Tag: Avatar (Page 17 of 17)

Happy “Avatar Day”

August 21, 2009 /

If you’re “Avatar”-enthusiast enough to be one of the ticket holders for tonight’s quarter-hour Imax 3-D free preview of James Cameron’s “Avatar,” you’ve probably seen the already much discussed online trailer. Nikki “I don’t do geek” Finke is unimpressed, as are some actual geeks. That news comes courtesy of Spoutblog’s Christopher Campbell, who can’t seem to ever resist joining a geek pile-on.

Personally, while I obviously have opinions pro- and con- on trailers quite often myself, I get a little irritated at the tendency to pass early judgment on an entire film, though I also understand it. We’re all busy and life is short. Let’s all move on with life so we can dismiss something else. Personally, though, I found a lot of the imagery in this trailer quite arresting and find the comparisons to Jar-Jar Binks, etc., not entirely fair — even if some of the characters do look like things we’ve seen before. At the same time, when you tell people they’re going to see something completely new and mind-blowing, expectations are sure to be absurdly high.

I’m sure it’ll look a great more impressive in Imax 3-D, but for those of us who won’t be there, and those who can’t wait to watch it again, here’s your moment of trailer.

You can see a higher def version via Apple.

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

Comic-Con treats and tricks

July 24, 2009 /

I’ll be writing a little bit more about the unwisely dropped direct-to-DVD festival hit, “Trick ‘r Treat,” after I return from the con. That particularly includes what I gleaned from a trio of round robin interview things with writer-director Michael Dougherty and co-stars Lauren Lee Smith (“CSI”) and Brian Cox, definitely one of the toppermost of the poppermost, acting wise. Including Mr. Cox, all very personable folks, which never hurts in show bidness.

My reaction to the film was muted by my own tiredness, but I do think there is something there. Dougherty, a co-writer on the last couple of Bryan Singer superhero projects, has an outstanding eye for creepy beauty and he certainly brings human values and humor to his horror. However, the muddy acoustics of the hall drowned out much of the dialogue for me, and the impossibility of obtaining coffee at the convention center  in the evening dulled out much of my brain. (Why, oh why, Mrs. Fields, have you abandoned me this year?) The audience reaction was, as far as I could tell, divided between wild enthusiasm and muted nitpicking. More to come.

And now, a few other more high-profile movie related con related matters live from my horrifyingly small shoe box hotel room. Also, I wonder how long I can hold out without ever setting foot in the dreaded Hall H.

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Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, Comic-Con, External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies, TV Action, TV Comedies, TV Dramas

Expansions

June 5, 2009 /

Just a couple of items where some more information might be of interest.

* I linked yesterday to a Variety story reporting that James Cameron had signed with mega-agency CAA. Last night, however, ace gadfly muckraker Nikki Finke reported that it was merely a new camera technology developed for Cameron’s upcoming “Avatar” 3-D extravaganza, not Cameron himself, that the agency will be repping. In true Finkean style, she can’t resist taking a swipe at Variety in the process, though I guess it might be earned in this case.

Sigourney Weaver* On a more pleasant and actually interesting note, we have some news about Sigourney Weaver‘s upcoming projects, after discussing her — well, actually, Ellen Ripley — topping Total Sci-Fi’s list of female science fiction icons yesterday. For one thing, I didn’t realize until now Ms. Weaver is one of the stars of the aforementioned “Avatar” (as is Will Harris’s talented Facebook buddy Dileep Rao).

But that’s far from all, JA at The Film Experience is waxing enthusiastic over her possible casting (it’s not truly confirmed yet, I gather) in another sci-fi film, of sorts. “Paul” is to be directed by Greg Mottola of “Superbad” and “Adventureland” and written by and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of “Shaun of the Dead,” “Hot Fuzz,” and “Spaced” fame. Apparently the film has something to do with a couple of British comic book geeks (Pegg and Frost) traveling cross-country from Comic-Con who meet up with Seth Rogen — I gather possibly animated or CGI’d or something — as an alien named, naturally, Paul at Nevada’s Area 51 (at least that’s how SlashFilm’s Paul Sciretta has it). It will also feature Bill Hader, Jane Lynch, Jason Bateman and Kristen Wiig.

Sounds pretty good, but JA was also good enough to mention another comedy casting for Ms. Weaver, this in “You Again,” which will star Kristin Bell, a particular favorite over here. As JA points out, it will re-team the high talented, geek-friendly Bell with director Andy Fickman, who elicited one of her most interesting performances in “Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical” back in 2005. At the risk of going off on a bit of tangent (and, by the way, just happening to mention my lengthy 2007 blog post on Fickman’s entertaining, though highly imperfect, movie), did you know that the former Veronica Mars can, as the Western codgers say, sing purty?

Don’t worry, she gets a lot less wholesome later on…

Actors, Actresses, Comic-Con, External Entertainment, External Movies, Movie Comedies, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies, TV Comedies

BadAzz Mofo Geeky Quick Hits

June 4, 2009 /

Other than the very sad and disturbing passing of David Carradine, very well noted by Will Harris a bit earlier (I’ve got more at my own bloggy digs, Forward to Yesterday), it’s kind of a slow news day in the movie world…

* In a bit of very inside baseball, with his upcoming “Avatar” 3-D extravaganza already getting a lot of ink many months before its X-Mas release, James Cameron has broken with his past practice and has signed with an agency. And not just any agency, but the mighty CAA. I know, your life will never be the same. Variety has the scoop, such as it is.

* 79-year-old lifelong cinema enfant terrible Jean-Luc Godard (“Breathless,” “Contempt” — a great film you really ought to see) is looking to do a film inspired by a Holocaust memoir, says THR. I know, your life will really never be the same, but this is interesting. Godard, a truly radical leftist, criticized Israel implicitly in his 1967 comic masterpiece, “Weekend,” when the middle-east nation’s battles were still very much a liberal cause. I’m not at all one to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, but the film itself, and the worldwide response from Jewish groups, should be worth watching for those of us interested in this kind of thing.

* And finally, Nikki Finke devoted all of 24 words this morning to the passing of David Carradine (and turned off comments for some reason), but after adding that she doesn’t “do geek,” she did find time to devote some space to covering Total Sci-Fi‘s “25 Women Who Shook Sci-Fi” list, with a definite emphasis on bad-ass mofo type females. It was topped by Sigourney Weaver‘s Ripley from the “Alien” franchise (including “Aliens” from the aforementioned J. Cameron). The list also covered fantasy for whatever reason and #2 on the list was Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Geller) of “Buffy” fame. (My personal Buffsession, Willow Rosenberg, aka Alyson Hannigan, came in at #21.) With the possible exception of the first choice, which I really can’t argue with as long as you’re talking about actresses and not, say, writers, my list would be entirely different — if I didn’t tend to avoid lists. Since we really do “do geek” here at Premium Hollywood, allow me to link to fan site Whedonesque‘s comment thread on the topic, where the discussion eventually includes the terrific SF (not “sci-fi”!) writer, Roger Zelazny. Now that’s geek.

Action Movies, Actresses, External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

A chat with Dileep Rao of “Avatar” and “Drag Me to Hell”

June 4, 2009 /

Boss got you down? Think your career’s going nowhere? Keep your chin up, bub, and comfort yourself with the inspirational tale of actor Dileep Rao, who has gone from struggling actor/former “Jeopardy!” contestant to the Cannes red carpet. He may not be a household name, but with appearances in two of 2009’s most anticipated movies (“Drag Me to Hell” and James Cameron’s “Avatar,” to be specific), his face will be far more familiar to filmgoers by the time the year is out. And who should have a personal acquaintance with Rao but Bullz-Eye’s own Will Harris?

In his latest Bullz-Eye interview, Will sat down with Dileep Rao for a chat about his past, including that stint on “Jeopardy!” (“Damn you, Will!”) to more topical stuff, like the odds of him revealing anything — anything at all — about “Avatar”:

“(James Cameron) would send solid gold robots to kill me. I don’t think I can divulge much more than that, yes, that’s the name of the movie, he directed it, and I’m in it. That’s about all I can say. there’s an embargo like it’s the nuclear draft for what we do at Def-Con 4.”

On the subject of his work in Sam Raimi’s “Drag Me to Hell,” which landed in theaters last Friday, Rao was understandably more forthcoming, opening up about the ways he prepared for his role as Rham Jas (“He has some core belief that the world is larger than the world we know, and that character started for me there…”) and his feelings about horror films in general:

“You shouldn’t come out of a horror movie feeling bad about yourself. You should come out feeling physiologically exhilarating by the hijinks and thrilled by it. If the story is strong and it kind of catches you, you go for the ride and you come out feeling that sense of, ‘They really goosed me, and I feel the adrenaline, and I’m excited to go talk about this movie over a burger,’ then it’s done its job.”

To read the rest of Will’s interview with Dileep Rao, click here!

Actors, Interviews, Movies

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