Ridley Scott's Prometheus Preview

When  the movie Alien was released back in 1979, nothing else like it it had ever been done before. It was a classic horror / monster movie set in space with a science fiction universe. There was a depth to the movie and a strong glimpse of a bigger universe of characters beyond the xenomorph aliens that played the terrifying antagonistic creatures in the movie. The original film contained an unexplained character that had long since passed by the time that the humans arrived. After the mining crew answer a distress beacon the foreign planet, they find an alien derelict cargo ship. On that ship, the humans discovered the fossilized remains of a large humanoid creature. This character was often called "The Space Jockey" or more formally, "The Pilot". The Space Jockey has never been attempted to be explained in any of the subsequent sequels by any other directors that followed Scott; being James Cameron, David Fincher, and Jean Pierre Jeunet, sequentially. (all three of those are in my top 10 directors list, by the way) The race is sometimes called in other media, the Mala'kak.

The Hobbit Video Production Diary #5

These diaries are just so good.This one is delivered as a Christmas present to all of the fans. Even if you aren't a fan, it is well worth the watch. The production finally goes on location, as New Zealand is going into it's summer right now.

The Adventures of Tinitn Review

Tintin is the kind of movie that every adolescent boy didn't even realize that they wanted to watch really badly. It is a fun movie and something different than anything else, yet it seems very familiar at the same time. Spielberg has said that a big influence in Indiana Jones has always been the comic books made from the 1930s to the 1970s also named The Adventures of Tintin by artist Hergé (Georges Remi)... and it's here that there are some striking similarities. Imagine sort of a Hardy Boys meets Indiana Jones. The style of the action set pieces seem very reminiscent of the scene that you might remember from the truck chase scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. There is also a great deal of detective sleuthing done by the titular character. This is a fun movie, to be sure. Sometimes though, the action scenes seem to persist a little longer than they should, in my opinion. This effect kind of wears down on the viewer and it loses it's narrative a bit. This is something I also thought Peter Jackson's King Kong was also guilty of. Interestingly, it is Peter Jackson who is up next to direct the following installment of Tintin, trading producer / director roles with Stephen Spielberg. Like Raiders of the Lost Ark, this movie will also likely get a longer title change in the future to The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.

First Trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

So, so excited about this. Instead of watching this tonight, I think I'll wait to see it in the theater, in front of Spielberg / Jackson's Tintin, which opens tomorrow.

The Dark Knight Rises Theatrical Trailer

Here it is, the trailer that many people have been waiting for since The Dark Knight opened.

Click below for the trailer.

Hugo Review

Let me start out by saying that it isn't often that a movie like this gets made. Hugo, an adaptation of the Brian Selznick book: The Invention of Hugo Cabret, has been called a love letter to cinema. That may be true, but I would go one step further, deeming it a fantastic exercise in storytelling, in love with the art of storytelling itself. The book is sort of a half-visual experience, containing many sketches and 526 pages of text. This film translates that experience in a way that has yet to be done with this genre.

The Hobbit teaser lands in Austin, TX for BNAT 13, will be shown in theaters before Tintin

The title pretty much says it all, but the whole story can be found at theonering.net, including Elijah Wood's introduction at the But-Numb-A-Thon 13 film festival in Austin, TX, which is founded by Aintitcool News creator, Harry Knowles. Very cool news, indeed.

Spielberg sequel-mania! Indy 5 and JP4 in the works

What I refer to as Spielberg's two worst movies would be his last two directorial installments of Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones. Hopefully he can redeem himself from the cringe-worthy scenes of that um, daughter of Dr. Malcolm doing gym-kata on some velociraptors, as well as Indy flying through the air in a refrigerator.

I sure hope that spending time with Peter Jackson on Tintin will ignite some of whatever it is that Steven Spielberg once liked about action movies.

JP4 news, courtesy of Comingsoon.net
Indy 5 news, also courtesy of Comingsoon.net

Three Stooges Trailer from the Farrelly Brothers is up

Not really sure how I feel about this one. Why make it set in modern times? it makes me think of those '90s movie takes on '60s sitcoms. As far as the actors playing the parts, I sort of like everyone so far, but I'm not quite sold on Larry. This could be good but also could be really bad!
The later seems more likely.

Scorsese's Hugo scoring high marks with critics

With a 3 day weekend gross of $11,364,505, Hugo is no blockbuster competition for the likes of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, with its 2nd weekend gross of $41,683,574. What is actually "gross" about those numbers is the fact that you have a movie like Hugo, with an acclaimed director who decides to take a gamble on a new genre. The movie scores high with critics, getting a 96% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Next you have a movie like Twilight, which scores as low as 26% likes on RT, but still somehow manages to keep the series alive and well. Anyway, it looks like both critics and the audience can agree on The Muppets, which took the #2 spot over the weekend with a $29,239,026 domestic gross and a whopping 98% approval. Sometimes the good guy wins.

 Now I have not yet seen Hugo, as my little mountain town theater somehow refuses to often book good movies. I'll have a review up as soon as I get a chance to catch the flick. Until then, here is some media for you:

The first Red Scarlet cam goes on sale

What looks to be the best studio-quality, medium budget, digital motion picture camera ever, and little brother to the Red Epic (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Hobbit), The Red Scarlet has just gone on sale today. Rental service owner Tonaci Tran (middle) is the lucky recipient. At $9,750, this is one serious studio quality 4K entry-level camera. It is fully customizable and highly upgradable.

Source: Red

35mm projection on its way out, presumed dead by 2015

In what is both a sad moment for the ending of an era and a wondrous one for a new frontier, classic 35mm projection is slated to go the way of the dinosaur. While 35mm has been the standard for many years, its days are clearly numbered. Digital projection has come in on the wave of supporters like George Lucas and more recently, James Cameron, who's feature Avatar has been seen as the tipping point. With more theaters looking to 3D for added revenue, it only strengthens digital's foothold. The folks at IHS Screen Digest Cinema Intelligence Service have stated that the beginning of 2012 will "mark the crossover point when digital technology overtakes 35mm." If that is the case, then look out for December of 2012, when potential blockbusters like The Hobbit: An unexpected Journey and Man of Steel hit theaters. With The Hobbit movies, you have perhaps an even even more significant advancement, that being the first commercial motion picture to be displayed at 48fps (frames per second) as opposed to the 24fps standard that his been with us since the talkies. Add 3D to the mix, and you can see that the world of cinema is changing forever. For good or for bad, we are on a path away from the old 35MM print standard.

IHS estimates that: "By the end of 2012, the share of 35mm will decline to 37 percent of global cinema screens, with digital accounting for the remaining 63 percent. This represents a dramatic decline for 35mm, which was used in 68 percent of global cinema screens in 2010. In 2015, 35mm will be used in just 17 percent of global movie screens, relegating it to a niche projection format."

35MM film won't go away totally... for now. You do still have movie directors who love to shoot on film. Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino seem to much prefer film, but then you have a director like Martin Scorsese, who seems to be changing hist tune. Scorsese, a once outspoken artist against both 3D and digital has decided to embrace both for the filming of his upcoming picture Hugo. Still, as we get farther away from 35mm, I'm sure the warmth of its old fashioned film look will bring artists back, even if it's only for a concept piece here and there. Most likely though, it will be converted for digital projection. The trend, even before digital projection fully caught on, has been to transfer to digital to do editing, grading, and compositing of visual effects, so many have been comfortable with that stage for quite a while.

So enjoy 35mm projection while you can... if you can find it, because pretty soon, it will be time to say fin.

soruce: Technology.CNBC

Set reports 1-3 for the Hobbit are up at Aintitcool News

Update: Set report Part 5 added on 11/28/11

Ah, I remember these reports from LOTR like it was yesterday. Thanks to Quint over at Aintitcool for well, making us all so jealous.

An Unexpected Journey: Quint on the set of The Hobbit! Part 1 - Concerning Hobbiton: Link

An Unexpected Journey: Quint on the set of The Hobbit! Part 2 - They Call Me Mr. Chubb: Link

An Unexpected Journey: Quint on the set of The Hobbit Part 3 – Beginnings and Endings: Link

An Unexpected Journey: Quint on the set of The Hobbit Part 4 – A Palaver of Istari: Link

An Unexpected Journey: Quint on the set of The Hobbit Part 5 – Thorin's Dilemma: Link

Ridley Scott to direct Blade Runner sequel

First a prequel to his own movie Alien, in Prometheus, due June 2012. Now Ridley Scott has confirmed in a blog called Speakeasy from Wall Street Journal that the new project is “liable to be a sequel.” to his 1982 sci-fi / nior flick Blade Runner.

Earlier this year, Alcon Entertainment said it was planning a new Blade Runner project with Scott set to direct. It however, was not known whether the movie would be a prequel, sequel, or remake. “I think I’m close to finding a writer that might be able to help me deliver,” Scott says, “we’re quite a long way in, actually”.

It'll be interesting to see if original material can be a worthy companion piece to the '82 film, which is an adaptation of the novel by Philip K. Dick called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

The Hobbit- Production Diary Video #4

Not much to say but I love these teases. This one seems to be the most full of juicy information about the inner workings of the 3D process, as well as confirmation that the movies are indeed captured at 5K resolution. A total of 48 Red Epic cameras, all with names. Also good to see Elijah Wood and Hugo Weaving back in their parts as Frodo and Elrond, although some of that was in video #2.


For more on the new 48 fps and 60 fps high speed frame rate technique, check out my article over at About-Interface.

In case you missed the other production diaries, here is 1-3, here they are, right after the jump.

Mortal Kombat reboot to be made by successful MK rebootest

The arrival of the dark and violent Mortal Kombat arcade game in 1992 was a pretty big deal. When Paul W. S. Anderson's live action on the brutal video game debuted in theaters 3 years later, people were very excited to see it, and it was said by many at the time to be the first movie made of a video game to not be terrible. Well, I do believe that most people who have dared to revisit the movie and see it for what it really is will find it... pretty darn bad. Yeah, I said bad. Of course, the sequel was just plain awful, but at least their is some humor in how terrible it was. Humor that maybe lasts a few minutes before finding the remote, anyway. No, the original movie that the future Mr. Milla Jovovich made was just plain cheesy, in my opinion. Sprinklings of cool, but mostly erm... Korny

Dolphin Tale 3D Review

The idea of this movie intrigued me for a couple of reasons. First, I grew up in the Tampa Bay area and remember going to the Clearwater Marine Science Center / Aquarium as a teen, and since I think that the TB area has not been represented nearly enough in movies, I am always curious what kind of production will choose to represent the area. The other big reason is probably the fact that both Morgan Freeman and Harry Connick Jr. are in the same movie together. Both are very likable individuals. Throw in a dolphin and it's like: "how is this all gonna work?" Well, I can say that they elevate this movie to a much higher ranking than it would have likely been without them.

3D Strikes Back!

And they said it was a dying fad... That's what I've been hearing anyway, for about the past month and from what seemed like a whole lot of folks. (CNN, Gizmodo, Slate)   From the dropping of RealD's stock to the finger-pointing at big summer blockbusters not earning as much in 3D as their 2D counterparts. Looking at you Harry Potter. It looks like the re-release of The Lion King (3D) has far exceeded expectations to the tune of  $61,676,000 by its second weekend, spending 2 weeks at the #1 box office spot, even beating out Contagion in only its second week. Not bad for a movie already released 17 years ago.

RED, creators of the amazing line of professional-grade digital movie cameras, teases new laser-powered projector, plans on continuing to drop jaws in newer ways

In 2007, when Red founder Jim Jannard decided to sell off his Oakley eyewear and clothing empire that he started out of a handgrip line for BMX and motorcycles at $2 billion, he decided to start a revolution in a different field involving optics... digital movie cameras. These aren't just any cameras though, the company known as RED makes something different, technologically, as well as aesthetically. They are meant to be modular and upgradeable, as well as bleeding-edge. They range from the more modest pro-sumer budget range to big studio productions of "epic" proportions. They even have a modular DSLR still camera that is upgradeable. Their emerging flagship motion picture camera is in fact called the RED Epic, and some of the movies coming soon will surely impress. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (RED One/Epic), The Amazing Spider-man, and The Hobbit (parts I & II) should make people believe why this company is so special, as the camera is capable of 5K resolution, as well as capture speeds up to 140 frames a second. Whether or not the movie being filmed maxes the specs out or not, the picture quality is said by some to be the best ever seen from any movie camera ever made. (sans 70mm / IMAX, I would guess)

So when the Steve Jobs-like Jannard decides to start making a super-bright laser illuminated projector capable of 4K, (most theater projectors are still 2K) people should have their ears perked! There is also talk of a home version for folks that could afford well, a home front projector from RED.

Welcome to Nuscreen Cinema

I'm happy to announce the launch of Nuscreen Cinema blog website. I have been itching to do a website/blog like this for years. Starting with sort of a soft launch, I will begin writing about cinema technology as well as maybe doing some movie reviews, after which I will slowly evolve the website into something more pleasing to the eye. Please enjoy.

Gordon Dewey