2007: CG In Review

CG Society has a cool retrospective of computer graphics in movies, games and TV for 2007.

And Another One Bites the Dust

I should have kept reading... the next story on SciFi was that Dead Zone was canceled too. The show had lost its unique style in recent seasons, but we still enjoyed it.

USA Network has officially canceled The Dead Zone, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Dead Zone ran for six seasons. It was based on characters from Stephen King's book and was created by the late Michael Piller and his son, Shawn. Its premiere set a record for a series debut on basic cable, with 6.4 million viewers.

The 4400: A Sad Farewell

We were just shocked to find out from SciFi.com that The 4400 has been canceled.

Scott Peters, creator of USA Network's The 4400, announced on the show's official forum that the series has been canceled.

"It's with great sadness that I pass along to you the information I've just received: The 4400 has been canceled," Peters wrote on Dec. 18. "We've had a great time bringing you this story and submersing you in the lives of all these incredible characters. Thank you especially to the folks on the board here whose tireless devotion to the show is nothing short of remarkable."

Composer Bear McCreary on BSG

In his blog Bear McCreary has a few tidbits about BSG:

As for Galactica news, I've finished scoring Razor and I begin the first episode of season 4 in a week or two. I've also collaborated with a member of the Galactica cast to write a song that was used in a pivotal scene they shot last week. More on that later. :)

The long-delayed Battlestar Galactica Season 3 album starts shipping Oct. 23rd, but it will be worth the wait. I'll try to do another blog like this one breaking the various tracks apart, but it might have to wait until November. That week is going to be a busy one for me, since I will also be performing again with the Oingo Boingo alums for our third Johnny Vatos Tribute to Halloween at the House of Blues on October 26th and 27th. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster. Hope to see you guys there!

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CGI so good you don't see it

Nice FX!

From JoBlo.com:

This video clip just blew me away. I seriously had no idea that there was so much CGI in David Fincher's ZODIAC. I guess Finch really didn't need to go out and find/create backdrops that looked like San Fransisco in the 70s. Check out the following clip to see just how much of the background was real, and how much was just a bunch of sh*t the tech dudes added later.

Crazy, huh? Sure, it's not Shia LaBeouf acting with an enormous imaginary robot head, but this is pretty sick too. The big blue screen has to be a little distracting, doesn't it? Anyway, this is a pretty cool little insight for all of you interested in film-making.

(Checking to see when Transformers comes out on DVD... ahh, yes, October 16, 2007)

How [not] to make a great movie

From a Chicagoist.com interview with Audrey Niffenegger, author of Time Traveler's Wife:

C: Even without the knowledge of the impending film, Time Traveler is a very cinematic book. Did you have anything in mind about how it’d look on a screen while you were writing it?

AN: I was thinking very much about what it would look like if I made a movie out of it, but the movie that I would make is not the movie that’s going to be made.

There's a saying that goes "If it isn't broken, don't fix it." Let's hope it's still a half decent movie. It's a pretty damn good book, especially considering the intricate time travel out-of-sequence storytelling.

Another great time/sci-fi/drama book is Flashforward by Robert Sawyer. That would also make an excellent movie.

There aren't any guarantees. Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park turned out okay. But other stories of his like Timeline, Sphere and Congo turned out to be disappointing crap.

Go Speed Racer!

From Zap2it.com

Richard Roundtree has been added to the cast of Andy and Larry Wachowski's adaptation of "Speed Racer."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Roundtree will play racing icon Ben Burns, one of Speed's (Emile Hirsch) heroes and a current racing commentator.

"Speed Racer" was created by Tatsuo Yoshida and premiered as an anime series in Japan in 1967. The story centers on a teenaged Speed Racer (Hirsch) who encounters intrigue and danger on his road to racing glory. He is aided by parents Mom (Susan Sarandon) and Pops Racer (John Goodman), girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci), little brother Spritle, his monkey Chim Chim and the mechanic Sparky (Kirk Gurry). Lurking in the background is the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox).

The Wachowskis have already begun shooting "Speed Racer" in Berlin and Warner Bros. has set a May 2008 release date for the long-awaited project.

Although he'll always be best known as John Shaft, Roundtree attracted a new generation of fans with his recurring role on "Heroes" this season and with guest appearances on "Close to Home," "The Closer" and "Grey's Anatomy."

What it Means to be Cyclon?

From SciFi.com

Cast members of SCI FI Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica told reporters that they weren't happy at first to discover that their characters were Cylons, but they have come to terms with the revelation in their own ways—and hinted the Cylons may not be what they appear.

"Untitled JJ Abrams Movie"

Yeah, that's what it should be called.

You can read more speculation and clues here.

The Trailer Before Transformers

Before Transformers started, we saw a cool trailer for a movie that appears to take place in NYC. It look like a home video of a "going away" party, when suddenly the city comes under attack. Buildings are blowing up, the head of the Statue of Liberty gets tossed into the street... all shot from a consumer video camera.

It's some new thing by JJ Abrams (creator of Alias & Lost)-- that was given away by the Bad Robot logo credit. But there's no title, and not much else to go by. There are some cryptic websites, but I wouldn't bother with them just yet. There doesn't seem to be anything worthwhile yet. It's a sort of web-marketing scheme where the websites will magically grow more content as the movie gets nearer (Jan 08-08).

I hope that this project doesn't distract from the "other" project he's working on. That would be the next Star Trek movie. I got the impression that the point he went off to do Lost, Alias started to go down the drain. I'd rather have one great movie than two half-good ones.

Transformers

To counter their old slogan, There's NOT more than meets the eye in the new Transformers movie. It's ALL about the eye! You never want to blink, and you wish you had a rewind button.

The effects in this movie are over the top. And they're complemented by great action and a pace that keeps you interested despite the fact it's a longer than average movie. Currently my benchmark for action/pace/effects is Spiderman 2. It has the perfect balance of story, character and one of the best fight/action scenes since the Matrix- the train fight between Spidey and Doc Oc.

There's also a lot of humor, which I prefer over typical long drawn out philosophical speeches that usually end up in action/sci-fi movies to fill in the gaps between fight/chase/escape scenes. I've noticed this as well in superhero movies like Spiderman and Fantastic Four. Superman Returns didn't have enough humor, and suffered for that lacking.

If there's anything that's hidden beneath the surface, it's that Transformers is a well-crafted commercial for GM cars, iPods, XBox 360, Nokia, and probably a few more products I didn't notice consciously but will want to buy some time soon for no apparent reason.

Also, there are the typical Michael Bay trademark scenes:

• Big things happening at sunrise or sunset. Nothing important ever seems to take place at noon.
• A little dog.
• Lots and lots and lots of military planes, tanks, ships, etc.

Steven Speilberg is credited as Producer. There's a scene with a transformer coming out of a swimming pool while a little girl watches... I wonder if that was his idea.

This movie definitely fits in the "Big Screen" category. DO NOT wait to see this in a theater when it's been moved to the smaller screen.

Iron Man Finishes Shooting

Iron Man director Jon Favreau on June 25 announced the end of shooting on his MySpace.com blog; the final scenes were shot in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

Into the Wild Trailer

The movie based on John Krakauer's compelling book about a young man who braves living on his own in the wild now has a trailer.

Transformers History

From Yahoo.com:

In a classic bit of movie trivia, the little-seen 1986 animated film "Transformers: The Movie" was Orson Welles' last film. Yes, that Orson Welles.

The filmmaking legend who remade cinema with "Citizen Kane" (which just again topped AFI's list of 100 greatest movies), directed "Touch of Evil," starred in "The Third Man," impeccably adapted Shakespeare to the screen and panicked the nation with his infamous radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds" — concluded his career by playing Unicron, an evil shape-shifting planet moon.

Welles was 70 at the time and in poor health. His last released film was 1987's "Someone to Love," but that was shot before Welles lent his voice to "Transformers." Late in his career, Welles often took to commercials and narration work as a source of income.

Author Barbara Leaming spent many days with Welles in his last three years for her book, "Orson Welles: A Biography." She recalls Welles telling her shortly before he died that he had spent the day "playing a toy."

Thank You for Smoking/Fast Food Nation

We rented Thank You for Smoking recently. It's a great satire of the while lobbyist thing, where big companies use politics and PR to smooth out public dissent. Aaron Eckhart did an excellent job playing a bad guy who you actually love. I haven't seen such conversational articulation since Nathan Thurm.

On the flip side, Fast Food Nation is a gritty realistic and depressing look at how big companies operate. The author of the book collaborated with the movie production. He made an interesting comment about the state of fast food in a special feature documentary. Something like "I don't think fast food is unsafe- in fact I like it. I just don't like how it gets made."

CG Movies

Over the past years, CG-based movies have certainly evolved.

Tron was one of earliest. Though many scenes were made with cardboard and not computers, it certain defined the look for CG design and had many cultural icons that still appear today. I recently saw a car commercial that was a reenactment of the lightcycle game.

The Last Starfighter was fun, but lacked realism. The space scenes had all the trademarks of early CG- too clean, too sharp angles, no shadows.

On TV, of course there was Star Trek, which mixed models and CG. An often overlooked series was Space: Above and Beyond. It had what I consider the best, most realistic CG space scenes until Battlestar Galactica came around.

BTW, I'm not talking about the 1970's series-- If you don't know about the new BSG, head over to SciFi.com right now. Better yet, head over to Amazon and get started with the DVDs before Season 4 comes out next year!

Final Fantasy was a really good attempt at realism, but fell short in a few areas. Most notably was lip sync and facial expression. The character ended up seeming like robots instead of people. I think that alone gave the movie a bad perception despite how incredible the rest of the imagery was. I wish they could go back and re-render that one.

I ran across a trailer for one called Dear Anne. But the website is down. Just discovered this one- Now and Nowhere. Not sure what it's about, but it looks cool.

I don't want to count Star Wars, even though the last trilogy was almost completely CG. I think they just tried to hard to be hyper-animation and ended up with the equivalent of someone overdressing in a really bad outfit like some stars do at award ceremonies.

I have yet to see 300, but have high hopes. Sin City and Scanner Darkly were okay, but they were more style than story. Movies like this seem to be getting better. But still way behind the traditional Japanese animated movies like Spirited Away or Ghost in the Shell. In design there's a philosophy that "form follows function"- I think that applies to movies as well.

Extra five minutes of BSG Finale glory

From Scifi.Com:

NEWS FLASH! The Sunday, March 25, season finale of Battlestar Galactica will run five minutes longer than usual. If you plan on recording the episode, set your DVR or VCR to continue for five to 10 minutes after the end of the hour so you don't miss anything!

BSG Shocker: Starbuck is toast!? Say it ain't so!

From Maureen Ryan's blog on the Chicago Tribune:

Q. Is Starbuck dead or alive?

A. Good question. We saw debris from her ship, but perhaps she ejected before it was destroyed. And was there a Cylon ship nearby which could have rescued her – or was that a figment of her imagination?

One thing to keep in mind is that in their January interview, Ron Moore and David Eick were very careful to never use the words “death” or “dies.” They called what happened to Starbuck “a major event,” and when I asked directly if she would die in “Maelstrom,” Moore said, “I don’t know that I want to say that directly. I think people will have to watch that episode and judge for themselves what happens.”

I'll just say I find that comment telling.

Q. Moore and Eick said in January that a cast member's name would be off the credits after “Maelstrom.” Whose name is gone?

A. Katee Sackhoff’s name is gone from the opening credits as of the March 11 episode. An interesting side note: The opening credits in the last few episodes appear to be slightly different for each episode. In “The Son Also Rises,” the March 11 outing, there’s a brief shot of Starbuck’s photo being pinned to Galactica’s memorial wall honoring the dead.

Q. Do the members of Galactica’s fleet think Starbuck is dead?

A. Yes. In the March 11 episode, Admiral Adama (Edward James Olmos) is seen weeping over a picture of Starbuck from her official file (which of course contains both commendations and several disciplinary reports). Apollo is also grieving, as is Sam Anders (who has an interesting way of dealing with his pain)

Q. What happens next?

A. “The Son Also Rises,” the March 11 episode, sets the stage for Baltar’s trial for treason, and we meet Baltar’s lawyer, Romo Lampkin, who turns out to be a pretty fascinating guy (despite my initial fears, which turned out to be unfounded, that he had a David Caruso “Sunglasses of Justice” acting style).

Q. What happens at Baltar’s trial?

A. Well, now, you’ll just have to see that for yourself. But a lot of secrets are revealed and many ugly incidents from the past come out at the trial, which occupies much of “Crossroads Part 1” and “Crossroads Part 2,” the final two episodes of the season. And let’s just say that the trial does not lead to happy times for the Adama family.

Q. Do we find out who the final five Cylons are?

A. There is new information about Cylons before this season ends, a fact that David Eick revealed in an interview with TV Guide. If you’re asking whether a character or characters we have already met in the Galactica fleet are revealed to be Cylons, the answer is yes.

Q. What were your favorite parts of the two-part season finale?

A. The last two episodes contain some great Saul Tigh scenes (including one with Caprica Six), an intriguing scene involving Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), Caprica Six (Tricia Helfer) and Athena (Grace Park), and there is one scene in the finale, which is several minutes long, in which Jamie Bamber hits it so far out of the park that I think the ball landed in another galaxy. In every way, from the plot to the performances to the dialogue to the closing revelations, the season finale is simply enthralling. Kudos to Mark Verheiden and the "Battlestar" writing staff.

Q. Would you like to leave us with a cryptic clue?

A. Why yes, thank you. One final clue – music is a major thread in the last episode of the season. But I’ve said enough now, the hour's getting late.

Iron Man Update

From IGN.com. Jon Favreau has been keeping fans updated on his MySpace site. Here's the latest:

"...the sets are all being built, the locations are locked and the cast is, for the most part, set. As you all know, RDJ, Gwyneth, T Howard, and Jeff Bridges are all on board. We've had a week of rehearsals and I'm currently working with the writers to tailor the material accordingly. Mr. Bridges has a haircut that will no doubt be of interest to any of you fans of the books."

"I am going up to visit ILM and the Ranch. I've never been and am as stoked as any of you can imagine. I love my job."

"Stan Winston Studios has been unveiling suits for us. Once again, they have exceeded our expectations. Those of you who follow my career know that I am very skeptical about the overuse of CGI. I am happy to report that the film will be a healthy mix of both computer generated and practical effects. My goal is to make the two integrate in a way that they usually do not."

Speed Racer Goes

The live-action feature “Speed Racer” will start its engines to open on May 9, 2008, two weeks earlier than previously slated. In addition to opening wide domestically, the actioner will be released day-and-date in a majority of the international markets.

Based on the classic series created by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida, “Speed Racer” is being written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, marking the brothers’ first writing/directing collaboration since their groundbreaking “Matrix” movies. The film is being produced by Joel Silver.

Rumor has it that the movie will be shot entirely on green screen with CGI effects, like Sin City and 300.

Classic Remake

Klaatu Barada Nikto.

Possible remake by 20th Century Fox of The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Angelina Jolie has been offered the lead role in "The Day The Earth Stood Still;" and the remake is currently out to Scott Derrickson to direct.

Flushed Away

Just got around to seeing Flushed Away. Somehow this movie fell through the cracks- it's actually pretty good! Made by Aardman Animation and Dreamworks. It compares favorably to Over the Hedge and Open Season.

The singing slugs are fun throughout the movie, but my favorites are the ninja frogs.

After watching, compare notes with Wikipedia and see if you spotted all the "hidden" references to other movies and characters.

Dennis Muren Interview

In the 6th grade, I became fascinated with movies and movie special effects. I poured through magazines, books, etc. One name I came across frequently was Dennis Muren. He is responsible for the visuals of many of my favorite movies including Star Wars, They Abyss, Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds, and others.

From CG Society.com:

On February 11, the Visual Effects Society honored Dennis Muren, one of their own, with a Lifetime Achievement award. Muren began working at Industrial Light & Magic in 1976 on the first ‘Star Wars’ film, for which he won his first Oscar. He has gone on to receive 15 Oscar nominations and win nine Oscars, the most of any living person still making movies. In 1999, he became the first visual effects artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 6764 Hollywood Blvd). His most recent Oscar nomination was last year for the visual effects in ‘War of the Worlds’. We talked with him to find out what’s keeping him interested today.

Read more.

Matt Groening Interview

From Crave Online:

What took so long to do the movie?

For me, part of the reason was, we're coming up on the 20th year of the show, we're coming up on the 400th episode, and if we're ever going to do it, we should do it now. I don't want to do it [when] for some reason the show goes away and then do a movie. I thought it would really be neat to do a movie while the fans are still clamoring for it.

You'll see more of The Simpsons than you really should see and probably things, people you don't want to see. Whoever you don't want to see naked on The Simpsons, you know that's who you're going to see. Sorry about Marge.

Futurama is coming back!

Talk about a day job and night job, my night job after The Simpsons is Futurama, which is coming back on Comedy Central in 2008, 16 new episodes, and we're going to be running the old episodes, as well.

I always felt like we were a little bit like the original Star Trek. I always thought that working with my partner, David X. Cohen, that we knew that the people who loved the show really, really loved it and they wrote petitions, they wrote letters and e-mails and it just seemed right. And also, everybody that worked on the show loved it. So when it came time when the show did come back, everybody without exception said, "I'm on board." At this point, I said, "We're thinking of gearing up the show again." They said, "I'm on board." Everybody, Katy Sagal, all the actors, John Dimaggio, Billy West. The original animation team, the original animation house, the original writers. Everybody came back. It was great.

Cool Trailers

Enjoy...

• Paprika
• Sunshine
• Across the Universe
• Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
• Caffeine
• 1408

More Star Trek Casting Rumors

From TrekToday:

First came the rumours that J.J. Abrams would direct Star Trek XI, then the rumours that he would not, and finally the confirmation that he will. Now the rumour that Matt Damon will play Captain Kirk - debunked by both Star Trek insiders and Damon's reps - has returned with a vengeance.

IGN Movies cites studio sources who have told the web site that the roles of James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy may go to three very big name stars: Damon, Adrien Brody and Gary Sinise.

Damon is said to be in talks with Paramount to take over the role originated by William Shatner, who has won two Emmy Awards for his more recent role as Denny Crane on Boston Legal. Brody, an Academy Award-winning actor for The Pianist, is reportedly negotiating to play Leonard Nimoy's iconic role of Spock.

Both Shatner and Nimoy have said that they would be interested in appearing in Star Trek XI as older versions of their characters if they liked the script, and Nimoy added that he believed his contract entitled him to image approval for any actor playing young Spock.

Sinise is the current star of CSI: NY and is said to be in discussions to play physician Leonard "Bones" McCoy, a role originated by the late DeForrest Kelley. A Golden Globe winner, Sinise previously appeared in the space epics Apollo 13 and Mission to Mars.

Recent rumours have also suggested that Scottish actor James McAvoy might be in talks to play engineer Montgomery Scott, and IGN claims that Lost's Daniel Dae Kim, who previously played Corporal Chang on Enterprise, may be in line to take over the role of Sulu from George Takei, who is currently appearing on NBC's hit series Heroes as the father of a Star Trek fan.

Until Paramount makes an official announcement, all casting rumours should be considered just that. The original story is at IGN Movies.

Autobots, transform & roll out!

So there's a new Transformers movie coming out this year. A "new" one? Yeah, remember the original? Probably not. I think the same few people saw it who also saw Tron.

Anyway, this was one of my favorite cartoons growing up. Unlike many brain-dead cartoons of the 80's where each episode was a self-contained story, Transformers had a continuous story line that tied the episodes together in sequence. A few others also did this like GI Joe, Star Blazers, Robotech, etc. Those were my favorites too.

The leader of the good robots, Optimus Prime, was voiced by Peter Cullen. He was very distinctive and really conveyed the strength & wisdom of the character.

In an interview on USATODAY.com, he credits the inspiration for the voice to his brother:

I think Optimus was more -- his voice came more of substance of character. I kind of modeled Optimus Prime's voice out of many people I had known over the years, my family especially. My brother was a captain in the Marine Corps, and a very big hero in my life. His approach to serious situations was always calm and controlled an authoritative. So my brother is in there. Even my dad, too, (and) former friends who have now departed but are strong in my memory.

Sadly, he said he never received a fan letter during the time of the TV series. He didn't realize his popularity until just recently. I have to say I've been a fan for a while, and I've recognized his voice in several commercials, movie trailers, and other shows (eg: the evil KARR in Knight Rider).

Using Peter for Optimus just got them a huge boost in ticket sales. Dedicated fans will flock to see the new movie and will drag along their friends and significant others to see and hear the new version of a childhood fantasy.

Star Trek XI Casting

From IGN.com:

...Scottish actor James McAvoy is likely to be given the role of Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the upcoming Star Trek prequel. Paramount is naturally keen to get a native Scotsman to fill the boots of the late James Doohan, whose accent and personality lent much charm to the original Star Trek series and films. (Interestingly enough, Doohan himself was not Scottish, but rather a Canadian actor with a talent for foreign accents.)

His more notable credits include The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (as Tumnus the Faun), The Last King of Scotland, and the Children of Dune miniseries (as Leto Atreides II).

Matt Damon is rumored to play Kirk.

And the crystal ball says...

Here are future predictions for these amazing books being turned into movies - who knows if IMDB is pulling our leg.

2007
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 7/13
Based on the very famous books by J.K. Rowling.
Directed by unknown David Yates.
With their warning about Lord Voldemort's return scoffed at, Harry and Dumbledore are targeted by the Wizard authorities as an authoritarian bureaucrat slowly seizes power at Hogwarts.
Prediction: f***ing awesome!

Into the Wild 9/21
Based on the book by Jon Krakauer who wrote this prior to Into Thin Air.
Directed by Sean Penn who also wrote the screenplay.
The young, idealistic Christopher McCandless abandons life as most of us know it for the Alaskan wilderness.
Prediction: really good.

Kite Runner 11/2
Based on the book by Khaled Hosseini.
Directed by Marc Forster who also directed Finding Neverland and Monster's Ball.
After spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble.
Prediction: potential to be good.

Lovely Bones
Based on the book by Alice Sebold.
Directed by Peter Jackson who of course did LOTR and King Kong.
About a murdered 14 year old girl who recalls what happened from Heaven, as the incident affects those around her.
Prediction: should be very good with Jackson directing.

Peace Like a River
(Without a director or actors, I'm willing to bet the release date pushes.)
Based on the book by Leif Enger.
No director.
Billy Bob Thorton may have been cast to play the Dad.
A family tries to find their son after he is found guilty of murdering 2 bad guys who had been threatening them.
Prediction: could be even better than the book.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Chabon.
Directed by Stephen Daldry who did Billy Elliot and The Hours.
The film takes place in 1930s New York and is about two young cousins who create a comic book superhero named The Escapist, who "roams the globe, performing amazing feats and coming to the aid of those who languish in tyranny's chains!" The boys help usher in the golden age of comics, and through the years, The Escapist encounters adversaries similar to real-life figures.
Prediction: will have to work hard to beat the book.

2008
The Time Traveler's Wife
Based on the book by Audrey Niffenegger.
Directed by Robert Schwentke who directed Flightplan with Jodie Foster.
A man with a time-traveling gene uses his innate abilities to visit his lover at different points in her life. (The release date has already pushed after Brad and Jen divorced who bought the film rights.)
Prediction: near impossible to beat the book and jumping between them as kids and adults will be challenging. But hoping this will be even half as good as the book.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Based on the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Directed by David Fincher who directed Panic Room, Fight Club and The Game.
An odd romance sparks between a woman of 30 and a man who, at 50, begins aging backwards.
Featuring Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt.
Prediction: may be better the book but they should have done The Confessions of Max Tivoli Andrew Sean Greer instead.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Based on the very famous books by J.K. Rowling.
Directed by Anand Tucker who directed Shopgirl and Hilary and Jackie.
As Harry Potter begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book marked mysteriously "This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince" and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past.
Prediction: like this won't be as f***ing great as the others.

2009
The History of Love
Based on the book by Nicole Krauss.
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón who directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and
Y tu mamá también.
A long-lost book mysteriously reappears and connects an old man searching for his son with a girl seeking a cure for her mother's loneliness.
Prediction: With Cuarón directing the movie could be as great as the book.

The Memory of Running
Based on the book by Ron McLarty.
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón who directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Y tu mamá también.
Follows an obese Vietnam vet who, still reeling from the death of his parents, finds out his sister has died in Los Angeles. He sets out on a cross-country trip on his bicycle in a bid to reclaim her body.
Prediction: Again with Cuarón directing this could be really good. Casting and screenplay are critical to capture the book's characters.

2010
Harry Potter and the Dealthly Hallows
Based on the very famous books by J.K. Rowling.
The last one to end the series.
Prediction: will be as great if not better than the others; sad to see it all end.


???
No mention, but these books would make outstanding movies.

Digging to America
By Anne Tyler about 2 couples who meet at the Baltimore airport for the arrival of the babies they adopted from Korea. The 2 couples stay in touch and follow the families as they gather throughout the years as the girls get older.

The Fugitive Game
By Jonathan Littman about Kevin Mitnick the legendary hacker who broke into corporate computer systems and stole source code to satisfy his curiosity never intending harm. After a well-publicized pursuit that made him notorious, the FBI arrested Mitnick in 1995 and today helps companies protect themselves from guys like him.

Flashforward
By Robert J. Sawyer. What would you do if you got a glimpse of your future and it looked bleak? Try to change things, or accept that the future is unchangeable and make the best of it? A group of physicists accidentally induce a consciousness shift that flashes everyone on Earth forward 21 years, experiencing several minutes of the future. But while everyone is out of their minds, their bodies drop unconscious; then the world reawakens to what happened as a result of those few minutes. Great story that keeps you guessing until the end.

When is that DVD coming out?

Find out on VideoETA.

Daybreak returns online (hopefully)

From ABC.com

Beginning Jan. 29, a new episode of Day Break will premiere every Monday exclusively at ABC.com!

Iron Man starts shooting

From Director Jon Favreau's Blog:

Gwyneth Paltrow has been cast as Virginia Pepper Potts. I met her on an idie called Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle many years ago. We begin filming in eight weeks.

Stan Winston is working on the suit. Sets are being built. Fergus and Ostby(Children of Men) are working on the script. Matty Libatique is shooting it. Everything is really coming together.

2007 Movies

These are movies I'm looking forward to this year.

Ghost Rider (February 16)
Nicholas Cage is Johny Blaze. This was a decent comic, so it has potential. But then again, so did Spawn.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Movie (February 17)
I luv ATHF. Forget the iPhone, I want an eHelmet!!

300 (March 9)
The next moviefication of a Frank Miller (Dark Night, Sin City) story. Looks pretty wild.

Premonition (March 16)
Sandra Bullock in another time travel supernatural movie. I'm game.

Meet the Robinsons (March 30)
Disney's last CG movie before the Pixar acquisition. Rumor was that it was sucking until Pixar gave it a makeover.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (March 23)
I like ninja turtles. There I said it.

Grindhouse (April 6)
Two ka-razy movies by Robert Rodriguez and Quintin Tarantino. Cheesey yet satisfying.

Spider-Man 3 (May 4)
Sam Raimi is on a roll.

28 Weeks Later (May 11)
Zombies are always a good formula for movies. Can't wait 'till LOST Season 8!

Shrek the Third (May 18)
I don't have high expectations, but then again I didn't for Shrek 2 and was pleasantly surprised.

1408 (May 18)
Interesting horror/suspense flick with a decent cast.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End (May 26)
See Shrek the Third.

Ocean's Thirteen (June 8)
See Pirates & Shrek.

Surf’s Up (June 8)
I heard Happy Feet was bad, but this one looks pretty cool based on the trailer.

Ratatouille (June 29)
One word: Pixar. One name: Brad Bird.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (July 13)
So far, so good.

The Simpsons Movie (July 27)
Not sure whether this is going to be worth seeing on the big screen. Don't get me wrong, The Simpsons is awesome. But I like watching it on TV just fine.

Underdog (August 3)
Interesting choice for a superhero movie. Jason Lee (My Name is Earl) kicks it up a notch.

Evan Almighty (June 22)
How do you turn a small co-star role into an entire movie? Steve Carrell gives it a fighting chance.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (June 15)
Trailer teaser looks good. Don't know enough yet to make a judgment.

Live Free or Die Hard (July 4)
Welcome to the party pal!

Transformers (July 4)
You have to like Michael Bay (The Island, The Rock, Armageddon) movies in order to like this. With Speilberg involved it could be pretty good.

The Bourne Ultimatum (August 3)
If it has another car chase like the previous two, it will rock.

The Invasion (August 17)
Remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (how many have there been?). Starring Nichole Kidman.

Into the Wild (September 21)
If you haven't read the book, GO READ IT.

Resident Evil: Extinction (September 21)
This will probably be crappy. But the world needs crappy movies too.

Bee Movie (Nov 2)
Jerry Seinfeld's cartoon. Hmm. Maybe he'll be struck by the Seinfeld Curse after all.

I Am Legend (December 14)
End of the world. Vampires. Will Smith.

Alien vs. Predator: AVP2 (December 21)
Why does a movie need an acronym? Especially when it's for the name of the movie itself? AVP was not bad, on par with the other Predator movies. But a far far level below Alien and Aliens.

2005/6 Movie Review

Here's the list of movies I said I was looking forward to in 2006, and what I thought of them (or whether I even saw them).

Aeon Flux (Dec 2)
This was originally a series of short animations on MTV's Liquid TV show over a decade ago. There really wasn't much of a plot, and no dialog (just music and f/x audio). Now it's a full length movie. I'm a little worried, but willing to give it a try.

Lived up to expectations. Decent action, some semblance of a plot and true to the original.

The World's Fastest Indian (Dec 9)
Just saw the trailer for this on QuickTime. Anthony Hopkins plays a New Zealander who comes to America to break the speed record. Looks cool, quirky and fun.

Excellent, quirky but poignant story.

Chronicles of Narnia (Dec 9)
Everyone's favorite story about the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. They better not mess this up!

Lived up to expectations, but not as epic being in the shadow of LOTR.

King Kong (Dec 14)
Peter Jackson does his "dream movie" he's been dying to do ever since he was a kid. What was LOTR?? A warm-up? Return of the King is a hard act to follow, but from the trailers and the bounty of behind-the-scenes footage, this looks pretty damn good.

Wow, a visual masterpiece with strong emotions, but even stronger action.

Munich (Dec 23)
Steven Speilberg switches gears from War of the Worlds to serious mode. This is the story of the 1972 killing of the Israeli Olympic team and the revenge assasinations that followed.

Cool story. I thought it was not on any side politically but some people saw it slanted one way or another (how could it be both?). I'd see any movie with Janusz Kaminski as Cinematographer.

Memoirs of a Geisha (Dec 23)
A best-seller book turned into a movie. Always a good formula.

It was exactly that: a good formula. Not a bad movie, though.

Mission: Impossible 3 (May 5)
One had it's moments but was a snoozer. Two was awesome. I hope three keeps up the trend.

Two was better.

The Da Vinci Code (May 19)
See description of Memoirs of a Geisha.

Yeah, another formula movie. Big actors, big director, big story. Not bad, but it felt more like a ride at a theme park than a story.

X3: X-Men 3 (May 26)
See Mission: Impossible 3.

X3 broke the rules. X3 was pretty damn good. Equal or just a little better than 2.

Superman Returns (Jun 30 2006)
Although it's protrayed as a new story for the blue guy, this is really a tribute to the Superman character, comic, original 1978 movie and especially to Christopher Reeve. Like a multi-million dollar fan film. Bryan Singer was a big enough fan to jump out of X-Men 3 to do this, so he's sure to do a good job. I have good hopes for this one.

A little too close to the original- some scenes were almost line-for-line. Kinda creepy. But even more creepy: Superman is a stalker!

Lady in the Water (Jul 21)
M. Night Shyamalan's latest flick about an apartment building superintendent who finds a fairy tale character in the apartment's pool. Stars Paul Giamatti.

Haven't seen it yet.

The Fountain (2006)
Darren Aronofsky made his name with the indie movie Pi (which I still can't figure out, perhaps because I fell asleep), and later for Requiem for a Dream (which I hear is really good but depressing). The story spans 1000 years and involves time travel. That's peaked my interest.

Haven't seen it yet.

Ghost Rider (2006)
A new comic-turned-movie about a stunt bike racer who gives up his soul to become a cool looking vigilante. Starring Nicholas Cage.

Haven't seen it yet.