Hear my cries, hear my call. Lend me your ears. See my fall.

I knew as soon as there was a trailer for the new Godzilla movie, someone would have to play the Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page song "Come With Me" from the 1998 Godzilla movie over it. You didn't disappoint, youtube.



I'm looking forward to the new movie by the way. It looks like it might be pretty good. I really like the look of it anyway, judging by what I've seen so far. And it can't be worse than the one from 1998.

Uh huh, yeah.

Three features, and a whole mess of creatures.

Last weekend I went to see a triple feature with my friend and his parents. The movies were 20 Million Miles To Earth, The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad, and the kaiju movie Destroy All Monsters. It was my first time seeing all of them.



The first two were directed by Nathan Juran and featured stop-motion animation effects by Ray Harryhausen, who you may remember died earlier this year. I'm a pretty big fan of Harryhausen's work, but I have not seen everything he's done. Although they were enjoyable, I didn't love the two Juran/Harryhausen movies. They're far from being my favorite movies that Harryhausen has worked on. That being said, it was great seeing those old school stop-motion animation effects up on the big screen. Beautiful stuff.

I haven't seen many kaiju movies, so it was also interesting seeing Destroy All Monsters. It was somewhat of a unique experience for me for kind of a strange reason. Exposition time! An old friend of mine made a video several years ago consisting of the Men Without Hats song "Safety Dance" being played over clips of Gamera. He had said about the video, "The idea popped into my head one morning during breakfast to make this, so I did." I know that Gamera isn't even in Destroy All Monsters, but probably because of the similar visuals, "Safety Dance" was stuck in my head for pretty much the entirety of the movie. I think it's pretty safe to assume that my experience of watching the movie was quite different than that of anyone else in the theater. I really miss my friend.



Speaking of music, while we waited for the movies to start, they played various music videos. I must say, it was awesome seeing the music video for The Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" projected up onto a big screen. It's one of my favorite conceptual music videos.

Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity

When my friend and I saw Apollo 18, we ate some freeze-dried Neapolitan ice cream. I ended up enjoying the ice cream more than I enjoyed the movie. (I'm pretty good at reviewing movies.) We recently saw Gravity in IMAX 3D and we sneaked in some Tang and the some more of that delicious strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate freeze-dried astronaut ice cream. This time the whole experience was enjoyable, not just our snacks.

Gravity is different from what I was expecting. I thought most of it would be the main characters just floating out in space, completely isolated, and that it would deal with psychological and emotional consequences of that situation. Although the movie did deal with those consequences, there was a lot less floating in nothingness than I was expecting. There was actually quite a bit of action. I didn't count my false assumption against the movie though.

I was really looking forward to Gravity, since it just looked like it was going to be cool, and I am a big fan of director Alfonso Cuarón's previous movie Children Of Men. I think that movie is almost perfect, but I always had one minor complaint, which really just comes down to a difference in personal taste. Although I'm fascinated by the idea of embracing accidents in the creative process, I was never sold on the blood splatter on the screen during one of the "long shots" that Cuarón is known for. I just find that specific effect to be distracting. It takes me out of the movie, which, unless I'm mistaken, goes against the very reason for using those long shots. The same kind of thing happens with drops of water in Gravity.

I also feel that Gravity had some clunky, cheesy dialogue, and most of that was superfluous. Some of the time it seemed like a character was just saying out loud what they were doing as they were doing it. Other times it seemed like they were just speaking their thoughts to no one at all, just so the audience would know what they were thinking. It was very obvious to me that's what was happening, which takes me out of the movie as much as water splashing on the screen, and in most of these moments I just felt they could have been silent and the audience would have understood exactly what was going on. I guess dialogue maybe isn't one of the more important elements of this particular movie though. (I loved the dialogue in Children Of Men though!)

I've read a lot of complaints about the movie not being realistic, but who the hell expected it to be a science lesson? I didn't watch Gravity to learn about space, and even though I love sharks, I don't watch Jaws to learn about the behaviors of the Great White.

Oh, and I recognized the voice of Ed Harris right away. Is he being typecasted as mission control now?

In conclusion, Gravity wasn't perfect by any means, but I highly recommend it to everyone, even if just for the incredible visuals. It's a beautiful looking movie. I know that this recommendation is coming a bit late since the movie is probably out of theaters by now. Sorry about that.

Baby's emotional reaction to The Empire Strikes Back.

Check out the wonderfully adorable original video.

Hannibal The Instagram Cannibal

Hannibal is a little far-fetched. Not once has he posted a food shot on instagram...

If there isn't an official instagram account for photos of the food he makes on the show, the marketing people really need to get on that.

Are the makers of The Blacklist just pandering to my taste in music now?

I didn't think I'd be posting about this show again so soon, but I had to mention this. After watching the pilot, I made a post where I said that among my main complaints about the show is the "horrendously cheesy and heavy-handed" music choices. I was just watching the third episode, and an Underworld song called "Bird 1" started playing. I've actually mentioned on this blog before that Underworld is one of my favorite bands.

Probably just a coincidence though, right? Haha

Even though I still think it would be better if they just used a completely instrumental score, I'm glad to say their music choices are getting better as of the third episode. Not only the songs they pick, but the way that they're used too. I guess we'll see if it stays better. James Spader is still great, Megan Boone's performance has improved since the pilot, and I've been enjoying the guest stars (Isabella Rossellini, Chin Han) so far. Speaking of guest stars, in the preview for the next episode was that Tom Noonan from Manhunter? If so, I guess they're not really trying to downplay the parallels to the Hannibal Lecter franchise.

The secret life of Robert California.

Is the new series The Blacklist a sequel to The Office? Are Raymond Reddington and Robert California the same man? They're both played by James Spader...

Think about it. Do you remember that episode of The Office called "The List", where the office workers found a list that creepy genius Robert California made which had all their names written on it? When asked about it, he claimed that list-making was something he did regularly.

                    ROBERT CALIFORNIA
          Well, I doodle too, but I'm not an artist, so I draw words and lists.

Sounds like the Blacklist is just another one of his doodles. And I'm pretty sure they even established that Robert California wasn't his real name!

Don't worry. I'm not being serious. Just amusing myself.

James Spader stars in NBC's The Blacklist

I've liked James Spader for years, but I wasn't a really big fan until he was on The Office. I was a little disappointed though with where they took his character, Robert California. I thought he was amazing in the first few episodes he was in, and I was concerned that the writers wouldn't be able to keep up writing such brilliant dialogue for him. It turned out my concern was warranted. The things Robert said got less and less interesting as the season went on. I don't think the writers had any idea what to do with the character, which is a shame because he had so much potential, and was such a great fit for the show. This disappointment had nothing to do with Spader though, and I remained a big fan of his. (I'm also excited about him playing Ultron in The Avengers: Age Of Ultron!) When I heard about a new show that Spader was in called The Blacklist, naturally I was interested.



In the show, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, Raymond "Red" Reddington (played by Spader), surrenders with intentions to collaborate with the FBI to apprehend other dangerous criminals. The catch is that he'll only speak to Elizabeth Keen (played by Megan Boone), an FBI profiler who's starting her very first day on the job. I know the premise sounds very Hannibal Lecter, but without the cannibalism. It's certainly not the most original show, but I'm not holding that against it. I watched the trailer for The Blacklist a while back, and I mostly loved it, aside from the horrendously cheesy and heavy-handed music choices. I was really looking forward to checking out the series.

Last night the pilot episode aired. How I felt about it was pretty much the same as how I felt about the trailer. Spader was absolutely incredible. I was hoping the awful music choices were just a characteristic of the trailer, but they were possibly even worse in the pilot. The eye roll inducing soundtrack perhaps reached its embarrassing peak when that cover of "99 Problems" started playing instead of allowing a subtly chilling moment between Special Agent Keen and the seemingly omniscient Reddington to resonate properly. The show would be so much better if it just had an instrumental score.

I also don't really care for Special Agent Keen. I'm not sure if it's the writing, or if it's Megan Boone's acting that is the problem. Possibly both. Maybe casting someone else would have been better. I also disliked pretty much every scene that had to do with Keen's personal life. It's not like I usually have a problem with that kind of stuff, but it was just bad in this show. Her introduction in the episode where she and her husband are getting ready in the morning had me cringing the whole way through it. Of course the aforementioned soundtrack to that sequence was at least partially to blame.

I will definitely watch more of the series, even if just for more of Spader's performance, but I hope Boone's performance grows on me, and I hope that they just do away with the cheesy and heavy-handed music choices altogether. I heard Isabella Rossellini will be guest-starring in an upcoming episode, so I'll be looking forward to that. I don't know if it will happen, but I'd love to see her and Spader have a scene together.

Someone took some pens to a picture of Ben Affleck from Daredevil.

Who should be the Joker to Ben Affleck's Batman? How about Jason Lee?

It's no secret that I daydream a lot about Batman movies, and that I like to think about which actors I would cast as different characters. It's a hobby of mine. Just take a look back at the stuff I was posting in July 2012. Not that I think I'd ever get the chance to direct a Batman movie, but I often think about what I'd do if I were to make one.

If I was hired to direct a new Batman movie, I already know who one of the first actors is that I'd want to call for a meeting. I have no idea if he'd be interested, but that actor is Jason Lee.

For years now I've thought Lee would be a fantastic Joker. I think he's got the right look to pull it off, obviously with make-up and costume help. Judging by several of his past performances, I think he's got what it takes to capture the personality of the Clown Prince of Crime as well. I also think that he would be capable of portraying the character in a fresh way that wouldn't be like Heath Ledger's or Jack Nicholson's takes.

I was more than happy to keep that little fantasy casting to myself, but recent casting news has made me want to share it. Now that Ben Affleck has been cast to play Bruce Wayne / Batman in Zack Snyder's sequel to Man Of Steel, opposite Henry Cavill's Superman, I now more than ever want to see Jason Lee portray the Joker. I don't care who's making the movie.

Affleck and Lee obviously have a history of acting together, appearing in several movies directed by Kevin Smith, such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy. They've played friends, and they have played enemies, and they have obvious chemistry. So when Affleck has a solo Batman movie at some point after the Man Of Steel sequel, I'd love to see him square off against Jason Lee's Joker. I think it's about time the actors had an onscreen reunion, and that this is the perfect opportunity for it. But what do you think?

Affleck, you da Bat in Gotham, yo!

Unless you are living under a rock, you've probably heard that Ben Affleck has been cast to play Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman in Zack Snyder's upcoming Man Of Steel sequel, tentatively titled Superman vs Batman. Or Batman vs Superman. He'll be going up against Henry Cavill's Superman in the movie. It seems like a lot of people are unhappy about this casting decision, probably due to some of Mr. Affleck's past movies, such as Daredevil, another comic book adaptation. I understand. I didn't think Daredevil was good when it came out, and I watched it again a year or two ago, and still thought it was awful. As with most, if not all, of the bad movies Affleck has been in, I don't think his acting skills had anything to do with why they weren't good. In the case of Daredevil, it was probably mostly the fault of Mark Steven Johnson. He wrote AND directed that embarrassment of a movie.

I'm a pretty big fan of Affleck. When he's working with good material, the guy is fantastic. I think he is a natural fit for the role of Bruce Wayne / Batman, and have no problem seeing him as the character. He wouldn't have been my first choice, but I couldn't really think of anyone who was an obvious choice. I do like some of the names that have been thrown around recently, and also would have been into some of them being Batman, but I think Affleck is at least as good a fit as any of them would have been.

Speaking of being able to see Affleck as the character, I can't wait until they release the first photo of him in the new batsuit so that I can put it together with a photo of him wearing the Superman suit in the movie Hollywoodland, in which he played George Reeves, the actor who portrayed the titular superhero in the television show Adventures of Superman. Of course, now I can't help but to imagine a Ben Affleck Batman fighting a Ben Affleck Superman. You know you'd pay to watch that.

This news also got me thinking about something else. I know it was reported that Affleck already turned down directing the Justice League movie, but what if he now reconsiders, or directs the solo Batman movies? I think he'd be a natural fit considering his work on Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and Argo, all of which were fantastic movies. And I think he's especially great as an actor when he's directing himself, and doing what he wants in the performance, rather than being directed by someone else. He's got good instincts when it comes to performing. Anyway, Affleck directing these movies might be a long shot, but at least I'm looking forward to seeing him portray Batman. Bring on 2015.

Recurring Imagery - Steven Spielberg's Shooting Stars

I plan on going outside tonight to watch the Perseid meteor shower. I try to watch the Perseids every year. There's a great spot on my driveway where I can see a very large portion of the sky. Anyway, I realized today was a good day to publish this post that I've been working on for a while. It was triggered by a recent viewing of Steven Spielberg's Jaws, one of my favorite movies.

In case you hadn't noticed or just don't remember, there are two shots of shooting stars in the movie. One right after the other. I notice them every time I watch the movie, but this particular time I was wondering whether there was any significance at all to the shooting stars. I decided to look it up on the internet. While I love the internet as a reference material, you just can't believe everything you read.

Besides reading many conflicting claims about whether or not the shooting stars in Jaws are real meteors caught on camera or optical effects that were done in post-production, what I mostly found were several rumors about the shooting stars in movies directed by Spielberg. For example, I read that the ones in Jaws are actually UFO's that the filmmakers unintentionally captured on film. Is it really necessary for me to comment on that one?

I've also read claims that the shooting stars are meant as a teaser for his movies that have to do with aliens, such as Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. I also find that hard to believe. I think he probably just likes the imagery.

Something I read a lot was that Spielberg puts a shooting star in almost every one of the movies he directs, and that it's his signature, kind of like how Alfred Hitchcock has a cameo appearance in most of the movies he directs. I really don't think that's true either. I actually watched some of his movies specifically to look out for shooting stars, and couldn't find any besides the few I already knew about. I couldn't even find any in certain movies where the imagery would have fit right in, such as E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Hook. I'm willing to believe I might have just missed them, but I'm usually pretty observant when it comes to small details in movies, especially if I'm specifically looking for them. If I'm right though, I guess people across the internet are just spouting misinformation without having looked for any evidence of their own. I'm not sure why that surprises me. Shooting stars in Spielberg movies just seems like a strange topic to be spreading rumors about.

I wanted to make a large post with screenshots of all the shooting stars in Spielberg's movies, but I thought the post was going to have a lot more images than this. So far it's just the two in Jaws, one in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, and one in Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom. I'm not even positive the one in Close Encounters was actually meant to be a shooting star. It was rather ambiguous. There were two objects shooting through the sky, and I'm pretty sure at least one of them was supposed to be a spaceship. I took a screenshot of the other one. So anyway, here are the screenshots I collected. If you know of any more Steven Spielberg movies with shooting stars, let me know. I'll also continue looking for them whenever I watch a Spielberg movie. I'd love to add more shots to this post.

Recurring Imagery - American Bowie

The new music video for David Bowie's song "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" has certain parts that remind me a lot of the movie American Beauty. Especially the shots of Bowie and Tilda Swinton at the dining room table.

"A chef salad, please."

Whoever picks the songs to be played in Cold Stone Creamery has fantastic taste in music. I was there the other day and I heard "Where Is My Mind?" by Pixies, "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King, and "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas & The Papas. I know I was there for ice cream, but hearing the song "California Dreamin'" combined with the imagery of that glass display counter made me want to order a chef salad.

Jurassic Park 3D: Revisiting Childhood

My friend and I did end up seeing Jurassic Park 3D, as if that's any surprise. I was still undecided while writing my previous post on the three-dimensional re-release, but by the time I was done writing, I had convinced myself I wanted to see it. I'm pretty convincing.

Taking a nostalgic approach, we decided to get candy we liked to get when we were kids, just to add to the whole experience. I picked Twizzlers. A comically massive bag of Twizzlers.

As I expected, seeing Jurassic Park in the theater again was a hell of a lot of fun. As much as I enjoy watching it on my relatively tiny television at home, this movie was definitely made for the big screen. I was struck by how amazing the special effects still look. I'm guessing they touched up the CGI a little bit, at least the lighting and color matching, because it looked flawless. My knowledge about how the movie was made and the limitations of practical effects was the only thing that tipped me off when a shot employed CGI. If I didn't have that knowledge, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. No matter what kind of effect was used in each shot, to me it just looked like there was a real life dinosaur being filmed.

My motivation for seeing this re-release had almost nothing to do with the 3D, but I felt that the extra dimension might at least make the experience an interesting one. I considered it a potential bonus. I ended up enjoying it quite a bit though. It seems like a lot of people who dislike 3D movies especially dislike when a movie that wasn't made specifically to be in 3D is post-converted into 3D. But to me, I think a huge part of what made Jurassic Park 3D so enjoyable was the fact that the movie wasn't originally made to be in 3D, simply because it didn't have any of those gimmicky shots I notice all the time in 3D movies. Where something happens like a character swings an axe right in front of the camera, which I'm guessing is supposed to make the audience feel like they're about to get hit. Or where something in the composition of the shot is only there to take advantage of the 3D. The audience is supposed to be focusing on something in a wide shot, but then a character runs right by in the foreground, distracting you from what you're actually supposed to be looking at, simply to add depth to the shot. I feel like I see these kinds of shots in 3D movies over and over again. I thought 3D was to make the movies more immersive, but these kinds of shots just make me aware I'm watching a movie and take me out of it. Doesn't that defeat the purpose? So it was refreshing to see a 3D movie that had absolutely none of that going on.

One thing that really stuck out to me in the whole experience had nothing to do with the movie itself, but with the behavior of other people in the theater. There seems to be an alarming amount of people that have forgotten how to just sit down and watch a movie. I'm not even talking about the small boy with child-size 3D glasses sitting next to me who spent about 75% of the running time looking everywhere but at the screen, and also kept ogling my monstrous, seemingly endless supply of Twizzlers. He was just a young kid, so I suppose he had an excuse. I'm more talking about the numerous adults I saw pulling out their cellphones and texting during the movie, which distracts other people who are actually trying to watch it. A fantastic 20 year old movie, which was probably one of the cinematic highlights of your childhood is re-released, you pay a small fortune to see it in the theater in 3D, and you text people instead of paying attention to the movie? I don't understand you at all.

Imagine an alternate reality...

Where they make movies about the effects of nuclear weapons as an allegory for the very real threat of giant monsters attacking cities.

Ray Harryhausen

June 29, 1920 - May 7, 2013

When I read that stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen had died, I knew I had to make a post about it. He influenced and inspired so many other filmmakers, and fueled the imagination of generations of children, just as the work of Willis O'Brien in the movie King Kong had done for him as a young teenager. He is probably most known for the skeletons in Jason And The Argonauts, but I always loved his stop-motion dinosaurs the most, which appeared in movies such as The Animal World and One Million Years B.C.

One of my absolute favorite things he's done though is a project that he never finished. He started working on Evolution Of The World when he was still a teenager, around 18 years old. He clearly got better at what he did as his career went on, but there's something so beautiful about this unfinished film. The creatures seem so lifelike, and you can see the amount of imagination and passion that went into every frame. Just the other day I was thinking about posting it on this blog, but didn't get around to doing so. It would have been pretty strange if I had, because the very next post after it a few days later would have been this "RIP Ray Harryhausen" post. It seems fitting to post Evolution Of The World here now.



It's truly wonderful to see a man with a long, successful career of doing exactly what he seemed to be most passionate about. There's a lovely facebook post by Harryhausen's family that talks more about him, and has several quotes about him by a few of the filmmakers he influenced and inspired. You can also check out the "Creature List" on his official website to look at many of the creatures that he created for movies.

Jurassic Park 3D

I saw Jurassic Park in the theater several times when I was a kid, and I loved it. It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years. I am still amazed by how great most of the special effects look, especially the practical effects by Stan Winston. I love the characters of Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler, and Dr. Ian Malcolm (played by Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum). Robert Muldoon, the park's game warden (played by Bob Peck) is a really cool character as well. It's my second favorite Steven Spielberg movie. The first is Jaws. I was sad I didn't get to go see Jaws during its recent theatrical re-release, especially since I had never seen that one in the theater.

Jurassic Park was re-released in 3D today, and I've been trying to decide whether or not to see it. I'm leaning towards going though. I think getting to see the famous Tyrannosaurus rex escape scene on the big screen again would be a really nice experience, whether it's in 3D or not. Hearing the thunderous footsteps over the theater sound system as they create ripples in the cups of water. Seeing the reveal of that beautiful animatronic dinosaur model. Hearing the sound of its awesome roar tear through the theater. I think I could use that in my life. I think we all could.

Next time on Arrested Development...

In case you've been living under a rock (or Iraq)... After being cancelled at the end of its third season by Fox in 2006, Arrested Development is coming back this year with a fourth season. Just like the image below says, it's debuting on Netflix on May 26th.

It's one of my favorite shows, so I'm really looking forward to seeing more of it, and seeing what the Bluth family has been up to.

I think it's fascinating that all 15 episodes of season 4 will be released at the same time, so that you can watch them at your own pace. I have no idea if that has been done before, and it's a really interesting idea. It's great because when you're trying to get caught up on a show or re-watching previous seasons before a new season, you're most likely going at a pretty fast pace, possibly watching multiple episodes a day. Then you are forced to slow way down to one episode a week, and it can be quite frustrating to adapt to that.

Speaking of which, I guess I should dust off my DVD's of the first three seasons pretty soon. It's always a pleasure watching through the series again.

What I thought about Dredd, and some thoughts about the Boba Fett movie.

Judge Joseph Dredd is a comic book character who first appeared in 1977 in the British science fiction comic 2000 AD. He's part of a group of law enforcement officers called Street Judges in the violent, crime-ridden, futuristic setting of Mega-City One. These officers are a combination of police, judge, jury, and executioner, giving them the power and authority to arrest, sentence, and even execute criminals on the spot if necessary.

In 1995, Sylvester Stallone portrayed the character in a movie adaptation called Judge Dredd, directed by Danny Cannon. This was back when comic book movies weren't really handled with the respect they should have been, and (please excuse the pun) it didn't really do the source material any justice.

17 years later, in our very own futuristic setting where comic book movies are often treated like art, everyone's favorite Street Judge was adapted for film again. This time Karl Urban starred as the frowny-faced title character in 2012's Dredd (also known as Dredd 3D), directed by Pete Travis.

I saw Dredd for the first time after it was released on home media. I really loved it. Karl Urban was great, and I loved that the character never took off the helmet after first putting it on at the beginning of the movie. He almost never does so in the comic, and when he does, the reader is unable to see his face. Stallone's Dredd had his helmet off for much of the 90's movie. Something I found really interesting about the character of Judge Dredd in this movie is that there was very little character development. It would be incorrect to say there wasn't any, because there was. There just wasn't that much. Whereas that's generally a negative when it comes to movies, for some reason it really worked for this one, and it actually felt kind of refreshing. The character of Judge Anderson, played by Olivia Thirlby, definitely had a lot more character development than Dredd did, and that kept the movie from feeling completely devoid of it. Seeing her so conflicted throughout the movie was great.

For some reason, the movie felt more like a fan-film to me than it did a Hollywood adaptation. But you know... actually good. The reasons for this feeling are probably the relatively small budget and the fact that the people making it probably respected the source material, as well as the way it was shot, the mostly self-contained setting, and the lack of Hollywood cliches usually forced into adaptations in an attempt to make the story appeal to a mass audience. I imagine that was intentional, because the 90's adaptation couldn't possibly be more Hollywood, and fans didn't like that much. In this day and age, I think the general movie-going public have begun to notice and get sick of those cliches.

The use of slow motion, not as a stylistic flourish as in most action films, but to actually portray the effects of the fictional drug Slo-Mo, was really interesting and quite beautiful. I also loved the use of stretched out elements in the film score during those parts. The Slo-Mo scenes made me wish I had seen the movie in the theater in 3D. Concerning the visual effects, the only thing I didn't like (and probably the only thing I didn't like about the entire movie) was the CGI blood splatter. I know it probably allowed the filmmakers more control with the 3D imagery, but it looked very fake to me. When it comes to blood splatter in movies, physical effects tend to look most realistic. Maybe they thought it wouldn't look realistic in slow motion.

I really hope they make a few sequels to Dredd, as it was one of my favorite movies of 2012. The few glimpses we got of other areas in Mega-City One at the beginning of the movie were nice to see, and I'd love to see more of it, even if it's just another relatively small area. And if they do make a sequel, I sure as hell plan on seeing it in the theater. As much as I enjoyed Looper, I wish I had gone to see Dredd 3D instead. Oh well.

When Disney makes that standalone Boba Fett movie, I think they should take some cues from Dredd, and have Fett not take off his helmet at all. One of the great things about Fett was always his mystique. Fans wondered what his face looked like under there, trying to picture something that went with his original voice (before it was changed to Temuera Morrison's for the Star Wars DVD release in 2004). Actually showing what he looks like at this point would ruin that, and Dredd proved that it's quite possible to have the main character of the movie never show his face. Fett could do without much character development as well, which would also help maintain the mystique. Rather than have young Boba Fett or something, it would be much better to just see him around the time of The Empire Strikes Back on one of his bounty hunting jobs, much like how Dredd seemed to be just a day in the life of Judge Dredd.

Escape From Planet Earth

Looking at what movies are out now... Why is Escape From Planet Earth some animated movie and not a Snake Plissken movie?

The world doesn't make sense anymore.

An Iggy Pop and David Bowie biopic set in Berlin.

In the mid to late 1970's, musicians James Newell Osterberg Jr. (better known as Iggy Pop) and David Bowie moved to West Berlin, which was at the time still divided from East Berlin by the Berlin Wall. There is a biopic in the works now about their time there. The movie, called Lust For Life, is a collaboration between Altered Image and Egoli Tossell Film.

I hope the movie is good. One of my favorite books is Bowie In Berlin: A New Career In A New Town and it's probably my favorite era of Iggy's and Bowie's careers. It was a very prolific time for both men, resulting in music like Iggy Pop's The Idiot and Lust For Life, and David Bowie's Low and "Heroes", all of which were either recorded partially or completely at Hansa Tonstudio, and all of which are fantastic albums. Besides that, I really love the setting. It always seemed really cinematic to me when I imagined Iggy and Bowie living there and working there (though I do have a cinematic mind). Hansa Studio by the Wall would be a beautiful location to use in the movie.

I saw in the article I linked to above that a statement by Egoli Tossel about the movie said that "the central character of the film" would be West Berlin. It intrigued me, and reminded me of when people say that Gotham City itself is a character in Batman stories.

I'm imagining the movie being in black-and-white, much like the Ian Curtis biopic Control, but I realize now it might not be. I'd love it if it was though. It just seems like it would suit the setting and subjects. Maybe I also have a predisposition to picturing the story that way. A lot of the photography in the Bowie In Berlin book is in black-and-white, including the cover photo. Three out of the four covers to the albums I mentioned above feature black-and-white photos of the musicians as well.

It's too bad Robert Downey Jr. isn't younger. For years I've thought he would do a great job playing Iggy Pop in a biopic. He can even sing. I know he's around 18 years older than Iggy Pop was when he moved to West Berlin, but I'd still be willing to use my imagination a bit. As the audience, we would already be suspending our disbelief watching an actor play a musician we're familiar with anyway. I think it would work as long as the actor playing David Bowie didn't look a lot younger.

I'll pretend for a moment that there are people who read my blog who would actually comment, and ask... Who do you think would do a good job of playing David Bowie and Iggy Pop?

A standalone Boba Fett movie?

It has been confirmed that there will be standalone Star Wars movies focusing on specific, already established individual characters from the saga. It has been rumored that one of them will be about Boba Fett, which wouldn't surprise me at all considering how popular the character is.

If there is a standalone Boba Fett movie and Temuera Morrison plays him or does his voice, I'll probably hate it. I absolutely hated that they re-dubbed Fett's voice with Morrison's on the Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back DVD in 2004.

But if there was an official feature length live-action Lucasfilm movie where Breckin Meyer played the Robot Chicken version of Fett, I would watch the hell out of that.

I'm not sure what that says about me.

The Death Of "Superman Lives"

Between 1987's Superman IV: The Quest For Peace and 2006's Superman Returns, there were several unsuccessful attempts to create another live-action Superman movie. In the late 90's, filmmaker Tim Burton was going to make one called Superman Lives (originally Superman Reborn) with Nicolas Cage in the titular role. Jon Peters was producing, and both Kevin Smith and Wesley Strick were hired to write scripts. I was probably eleven or twelve years old at the time this movie was in pre-production, and I remember my friends and I talking about it at school during lunch or recess or whatever. I remember I thought it was weird that Nicolas Cage was playing Superman, but being a big fan of Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns, and a fan of The Death Of Superman storyline (I never read the comics, but I had read the novel when I was younger), I was interested in the movie.

The movie never ended up getting made, but if it had, it would have been the weirdest Superman movie ever made. Now all that exists instead is various artifacts of the production. There is Smith's screenplay, concept art for the movie, some photos of costumes, including ones of Cage actually wearing them. The costumes kind of resemble the the style of the Burton era Batman costumes, with the rubber sculpted muscles. Here are a couple of photos.

There are also stories, like the wildly entertaining one Kevin Smith tells about his experience working on the movie, specifically working with Jon Peters, who wanted, among other things, a flightless Superman, a giant spider, and Brainiac fighting polar bears. These artifacts are pretty much all that exists, and they're scattered across the internet.

Jon Schnepp has been collecting all of these artifacts for years, and if it gets funded, will be working on a documentary called The Death Of "Superman Lives": What Happened? which compiles all of these little bits into one place for people to see. Besides that, he will be interviewing as many people as he can who were involved in the movie, including everyone I named in the first paragraph of this post. Although there have been stories about what Peters wanted in the movie, it could be really interesting to hear his thoughts coming straight from the man himself. I'd also love to hear whatever Burton and Cage have to say about the movie. Burton heard about this documentary recently and said that it "might be more interesting" than the actual finished movie would have been. I imagine Cage would have a lot to say too, considering he loves the character of Superman. He even named his son Kal-El, which is Superman's Kryptonian name.

Schnepp set up a Kickstarter page for funding the documentary, so check that out if it's something you'd like to help fund. There are currently 36 days left until the deadline, and it's funded a little over halfway. There's also a stretch goal of another $50k, and if that is reached, Schnepp also wants to film scenes from the script the way he thinks Burton would have in 1998, which could be fascinating. There's a video introduction for the Kickstarter which you can watch on the page, or watch below.

Helen McCrory and Judi Dench in Skyfall

I saw Skyfall. I made a post a while back after Helen McCrory was cast in the movie about how she would be perfect as a younger version of Judi Dench's character M. It turns out they did not play the same character, but they did have a scene together. It was actually distracting how similar they looked and sounded. I wonder if anyone on set noticed or pointed it out. Having them in a movie together and not playing the same character at different ages is sort of like if Michelle Pfeiffer and Chloë Grace Moretz were cast in a movie together and didn't play mother and daughter.

I did like Skyfall though.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

On December 15th, I saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with some friends of mine. I know it has been over a month since I've seen the movie, so this is a pretty late post. Get off my back. I'm not a professional blogger. (Not with that attitude! Am I right?)

When I met some of my friends at the mall before the movie, one of them pulled fake Lembas from her bag and handed it to each of us. I was speechless. For those that don’t know, Lembas is a kind of bread made by the elves in Middle Earth, which is preserved in a wrapper of leaves. In The Fellowship Of The Ring, it was given by the elves of Lothlórien to the members of the fellowship. My friend said she didn’t have time to make any of the bread, but the fake leaves folded and tied into a little package are plenty awesome on their own. It made the experience of going to see The Hobbit with a group of friends even more special than it would have been, and it was already something special. I have some cool friends. I found a nice place for the Lembas bread on my movie shelf, next to my Legolas action figure.

As for the movie, I said in my previous post that we were planning on seeing the movie in high frame rate (48 fps) 3D, and that's what we did. I've never gotten a headache or felt motion sickness while watching a 3D movie, and this wasn't any different. I know Peter Jackson has said the high frame rate just takes some getting used to, and in my experience, he was exactly right. It did look a little strange in the beginning while Bilbo was in Bag End, but once he got into the story about Erebor a few minutes later, I was so immersed into the movie, I had forgotten all about the high frame rate. By the next time I remembered, I was already completely used to it. I thought it looked great, and I didn't think it lacked a cinematic look at all. The "cinematic look" has evolved a lot since the beginning of cinema, and will continue to evolve. Since the beginning there have been higher frame rates, color photography, digital photography, etc. I'm sure when a lot of people originally saw a color movie, they also thought it lacked the cinematic look they were used to.

There were many new additions and changes to the story. Having seen Peter Jackson's The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, I completely expected that going in. I was fine with the majority of them, especially since I got to see the White Council. When you're watching an adaptation of a book, you also have to expect that things won't look exactly like you pictured them when you read the book. That said, I really disliked how some things were portrayed, especially the look of most of the dwarves, and the goblin king. They were so far from how I pictured them, and would have been so much better if they were how I imagined them while reading the book. That's fine though. I don't let stuff like that ruin a whole movie for me, and there were plenty of wonderful things to make up for those problems.

One of those wonderful things is Martin Freeman's performance as Bilbo Baggins. I've mentioned several times before how perfect he was for the role. Now that I've actually seen it, I can definitely say I was not at all wrong. I am not a believer in destiny, but it feels like he was born to play Bilbo, and from what I've seen so far, he's done a truly amazing job.

Another one of those wonderful things is the riddles in the dark scene, which was absolutely brilliant. (Following some very abstract thoughts, there will be what some people might call spoilers in this paragraph, so if you don't want anything spoiled, skip to the next paragraph.) Just like my friend making what was already a great trip to the movies into something more special with her Lembas bread, the filmmakers took what is the most iconic, and arguably best part of the book, and in my opinion, made it into something even more special. The riddles in the dark scene in the movie perfectly illustrates what it is about the concept of adaptations that excites me so much. I guess it's all about potential. Although trying to follow the source material is generally the way to go, I think there is room for interpretation and certain enhancements that can make a scene or a character better, as long as the filmmakers recognize that potential. For this scene, all of that potential was recognized and met, which although rare in film adaptations, is a really wonderful thing to experience when it does happen. The advancements in performance capture technology since The Return Of The King nine years ago are astounding. You can see so many more subtle details of Andy Serkis' performance in Gollum's face, and it made me appreciate him as an actor even more than I already did. I also loved the characterization of Gollum in the scene. The interpretation of Gollum in Jackson's movies where he has a split personality allowed for some really entertaining dialogue in this scene between Gollum and Bilbo, and I also loved how childlike Gollum can be at times. There was this wonderful little detail in the scene where Gollum is listening intently to Bilbo and rests his head on a rock. It was easily my favorite part of the entire movie.

I'm sad that Gollum might not show up again in the next two movies, considering he didn't show up again in the book after Bilbo escaped the Misty Mountains, but I'm looking forward to seeing The Desolation Of Smaug and There And Back Again anyway.

After the movie, my friends and I went to Denny's for a Hobbit-themed meal. I had the Hobbit Hole Breakfast and Bilbo's Berry Smoothie. The food was delicious, and we made several nerdy puns. ("Were those onion rings deep-forged in the fires of Mount Doom?") When you're paying for your meal, they also give you a pack containing two collectable cards. I got Kili and limited edition Gandalf.