2011 – Page 2 – Moviewallas

Truth In Trailers

Moviewallas

Check out the trailer for ‘Bad Teacher’ at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3131219225/

The preview for this film looks like fun. ‘Bad Teacher’ certainly has what looks like a great cast for a comedy: Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake and Jason Segel. Cameron Diaz should know that she is never stronger than when she is in a good comedy. Timberlake has the good sense to make fun of his own image in most of his films. And Jason Segel knows his way around funny (‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’, ‘I Love You Man’, and TV’s underrated ‘How I Met Your Mother’). I really hope this film does not suck.

Because previews often mislead. Some are so long, and reveal so much of the film, they might as well screen the whole damn movie while they are at it (for shame, ‘Iron Man 2’). Some trailers however are amazing, stand-alone films in their own right that know exactly how to whet audience interest in a movie, e.g., the preview for the new ‘Star Trek’ reboot. I have the highest respect however for trailers that give nothing away about a film, or show very little footage of the movie, but still manage to create excitement (e.g., ‘The Social Network’, or my personal favorite, ‘Alien’). The worst of all are good trailers for bad movies (are you listening, ‘Red Riding Hood’?). In this instance, I guess at least the individuals hired to create the trailer did their job well; it is just the audience who gets robbed out of their money.

What is your favorite movie trailer?

If You Could Fly “Up” Would You?

Moviewallas

In 2009 Pixar Animation Studios released “Up”, a film which centered on an elderly widower named Carl Fredricksen and an earnest young Wilderness Explorer named Russell who eventually steals his affections. Most of us however will likely remember the film for the breathtaking scenes of the two co pilots flying to South America in a house suspended by helium balloons.

In the movie, the stunt comes about as a result of Carl wanting to keep his home (threatened by eviction) as he turns his house into a makeshift airship, using thousands of helium balloons to lift it off its foundations. Of course this was impressive imagination but surely you remember the phrase “ if you dream it, then you can do it?” – ok not so well known (uh hum) but it applies because on Saturday morning, March 5, this very scene was recreated (minus the animated copilots). At dawn, a team of scientists, engineers and two world-class balloon pilots successfully launched a 16′ X 16′ house 18′ tall with 300 8′ colored weather balloons from a private airfield east of Los Angeles, and set a new world record for the largest balloon cluster flight ever attempted. The entire experimental aircraft was more than 10 stories high and reached an altitude of over 10,000 feet and flew for approximately one hour. The footage will be part of a new NGC series called “HOW HARD CAN IT BE?” which will premiere in fall 2011. If you can’t wait until fall, watch some of the exclusive footage right here.

Apollo 18: Discover Why we Never Went Back

Moviewallas

For the past week, the internet has been a-buzz about the trailer for the highly anticipated new science fiction/horror flick Apollo 18, made by Dimension which claims to include found footage of a secret moon landing in 1973. In its first six days, the trailer was viewed a colossal 4.3 million times. “Found-footage” films seem to gaining traction and seem like valuable investments for studios these days given the recent successes like “Cloverfield” and “Paranormal activity”. “People intrinsically know there are secrets being held from us,” explains Dimension head Bob Weinstein. “Look at WikiLeaks: There are secrets that are really true to the world. It’s not bogus.” Weinstein also recoils at the idea that Apollo 18 is a work of fiction. “We didn’t shoot anything,” he says. “We found it!”

Dimension will be taking advantage of social media and the internet for their marketing campaign for this film – a first for them given “The traditional way has always been television” Indicated Weinstein. The indie studio’s marketing executive, Bladimiar Norman, advises eager fans to continue to play close attention in the weeks leading up to the film’s April 22 release. “We’re about to take this up a notch and really have fun with this audience,” Norman stated. In fact, he even revealed the film has a secret website (Click here) where fans can access bonus material. In the meantime, enjoy the trailer – I can’t wait for this one

How Good is Moviewallas’ Crystal Ball?

Moviewallas

The Oscars have finally arrived and we have cogitated and postulated and shared our opinions about our favorite and not so favorite films in 2010 (and beyond it seems). Here now see a list of our predictions along with who we would award the golden statue to if it were up to us…who knows, one day it may be 😉

Follow along tomorrow as we chat live on our Facebook Discussion page and join us with your opinions. Happy Watching Movie fans

Category	Joe’s Prediction	Yazdi’s Prediction	Rashmi’s Prediction	Joe’s Wish List	Yazdi’s Wish List	Rashmi’s Wish List
Film	The King’s Speech	The King’s Speech	The Social Network	The Social Network: Even though Inception is a personal favorite, The Social Network is simply a better movie than King’s Speech and Inception (gasp!)	127 Hours	The Social Network: How can a film about geeky nerdy guys pleasuring themselves with their computer be SO good?
Director	Tom Hooper: The King’s Speech	David Fincher: The Social Network	David Fincher: The Social Network	Christopher Nolan: What do you mean, he’s not on the list? Damn you Academy snobs…	Tom Hooper: The King’s Speech	David Fincher: The Social Network
Actor	Colin Firth	Colin Firth	Colin Firth	Colin Firth: By a nose ahead of Franco	Colin Firth: With a shout out to James Franco. Of course if it were up to me, Ryan Reynolds or Ryan Gosling would be taking home the prize, but don’t get me started	Jesse Eisenberg : I am a firm believer that “Social Network” would not have been as good without Jesse in the lead but I loved Colin Firth and James Franco – this is the hardest category by far
Actress	Natalie Portman	Natalie Portman	Natalie Portman	Michelle Williams: It still upsets me that she had to go through this heartache. Oh, that was acting?? Wow!, Bening could win, but may have peaked too early.	Annette Bening (with a shout out to Michelle Williams)	Michelle Williams: Totally deserving but as long as Nicole Kidman doesn’t get it, I’ll be happy!
Supporting actor	Christian Bale	Geoffrey Rush	Christian Bale	Jeremy Renner	Mark Ruffalo	Geoffrey Rush
Supporting actress	Melissa Leo	Haillee Steinfeld	Melissa Leo	Melissa Leo	I don’t particularly have a dog in this race (from those nominated), but if I was forced to choose, I would go with Melissa Leo	Haillee Steinfeld
Screenplay (Adapted)	The Social Network	The Social Network	The Social Network	The Social Network: Come on, is anything even close?	The Social Network: Aaron Sorkin for his fast, smart and incisive script for The Social Network. This prize is Sorkin’s to lose.	Social Network
Screenplay (Original)	King’s Speech	Inception	The Kid’s are All Right	Inception: It won’t win. Remember this category is original. Conceptually and structurally intelligent writing. Unlike anything that has come before it.	The Kids Are All Right: with a pat on the back to Another Year.	The Fighter
Animation	Toy Story 3	Toy Story 3	Toy Story 3	Toy Story 3: Aargh! HTTYD comes so close, SO close, but TS3 is the better picture	How To Train Your Dragon: (unless the Illusionist wows me even more)	Toy Story 3: This film is perfection for me
Documentary	Gasland	Inside Job	Restrepo	Exit Through the Gift Shop: Assertions of mockumentary will keep this from the top spot. I did think that this was brilliant stuff, however	NA	Waiting for Superman: I am still LIVID this isn’t on the list but in the absence of that the “Exit Through the Gift Shop” as I would love Banksy to accept in person or at least pull a stunt

Watch Natalie Portman’s ballet training in BLACK SWAN

Celebrity News

Who hasn’t managed to catch “Black Swan” yet (or the moviewallas review of it)? No judgments I promise, but, if you have been sitting on the fence about watching this film, maybe the attached video will convince you to either go watch it or preload it into your Netflix queue.

Even though this film didn’t make my 2010 Top Ten list (note it did make both fellow wallas lists), I did really enjoy this movie. Much of the enjoyment becuase Natalie Portman was mesmerizing to watch as Nina Sayars – the swan herself. The attached video from Fox Searchlight Pictures shows the young ballerina in training and believe me, Portman is totally deserved of that title.

With Aronofsky’s brilliant direction and a great supporting cast and of course the incredible dancing by both Portman and Mila Kunis, watching this film won’t be a waste of time. That and i think Portman may be one of the strongest contenders (along with Annette Benning) for the “Best Actress” Oscar next week.

Warner Bros. movie apps. Is this the future of movie distribution?

Moviewallas Opinion Reviews

Warner Bros today announced a couple of iPhone/iPad apps featuring two of my personal favorite movies in recent years. The Dark Knight and Inception. The apps purport to offer a more comprehensive movie experience than is possible on other platforms such as DVD or Blu-ray, including interactive games, exclusive soundtracks, trivia and other related content.

Each app relates to one movie and is available as a free download, although many of the features (including the full length movie) need to be unlocked through a $9.99 purchase. I tested the Dark Knight app this evening and went through some of the freebies. The experience was mixed with some interesting and reasonably immersive elements, including a fun trivia game with clips from the movie. The app is not without a few glitches including reports of jittery streaming, although I did not experience this personally.

It’s frustrating to have purchased the Dark Knight on physical media and have to shell out another ten bucks to get the most out of the app. A slightly lower price point might be more palatable, or at least a way of providing a discount to those who purchased the movie on DVD/Blu-ray. I would also prefer not to have a single app per movie – my iPhone is already cluttered up with icons.

This isn’t going to work with every movie. There’s a certain fanboy-ishness about this, as Warner seems to have tacitly acknowledged with the selection of the initial two movies, The Dark Knight and Inception. Furthermore, the appeal may not be universal given that this kind of thing lends itself more to the type of movie fan who just can’t get enough of a movie. For example, I don’t see the King’s Speech having the same appeal as an app.

So, is this the way of the future? Well, it’s hard to say. While I applaud the effort of the studios in giving us yet another way to consume digital content, a lot of what is here could be done with a Blu-ray disc. It would also be nice to be able to transfer a purchased movie to another device e.g. my computer or AppleTV to watch on the big screen. In short, the argument needs to be much more compelling before I give up my current preference of DVD/Blu-ray/Digital Copy combo packs.

It’s an interesting experiment. Expect to see more innovations as the studios look into different distribution models as well as opportunities to increase revenue potential from movie releases.