Welcome to another revision and completion of an unfinished series I started at another site.
In advance of the 2011 release of Contagion, I watched all of Steven Soderbergh's movies that are available and wrote a series called "Soderberghopolis" for Badass Digest.
For a few reasons, I wanted to re-post and update this series with various changes, alterations, and updates.
In 2013, I'm starting an Arthouse Cowboy Screening Series here in Austin that will feature the work of at least Soderbergh and Tony Scott, and possibly a small quantity of Ozu and some other stuff. I'll be promoting these screenings here, as well as on Twitter and Screen Time (one of my podcasts on 5by5).
Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, Holy Mountain) has seen The Hobbit, and he's tweeting about it in Spanish. I have a towering respect for him as an artist and truth-teller.
Here are select tweets as translated very roughly and quickly by yours truly:
I just finished watching "El Hobbit" : a movie only for male children, not girls. In this long saga there is only one woman for a few minutes, an untouchable Queen. Link
The Hobbit is a single male elf accompanied by male dwarves. How can we make movies where women do not exist? Link
The Queen in El Hobbit [Galadriel] is a symbol of an unapproachable, immaculate mother like the church presents the Virgin Mary. Misogynist hypocrisy. Link
Males of all sizes that gorge on food and break bones, this is not a homosexual world. It is a world of male brutes. Link
In reply to someone: @nomesigaoiga ¿did you like it? // very nice landscapes, amazing special effects, attractive monsters, slow and vacant conversations. Link
UPDATE: A new favorite tweet...
You have convinced me: women are evil, the proof is that the Pope doesn't have one. And a Hobbit is not a Dwarf, it is an office worker with big ears. Link
Another, where The Truth comes out:
I confess that they paid me to give Hobbit some publicity. Now I leave you because I have to go get drunk with a dwarf. Gut bai. Link
18 children are among the 27 reported dead in an ELEMENTARY SCHOOL shooting in the northern United States this morning. I just saw the President visibly shaken addressing the nation. The Governor of Connecticut has just confirmed that not only the shooter, but "someone he lived with" are now among the dead.
According to the sheriff, there is a secondary crime scene where someone else was found dead. The rumor is that the shooter went to go kill his mother, a schoolteacher. People are creating Facebook hate pages for the name that first filtered out (and apparently isn't the actual shooter).
The anger boiling in me is only matched by how profoundly sad this whole thing has made me.
This isn't "Cool" news, or movie news, or anything fun. I decided this was something we should talk about.
This is my favorite show yet (subscribe in iTunes). It's long, but when talking to an artist of this stature, the length is merited and warranted. I talk with Andrea about things I haven't heard or read her discuss in any previous podcast or interview.
Andrea Romano either cast or voice directed (sometimes both) all of the following animated projects and more (not in chronological order):
Batman: The Animated Series Animaniacs Tiny Toons TMNT (2012) The Last Airbender (and The Legend of Korra) Ducktales Chip & Dale: Rescue Rangers almost all of the DC Animated movies, starting with Batman: Mask of the Phantasm on through The Dark Knight Returns Snorks Smurfs Pound Puppies ReBoot Static Shock Superman: The Animated Series Justice League
There are too many more to list. She's directed Batman more times than Burton, Schumacher, and Nolan combined, and has director's shelf in my DVD library alongside Scorsese, Spielberg, Lean, and Hitchcock. In the opening minutes, we discuss exactly what a Voice Director does, and why she's this big of a deal.
The stories she tells are absolutely unreal. Here's a name you won't forget after hearing this episode:
New Deleted Scenes with director Ron Howard, Warwick Davis' personal video diary, and new intros to existing featurettes are added the to pre-existing extras. Drops on 12 March, 2013.
George O'Hanlon is an actor you'd know by his voice more than his face.
Three words: Meet George Jetson.
In this week's Screen Time 17, my guest is Andrea Romano. Andrea has been working in voiceover direction (and previously casting) since the 1980's, and a significant portion of our discussion centers around the great Mr. O'Hanlon, with whom she worked on the 1980's revival of TheJetsons.
I grew up trying to imitate the voices of guys like O'Hanlon, and his comedic timing formed so much of my formative study of acting. Cartoons were the radio theatre of my generation and so many others before and since.
Mostly ignored due to people owning many of the shorts on other discs already, the Pixar Short Films Volume 2 set has some great student films on it from John Lasseter, Pete Docter, and Andrew Stanton. Commentary, intros, and various other things make nice additions to the shorts themselves.
Did I mention there's a dinosaur short by Pete Docter?
Marvel and DC are not the only two comics publishers out there. On this episode of Giant Size, I talk with two people from non-Big Two companies.
Branwyn Bigglestone works for Image Comics by day as their Accounts Manager, and by night freelance edits some of their comics.
The featured interview this week is with Ted Adams, the CEO of IDW Publishing. We delve into the history of the company and the extremely diverse array of comics and books they make, from republishing classic runs of Bloom County, TMNT, and Transformers to brand-new books based on licensed properties to some of the most unique and interesting original stories of recent years, like Locke & Key.
In my weekly chat with Brandon form Austin Books & Comics, we not only talk about the week's comics, but we also seethe with anger at the abrupt dismissal of fan and personal favorite writer Gail Simone from DC's Batgirl.
I should also mention here that I am now booking sponsors directly for both Giant Size and Screen Time. Drop me a line through the contact form if you or your company are interested in sponsoring these shows. We can accomodate varying levels of budget and placement.
Based on the two currently released, the Star Trek: The Next Generation Blu-ray sets represent an outstanding achievement in both 35mm preservation and home video. On this episode of Screen Time, I talk to Robert Meyer Burnett, one of the co-producers of this series, which will see more seasons out next year.
The next episode of Screen Time features an interview with legendary voice director Andrea Romano. It, along with #16 here, are among my favorite bits of work I've done with Screen Time.
We have some more great guests coming up, including Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro (subject to their very busy schedules). 2013 is going to be a big year for this show.
I should also mention here that I am now booking sponsors directly for both Screen Time and Giant Size. Drop me a line through the contact form if you or your company are interested in sponsoring these shows. We can accomodate varying levels of budget and placement.
Martin Sheen doesn't enter until 36 minutes and 15 seconds into the pilot of The West Wing, but when he does, the first line he speaks in the show is the First Commandment. Similarly impressive is when, a moment after this frame, he tells the religious right to "Get [their] fat asses out of [his] White House".
I launched a new show this week on 5by5. It features interviews with comic creators. I'm crazy for the theme music.
The first episode includes chats with these people:
Stan Lee Co-creator of some among the most popular characters in comic book history, mostly-official Ambassador of the form, day player in Marvel movies
Humberto Ramos Spider-fan and the penciler on the current and outstanding run of Amazing Spider-Man, whose work is truly Amazing
Hope Larson Writer/artist who uses a manga-inspired B/W plus spot-color style, just released her excellent graphic novel adaptation of A Wrinkle In Time
Brian Posehn & Gerry Duggan The team writing the new Marvel NOW! Run of Deadpool, which finds the merc with a mouth mowing down evil undead US Presidents
Topics include things they like to read, Star Wars, the piracy "thing", and many others!
Twitchfilm has just posted the trailer for Wong Kar Wai's 5 years in the making Ip Man movie, The Grandmasters. Starring Tony Leung (In the Mood for Love) and Zhang Ziyi, and featuring Yuen Woo Ping fight choreography, it tells the story of wing chun kung fu pioneer Ip Man. There have been two separate Ip Man movie franchises launched in recent years, but this could be the greatest one of them all.
The movie hits China on 18 December.
After watching the trailer four times, I've embedded it here:
"I spoke this afternoon to Conan Doyle, he thinks something ought to be done about it, too."
...
"And who’s Conan Doyle?"
"The author chap sir, writes the Sherlock Holmes stories in The Strand Magazine."
"This Doyle fellow writes the Sherlock Holmes stories?"
"Yes sir, Conan Doyle. You must have seen his name."
"Never heard of him, but I’ve read every Sherlock Holmes story since they started in July ’91."
"Are you reading The Hound of the Baskervilles, sir?"
"Am I not! What’d you think of the end of the last installment?"
From the outstandingly lovely new Region B locked UK Blu-ray, released over there last week. This is one of the Technicolor films that was in greatest need of rescue and restoration. Marvelous work. Review tomorrow.
This could theoretically open the door to the original, un-altered versions of the Original Star Wars Trilogy becoming available legally and in HD. Then again, it could result in them being just as buried as original cuts of Disney titles.
Seven (Make that eight and counting) things after listening to their conference call announcement just now:
1) Disney now owns all LucasFilm IP: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Skywalker Sound, LucasArts (games), Lucas Books/Animation/Licensing/Marketing/Online, and ILM (the company that once owned Pixar), as well as the trademark for "Droid". Disney will now own all intellectual property rights with some distribution and licensing "entaglements" based on existing deals, much like how Universal still has the Marvel theme park license for a while yet and Sony makes Spider-Man movies.
2) Much was made of Disney's global licensed product and distribution reach making better use of LucasFilm licenses, with all emphasis on the $4.05 billion paid being relative to the value of the Star Wars franchise. For example, this would imply that any Star Wars (and Indiana Jones?) licensed comic books will now go under Marvel once the current Star Wars/Dark Horse contract ends, and video games would go through Disney Interactive.
UPDATE 1:: Bob Iger: "We're likely to focus more on social and mobile than we are on console. We'll look opportunistically at console, most likely in licensing rather than publishing, but we think that given the nature of these characters and how well known they are, and the storytelling, that they lend themselves quite nicely, as they've already demonstrated to the other platforms" ...so maybe Star Wars comics are safe at Dark Horse? ...I want to say no way in hell, when you own one of the two megalithic comic publishers...
3) Disney plans to release a new Star Wars movie every 2-3 years starting in 2015. All of them will be in 3D.
4) Star Wars Episodes 7, 8, and 9 will be a trilogy. The treatment is done, is in "early stage development", and the movies are to be released every other year.
5) ILM will remain a studio-agnostic gun for hire. Disney does not want to change anything about how they operate.
6) Fox retains ownership and distribution of all existing Star Wars movies (until that contract expires... UPDATE 4:: Episode 4 is owned "in perpituity" and all other existing movies are owned through 2020). Disney can use any and all characters from the entire Star Wars canon in all of its new movies. All future films will be distributed by Disney, unlike Paramount retaining partial distribution rights when Marvel was acquired. No mention was made of who now owns the Star Wars Holiday Special.
7) They made it extremely clear that the Indiana Jones (and other non-SW) IP was not factored into their valuation of LucasFilm, only Star Wars and Star Wars-related IP. They made an oblique reference to "entanglements" (i.e., Paramount's distribution and ownership of the existing movies and, I expect Young Indy, if they remember it exists).
8) This may be reaching, but they made repeated reference to the broader reach of the Disney content family in general, and toward the end someone asked about the Disney Faeries and other "girl-oriented" IP expansions and how they'd handle that. Disney sidestepped addressing it in terms of specific plans, but acknowledged that they have many plans in this area for sure.
UPDATE 2:: Bob Iger: "We love the fact that this will take its place in our live-action strategy as a known and loved brand. We really like Star Wars’ potential on TV, and Disney XD would be a great home for that."
This means that the long-rumored live-action Star Wars TV series is just the tip of the iceberg. No word on how Clone Wars (distributed by Warner Bros on home video) falls into any of this.
9) I just realized this means that Disney now fully owns Captain EO and Star Tours. This deal has been in the works for a long while, I guarantee you. Think about it.
All in all, and call it controversial, but I firmly believe this is the best possible thing to happen to Star Wars in a long, long time.
I'm re-listening to my recording of the call and will update as necessary with corrections and additions.
Drafthouse Films has quietly announced what I consider their biggest acquisition yet: Pietà, the newest film from South Korea's Kim Ki-duk, who has previously done 3-Iron and the wonderful Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring. It's South Korea's official Academy Award selection this year, and is apparently really outstanding. I don't doubt it.
I dearly love Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love (and Chungking Express, and Days of Being Wild, and...). Not only does the new Blu-ray edition feature HD audio and video, but it also adds a half hour of brand-new interview content featuring the great Tony Rayns, one of the foremost Asian cinema scholars in the West. Review soon.
David Fincher's The Game (1997) holds up beautifully, even though so many seem to consider Fight Club and Seven as his best (or best-remembered) movies. Criterion's recent Blu-ray and DVD editions bring an end to many collectors' long cries for a port of the excellent 1998 laserdisc.
For $300, you can soon own a 3M projector that shoots out a "120 inch image" and is powered by Roku's channel-diverse ecosystem.
The immediate problem I found upon digging up the device's tech specs? The 10-foot diagonal image that this 1.3 pound projector cranks out tops out at 480p. That's DVD-quality at very best. For comparison's sake, 800x480 is lower resolution than the 3.5-inch screen of an iPhone 4. This is not a replacement for anyone's flat-panel TV.
The problems don't end there with this thing, the most unimpressive "big play" since the vaporware, bowling ball-shaped Google Nexus Q. I guess that's why they buried the announcement on a Friday.
After Seven (I refuse to refer to it as Se7en...wait...shit) and before Fight Club, David Fincher made what I consider the most Fincherian of his features. In a one-two punch, he also captures the culmination of a decade worth of classic Michael Douglas performances.
Go into the movie knowing absolutely nothing. Stay away from Wikipedia or IMDb. Don't read anything. Don't even watch the trailer. You will be very glad you did.
Before you worry I'm spoiling anything with this image, know that it's the cover to Criterion's new special edition Blu-grade, which thankfully carries over all of the supplements from the laserdisc (one of the last they did) at long, long last. Full review later today.
Fantastic Fest has been very absorbing and diverting over the last week. Some interesting things are coming to this space, plus some disc reporting catch-up, plus some new regularity that is just going to happen without further explanation. You loyal readers will have a lot more to read very soon.
As for the below...there's a very brief, slapstick gag-filled Tangled short on the Cinderella Blu-ray. This is, I'm assuming, a tease for the full-fledged Tangled direct-to-video sequel, which Disney had previously announced.
