Category — Canon

My advice for moviegoers: If visit the cinemas before July 18th, leave your expectations at the door. Save up all your excitement for The Dark Knight.

Trailer Check:

When it comes to summer movies, I understand the idea of not thinking and just sitting back for the ride. But seriously, I predict that the new Batman will blow everyone away with its script, cinematography, and the superb acting from Christian Bale, Heath Ledger (may he rest in peace), Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Aaron Eckhart. It will be a wonder of cinema, as well as the thrill ride of the summer who want it in layman’s terms.

The director, Christopher Nolan, has yet to disappoint me, so I don’t mind raising my hopes this high. I got excited about The Prestige and that turned out to be my favorite film from 2006.

Until this film’s release, maybe I’ll save my movie ticket money and put in my Canon HG10 savings fund.

Canon released their first line of HD flash camcorders this month, the Canon HF10 and HF100. According to this news source, the two HF models are about the same:

“both camcorders are basically identical, with each featuring Full HD recording (1920×1080 resolution), 12x optical zoom, and the ability to record footage at 24p and 30p frame rates. Optical image stabilization and a 3.3 megapixel CMOS sensor round out the camcorders’ features.”

The HF10 relies on internal memory and/or flash memory cards, while the HF100 operates on memory cards only. Both camcorders are on the pricey side. But since Canon is a reliable brand, it would be a worthwhile investment.

The Canon HF10 starts at $879.

And the HF100 starts at $1099.

First off, where’s Corey Haim in this trailer? He was always my favorite Corey, so the movie went down a peg already. If they went to all the trouble of re-shooting in Canada just to squeeze Haim into this thing, we need to see what all the fuss was about.

Despite being a die hard Coreys lover (I even own an autographed vhs copy of Rock N Roll High School Forever), the reunion of Haim and Feldman won’t save this movie. People will only be able to watch this movie with an awesomely bad (i.e. why the hell not?) frame of mind.

Here’s how awesomely bad in my own special visual symbology:

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It’s like a cross between The Forsaken (one of the worst movie screenings I ever attended), The Brotherhood (which is basically a gay fraternity soft core dvd release) and some eighties bandanafied Feldman.

It is a straight to dvd release for a reason. And though dvd released movies can make money, even ones made with a Canon GL2, this movie will need tons of hype. Crazily they’re trying to use MTV to drum up a theatrical release. If they’re serious about that, they’re gonna really have to work the nostalgia angle to the ground.

I know Edward Norton already had a notorious dust up with Tony Kaye, director of American History X. But that movie turned out alright, didn’t it? Boy, I wish their was a canon dv camcorder hidden in the room where those “discussions” took place.

Nonetheless, it’s unsettling to hear that Edward Norton is having another final cut disagreement with the studio over the Incredible Hulk.

Teaser of the trailer that premieres on MTV tonight!

Sheesh, that June release date is creeping up. They def need to get on with it. As a filmmaker, I understand all to well the neverending battle between actor and director. At some point, you just gotta trust the other director’s vision.

I was already wary about this movie, especially since it’s another summer blockbuster sequel (Can we get another pathetic ‘hooray for sequels’?). Ang Lee’s version seriously sucked, so almost anything is liable to be an improvement. (i.e. don’t make it too serious and sappy, mmmkay). Hell, maybe Norton knows what he’s doing. I’m sure he just wants to make the best movie possible. As long as he doesn’t start directing again, we’re cool. No need for another Keeping the Faith. There are limits to genius. You simply can’t be good at everything.

There are rumblings of re-shoots and technical difficulties for Where the Wild Things Are. Some test audiences suggested that the film was too dark for children, so much so that parents had to leave the screening early. The rumors have increased ever since test footage leaked onto the internet. Even Spike Jonze himself has made a statement regarding the leak! It’s been pushed back to 2009, but otherwise no official statement has been made.

I understand that special f/x take a long time, especially for a fantasy film. It’s not like you use footage from a basic Canon ZR and After Effects for this project. There’s months of post-production where the initial footage is mapped and augmented to create a fantastical finished product. I’m sure if you watched a early scene from The Golden Compass, a viewer wouldn’t be too impressed.

I don’t care how, but I hope Jonze can pull everything together and keep his overall vision. Forget the kids, make a movie for adults, especially since we’re the ones who cherish the book. An more mature tone of the film could be risky for Warner Bros, but maybe it better suits the tone of the film.