Carmine Infantino: 1925-2013

Comics Alliance's EIC Joe Hughes has put together a really solid obit for the incomparable Carmine Infantino, whom we also lost yesterday.

His skills lead to the complete redesign and overhaul of The Flash, and, as a direct result, the revival of superhero comics. He co-created The Elongated Man, Deadman, and most prominently, Batgirl. To say that his stamp on DC Comics and comics as a whole is profound would be a massive understatement.

Here's one among many memorable pieces of Infantino art that made the rounds on Twitter yesterday:

"Super Mario Bros. The Movie": What Went Wrong (Everything)

Karina Longworth delivers the best post mortem analysis that I've yet read of the disaster that was Super Mario Bros.: The Movie:

As per usual, the kids of America proved the critics wrong: They were neither rabid nor traumatized, just indifferent. The film opened Memorial Day weekend on 2,000 screens in the U.S. — about as wide as releases got in those days. Its $8.5 million debut take was good enough for fourth place, behind Cliffhanger, Made in America, and (in its fourth weekend) Dave. Super Mario topped out at just less than $21 million domestically. Given the cost of the production and the confidence in the property, by no metric could this be seen as anything less than a failure.

Daily Grab 117: Tea and Rain

I've chosen two stills from Yasujiro Ozu's Floating Weeds, the 1959 remake of one of the master's greatest silent films. One of the below was used in the piece I wrote about Roger Ebert earlier today.

My love of Ozu's work began thanks to his commentary on Criterion's DVD edition of the movie and his Great Movies article. Both frames below come from Masters of Cinema's recent Blu-ray release.

From Roger Ebert's touching, evocative, and nuanced examination of this Great Movie:

For me, Floating Weeds (1959) is like a familiar piece of music that I can turn to for reassurance and consolation. It is so atmospheric--so evocative of a quiet fishing village during a hot and muggy summer--that it envelops me. Its characters are like neighbors. It isn't a sad story; the central character is an actor with a healthy ego, who has tried to arrange his life according to his own liking and finds to his amazement that other people have wills of their own. He is funny, wrong-headed and finally touching.

"Star Wars 1313" was/is About Boba Fett

Kotaku reports that a source has told them that Star Wars 1313 was going to be about Boba Fett:

This happened last May. Star Wars creator George Lucas looked at 1313—which at that point had been scrapped and refocused multiple times—and told the team he wanted it to be about Boba Fett, the mercenary whose origins as a clone were revealed in the Star Wars prequel movies.

You can see concept art from this version of Star Wars 1313 above. Boba Fett stands over someone who looks a whole lot like Bossk, a lizard-like bounty hunter who Fett has apparently captured. They appear to be in the seedy underworld of Coruscant.

Like I said yesterday, the game is not entirely dead, and it's expected that Disney is shopping it around for sub-licensing to finish it out and publish it.

Daily Grab 116: You Know, For Kids!

A shot of Robbins and Newman from Warner Archive's recent Blu-ray of Joel & Ethan Coen's first studio picture, The Hudsucker Proxy.

Disney Closes LucasArts

I was afraid this would happen. The moment the Disney deal got announced, I worried most about LucasArts landing at a company that was on track to end all internal development. LucasArts was not the same company it was during what people consider its golden age, but it was still full of talented people doing interesting work.

In this statement to Game Informer, they confirm the closure of the legendary development house and confirm that future Star Wars games will be sub-licensed externally in the future.

Would it have killed them to announce the layoffs before GDC so that developers could network and look for work there?

They comment further to indicate that the hotly-anticipated Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault are not necessarily dead, and could find themselves a home:

Website Kotaku is reporting that 150 LucasArts employees have been laid off, and that the games Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313 have been cancelled. However, the representative we spoke to said that the company is also evaluating its options regarding projects currently in development, which could be licensed out to external development and publishing partners:

"It is worth noting that we are looking for proven external partners who can help us provide video games to our fans. We still believe in the video game industry, we still will provide Star Wars games, we're just looking at different models rather than internal production... They're evaluating everything. There's always a possibility that it [Star Wars 1313] can still come out via licensing."

The representative also remarked on the general mood at the studio today, which, understandably, is not upbeat:

"It's super sad. It's a terrible day. I want to make sure everyone realizes that there still will be Star Wars games out there."

"Super sad", huh, bro? Great word choice, and yes, of course there will still be Star Wars videogames out there. I think your audience actually cares more about the fate of the developers that make the games they care about. They aren't so dim as to assume that one of the most lucrative franchises in gaming history was going to suddenly stop making piles of cash.

I'll spare you the Alderaan "voices cry out" reference with regard to the few hundred super-talented people without jobs as of today. They deserve more respect than that or how this big heave-ho is being press-released. Here's hoping they all land on their feet and get to do work that is rewarding and means something to them.

Before we start down that road, everyone would be kidding themselves if they think Disney will let go of Secret of Money Island, Day of the Tentacle, or Grim Fandango (or sub-license them, for that matter).

Roger Ebert and "A Leave of Presence"

I've admired Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel since elementary school. Seeing their review show on TV was one of the earliest and most foundational influences on my becoming the fan, student, and critic of the moving image that I am today. I'm sad to hear that a form of cancer has returned and as a result, Roger Ebert is dialing some things back:

Typically, I write over 200 reviews a year for the Sun-Times that are carried by Universal Press Syndicate in some 200 newspapers. Last year, I wrote the most of my career, including 306 movie reviews, a blog post or two a week, and assorted other articles. I must slow down now, which is why I'm taking what I like to call "a leave of presence."

What in the world is a leave of presence? It means I am not going away. My intent is to continue to write selected reviews but to leave the rest to a talented team of writers handpicked and greatly admired by me. What's more, I'll be able at last to do what I've always fantasized about doing: reviewing only the movies I want to review.

At the same time, I am re-launching the new and improved Rogerebert.com and taking ownership of the site under a separate entity, Ebert Digital, run by me, my beloved wife, Chaz, and our brilliant friend, Josh Golden of Table XI. Stepping away from the day-to-day grind will enable me to continue as a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, and roll out other projects under the Ebert brand in the coming year.

You should read the whole piece.

As much of a change is signaled by his pulling back from the frequency and quantity of reviews that this represent, I'm glad to know that his time will be focused on the work he wants to be doing and reviewing only the movies he wants to review. I'll be reading not only what he makes the time for, but the work of those he hand-picks as well. Roger Ebert has always had good taste.

I need to sleep on some further thoughts I have about Roger before I set to pounding them out into words.

RogerEbert.com relaunches on April 9.

Daily Grab 115: Dinosaurs Eat Man, Woman Inherits the Earth

This Friday, you can see Jurassic Park in theaters again, but this time with completely remixed sound and with 3D picture, which never distracts or detracts. Take someone who has never seen it. There are more of them than you think.

Get It While It's Free: Reeder for iPad and Mac

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.

"Behind the Candelabra" Teaser

A 30-second glimpse at the decadent and glittery "final feature-length movie" by Steven Soderbergh, aka @bitchuation on Twitter.

Finding Dory: Finding Nemo 2

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:

Jesús "Jess" Franco: 1930-2013

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.

Michael Chabon to Write Backup Stories for "Casanova"

Getting a Pulitzer Prize winning author to write backup stories for your creator-owned comic? Good job, Matt Fraction.

Criterion Richard III Available 3 Weeks Early at B&N

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.

Daily Grab 114: It's Been a Long Road

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.

Bruce Timm Stepping Away "For Now", Not Forever

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.

Regal Buys Hollywood Theaters

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!

"Conan" Renewed Through 2015

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.