Posts with tag James Cameron
The Exhibitionist : 3 Defenses for 3-D Films
Filed under: Animation », Music & Musicals », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Exhibition », Columns »
As an opinionated cinephile, Roger Ebert has every right to dislike 3-D movies. And recently, on his blog, Roger Ebert's Journal, he wrote about such disfavor. Basically, in response to accidentally missing the press screening for the new animated 3-D flick Fly Me to the Moon, he admits that, because of a certain prejudice against the format, he likely wouldn't have enjoyed the movie anyway.
My issue here is not to attack Ebert's opinion or his belief that after half a century of dissatisfaction with the format he's never going to change his mind about it. He's free to express both. And while I disagree and am disappointed, I would never claim that Ebert doesn't know what he's talking about. He's certainly smarter about film than I'll ever be, and his opinions are far more respected than my own.
However, Ebert is also one of the most widely read film critics in the world, and therefore he is a pretty influential person when it comes to the subject of movies. And I would hate for moviegoers to dismiss the new wave of 3-D movies simply because of Ebert's stance on the format. So, I merely intend to respond to his opinion with an opinion of my own, as apparently one of the wider read gushers on the topic of digital 3-D.
'Meatballs' Will Rain Down in 3-D
Filed under: Tech Stuff », Exhibition », Family Films »
As anyone who went to see Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D last weekend knows, a viable, attractive, non-headache-inducing 3-D technology now exists for feature-length films in regular theaters (albeit ones outfitted with a special projector). Unfortunately, it's still not being used as a storytelling tool so much as an attempt to impress people -- look, it's Brendan Fraser, spitting water in your face! -- but maybe James Cameron will fix that soon, what with his plans to film a low-key drama in 3-D after he finishes Avatar. In any case, now that Journey has proven the mettle of the format (the 800-some theaters showing it in 3-D made up for more than half of the film's opening weekend gross, and rightfully so), you should probably expect to wear goofy plastic glasses with increasing frequency. Case in point: Sony's announcement yesterday that its previously-announced adaptation of the children's book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will be the first digital 3-D release for Sony Pictures Animation. The movie (which I believe still has Anna Faris and Andy Samberg doing the lead voices) is about a scientist who tries a radical approach to solving world hunger only to wind up with food coming down from the sky, which doesn't turn out to be as awesome as it sounds. A Sony exec provides an amazing quote to go along with the announcement: "The story is about 'food weather,' and so food falling from the sky lends itself so well to 3-D." No kidding.
I anxiously await the day when 3-D is used to tell better, more engaging stories rather than to provide the equivalent of a novelty theme park ride. Maybe soon.
First Look At James Cameron's 'Avatar' Alien?
Filed under: Action », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », RumorMonger », Movie Marketing », Images »
Incidentally, aren't official movie t-shirts were handed out to crew members for free? The set of Avatar now sounds an awful lot like a job I had at a haunted house once. It was filthy and dangerous work, and our much anticipated Halloween bonus ended up being ... a t-shirt raffle. I really hope the crew members of a James Cameron movie made off better than that!
[via CHUD]
Cinematical Seven: Stan Winston's Greatest Achievements
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Fandom », Steven Spielberg », Obits », Cinematical Seven »
Make-up, animatronics and effects legend Stan Winston passed away on Sunday at the too-young age of 62. In memoriam, Cinematical humbly presents this list of the man's most enduring achievements.
Some of my most treasured movie memories -- childhood and otherwise -- are courtesy of Stan Winston. What impressed me about this list as I was making it was that Winston specialized in realizing the imaginations of our greatest filmmakers -- directors like Burton, Spielberg, Cameron. Winston was a genius himself, of course, but he also facilitated genius, and that's just as important. Those guys owe him so much.
He had many accomplishments beyond the ones I've listed. That's what the comment thread is for.
1. Jurassic Park's Dinosaurs.
It's hard to describe the impression Jurassic Park made back in 1993. I was 9 years old, which was just old enough to be properly amazed. This was the new generation of popular cinema: perfect, lifelike wonders on the screen as if it were the most natural thing on the planet. Earlier technicians did a lot with simple puppetry, stop-motion and miniatures, but now all bets were off, and all barriers seemed lifted. Once you accepted the scientific goofiness of the film's premise, no further suspension of disbelief was necessary. Winston opened the gates to a whole new cinematic playground.
Interview: M. Night Shyamalan
Filed under: Independent », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Thrillers », New Releases », RumorMonger », Celebrities and Controversy », Fandom », DIY/Filmmaking », Steven Spielberg », Interviews », Comic/Superhero/Geek »
He goes by "Night," but it's hard to dispute his sunny disposition. Just a few minutes into a conversation with M. Night Shyamalan in a New York City hotel room yesterday, it was obvious to me that the director has managed to occupy such a unique niche in the Hollywood landscape because he's immediately likable. Of course, a little movie released in 1999 called The Sixth Sense didn't hurt, either.
After landing two Oscar nominations and international acclaim for his masterful ghost story, Shyamalan continued to market himself as a brand. Since then, the results have been mixed. Signs was an indisputable hit. Unbreakable has its supporters. Lady in the Water? Not so much. But that failure hasn't prevented the filmmaker from dealing with audacious material: His latest movie, The Happening, finds a married couple (Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel) thrust into a world where people inexplicably become suicidal after getting struck by an ominous, unseen toxin. Forces of evil usually remain unseen in Shyamalan's films, and The Happening is no exception to that rule. I spoke to the 37-year-old Philadelphia resident about the personal philosophies guiding his career choices, the polarized reactions to his work, and what the future will bring.
James Cameron and More Are Inductees to Canada's Walk of Fame
Filed under: Awards », Fandom », Newsstand »
It's certainly not as expansive as Hollywood's Walk of Fame, but Canada has their own version in Toronto, aptly named Canada's Walk of Fame. (And this is not to be confused with the random Roger Ebert star that has popped up on Dundas Street.) This time around, as The Star reports, there's a bunch of names that are headlined by the likes of director James Cameron, plus The Kids in the Hall and one huge, really awesome write-in vote for Winnipeg native Frances Bay. Bay only started acting when she was 60, and has had a ton of roles since then, from Mrs. Tremond in Twin Peaks, to Adam Sandler's grandmother in Happy Gilmore. A petition of over 10,000 signatures was sent in in her honor -- plus "personal letters from Adam Sandler and Jerry Seinfeld and David Lynch and Henry Winkler, Monty Hall among many others, all making a very compelling case for Frances and they were right." Now that's just awesome.
However, I'm also amused by the fact that James Cameron got in a year after Pamela Anderson. But really, that's not Canada-specific strangeness. Every year with the Hollywood Walk, I'm amazed who is in, and who isn't.
'Ghost in the Shell' is Next in the 3-D Pipeline
Filed under: Animation », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Deals », Tech Stuff », Exhibition », Dreamworks », Steven Spielberg »
There's been a flurry of buzz around theatrical 3-D lately, perhaps because James Cameron has come out of hiding to talk a bit about Avatar. (If you haven't yet read this interview with the King of the World, do so immediately.) The last thing we heard was that exhibitors have ganged up on Steven Spielberg for apparently standing in the way of the digital revolution. But Spielberg seems to have seen the light: he's acquired the rights to the Japanese manga Ghost in the Shell for Dreamworks, which plans to film it in -- you guessed it -- digital 3-D. A Dreamworks suit boasts that the story "epitomizes 3-D live-action motion picture possibilities."If that title sounds familiar, it's because the manga has already been adapted into one of the most celebrated anime films of all time. The story involves an attempt to fight cyber-crime by creating a breed of ultra-powerful cyborgs, which strikes me as a terrible idea. I found Mamoru Oshii's movie visually spectacular but impenetrable -- I'm not an anime buff, and it confused the hell out of me. I'm sure that if nothing else, Dreamworks will find a way to solve that problem. Jamie Moss (Street Kings) is taking a crack at writing the adaptation.
Spielberg Blamed for Digital 3-D "Train Wreck"
Filed under: Action », Animation », Disney », Paramount », Exhibition », Dreamworks », Steven Spielberg »
There's currently a crisis in the theater industry and apparently it's all Steven Spielberg's fault. According to Variety coverage of Sunday's National Association of Broadcasters Show's Digitial Cinema Summit, the filmmaker was named as a constant obstacle in the transition to digital cinema.
Spielberg's insistence against releasing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull digitally was overruled last month when Paramount announced that it would indeed open the summer blockbuster on some digital screens, but the fact that it won't be a full digital release, coupled with the fact that Spielberg still doesn't "get" the fact that digital is superior to film, is a problematic issue for an industry having difficulties installing a necessary amount of digital projectors by 2009.
AFI Dallas: Michelle Rodriguez Talks Up 'Avatar'
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Festival Reports », Fandom », Cinematical Indie », AFI Dallas »
I rarely participate in roundtables, but I was glad I did the roundtable at AFI Dallas for Battle in Seattle, the fest's Closing Night film, because Michelle Rodriguez, there in town to promote Battle, got in a few words on Avatar while she was there. I don't know about you, but I'm more excited about Avatar than I have been about any sci-fi film since I don't know when.
I attended the roundtable with Mark Bell from Film Threat and Reelzchannel.com's Heather Huntington. Our time was very compressed -- we had about 15 minutes with Rodriguez and director Stuart Townsend, and they'd already given the "last question" call, but the three of us had talked briefly beforehand about what we wanted to ask, and all of us were hoping to hear something about Avatar while we were there.
Huntington managed to sneak the question in (the trick to that is, avoid eye contact with the PR person at all costs, pretend you didn't hear them, and get your question in ... if the talent is into answering the question, they're not going to tell THAT person to stop talking, right?) Rodriguez was enthusiastic and talked quite a bit about the film, and I typed as fast as I could to keep up with her.
Michelle Rodriguez Will Be Fast and Furious Again
Filed under: Action », Casting », Universal »
Before I even start, I just want to say that at no point am I going to take any cheap shots at Michelle Rodriguez about her driving habits -- and believe me, it isn't easy. Instead, lets just focus on what she does best, playing bad a** chicks. Coming Soon.net reports (via Rodriguez's web site) that she will be returning for the latest installment of The Fast and The Furious franchise.
For those of you out there who don't know your cheesy car flicks, Rodriguez starred in the first film back in 2001as Letty, the girlfriend to street racer Vin Diesel. Like most of the original cast, she was nowhere to be seen in the later sequels. But this time around, it looks like director Justin Lin is going back to the beginning and reuniting Diesel, Paul Walker, and Rodriguez.
The story will focus on Brian (Walker) and Dominic (Diesel) teaming up to stop a drug kingpin known as Braga. So where do the cars come in, you might ask? I mean, this is a Fast and Furious movie after all. Well, our two heroes vie for a spot on the criminal's team, in a snazzy Nissan, with a plan to catch the man red-handed. (Just a couple of weeks ago, we got our first look at Diesel and Walker on set.) Rodriguez is also still doing some post-production work on James Cameron's Avatar, so I would guess that it won't take long to wrap up her part as Letty before she heads back to finish up the sci-fi blockbuster. The Fast and the Furious 4 is scheduled for release summer, 2009.
'Frost/Nixon' Lands a Proper Trailer
The Exhibitionist : 3 Defenses for 3-D Films
Interview: Steve Coogan on 'Hamlet 2'
Insert Caption: Hamlet 2
Fan Made: Spider-Man Stained Glass
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