Pixar’s Toy Story 3 will be produced in 3
Pixar’s Toy Story 3 will be produced in 3-D. I like Pixar a lot but 3-D has never been anything but a gimmick, so I don’t know. TS3 will be out in June 2010. (2010! We’ll go together in my hovercar!)
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The Oscar nominations are out. Surprises include
The Oscar nominations are out. Surprises include Juno for Best Picture and Cate Blanchett for Best Actress for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, a movie that received mixed reviews at best. And I’m thinking that Daniel Day-Lewis is pretty much a lock for Best Actor, no?
Update: Most of the Oscar nominated animated shorts are available online.
Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep, a 1977 film
Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep, a 1977 film that was selected as one of the 100 essential films of all time by the National Society of Film Critics but was just recently released in theaters, will be shown on TCM today at 8pm and early tomorrow morning at 12:30am. Set your DVRs for this one. (big thx, max)
The I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!!! scene from
The I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!!! scene from There Will Be Blood. If you haven’t seen the movie, don’t watch this…it’s from a scene near the end. (P.S. DRAINAGE!!!)
“Is it too early to feel nostalgia for the 1990s?”
New York-based films at Sundance include “The Wackness,” otherwise known as “eww, that movie where Mary-Kate Olsen makes out with Ben Kingsley.”
Is it too early to feel nostalgia for the 1990s? Apparently not. “As the world starts to move faster, you can do period pieces of times closer to the present,” said Jonathan Levine, the director-writer of an adolescent coming-of-age story set against the Giuliani era in New York….To transform the city to its less gentrified self, the filmmakers threw more garbage on the street, sprayed some more graffiti, painted a mural to Kurt Cobain and obtained a “Forrest Gump” bus poster.
Well I’m pretty sure the 90s were characterized by a feeling of already-arrived auto-nostalgia, but.
Whoops! I’m a bad blogger, sorry to
Whoops! I’m a bad blogger, sorry to skip out. Had to go see the new Will Ferrell movie (“Semi-Pro”) this morning, which means, well, don’t ever let your freelance writer friends claim they have a rough life. Yeah, poor me, I had to go to a funny movie on a Friday morning instead of filling out TPS reports. I’d rarely say anything about a movie this far in advance (it opens February 29) so as not to totally enrage the movie’s publicists, so, in short: freakin’ hilarious. Made me love Will Ferrell all over again. (My Ferrell top five performances, in case anyone ever needs to know, in order: Stranger Than Fiction, The Producers, Anchorman, Zoolander, Talladega Nights.) And I don’t even usually like the current strain of all-boy, comedy-star, period-shtick set-up movies mostly because, well, I like actual live women in my movies.
My movie-going pal Sara Vilkomerson agrees about
My movie-going pal Sara Vilkomerson agrees about the difficulties of “Cloverfield”:
After seeing I am Legend, with the haunted empty Manhattan streets, and the rabid virus-mutated zombies, and the German Shepherd, etc., you might think you’d be prepared to watch Cloverfield.
And you’d think wrong!
And the Times review is brutal.
The T.V. Might As Well Be An Answering Machine At This Point
I’ve turned my T.V. on just one time in 2008. I rarely miss it at all, except for a very few moments when it’s like missing heroin. (Some relief coming: eight episodes of “Lost,” beginning January 31; ten episodes of “Battlestar Galactica” coming in March.) Yesterday for a job I was talking with two bigwigs, an actor and an actor-director; they said they were both in a weird state of both crunch and inactivity because of both the Writer’s Guild strike and the maybe-upcoming Screen Actor’s Guild strike, which I had totally forgotten about. (That 120,000+ member union may strike in June, over the same issues—profit from new media—that sent the Writers Guild out more than two months ago.) That’s when I realized: I can’t take a world without actors! Sure, they’re not as useful as deli owners or baristas to my life. But I like looking at them! Maybe it’ll be averted: The Directors Guild is close-ish to a settlement, which might be a template for the writers, which might be sort of a template for the actors. In any event, I asked the nice Oscar-winning lady what sort of things she liked about working: “I have health insurance, that’s enough,” she said. Mm, I should get a union then! Some health insurance sounds good right about now.
Saw a screening of “Cloverfield” last night.
Saw a screening of “Cloverfield” last night. New Yorkers say “too soon!” sarcastically a lot—but you know what? If we—me and another downtown Manhattan-residing friend—spent half an hour after the movie talking about what we did on 9/11, then it’s not imaginary that the film actively, consciously, and ill-advisedly uses such imagery. What’s weirder is that it was, like, the cast of “The O.C.” doing 9/11. Debate on this is ongoing on various internets. But also the movie is totally rad, in an amusement park/horrorshow way. CONFUSING.
Michael Oher, the subject of Michael Lewis’
Michael Oher, the subject of Michael Lewis’ book, The Blind Side, is undecided about declaring for the NFL draft after his junior year.
Oher was named to the all-Southeastern Conference first team after the season and is considered one of the top offensive linemen prospects in the country. He has already shown the promise scouts predicted when he was a homeless 16-year-old who didn’t know how to play football.
Meanwhile, the movie adaptation of The Blind Side is proceeding…word on the street is that Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, and George Clooney are interested in starring.
Update: Oher declared for the draft. (thx, michael)
Update: On second thought, Oher reconsidered and is remaining at Ole Miss for another year. (thx, michael)
On the eve of shooting his eighth
On the eve of shooting his eighth film, Zach and Miri Make a Porno, Kevin Smith recounts his experiences with the actors and rehearsals on his seven previous films.
It’s weird to work one way for so long, and slowly realize it’s not necessary anymore; that it was just something you did when you didn’t know any better. I hired pros; aside from on-set tweaking and an extra take or two, they don’t need to be broken like wild horses or worked like puppets. Those days are behind me now. Now I spend more time thinking about/working on what the flick’s gonna look like — which, I guess, should be the primary job of the director.
The Star Wars Guide to the 2008 Presidential
The Star Wars Guide to the 2008 Presidential candidates featuring Grand Moff Giuliani, Obi-ron Paul-obi, Hillando Clintrissian, and Wicket Huckabee.
Man, I tell you what…you read Admiral Akbar’s resume, take a look at his long career, his credentials, and it’s amazingly clear how qualified he is to run a major government. What about his prescient snap evaluation…”It’s a trap!” We sure could have used that in Iraq.
Screencaps comparing the DVD and HD versions
Screencaps comparing the DVD and HD versions of LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring (roll over to toggle the images). Quite a difference. (thx, alex)
Finding Nemo on Blu-ray might push me
Finding Nemo on Blu-ray might push me over the buy-a-player edge more than Warner’s plans to support the format.
Gelf Magazine, curators of always-entertaining Blurb Racket,
Gelf Magazine, curators of always-entertaining Blurb Racket, list their picks for the worst blurbs used by movie advertisements in 2007. For instance, in reference to Live Free or Die Hard, film critic Jack Mathews actually said “the action in this fast-paced, hysterically overproduced and surprisingly entertaining film is as realistic as a Road Runner cartoon” but was quoted by 20th Century Fox as saying that the movie was “hysterically … entertaining”.
There Will Be Blood
Daniel Day-Lewis is flat-out amazing in this film; I can’t think of when I’ve seen a better performance. But with this movie and No Country For Old Men, both of which top many people’s lists of the best movies of 2007, I found them really good but not great. Not sure why. Maybe I’ll have better luck with Juno or The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
Hilariously bad knockoffs of Pixar’s Ratatouille and
Hilariously bad knockoffs of Pixar’s Ratatouille and Cars called Ratatoing and The Little Cars. (via waxy)
Movie trailer for Untraceable, which features a
Movie trailer for Untraceable, which features a serial killer who live-broadcasts his murders online so that his victims are killed faster as more people visit the site. From the looks of it, the movie features every single bad computer-related movie cliche all in one neat package. Either that or it’s a clever metaphor for what the web is doing to our culture. (via fimoculous)
Roger Ebert’s list of the best films
Roger Ebert’s list of the best films of 2007. He gives Juno the top slot.
Why have I not looked at the
Why have I not looked at the Wikipedia page for Ocean’s Eleven before now? Best part is the description of the crazy names for the cons referenced in the movie.
Off the top of my head, I’d say you’re looking at a Boesky, a Jim Brown, a Miss Daisy, two Jethros and a Leon Spinks, not to mention the biggest Ella Fitzgerald ever.
Sadly, the page for Ocean’s Twelve has no corresponding list, save for a description of the Lookie-Loo with a Bundle of Joy.
An annotated list of movies due out
An annotated list of movies due out in 2008. I didn’t know that Darren Aronofsky was working on a new movie…about a boxer and starring Brad Pitt and Mark Wahlberg, no less.
Director File has put out its list
Director File has put out its list of Ten Best Music Videos of 2007. Of particular note on the list is a sweet and heartwarming video for The Bees “Listening Man” directed by Dominic Leung.
Leung began his career as a part of hammer & tongs, the creative team behind many influential music videos as well as the movies Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, on which he acted as 2nd unit director and title sequence director, and the upcoming Son of Rambow, which he edited. (via antville)
I enjoyed reading the AV Club’s The
I enjoyed reading the AV Club’s The Year in Film 2007. Their hands-down best of the year was No Country For Old Men. (BTW, the term “hands-down” comes from horse racing.)
Looks like there will indeed be a
Looks like there will indeed be a Hobbit film and Peter Jackson is in (although not as director, at least not yet). The deal includes another film to be made that takes place between the end of The Hobbit but before LOTR. (via crazymonk)
Update: The NY Times says that Jackson will not direct as he is already booked for the period in question.
Pixar has released a new trailer for
Pixar has released a new trailer for Wall-E (HD version available). I want this movie and a robot now please.
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