Battleship

April 30, 2012 Leave a comment

Battleship (PG-13)
Director: Peter Berg
Writers: Erich Hoeber, Jon Hoeber
Stars:Alexander Skarsgård, Brooklyn Decker and Liam Neeson
131 min.

Next time your cleaning out your closet and you happen upon some old forgotten toys, assume that anyone of them could be the next big-budget film out of Hollywood. From GI Joe, to Transformers all are fair-game.

So with that in mind, maybe it’s not so strange to go from a kids game of calling out numbers hoping to guess the location of you friends battleship to a film carrying a Budget of $200,000,000. The story is one where A fleet of battleships go up against a mysterious group of warrior ships from some unknown source with an unclear objective. The most interesting question is whether at any point someone recites the line,”Hey, you sunk my battleship”

Battleship Trailer HD

Or if you want something a bit more “Classic” watch the film below.
Rotten Tomatoes calls it “A technical masterpiece, Battleship Potemkin is Soviet cinema at its finest, and its montage editing techniques remain influential to this day.”

Directed By: Sergei M. Eisenstein and Written By: Nina Agadzhanova it opened in Theaters: Dec 24, 1925
This is a true Classic. The scene of the “Odessa Steps” is often considered the most famous sequence ever filmed.

Battleship Potemkin

Up Date 10/07/12

Well now after watching Battleship (On Demand) I have to say that despite my low expectations, this film was substantially worse than I expected. Oh sure, with tens of millions of dollars to spend, they could generate some cool CG effects; but no amount of knowledge can save what was a God-Awful script.

Filed under Film Reviews Tagged with , , , , , ,

Dark Shadows

April 30, 2012 2 Comments

Dark Shadows (PG-13)
Rated for comic horror violence, sexual content, some drug use, language and smoking
Directed by Tim Burton
Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Chloë Grace Moretz , Michelle Pfeiffer
 
Dark Shadows is based on the Gothic Soap Opera that ran from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show ran for 5 years, but based on the it’s five day per week  daytime scheduling the drama created 1,225  episodes, surpassing any other science-fiction/fantasy series, yes even including Doctor Who and every Star Trek television show combined.
The Shadow’s popularity did not take off till they introduced the vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid). today it is impossible to think of the show sans Barnabas, but the soap had been running nearly a year before it introduced the vampire. Once the creators of the show saw the popularity of  Frid’s caped character, werewolves and witches quickly followed. 
Director Tim Burton was a big fan of the series  and  Johnny Depp is on the record stating that as a child, ‘He was so obsessed with Barnabas Collins that he wanted to be him”. Well thanks to his friend Tim Burton; he has gotten his chance. The first time watching the trailer, it seems hard for me to picture anyone other then Depp playing the part.
 
Clearly Burton faced the challenge of trying to take 1,225 shows and tell a 2 hour story that worked on the big screen in 2012.  Interestingly, he chooses  to set the film back in 1972 (the year after the original series ended) and also chose to make it a film that is a parity  while also paying homage to the spirit of the original. 
 
Here we are told of the Collins family who sailed from England  to the New World i n  1752. Taking up residence in  Collinwood Manor, their son,Barnabas, is a product of privilege and has a reputation for breaking many a young woman’s heart. however when one of those hearts belongs to a witch, Angelique Bouchard, she responds by turning him into a vampire and then buries him alive. Burton begins his story In 1972, when Barnabas is accidentally freed from his coffin. he he turns to his old home only to find his beautiful estate, quite run-down  and populated with a collection of  Barnabas’ descendants, each with obvious character flaws and hidden horrifying secrets.
Dark Shadows

Filed under Film Reviews, In Theaters, Posts Tagged with , , , ,

2012 Chicago High School Film Festival

April 27, 2012 Leave a comment

The Chicagoland High School Film Festival, gives high School students an unique opportunity to enter and show the films they have worked so hard to create. True there are Children’s film festivals, but since those events are geared toward films who’s language and content are appropriate to be viewed by young children, this event allows young film makers to exhibit works that are relevant to the issues and interests of teen filmmakers.

2012 Film Festival Finalists

Academic Integrity by Geoff Neal, Hayden McAfee, Frank Henderson, Jacob Hellinga, Patrick McGrail Lake Forest High School 13:11

Derivation by Nhan Huynh. Palatine High School 2:21

Robin and Her Wolf  by Lane Lubell. Latin School of Chicago 12:55

The Following by Jess Greenthin. Palatine High 1:02

Heart and Soul by Anna Price. Palatine High School 3:18

Bridge by Devitt Conboy. Fenwick High School 7:00

John Shepphard Skate Contest by Patrick McGrail. Lake Forest High School 3:54

HIV/AIDS Awareness 2010 by Brittany Hardaway. Dunbar High School 2:51

Letter From a Stranger by Grant Terzakis. New Trier High School 11:47

Q-Tips by Brittany Hardaway. Dunbar High School 1:00

The Dream Act by Nayelly Trujillo. Juarez High School/Street-Level Youth Media 7:00

Room For One by Andre Kaplan. Latin School of Chicago 5:40

Party at the School by Brittany Hardaway. Dunbar High School 3:43

Invite your friends, family, teachers and neighbors–this is a celebration of you and your work.
Tickets are only $3.00 for students and $5 for adults. Tickets can be reserved or purchased at the door.
We will have popcorn, water and a few concessions available to purchase.

Chicagoland High School Film Festival 2012
6:30-9 PM Friday, May 18
Wrigley Theatre,
Latin School of Chicago
59 W. North Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60610

Filed under Film News, Posts Tagged with , , , , , ,

Hunger Games in search of a new director

April 12, 2012 1 Comment

"Hunger Games" director Gary Ross“As a Writer and director, Gary Ross said in a statement on his decision to not direct the sequel, “I simply don’t have the time I [would] need to write and prep the movie I would have wanted to make because of the fixed and tight production schedule.”Despite the extreme financial and critical success of The Hunger Games, the director, Gary Ross has bowed out of doing the two coming sequels. This surprised many because Ross and Lionsgate, had been engaged in talks over compensation needed to get him to return. Ross was paid a $3 milion advance and a percentage of the films profits which will likely bring him an additional $15 million. At appears that money was not the major stumbling block, it was a question of timing.  Lawrence (Katniss Everdeen) is returning for “Catching Fire, but she also is contractually obligated to “20th Century Fox  to reprise her role as Mystique in the sequel of “X-Men: First Class”. The timing of that film would require that “Catching Fire” would need to be shot in a window that Ross did not feel would give him the time he needed to “Prep the movie I would have wanted to make.” It must be nice to be able to walk away from a $20 milion dollar paycheck.

Vote For your choice.

Filed under Film News, Posts Tagged with , , , , ,

Hunger Games

April 6, 2012 1 Comment

Rating 1: ★★★1/2 A-
Rating 2: ★★★★ A+

Directed by Gary Ross
Screenplay by Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray
Based off the Novel The Hunger Games (Book 1 in the series) by Suzanne Collins
Jennifer Lawrence: Katniss Everdeen
Josh Hutcherson: Peeta Mellark
Liam Hemsworth: Gale Hawthorne
Woody Harrelson: Haymitch Abernathy
Elizabeth Banks: Effie Trinket
Stanley Tucci: Caesar Flickerman
Wes Bently: Seneca Crane
Lenny Cravitz: Cinna
Donald Sutherland: President Snow
Willow Shields: Primrose Everdeen 
Amanda Stenberg: Rue

Why did I give this film 2 different ratings? I did so because I am a slightly biased source, as I read and devour Suzanne Collin’s Novel. The fact is though the Gary Ross nailed it. He made a film of the book. He didn’t change anything important.
The Hunger Games tells the story of Katniss Everdeen. I have to stop right here. Jennifer Lawrence deserves an oscar nomination…and she already got one for the utterly amazing Winter’s Bone. She went far above and beyond the call of duty for this part.
See, the book was written in the 1st person all the way through, essentially stream-of-conscious. Normally, this means a lot of voice over. Not when you have Lawrence. She can LOOK the words. I don’t need her to tell me what’s going through her head because she’s talented enough to make me feel it.
She was hand chosen by Ross and Collins, the latter of whom said that of all the people who auditioned for the part (i.e. Abigayl Breslin (little Miss Sunshine), Saeorse Ronan (Hanna), Shailene Woodley (The Descendants), among others) that, “She was the only one that I would follow into battle.” And tthat’s coming from creator.
Liam Hemsworth – while his performance was very much satisfactory – I am not thrilled about his appearance as – to me – he looks a bit too much like Twilight.

(so far)

Filed under Posts

To Rome With Love, A first look

April 3, 2012 Leave a comment

I have attached The first trailer for Woody Allen’s newest film “To Rome With Love.” This comes on the heals of Woody’s most successful film in years, Midnight in Paris, which earned $148 million worldwide at the box office, and an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. “Rome” is features Allen’s return in front of the camera and is filed with the kinds of dialog only he can deliver. Case in point:
“The kid’s a Communist, the father is a mortician; does the mother run a leper colony?” Try the veal, y’all!

The cast is an amazing blend of actors including Roberto Benigni, Alec Baldwin, Penelope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page and Greta Gerwig.

Woody does to Rome as he did to Paris and New York, make us fall in love with these cities, the people, the ambiance, the soul.
Here again, the cinematography is simply so beautiful in his films, that it would be impossible for the tourism bureau to create any work that would do a better job motivating people to plan a vacation.

To Rome With Love Trailer

 

To Rome With Love Web Site

 

Filed under Film News, Posts Tagged with , , , , ,

Movies Currently in Theaters

April 3, 2012 Leave a comment

Movies Currently in Theaters.

Filed under In Theaters Tagged with , ,

Movies Currently in Theaters

April 3, 2012 Leave a comment

Movies Currently in Theaters.

Filed under Posts