Posts from — April 2008

I’m probably the only one excited about The Golden Compass dvd release from yesterday. I’m a sucker for fantasy movies, but seriously the fantastical world of the movie intrigued me.

Since the movie ends abruptly, it enticed me to read all three books. In my opinion, a movie that encourages book sales can’t be all bad, right? And it did after all win an Oscar for best special effects. The effects of the daemons were superb as was the rendering of the compass itself. Everything looked vibrant and pretty realistic.

Pajiba’s Phillip Stephens said it had all “the essentials: great, complex characters and a fully realized world are in fine form.” I completely agree and gonna hope against hope that they make the sequels, especially since The Subtle Knife has a much stronger story than The Golden Compass novel.

Whispers on the internet from foreigners (lucky enough to see it early) say Iron Man doesn’t actually suck. As long as it’s not as bad as Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, I’ll be okay.

Hopefully Robert Downey Jr’s charisma renders the flick virtually critic proof. Most comic book based movies haven’t turned out so well, so I’m not 100% convinced by this internet buzz. Usually, these movies (and rumors) are just fan boy fodder and at best turn out to be guilty pleasure action movies. If Iron Man does well, it may break the comic book curse.

Guess that would be great news from Marvel who plan to release tons of comic book movies in the future.

Earlier: Robert “Iron Man” Downey Jr.

Several major motion pictures are being filmed in 3-D format again. Last November, I watched Beowulf in 3-D and thought it was pretty cool. The action scenes benefitted from the technology, but after awhile I got very tired of wearing those 3-D glasses.

I hadn’t really noticed the resurgence until Yahoo’s People of the Web pointed it out:
“The Return of 3D
Musical acts Hanna Montana and U2 both released concert films in 3D recently, proving there may be new life in the old technology, as well as a potential revenue stream in turning old film libraries into new 3D experiences. Things have improved a lot since the blurry images seen with the cardboard red and blue anaglyphic glasses of the 60s and 70s. New optics from companies like Iconix and display monitors from Digital Ordnance are taking the 3D out of the creature feature swamps and into a new era.”

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D with Brendan Fraser claims to be the “first live action digital movie”. I have no idea what that means, but here’s the trailer.

It hits theaters on July 11th.

The next big 3D venture is Coraline, written by Neil Gaiman, which sadly won’t be out until February 2009.

I know, I’m posting about Mr. LaBeouf again, I should be ashamed of myself (and I am). But I simply cannot help myself because this fan video montage is hilarious!

Editing these things must be a pain in the ass, even if you used the same input device (i.e. the dvd). The creator of the “No, no, no, no” video had to keep the image and audio continuity with each cut while mixing in scenes from Transformers and Disturbia. I’m not sure I could be up to the task to make one these things. I have enough trouble editing the sound from my Canon ZR850, which is supposed to be a piece of cake. I couldn’t imagine working with mixed media sources like a dvd and footage from a tv tuner.

Thanks Videogum for informing me that the correct term for these video montages is “supercuts”.

Unless you live under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard about Forgetting Sarah Marshall, written by and starring Jason Segel. Judd Apatow produced it, so if you’re a fan of Superbad or Knocked Up, perhaps you’ll like this movie.

The movie is about Peter Berretta, a slacker tv show composer, who gets dumped by his tv star girlfriend (Kristen Bell as Sarah Marshall). He goes to Hawaii to forget about her and unfortunately runs into his ex with her new annoying boyfriend, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand).

Pajiba gave it a favorable review, and it was second place at the box office last weekend. I’d say that’s not too shabby for a first time screenwriter.

And looks like Jason Segel is very committed to the marketing campaign (despite him saying on Letterman the studio thought he was too ugly to be on the poster). He has made some you tube confessional videos (maybe used in the movie?) that are posted on his character’s blog. They’re almost too sad to watch, since the character is so realistically pathetic.

Check the delightfully bitter I Hate Sarah Marshall blog.