Above: The painting Dennis Hopper 1971 by Andy Warhol.
It’s with great sadness that I was just reading that Dennis Hopper is struggling with cancer and may be on the brink of death. Sadly the gossip hounds are focused on his announced divorce — but instead of doing that I’d rather pay tribute to an iconic actor who has dominated so many films with his larger-than-life personality. Although I should add that in addition to be an actor that Hopper is also a gifted photographer — here’s an amazing shot he took in the 60s of Andy Warhol and crew hanging out at the Factory : Read more…
On paper 2010 has all of the ingredients of a great film: A story by Arthur C. Clarke, a cast that includes A+ actors like John Lithgow, Helen Mirren and Roy Scheider — and then add to that you’ve got a visual genius like Syd Mead working on the production design. Even more impressive is the fact that as a genre hard science fiction films represent a blank canvas of possibilities. Yet as a film fanboy (who loves science fiction) I hated every frame of it. Read more…
The good news: Hollywood won’t ruin this film! The bad news: There isn’t a very strong tradition in Japan for making live action science fiction films. Mind you I’m not saying that this can’t be done, but the odds are against you. So given that I’ve got to say as an ancient Star Blazers fans that this trailer has me much more excited than the animated film that came out this year, which to be fair got better review than I expected. Here’s a screen-by-screen breakdown of my thoughts: Read more…
The problem with being a Christmas baby is that your birthday is forever ignored: Although that can give some motivation to stand out in life and become a success. Here are just a few remarkable talents who have shared their birthdays with the day that everyone else is getting gifts: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 25, 2009 in Cinema, Science
My problem with Avatar is that the humans are smart enough to achieve interstellar space travel, but their technology feels like it belongs in the early 21st Century. I’ll grant you that you can make this critique of quite a few science fiction films, but frankly Avatar seems to become a giant plot hole when you think about this. Read more…
Unlike Star Trek or a Quentin Tarantino film I’ve got to admit that I don’t have any emotional investment in James Cameron. Yes I grew up with his films and enjoyed them, but I never really loved them. From my point of view his weakness is that he tries to pull at your heartstrings with characters you just don’t give a damn about. Read more…
On paper it sounds like a good idea: Why not take the Philip K. Dick book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and make a graphic novel out of it? And that’s what BOOM! Studios has been trying to do for about seven issues of this comic book and they just can’t get it right. I’ve been looking at the previews for a while and something has always set me off about them. Then it struck with this latest issue — this isn’t a graphic novel based upon the novel, but a bad xerox copy of Blade Runner which was the famous film which was based upon the novel. Read more…
Just knowing that you’ve got a film with Robert Downey, Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow is cool. But add Mickey Rourke who’s an amazing actor as the heavy and you’ve the potential for a very entertaining film. In fact Rourke as the evil character Whiplash looks like he’s going to be the star of this film. Iron Man 2 is due out in May of 2010…
I’ll be honest: My first reaction to even hearing that there was a big budget Robin Hood in the works make with cringe as grow men prancing around in tights lacking proper machine guns just seems silly to me thanks to Bugs Bunny. However when I realized that Ridley Scott was directing my thinking is that he might do something interesting with the story after all. Read more…
Looking at all of these clips of the upcoming Sherlock Holmes I’ve got to say that I’m intrigued enough to see it on opening day (Christmas!). I recently caught RocknRolla by Guy Ritchie on cable and found myself re-watching more than once — while it wasn’t original his craftsmanship and storytelling was wonderful. He’s turned Sherlock Holmes into a bit of a superhero in these clips — and I’ve got to say that Jude Law makes a great Watson: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 15, 2009 in Cinema, Star Trek
There were some films on Quentin’s list that I loved like Star Trek, but his admiration for Observe and Report leaves me puzzled. I’ll be honest: I didn’t film the film but the trailer unsold me rather quickly. I love the fact that Tarantino mentioned the Thai film Chocolate which was directed by Prachya Pinkaew. Here’s the trailer which looks amazing: Read more…
Shown above is a trailer for the film Solanin (ソラニン) which is based upon the manga by the same name which was serialized in Young Sunday. The music meets romance themed film features Japanese actress Aoi Miyazaki in the leading role and is due out in 2010 with a soundtrack from Asian Kung Fu Generation. Here’s a panel from the original manga: Read more…
In this brilliant video David Lynch brings us back to early 80s when he turned a chance to direct Return of the Jedi. Lynch gives us an interesting insight which is that Lucas doesn’t like to direct his own films. Not mentioned in this clip is that Lucas was a huge fan of Eraserhead which came out in 1977. Of course Lynch would go on to tackle science fiction with the film Dune in 1984 — and while the film had his vision was part of that film it didn’t do too well at the box office.
Mattel is getting brilliant with their marketing to collectors these days: Shown above is the James Bond Girls Barbie Doll Assortment Case. This set only has three Bond girls: They picked Honor Blackman in Goldfinger, Halle Berry in Die Another Day and Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder from Dr. No. For reference here are the real ladies of the silver screen: Read more…
What makes this Alien themed USB device so cool is that when you plug it in it sticks out its inner mouth you and lights up in red at random: Read more…
The first toys for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland film are starting to be announced: Shown above is a Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter Doll for Johnny Depp fans — although at $200 you’ll have to be a hardcore fan. More to my own aesthetic and financial liking are the Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat Kubricks below which are $19 for the pair. Sadly these goodies won’t be out for Christmas, but you can pre-order them for April 2010. Read more…
This film takes fandom and cosplay to the next level: Based upon the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. it tells the story of a teen who decides to become a real life superhero sans super powers. Methinks that bit of realism might actually make this film a bit of fun. Here are some posters from the film: Read more…
Is he an evil mechanical doppelgänger or just misunderstood? Since 1974 poor Mechagodzilla (メカゴジラ) has always been played up as the nemesis of Godzilla — but I like to think of him as more of a beloved sparring partner. And now you can show your love for this mechanical maestro with your very own Godzilla MechaGodzilla Plush which features a soft surface instead of the usual space titanium.
For those of us critics who wonder why Hollywood can be so superficial film producer Peter Guber has some riveting insights with this interview from the Web 2.0 Summit. He first talks about the disconnect between young movie goers and the folks who work at studios — and then the fact that each film represents a new business venture because the studio itself doesn’t have a brand (although back in the good old days it did). Read more…
You know how you know that you’ve been living in New York City for too long? Well when you look at a trailer like this and the first thing you think is “damn that’s one HUGE ASS apartment!” And then your second thought is “I wonder if it’s rent controlled, rent stabilized or luxury?” The after taking in the real estate porn (seriously you can’t get an apartment with a living room that size unless you’re loaded) do you realize that Ninja Assassin is slated for release on November 25th. In this next scene Ninja Assassin’s landlord is taunting him about his ex: Read more…
Yes I know James Cameron will make a billion dollars with Avatar. But you know what Cameron will never know how to do? Create a damn high quality giant robot that kids will want to buy thirty years from now! Shown above is the reason why: The Avatar AMP Suit (shown above) looks like a left over prop from the film Aliens: Read more…
He’s not my favorite director but I think James Cameron’s true talent is the ability to combine a good story with bleeding edge special effects. When I watched the previous trailer for Avatar it looked like a bad videogame, but perhaps I was a bit too hasty to call my predictions for this film. Looking at this latest trailer I’m seeing more of the story which looks rock solid — so my bet is that Avatar is going to be the hit of the season. And as much as I’m not a fan of Cameron I also have to give him credit for the ability to pull off making a film of this scale without it being based on a comic book or a TV show from thirty years ago. Alhough the alien world animation still looks like a bad videogame to me…
The unintentionally ironic thing about the Cheech & Chong Action Figure Set is that it strikes me as being the most effective anti-drug statement I’ve ever seen: And of course that irony goes even deeper as pretty much all anti-drug advertising always seems to make drug use somehow cooler. Read more…
This is the second trailer for The Road which is due on November 25th. Normally I’m slightly pessimistic about post-apocalyptic films recently, however any film that’s based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy has a great deal of potential. In fact my understanding was that the film was moved to its current release date because it might be an Oscar contender which is also a good sign. Read more…
It’s with great sadness that I was just reading that Dennis Hopper is struggling with cancer and may be on the brink of death. Sadly the gossip hounds are focused on his announced divorce — but instead of doing that I’d rather pay tribute to an iconic actor who has dominated so many films with his larger-than-life personality. Although I should add that in addition to be an actor that Hopper is also a gifted photographer — here’s an amazing shot he took in the 60s of Andy Warhol and crew hanging out at the Factory : Read more… 
