My favorite RSS reader/aggregator is Reeder. The developer promises a life for the Google Reader-backed app in all three forms (iPhone/iPad/Mac) even after GReader is killed on July 1.
The iPad and Mac editions are free until the new versions 2.0 of each are released. The iPhone app is still $2.99.
A 30-second glimpse at the decadent and glittery "final feature-length movie" by Steven Soderbergh, aka @bitchuation on Twitter.
The L.A. Times reports that they've got a final title for the sequel to Finding Nemo. It's set on the California coast about a year after the first movie. I feel like Andrew Stanton got a raw deal on John Carter of Mars (I know that the release title dropped the preposition). He's one of my favorite modern directors, alongside other Pixarians. Here's the familiar-looking key art:
Glenn Kenny eulogizes Jess Franco better than I ever could.
I can't pretend to have been a huge fan of most of Franco's work. I do, however, love his Count Dracula starring Christopher Lee, Herbert Lom, and Klaus Kinski. Just that trio makes it a must-see.
I'm glad to have met him and his muse Lina Romay when they were in Austin for Fantastic Fest in 2010. They were wonderful company. At the time, they expressed a great fondness for the TV show Monk, starring Tony Shalhoub.
Warner Archive Instant launched yesterday, and it is now open for business to the US-residing public (sorry Canada and everyone else!). For $9.99/month, the WAI streaming service offers hundreds of Warner Brothers movies and a small selection of classic TV. Playback options include the Roku Player and web browsers across all desktop platforms. HD playback is available for most titles via the Roku, but web browser playback is SD-only, presumably for copy protection reasons. More playback options are in the works, but web and Roku are it for now. They're offering a free two-week trial.
I'm told that this is a soft launch, with many more titles being added as soon as possible, as frequently as daily.
Like I said back in February, when I cut the cord on cable TV, one of the things I hoped for most was the rise of a streaming channel that would take the place of Turner Classic Movies. That ended up being the only part of my cable package that I really missed. Warner Archive Instant more than scratches that itch. It has a few drawbacks, but the "pro" column massively outweighs the "con".
Andy Griffith as "Lonesome Rhodes" in the great A Face in the Crowd, available in HD on Warner Archive Instant
Getting a Pulitzer Prize winning author to write backup stories for your creator-owned comic? Good job, Matt Fraction.
From an email sent an hour ago to B&N newsletter subscribers:
Now is the spring of your contentment, for the new Criterion Collection Blu-ray of Laurence Olivier's celebrated 1955 Shakespeare adaptation ''Richard III'' is available today at Barnes & Noble -- three weeks earlier than anywhere else. Criterion produced this edition using a new high-definition digital master of the Film Foundation's 2012 restoration, and the bonus material includes an interview with Olivier from a 1966 episode of ''Great Acting.''
Also in there is a Fillm Foundation intro from Martin Scorsese.
It's $35.99 on their site, and is readily available in their stores. When it's widely released, the price will probably only be five or six bucks less than that at retailers like Best Buy and Fry's, but Amazon's pre-order is currently at $27.99 if you don't mind waiting.
I didn't watch Star Trek: Enterprise when it was on the air. I was in college, and there was no regular local Paramount/UPN/whatever affiliate. I caught an episode here and there, usually in really dingy SD. The new Blu-ray set is a great way to experience it for the first time, especially so thanks to the lengthy and candid discussion between Rick Berman and Brannon Braga.
The theme song is still pretty wretched.
Review forthcoming.
As noted in an update to this piece, Bruce Timm is stepping away from WB/DC Animation temporarily to pursue some stuff he has been developing at Warner Brothers. "He will be back", as reported by DC Animation "Super PR Guy" Gary Miereneau to The RealmCast, as dug up by my pal Ryan Gallagher at CriterionCast.
I don't like the way Regal does business. They care as little for the art of cinema as possible, and dare to encourage lit-up screens in theaters. From Deadline:
Regal acquired a total of 43 theatres representing 513 screens in exchange for $191 million in cash and approximately $47 million of assumed lease obligations. The cash portion of the purchase price includes repayment of approximately $167 million of the sellers’ debt and is subject to customary post-closing adjustments. The acquisition of Hollywood Theaters will enhance Regal’s presence in 16 states and 3 U.S. territories. “We expect the acquisition of Hollywood Theaters to be accretive to cash flows and earnings and are pleased to announce another acquisition of high quality assets,” stated Amy Miles, CEO of Regal Entertainment Group.
Coming soon to more local cinemas: lower-quality projection, sound, and experience!
Deadline reports that TBS is keeping him through what will be his fifth anniversary there. O'Brien's company Conaco has a new late-night show hosted by the outstandingly funny Pete Holmes, which will start following Conan later this year.
Good.
Setting aside my personal feelings about the death penalty, which is too complex an issue to examine in a pithy link post, there is no doubt to be had about this guy's guilt, and I'm glad punches aren't being pulled.
If you bought the Blu-ray of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey like I did, you either watched this preview event live two weekends ago or can now watch a canned version. The full thing was approximately one hour long, previewed elements the new Hobbit movie, and featured some Q&A as well as bits with new cast members like "Stephens" Fry and Colbert.
If you don't have the magic access code, Warner Bros allowed Jackson to post this six-minute excerpt, which includes some choice nuggets:
Yesterday (when I should have posted this) was the 86th birthday of the great William Daniels. To me, he will always be the definitive John Adams, as portrayed in the muscial 1776. If only it were available on Blu-ray...
The duel in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp represents one of the great choices in cinema, crossing direction, editing, cinematography, and acting.
When the audience expects to see a thrilling, climactic duel, Powell and Pressburger choose to avoid the route taken by other films, from any version of Scaramouche to the various Robin Hood(s) to even The Princess Bride. The duel itself is less important than the build up and the aftermath. The actors knew the importance of the preparation and approach, since the duel itself would barely be seen.
This scene represents one of the most perfect series of choices in cinematic composition, and Criterion's new Blu-ray shows off the whole movie in a manner befitting one of the greatest movies ever made. Scorsese does a marvelous newly-recorded introduction, and Thelma Schoonmaker offers keen insight as she always does on Powell's films. This is one of the best discs of the year, and we're just 1/4 of the way through.
I swear I'll finish a review of this one soon. I've been busy finshing off my monster 2012 Best in Blu-ray multi-list article, among other things.
I wasn't even aware of this whole thing until today. I've spent a few hours collecting my thoughts, when I thought I'd be done with this in just under an hour.
I'm disgusted by this post at Bleeding Cool. It brazenly opens with a pile of slurs as examples of the alleged injustice to political correctness found in Uncanny Avengers #5. In the issue, Havok (aka Alex Summers) declares his desire to be known as a person before being reduced to a label associated with prejudice and bigotry:
He's speaking to his desire to be recognized by his fellow human beings as a human being first.
I disagree that this issue of this particular comic book in any way undermines the general notion of mutants representing minorities, the persecuted, and the oppressed. Moreover, Rich Johnston's implication that this is some sort of demonization of the word mutant is such a crass, overreaching grasp at straws...I'm amazed he got away with this load of crap. Bleeding Cool, as they are wont to do, have manufactured yet another controversy out of thin air, and the rest of the comics blog diaspora has followed along and validated them.
My guest for both Screen Time and Giant Size this week is Kevin Munroe, who directed TMNT (2007), was lead designer/animator on Shiny Entertainment's Wild 9, and has a diverse and deep geek creative résumé. We talk about game design, animation, chasing the creative work you want to be doing, and...working directly with George Lucas.
In another 5by5 first, the recording of one creator interview show lead directly into an episode of another. I should have planned it this way. Both episodes should be up in the feed soon (subscribe to Screen Time and Giant Size if you don't already.
Munroe's Splinter in TMNT was played by the great Mako, in one of his final released performances.
Timm started with Warner Bros. Animation in 1989, and was the chief shepherd who guided Batman: The Animated Series and the entire DC Animated universe into existence as we know it.
He's apparently been planning to head out for a while, according to an exclusive over at Voices From Krypton. There are worse swan songs than The Dark Knight Returns, of all things.
The Supervising Producer job is going to Justice League/Legion of Superheroes/Batman: Brave and the Bold veteran James Tucker:
“I’d love to use more of a variety of characters, but that’s something I don’t have control over,” he says. “Granted Dark Knight Returns was long overdue to be adapted and I’m glad they did it and did it superbly. But beyond that, I’m not really interested in replicating, image by image, word for word, something that was in a comic book, because you can’t replicate that experience or feeling. You’re basically getting a secondary experience, so you have to make it your own in order to make it work as a movie. Creating films in which people are going through it with a checklist saying, ‘Okay, they took that out, they took that out…” I’m not interested in doing anything like that.”
Tucker is very sharp on the risks and needs involved in branching out in ways that I wish WB/DC's live-action production people would understand:
“Our challenge,” he continues, “is that people want us to do these other characters, but if they don’t sell that threatens the whole line. So the way to do it is to be smart. If we know we’re going to use Superman, Batman and the Justice League, how do we use them as gateways to these other characters? If Batman, Superman and Justice League bring in the average person who’s not a comic book fan, once you have them you insert a Huntress or a secondary character like Oracle as a means of introducing them to more of the world. But you’re not going to be able to do an Oracle movie. Unfortunately the Green Lantern and Wonder Woman movies didn’t perform like we would have liked them to, even though I thought they were among the best we’ve done.”
This is the right guy to take the reins from Timm, and at the right time.
If Disney/Marvel isn't already circling Timm to do work on some combination of Star Wars and, in my mind, overhauling Marvel animation, they're nuts. Hell, WB would be crazy not to engage him to oversee, fix, and guide their expanded DC Live-Action Movieverse. Everyone start backing up Brinks trucks.
Looks like this is not entirely accurate, as reported by DC Animation "Super PR Guy" Gary Miereneau to The RealmCast, as dug up by my pal Ryan Gallagher at CriterionCast.
From Criterion's blog "Criterion Current":
We wanted to let you know that the following titles are going out of print effective March 31:
Army of Shadows [$25.11 Blu-ray on Amazon]
Le cercle rouge [$24.59 Blu-ray on Amazon]
Le doulos [$33.30 DVD on Amazon]
Last Year at Marienbad [$23.70 Blu-ray on Amazon]
Léon Morin, Priest [$30.38 Blu-ray on Amazon]
Mafioso [$22.19 DVD on Amazon]
These announcements are always sad for collectors, but this one is especially so, since it kills off almost all of Criterion's outstanding Jean-Pierre Melville titles (minus Le Samourai, Les Enfants Terribles, and Le deuxieme souffle). On top of that, we're losing Last Year at Marienbad one of their best-ever Blu-ray releases.
I highly recommend grabbing all the above discs while you can. The Amazon prices listed and linked above look like the lowest around.
It bugs me that the Blu-ray edition of Lincoln with the "real" extras costs $5-10 more than the "regular" Blu-ray edition. Was it still worth the money? Yes, more so than War Horse, which I don't imagine I'll re-watch as often as I expect to revisit Lincoln, even if just for James Spader (not pictured) and, I suppose the breathtaking work of Daniel Day-Lewis.
