Author: Bob Westal (Page 48 of 265)

Activate the Beiber-Tron!

October 26, 2010 /

Today we have two videos promoting upcoming films that I’m expecting to be deeply silly while exciting their core demographic to it’s very, er, core.

Via Mike Fleming, this first look online at Disney’s “Tron: Legacy” featuring the music of Daft Punk. I have to say, I recently took a second look at the original “Tron” and the less I say probably the better, but watching this doesn’t cause me pain. There was a 20 minute preview and I wonder how that would hold up.

Geek though I be, such is my dislike of the original “Tron” movie that I’d probably be more appropriate reviewer of the following movie: “Never Say Never” a music documentary/promotional vehicle starring the one, the only, Justin Beiber — because every generation needs its own Frankie Avalon.

After the flip, a bonus video which, given the title of the Beiber-flick, I’d really like to see Beiber perform. I mean, I know the Beiber “Never Say Never” is different, but it would certainly increase my respect for him if he could come up with a medley of his song and the one after the flip.

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Documentaries, External Entertainment, External Movies, Movies, Sci-Fi Movies, Trailers

Back to “Back to the Future”

October 26, 2010 /

It’s the 25th anniversary of the science fiction comedy from Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. As you might also expect, a 3-disc Blu-Ray set is also hitting stores today featuring the original film and it’s two-sequels.

So, to go with Will Harris’s interview with Gale which includes some more interesting casting details in addition to the ones you’ve probably already heard about, Universal has made available a series of short clips from yesterday’s press conference at New York’s Waldorf Hotel featuring a lot of the cast — Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and Mary Steenburgen (from “Back to the Future 3”) but not Crispin Glover — as well as Gale and Zemeckis. A lot of them are very brief and I would have been happier if they’d edited it into one clip, but you take what you can get.

We’ve got a bunch of more these after the flip for you diehard “Future” fans.

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Actors, Actresses, Celebrities, External Entertainment, External Movie DVDs, External Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie DVDs, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

The Return of the Five Deadly Venoms

October 25, 2010 /

Don’t let the title fool you. While some of the actors from the earlier “Five Deadly Venoms” do indeed turn up in this bit of vintage 1978 Hong Kong action cinema from the Shaw Brothers — the Warner Brothers of Eastern exploitation cinema — this movie is not a sequel and was originally titled “Crippled Avengers,” which was more accurate but also a bit politically incorrect for the current market. I’m sure “Disabled Avengers” or “Differently Abled Avengers” didn’t have quite the same ring. Still, differently abled our heroes truly are as one by one they are wantonly dismembered, blinded, rendered deaf and dumb and, in one bit of impressive kung fu, deprived of roughly 50 IQ points. Naturally, working as a team, these avengers are able to overcome their disabilities for, really, the only good reason there is to overcome one’s disabilities — avenging! The action here doesn’t have quite the finesse and artistry of the Bruce Lee films or the great costume extravaganzas of the late 80s and early 90s, and director Chang Cheh allows the often comically melodramatic story to lose a lot of steam, but the action is consistently well staged and delivers the ass-kicking goods. The main bad guy — himself a disabled avenger of sorts — even sports some kung fu gadgetry that appears to have come out of the 19th century Chinese equivalent of Q branch.

Click to buy “The Return of the Five Deadly Venoms”

Action Movies, External Movie DVDs, External Movies, Movie DVD Quicktakes, Movie DVDs, Movies

The perils of the information age

October 25, 2010 /

It used to be that screenwriters had to worry about questions like “why don’t they just go to the police?” or “why doesn’t he just tell her the truth?” Now, of course, “why they don’t just try Googling him?” is right up there. This bit of tomfoolery from College Humor — via /film — imagines the impact of easy web access on hits of the past.

By the way, the College Humor guys got themselves into the movie news today via some apparent uncomfortable similarities between their “Inception” parody and one that recently appeared on “South Park.” It seems Matt Stone and Trey Parker needed to closely mimic the film’s dialogue and weren’t actually able to see the movie again or get a hold of a screener, so they relied on online parodies to remind themselves of the actual dialogue from the film, accidentally copying the parody dialogue instead. The pair have apologized to College Humor, which is fair enough. Shortcuts have hazards, however.

External Entertainment, External Movies, Humor, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

Rallying in NZ for “The Hobbit”

October 25, 2010 /

A lot of fascinating things have happened in the history of movie making, but offhand I can’t think of an example of nationwide protests to keep a film in a particular country, but that’s exactly what happened today  in New Zealand, where it’s actually already tomorrow. The issue, of course, are the continuing threats amid the probably inevitable hardball negotiations to move production away from the small island nation in the wake of battles with local actors unions. Here’s what’s happening as the biggest protest is led by Richard Taylor of the famed WETA workshop which did such a great job on the effects in the “Lord of the Rings” films.

It’s important to remember, I think, that as successful as he is, Richard Taylor is very much an independent entrepreneur who has to keep a steady flow of work going for WETA. I spoke to him briefly at Comic-Con as he was helping to promote what appears to be a very unpromising and very low budget effects driven production. Thinking of him as someone who has collaborated closely with a guy like Peter Jackson, I was perplexed until I realized that, for a guy like him with a payroll, it’s always about the next job. Money is money and he can’t be too proud about the projects he takes on, as long as he delivers the best he can for the money. In the case of this particular next job, an entire country, small though it is, is seriously impacted.

For a bit more background, I have a great piece of video — including a very blunt interview with Peter Jackson (that’s Sir Jackson, to you) from last week.

H/t the fabulous El Guapo.

And one final note: Notice how New Zealand Finance Minister Gerry Brownlee assures anchor Mark Sainsbury that there was no negotiations going on between his government and Warner Brothers for improved tax incentives. If you read the THR story from today I linked to above, you’ll note that whether or not such negotiations are going on, people seem to assume they might be.

Actors, External Entertainment, External Movies, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

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