2 of 4 Ass Monkey (thanks for reminding me to do this SM)
Enjoy the pics.
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Who watches the Watchmen?
Well I guess we do. The 1st official pics from the Watchmen have hit. You can go HERE to the official site as well. I'm kind of on the fence about these. I was really hoping they would stick to the graphic novel designs a bit more, however they chose to make the costumes more film like. I guess this is to be expected, but it's a tad disappointing. My thoughts have always been if any comic book movie could get away with the staying true to the comic it was Watchmen. So I give these a
Friday, December 14, 2007
MOVIES - BATMAN
Well the WB has started their marketing campaign for "Batman the Dark Knight". They've been doing some internet viral marketing for months, but this week they turned it up a notch. These 3 posters will be in theaters this week and there will be a 6 minute preview in front of the IMAX screening of I Am Legend along with the 1st trailer for the film.
The trailer hits the web on Monday, but someone posted a pirated copy of it on YouTube today. I would embed it here, but I'm sure it'll get pulled. You can check out the Ain't it cool link HERE.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Movies - American Gangster
So I was lucky enough to attend a Producer's Guild screening of "American Gangster" this weekend followed by a quick Q&A with Producer Brian Grazer.
In 1970s America, detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) works to bring down the drug empire of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), a heroin kingpin from Manhattan, who is smuggling drugs into the country from war torn Vietnam.
Click HERE for the trailer.
I could say alot about this movie and ALL of it would be good. Most of the movies I see always have a caveat, like the acting was great, but man did the script suck. Well this movie is all around fantastic. Every aspect of the film is amazing, the writing, the acting, the directing, everything is well crafted. Both Denzel Washington & Russell Crowe are outstanding and although they only share 1 scene on screen they both give great performances. Do yourself a favor and go check this out.
On a side note, I was gonna go see the new Coen Bros movie, "No Country for Old Men", but it turns out the screening was actually the BIG HOLLYWOOD premiere. So we went, walked down the red carpet, and found our seat. Our seats turned out to be poop so we left. I would rather pay for the movie and see it from a good seat, then sit through the premiere in an un-watchable seat, but that's just me.
In 1970s America, detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) works to bring down the drug empire of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), a heroin kingpin from Manhattan, who is smuggling drugs into the country from war torn Vietnam.
Click HERE for the trailer.
I could say alot about this movie and ALL of it would be good. Most of the movies I see always have a caveat, like the acting was great, but man did the script suck. Well this movie is all around fantastic. Every aspect of the film is amazing, the writing, the acting, the directing, everything is well crafted. Both Denzel Washington & Russell Crowe are outstanding and although they only share 1 scene on screen they both give great performances. Do yourself a favor and go check this out.
I give this flick a 4 of 4 Ass Monkey
On a side note, I was gonna go see the new Coen Bros movie, "No Country for Old Men", but it turns out the screening was actually the BIG HOLLYWOOD premiere. So we went, walked down the red carpet, and found our seat. Our seats turned out to be poop so we left. I would rather pay for the movie and see it from a good seat, then sit through the premiere in an un-watchable seat, but that's just me.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
TV & Movies - Writer's Strike - WTF
As most of you know I work in the entertainment business. It sounds alot more special then it is, as I work in the ass end of business, Visual Effects. However even though I work in VFX there happens to be a HUGE writer's strike looming that could potentially effect my job. Many folks have asked me what the deal is with the strike and although I knew it was happening, I did not know all the details. Well as it turns out I was browsing my usual toy boards this AM and came across this post that gives a pretty good explanation of what's going on with the strike. It's a tad long, but very informative.
The WGA is one of the three main guilds in Hollywood along with the Director's Guild(DGA) and Screen Actor's Guild(SAG). Due to various abuses by studios since the beginning of the medium the guilds were formed to protect their members through collective action. The guilds provide members with health care plans, since nearly all jobs in the movie industry are contract work and the employers don't offer any. They manage the royalties issued to their members. This last thing is the main issue in the current situation.
Each guild contains pretty much everyone in their particular craft in Hollywood that actively works with the studios. The major studios have signed agreements with the guilds that they will only employ their members, or individuals who get waivers from the Guild that represents their craft.
There are directors who aren't members of the DGA like Quentin Tarantino, who mostly work with non-Guild signatories. Most actors are in SAG but usually every one joins because it's next to impossible to get work unless you're a member.
Every working writer in Hollywood is a member of the WGA. Every director of a studio film is a member of the DGA, as is every assistant Director(the bulk of the membership). You may recall Robert Rodriguez was going to direct John Carter of Mars for Paramount but had to quit because he gave up his DGA membership to co-direct Sin City with Frank Miller(co-directing a film is against guild rules unless it's a pre-established team, such as the Wachowskis who made the Matrix).
The reason the guilds insist on this is because the situation for writers, director's and actors before the guilds was horrible, with rampant abuse by the studios(we're talking 1920s, 1930s here). Their only strength lies in the group, if a significant number of quality writers weren't members of the WGA then the ones who were members would be black listed, and the abuses would almost certainly start again.
These contracts with the studios expire every few years and get renegotiated each time they end. Sometimes those negotiations go badly and the guild strikes. The last time the WGA struck was 1988. That strike didn't end too well for the WGA and at the last renegotiation the WGA didn't make too good of a deal with the studios, in order to avoid a strike.
The main issues this time are that the writer's want an increased percentage of dvd sales(they currently get 4¢ for every dvd sold of a movie they have written, they want 8¢ per dvd) and to negotiate a percentage of any revenue from internet downloads. Currently that revenue is negligible but they're planning for the future. Also there are certain issues that writers want resolved, such as studios demanding free rewrites on screenplays they buy, whereas they used to pay per draft.
The studios initially wanted all revenue sharing to end, but that was not a serious demand and they took it off the table to make themselves appear to be reasonable.
The Writer's Guild contract has ended at 12:01am November 1st. The Screen Actor's Guild and Director's Guild of America contracts end on June 1st. The thinking is that the WGA was going to wait until June 1st to strike, working until that time without a contract(following the terms of the now expired one) and going on strike with SAG, who have their own complaints. The DGA has only struck once in their entire history, for six minutes. They're traditionally the ones to lead the way to a new deal, as they are both the most conservative and most powerful union(no films or tv shows being possible without their membership).
The past several months has seen the studios stockpiling and fast-tracking movie projects based on the belief that the strike would happen in June. This was meant to give them a surplus of material to release in the event of a strike. This was a fairly well known strategy and the Writer's Guild decided that they'd be stupid to give the studios so much time to prepare, so they decided to threaten to strike early when it would do far more damage.
As it stands right now as I write this the Writer's Guild contract has expired and the negotiations have ceased, the WGA can go on strike at any moment, they are expected to do so starting next week.
What this means to the audience is that all tv production aside from reality shows will necessarily cease by the end of November due to lack of scripts. There are several episodes in the can for most shows(not sitcoms) but only 2-3 at best. No movies in preproduction can move forward(rewrites are constant until date of production begins, and sometimes throughout), so if a movie has not started shooting yet, such as the Justice League movie, it likely will not begin until the strike is over(assuming one is called).
Beware of what you read about this situation in newspapers and magazines and movie websites. All of those places entirely depend on studio advertising to survive, so there is not even a real assumption of neutrality there. If they upset the studios they can and will go out of business. If they upset the WGA they will be fine.
This is not a situation like when the baseball players went on strike, where millionaires were complaining about being shortchanged by the team owners. None of the rich WGA members stand to benefit from any new deal, they already have a better deal than what will be negotiated. The deal being negotiated is for the minimum terms available to a writer.
This will solely benefit the lowest rung of writers, who are not rich and have to work very hard to make a living. The number of top tier writers is 20 or so, the total number of WGA members is upwards of 12,000.
The same is true of the Screen Actors Guild, where the really rich and famous(or even semi-famous) actors are less than 1% of the total membership.
- fin
What's up with the Writer's Strike?
The WGA is one of the three main guilds in Hollywood along with the Director's Guild(DGA) and Screen Actor's Guild(SAG). Due to various abuses by studios since the beginning of the medium the guilds were formed to protect their members through collective action. The guilds provide members with health care plans, since nearly all jobs in the movie industry are contract work and the employers don't offer any. They manage the royalties issued to their members. This last thing is the main issue in the current situation.
Each guild contains pretty much everyone in their particular craft in Hollywood that actively works with the studios. The major studios have signed agreements with the guilds that they will only employ their members, or individuals who get waivers from the Guild that represents their craft.
There are directors who aren't members of the DGA like Quentin Tarantino, who mostly work with non-Guild signatories. Most actors are in SAG but usually every one joins because it's next to impossible to get work unless you're a member.
Every working writer in Hollywood is a member of the WGA. Every director of a studio film is a member of the DGA, as is every assistant Director(the bulk of the membership). You may recall Robert Rodriguez was going to direct John Carter of Mars for Paramount but had to quit because he gave up his DGA membership to co-direct Sin City with Frank Miller(co-directing a film is against guild rules unless it's a pre-established team, such as the Wachowskis who made the Matrix).
The reason the guilds insist on this is because the situation for writers, director's and actors before the guilds was horrible, with rampant abuse by the studios(we're talking 1920s, 1930s here). Their only strength lies in the group, if a significant number of quality writers weren't members of the WGA then the ones who were members would be black listed, and the abuses would almost certainly start again.
These contracts with the studios expire every few years and get renegotiated each time they end. Sometimes those negotiations go badly and the guild strikes. The last time the WGA struck was 1988. That strike didn't end too well for the WGA and at the last renegotiation the WGA didn't make too good of a deal with the studios, in order to avoid a strike.
The main issues this time are that the writer's want an increased percentage of dvd sales(they currently get 4¢ for every dvd sold of a movie they have written, they want 8¢ per dvd) and to negotiate a percentage of any revenue from internet downloads. Currently that revenue is negligible but they're planning for the future. Also there are certain issues that writers want resolved, such as studios demanding free rewrites on screenplays they buy, whereas they used to pay per draft.
The studios initially wanted all revenue sharing to end, but that was not a serious demand and they took it off the table to make themselves appear to be reasonable.
The Writer's Guild contract has ended at 12:01am November 1st. The Screen Actor's Guild and Director's Guild of America contracts end on June 1st. The thinking is that the WGA was going to wait until June 1st to strike, working until that time without a contract(following the terms of the now expired one) and going on strike with SAG, who have their own complaints. The DGA has only struck once in their entire history, for six minutes. They're traditionally the ones to lead the way to a new deal, as they are both the most conservative and most powerful union(no films or tv shows being possible without their membership).
The past several months has seen the studios stockpiling and fast-tracking movie projects based on the belief that the strike would happen in June. This was meant to give them a surplus of material to release in the event of a strike. This was a fairly well known strategy and the Writer's Guild decided that they'd be stupid to give the studios so much time to prepare, so they decided to threaten to strike early when it would do far more damage.
As it stands right now as I write this the Writer's Guild contract has expired and the negotiations have ceased, the WGA can go on strike at any moment, they are expected to do so starting next week.
What this means to the audience is that all tv production aside from reality shows will necessarily cease by the end of November due to lack of scripts. There are several episodes in the can for most shows(not sitcoms) but only 2-3 at best. No movies in preproduction can move forward(rewrites are constant until date of production begins, and sometimes throughout), so if a movie has not started shooting yet, such as the Justice League movie, it likely will not begin until the strike is over(assuming one is called).
Beware of what you read about this situation in newspapers and magazines and movie websites. All of those places entirely depend on studio advertising to survive, so there is not even a real assumption of neutrality there. If they upset the studios they can and will go out of business. If they upset the WGA they will be fine.
This is not a situation like when the baseball players went on strike, where millionaires were complaining about being shortchanged by the team owners. None of the rich WGA members stand to benefit from any new deal, they already have a better deal than what will be negotiated. The deal being negotiated is for the minimum terms available to a writer.
This will solely benefit the lowest rung of writers, who are not rich and have to work very hard to make a living. The number of top tier writers is 20 or so, the total number of WGA members is upwards of 12,000.
The same is true of the Screen Actors Guild, where the really rich and famous(or even semi-famous) actors are less than 1% of the total membership.
- fin
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Movies - Superman 2 needs new writers, and it's not Mark Millar.
So earlier this week it was announced by Warner Bros. that the writers of "Superman Returns" would not be back for the sequel. As you can image fandom as a whole was pretty broken up about it. Oh wait...I'm lying, I think the general consensus is that these 2 douches could go pound on each other and noone would by tickets. I mean really did anyone like "Superman Returns"?Needless to say, WB is looking for a new writer. Enter comics writer Mark Millar. Mark is one of the better comic book writers to emerge over the last few years. With the exception of Civil War, most of the stuff is great, His titles include, The Authority, The Ultimates, Ultimate X-Men, Wanted, etc... Well on Tuesday, he wrote on his blog that he'd try to throw his hat in the ring to write the Superman sequel... for free. Then a mere 24 hrs later WB put the kibosh on the whole deal. On Wednesday Millar announced that he'll not be writing the next movie. You can read his account HERE.
The reason that WB won't even consider him is that, he's currently an exclusive writer for Marvel, and as WB owns DC, he basically writes for their direct competition. Although Millar was very nice about it on his blog, you can tell this is a big load of BS. First of all the studios hire all sorts of writers, who have written films for other studios, who are also their "competition". Secondly Millar's Marvel contract runs out in 1 year, so by the time this movie would have been released (at least 2 years from now) DC could snag him up and he could be writing books for them.
This is just a spin on WB's part cause I'm sure they have other folks lined up and they want to make a big PR deal out of it. Which is too bad cause I'm sure Millar would have hit one out of the park. Now if WB could just get rid of Byran Singer and re-launch the franchisee everyone would be happy.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Movies - The NEW Star Trek
Well Paramount cast the new Star Trek. What do you think?
How long till Lucas decides to re-make the original trilogy I wonder.
How long till Lucas decides to re-make the original trilogy I wonder.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Movie - Resident Evil: Extinction
Resident Evil: Extinction
2 of 4 Ass Monkey.
I can sum up this movie with 7 easy questions.
1) Was it better than the 2nd movie? - YES.
2) Was it a great film? - NO.
3) Can Ali Larter Act? - Hell NO.
4) Is Milla Jovovich hot? - YES and so are her nipples apparently.
5) Does Milla Jovovich get naked? - Not enough to make it a good movie.6) Should I go see it? NO, not unless you're really into the Resident Evil movies.
SPOILER TIME!!!!!
Do not read below if you don't want to know how the movie ends.
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7) Does it leave itself open for a sequel? YES, but we will never see it, cause it ends with 100 naked clones of Milla Jovovich ready to kick some zombie ass. Sign me up!!!
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Monday, September 17, 2007
Movies - Dragon Wars!!!
1 Ass Money - Crap
Okay this movie is a bad idea on all fronts. I'm not even gonna waste time discussing it. HOWEVER if you going to enjoy a really bad flick with your drunk friends, this is the movie for you. Under this scenario I give it.
4 of 4 Ass Monkey
I haven't had this much fun since the original Anaconda.
Good times.
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