought they might as well sink a couple millions into it just for laughs? This movie is 10 years past its prime. The sub-genre ignited by Scream and killed by every subsequent Scream rip-off, then chopped up by no less then 76 Scary Movie spoofs is coming to a theater near you!!! Isn’t it too early to do throwback to bad movies of last decade? Well at least Carrie Fisher is in it.

“50 Best Catholic films of all time”

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:57:00 +0000

William Park (InsideCatholic.com) lists, in his judgement, “the fifty best Catholic movies of all time”.

Some readers, myself included, were very surprised by the absence of The Mission. A magnificent cast (including Robert DeNiro, Jeremy Irons and Liam Neeson); a play by Robert Bolt (A Man for All Seasons) — it has, in my estimation, one of the most powerful illustrations of penance and forgiveness in cinema.

The Mission deservedly won seven Academy Awards, and made the top 15 films under ‘Religion’ selected by the Vatican, commemorating 100 years of cinema.

So why didn’t it make the list? — the author doesn’t offer much of an explanation, save that “Bolt’s screenplay for The Mission looks at the Church from the point of view of Dostoevsky’s “Grand Inquisitor.” Steven D. Greydanus, however, explores the complexities and ambiguities of The Mission for DecentFilms.com.

Question for our readers: do you agree with the list? — Do you agree with Warren’s list? Any notable omissions? What would you have selected?

Elvis Presley Is Our King of Song

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:59:00 +0000

Music changes every six months, you gotta change with it. " Elvis in Jailhouse Rock

Man, I need a number one hit, want a number one record *(article)! So I thought The King would be my good luck charm on the 32^nd anniversary of his death, August 16^th, 1977. His muse is with me as I peck the clunky keys towards solid gold. I avoid discussing all the idiosyncratic *(freakish) qualities of The King, and focus on what he could do best, make beaucoup beautiful music, in quantity and quality, and as diverse in its idioms as the "Pop-Up Presley Dolls` that populate souvenir stands about Memphis or near the grounds of Graceland.

I created my own personal playlist of highly select cuts that span the whole of Elvis` career. Most of the songs come from the CD Elvis 30 # One Hits, " but I added a few from the later period, like Moody Blue " and An American Trilogy, " because I felt as if the "Star of Elvis` was shining brightly towards the end. Another thing that I did was pick out tunes that were not that familiar to me, but which particularly struck a nerve as far as the performance or song structure is concerned. Crying In the Chapel " gives me chills and Surrender " slays me; it would be a good one to give to a prospective romantic paramour, should one come along.

Once I created the playlist, I burned a CD and listened to the songs repeatedly, did some necessary research on them, then jotted down some notes as to how they made me feel, or what special quality did Elvis bring to the song, that would tend to differentiate it from the pack, and make it a high point in his career. The last thing that I did was keep the number at the sacred count of sixteen, since today is the date of his death in August. So I hope you enjoy or even toil with my reflections on this most precious artist of all time. Let`s get down to business!

Well, when Monday comes she`s Tuesday, when Tuesday comes she`s Wednesday, into another day again. Her personality unwinds just like a ball of twine, on a spool that never ends. Just when I think I know her well her emotions reveal, she`s not the person that I thought I knew, she`s a complicated lady so color my baby, Moody Blue. " This is from his last recording session in 1976, and Moody Blue, " released as a single, reached number one on the Billboard Country charts. I love its continuous twangy guitar part and the lyrics that seem to be thinly-disguised gossip for one of Elvis` many lady loves from the late, "decayed` period.

A body could easily argue that the gifted songwriter Jerome Doc " Pomus was the real king of rock `n` roll, but that is a sound stage for a completely different production. Little Sister, " penned by Doc Pomus and his partner, Mort Shuman, was released by Elvis in August of 1961 as a single, reaching # 5 on the Billboard charts. I`m more familiar with Ry Cooder`s version, but now am coming `round to Elvis` terrific vocal here and to a smokin` rockabilly guitar part, that shadows the vocal.

Little sister don`t you, little sister don`t you, (repeat) kiss me once or twice and say it`s very nice, and then you run. Little sister don`t you do what your big sister done. " Elvis is emotive on the vocal, sounds like he means it, and a baritone backup vocal has a comic effect on the last line of the chorus. Little Sister " shows that Elvis was still issuing rock `n` roll songs, even after he left the army.

(Marie`s the Name) His Latest Flame, " another Pomus and Shuman composition, is my absolute favorite Elvis Presley song. I use to hear it all the time on the jukebox at the Bar of Soap when I was performing with The Potatoes, and it inspired me to do my very best. The lyrics evoke a jealous situation, I believe, and Elvis is superior in his ability to evoke this particular nitty-gritty, emotional demeanor .

He talked and talked, and I heard him say, that she had the longest blackest hair, prettiest green eyes anywhere, and Marie`s the name of his latest flame. " It uses a Bo Diddley vamp, as in Who Do You Love? " The middle eight has riveting arpeggio piano riff that I adore and The King`s vocal is one of the best ones ever in pop or rock! I can play this over and over and I never tire of it.

Whenever I hear All Shook Up " I think of a teenybopper spinning this black vinyl 45 RCA Victor single on their primitive record player and struttin` their stuff in front of a mirror. My older cousin "Butch` use to have stacks of these RCA 45s spread out on the carpet, for he was going after it, as I can vaguely remember from when I would be visiting my aunt in the late 1950s. All Shook Up was released in March of 1957, and was written by Otis Blackwell, and Elvis has a writing credit too. The Colonel finagled an excellent publishing deal for Presley, but that`s an entire article unto itself, that I don`t care to tackle.

She toucha my hand what a chill I got, her lips are like-a volcano that`s hot, I`m proud to say she`s my buttercup, I`m in love, I`m all shook up. " The King`s vocal chords gyrate like a Mexican jumping bean on a red-hot skillet! The arrangement is simple with a lone boogie piano and a metronome, leaving room for the best simulation of erotic symbiosis ever modeled in rock `n` roll. One has to reach for the stars to fathom how revolutionary this was for the 1950s!

Don`t, " released in 1958, but recorded in September of 1957 is a composition of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, that winning songwriting team that penned so many early rock `n` roll classics. This is a slower romantic crooner number that makes you feel as if you are covertly peeping into Elvis` bedroom while he is appeasing *(polishin` an apple) for his damsel in distress. Obviously, he captured an intimate moment in the studio with an over-the-top vocal that oozes with feely/touchy warmth, if not a damp-a-nin` of his monogrammed silk handkerchief, that was probably in his pocket. The natural vibrato of his voice, along with masterly dynamics, both vertigo and canyon bottom, pushes us to a precipice edge on Don`t. "

Surrender, " more of a rearrangement by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman of an old Neapolitan tune, Torna A Surriento, " is a newly discovered treasure for me. As a 1960 release it has Elvis` vocals in tact and trembling rapturously as I have ever encountered. Surrender has an uptempo bossa nova beat with shimmering mandolin, a romantic ballad that puts you on gondola ride in the canals of Venice.

When I kiss my heart`s on fire, burnin` with a strange desire "so my darling please surrender, all your love so warm and tender. " Excellent lyrics and he just wails out his guts, didn`t know The King had been to Italy? All the stars will tell the story, of our love and all its glory. " You and I join hands together in heaven on the last two lines: Be mine forever, be mine tonight! " See the pearly gates hither?

(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear, " from the movie Loving You, " was one of four songs that went to number one for Elvis in 1957. I find myself singing it in the shower, and this is because of its simplicity (only 1:46) and its catchy lyrics. Teddy Bear was written by Kal Mann (he wrote Limbo Rock ") and Bernie Lowe with clever animal-play lines such as: I don`t want to be your tiger, cuz tigers play too rough. I don`t want to be your lion, cuz lions aint the kind you love enough. " Elvis throws his voice like a ventriloquist and his throat warbles ecstatically, such as in he digs being the sex object of millions of adoring teenage girls. I believe that`s The Jordanaires providing the spiffy doo-wop backup vocals that clinches it, along with the short whirl of a piano cascade intro.

An American Trilogy " is a relic of a bygone era, a custom arrangement for our pleasing plump "grey boy,` a moving medley of three Confederate anthems of yesteryear, and our perfect rebel son does the honors for us. When he belts out Glory Glory halleluiah " on the last refrain I can see "bombs bursting in air` and the sparklers of a Fourth of July firecracker-stand come alive, all in the same frame. The South rises up from the ashes, Gone With the Wind " flickers in faded Technicolor on the plaster ceiling, as he belches his truth comes marchin` on " " and the chill of the rebel yell at Picket`s Last Stand at Gettysburg drapes over me in wanton souls.

Yesterday, just to tap into the karma of the king, I made a hefty meal that nearly floored me with fat gram count, a cholesterol blitzkrieg that so stuffed me, I was whiffed away by the Sandman at 7:30 PM. The King would usually have two huge cheeseburgers before snoozing, but I created a heapin` helpin` that I believe Elvis himself would nod from heaven as I wolfed down zillions of calories of grub that transform any fit fellow into a blubberslush of a blubbering Elvis imitator.

I had four hatch chili-pepper sausages with honey mustard, mountains of mashed potatoes, white cheddar cheese slices, cucumber slices with ranch dressing, tons of tomato slices, black eye peas with ample bacon bits, piles of spicy sauerkraut, a gigantic slab of hatch cornbread, & pineapple chunks. I felt just him, but fortunately didn`t croak right there on the couch.

I watched Frankie and Johnnie " while I ate, and went back for seconds. By the way, I found out one time *(when I visited some famous kinfolk of mine in Hollywood) that Donna Douglas (Ellie Mae in The Beverly Hillbillies ") had an affair and was madly in love with Elvis. For desert I had three pieces of coconut custard cream pie, & watched Woodstock " for the one millionth and one time; I still got off!

John Lennon thought Elvis was slipping, when appearing on the BBC`s Juke Box Jury in 1963, in reference to the song (You`re The) Devil In Disguise, " equating him with Bing Crosby. Actually, this one really rips where a slow part is fastened a rollickin` romp, almost an R & B trot for the finish line. The lyrics about a perfectly angelic girl, who may be really a devil, could equally be applied to Elvis, being autobiographical to me, in the sharp delivery of lines.

Maybe I didn`t treat you, quite as good as I should have. Maybe I didn`t love you quite as often as I could of. " There`s a tender spot in The King`s voice on Always On My Mind, " a quiver of hurt, sorrow, and remorse; precious sincerity is present here, and I imagine this was a showstopper at one of his Las Vegas performances in the 1970s. While I can appreciate Willie`s version, this one from 1972 is more tender and poignant. I get the impression that is especially tailored for Priscilla and his troubled marriage to her. I don`t detect any contrivance or artfulness on the part of The King here; I could just collapse and cry right here, make a mess of myself right cha-here on my trusty Gateway keyboard, but I`ve gotta "keep on truckin`` `til the end of this piece!

Crying In The Chapel " is the only gospel song that I included on my itunes playlist, that I created for the purposes of this article. It was written by Artie Glenn, and Presley recorded it in 1960 for His Hand In Mine, " but RCA held it back until 1965 as an Easter single. It`s touching for me, as I lack familiarity with his gospel material. This has both religious feeling and sensual feeling (for me). Take your troubles to the chapel, sit down on your knees, and your burden will be lighter, and you`ll surely find your way. " I never have really seen him in this light? But after hearing Crying In The Chapel, " I`d certainly do whatever he tells me to do, like make a beeline to the closet church!

In the Ghetto, " written by Mac Davis, comes during a creative renewal phase (1969) for Elvis, and was recorded at the American Sound Studio in Memphis. It is a song about poverty and the hardships of growing up underprivileged, and how that might lead you to do desperate things. Well the world turns "and a hungry little boy with a runny nose, plays in the street as the cold wind blows, in the ghetto. " When the kid seems to die in the end, after a showdown with the police, I always break out crying. Elvis has a serious tone in his voice, so you know that this is his socially conscious song. It`s a real tear jerker, and I recall my Dad use to sing it in a mimicking fashion when our family was on a road-trip vacation; it sounded very nice through a car radio as you watched America stream by your car window.

Suspicious Minds, " released in August of 1969 and written by Mark James, was a comeback number one song for The King, his first hit in six years. So, if an old friend I know, drops by to say hello, would I still see suspicion in your eyes? Here we go again, asking where I`ve been, you can`t see these tears are real, I`m crying. " Once again, there`s a certain element of realism, something autobiographical to these lyrics, and when addressing the subject of jealousy, he`s very much in his element. I love the talking part, like in It`s Now Or Never, and there`s a fade out, then back in that seems high tech for those times.

Burning Love " was recorded in March of 1972 and made it to # 2 on the Billboard charts. The King is a consummate LOVE MACHINE on this one: Your kisses lift me higher, like the sweet song of a choir, you light my mornin` sky, with burning love. " This one must really work in a live setting. Lord Almighty, I`m burnin` a hole where I lay. " On another level than romance, it`s also about being burned out, something this man surely knew a lot about. On even a further level, it`s a predictor of The King`s own timely demise, and it`s on this level that my ears hear the tragedy unfold of `is DOOMSHIP!

A Little Less Conversation, " written by Mac Davis and Billy Strange, is a funky one for The King with a cow bell clanking throughout and lots of special effects mixed in, such as keyboard sampling and a whole chorus of background vocals fattenin` the sound. It was originally recorded for `68 Comeback Special, " but was never used. It was remixed and included on the successful compilation CD: Elvis 30 # 1 Hits, " released in 2002. The line a little less conversation, a little more action " speaks volume for Elvis` dynamic way of doing things, especially in his later badge-toting, kung-fu slicing period. It sounds like a 70s game arcade is wafting from some speakers on here, and this is why I dig it!

Hound Dog " is the greatest of all of the purely rock `n` roll songs, and confronts the testy issue of social class. In knowing for sure that Elvis comes from humble origins, there is a detectably confronting and angry intonation in his voice when he says: you said you were high class, well that was just a lie. (repeat) You never chase a rabbit, you aint no friend of mine. " Scotty Moore`s rockabilly guitar leads is out of this world! The most famous song he ever did, for sure!

In many ways Elvis was merely a manufactured commodity by Colonel Tom Parker, a "Ken Doll` whose only purpose in life was to fulfill his hungry public. Tempered by his days with the circus, The Colonel mapped out every career move for Elvis like it was from the playbook of the Super Bowl, nothing was left to chance. Ultimately, his cut was fifty-fifty with Elvis, the most outrageous percent take in showbiz history.

It`s obvious that "fat profit` was his primary motive; thus a string of mediocre movies, if not down-right piss poor, were produced in the studios in the1960s. Because of The Colonel`s huckster shenanigans, The King`s music took a back seat to circus gimmickry. But once The King saw the truest beams of light, the naked truth that the stage and his music were his final beacons *(not bacon) of hope, Elvis embraced a comeback the world has never again seen, on any mortal stage.

So toss the laurel wreaths on his sepulcher. Listen to his perfect songs again, forget about all of his sins and forgive him for all of his travesties, no matter how grandiose. All your trials, soon lord be over. " You don`t have to join an Elvis secret group if you don`t want to, but you might consider it if you already worship The King. He gave of himself, sang his heart out for his fans, and this is why he died at such an early age. He could throw his voice, make it quiver, and jive on stage like he was Dionysius himself. Maybe he was. He wasn`t of earthly descent, I know that. There are still many new songs to discover, so let`s go on treasure excursion through the catalogs of Our King! Come on, let`s go girl, Fun In Acapulco, " Clambake, " & Girl Happy " all bundled up into one, but don`t forget to bring your federal law enforcement agent badges!

The Last Starfighter Blu-ray

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:56:00 +0000

A fantastic movie and a slice of Hollywood history arrives on Blu-ray with disappointing results.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman, August 17, 2009

When it comes you gotta grab it with both hands and hold on tight.

One of the most unassuming but also most important films in the history of motion pictures, The Last Starfighter signaled the beginning of a new era of Hollywood filmmaking much in the same way that The Jazz Singer or The Robe revolutionized the industry. A wholesome and exciting little tale of a nobody trailer park resident finding himself whisked away to fight a battle for an ally in desperate need of his skills and against an aggressive and dangerous enemy he never even knew existed, The Last Starfighter mixes humor, action, romance, and an underlying sweetness to the entire experience that makes it one of the more pitch-perfect movies to come along in some years. Still, it's The Last Starfighter's groundbreaking use of digital special effects that have come to define it. There's no denying the film's importance to the history books, but it's a shame that the great movie behind the effects seems lost in the pomp and circumstance of the more evident -- but not necessarily more impressive -- achievement that has allowed The Last Starfighter to withstand the test of time.

Alex Rogan dreams of something more for his life.

Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), handyman extraordinaire, dreams of doing more with his life than repairing broken down appliances in the Starlite, Starbrite trailer park. He hopes to go to college; hang on to his longtime girlfriend, Maggie (Catherine Mary Stewart); and escape the doldrums of small-town life. Though he's well-liked around town for the good he does, he finds both reprieve from the daily grind and minor celebrity status amongst his neighbors for his expertise at the "Starfighter" video game that has found its way into town. Alex, surrounded by a throng of townsfolk, one night breaks the game's all-time high score, earning not only the adoration of his friends but the attention of the game's developer, Centauri (Robert Preston). Alex soon learns that neither Centuari nor the game are of this world; the game was designed as a test of skill for the purpose of recruiting the best potential starfighters in the galaxy to join the war efforts of the Star League to defend the Frontier against the rebellious Xur (Norman Snow) and the venerable Ko-Dan Armada. Alex rejects the offer to become one of the Star League's warriors, but circumstances lead him to reconsider his options and take on a desperate fight in the gunner's seat of a prototype starfighter alongside his alien navigator, Grig (Dan O'Herlihy).

There are plenty great things to say about The Last Starfighter even before getting around to a discussion of the film's then-groundbreaking and, more importantly, trendsetting, special effects. Considering the film's lack of a true star performer in the lead role, the acting in The Last Starfighter is uniformly excellent. Lance Guest delivers a fun but also enthralling and somewhat moving effort as a teenager in search of his place in the world; one key sequence sees him in a dream-like trance of sorts as he marvels at a model solar system hanging from his bedroom ceiling. There's a palpable sense of not necessarily awe at the model itself, but rather at what it represents -- the unknown, adventure, purpose, destiny -- and the moment is brilliantly captured by Director Nick Castle (Major Payne) whose quality of leadership is evident throughout as he brings together both the primary components necessary to make any film a success but also completely succeeds at incorporating smaller details that make a good film great. He lends a tenderness to the picture in the midst of all the large-scale goings-on; from the peril-strewn universe to the incorporation of the special effects, there's always a sense of passion to the characters that lends to the audience a desire to cheer wholeheartedly for them even though the outcome of the film is never at all in question. The Last Starfighter's characters make the film; they are to a person lively and lifelike, each one with a unique heart and soul that brings their small community to vibrant life. The film paints its characters with a tender compassion; they each have real agendas, real hopes, real dreams, and real loves, with each performer capitalizing on the well-written script. Tying it all together is one of the finer scores in the history of cinema; Craig Safan's (Stand and Deliver) music is uplifting, robust, and slightly militaristic while at the same time playing as friendly and inviting. It's a near pitch-perfect Science Fiction score, and one that's wholly appropriate and perfectly tuned for The Last Starfighter.

Despite the many positive attributes that make The Last Starfighter a well-above-average film, such observations obviously play second fiddle to its groundbreaking, trendsetting, and even still today entertaining and visually appealing digital effects. Though 1982's Tron is packed with computer-generated visuals mixed with live action footage, The Last Starfighter took what Tron accomplished and greatly improved upon it by creating a series of photorealistic effects that seamlessly integrated into the real-world action around it. Its series of visuals -- the Gunstar, the Starcar, the enemy armada, and several interior and exterior shots of Rylos, for instance -- give to the objects a sense of dimension, weight, and realism that was never before so expertly and broadly integrated into a motion picture. Though the effects now appear as primitive at best by today's lofty standards, they retain a charm that fits wonderfully with the film's themes and setting and, far more importantly, remain memorable for what they represent. Perhaps just as fascinating is not only the visuals themselves, but the continuously evolving and innovating computer work employed to make them a reality at a time where there was no template on which to lay the groundwork. Lastly, The Last Starfighter's impact on the world of motion pictures both in the previous decade of the 1990s, in the first years of the 21st century, and no doubt well into the future, cannot be denied. The untold billions of dollars that have been generated thanks to the radical advances in computing and moviemaking technologies have redefined the business while simultaneously thrilling the moviegoing public like never before. Mega-blockbusters like Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, Toy Story, The Lord of the Rings, Transformers, and Star Trek owe their success in part to the innovators and groundbreakers that made The Last Starfighter possible. Talk about stimulus.

Video

The Last Starfighter debuts on Blu-ray with a disappointing 1080p, 2.35:1-framed transfer. A mediocre-at-best presentation, The Last Starfighter appears to be the victim of rigorous digital scrubbing; plenty of fine details appear to have been washed away. The transfer lacks a sense of vibrancy and appears rather flat and drab throughout. Trees and bushes around the trailer park look like blobs of green mass with absolutely no definition to be found. There's little-to-no grain to be seen throughout, though spots and other debris do pop up from time to time over the image, and not just over the most extreme effects shots such as Xur's holographic appearance at Star League command. Detail appears appreciably higher in space than it does on Earth; the lines, ridges, and other features that make up the many alien faces, for instance, look fairly good, as do the varied alien uniforms that feature a high level of texture. It's a mixed bag to be sure, but The Last Starfighter never takes on a true film-like appearance, instead looking overly manipulated and artificial. Black levels are inconsistent at best, but flesh tones appear rather stable. In a way, the lack of absolute definition reflects the minimal graphical nature of the video game and, later in the film, the special effects, but it's still a rather disappointing visual experience.

Audio

Unfortunately, The Last Starfighter's DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack doesn't fare much better than the video presentation. The clear-cut highlight here is Craig Safan's amazing score; fortunately, it sounds rather good all things considered, each glorious note pouring into the soundstage with a fair level of definition and clarity. Sound effects throughout the film do scatter about the soundstage nicely with the front right and left speakers carrying the load of center-channel support. On the downside, there's absolutely no sense of immersion into the experience. The lack of a strong rear-channel presence -- for instance during Alex's initial flight to Rylos with Centauri -- leaves the listener feeling cold and detached from the film. Explosions and general action scene mayhem don't pack much of a punch, the track delivering the basic necessities to move the film along but never truly engaging the listener and placing him or her in the midst of the excitement. Dialogue ranges from acceptable to muddled and harsh. The Last Starfighter's lossless soundtrack isn't a total loss, but it's far from exemplary at the same time.

Supplements

The Last Starfighter lands on Blu-ray with several bonus features, headlined by a commentary track with Director Nick Castle and Production Designer Ron Cobb. An interesting and well-spoken track, the duo discusses how the film was influenced by the video game craze of the mid-1980s, the easily identifiable nature of the characters and story, shooting locations and the trailer park in particular, the cast, the design of the game and the starfighter, making use of three-dimensional rather than two-dimensional space, the film's groundbreaking effects, and much more. Both fans of the film and anyone interested in learning more about an important slice of motion picture history should definitely give this one a listen from beginning to end. Heroes of the Screen (1080i, 24:19) is a solid retrospective piece that looks back on the standard the film set for the future of motion pictures in its special effects. The feature also looks at the movie's sweet and emotional core in which the action and effects are built, the construction of the script, setting the standard for acting against objects that aren't on-set, the budget, and more.

Crossing the Frontier: Making 'The Last Starfighter' (480p) is a four-part documentary that delves even further than the previous piece into the film's place in history. Segments include Introduction (1:27), Filming the Movie (10:33), A New Era of Visual Effects (18:08), and Reflections (1:52). Also included is the film's teaser trailer (480p, 1:33) and theatrical trailer (480p, 2:47) and nine image galleries presented in 480p standard definition: The Cast, 'Starfighter' Arcade Game, Starfighter Command, The Starcar, The Gunstar, Ko-Dan Armada, Alternate Ending, Anatomy of a Starfighter Computer-Generated Image, and Promotion and Merchandise. This disc is also BD-Live (Blu-ray profile 2.0) enabled and D-Box equipped.

Final words

What's truly amazing about The Last Starfighter is that it's not just a test vehicle for a radical new breed of visual effects that would transform Hollywood forever. The filmmakers smartly told a story well worth telling and worked their magic into the story, rather than simply tacking a story onto the effects as a mere afterthought. The Last Starfighter is a great movie, and would have been equally great had it used models and miniatures or had it been made in the past several years where near-seamless effects now find their way into most any Science Fiction picture. Exciting, emotional, well-written, wonderfully acted, and boasting one of the finest scores of the past several decades, The Last Starfighter is simply one of the best of its kind. Universal's Blu-ray release, unfortunately, doesn't quite do the film justice. Boasting a problematic 1080p transfer, a mundane lossless soundtrack, but a solid collection of extras, The Last Starfighter nevertheless comes with a recommendation solely on the strength and historical importance of the film.

(500) Days of Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:27:00 +0000

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel in (500) Days of Summer

The film (500) Days of Summer is proof that everybody borrows, and that's nothing to be ashamed of. It's nearly impossible to create something original from start to finish, what can be different is the approach. This film seems as if it plucked the object of desire out of Jules et Jim and blended it with the inventiveness of Annie Hall. The New Wave comparison is not out of left field as demonstrated later on.

This is a film that refuses to bow to conventions of narrative and structure from the start. The first image of the film is a title which appears to be a standard "this is fiction" disclaimer then it is flipped and rendered comical.

There is self-conscious narration, documentary-style cutaways (interviews, pictures and newsreel like footage). It is a film that honors, pokes fun at and references films of the past in a dream sequence parodying the French New Wave and Bergman in two different skits, one Bergman homage was similar to a Woody Allen gag in Love and Death and the latter the best Seventh Seal parody I've seen. These gags are completely justified as Levitt's character has a delusional fantasy while watching an arcane foreign film.

What's most interesting in the film is that it refuses to go in chronological order and pretty much never needs to. This frees the film to have very interesting moments like a "Why I Love Summer" and "Why I Hate Summer" montage which have nearly identical footage. The stream of consciousness, memory-like edit also allowed the relationship to be reviewed both in an idealized version and how it really happened.

Though it was good to finally have some understanding of how Summer thinks at the end it still felt like the kind of movie that would've been better served by an open ending. Not that the end was bad, perhaps just too tidy. That doesn't detract from the whole. Levitt reasserts himself as the preeminent figure of independent cinema. Deschanel plays her part probably as well as any in her generation can filling in the blanks in her character's thought process which are inherent based upon the film's perspective.

Most pleasing and notably of all Mark Webb is a director to be reckoned with because he injected life and creativity into a rather stagnant genre and despite not masquerading the inevitability of the relationship failing he made the ride quite fun.

8/10

For more info: (500) Days of Summer is still playing this weekend amidst a barrage of new releases, for tickets and showtimes check Fandango. For plot information visit their official site. If you're looking for an action film check out my friend Michael DePalma's review of G.I. Joe.

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:24:00 +0000

Favorite Miyazaki Film

I gave a very positive review to the new Hayao Miyazaki film, "Ponyo," in today's Chronicle. Anyone who followed our "The Poop Presents" movie series at the Cerrito Theater knows I like Miyazaki a lot -- we programmed "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Spirited Away" when this blog was co-hosting family movies there.

Disney

The sea is angry -- but the movie's not.

But I definitely wasn't predestined to like the director's latest movie. I thought that a reinterpretation of "The Little Mermaid" was a curious choice for Miyazaki, who is at his best when writing original material. And I thought the trailer and especially the commercials for the film were underwhelming. I was bracing myself for the Miyazaki version of "Eyes Wide Shut."

So I was pleasantly surprised to get sucked into this movie, especially the second half, when the narrative pretty much goes out the window and a Miyazaki film once again offers a portal into the animator's incredible imagination. The movie is G-rated, but I suspect adults in particular will find it a little scary or at least unnerving. From the moment a typhoon hits, every character in the movie seems to be at the complete mercy of mother nature.

As for where it fits on the all-time Miyazaki list, I would put it in the middle somewhere. It's not close to his best film, but I think it will be well-regarded -- especially coming so late in the 68-year-old's career. I'd say it's the Miyazaki version of Scorsese's "The Departed."

Below is my favorite Miyazaki movie of all time. Yours in the comments ...

I realize that "Spirited Away" is Miyazaki's masterpiece, and technically his best film. It's definitely the movie where he opens himself up the most artistically, both with the visuals and the surreal yet powerful story. "Princess Mononoke," his first movie to get mainstream distribution in the U.S., was the film that introduced me to the animator, and I think it contains his strongest and most memorable political message.

c1988 Nibariki - G

An incomparable experience.

But my favorite Miyazaki movie is still "My Neighbor Totoro." I love how it plays so well with young children, yet is extremely layered in terms of its characters and meanings. Depending on my mood and the audience I'm watching it with, I can enjoy the 1988 movie on completely different levels. I remember being moved and a little melancholy the first time I saw it alone -- and feeling completely joyful the first time I watched it with my then 3-year-old son. It's such an original, that you can't even name the genre it's in. Nor could another filmmaker ever successfully recreate it, without somehow journeying into Miyazaki's brain. (And would you even want to go there, without a guarantee that you'll come out without turning into a pig or something?) I'm still not emotionally ready to watch "Spirited Away" again. I could probably view "Totoro" every week for the rest of my life.

Bryan Singer and Universal to reboot Galactica

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:20:00 +0000

Universal to reboot Galactica

Battlestar Redux ... already?

Bryan Singer

Five years ago, Bryan Singer was known as the wunderkind director who made good on the promise of 1995’s The Usual Suspects and single-handedly redirected the superhero genre with his pair of successful, acclaimed X-Men films.

But these days, his reputation has been sullied by Superman Returns (2006), the much-maligned “follow-up” to Richard Donner’s original Superman (1978) and Superman II (1981). The consensus is pretty unanimous: Singer delivered a technically super film, but was hobbled by a fatal combination: being too reverent to Donner’s tone (and thus, never making good on the promise of a Singer Superman flick) … and the story-killing insertion of Superman’s offspring. Casting the shrill Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane didn’t help.

So now comes the news that Singer has signed on to direct a big-screen version of Battlestar Galactica for Universal.

The original Battlestar Galactica, about a starship carrying the last human survivors from a distant group of planets made its debut as a television series in 1978, amid the fanfare over Star Wars. It lasted one year, produced an embarrassing spin-off, Galactica 1980, and was forgotten for two decades despite numerous attempts to revive or sequelize the show (original BSG actor Richard Hatch wrote several Galactica novels and tried desperately to launch a sequel series) in the 90’s and early 00’s.

1978 Galactica promo image.

Singer had been attached to a Galactica project prior to Ronald D. Moore’s visionary re-imagining, which just wrapped its four-year run with a perfect bow at the end of the story. Although fans of the original griped at first (Starbuck’s a girl????), there is no debating that the 2000s Galactica offered strong storytelling that dealt with sweeping human themes, a broad visual canvas, impeccable casting and powerful performances.

Many critics and fans alike consider it one of the greatest sci-fi series of all time, if not flat-out among the greatest shows, period.

So what the hell exactly are Bryan Singer and Universal thinking?

Not everyone loved the new BSG series.

For Universal, it makes total sense. After all, it’s business-as-usual - the soulless rebooting of a franchisable property. But the show only wrapped in April. The complete series DVD only dropped two weeks ago. For frak’s sake, the corpse isn’t even cold yet.

In concept, the reboot works both ways. It gives a studio a new lease on a product’s life but it also deepens the groove when it comes to cultural awareness. Whether it’s Jason Voorhees, James Bond, Freddy Krueger or Flash Gordon, everything gets a fresh coat of paint or goes upstream to die. Instead of an iconic property being representative of a particular time, continual reinterpretation allows for a work to last for all time, provided the elements are something an audience can find relevant.

The original 1978 Galactica TV show didn’t age well. As rebooted, the concept jettisoned the green cheese and featured fierce, flawed characters in a post-9/11 world, er, galaxy. It was very much a show for its time. Granted, Galactica 2004-09 wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea. Not everyone watched it and many didn’t get it. Heck, even the most ardent supporters were scratching their head of the puzzling, challenging finale. But like it or not, Galactica made a big ‘ol pop culture dent. A brand new direct-to-DVD film (BSG: The Plan) with the TV cast will premiere in October and a prequel series, Caprica, will premiere in January.

The question isn’t whether Bryan Singer can deliver a brilliant film. It’s … why this, why now?

And how can Universal simultaneously develop two canons, one honoring the timeline established on BSG and Caprica; and a new version that could be a sequel to the 1978 version (a rumor) or complete reinvention?

And honestly, we saw what Singer did with Superman’s continuity … Can he be trusted with another established property or should he stick to originals?

It can’t be worse than Galactica 1980, right?

The Time Traveler's Wife: Love, Death and More Love

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:02:00 +0000

The Time Traveler's Wife: Love, Death and More Love

By Richard Corliss Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009

The Time Traveler's Wife" title="Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams share one of many soulful, doleful moments in The Time Traveler's Wife" width="307" height="200">

Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams share one of many soulful, doleful moments in The Time Traveler's Wife

My friend and neighbor, the filmmaker Alan Wade, has a provocative explanation for why Titanic struck such a strong and reverberant chord with hundreds of millions of moviegoers, especially women: the hero dies. O.K., that breaks a cardinal rule of movie romance: that the lovers kiss happily at the final fadeout. Most examples of the genre end with that rosy image, in part because their makers are reluctant to bum out their audience. James Cameron must have been tempted to end his film with Leonardo DiCaprio's Jack surviving the ship's sinking and enjoying a long life with Kate Winslet's Rose. But Cameron realized that by killing off Jack, he was raising the movie's stakes from domestic platitude to classic romantic tragedy. Jack's death stamped both finality and immortality on the lovers' shipboard tryst. Because he is gone, their love will live forever.

Specials

1950s Sci-Fi Movies

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Storytellers from antiquity knew the power of star-crossed romance, and so did Audrey Niffenegger. Her 2003 best seller The Time Traveler's Wife is so plangent a tale of fatal love, with two adorable people fighting to beat the odds against them, that it's surprising it took six years for it to get to the big screen. Maybe prospective producers were reluctant to buck the prevailing wisdom of a conventional happy ending. Anyway, here is the film version, directed by Robert Schwentke. It's soppy enough to suit the requirements of the weepie genre, and there's a music score that tries to cue all the emotions in viewers, as if they're incapable of locating their own feelings. But the movie also has an aching solidity that allows you to surrender to its cuddly-creepy feelings without hating yourself in the morning. (See the best 1950s sci-fi movies.)

Henry (Eric Bana), who works in a Chicago public library, is in the reading room when a woman he's never met walks up to him and says dewily, "I've loved you all my life." She's Clare (Rachel McAdams), a young artist, and in her past — Henry's future — he has visited her and won her undying devotion. Henry, you see, has the gift or curse of time-traveling: disappearing from one temporal and spatial reality to pop up, naked, in another. This science-fiction trope will be familiar to fans of The Terminator, but Henry is no action-fantasy god. He's just a guy whose body has a wanderlust he can't harness. That's why, as he tells the besotted Clare, "I never wanted anything in my life that I couldn't stand losing." Of course they're destined to be each other's one and only loves. (See the 100 best movies of all time.)

Put a harsh light on the story and it's an old disease-of-the-week TV movie — if "chrono-impairment" is an illness covered by the Obama health-care plan. Henry eventually learns to control his ailment, to the extent that he can lurch back through time and meet Clare when she was a child. This is a powerful device: lovers often wish they could have met, or at least have had glimpses of, their soul mates in their youth. His time-traveling into the future also allows Clare to have an adulterous affair with her own husband. (It's very complicated.) But in a story that is unabashedly pro-love (and incidentally anti-hunting), intimations of human mortality will eventually complicate and enrich their relationship.

Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin has been down this post-mortem path before; he won an Oscar for Ghost. McAdams is also a veteran of a decades-spanning romance; in The Notebook she applied the same exorbitant dimples and loving laser stare she uses to excellent effect here. The role of Henry might once have been intended for Brad Pitt, who serves as an executive producer on the film. But it's well served by Bana, switching gears after playing the villain in Star Trek and a much less sympathetic wandering husband (for laughs) in Funny People. Here Bana hits the right tone of hangdog perplexity and stalwart romance.

In a film era that thinks sentiment is a big silly joke, The Time Traveler's Wife may be as out of its time as poor Henry. But for viewers aching for a romantic drama that leaves them emotionally, honorably exhausted, this could prove a total immersion in star-crossed love, if not perfect synchronicity. As with Titanic, the movie's fans could end up watching it time after time.

District 9: The Summer's Coolest Fantasy Film

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 04:31:00 +0000

District 9: The Summer's Coolest Fantasy Film

By Richard Corliss Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009

Sharlto Copley in District 9.

If you're looking for the late-summer special-effects action fantasy with big franchise potential, forget about G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. (You already forgot? Fine.) Instead, proceed directly to District 9, a grimy little scare-fi thriller from South Africa, hitherto unknown as a production center for really cool movies. The picture bears the imprimatur of another gifted outsider, Peter Jackson, who with The Lord of the Rings made New Zealand his own little Hollywood. But the real star is director and co-writer Neill Blomkamp, 29, who proves with his first feature that no genre is so tarnished by overuse and misuse that it can't be revived by a smart kid with fresh ideas.

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Blomkamp pours his clever notions into a familiar mold: a story of extraterrestrials who come to Earth and are treated like outlaws. Sound schizophrenic? Not to Blomkamp, who grew up in South Africa (before moving to Vancouver at 18 to work in special effects) and who knew from boyhood that he wanted to be a filmmaker. "On one side of my mind you have this place with a crazy racial background, and on the other side of my brain you have this science-fiction geek," he says. "And then one day the two just mixed, and I decided I wanted to do science fiction in South Africa." (See the best 1950s sci-fi movies.)

A giant spaceship hovers over a world capital, just as in The Day the Earth Stood Still. Only this time it's Johannesburg, not Washington. And the beings that emerge aren't elegant, superior dudes like Michael Rennie and Keanu Reeves; they're large, icky insect types, with wriggling worms where their noses might be. Nor do they issue the lofty proclamation that the peoples of the world must resolve to live in peace (or we'll all be killed). Instead, these space things, more than a million of them, hang around for 20 years in a ratty part of Joburg called District 9 while their vehicle awaits the spare parts it needs to make the trip home.

By now, most earthlings are less afraid than annoyed; they see the illegal aliens as just another class of lowlife troublemakers. Because they also look like creepy crustaceans, they are slapped with the derisive term prawns. They possess weapons no human can fire, but a gang of Nigerian thugs buys up most of the stash anyway, while supplying the creatures with women who'll engage in interspecies prostitution. When local resentment reaches its boiling point, a private firm gets a government contract to cattle-herd the furriners to a new settlement, far from the city. To enforce this transgalactic apartheid, the head of the company calls on his naive, underachieving but very game son-in-law Wikus (Sharlto Copley).

It's a dirty job, and it gets dirtier when Wikus is infected with some alien gookum and his left arm turns creature-like. Now he's hunted by both his old firm and the Nigerians who want his prawn arm to fire the space weapons. Classic Hitchcock vectors: a man on the run from two adversaries. In '60s TV-series terms, he's the fugitive and the one-armed man. Out of options, he must find help from the species he and his kind have subjugated and slaughtered. In this monster movie, the monster is us. (See the 25 greatest villains of all time.)

Evicted and imprisoned, deprived of their rights, the aliens could be the Palestinians in Gaza, the detainees in Guantánamo or, transparently, black South Africans for the 46 years of apartheid and, in effect, for centuries before. (The title is a play on District Six, a vibrant mixed-race area of Cape Town that was declared whites-only in 1966, after which 60,000 of its residents were forcibly removed.) In his 2005 rough draft for District 9, the short film Alive in Joburg, Blomkamp didn't foreground the political elements. But while writing the feature script with Terri Tatchell, he became aware "that all these very serious topics about racism and xenophobia and segregation would start to shine through the science-fiction-esque veneer," he says. "I had to be very careful that I didn't get too close to these serious topics with a film that's mostly a summer thrill ride." He told himself, "It's your first film. Use it as satire. Chill out."

The seriousness is apparent yet not obtrusive. Whites seem to run the country, the corporations and the media, much as they did under apartheid, but that will hardly register with international audiences conditioned to see a parade of Caucasians in action movies. What is more likely to grab viewers is the dynamic storytelling (partly in mockumentary form), the gruesome yet sympathetic aliens, the robot suit that briefly turns Wikus into Iron Man, and the surfeit of body parts exploding. Like David Cronenberg — especially in his masterpiece, The Fly — Blomkamp is fascinated by the ways our bodies morph, decay and betray us. And like Jackson's early, grotty films (Bad Taste, Braindead — the titles say it all), District 9 revels in its mixture of horror and loopy humor and in the propensity for odd-looking creatures to suddenly go splat!

Even more impressive is the way this feature-film novice director sells his vision of Johannesburg as a dusty sump hole, a place of sapping heat and blinding glare. The creatures aren't caressed with the moody lighting of most monster films; by sticking them out in the sun, Blomkamp demystifies them and shows off their CGI sophistication. (Virtually all the aliens were created digitally; he used very few puppets.) "I wanted the image to feel incredibly raw and unmanipulated," he says, "almost like it came straight from the camera sensors right onto the screen. So instead of setting the shot up and really making a big deal of the effects and then going back to normal footage, I wanted it to feel as if the effects were completely part of the scene." (See the 100 best movies of all time.)

Blomkamp, who directed three shorts in the Halo video-game universe, was hired by Jackson to make a Halo feature. That project foundered after a few months, and Jackson proposed that Blomkamp make a different feature right away. He resuscitated the Alive in Joburg idea, expanding and improving it into District 9. Jackson even let Blomkamp cast Copley, a high school pal who had never acted, in the lead. Amazingly, Copley carries the film, bringing to a most demanding role the scheming dimness of Harry Dean Stanton mixed with the dogged, unwarranted optimism of Steve Carell. Jackson, says Blomkamp, is "the guy that allowed everything to happen." Through the shoot and editing, "he'd always say, 'Make the film you want to make.' " Wise teacher; star pupil.

We ruin no surprises by saying that at the end of the film, there's promise of a sequel. Blomkamp swears that the possibility didn't occur to him until the last week of filming. "Now that I've started thinking about it, I would love to make another movie," he says. "I'd go back. But only if it's successful — only if people want it back."

They will. They'd better. For District 9 proves that genre films, besides being a hell of a lot of fun, can say things you hadn't considered and show stuff you haven't seen. There can be few anticipations more pleasant than the promise of Blomkamp's second terrific movie. Bring on District 10.

The Hollywood Dip
August 16, 2009

Mabuhay readers of Balita!

It's me again, your Hollywood insider, Renae Punzalan. I hope you went out to see your favorite movies this week.

I have to tell you how much of a sci-fi geek I am. I love aliens, robots, science fiction and outer space! (I sometimes consider myself "other-worldly" as well.)

So I got very excited when I went to the screening of DISTRICT 9! This movie is so good, it is the "must see" summer movie of the year! I haven't been this crazy about a movie since STAR WARS Episode I, where I waited in line for hours, just to see the first (worlwide) midnight show, way back in 1999. What a geek!

Going back to District 9, I don't want to spoil your trip to the theater but I'll give you a little peek at what to expect.

This movie brings such a unique concept to it's audience. Its comprised of dramatic scenes, "mockumenatary" footage, real news video obtained from the South African Broadcasting Corporation and other news agencies. The idea behind the movie comes from the short, low budget mock-documentary called "Alive In Jo'burg." It's shot in a Johannesburg shantytown by the film's director, Neill Blomkamp. The short film is available on YouTube.

I had an opportunity to interview Neill and I bombarded him with questions. That usually happens when I love a movie so much, there is a ton of things I want to know.

He has directed many celebrated short films as well as some very high budget commercials for Nike, Citroen, Gatorade, Panasonic and Namco. This is his first directorial debut in a feature film and he also wrote the Screenplay.

He said he wanted to bring something very different to his audience, like taking some Aliens and putting them in Johannesburg, South Africa, which is where he grew up. He mentioned to me that he was very skeptical about how audiences would react to the style of DISTRICT 9 and has been patiently waiting to see what happens when it hits theaters on August 14th. I told him I loved the film so much and that he had nothing to worry about. He thanked me, gracefully.

We also chatted about what a great job Sony does with the film's advertising. I don't know if you've noticed all the posters on bus stops all over the city saying, "FOR HUMANS ONLY." Its so genius! Apparently, the posters have been up for quite a while. There is even a hotline number you can call to report non-human sightings to Multi-National United (MNU): 1-866-666-6001. I called and left a message that there was some non-human activity going on in my neighborhood. I mean these aliens could eat up the neighborhood kids, which wouldn't be a bad thing. (What? I love kids!)

By the way, this guy is younger than me, just to let you know -- and very successful. (Gosh the pressure I must endure!)

I was also lucky enough to get an interview with the star of the film, Sharlto Copley. He plays Wikus van der Merwe an MNU field operative, who is responsible for moving the Aliens out of DISTRICT 9 to a new camp. Sharlto, who is also great friends with the director, confided that Neill persuaded him to play the role of Wikus. He said, "we just had confidence and trust in each other that we could do our jobs to the best of our abilities." Sharlto is phenomenal as Wikus, and shows off his great acting chops. He was such a pleasure to interview and handsome, if I do say so myself.

DISTRICT 9 is the best film I have seen all year and I think it will be one of the best sci-fi films of all time. I have that much confidence in it. So go out there, see it and tell me what you think. I would love to hear from you.
You have just been "dipped!" "Babay, you!"

G.I Joe New Version

noreply@blogger.com (Kazuya Garo) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:26:00 +0000

Synopsis

G.I Joe: Rise Of Cobra (English)

Set approximately ten years in the near future, a special military unit known as the "G.I. Joe" arises from the Cobra Organisation, vowing to take down any crime organisation led by a notorious arms dealer. With their team operating from the headquarters known as "The Pit," the film will include stunning locations from the Arctic, Paris, Moscow, Australia and the Sahara desert.

Classification: PG13
Genre: Action
General Release Date: 06 Aug 2009
Running Time: 1 Hour 59 Minutes,
Distributor: United International Pictures
Cast: Channing Tatum, Dennis Quaid, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marlon Wayans, Rachel Nichols
Director: Stephen Sommers

Star Rating:
Overall:
Cast:
Plot:
Effects:
Cinematography :

Watch this if you liked: "Transformers", "Fantastic Four", "Street Fighter", "X-Men" movies

Do you reckon it's fair to call "G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra" the poor man's "Transformers"? They're both from the Hasbro toy line.

Just like the Michael Bay blockbuster, the toy-to-movie adaptation "G.I. Joe" boasts some high-temp and top shelf CGI, mesmerising the senses as we run through Paris and witness scenes of the Eiffel Tower collapsing due to biochemical war and scenes of the ocean bed in the North Pole.

However, this Stephen Sommers effort comes off rather soulless when considering that Michael Bay had enough story to add to action but "G.I. Joe" is mostly just senseless trashing. Some of the dialogue in the movie is ridiculously cliched, especially those between the G.I. Joe team. Worse, the lineup that backs the movie fail to leave much impact, for example Sienna Miller's Ana character is as good as a pretty puppet. Despite her star appeal and seductive persona, her acting gives you that sinking feeling, just like Destro's submarine in the story. Channing Tatum also does nothing special here but a more disappointing fact is that veterans like Dennis Quaid are made to look like fools, in this case as General Hawk. Marlon Wayans, synonymous with slapstick in the industry, may just be the only actor who comes alive, playing a joker who provides comic relief to his teammates.

Director Sommers generally fails to get the best out of the cast and this movie is inferior to his previous efforts like "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns". We wonder why it's not 90 minutes but almost two hours? However, as Hollywood action movies go, you probably could do a whole lot worse.

Cinema Online, 05 August 2009

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