On "Red Tails"

George has been talking about this for a long time, and over at Yahoo News we get a little glimpse at what may be up and coming:

"Producer Rick McCallum said both elements are addressed in a script by John Ridley that "balances difficult and painful issues with what is, at its heart, the story of men with a dream to fly and serve their country."

Lucas hopes to begin shooting by year's end or early 2009, McCallum said. The movie's title refers to the color of their fighter planes' tails, which were distinctive and allowed U.S. bomber crews to know they were being escorted by the aggressive Tuskegee Airmen.

"It is a story of incredible adventure and enormous courage," said the producer, who's scouting locations for "Red Tails" in Prague, Czech Republic, and Italy. "I think the story will speak to anyone who has ever wanted to succeed at something others told them was impossible.""

AFI top 10 sci-fi

The American Film Institute has been pretty active lately, and they're churning out more lists. One of the latest is the top 10 sci-fi, of which our beloved original Star Wars "Episode IV A New Hope" comes in at #2 after 2001: A Space Odyssey. I just have to ask - Why, oh why did they have to choose that screen shot from Alien? *awful childhood memories*

Wall.E coming soon

Another Pixar hit will be gracing theaters (USA) on June 27. In fact this looks to be the greatest Pixar feature yet, if the movie lives up to the talent behind it and what the trailers show us (although the 5 to 8 year old populous may continue to stand behind Ratatouille). Pixar's Andrew Stanton and our very own Star Wars sound master Ben Burtt team up to bring us a most epic robot story that is Wall.E. From Scotsman.com:

"Burtt has spent much of the past two years holed up on his own in a concrete bunker at Pixar's studios, recording the sounds made by toothbrushes, household appliances, miniature jet planes, army tanks and his own voice. "I went to a newspaper printer overnight and recorded all the gigantic scanners and presses," he says. "There are sounds in the movie I recorded when I was a kid from my grandfather's shortwave radio. I would tune it between stations and tape the weird electronic noises. I've used something from those original recordings in every science-fiction movie I've worked on.""

Check out Disney's official Wall.E site for more robotic fun and games.

Nash Edgerton debuts "The Square"

Nash Edgerton, stunt double to Ewan McGregor for Episode II and III, is much more than a fall guy. Even though his list of film stunt work is probably the longest, he's also an accomplished actor (his brother Joel, also an actor, played the young Owen Lars in the prequels) and now, a director to boot. His new film "The Square" made it's first screening recently at the Sydney Film Festival. Hopefully we'll get a glimpse in the USA sometime soon. Sydney Morning Herald

Love Story 2050

My interest is officially piqued. Bollywood makes it's first real leap into the world of sci fi with Love Story 2050 due to release in July (in the USA?). Of course being Bollywood, I don't think they were able to break from the love story theme just yet. The effects have some potential though:

Got bat... milk?

Not sure if this weirds me out or not yet.

Terminator Salvation (aka T4)

Hey, if it's got Christian Bale, killer robots, and stuff blowing up... I'm in.

This from scifi.com:
"

Common Joins Terminator Rapper/actor Common has signed on to co-star in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins for Halcyon Pictures, Variety reported. Christian Bale and Sam Worthington have already boarded the project, which will be distributed by Warner Brothers domestically. Sony will release the film in most foreign territories. The story centers on John Connor (Bale), now in his 30s, who leads what is left of the human race in a battle against the machines. Common will play a freedom fighter and member of Connor's inner circle. McG will direct from a script by John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris and Paul Haggis. The film is eyeing a May 22, 2009, release.

"

Trek XI teaser and then some!

In the previous entry for Cloverfield, I mentioned the awesomeness of the Star Trek XI trailer I got to witness. Well, for any of you that were in the bathroom, winked, or got jipped (wink wink) - They've got it up for you to view in all it's all too short but hi-def glory at the official Trek XI site.

Don't forget to click the red dot to the right of "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" after you've viewed the trailer 10 times. Once you get to that page, keep your eyes on the different views - they change up for some awesome teaser tidbits. Have fun!

1-18-08 aka Cheese aka Slusho! aka Cloverfield

Let's start with a spoiler free overall reaction to the movie that finally settled on the title Cloverfield (also the name of a street near J.J. Abrams' LA offices). Woah. I'm very pleased that I only finished half of that hummus wrap before going to see this, and no theater nachos for me this time round since I was running a little late at meeting a friend for the show. Not to mention that my stomach has been a little off lately after having recently returned from a trip and a little pre-move life-transition kind of anxiousness. But I'm tough. I grew up sailing, skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, skiing, slam dancing, gore movie watching, and other equilibrium churning activities. Granted I'm not the adrenaline junkie I used to be...

The severe hand-held filming method used throughout this film will jar even the toughest stomachs. To my great chagrin I admit I stepped out twice just to gain my footing. Several people left the theater mid-show, never to return, and my friend took a step out as well. The thing about it is that there is just so much shaky movement and the audience is cooped up in a dormant state in their seats. If there were a little bit of physical stimulation, like in a flight simulator or those rumble seats some theaters have, it might have been much more bearable. Strangely, I found that when the action within the movie became elevated and frantic (the bulk of the middle to end) the camera movement was easier to stomach. This is definitely a horror-thriller flick, but the gore was at a minimum, or at least the realistic trauma was flashed so quickly it didn't even have time to register before you were jarred by a subsequent explosion or other distraction.

Update - After reading some reviews around the web, it looks like the motion sickness issues are widespread. Some theaters even posted disclaimers about it as shown in this blogger's review (Just click the picture in the entry if you don't want movie spoilers).

Let the spoilers begin (but scroll down to end for more spoiler free commentary)...

One of those distractions were a very well done build to the unveiling of the "monster", which is undeniably comparable to Godzilla. The first two films that come to mind that executed the monster reveal as successfully were of course the original version of The Thing and Signs. All of these films gave you very brief glimpses of the monster somewhere after the first act, leaving you glued to the screen for a better view. It's such a simple but effective trick, and Cloverfield follows this method perfectly. I really appreciated how well crafted the monster reveal was, and it was certainly the main factor that kept me coming back in from my "breaks". The pacing helped too, but I think they stretched the stomach churning moments out just a little too long for most movie-goers. Once the camera movement started to match the action happening within the frame, there was another moment of relief.

Certainly anyone who was more directly affected by the events of 9/11 should not be referred to see this movie, unless they are such huge Godzilla and horror/thriller fans that the latter overrides the former.

The casting was a good ensemble of twenty-somethings who all played out the natural home video style convincingly. The story was glued together by the "transitional relationships" and actions of a core group of about 6 characters who dwindled as the story (or should I say simply "action") progressed. It was all amazingly simple but well balanced.

The effects are really one of the best components to Cloverfield. It's a prime example of the culmination of FX techniques we've built up to over the years to this era of unbridled creative cinematic glory. Everything looked completely real. The camera movement certainly covers up any flaws there might have been in the compositing and CG, but presenting it that way just makes the movie all the more realistic, as preposterous as it all is. If you haven't seen the movie but are still reading this spoiler zone, the movie is filmed entirely from the POV of a home video camera that was being used by the group of friends to capture a going away party, and followed a small group as they carried it during their attempted escape - very much in the style of The Blair Witch Project.

It's been many decades since the original Godzilla showed eastern and western audiences of the nuclear age what civilization may have to face, but even so - there ain't no giant sea monster attacks listed on the US government's checklist for disaster readiness. I think that might change if Will Smith gets elected this November, since the Fresh Prince is prolly the only one who could save us from such an event ;)

End of spoiler zone

The trailers were a definite bonus - Iron Man, Hellboy, Jumper (I've been waiting for this one, and it looks better and better every new trailer I see. Hayden and Sam fans alike should rejoice!), and a HUGE chill for the all too brief Star Trek XI trailer which flashed Abrams' name leaving me thinking this was the beginning of our feature for a split second. I'm not even a Trekkie!

This shouldn't be much of a spoiler (I hope) - If you've seen Cloverfield, you might remember a flash on one of the party attendee's Slusho! t-shirt, a fictional product some might recognize from other Abrams projects. Gotta love those Easter eggs, and the general production nods to people who pay attention to this stuff. If you haven't seen the movie yet, look for it, and if you want to play at a pretty cool Flash site and maybe even enter the contest - check out the Slusho! site and/or view the Slusho! commercial below.


*Removed video due to annoying inability to stop autostart function. Check it out at the site linked to above*

In summary, I usually make the bank-busting trip to the theaters for things that I expect to be worth the big screen experience, whether it be for cinematography, FX, or engrossing in the action. If you really think you can take it, this is certainly worth a theater visit - although I might contradict myself by saying that the shaky home video style in which it's filmed might be even more effective if viewed on the small screen - just as if you found the footage yourself. Having access to the DVD remote, the bathroom, and the ability to get up and move around will be some pretty handy resources. They are of course developing a game for this, and I think it should prove to be a huge hit for Wii users if they make it interactive with a treadmill and an obstacle course. If you do make it to the theater - Good luck, and be prepared.

Blade Runner Marathon: 1st and 2nd Rounds

I picked up Blade Runner: The Final Cut on Blu-Ray the day after it released. That's Wednesday, December 19 for anyone who has been counting minutes and days (dangerous days that is) around this release. Opted out of the "Ultimate" version with the briefcase, origami unicorn, mini-spinner and other flashy trinkets. The hi-def versions without the collector's case have all 5 versions of the film, and all the bonus materials - i.e. everything the Ultimate version has on the discs, so that was good enough for me, especially at less than half the price of the briefcase version.

On Wednesday night I watched the actual 'Final Cut' version, then on Thursday I watched the enormously long documentary Dangerous Days, which in of itself rivals in length and content the materials LFL has been putting out with various Star Wars DVD releases, and there's still more documentary material in the Blade Runner set. I'll be staggering the documentaries with watching different versions of the film in the coming days, of which I can't wait to see the "Enhancement Archives", which includes a little blooper by Edward James Olmos who refers to replicants as Cylons. I heard an interview with Ridley Scott on NPR's Fresh Air, which I also found available on their website. If you scroll down the page, you'll see a link to a video clip from the Enhancement Archives discussing whether or not Deckard is a replicant, and you'll be able to see EJO's blooper:

'Blade Runner' Director Ridley Scott on Fresh Air

Blade Runner: The Final Cut
It's still sinking in for me. I saw the original theatrical release when I was pretty young, and the Blade Runner I've always known and loved included the voice-overs and an ending with a drive to the country. Thinking back, I don't think I ever payed a whole lot of attention to the plot. Again, I was pretty young and was much more enamored by the visual quality of the film than anything else (and of course Harrison Ford). To me, the story was about a loner cop who lived in a grim and semi-apocalyptic future, who fell in love with a replicant of whom he was supposed to destroy. Deckard was always unquestionably human to me. In fact, the question never crossed my mind until very recently where I had read discussions on the matter as Blade Runner began to get chocked up again in anticipation of the 2007 DVD release.

It's been well over a year or so since I've watched my old 'Director's Cut' on VHS. I think my parents also have the original theatrical on VHS, which is what I had been rewatching over the years for the most part. When I sat down to watch the 'Final Cut' I was watching the film with much more attention to detail and the story than ever before. I was trying to see where the differences were from how I remembered the film. As a result, I saw more and more flaws in the story, and really picked up on the continuity and technical errors - like when Leon threw Deckard onto a ground-mobile and the windshield was already smashed before Deckard hit it. It's kind of funny, since I thought they were aiming to fix a lot of these mistakes in the new cut.

In general, Final Cut seemed very stripped down, almost empty. The dialogue just didn't seem to flow, even though speaking parts were very sparse in the first place. I think the voice-overs helped mask that, or perhaps the audio track needs to be recovered a little more without the VO. I'm learning to appreciate the lack of voice-over, I really am. They gave the film a graphic novel feel for me when I was younger, and generally just kept me in the story. There are certainly some voice-over parts I could live without, but as visually stunning as Blade Runner always has been, I don't think it was ever visually efficient enough to keep the story coherent. Not that I ever cared about that before... before now.

Even though I didn't get to see the Final Cut on the big screen, getting to see this remastered and cleaned up version on Blu-Ray almost made up for that. It's just gorgeous, continuity-warts and all. So what if I saw all the flaws? I wasn't really watching it like I would normally watch a movie. It's so visually powerful, I still cared less about the technical stuff. I'll still jump at any chance to see this in a theater if it comes my way, since they have been extending theater showings (see listings at the official site).

My one and only big qualm is the ending. Maybe I'll feel differently about it at some point, as it seems any version of Blade Runner takes some getting used to. I'm well aware of how Scott felt about what he was made to do with both the sugar-coated ending, and the voice-overs - which was basically very unhappy. Still, the way the Final Cut ends is almost as though he just lopped off the parts he didn't like and left it at that. It could have been just slightly more polished and worked, but to me, the end looks like a mistake as it stands. Again, maybe I was looking too closely, and I'll certainly stand back and compare the end of all the cuts.

Cool factoid - The Millenium Falcon is a stand in as a building in one of the city-scapes!



If anyone happens by one of those prop house yard sales they've been having to keep from going bankrupt during the writer's strike, pick me up a spinner. I'll send you a check... I swear.

I am Legend

This post is divided between a spoiler free review and a more in-depth look with some spoilers.

First spoiler free...

Ah, Will Smith. Recently marked 5th out of the "50 Smartest People in Hollywood" by Entertainment Weekly, and justifiably so if I count as a judge. I've enjoyed Smith ever since the Fresh Prince days *blushes* and he's managed to grow into a self-made franchise. I am Legend is certainly in part testimony to his smartness and success. Not that I think Legend is particularly remarkable itself, but the way Smith pulled it off is, but you'd expect as much from the man.

I've never read the 1954 novel by Richard Matheson (but now it's on my list), nor have I seen the other movie adaptations; The Last Man on Earth (1964), The Omega Man (1971), and the 2007 straight to video horror release I am Omega. The first two are on my 'to watch' list, the latter - maybe someday. I kept relatively spoiler free too, only following the pretty trailers for Legend as they released. Coming from that perspective probably helped me enjoy the movie a bit more than many of the critics who gave it lukewarm reviews. Still, I can see where the shortcomings are. I have the opportunity to judge this purely on it's own cinematic merit, but even if you've never read the book or seen the other movies, this is certainly a story you've seen or heard before.

The talents of Will Smith along with a few other aspects, like the visual imagery experience and a splendid performance by the canine sidekick, kept the film interesting enough to sit through. There were a few visual gags in the first act that helped keep your attention on point, which was probably a smart pacing move.

Don't get me wrong - I really enjoyed I am Legend, and not purely by the merits of Will Smith. In fact, a lot of the things I thought were wrong with the movie were the things I actually liked, but then again didn't like. For one, it had an almost but not quite blockbuster style publicity campaign that didn't quite deliver what you'd expect. True, maybe it's just that I associate certain things with a Smith flick now, but what Legend actually is, is a bit more ambiguous. What was bad could be good, perhaps depending on how you look at it and try to tie it all together. I expected MIB and Independence Day style swashbuckling action, which I did partially get.

I certainly never want a movie to fall cookie-cutter neatly into place within a genre, and the fact that Legend is not well defined and therefore awash with subject matter and concept in part kept me interested, but also left me looking for the focus and directive of the plot. The "last man on earth" is certainly an interesting start, but there lacked a really big punch (like an exploding military space station the size of a small moon or the most evil villain being revealed as the hero's father perhaps?) to drive the story into true epic status. But really, that's part of the story. No one would have ever known the story of the last man on earth if it weren't for... well, that would just be a spoiler.

It's a drama, thriller, sci-fi and action movie, but it's also horror. It doesn't seem to want to choose, and that's a little distracting. The horror facet isn't straight up gore, but it's enough to make people who really dislike the horror genre be somewhat disturbed. I can't help but make the association of I, Robot meeting 28 Days Later, but with a heck of a lot less actors and extras, save for the few flashback scenes which were few enough that it almost seemed a film budgeting issue.

Overall I think sci-fi, action, and Will Smith fans will really enjoy this, but if you can't stomach some shock and horror spoused with psychological and emotional elements in a film, this one might be a pass for you. Not a bad second "real movie" (first was Constantine) for up and coming director Francis Lawrence. The Cloverfield and Dark Knight trailers are a bonus too!

______________________________________________________________

Spoilers below!

But only a few. I have some continuity issues to address concerning the zombie-vampires (for lack of a better designating term - maybe "quasi-rabies patients" would be better?) and how they function within the story and plot. Maybe this is made more clear in the novel, but all I have is this movie to work with. It seems that Dr. Neville (wait, wasn't he a lieutenant in the police force or something?) had at some point concluded that the patients/ victims/ whatever-they-ares have lost all human traits. This wasn't hard to believe since the monsters as we began to see them exhibited only the most primal survival reactions relative to their disease, which was limited to droning in the dark as hives until the smell of fresh meat sparked a savage attack.

What was harder (for me) to believe was that the head honcho zombie-vamp guy... which in of itself was hard to believe that there was a leader at all, had enough strategic intelligence to set a sophisticated trap - a trap that he had to have had the patience and foresight to have learned from by the same contraption built by Neville. Not only that, but the head honcho was a dog handler! Yet still, all he could manage to utter were groans and shrieks of pure zombie agitation. It just seems too unlikely that even an "elegant" disease would effect everyone in the same way by wiping away all civilized characteristics, yet this one individual managed to grunt and groan his way to zombie presidency. Hmmmm. It seemed like they tried to give the zombie-vamps some sort of face or character, which I thought was entirely unnecessary. I would have liked to see more of a follow through. Perhaps if the zombie-vamp president actually had some sort of "moment" with Neville.

I thought the first reveal of the zombie-vamps was superb, with the dim light brushing by and showing a chilling glimpse. I wish they had sustained that tension by showing much less from there on. It pretty quickly switched over to obvious CG zombie-vamps. Movies like the original The Thing, and Signs gave cinema a valuable lesson in building more tension by showing less monster.

Other notes:

Gotta love the Batman plus Superman billboard and the gas prices! I wonder if there were more visual gags in there I didn't catch. Anyone?

Another continuity thing, but maybe I'm just picky... Sam the German Shepherd was noticeably either not the same dog all the time, or her coat quality and size slightly changed which I would attribute to changing seasons during principle photography and/or pick up shots. I have a dog, so I can't help but notice, but it's hard not to since she was also the co-star and one of the few actors! Her part certainly added one of the most affecting dramatic elements to the film.

The driving and hunting scenes, along with the abandoned streets of Manhattan were the major highlights for me, after the performance of Will Smith with his canine companion. I can't help but relate to that having a similar solo living situation with a very similar dog. Another funny coincidence is that the "safe haven" is in the same state that I live (for now). I kind of had to laugh at that, considering the isolationist attitude of Vermonters where the state motto between locals is "Welcome to Vermont. Now, Leave" and there are still movements working to segregate from the Union. When 9/11 hit, which Legend has a lot of connotation to, Vermonters were almost as horrified at the prospect of people migrating there from urban areas as they were at the event itself.

My favorite shot from Legend

Does Deckard dream of electric sheep?

Word on the streets of Venice is that Blade Runner: The Final Cut is even darker, but still doesn't give any more or less clarity as to whether Deckard might indeed be a replicant. I don't need an answer either way, since I like the mystery of it all.

I have to admit, it's been a loooong time since I've seen Blade Runner. I have a VHS version of the Director's Cut, and it's just been... years. I've intentionally held off on getting the DVD since having heard that there was to be several better versions coming out in the future. Little did I know it would be in one fell swoop. Maybe I'll have to bust out the VHS to compare (even though when I get the bombastic version of the DVD I'll be able to see the same version again).

Warner Brothers have been pumping up this release with a new-ish website (ya'all have seen links to that here before), with special clips. Here's the latest:

More movie stuffs...

Thundercats is getting made into a CGI feature film! Even better, it's going to be developed by Gears of War art director Jerry O'Flaherty. NWOICE (okay, so the writer of linked article may not be so enthusiastic). Yeah, I know - another toon and/or superhero story goes to the big screen, but now that we can do this stuff for the big screen with much better results, I'm game.

I've been trying to keep up with the possible Wonder Woman movie that has been bouncing around the movie studios for a couple of years now. Joss Whedon was first signed on to develop the screenplay, only to be bagged.. er, or "leave" the project while Warner went with a spec script that is locked in a vault somewhere. More recently Wonder Woman has been coming up again, with the development of the Justice League movie. Some of the JLA characters would possibly get developed for offshoot films, Wonder Woman included. Jessica Biel was one of the more recent WW prospects but she (thankfully IMO) declined the role. What I wanna know is why the heck hasn't anyone approached Megan Fox (Transformers) - and if they have, why the heck hasn't she taken it. She is perfect! Okay, my opinion again.



So the non-news didn't end there. There were recent rumblings of a Warner top-exec saying that the studio would not produce any female led feature films. W00t? Okay, I'm a girl, so this one hits me a little hard. Supposedly Warner, and Robinov are denying any such remarks (see an article with updated WB response here). I admit, I'll agree with one of their angles - that any WW movie that goes to production will have to be the right combination of the right actor(ress), director, and timing. But even the rumor of such a mentality kills the morale, ya know? With characters like Starbuck from the new BSG, and... Starbuck from the new BSG (LOL - I stop here), I saw hope for women leads in action and sci-fi. *I'M* interested, but apparently the DWG's at studio top seats are skeptical. Just wait until I walk into that town ;)

Here's the biggie o' the day - Anakin and Mace are back and badder than ever before. Sam Jackson and Hayden Christensen star in this sci-fi action thriller about people with the ability to jump time and space, and those who have to hunt them down. Hayden is a "jumper" and Sam is a hunter. The folks who brought us the Bourne movies made this, so aside from Hayden and Sam, that's all I need to get me to the theater to see this. Check out the latest Jumper trailer:

DEFINITELY something I'll be looking forward to for February. Did you see the url at the end of the trailer? Got it linked for ya right here: anywhereispossible.com

Movie stuff n' things

First of all, I'm a little P'Oed that Transformers will see a DVD release on HD, but not Blu-ray. Michael Bay even threatened Paramount for it's HD exclusive decision, but it seems the Bayster doesn't have the same clout as Spielberg who will still have his films released on both formats. I'm not sure if I'll be able to wait for a possible Blu-ray release for this. Maybe I'll break down and get an HD player, since they are finally becoming an almost acceptable format. I'm also irked that BSG is going to HD but not Blu-ray. Then there's Heroes too, which I probably will never buy anyway. Hmph. At least I'll get Blade Runner in Blu-ray.

Speaking of.. Transformers 2 has a green light, and Spielberg is putting a rush on it (can you put a rush on T1 on Blu-ray too Steve?). Lets see how much we can squeeze out of this franchise, shall we? It's just barely been talked about, and the leaks are already dripping. The TESB of Transformers? :p

The bigger news right now is some confirmation on Trek XI. The story looks to be Kirk and Spock intensive, but there is still no Kirk casted as of yet. Exec producer Roberto Orci tells trekmovie.com all about it.

This one sounds pretty cool - Jake Gyllanhaal will be working on a "moon movie". Not a lot of details on this one yet except:

"The SF action movie revolves around a private expedition to the moon and the race for lunar colonization."

That sounds geeky enough for me!

Did I mention that I'm miffed about Transformers not going to Blu-ray? Help me Stephen Spielberg. You're my only hope.

Geeze! I haven't looked for any new and exciting Indy 4 news. I guess we know that it's being made, and that's all that's important. I've kind of slacked in that area, but surely indianajones.com will keep feeding us :D

Blade Runner, Blade Runner, Blade Runner, and sci-fi cinema is ded

This past weekend, the highly anticipated "Final Cut" of the 25 year old epic Blade Runner, made it's big screen debut at the Venice Film Festival. The reviews and chatter are still rolling in, but most of what I've found so far reports that Final Cut is even darker, and we're still not sure if Deckard dreams of electric sheep.

A hearty thank you to the UK Times Online for following Blade Runner in Venice, while most of the other mainstream news outlets seemed to brush it aside:

Blade Runner: The Final Cut - Sept. 3, 2007

At last, a Blade to run with: Ridley Scott is happy with Blade Runner: The Final Cut. So is our chief film critic - Sept. 6, 2007

Perhaps there was less Venician hyperbola about the new version of Blade Runner because it is not a brand new premiere, but maybe it has to do with something that Ridley Scott commented on during the festival: that "sci-fi cinema is dead":

Ridley Scott at the Venice Film Festival: "Sci-Fi Cinema is Dead" - Cinematical, Sept. 4, 2007

Maybe so, but with every death something new is born. What that is we will have to see. I don't think mini and mobil technology is necessarily "it", as Scott blames for filmmaking woes, but at least sci-fi can go back to the underground only to resurge a bigger and badder monster.

Here's the Venice announcement of BRTFC as the Midnight Surprise sceening.

"I've seen things"

... anyhew! I'm still eagerly awaiting any possible theatrical run of BRTFC, and of course the coming mega-DVD release this December. In honor of this Blade madness, I'm laying down some linkage...

First and foremost is the most important, although totally commersh. The new official Blade Runner: The Final Cut website. Its sleek and shiny and has some nice clippage, including from some of the documentary we'll be seeing on the DVD.

"A new life awaits you, in the off-world colonies. The chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure"

Although not an official site, The Blade Zone ought to at least be considered the official fan site. very cool info in there, so check it out and join the fandom! Make sure to link through to these instructions to build a cutout spinner - too awesome.

There's also BR.com :)

Wanna know everything there is to know about anything related to Blade Runner? Somehow, I found this archive list of articles online, some scholarly, some maybe not so much.

Bah - There's tons more out there. I better post this before Blogger pulls that outage on me mid-post.

The most epic epic in all of epic-dom

I mean aside from the Star Wars saga... and Indiana Jones (speaking of - did you hear Indy IV has 6 titles now? Check out indianajones.com for all the sweet new video they've been adding too). I suppose the Iliad is somewhere up there as well.

No, this most epic of epics that I rant about today is from one of my other fangirl-doms, and that is the world of wuxia (which for the uninformed generally refers to Chinese fantasy/historical martial arts cinema and literature in the context it is discussed here).

In the last year or so, there were rumors followed by quasi-official proclamations that my long time hero and wushu idol, Jet Li, was to retire from "epic martial arts films". The news on this was never very credible or crystal clear, but it still brought great sorrow to my fragile but furious fangirl soul. At one point the misinformation mill churned out something about Li continuing making action films, but for American audiences and in the American style... or something to that effect. This not only brought upon tears of darkness from epic martial arts fans everywhere, but it never really quite sat right. Other stories spoke of Li giving up the violent world of wuxia film to devote his life to the study of Buddhism. I liked that version better. I guess I really wanted to hear an outright political statement from Jet that would confess that he was trying to detach from any ties to the Chinese government and movie industry (of which I still am convinced is hidden between the lines of the recent movie Fearless). I might never know the real story, but I'd love to hear it from Jet Li himself someday... perhaps on neutral soil.

Did I ever tell you about how I was going to stalk screenwriter John Fusco, who is actually local to my neck of the woods (and believe you me, that makes everybody a neighbor in these parts, and therefore fair game), and follow him to China while he researched for his next script? Um, well, something came up... I think they call it work, and I guess school too. In my mind I was going. I was all set to drop everything, find a dog... I mean wookiee sitter, and try to convince my mom that going anywhere not considered "the west" did not equal the third world and therefore the inevitable death of her daughter. I really meant to do that, because I knew what John Fusco was up to, and it was right on the heels of the wuxia underworld chatter of Jet Li's exodus.

And it didn't make sense at all, since John Fusco was developing the script for what was then dubbed the "J and J Project". Then the other news started to seep in. I don't mean news about Tarantino and Rodriguez, since that would have been called the "T and R Project", but that's the kind of movie news most people talked about. The J's of the project were none other than Jet Li and Jackie Chan, who were to join together for the first time ever on film (this is history in the making folks) to make an epic martial arts movie. W00t?

Not too long before this I had rushed to theaters to see the release of Fearless, thinking it was my last chance for Jet in a tunic and a top knot. Not that I'm disappointed in any way. In fact, knowing that Jet was going to give epic-ness another chance left my mind at ease for a bit. So much so that I kind of forgot about it for awhile and moved on to other business, like the plan to stalk my screenwriting teacher and follow him to Vancouver while he visits the set of Battlestar Galactica and the filming of it's final season. That hasn't quite happened... yet (but that rant is for another day, and another blog).

Maybe both Jet and Jackie finally realized what Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon did for their genre in the west. Only since Crouching have we really seen wuxia have an actual solid screening in mainstream theaters across the USA. Before then, and with the exception of Bruce Lee movies which were largely endorsed by western interests anyway, wuxia cinema was pretty much relegated to the likes and tastes of fanboys and girls, comic book enthusiast types, and well... you know what I'm getting at. Don't make me say it!

While wuxia isn't quite a household name in the west like Star Wars or Indy... or Megatron, most people in the west have now seen or at least heard of Crouching Tiger. Most people may not know that films like that have been produced in China for close to a century, but with other films like Hero and House of Flying Daggers making their stand in the west recently, the genre is staking it's claim as an art form rather than a more campy-culty underground geek form. Of course, production values have massively updated for this to happen, and as with anything else successful that makes it's way out of China, it somehow gains national status as part of the Chinese cultural heritage. If Jet Li hangs around just a little longer, I think it will give wuxia that much more of a welcome (by me) boost in the west.. along with more western money, and therefore prettier and prettier martial arts flicks. These are evil thoughts though. We should be trying to make prettier movies cost less money to produce, especially in the west. Right? I think on either side of the globe, extras are still living off a wage of craft services anyway :p

Fast forward then rewind to a few days ago. I often have NPR on in the background during my daily commutes, and I always try to listen to the weather report when it comes on, but my attention span always finds something else that takes precedence... like that dog hair slowly making its way toward the rim of my coffee cup. Oh, and driving. But certain keywords are so deeply embedded in my psyche that they will whip monkey mind right back to the present, and a few days ago that keyword was "Jet Li" screaming out from the monotone chatter of NPR. This was followed by a couple of other words that I was less familiar with, which were "Forbidden Kingdom" and "Hengdian Studios". "Jacki Chan" was in there somewhere too.

I felt like Jason Bourne finally remembering how it all began, but in a good way (another epic and worthy of another entry in itself of course). A title? And even more than that... large-ish scale coverage of the movie and the shooting location in China? I worried for a second that our cheerful NPR reporters might somehow vanish only to have their stories of execution in a remote Chinese prison be told years after the fact. Then I remembered that I'm waaay too American. Where had I been for the last few months since this was known merely as the elusive and not much talked about "J and J Project"? Oh right - obsessing about other stuff.

While my eyes and some part of my mind were driving, my ears eagerly ate up the story and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was the first story of a small series on NPR about the movie and Hengdian Studios with another piece to be aired the following day (which I caught completely by chance, again during my commute). All of it can be read and heard on NPR's website, along with pictures(!):

Martial-Arts Masters Meet in 'Forbidden Kingdom'

Coach Assists Chinese Actress' Hollywood Debut

Ambition and History Meet in China's Hollywood
(Check out the web resources in the right nav bar for links to Hengdian and related sites)

I guess China is now open for business.

As it turns out, Forbidden Kingdom isn't quite the wuxia film you were looking for. Being that it's partially a western endeavor, and will star a modern American teenager with a Time Bandits-esque journey to ancient China, it seems as though Kingdom is going to be a marriage of wuxia's new-found western fame and something akin to the Harry Potter fantasy genre bandwagon, which aside from superheroes and comic book characters seems to be the money making movie theme of the moment.

What else is to come you ask? Maybe you shouldn't.

A complete aside (What? Me? A tangent?)... If you've ever seen clips (Warning - very inappropriate content!) from the Chinese translations of Star Wars, this news quip should surely make you grin.

This article was largely inspired by my mentor yo, yo, yo, yo, Yodaaah (and my uncanny ability to blog at length when there are other things that really need to be attended to)

Superman: Man of Steel on it's way?

There's been a little hubbub and a lot of anticipation concerning the Superman Returns sequel, and as to exactly when Bryan Singer is going to get that frakker made. Last week, someone somewhere said that Singer was going to finish two other projects before Man of Steel, which would push the projected 2009 release even further. Those rumors were squelched more recently when someone somewhere else heard from some other guy or girl somewhere that the former rumors were false, and Singer is in fact in pre-production now while he works on other projects, and plans principal photography for Steel in 2008, and yes... Kevin Spacey will be back. Awesomeness.


More superhero stuff to look forward to:

Wolverine - This isn't X4. It's written. Now all they need to do is get a director and shoot it. A 2008 release? Hmmm.

The Dark Knight - Batman Begins sequel. Not much on that link, but they say to keep checking back. Supposedly the release is about a year out. Just give it to me now please.

Wonder Woman - They ditched Joss Whedon for this project, bought a noob spec script, and it's currently on ice. I can't see this actually being released in 2009... unless *I* make it :D. I like what Lynda Carter has had to say about all this. She roxx.

Bourne Ultimatum - Not your regular superhero, since Jason Bourne wasn't bourne from the pages of a comic book. But I love this franchise as cheesy-cliche as it might be. Great action... and the first movie, Bourne Identity, kept me coming back for more. The second, Bourne Supremacy, started with high intensity but kind of, well, you know... it was the second movie. Nevertheless, this will be the next thing I will *definitely* go to the theater to see... on August 3rd, 2007. That's a few weeks away!


... An interesting side note: When I saw Transformers, there was a trailer for this nameless JJ Abrams directed, Bad Robot production movie. It's um, to be released 1-18-08 I guess. Or is that the title?

Transformers!

I finally caught Transformers...

AWESOMENESS!

I recommend this movie to everyone, and I mean even kids. One of the first things that struck me with Transformers was that there is really no realistic gore and death as far as humans are concerned. You'll probably see more shooting, car crashes, giant robots crashing into buildings, and explosions in this movie than anything before it, but no one really dies or gets hurt (a couple of small exceptions, but they are really not graphic in any sense - on the other hand, they are more noticeable perhaps since they are they only instances). The destruction of city buildings is probably a pretty touchy subject in this day and age, but this movie is really like comic book or anime done up live-action style, so the only reality has to do with the fact that it is live action.

I don't know, maybe all the shooting, explosions and destruction is just as bad for kids to see. The fact that no one is visibly hurt or killed by all the ruckus (and there is A LOT of ruckus throughout the movie) might be a bad example that could lead kids to think its okay to shoot and blow stuff up. All I know is that when I saw it, there was a 6 or 7 year old kid with his mother in the seat behind me that was shouting out the events of the entire movie as it happened, so I guess some people think it's fine for young kids... but these are the same people who think it's okay to let their kids be disruptive during a movie people payed good money to see. Seriously, this kid was shouting and the mother wasn't stopping him. She was even encouraging him by engaging in his 6-7 year old commentary of exactly what was happening on screen. Grrrr.

After a quick seating relocation, I enjoyed the rest of the movie in total bliss. I tried to soak in every second, because really every second had something to offer. I have to see it again, maybe a couple of times more. This will be a must have for HD enthusiasts when it hits DVD (and I hope to see it that way too). Finally, a summer blockbuster really worth the price of a ticket.

Shia LaBeouf is one of my new favorites by the way. He was just so relateable, but at the same time he acted in complete accordance to the genre/style of the movie, as if he jumped right off the pages of a comic book. Shia is on this month's Vanity Fair cover, and I might just have to pick that one up for the article. Please though - PLEASE! Let's not compare him or try and make him into "the next Tom Hanks". Just let the kid come into his own already. I can't wait to see him in Indy IV and anything else he might be working on in the future.

Transformers is a must see for anyone who enjoys astounding effects on the big screen (about half of the end credits, which were very long, were allotted for the extensive SFX crews, including that of ILM), and for anyone who loves the franchise, robots, technology, cars, planes (there are some incredible flying scenes), action, good comic book-style fun, and more. I saw it about a week after it opened (which is a sore subject for me, since it ended up having a last-minute opening 2 days earlier than scheduled, which made it impossible for me to go to the midnight premiere on the night I had previously planned), and the theater was probably only about 1/4 full, but the crowd still gave applause at the end of the movie. How often does that happen? Even on an opening night that's pretty rare.

I hadn't really kept up with Transformers since watching it when I was a kid. Even so, I love this movie as a grown-up and without too much memory of any story arcs for any of the bots. Maybe that's a good thing since I've seen a few die-hard fans dissect some of the changes from the series that came before. Bah! I haven't enjoyed being in a theater this much since... Star Wars actually! Steven Spielberg is executive producer, so go figure.
Definitely see it on the Big Screen while you can. It's the only way and it's really worth it. If your kids are gabby types though, please, hire a baby sitter and just get them the DVD when it comes out ;)

Featured article for Transformers from July 13th Entertainment Weekly: When Robots Attack

Star Trek News

Yes, you read the title correctly... I actually meant "Trek" and not "Wars". I can respect the Trek.

I don't follow the series at all, but I have been feeling a mild interest (mostly on my left side, and it acts up during rainy weather) in the forthcoming Star Trek movie Star Trek XI, that's a whopping number eleven for the un-roman numeral savvy, as well as the most recent series Star Trek: Enterprise for all it's realism, updated FX, and brand new jumpsuits.

I've recently become aware of several sites, of which I am sure there are gallons more, that are all about Trek. I've been trying to catch the bits and pieces that get churned up in the rumor mill about the next movie, particularly as to what actors may be cast, and which series it may coincide with. At one point I thought I heard Matt Damon was being considered for a young Captain Kirk, but I think the dust settled on that rumor.

Of course there's the official site: startrek.com
I would think this would be the first stop for any breaking news on Trek XI. There is certainly all the info I need on every series and movie there, and they do have some great articles with the writers and director J.J. Abrams. But I wanted more... even though I knew I shouldn't, especially since I'm actually a Star Wars fan.

So I gandered around the web a bit, and found another great Trek source for both movie news and the fandom in trekweb.com.

TrekWeb reports that our very own ILM (I say that as a Star Wars geek of course) is considering doing FX for Trek XI. Talk about torn allegiances! There hasn't been any confirmations yet, but I would have to wonder - who the heck else would they have do it? Check back there for lots o' Trekadelic updates, like more talk from the Trek XI writers.

And speaking of FX, I also have an interest in the work that has been done in remastering the older Trek series and films. I think this has been a point of contention for some of the Trekkies, just as the Star Wars special editions have ups and downs for most fans. I really have no idea what I'm talking about but I thought this would somehow segue into an introduction to a sweet little domain called The Trek Movie Report, which as you can probably imagine keeps frequent updates for Trek XI. What may not be so obvious is that its a little hub of info about remastering the original series.

That's about all the Star Trek I can handle for one entry. There's a whole world out there of people who watch this show and the movies. They dress up and go to conventions and stuff. I know! I thought it was kind of crazy too! They may just have more websites out there than Star Wars does as well, so in my short and not-so-inspired look into the matter at hand, I basically found that the script for Trek XI is basically complete, they may be filming in Iceland, William Shatner may get a cameo, and I may actually have to watch Enterprise from the beginning of the season.

Trekkies... and I thought they smelled bad on the outside!

Sorry. That last line wasn't meant to offend. I'm a Star Wars fan (did I mention that already?). I couldn't help it :)

SciFi updates...

Being the geek I am, I try and keep up on what's going on in the world of science fiction, and that includes the feed from the SciFi channel itself. Some cool top stories...

Actually, I'm torn as to how cool this story really is. My favorite show ever, the new Battlestar Galactica, has won many an award within the realm of sci-fi and even acclaim and recognition outside the sci-fi multiverse. With the Emmy nominations coming up, there was even a buzz about BSG being considered, which would be a huge leap for any sci-fi genre TV show. Sadly, BSG didn't make the cut, but a couple of pseudo sci-fi shows did (although I wouldn't consider these true sci-fi): Heroes, Lost Make Emmy Cut

Being a filmmaker myself, I found this insight on the production of Michael Bay's Transformers movie to be interesting.

More on Transformers... some video from the premiere featuring blurbs from cast and crew.

I have to say, I'm a little perturbed at the release of Transformers. For the last... forever, they were touting the release to be on July 4, but just this past weekend they supposedly pushed the release to the 3rd right under my nose, and what did they do? They had evening releases on the 2nd (Monday)! It kills me because I had planned my schedule for the longest time for a midnight viewing on the 3rd (well, technically it would have just turned to the 4th at 12am - I'm sure you get what I mean). And now, not only have I not seen it yet (and really want to), I probably won't be able to actually go until this weekend since I couldn't change any of my plans as of this weekend. Gah!



This isn't part of SciFi Wire, but because we all love Steven too: Spielberg on Spielberg airs on TCM on July 9 at 8pm and midnight. I don't think I will be able to get that (unless it's aired on a subsidiary network my cable carries), so if anyone wants to DVR it and P2P to me, that would rule :)