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Minggu, 14 Juni 2015
09.10
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The numbers are in, and to little surprise, the much-anticipated release of cult favorite "Jurassic World" has blown away the box office this weekend, grossing a staggering $82.3 million, according to reports.
But as critics buzz over the film's potential bank as the biggest movie box office opening of all time, some dinosaur fans are conferring about the credibility of the science in the movie – and the possible confusion over blending fact and fiction.
"I feel like paleontologists fear they may get a lot of dumb questions because of the dinosaurs in this film," fossil enthusiast Brian Switek told the New York Times.
"Part of the reason the director Colin Trevorrow's dinosaurs have such potential to confuse is because not everything about them is scientifically far-fetched," the report continued.
For years, "Jurassic Park" creators have trumpeted the amount of careful research that has poured into creating some of their dinosaurs' features. In its latest film, for instance, the interior "palatal" teeth of a mosasaur impressed many experts. "That really shows an attention to detail," a paleontologist told National Geographic.
So what mistakes were made in "Jurassic World?"
Why then, do paleontologists continue to express their fondness for the Jurassic Park movie series in the face of such striking inaccuracies? "If you're a young paleontologist, and you have a job, the movies have some part in that, frankly," Smithsonian paleontologist Matthew Carrano told the Washington Post.
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03.20
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Meet Vasudha, young mom of little boy, making a hard living in the hospitality business; Hari, her husband, burdened with a dark past; and Arav, handsome tycoon, thirsting for romance. You are promised a touching love story; you get zilch.
When the trio of Vidya Balan, Rajkummar Rao and Emraan Hashmi — competent actors all, Rao even better — comes together, you expect something. At the very least, a tug at the heartstrings. Because a 'prem kahani' is nothing if it doesn't touch you deep inside, and make you yearn.
What 'Hamari Adhuri Kahani' does is the exact opposite. It purports to be an unusual triangle, and perhaps on paper, it may have come off as one. But this is a shockingly empty film, with the entire cast desperately 'acting away', and not one sentiment that feels real.
And that can be put down to the terrible writing. Jerky, stagey sequences are piled upon each other. Characters are arrayed against static backdrops, and made to spout the kind of dialogue which remind you of creaky yesteryear movies best forgotten.
This is the kind of part–a woman ricocheting between a brutish husband, a noble lover, and a son –that Vidya Balan could have aced. She tries hard, her eyes swimming frequently, but drowns in such lines as these: 'main kisi aur ki miliqiyat hoon.' 'Miliqiyat'? Seriously? In 2015?
Rajkummar Rao could have made something of his unfortunate trying to grapple with a situation not of his making, but he is given the worst strand, which takes him to Maoist-insurgency laden jungles, and incarcerates him in cells. Maoist? Don't ask. No wonder the poor man is left mumbling and stumbling, breaking off occasionally to threaten Vidya Balan with this priceless line: 'pati hoon main tera'. Just in case she's forgotten this crucial fact.
And Emraan Hashmi, whom I find underrated because he can do more, is saddled with sharp suits and first class flights and faithful assistants, and not much more. But he also gets many dialogues which he blurts out dutifully, for our delectation. He tears out of his about-to-leave flight, skidding to a halt in a flower shop, saying: 'yeh phool mujshe kuch keh rahe hain', or words to that effect. We are as bewildered as his friend-and-Man-Friday, who has the most revealing line of the film – I don't get you, man, he says. We don't either.
Given his early track-record of creating engaging drama, Mohit Suri should have made a full meal of the film, but his material defeats him: it is not only half done, it's also not well begun.
If this was 'adhuri', I shudder to think what would have happened if it …continued »
This article forwarded via FORWARD RSS - http://forward.fullcontentrss.com If you no longer wish to receive email from Forward RSS, click here to unsubscribe: http://forward.fullcontentrss.com/unsubscribe.phpSabtu, 13 Juni 2015
09.10
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When George Lucas wanted to realize his dream of Star Wars 40 years ago he created Industrial Light and Magic to match his vision. Today, ILM has become a giant in special effects for the film industry and continues to push the limits of movie magic. Collin Brennan, Marco Della Cava, ILM, USA Today
Lucasfilm vice president of new media Rob Bredow operates a virtual camera on the ILMxLAB immersive stage. The viewer experiences the scene as through it were a real, three dimensional environment.(Photo: Greg Grusby)
SAN FRANCISCO — Industrial Light & Magic is taking the notion of DVD-extras to a whole other galaxy.
The special-effects company, which was founded 40 years ago this summer by George Lucas to create the illusions for Star Wars, will announce Friday a new team dedicated to bringing virtual- and augmented-reality experiences to the movies.
ILM's Experience Lab, or ILMxLab, will combine the technical assets of ILM, Skywalker Sound and Lucasfilm to create immersive experiences that allow fans to participate in their favorite movie worlds.
Although video games pegged to movies have promised a similar experience, this new tech will be different: non-competitive and using photo-realism rather than animation.
The division's debut products will be Star Wars-based and debut later this year. The company is also working with other filmmakers to bring their projects into the virtual space. Disney, which bought Lucasfilm in 2013 for $3 billion, may use the resulting assets for everything from marketing to theme park attractions.
"ILMxLab is all about us leveraging our skills across all platforms," says Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy. "It's the Wild West out there with new frontiers, and we're all figuring out these new tools. Today, technology is in search of content. But we can bring an emotional experience to that technology."
ILMxLab's next-gen entertainment mission comes at a time when the U.S. special effects scene – which pioneering ILM once dominated to the tune of 16 Oscars – faces increasing challenges from rival companies in Europe and Asia that benefit from tax incentives.
ILMxLAB creative director John Gaeta demonstrates a prototype xLAB tablet experience to Lucasfilm's Hanna Gillis. (Photo: Greg Grusby)
"The period of American technological superiority in the movie business is gone," Lucas told USA TODAY in an interview. "You can get the same technology and people anywhere in the world now."
Enter ILMxLab, which is testing a variety of iPad- and Oculus Rift-based technology that allows movie aficionados to enter specific scenes of a movie and navigate through them at will.
ILMxLab executives say the tech is most likely to make its debut in association with J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens in December.
"What we're aiming for is to open the two-dimensional world of the movies and allow fans to walk into those worlds with the same visual fidelity," says John Gaeta, ILMxLab's creative director. "All that George begat caused a reassessment of innovation from movies to video games. The next 40 years of ILM is about exploding that universe with tech once again. xLab is as attuned to Silicon Valley as it is to Hollywood."
In an exclusive demo for USA TODAY, Gaeta fired up a Star Wars-inspired scene where R2D2 and C-3PO are hiding from Storm Troopers in a dusty village. Instead of just watching the scene on a screen, a visitor holding an iPad can turn 360-degrees and see all around the main characters' world.
ILMxLAB's creative director John Gaeta tests a prototype immersive experience. The experience combines live performance capture with sound and interactive real-time 3D rendering, immersing the viewer in the scene. (Photo: Greg Grusby)
One room over, the same scene is played on a monitor while a visitor pops on a pair of Oculus Rift virtual-reality goggles. This time, the point of view is from on board an X-Wing fighter jet, which not only flies around the village but also responds to banking commands with head tilts.
The difference between a video game and ILMxLab's world are immediately apparent. Rather than the goal being beating a rival, the end game is to put the viewer inside the movie in order to explore story lines perhaps not pursued by the director in the feature film itself.
Says Kennedy: "With image-quality rivaling film, you'll be able to literally step into an alternate reality."
The speed and realism of the ILMxLab demo wasn't possible just a few years ago, but the combination of equipment such as tablets and VR goggles and the ability to store and stream massive data files in the cloud have changed the equation.
"Apple, Google, Intel, they all have moonshot projects around AR and VR, but they're still just figuring it out," Gaeta says. "Our standards for world-building are very high, and we intend to use our technology to give people experiences that they haven't yet dreamed of."
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03.20
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SINCE the dawn of time there were Minions.
At least, that's how the new animated film from the creators of Despicable Me have chosen to tell the back story of their yellow, bean-shaped creations.
The impulsive yet charming creatures became a viral meme sensation thanks to their unique brand of gibberish and their many scene-stealing moments in Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2.
The new film Minions traces the evolution of the cute characters from single-celled organisms to the goggle-wearing henchmen who live to serve, but inadvertently thwart, a series of evil masters.
After accidentally destroying all of their masters, including a T Rex, Genghis Khan, Napoleon and Dracula, they decide to isolate themselves from the world and start a new life in Antarctica. But by 1968, the lack of a master drives them into depression.
Kevin, with Stuart and Bob in tow, sets off to find a new evil boss for his brethren to follow.
At Villain Con they meet Scarlet Overkill (voiced by Sandra Bullock), the world's first super-villainess, and compete to become her loyal servants.
In this Q&A, teddy bear-toting Minion Bob talks about travelling with Kevin and working for some of the world's most notorious super-villains.
Q: How did it feel to leave home?
A: I was scared, but I had to be brave for Kevin and Stuart and Tim, my emotional support bear. He's so brave. He helps other people be brave. Can you imagine?
Q: What was the most memorable part of the journey?
A: All. The. Bouncy. Beds.
Q: What was the scariest thing about Villain Con?
A: I got separated from Kevin and Stuart for a little (while). I looked up and realised I was holding a Viking's hand. He was really nice though. He helped me find them again. He's one of my best friends now. He actually gave me a spiked club that he told me he used to wipe out all the battle boars in Scandinavia. Whatever that means…
Q: Who is the worst super-villain you've served?
A: It was Dracula, who never wanted a hug.
Q: What is it like travelling with Kevin as your leader?
A: He's just the best. And he's nice. And he's smart. And he always knows what time it is. And he's tall, so Stuart can hide behind him, and I can hide behind Stuart.
Q: What's your favourite bedtime story?
A: I like Goodnight Banana. It goes "goodnight banana, goodnight banana, goodnight old banana whispering hush". Or The Tortoise and the Banana. It's about how the tortoise was really slow but the banana is slower because he doesn't have arms or legs so he can't move.
Q: Do you take your teddy bear everywhere?
A: No, no. teddy bear takes me.
Minions opens nationally on Thursday.
Minions
Stars: Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Allison Janney, Michael Keaton, Steve Coogan.
Directors: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin
Rating: PG
Reviewer's last word: Despite talking gibberish, the yellow sidekicks from the Despicable Me movies have won a place in the hearts of audiences worldwide. Kevin, Stuart, Bob and their fellow minions now have their own film tracing their lives before Gru.
Star profile: Sandra Bullock
Quirky fact: Is the only actress to be nominated for and win both an Oscar for Best Actress and the Razzie for Worst Actress in the same year (for The Blind Side and All About Steve).
Best known for: The Blind Side, Gravity, Speed.
If you like this movie you'll like these: Despicable Me, Megamind, Inside Out.
Quote: "I've learned that success comes in a very prickly package. It's what you choose to do with it, the people you choose to surround yourself with. Always choose people that are better than you. Always choose people that challenge you and are smarter than you. Always be the student. Once you find yourself to be the teacher, you've lost it."
This article forwarded via FORWARD RSS - http://forward.fullcontentrss.com If you no longer wish to receive email from Forward RSS, click here to unsubscribe: http://forward.fullcontentrss.com/unsubscribe.phpJumat, 12 Juni 2015
09.10
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Zootopia is a seemingly unconventional Disney animated feature released during the would-be off season. That's what makes it interesting and potentially exciting.
Walt Disney dropped a trailer for Zootopia yesterday. It was a barebones teaser, with just the premise being laid out via Jason Bateman narration with just a bit of character introductions offered on a white screen. With no hint of plot or conflict, this was an announcement teaser for a film that wasn't really on many peoples' radars. It takes place in a world without humans, whereby animals of all kinds are now fully anthropomorphized. It's odd that they had to explain that as (for example) the 1970′s Robin Hood needed no explanation. But maybe Disney was tired of having to answer all of the horrifyingly disturbing questions concerning the Cars/Planes universe (note: Planes: Fire and Rescue is the best Planet of the Apes sequel ever made). What is interesting is that the film isn't a grand adventure saga or sweeping fairy tale epic. It is basically a crime comedy, a "reluctant partners" story about a fox (Jason Bateman) who is framed for a crime and the bunny (Ginnifer Goodwin) who must bring him in and presumably discovers the truth and helps clear his name. If that doesn't sound like a typical Walt Disney animated feature in this day-and-age, that's because Zootopia is a rare in-house Walt Disney Studios animated "B-movie."
Zootopia comes out on March 4th, 2016, and it is not remotely the would-be main event for Walt Disney next year. They've got Finding Dory coming June 17th, 2016 and then they have the (presumably) sweeping Polynesian-set period piece adventure Moana for November 23rd, 2016. Of those three, you can probably guess which one is least likely to get a Best Animated Feature Academy Award nomination come early 2017. It's been awhile since Walt Disney put out what you could consider (by their standards) a B-movie cartoon. Just in terms of recent history, this goes back to around 1995, where they had the glorified DTV offering A Goofy Movie in the spring before the big summer release (Pocahontas) and the Pixar spectacular Toy Story over Thanksgiving.
But that doesn't mean that every would-be B-movie is a glorified TV adaptation akin to Return to Neverland or The Tigger Movie. Back in 2000, the big event was Dinosaur while Disney unleashed the offbeat and unconventional (and famously troubled) The Emperor's New Groove in mid-December. That brings up another important point: The would-be second priority feature in the box office food chain sometimes becomes the top dog in terms of quality. Quick, do you prefer Dinosaur or The Emperor's New Groove? That's what I thought. And while I may be in the minority opinion, I'm the freak who loves Ratatouille but loves Meet the Robinsons even more. Now to be fair, over the last twenty years, the majority of so-called B-movies (which for the record is my own simplistic labeling) were theatrical pictures that barely went to theaters or came from other production houses. They were films like Gnomeo and Juliet, Planes, and Mars Needs Moms. Obviously the Robert Zeme ckis-produced or directed motion-capture films were not cheap, but few will argue that A Christmas Carol was more of a priority for Walt Disney in 2009 than Up.
Having said that, the positioning of A Christmas Carol in early November did (I have long argued) real damage to Walt Disney's The Princess and the Frog which was prevented from opening wide on Thanksgiving weekend like it darn well should have. But generally the various animated projects don't clash with each other. It's not like The Wild caused any problems for Cars back in 2006. What's interesting about Zootopia is that it is indeed a pure Walt Disney production released outside of the prime season (early March, just as The Wild was in mid-April), which is rather unusual for the so-called off-season release. Disney hasn't released a big-scale in-house animated production in the off-season since Meet the Robinsons back in March of 2007. Truth be told, Disney spent much of the last 10-15 years (post-Lilo & Stitch, pre-Princess and the Frog) in a place where the Walt Disney animated feature itself was a glorified B-movie companion to the year's Pix ar release, with the likes of Chicken Little and Bolt being presented as "the one that gets Disney its luster back." Yes, Chicken Little was a big release and a solid hit ($314m worldwide on a $150m budget) in November, 2005, an attempt to score big with CGI animation and establish a new mascot character outside of Pixar and the princess line-up.
It says something that Disney is strong enough in the aftermath of Frozen and Big Hero 6 to again strong enough to offer an A-level Disney, an A-level Pixar, and a B-level Disney animated feature in the same calendar year. And the reason that this "matters" beyond my own curiosity is that the so-called B-movie allows that much more variety in terms of the kinds of animated stories and kinds of animated characters Disney can create. The likes of Zootopia doesn't necessarily have to be a grand and sweeping adventure in the classic Disney tradition or what-have-you. It can be a crazy word-play based comedy like The Emperor's New Groove, a dazzlingly creative and heartbreaking time travel adventure like Meet the Robinsons, or it can be a delightful throwback like Winnie the Pooh. Zootopia may not be the best or grandest Disney animated feature in 2016. But by virtue of its lower profile status and its existence as one of three, it has the freedom to be a little off beat, a little quirky, a little out of the conventional Disney wheelhouse, as for that matter do the other two films by virtue of the same volume. Maybe Zootopia will magically end up being better than Finding Dory and Moana. All due respect, when is the last time you quoted Dinosaur?
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03.40
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