The End of 35 mm Films, Bad 3D and 24 Frames Per Second

April 25, 2012

Some really interesting news coming out of the cinema world:

·         20^th Century Fox formally announced at CinemaCon it will only distribute digitally from this point forward around the entire world. No more 35 mm prints from the studio ever. The other major US studios will likely soon follow suit
·         Peter Jackson officially unveiled 48 FPS film with unfinished clips from The Hobbit and universal reaction is that it is the cinematic equivalent of what you see on HDTVs playing at Best Buy: it makes movies no longer look like “film” but like a live HDTV sports broadcast. i.e. it looks better on the screen than it actually does live with crystal clear clarity and super saturated color to the point of actually being disturbing. There have been some reactions saying that it completely breaks the illusion standard 24 FPS film provides but you have to remember that it will take filmmakers a while to adjust sets, props, makeup, etc. to compensate for this. I fully expect this to become the new standard for filming
·         Jackson also unveiled a 3D test using 48 FPS film and the difference is reported to be astonishing, completely resolving every complaint about current 3D film whether it is upconverted or natively filmed

The future is here, cinemagoers. Film has finally bit the big one.

John Carter's Latest Victim -- Are The Avengers Next on His Hit List?

April 20, 2012

I wasn’t actually expecting this but after Disney’s chief marketing officer MT Carney was let go for the John Carter disaster, the sword next fell on the head of Disney Chairman Rich Ross today. Disney is now acknowledging that the film will end up being a $200 MILLION writeoff, far worse than the $100-150 million writeoff that was initially projected. All this despite the fact that it made $100+ million overseas and $68 million so far in the US.

Now comes The Avengers. Although “only” budgeted at $170, word is leaking out now that the real budget was anywhere from $220 to $260 million. Unlike Carter, however, there is no chance it won’t recoup that with a $160 million opening tracking that is likely to outdo the record just set by The Hunger Games. However, it’s going to have to do Avatar/The Dark Knight level money to undo the JC damage – and there is talk now that it may very well do just that.

The Next Avengers Villain

April 19, 2012

The next Avengers film villain has been revealed and it is exactly one of the only three possibilities it could have been: Thanos, the Mad Eternal and worshipper of Death.  The only other possibilities that were grandiose and powerful enough to translate to film were Korvac and Kang the Conqueror. I personally think they should’ve gone with Kang before Thanos but it’ll all be awesome regardless.

Castle: Headhunters (S4.21)

April 17, 2012

Absolutely my favorite episode of the show so far. So well done on so many levels. Moved plot forward, moved characterization forward, a great new possibly recurring character and a decent and tragic mystery although the ending was a little too pat. Let’s look at all the great points:

·         Ethan Slaughter was a blast. Played perfectly by Adam, he was both a parody and an homage to all the stereotypical tough guy cops seen on TV and the movies and still managed to add something new. yet he had a great brain underneath. The practical jokes he pulled on Castle were great. When he coerces the confession out of the kid for all the wrong reasons, it added a very dark side to him like Vic from The Shield (another homage) and I was wondering if they would pull the trigger and make him a nemesis but I was actually glad he turned out to be a good cop in the end who does listen to reason and was in on the final interrogation. I really, really want to see him back on Castle.
·         Character wise, I love how he allows Castle to do everything Beckett won’t let him but then you slowly realize he’s actually just throwing Castle to the wolves and this is likely why his other three partners died.
·         The brown leather coat Castle offers Slaughter to allow him to ride along. They were both “Browncoats.” Not sure if that was intentional or not or how much of it flew over the heads of the audience. It was a lot more subtle that the episode where he tries on the Mal Reynolds Firefly costume for Halloween but just as funny if you picked it up.
·         Nathan’s physical comedy was great when he tried to stop the fleeing suspect in the bar while Slaughter looks on and snacks on popcorn. We know he can do fight choreography decently from watching Firefly and Serenity so it was fun to see him act out as the physical bumbler while still taking the suspect down
·         I love how Slaughter says all the obvious things that any other normal person would ask of Castle like “You’re tapping that, right?” when referring to Beckett. That would be what most people would normally think  as only on a TV show would people like these not end up together already
·         The bit where Slaughter asks Castle to testify on his behalf in front of the board in the car while using excessive force was both frightening and hilarious at the same time
·         And of course, love how Beckett conveniently had Castle’s back (and by proxy, Slaughter’s as well) for the investigation and comes in at the end but doesn’t steal the spotlight from Slaughter and Castle at the final interrogation

It’s very interesting that they’re doing all these “team-up” episodes with new characters who could actually be leads in other shows if done right. Basically, I loved the fact that they didn’t royally screw this up by making Slaughter a true baddie as they did with Sophia Turner. I still ache over the loss of her character, but both Slaughter and The Limey were handled very well. Both of these guys should come back.

Avengers Tracking Now Higher than The Hunger Games and ....

April 16, 2012

With a mere two weeks to go to premiere week, The Avengers tracking has picked up substantially higher than The Hunger Games and, believe it or not… The Dark Knight Rises.

Now, this will likely change when we get closer to the release date of The Dark Knight Rises. But right now, Avengers is now looking at a $150 – 160 plus opening weekend.

Cabin In The Woods and Anti-Spoilers Resulting In Spoilers?

April 13, 2012

Hmmmm….

Just as like when the Sixth Sense came out, there are so many gleeful reviews of Cabin in the Woods gleefully begging you not to ruin the surprise for yourself and proudly proclaiming themselves to be spoiler free that they set the wheels turning and I have finally figured out what the twist in the movie is.

Don’t worry, not spoiling anything here. It’s just funny that this is happening again. The Sixth Sense reviews all made reference to the awesome twist at the end and one that specifically referenced Bruce Willis’ “somnambulistic” -- and that’s an exact quote still burned into my mind because it allowed me to figure it out – performance enabled to figure out he was a ghost himself without having seen the movie. I told this to my then roommate who went and saw it with his girlfriend and he realized just before the reveal that I was right. As a result, he was the only person in the audience not to gasp out loud.

This said, I now realize that any true Whedonite who thinks long and hard about this and all the genre work Joss Whedon has done will be able to figure this sucker out. We’ll see if I’m right later tonight.

Bet John Carter Wishes He Was On THIS Team...

April 12, 2012

This team of course being… The Avengers! Remember those tracking reports I told you showed that John Carter would bomb because no women wanted to see it at all and males were pissed off at the dropping of the “Of Mars” from the film’s title?

In complete contrast, The Avengers is tracking extremely well among women, proving that Marvel was smart to include the character of The Black Widow in the film series even though she is not part of the original Avengers. The Avengers is looking to make a $125 million weekend debut. At least. In reality, it’s looking to do a LOT more than that and could possibly even beat The Hunger Games’ insane $155 million weekend. The question is… can it beat record holder The Dark Knight’s $158 million opening weekend? Or will that honor go to the sequel to that film, The Dark Knight Rises?

Poor John Carter has scarcely scrounged up $66 million in North America and $100 million worldwide, which subtracted from its bloated $250 million plus all the marketing expenses still leaves Disney in the hole for over $100 million. While I previously thought the losses would eat away at the profits of The Avengers, it turns out now that The Avengers will more than make up for John Carter bombing.

Maybe John Carter should try astral projecting into Asgard instead of Barsoom. Then he’d have a hit. Maybe.