There shouldn’t be any surprises within ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER. The film is either won or lost largely based on its name. So as an audience member, you can quickly judge whether you will balk at the idea of a young Abraham Lincoln fighting vampires with a silver-edged axe. The real grey area is how much of that time spent will live up to what you have in mind. Director Timur Bekmambetov is known for striking visuals and pushing the limits of what you can comprehend. He certainly does both in this film, with quick cuts around blurred action sequences and a set piece that follows Abraham and his vampire…
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G-S-T Review…Brave
Stories of fantasy and high adventure are certain to contain genre stand-bys like magic, kingdoms a far, fair maidens and the like. Yet in Pixar’s latest (and first true period-piece) this “maiden” is not a damsel in distress by any means. Brave‘s Princess Merida actually has more in common with any number of Hayao Miyazaki’s female protagonists than it does the colorful princesses whose posters grace little girls’ walls. It channels some of the more stand-up kind of womanly characters we’ve seen in the last few decades…even if in this case she is defiant to a fault. With a line like “I am Merida, and I’ll be shooting for my own hand”…
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“The CineMagic 8-Ball” – In Theaters 6/21/12
When so many movies are released each weekend and trailers often seem better than the movie itself, what should one do? In this precarious situation, we consult the The CineMagic 8-Ball (TM) to help us see through the nebulous marketing haze. Doing so just might save us all a disheartening trip to the cinema and spare us unnecessarily springing for $7 popcorn. See what the 8-Ball says about this week’s releases… ——————————————————————————————————————————————- ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter explores the secret life of our greatest president, and the untold story that shaped our nation. Visionary filmmakers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (director of Wanted) bring a fresh and…
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Sweet Trailer…'Dredd'
Proving that what’s old is new again comes the reboot of Sly Stallone’s Judge Dredd. Not going to lie, this does look decent and Urban looks the part…but something just doesn’t hit home yet. For now, have a first look at the adaptation of the popular graphic novels featuring Karl Urban as, you guessed it, “judge, jury and executioner“. Enjoy! The future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One- a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called “Judges” who possess the combined powers of judge,…
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Sweet (Teaser) Trailer…'Monsters University' – UPDATED
Remember that charming little animated film from Pete Docter all the way back in 2001? You know, the one with the adorable characters hiding in closets to scare kids? Yeah, thought that might ring a bell. Well, for those of you who fell in love with the likes of Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan (“Sulley” for short) Pixar’s next film will take us back to the duo’s college days before they were best friends. So enjoy this glimpse into how these two suffered some knocks (well mostly Mike) became the best of pals with the first teaser trailer to the Monsters, Inc. prequel Monsters University… By the way, in a crafty…
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Trailer…'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2'
Every saga has its end, and aside from Christopher Nolan’s final Batman film, Twilight’s sunset is imminent (let’s forget about the reboot rumors for now shall we). Likened to Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill and the final Harry Potter film, apparently there was just too much juicy brooding and lip biting in the Breaking Dawn book that it needed to be told in two parts. So here we are with the first full trailer for the second half of the last Twilight film…did I go too fast for anyone? Behold, Edward, Bella and Jacob’s final hurrah. In this film, Bella and Edward’s daughter Renesmee is misidentified as an “immortal child” which leads the Cullens…
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The Criterion Files – Peeping Tom / 8½
“I have always felt that Peeping Tom and 8½ say everything that can be said about film-making, about the process of dealing with film, the objectivity and subjectivity of it and the confusion between the two. 8½ captures the glamour and enjoyment of film-making, while Peeping Tom shows the aggression of it, how the camera violates… From studying them you can discover everything about people who make films, or at least people who express themselves through films.”– Martin Scorsese I often feel that film critics, scholars, and writers are naturally more drawn to “movies about movies”– pictures which shed light onto the filmmaking process at any angle– and tend to show them more favor than the average moviegoer.…
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Sweet (Final) Trailer…'The Dark Knight Rises'
Looks like it’s all come down to this, we have one final full trailer for the final installment in the Nolan Batman saga. Some of this you’ve seen, some of this is new, but it’s all just a hint of the magic to come this Summer. To quote the Joker in The Dark Knight, “Here, we, go…” Eight years after Batman took the fall for Two Face’s crimes, a new terrorist leader, Bane, overwhelms Gotham’s finest, and the Dark Knight resurfaces to protect a city that has branded him an enemy. Warner Bros. has slated The Dark Knight Rises for release (on regular and IMAX theaters) everywhere this Summer on July 20th, 2012.
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Hans Zimmer Scoring Zack Snyder's 'Man of Steel'
From one great DC hero to another, maestro of Bwaaah, Hans Zimmer looks to trade the depths of Gotham for the heights of Metropolis. That’s right Super-friends, for his next project, Zimmer will be going up, up and away to score Zack Snyder’s Superman film. With his work on the final Nolan Batman in the can (you can listen to samples of it here), Zimmer is free to begin work on the Zack Snyder-directed, Christopher Nolan-produced Superman reboot titled Man of Steel which is slated to soar into theaters about a year from now on June 14th, 2013. Yet, in the long history of many a failed/unrealized Superman project, as…
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Awesome WETA 'Prometheus' Intro VFX Breakdown
If you’ve seen Sir Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, whether or not you’re on board with the ambiguous/not entirely satisfying (or thought out) plot, you no doubt have marveled at how astoundingly beautiful his return to sci-fi looked. Well, Academy Award-winning visual effects house WETA Digital crafted the scene using a combination of cutting-edge tech and practical techniques. This video below shows they pulled off the effects. It’s short but worth a look. Enjoy!! In the film’s opening sequence, a lone humanoid figure crosses a cliff top, disrobes and drinks from a small container. Within moments, his body begins to break apart with horrifying force. The dissolving Engineer pitches forward into a waterfall, his genetic material seeding what…
