[ current selection | talking heads – once in a lifetime ]
[ feelin’ | haaack! ]

thursday…two more days til the long weekend. woo! granted its really just one extra day of rest, but i suppose at this point in your life every day counts. azkabans just a week away, and the reviews still keep coming. aicn has a pretty glowing review today by quint, who decribes the film as the potter movie others should strive to be. go cuaron. heres to hoping newell continues cuarons rockin’ work.

quint also posted a review for the day after tomorrow, which he liked alot too. he notes that while theres plenty of cheese and plenty of improbable situations (emmerich freely admits to taking some “artistic license”) but points out that gyllenhaals plot is pretty coo. im all for watching the movie when it comes out, but will probably wait til after the crazy memorial day weekend rush. a wave of little potter fans i can handle…massive throngs of holiday movie-goers i can do without.

MASTER OF SPACE AND TIME
and a final bit of movie news…ign reports that michel gondry has his eyes set on adapting rudy ruckers book master of space and time as a movie. jack black is already attached to the movie, which follows the misadventures of two scientists who invent a machine that can turn their imagination into reality. seriously, where does gondry find this shit? the dudes like a laser-guided missile. anyhoo, for the time being tho, gondrys working on the science of sleep, and black will be working on peter jacksons king kong.

> quints azkaban review (via aicn)
> quints the day after tomorrow review (via aicn)
> master of space and time (via ign)

[ current selection | robin jones & joao bosco se olieira – royal rumba (fila brazilia mix) ]
[ feelin’ | sore ]

i was considering recollecting this oddly vivid dream i had last nite about insect swarms, viciously oversized beetles, and/or other stuff (now that im trying to think about it, the details are slowly slipping away). but it was definitely weird and too sci-fi movie-of-the-week…ish, so no. ill move past that and onto some bits of movie news. since the prisoner of azkaban is right around the corner, new promotional images have begun making their way onto the web. ign posted 3 new images today from the movie, and theyre pretty swish. theyre definitely moody and nothing like what was seen in the previous movies. the last two images are actually quite creepy…with a somber color tone and desaturated feel, it actually reminds me of mark romaneks excellent video for nine inch nails perfect drug. anyhoo, i already have my premium seats in hand for premiere nite. swishy reserved leather seats (no waiting in line yo), a side table for food, and in-seat food services…woo!

other bite-sized morsels of news today include the following: the new purported title for episode 3 of star wars is the “birth of the empire“. not bad…and a hell of alot better than “the creeping fear” poo-smell that had emerged before. its also been pointed out that the movie is 365 days away from its premiere…one year for the mentally impaired out there. that is all.

> new azkaban images (via ign)
> birth of the empire (via killer movies)
> one year til eps3 (via cinescape)

OFF-TOPIC ADDENDUM
oh yea…i keep forgetting to mention this. it has absolutely nothing to do with the above post, but i didnt want to slap it in a new post. movable type 3 was released last week, for those that werent aware. theyve now moved over to a pricing model, with a pared-down free version. therere alot of coo new features in version 3, so im thinking of upgrading. ive however never liked it when formerly-free products shift to charging a fee, and subsequently offering a pared-down free version. i mean, im all for supporting their cause…but im also broke. and blogging is a hobby, not a passion (thats worth investing money in). we’ll see…

[ current selection | hitomi kuroishi (last exile) – over the sky ]
[ feelin’ | fine ]

aicn posted today the premiere info for the donnie darko directors cut at the seattle film festival on may 29th…woo. so if youre in the area, go support the movie because the film festival will determine to what extent it will be distributed nationally afterwards. ok, so even if the movie has a tepid showing at the festival, it would most likely still hit nyc…but thats not the point. the point is that people for the most part overlooked the film when it was first released theatrically, and were kicking themselves in the ass once they saw it on dvd…(me included fyi. nobody wanted to see it with me. poot). so go out and show the support a great movie like donnie darko deserves.

the post also mentions david kellys next (forthcoming) project, southland tales…which is supposed to be a musical/comedy (??) but has a rather cryptic website. “forthcoming” was actually parenthesized because the movie knowing was supposed to be kellys next movie, but it seems that southland tales has superceded it in terms of production. i was rather looking forward to that movie, but feh…its most likely been pushed back a year or two. anyhoo…darko yo!
and m3ntal note…david kelly has this odd resemblance to tom, one half of flat tire. weird.

> donnie darko directors cut (via aicn)
> southland tales
> donnie darko website

[ current selection | lightning seeds – sense ]
[ feelin’ | sniffly ]

we had our first movie nite in a while last nite at alice and marisols. asian movies have for the most part taken a bit of a dip lately (2003 was a damn good year for asian cinema)…so we’ve been substituting asian movies with your standard american fair. well, in the case of last night…love actually’s british, but its all good. for anyone whos watched movies with me enough, you’d probably start to get the impression that im a sucker for romance comedys. which um…in part is true. but hey, i dont just watch any crap romantic comedy. the thing had better be of love actually/my sassy girl quality, and have at the very least one cutie from my top 10 (or someone potentially able to break the top 10). harsh guidelines…but hey, im a very particular cinema viewer. anyhoo, its been feeling a bit like a hump week, so love actually was something to brighten the day.

SUMMER CINEMA
the summer movie seasons upon us yo…woo! so along with the upcoming ny asian film festival and the (hopefully) 2nd annual ntt film festival, summer movie releases that im considering laying down money for include:

> troy – this week | hmm…this is still up in the air actually…
> shrek 2 – may 19th | might wait a week or so after its release…
> the day after tomorrow – may 28th | i never understood emmerich-haters. what exactly are they expecting? coppola?
> the prisoner of azkaban – june 4 | premium seats premiere night yo.
> zatoichi (beat takeshi) – june 4 | thought this would be perfect for the nyaff, but it got a theatrical release instead. swish!
> the chronicles of riddick – june 11 | warrants a look
> garden state – july 30 | zach braff yo!
> avp – aug 13 | it cant be helped
> hero – aug 20 | ha…dumbass miramax. i would already have seen this at the nyaff…not to mention countless times on dvd.
> sky captain and the world of tomorrow – sept 17 | september…yesh.

[ current selection | the postal service – such great heights ]
[ feelin’ | still sore…argh. ]

i got bad sleep last nite, im a little cranky, and my whole bodys still sore. feh. on the bright-side, i think the ass-kicking i received this past saturday accelerated the thinning of my waist…huzzah! ok, ill stop that before marisol gets on my case.

its already may…and i think im still writing april on some documents. oops. time seems to be flying lately…a review of the upcoming return of the king dvd, which comes out may 25th, is already up on ign…wow. the theatricals all fine and stuff, but i generally hold out for the extended editions. the theatrical release dvd is actually earlier than usual (than the previous editions), and doesnt come with as many features as the previous dvds. because its early, it also doesnt feature a preview of the forthcoming extended edition…which doesnt come out til sometime in november. still sounds coo tho, and itll fill the appetites of those who cant (or dont want to) wait for the extended editions.

DAY AFTER
and over in the “holy shit the worlds fucked” genre of cinema, the first review for roland emmerichs the day after tomorrow is up on aicn. the reviewer gave it a positive review, and elaborated on the overall plot and effects. he also mentioned the sick special effects, such as the mass destruction of whole cities by tornadoes and tidal waves…and in particular the smaller details like inhabitants of a building watching bodies and debris rush by before their own building implodes. movies such as these deserve to be seen in the theaters, like the first time you saw the white house incinerated in id4 or the charge of the oliphaunts in rotk…so ill definitely have to check it out.

> the return of the king dvd review (via ign)
> the day after tomorrow review (via aicn)

hmm…apparently ive never posted about the upcoming pitch black sequel with vin diesel…the chronicles of riddick. couldve sworn i did. i think i was a little unsure about its prospects and was waiting to be impressed. i suppose now tho it deserves a mention, because the second trailer released today is absolutely slick. where the first pitch black was gritty and realistic, the chronicles takes an alternate path towards highly stylized future baroque, in the same vein as david lynch’s dune. vin diesel is still kicking ass as riddick, the annoying little androgynous pest jack/jackie from the first pitch black grew up to become the hottie kyra, and even eomer shows up as one of the top nut-kickers, vaako. they even have dame judi dench yo.

while we’re on the chronicles of riddick, i should also mention dark fury too…the accompanying animated story for the chronicles. similar to how the animatrix collection of animes accompanied the matrix sequels, dark fury is an animation produced by peter chung (aeon flux) that bridges the first pitch black and the chronicles. the dvd comes out on june 15 (4 days after the premiere) and should be interesting.

> the chronicles of riddick trailer 2 (via ign)
> dark fury trailer (via cinescape)

if anybody calls me a workout-fanatic, ill pop your head off. so…..gosh, movies. the summer crop of movies are actually creeping up fast. they keep pushing up the dates more and more each year, and one of the first major “summer blockbuster” movies is actually hitting the theaters the end of this month in time for memorial weekend…the day after tomorrow. theres a new trailer up today, and it has even more creepy images of mother nature taking a massive dump on humanity. im definitely looking forward to seeing this movie…partly because it just looks interesting, and further bolstered by the fact that im a fan of jake gyllenhaal.

speaking of tomorrow, the other “tomorrow” movie…sky captain and the world of tomorrow, was mentioned on aicn today. its not much, but a reader wrote in about a new clip they previewed at the san francisco wondercon. the effects are supposed to be rockin’…with a distinct cartoon/pulp feel to them. sky captain is definitely high on my list of movies to watch this year. the same article also mentions a preview of spider-man 2 they showed. but from the description of it, the preview sounds similar to whats already been seen in the current trailers.

> the day after tomorrow trailer 2 (via aicn)
> spider-man 2 and sky captain previews (via aicn)

most of the media outlets today are reporting that the upcoming issue of entertainment weekly will be featuring a picture of christian bale in the new batman costume for chris nolans batman begins. ign and cinescape however declined to post a scan of the image out of respect for ew’s exclusive…….whatever. so over at aicn, theres a scan yo…so take a look.

the site notes that the batman logo isnt visible, but after some leveling in ps, theres a raised surface on the chest that looks like the bottom edge of the new batman logo. so the chest logo may in fact just be a simple raised surface without any kind of color differentiation. also, this costume looks decidedly different than the rumored costume pic from a few weeks ago (especially the length of the ears), so dont really know what that was…

> batman begins costume (via aicn)
> older rumored batman costume

[ current selection | massive attack – mezzanine ]
[ feelin’ | still sniffly ]

this claritin really has to kick in faster…sniff. theres a slew of new reviews for blade: trinity out today on aicn. they had a screening in l.a. recently of a rough cut of the movie, and the reviews so far have been pretty positive. the majority of the reviewers thought highly of the movie (with a few minor gripes…but it was a rough cut), while there were a number of reviews that said it was a bore. im a fan of goyer, and ive liked the last 2 blades…so i would probably lean towards the positive reviews. of the ones that did like the movie, they particularly noted that it was the leads that drove the movie, rather than the plot. biel apparently kicks much as, snipes is still a disgruntled dunpeel, and parker posey is supposed to be a pretty bitchy villain. it was however van wilder himself ryan reynolds that stood out amongst the crowd…so thats coo to hear. one of the reviewers even mentioned that reynolds seemed like he was channeling banky…and quipped that he looked like a younger jason lee. shit, i never thought of it that way. being a fan of banky and jason lee, im all for that.

the movie is still a ways away from being released (in december), so theres still ample time to tweak and polish the movie. word.

> blade: trinity reviews (via aicn)

[ current selection | nami tamaki – kimi you kiseki ni ]
[ feelin’ | sniffly ]

i really need a better naming conventions for these posts. we get three noteworthy movie news this morning. firstly, aicn posted their first review for shrek 2 today. i think it was today…i tend to miss these things. we’ll assume its today. anyhoo, the movie will rock, and the reviewer agrees. more inside gags, more characters, a bitchy godmother mob-boss, and a latin-lover puss-n-boots…bwahaha. the reviewer even says that it might be better than the first shrek, so thats a high mark to meet. the movie comes out may 21st.

AVP
secondly, theres a third alien v. predator featurette posted on the website. this featurette takes a look at the cast and characters of the upcoming movie. and while im not as effusive about the cast as andersen apparently is in the featurette…many of whom are relative unknowns, the shots and scenes were pretty interesting. its reassuring at least to know that lance henriksen is on board, tho i hope hes not the only watchable character in the movie. for now tho, id say the movie has a 60/40 chance of not sucking.

STAR WARS
lastly…and this was going to be posted earlier, but i kept forgetting to…a third making eps3 documentary is up on starwars.com now. this one, titled “we still do a little bit” looks into some of the effects that are still done the old-fashioned way…with miniatures, props, and built sets. these must be archaic methods indeed in lucas’ mind if he needs a featurette just to convince us that he actually still uses real actors and sets. anyhoo, its kind of fun to watch, with alot of shots on-set of the production going thru the motions.

> shrek 2 review (via aicn)
> avp featurette (via aicn)
> past avp featurettes one | two
> making eps3 | p3.we still do a little bit
> making eps3 | p2.one world, two movies
> making eps3 | p1.two worlds, one movie