G.i.Joe Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Interview: Joseph Gordon-Levitt on 'Uncertainty', 'Inception' and His Favorite Movies
Filed under: Action », Drama », Independent », New Releases », New in Theaters », Interviews »
Whether as a fast-talking high schooler in a film noir (Brick) or a disfigured soldier in a big budget blockbuster (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), Joseph Gordon-Levitt has proven himself to be one of the most talented young actors. His new movie, Uncertainty, takes the viewer on a journey into two different worlds, where a flip of a coin takes a young couple (Gordon-Levitt and Lynn Collins) into an innocuous visit to her family and decisions about their future and another takes them into a strange criminal underworld where everyone is after a cell phone they found in a cab. Directed by David Siegel and Scott McGehee, Uncertainty was filmed on the fly with hand-held cameras in S16m and HD as the couple race towards their different futures. In this interview, we discuss the freedom of improvising within a structured world, his favorite movies, and what he can't say about G.I. Joe sequels or Christopher Nolan's Inception.
Cinematical: Can you discuss the beginning of the movie a bit? I was confused if it was symbolic or literal or what.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt: What do you think was happening?
Cinematical: Well, I went back and I watched it again and wasn't sure.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt: I don't want to be evasive or anything... You know, it's the kind of movie that's meant to stimulate a conversation or provoke your own creative thoughts about it, so I hesitate to say, "Well, what it means is blah blah blah." First of all, because it means something different to everybody. And second of all, I would never want anybody to say, "Well, I read an interview where the actor said that it means blah blah blah, so it means that and it doesn't mean anything else. 'Cause to me that's the beauty of movies, is that it can mean really whatever you want. The act of watching a movie, I think, is a creative act; it's not just input. All of us, as audience members, we're telling the story the way that we see it.
Hello, My Name is Scott and I Love the 'G.I. Joe' Blu-ray
Filed under: DVD Reviews », Home Entertainment »
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Back in August was when G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra hit the screens, and while I had no reason to expect anything but a merciless brain-pummeling from the experience, I walked out suitably impressed with the flick's popcorn-tastic mentality. I even ended my review with this: "Truth be told, the flick's action centerpiece, a crazy chase through Paris, will soon be on heavy blu-ray rotation around my house." Yes, the director who slapped me with The Mummy Returns and pummeled me with Van Helsing is now back in my good graces. (The awesomely amusing Deep Rising is always the tie-breaker for Stephen Sommers.)You can enjoy my wonderfully insightful G.I. Joe review right here if you like, but this time out I just want to focus on the blu-ness and not the wackness: If you liked the flick, you want to own it on Blu-ray, trust me on that one. The supplemental features are basic but well-produced: there's an audio commentary with Sommers and producer Bob Ducsay that shows a good deal of enthusiasm and preparation on their part, plus on disc 2 you'll find a pair of rather slick and thorough featurettes: the 30-minute The Big Bang Theory is the "catch-all" behind-the-scenes piece that covers a lot of bases, and Next-Gen Action (about 20 minutes) focuses more intently on the special effects and production design.
Watch This: The Ballad of G.I. Joe
Filed under: Music & Musicals », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Fandom », Trailers and Clips »
If you're into classic toys and cartoons, then for you G.I. Joe probably never left. But for most of us, the arrival of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra in theaters has brought the Real American Heroes back into the spotlight, which means one thing -- it's time for a little parody. Fans of Adult Swim's Robot Chicken are used to seeing their Saturday morning heroes get a little postmodern treatment, and over at Funny or Die they've gotten in on the action with The Ballad of G.I. Joe ... and just because it's a joke that's been done before doesn't mean that it isn't still pretty darn funny.
The song was written by Daniel Strange and Kevin Umbricht, and gives you a glimpse of what the Joe team is up to after a hard day of battling for the American way -- and I'll just say that ordering episodes of The Wonder Years was not what I was expecting. The video boasts an all-star cast and plenty of your favorite Joes making an appearance. I won't spoil all of the cameos for you, but some of the bigger names to pop up in the video are Billy Crudup, Zach Galifianakis, Ben Stiller, and Julianne Moore. Now if only Stephen Sommers could have gotten some of those people to appear in the actual movie, we might have been on to something.
After the jump; The Ballad of G.I. Joe...
Fan Rant: Those Kids and Their Scorsese Jones
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Thrillers », Mystery & Suspense », Disney », Paramount », Exhibition », Family Films », Fan Rant », Trailers and Clips »
While attending a midnight showing of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra last week, we got a surprisingly diverse group of trailers attached to a movie that's based on a kid's property, but has no shortage of impaled skulls and throwing stars to the eye sockets (but it's bloodless, Prince Caspian-style, so it's okay!).
The one that got the biggest rise out of the audience was that of Old Dogs, from the director of Wild Hogs (get it?) and starring Robin Williams and John Travolta as swinging bachelors suddenly saddled with kids to care for and forced, one would gather, to learn new tricks (get it?). And lo, the audience did howl, and lo, I did slouch further and further into my seat. A kid is hit in the head by a ball! Williams loses depth perception after the brats mix up his meds! Seth Green is being cuddled by a gorilla that gets angry if he doesn't sing for it! John Travolta gets pecked in the head by aggravated penguins! Sweet Charlie Chaplin's ghost, that there's a knee-slapper!
Dear Hasbro: Enough Already
Filed under: Comic/Superhero/Geek », Fan Rant »
In an interview over on Collider, Frosty spoke with Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner at a G.I. Joe screening and he covered the movies that the company has in development. In many ways it mirrored what our own Jessica Barnes wrote about back in March. Hasbro clearly isn't content to sit back and dive into the coffers filled with money from the Transformers movies, which will likely swell even further when G.I. Joe is released this weekend. They aren't just licensing their toys for film development (Stretch Armstrong is slated to be a movie in 2011), it now looks like they'll be tossing their entire board game range into the mix.
You've probably heard that Ridley Scott is developing Monopoly into a movie, as hard as that is to believe, but according to Goldner that will be joined by Candy Land and Battleship. Battleship!? Really? A movie based around Battleship? As much as I strained my brain to try and figure out how Ridley Scott could make Monopoly into a compelling film, Battleship just makes my grey matter give up abandon ship. You might as well make Connect Four into a movie. Everyone would be on the edge of their seats waiting for the "Pretty sneaky, sis." line.
My Multiplex Triple Bill: Whew!
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Thrillers », New Releases », Fandom », Exhibition », Summer Movies »
They don't make double bills like they used to. I got in on the tail end of the double feature, which was a routine practice at second-run theaters until (at least) the early 80s. As a child my parents only took me to see one or two movies per year, so when I got to my teens and realized I could see two movies for the price of one, I became an addict (my all-time favorite double bill: Excalibur and The Howling). Nowadays you have to create your own double feature, and be willing to pay separate admission fees for each movie. Add in the cost of concessions, which is hard to avoid if you're at a theater for more than four hours, and the price can get out of hand.
Multiplexes don't make it easy to watch movies back-to-back, either, staggering their showtimes to maximize the number of screenings per day, accommodate the sharing of film prints in more than one auditorium, and so forth. All that is understandable from their standpoint, and doesn't present a problem if you're only seeing one movie at a time. But when I'm trying to catch up with several releases that I've missed, it gets to be a big challenge. Let me give you an example.
To varying degrees, I wanted to see all three movies that opened in wide release on Friday (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Julie & Julia, and A Perfect Getaway), ideally one after the one at the first available opportunity, which, for me, was during the day on Saturday.
Review: G.I. Joe -- The Rise of Cobra
Filed under: Action », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Paramount », Theatrical Reviews », Comic/Superhero/Geek »
I feel no particular affection or nostalgia for the "G.I. Joe" brand-name. Yes, I'm well-aware that the toy hero has been around since well before my birth, that he's had several resurgences over the years, and that he and his massive team of friends and foes were huge cartoon stars when I was growing up in the 1980s. Yet I'm neither a fan nor a hater of the property, and so I approached his latest incarnation, the big-budget live action* film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra with no baggage whatsoever, aside from that "feelm critic" valise that is a permanent fixture inside my brain. My early verdict is this: Find the asterisked word in this paragraph, and that's all you need to know.
What many would call a "guilty pleasure" I'll simply address as a question of "intent vs. result." (Mainly because I refuse to feel guilty for enjoying a film, especially when I can back up my opinions with genius insights like this...) The intent of the mega-pricey, ultra-flashy and non-brain-taxing Rise of Cobra is this: To deliver two hours of colorfully kinetic lunacy, to be a live-action cartoon that pleases old-school fans and basic action junkies in equal measure, to present long sequences of amusing ass-kickery that are only briefly interrupted by several "exposition dumps" and a few (too many) character-building flashbacks. All coated with non-stop CGI spectacle, pulse-pumping noises, and a bunch of broadly likeable caricatures.
'G.I. Joe' ... On A Scale of 1-10
Filed under: Fandom », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Polls »
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After months and months of poor buzz, ugly rumors and no press screenings, G.I. Joe finally makes its way to theaters this weekend. Critical reaction is mixed thus far -- you've got the folks who dug it and those who didn't, like with any film, but there's a lot of bitterness and angry resentment out there from those who weren't invited to an early screening, as well as those trying to defend their positive review following an early screening. In all honesty, it's a complete mess -- but the fact of the matter is, none of it has anything to do with you, the moviegoer. If it looks like your cup of tea, then by all means have a blast. All we ask is that when you come home, you take our poll and let us know what you thought of the movie on a scale of 1-10.
From Todd Gilchrist's review: "It's entirely possible that if I were nine or ten, the age that I first discovered the animated series, then G.I. Joe would be my favorite movie of all time. It features colorful, iconic characters, huge action scenes, and a plot that I'd feel smart for having figured out. As an adult, however, its shortcomings are obvious: thin, one-dimensional characters, death and destruction on an irresponsibly epic scale, and a nonsensical plot that I'd be depressed to have to try and "figure out." But G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was made for my nine-year-old self, and the nine-year-old in all of our selves; and while it certainly doesn't hold up to the scrutiny of a more mature or sophisticated perspective, it's a surprisingly fun time at the movies that reminds us we needn't be children in order to enjoy something the same way as when we were."
Sound off below ...
Interview: 'G.I. Joe' Director Stephen Sommers
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy », Interviews »
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For a guy who allegedly got fired from his latest film, Stephen Sommers shows few signs that he's letting the rumor mill wear him down. "The guys who have been hammering me for the last year have really turned around in the last couple of weeks when they started seeing the movie," Sommers beamed during an interview about G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. "I'm pretty happy."
Admittedly, Sommers' commercial track record is almost inversely proportionate to his critical one, raking in hundreds of millions of dollars with the Mummy movies and Van Helsing despite reviews that were, to say the least, often unkind. But speaking to the director via telephone about G.I. Joe, Sommers indicated that he has accepted – if not championed – his spot among Hollywood's purveyors of pure spectacle. "They love to hate the guys who make the movies that they love," he said of the "internet movie haters" calling for his head.
Cinematical spoke to Sommers about his participation in G.I. Joe, which followers of the film know has been highly-contested in press reports as the film moved towards its opening day, August 7. In addition to clarifying his employment status at the helm of the film, he discussed the development of the film's iconic conflict between G.I. Joe and Cobra, reflected on what interests him as a director and storyteller, and perhaps most importantly, explained why some of the costumes were changed en route to the silver screen.
Cinematical: When you started working on G.I. Joe, what did you feel like was essential to preserve about the source material, and what did you know that by necessity would have to change when you adapted and updated it for live-action?
Review: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Filed under: Action », New Releases », Theatrical Reviews », Comic/Superhero/Geek »
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It's entirely possible that if I were nine or ten, the age that I first discovered the animated series, then G.I. Joe would be my favorite movie of all time. It features colorful, iconic characters, huge action scenes, and a plot that I'd feel smart for having figured out. As an adult, however, its shortcomings are obvious: thin, one-dimensional characters, death and destruction on an irresponsibly epic scale, and a nonsensical plot that I'd be depressed to have to try and "figure out." But G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was made for my nine-year-old self, and the nine-year-old in all of our selves; and while it certainly doesn't hold up to the scrutiny of a more mature or sophisticated perspective, it's a surprisingly fun time at the movies that reminds us we needn't be children in order to enjoy something the same way as when we were.
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Exclusive 'Nine' Poster Premiere!
Exclusive: Title Track for 'The Road' Soundtrack
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