Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed

Like most geeks, I watched the Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed documentary on The History Channel this past Monday night. I honestly thought I was going to be bored, especially when I saw that it was 2-hours long. And, keep in mind that that was the same day I say Pirates 3, so I wasn't really in the mood for another long movie/TV watching commitment.

Turns out, I was enthralled the whole time. It really is a great documentary, and I don't normally like documentaries. I'm sure they're gonna re-run it a couple of times, so if you didn't watch it, check you Tivo.

I really enjoyed the approach of the doc, how they related the epic to stories from the Bible, Greek and Roman mythology, religion, history, etc., and how they explained the significance of the major characters and their ultimate purpose in the Hero's Journey (as Joseph Campbell called it). I feel like I just took a humanities class with all the information I absorbed from the doc.

It's important to remember that what is presented really is all theory. It fits sure enough, but as Dr. Joan Breton Connelly points out in the doc, you get to the point where you ask "did George Lucas mean for this connection to be made, or am I making it? Am I participating as part of the poet?" Lucas himself never appears in the doc outside of archive production footage to corroborate any of the experts' assertions. Connelly later goes on to say, "100 years from now, someone will be sitting here discussing the impact of Star Wars, and they will be seeing different things in it than we are seeing today." Just something to keep in mind.

That said, I totally bought all of it, hook, line, and sinker.

As far as the interviewees, it was nice to have some of the intellectual community represented, as well as filmmakers like Joss Whedon, Kevin Smith, JJ Abrams, and Peter Jackson. They each offered a unique and engaging perspective on the films' themes. I was kind of thrown by the inclusion of Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather, but after a while it made sense to me since they really are experts on the 20th century. It's kind of weird to think that Rather and Brokaw like Star Wars, but then again, who doesn't? That said, I thought the inclusion of interviews with Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi went too far. I'm sure they love a good sci-fi epic as much as the next cat, but it was almost comic seeing them in a Star Wars doc. If they needed politicos in the doc, they should've gotten President Clinton instead. You just know that guy is a huge Star Wars fan, neh?

On the whole, the doc almost made me want to watch Episodes I-III again. Almost.

And in case you're wondering, my favorite of the 6 films is Empire. It used to Star Wars (I refuse to call it "A New Hope"), but I changed it.

Bruce Campbell: genius

I know these have been floating around the internet for some time now, but in case you haven't seen them, here are the awesome Old Spice commercials starring Bruce Campbell.

The first ("If you don't have it..."):


The second (Hungry Like the Wolf):

Pirates: At World's End

I went to the 11am show of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End today. I knew it was a long movie, but not getting out of the movie theater until 2:10pm was still a shock. About the movie, here's what I thought, in no particular order (WARNING, THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD. BIG ONES):

1. Keira Knightley is ridiculously gorgeous in the entire movie. At some points, it was even distracting.

2. I wish the movie had more Jack Sparrow in it.

3. I think the "Maelstrom" battle would've been even cooler if there WASN'T a whirlpool in the middle of the 2 ships. Also, the Jack & Davy duel high above the deck was unnecessary and unrealistic. Who has balance that good?

4. Despite what I said in #3, the end battles were spectacular! Lots of fun even after 2 hours of mostly talky-talky.

5. Sao Feng lost all appeal when he attempts to rape Elizabeth. His asking for forgiveness did not make up for it.

6. Keith Richards did a really good job. Although, he may have been too commanding of a presence. It made me wonder why he wasn't one of the 9 Pirate Lords.

7. I love the fact that Beckett freezes at the end. Very realistic for a villain who was obviously all talk and only as strong as the man beside him.

8. Everyone at ILM should be preserved for future generations to use. They are geniuses without peers in my opinion.

9. I was really glad to see more of Jack's cunning and trickery in this one. He was kind of buffoonish (and not in a good way) in the last film.

10. I could've done without the good Jack-bad Jack/angel-devil/duck season-rabbit season hallucinations that Jack has after he gets out of the Locker. Silly.

11. I've read some reviews that the story is too dense to follow. This is NOT so. It's dense, but it makes sense... at least it did to me.

12. What the hell were the other Pirates' ships doing during the last battle?

13. I want to know what happened to Calypso. There was very little effect to her resurgence, so why not cut out that storyline? Maybe because of Davy Jones? I don't know.

14. The "road" to World's End was perfect, in terms of both scenery and dialogue/interactions.

15. Once again, Bill Nighy is freakin' amazing as Davy Jones. 'Nuff said.

16. The most intriguing story in the entire film was that of the origin of Davy Jones. I wanted to hear/see more about it.

UPDATE: 17. I don't know if the "parlay" scene was supposed to be an homage to the final standoff in The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, but that's what I immediately thought of when it began. Am I the only one? Well, it was excellent either way.

Overall, I liked this one WAY better than Dead Man's Chest, but Curse of the Black Pearl still reigns supreme. At World's End is definitely worth seeing on the big screen, if only to see Davy Jones' tentacle face in some magnificent close-ups.

Paul McCartney: Dance Tonight

I've actually been really eager to see Paul McCartney's latest video, "Dance Tonight" starring Sir Paul, Natalie Portman, and Mackenzie Crook, and directed by Michel Gondry. Reason being that I had the good fortune of meeting and having a long chat with Mackenzie Crook a few months ago, and he was telling me all about the video, in particular how the effects were done. Based on his descriptions, I couldn't wait to see how it turned. Here's a good description:

"All the ghost effects are done in camera: the ghosts are actually evolving in front of a glass separation that reflects their image into the shot. This technique is based on smoke and mirror effects of magic tricks (known as the Pepper's Ghost effect) and other early cinema effects." --from director-file.com

I think the video and the "ghost effects" all look great (I'm a big fan of practical effects over CGI). Check out the video:


(found thanks to Russ)

Joss Whedon on violence

Joss Whedon speaks out on violence and the objectification of women.

Well, I didn't do a very good job a describing his essay... just go read it. In my opinion it's an emotional yet well-thought-out examination of the world we live in. Worth your time.

(via Whedonesque)

Tattoo

This is probably the most exciting piece of animation that I've seen in recent years. It's a teaser reel for a project called "Tattoo" that was done by ITS CARTOON, a Beijing-based animation company that is doing some phenomenal work right now. That's right, I said Beijing... as in China. Mark my words, China is going to be the next hotspot in cutting-edge animation.

I have no idea if this was ever made into a full-length thing. And it's hard to see all the coolness of this piece in this Youtube clip, but take a look anyway. The coolest of the cool starts at around 2:55 or so... when the helicopters show up:


I've never seen camera-control (movement, focus, zoom, etc.) like that used in animation before. And how cool is the use of 2D characters in a 3D-that-looks-2D environment? Shiny.

Transformers

I can't remember the last time I was THIS excited to see a movie, and it's all thanks to this trailer:


On a related note, I'll go see any Michael Bay movie, really. I get a kick out of almost all of them. I own several which I watch over and over. I'd say it's my guilty pleasure, but I don't feel guilty about it.

To all you Michael Bay haters out there, you've got to admit that this looks awesome! And if you don't, I'll tell everyone you secretly liked Armageddon...

...which really is a pretty kick-ass movie, in my opinion.

Terrible, terrible (that's 2 terribles)

In the past week, I've seen both the John Rambo (I call it Rambo 4... or should it be Rambo 3: First Blood Part 4?) "trailer" and the Star Wars Animated: Tales of the New Republic teaser. And I didn't like either of them. In fact, I thought they were both really bad. And now, to demonstrate how bad they are, both are embedded below.

This was a dilemma for me. Just post links to the offending clips on Youtube, or embed them here? I chose to embed them just so readers wouldn't have to put any extra effort into finding and watching these if they so choose. I'm trying to help you here.

This John Rambo trailer contains VERY graphic violence. It may even be ultra-violent. You have been warned:


The Star Wars Animated one doesn't contain any objectionable material... except for the character designs (hyuk hyuk):


found both via Ain't It Cool News.

the answer to my prayers

Found this on BoingBoing this morning. It's a portion of a hypothetical (or fantasy) map that illustrates an LA mass transit system based on the London Underground system. How freakin' awesome is this:


Here's the link to the full map.

God, please snap your fingers and make this come true. All of us Angelinos want this to happen (I know I'm speaking for a lot of people here, but trust me... I know).

100: very exciting

Friends... I've landed my first professional directing job. This is a HUGE milestone for me which will only be superceded when I have finished my first professional directing job. Sadly, this announcement is a little premature as I'm not actually allowed to talk about what I'm working on just yet, but I should be able to give you the full skinny within the next two months at the latest.

Here's what I can tell you about it, in very general and vague terms. The sum total running time of what I'll be directing will come to a maximum of 15mins. It's for a well-known entertainment company starring a couple of recognizable peeps. We're shooting in July and hopefully releasing before the end of the year.

It is not porn. I know you were thinking it.

More on all of this later, but until then, join me in a collective WOO-HOO!!

(btw, this is my 100th post on this blog. Not the biggest of feats when considered against the whole blogging community, but it is for me. Personal woo-hoo! 'Nuff said.)

28 minutes later...

It's been about a half-hour since I left the theater having just seen 28 Weeks Later. I should say that I am a REALLY big fan of Days and was looking forward to this sequel. At first, I was skeptical about it, thinking that since Danny Boyle was no longer directing and Cillian Murphy would be nowhere to be seen, then the movie was going to be crap.

Not so. I dug it. A lot.

It looks and feels just like the first film. Although there is no explanation of what happened to Murphy's character and the other survivors, the new characters are compelling and equally tragic. The film has a solid story and is exceptionally paced and well-made.

If the opening scene doesn't give you a panic attack, then I think you'll be ok for the rest of the movie. The beginning is CRAZY. And the way that scene ends is classic and made me chuckle only because I just know that I would've been having the same reaction as (SPOILER ALERT) Robert Carlyle's character when he's finally motoring down the river in his boat.

MORE SPOILERS: There is one thing that I didn't like and that was the scene in the containment room during the beginning of the Code Red... the scene that ends with Andy entering the A/C ducts. The director used a lot of shaky-cam which normally doesn't bother me, and 90% of the time it didn't bother me in this movie either. Just that one scene where the cuts make no sense, everything is an extreme close-up, and there are lights flashing like crazy. It lasts for less than 5-mins, I think, but it was still annoying.

END SPOILERS

Aside from that, all good in my book. I especially like the music/score/soundtrack or whatever you want to call it. It fit the scenes perfectly and powerfully conveyed the emotions on-screen to a degree that I've rarely seen in recent years.

It's a little gory but not overly so, and you probably expected that anyway. What's next? 28 Years Later?

Even MY spider-sense was tingling

I know I'm in the majority, but I wasn't too crazy about Spider-Man 3. Although, I'm more forgiving than most because I did think the action scenes, especially the crane-building sequence were really fun and incredible to watch. It was everything in between that nagged at me. I could tell within the first 20mins or so that there was something off about the movie. Here's a SPOILER-FILLED list of the things that bugged me the most about SM3 (in no particular order):

1. What the hell happened to Spidey's spider-sense? He got snuck up on, beat down, and tossed aside at every occasion. One of his main powers is missing? That's just lazy writing if you ask me.

2. Even when he had the full Venom-mask thing going (you know... the eyes, teeth, tongue thing), the voice coming out of the most menacing Spidey-villain ever created (IMHO) was that of Topher Grace. With the mask up, the voice should've been much more raspy and monsterous.

3. Eye-liner and messy hair do not an evil Peter make.

4. The 70s-esque evil-Peter montage was slightly funny, but mostly out of place and a waste of time.

5. Venom wasn't introduced until late in the movie at which point there's no opportunity to fully explore the damaged psyche of Eddie Brock and Venom. In this movie, he just comes off as a spoiled, over-sensitive brat.

6. Gwen Stacy was an unnecessary addition. She could've been any random woman, so why make her the figure from one of the most tragic stories in Spidey history? You're just asking to piss the fanboys off.

7. The retcon that made Flint Marko Uncle Ben's killer. Stupid.

8. The revelation that Harry's butler knew that Norman really did die by his own glider's blades. That makes it ok? Forget the fact that Spidey jumped out of the way of the glider to save his own ass, but Norman DID NOT commit suicide. He was killed accidentally during a fight with Spider-Man, people! Harry, in his state of mind, would not have cared about anything else.

9. How many times does Peter have to take off his Spider-Man mask in public before someone sees him and exposes his secret identity?

10. In the church, even I couldn't tell it was Peter Parker from Brock's vantage point... AND I ALREADY KNEW IT WAS. Again, lazy writing to make up for the fact that a major villain wasn't introduced until pretty much the end of the movie. But don't get me wrong... the Sandman story was sooooooo much more compelling than what the Brock-Venom storyline could've been. For those who aren't sure, I'm being sarcastic.

11. How did Peter not hear or see the freakin METEORITE hit the ground 10-20 yards away? And why did said meteorite only make a minor hole in the dirt, like a kid had just been building a mud-castle or something?

That'll do it for now. Honestly, I just can't keep up the negativity. Again, the action scenes were AWESOME. For real. Some great stuff there that makes you temporarily forget about the bad stuff. Oh, and Thomas Hayden Church was great as the Sandman. He really was. And J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson... fugedaboutit!

I'll leave you with what I think would've been a better way to approach Spider-Man 3: let's learn from the mistakes made in the original Batman series of movies... just because it's the third movie doesn't mean you need 3 villains. Limit it to the black suit and Venom. Hell, even start the movie with Peter already in the black suit and being mean. Dr. Conners can explain it away as the symbiote-agression-blah-blah-blah. Have Peter rid himself of the costume within the first third of the movie and then introduce Venom and explore that relationship to a fuller extent, leading up to a battle that is essentially Spidey vs Spidey, and not Spidey and the Goblin vs Venom and the Sandman (talk about needing to stay focused on the themes of your film... sheesh!)

Done and done. And yes, I realize it's easier to be on the outside looking in.