July 2011 - Izmovies - Watch Full New Movies movies Youtube

Holy F**K! "Red Tails" is actually coming out!

This sort of thing has passed into film-geek legend at this point, but there's always been this whole list of "dream projects" George Lucas was going to make once "Star Wars" was suitably wrapped-up; and of all of them "Red Tails" - a WWII actioner about The Tuskegee Airmen - has been one 'just about to get made' for at least two decades. Because, y'know... George Lucas.

Well, the son of a gun finally did it - as a producer and (supposedly) very hands-on post-production overseer and genre-TV vet Anthony Hemingway directing. And it has a trailer...

The Tuskegee Airmen are one of those "why haven't there been FIFTY movies about this?" WWII stories, and while there was already a really good 'serious' biopic version for HBO years ago I like the idea of the story getting the soaring, kinda-corny old-Hollywood approach Hemingway and Lucas seem to be striking here.

I wonder... does it still "register" with people that "Star Wars" doesn't really become a samurai-in-space series until "Empire;" and that the first one is much moreso a WWII fighter-pilot movie but in space?

Escape to the Movies: "Cowboys & Aliens"

It's not so good.

The Escapist : Escape to the Movies : Cowboys and Aliens

"Intermission" reviews the teasers for Spider-Man, Batman and The Avengers.

Rodriguez remakes "Fire & Ice"

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Y'know what's great about reporting on Robert Rodriguez movies? If you're seeing SOMETHING visual from it, you know that about 70% of the movie is already done, locked-in and ready-to-go on a thumb-drive in Rodriguez green-screen-studio/garage. ALSO: That when he calls stuff like the image above "concept art," he means "this is ACTUALLY what it will look like."

In any case, one of RR's 5 to 10 currently in-production projects is a live-action remake of "Fire & Ice;" a swords n' sorcery animated feature from the 80s. It's LEGENDARY among the relatively small number of young kids who rented it expecting something on the lines of He-Man and instead got 90 minutes of lovingly-rendered brutality, beheadings and barely-contained cartoon-cleavage (anime hadn't really "happened" in the U.S. yet) but today mostly remembered for being a collaboration between cartoon-renegade Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta, the guy who pretty-much invented modern fantasy-art...

Yes, young animation-students in the audience: Those are hand-painted cels rotoscoped frame-by-frame off of live-action actors - keep that in mind the next time Flash makes your wrist hurt a little bit. And as a cel-animation-era attempts at making Frazetta's signature style "move" go it's pretty damn gorgeous; but as a narrative it's largely reflective of the kind of stock high-fantasy schlock his work tended to appear on the cover of - arch, overwrought and sort of forgettable, though the astonishingly politically-incorrect mincing/woman-hating/momma's-boy gay villain is good for a laugh.

I'm pretty psyched for this. Rodriguez is a Frazetta fanatic, and he's been trying to make a movie in that style for a long time (he almost made the new "Red Sonja.") He has his flaws as a filmmaker; but no one in the business is better at turning "unworkable" visual styles into moving images and, as a bonus, his knowingly-juvenile blood-n-boobs-by-the-bucket sensibilities is a perfect fit for the material. Much as I love the more "subtle" fantasy aesthetic of the LOTR films and their descedants... yeah, I'm soooo ready for the return of gore-slathered broadswords and amazons in bronze lingerie. And given how inhumanly shitty the new "Conan" continues to look, I welcome this sucker openly.

The original, incidentally, was put out on a REALLY good DVD set from Blue Underground awhile back that also included the excellent Frazetta biopic "Painting With Fire" (a must-see for aspiring artists) as a bonus feature. Worth picking up if you can find it around.

"Battleship"

The big misconcpetion that most of the public has right now about every movie needing to be "based on" something, even old toys and board-games, is that Hollywood is "out of ideas." Not the case. What they're "out of" - or at least percieve themselves to be out of - are things that garauntee an instant "connection" with an audience in the marketing sense. A Tom Hanks/Julia Roberts rom-com BOMBED this summer. That scares the shit out of industry people - if name-stars can't "register," what the hell can? Well, brand-names - of ANY kind - that've been burned into the collective unconscious, for one.

Hence, "Battleship," which basically takes the name (and probably the "you sank my Battleship!!!" line at least once) and packaging-font of the old naval-warfare game and slaps it onto a (technically) original story about a navy fleet versus water-based aliens...

Take away the "oh, gawd... the BOARD GAME!?" aspect, and I don't think it looks half bad. Peter Berg is an interesting director; and we haven't seen a wholly ocean-set genre film in awhile. I'll admit I'd be exponenially more interested if it didn't look like they were just regular space-aliens hanging out in the water - when did science-fiction decide that the "undersea invaders from Atlantis, Mu, etc." bit wasn't "cool" anymore?

Big Picture: "Hollywood History 101 - Part III"

It's one part more than Part II.

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Hollywood History 101: Part 3

"Knights of Badassdom"

Hat-tip to Devin

It's kind of a shame that the studios have woken up to the notion that being a big-hit at Comic-Con doesn't mean it's going to make money, because otherwise "Knights of Badassadom" would probably already have a distributor. The director is Joe Lynch - who'd be more reverred among horror fans if only his excellent "Wrong Turn 2" wasn't tainted by being a sequel to "Wrong Turn" - and the premise is a head-slapper: A bunch of LARPer buddies accidentally unleash an actual demon and have to fight it. Peter Dinklage, Steve Zahn, Danny Pudi and Ryan Kwanten star as the hapless heroes, while Summer Glau stars as another $15-20 Million in fanboy tickets alread sold...

These Are Your "AVENGERS"

Marvel's people at SDCC have been doling out "concept" (read: paintings, not photographs) character-posters of the various film characters as they'll appear in "The Avengers." The set is now complete, and when placed together they form a banner that now constitutes the first "official" group-shot of (right-to-left) Black Widow, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents Coulson and Maria Hill. Click it to embiggen it:

The immediate "big deal," of course, is that we can now see what the new-er Hulk looks like... which is to say he looks like The Hulk. I haven't put them side-by-side as yet, but it looks to me like the face - with the larger-than-normal maxilla ("upper-lip" palat) and pronounced Neanderthal-esque brow - is erring more toward the 60s/70s comics Hulk than previous versions. The Ang Lee version, for contrast, was designed to look more like an "inflated" version of Eric Bana; while the "Incredible" Edward Norton Hulk reflected more recent designs where he's more of a "giant human." But... yeah, Hulk looks like Hulk. I wonder if they'll keep this design for the new TV show?

Oh, yeah... that's something else that's kinda gotten lost in the Comic-Con shuffle: in lieu of (for now) further films, Hulk is getting a new live-action TV series. Also on the front-lines of Marvel/Disney's new TV venture: "AKA Jessica Jones" (with Luke Cage and Carol "Ms. Marvel" Danvers in the supporting cast) "Cloak & Dagger" and, for some reason, "Mockingbird." Those with a less-than-noble interest in the "Cloak & Dagger" announcement should, unfortunately, adjust their expectations accordingly; as it's an ABC Family project and thus very unlikely to let Dagger keep her infamous uniform.

I'm also given to wonder if there's any significance to the fact that Captain America (which is now on-track to have had the biggest opening weekend of all the Summer 2011 superhero movies) has the center-spot, appears to be at the "front" of the lineup and seems to have a color-scheme that's a little bit bolder and less effected by the sepia-sheen of the rest of the piece, which makes him stick out from the others. A lot of folks had been assuming that the more popular Iron Man (or the more widely-exposed and theoretically higher-ranking Nick Fury) would be the "boss" of The Avengers; but this makes it look an awful lot like Cap is in his (in the comics) usual position as team-leader.

I like Hawkeye just fine, but I still say not even letting him have a mask only serves to call attention to the question of just how useful being really, really good with a weapon that's been obsolete since the 14th Century is on a team of (literal) gods, monsters and super-soldiers. And hey, look: You can see the Helicarrier and a Quinjet (?) in the background. Awesome.

The Oslo Massacre

FYI, a piece about certain revelations about Anders Behring Breivik - the alleged perpetator of the horrific bombing/shooting in Oslo, Norway - is now up at The Other Blog.

I know that there are Norwegian readers and fans of this blog and the attendant shows/series; and I encourage other readers to keep them in your thoughts, prayers etc. during this period and to keep discussion of the tragedy respectful (re: I WILL delete insensitive/confrontational comments regarding the tragedy) and to donate to charitable organizations of your choice when/if the ability to do so is made available - for those in Norway: I am told that Ullevaal Hospital - where some victims are being treated, is in need of TYPE 0 BLOOD donations.

Post-Movie Podcast "Captain America" (UPDATED!)

I once again join the Post-Movie Podcast to talk about "The First Avenger." MAJOR SPOILER WARNING is in effect, but give it a listen if you've seen the film and please consider bookmarking their site, downloading or subscribing to the show on iTunes, etc - these are good guys, working hard.

UPDATED! I'm reasonbly certain that THIS is the commercial John Black was talking about:

Escape to the Movies: "Captain America"

It's fantastic, go see it. Seriously, go - a superhero movie this good and this different "underperforming" would be a disaster for the genre.

Also: "Intermission" talks Easter Eggs - "Captain America" may feature the most obscure Marvel cameo ever.

AND ALSO: Did you watch the explosive new GAME OVERTHINKER yet??

The Escapist : Escape to the Movies : Captain America

They Have Risen

A Twitter pal linked me to this video of the new "Beavis & Butthead" relaunch from MTV. Dunno where it came from in the first place, as I haven't watched MTV in years, but I assume if it's a "bad" leak they'll take it down, so... whatever.

My impression? Wow... it's as though they'd never left. The animation looks basically the same as it did on the last season (are they still using hand-drawn cels? The original show ended well before the dawn of Flash...) and the boys are still wearing their band-T's, tormenting poor Stewart and - yes! - THE GREAT CORNHOLIO LIVES!!!

The big "new" hook, of course, is that the video-mocking interstitials have been replaced by mockery of MTV's reality-centric present-day programming; and if these examples of "Jersey Shore" whacking are any indication it's going to work out just fine. I like that they've preserved the gag that B&B somehow get exponentially sharper and quicker-witted when it's TV time:

SNOOKI: "Hello? Ya, I'm a whore!?"
BUTTHEAD: "That's how she answers the phone."

Actually, y'know what's even more genius about this? It plays PERFECTLY to the "real" target audience of this relaunch - now-grown Gen-Xers who'll be returning to MTV for the first time in a decade and HATE everything on the network now. Kind of deviously brilliant, that.

Game OverThinker Episode 54 is LIVE!

Here's the page on The Other Blog (updating w/details later)!
Here's the direct-link to ScrewAttack!

Batman Who?

I'm generally obliged not to give details as to what I thought of movies I've seen before they're officially released; but you may wish to take what you will from the following:

I am going to a midnight show of "Captain America." It is not a critic's showing or a free preview, it's a regular showing that I am paying regular ticket-price to see.

I am doing this even though I have already seen "Captain America," AND the "Avengers" teaser; for no reason other than I have an unignorable desire to see "Captain America" again.

I do not recall having done this for any other "big" movie released this summer.

Infer from this whatever you wish to infer, and make your near-future moviegoing plans accordingly.

"The Amazing Spider-Man" take two

I like how what was supposed to be a quick comment by moi on another blog - but got longer - about the "stop pre-judging!!!!!" response to negative reactions to the awful-looking "Spider-Man" trailer, so I'm reposting it here:

Oh ENOUGH with the "wait-and-see" comments - geez! It's not like this is someone's bootlegged out-of-context set footage, it's the official trailer! This is what the studio felt was their BEST set of selling points right now. It looks like shit, you KNOW it looks not only like shit but "like shit" in EXACTLY the same way you imagined it would when this whole asinine project started up. OWN your negative reaction - after all, the near-universal insta-revulsion for "Green Lantern" after the FIRST costume shot turned out to be wholly-predictive.

For fuck's sake, howzabout we save the "benefit of the doubt" for something "iffy-looking" that's taking an actual risk or doing something new or original; not for what is easily the most cynically-mounted, passionless, made-SOLELY-to-retain-a-licensing-contract cinematic undertaking of the 21st Century so far. Even if it turns out halfway-decent, this is the LAST movie that deserve ANYONE bending over backwards to give it a "fair shake," especially if we're just trying to avoid looking like "fanboys" who're mad that the costume is blue in the wrong places."

Egh. Exhale...

Anyway...

So after all the hype about all the "awesome" practical-effects jumping and swinging scenes the stunt guys were doing, and how that was going to make it soooooooooo much better than Raimi's because he used too much of the CGI Spidey... their big reveal-trailer "money shot" looks like gameplay footage from a Wii port of "Mirror's Edge?"

"The Amazing Spider-Man" trailer...

...kinda blows. Watch it after the jump.

Before that, though, some good news: Jeff Wells - who's sort of become the "leader" of the too-many-damn-superhero-movies backlash among the old guard critical press - saw "Captain America" and LOVED it. If you're not aware of Wells, the idea that he'll get out of ANY movie and start tweeting wild enthusiasm is a rare event, but this is a HUGE shocker... and a good sign, as the last time he reacted this way to a genre film was "First Class."

I'm well aware that, because I'm the guy for whom a minute or so of Peter Parker dancing WASN'T an apocalyptic event, everything I have to say about this is subject to outright dismissal; plus I have to head out to screen "Captain America" so I can't do a full piece right now... but my first reaction is that this is a god-awful trailer.

Sony is betting the farm on this movie - this is the movie that's going to keep Spider-Man "theirs" for the next cycle - and this is how they reintroduce him? A few shots of Andrew Garfield wandering around generic cityscapes and interiors, a goes-nowhere bit about Peter's parents (supposedly a BIG part of the revamped backstory) and a stretch of CGI that wouldn't pass muster as a Wii cutscene?

I get that they're going for "what's thi... oh! Spider-Man!," but I can't imagine an audience reacting excited to the reveal here - more like "what's thi... Spider-Man, again? Already? Seriously?" Kinda interesting that he seems to have a biological-spineret after all, and I'm amused by the bit where it looks like he's going to eat a fly; but all of the important stuff about this screams "This Fall on The CW," not "huge blockbuster next year."

Game OverThinker Episode 54 COMING SOON!

I have it on good authority that GAME OVERTHINKER: EPISODE 54 is coming this Thursday at 11pm EST exclusively on ScrewAttack.com. In this thrilling episode, you will...
LEARN! The OverThinker's take on the subject YOU voted on!
MEET! A new member of TGO's expanding supporting cast!
WITNESS! Fiery destrcution EXPLODING across your screen!
MARVEL! As The OverThinker does NOT engage in a pulse-pounding adventure!
THRILL! As our hero actively avoids looking down at his cue-cards!
BEHOLD! TGO's brand-new abbreviated opening credits!
DISCOVER! The NAME of the mysterious Game Store Arsonist!

Big Picture: "Hollywood History 101 - Part II"

It goes on...

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Hollywood History 101: Part 2

DKR Teaser (and about "Avengers")

Here's the good-quality version of the "Dark Knight Rises" trailer, with your first tiny glimpses of Bane, flashbacks to "Begins" and Jim Gordon looking pretty beat up.

Incidentally, no - I'm not running the bootlegged "Avengers" thing yet, but I'll say this: While I understand their thinking, Marvel Studios really needs to get off the guitar-riff/tagline/guitar-riff/tagline/guitar-riff/tagline/guitar-riff/KABOOM!/punchline formula for their trailers. It's not a dealbreaker, but c'mon guys! You're selling the first-ever superhero continuity-cross teamup movie! Low angles, slow-motion, orchestral swells, dramatic-nods, y'know? get your shit together...

So... the MAIN speculation based on what we see in this, to my mind, has to go like this:

1.) It's Gordon who get's "broken" by Bane instead of Batman.
2.) By now, Gordon is aware that Bruce Wayne is Batman, and keeping that a secret is why we don't see whether not he's in costume.
3.) The "arc" of the story involves Batman quitting for awhile.
4.) Heavily referencing "Begins" (whereas TDK ignored it almost-entirely) means The League of Shadows are back in some way, and that's probably them chanting at the end. As such, I renew my earlier very-unlikely-but-not-unthinkable assertation that the COOLEST possible thing that could happen in this movie is for revivified Liam Neeson to show up and be the big heavy.

Weekend Catch-Up

I think I've mentioned this around a few times, but just in case: I'll be hobnobbing with game designers and journalists as the IGDA Summit in Seattle on Monday and Tuesday - participating in at least two panels - so if you're going too feel free to say hi.

In any case, here's everything you might have missed this past week...

TINTIN has a full trailer!

I agree with JIMQUISITION!

BIG PICTURE: "Hollywood History 101 -Part I"

DARK KNIGHT RISES teaser poster!

Fede Alvarez to direct EVIL DEAD REMAKE for Sam Raimi!

Scary-ass preacher guys!

The Tea Party versus EVIL MANATEE CONSPIRACY!

Diablo Cody polishes the EVIL DEAD REMAKE script!

95-years-in-the-making JOHN CARTER has a trailer!

Entertainment Weekly gives AMAZING SPIDER-MAN a cover-story!

Some early DARK KNIGHT RISES teaser impressions...

A trailer for the "remakequel" of THE THING!

Scorsese makes a 3D KID'S MOVIE!

ESCAPE TO THE MOVIES: "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows - Part II"

Escape to the Movies: "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows - Part II"

Movie good. Intermission sez it's an Oscar contender - like it or not.

The Escapist : Escape to the Movies : Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II

Hugo

What does a whimsical children's film from Martin Scorsese look like? Like this, apparently:

Original title "Hugo Cabret," incidentally. And those silent-movie-making sequences are apparently setting up Georges Melies as a supporting character, in answer to the "what probably attracted Scorsese to this?" question.

"The Thing" remake trailer

"The Thing" has the mother of all solutions to the "people are sick of remakes" problem: John Carpenter's original film (itself a remake of an adaptation) opened with the discovery of the aftermath of events similar to what would eventually occur; so the remake purports to depict THAT and therefore technically qualify as a prequel.

...yeah, I'm not not really buyin' it either - but, whatever, the trailer is actually not half bad:

About the "Dark Knight Rises" Teaser

Yes, I've seen the (probably) legit "Dark Knight Rises" teaser that's supposed to start showing up in front of "Harry Potter" tonight and tomorrow. No, I'm NOT going to post bootleg links on this site.

There's not much to it, honestly, but some impressions after the jump...

At least half of it is clips from the previous films, primarily "Begins."

A good deal of Liam Neeson's "Begins" dialogue used as voiceover; suggesting that the rumors about the loose-ends of that film coming back into play here have merit.

The titles make it EXPLICITLY clear that this is the END of this series.

I don't know that there was a single good "new" shot of Batman or Bruce Wayne, but his voice is heard.

We see Bane, but not well.

A major character appears to have been critically-injured.

Dialogue heavily implies that a significant amount of time has passed since the last one, and that Batman has not been active for a portion of it.

No Catwoman or implications of Catwoman yet.

The video of the teaser is supposed to be officially released on Monday, but will supposedly be in theaters with most prints of "Potter."

EW previews the new Spider-Man

iFanboy has scans up (now posted in hi-res elsewhere) from Entertainment Weekly's "Amazing Spider-Man" cover story. The piece itself is so much P.R.-driven fluff (EW, after all) but there's some new stuff to see: Action poses of the new suit (still looks like an overdesigned mess to me, and the least-likable thing about the Raimi-era suit - the "texture" stuff - is turned up to eleven) first look at Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben (MEGA-SPOILER!!! He looks like... Martin Sheen in a work shirt!!!) and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy.

The big "nerd-minutiae" stuff is real, visual confirmation that the web-shooters are oldschool mechanical - which pretty-much everyone has known for over a year now (yeah, I'll brag about it - called it right off the bat as the easiest bit of fanservice they could do) but it's still nice to see.

Still no explanation for Spidey's odd metal toe-shoes - at least, no official one. It's not solid enough for me to "tip my hand," but some of the early rumbles suggest that the "source" of Peter's powerset (and maybe even transformation/origin itself) are getting a major overhaul that leans heavy on the home-made-hero angle; so take that for what you will.

John Carter Trailer

I wonder if scifi/fantasy fans today appreciate just how ancient Edgar Rice Burroughs "Mars" books are. This is on of the "subject zeroes" of genre-fiction - think "War of the Worlds." Think "King Solomon's Mines." It was old when "Lord of The Rings" was young. The "bedrock" stories modern writers and filmmakers try to live up to today were themselves trying to live up to this.

People have been trying to put the series (which concerns a Civil War veteran named John Carter who is transported to Mars and gets caught up in an alien conflict) on film since the invention of film. This first "real" attempt comes courtesy of Pixar's Andrew Stanton... and it looks VERY close to a "nailed it."

I like everything about this trailer - starting from the fact that they're apparently keeping the "journals kept by a dead relative" framing device and ending with the not-at-all-generic music choice and editing. It'd be nice to see some more of the aliens (whose outlandishness is what's largely kept the series unfilmmable until now) but I'm liking the look of it - yes, even what looks like a logical-compromise in the realm of costuming (Burroughs was BIG on "going native" machismo, and was seldom without an excuse for his heroes and heroines to do their fighting essentially naked.)

It'll be interesting to see how a general audience reacts to this - the inherent problem in adapting older genre material is that it's been so thoroughly cannibalized by it's descendants that literally EVERYTHING about it will be somewhat familiar dozens of times over - what "Star Wars" borrowed from Flash Gordon, Flash Gordon borrowed from John Carter. So far, I like what I see... but will what boils down to "Conan in Space" go over with anyone else?

Quick! Everyone Get Obnoxiously Pissy About Diablo Cody Writing The "Evil Dead" Remake!

OLD FACT: A Raimi/Tapert/Campbell produced "Evil Dead" remake is happening.

NEW FACT: Crazy-talented newcomer Fede Alvarez is directing it.

NEW(ER) FACT: Diablo Cody is writing the screenplay.

Pop Quiz! Which of those facts do you suppose the geek-o-sphere will be pissing and moaning like gigantic, entitled babies about between now and the first trailer?

Bonus Question! Of the FIVE names listed above, which one will be overwhelmingly "blamed" for every casting decision, character-change or story revision said "sphere" decides it doesn't like in that same time period?

Yeah... look, gang - I'm a confirmed hater of Cody's "Jennifer's Body." I appreciated what it was trying to do, but it failed at it pretty spectacularly. That said, I don't "get" the Diablo Cody backlash in film-geek circles. Well... that's not true. I GET it, I'm just sort of annoyed and dismayed by it.

I really hate situations where this ends up having to be pointed out; but it's kind of unnavoidable that to a large (not "overwhelming," but certainly large) degree American "geekdom" still exists as a predominantly white/hetero/male culture. And while that's not a "bad" thing in and of itself, it does seem to manifest in sometimes ugly ways when female, black, etc. filmmakers try to play in "our" sandbox. You see it in the outcries against race-flipped casting, you'll see it in the innevitable "White Guilt!!!" replies to this post, and I think you see it in the way people "turned around" on Cody once she became a "brand."

Frankly, the MAIN thing she has working against her - the criticism that her character's all talk like the same person, namely Diablo Cody - is something that A.) people seem willing to overlook for Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith and David Mamet, and B.) not really a pressing concern in a franchise whose best-remembered dialogue is very much in her wheelhouse. I'm not saying this WON'T turn out to be a bad choice, but I don't think it'll be worth the forgone-conclusion freakout it's going to cause in some circles.

Besides, hating on Diablo Cody will only serve to distract The Internet from it's TRUE mission on this project: Determining which largely-unknown onetime castmember of which failed Joss Whedon project is the ONLY!!!! concievably-appropriate choice for the new Ash, and circulating a petition to make it happen. Priorities, people ;)

Via Gawker

~~A Florida chapter of scientifically-illiterate, hyperreligious paranoid xenophobes~~ The Citrus County Tea Party Patriots have uncovered yet another threat to The United States of Christopia: MANATEES. American Conservatives' endless quest to make the bad guys from "Captain Planet" look nuanced by comparison marches on...

Edna Mattos, the "leader" of the Citrus County Tea Party Patriots has launched a campaign to oppose increased protections on edangered Manatees in King's Bay:

"We cannot elevate nature above people," explained Edna Mattos, 63, leader of the Citrus County Tea Party Patriots, in an interview. "That's against the Bible and the Bill of Rights."

It's also, of course, all part of the conspiracy by the United Nations - that scaaaaary organization of untrustworthy Europeans and Brown People who want to take your guns and Bibles - to take over the world through environmental regulations. Mattos explains:

"We believe that (federal regulators') aim is to control the fish and wildlife, in addition to the use of the land that surrounds this area, and the people that live here and visit. … As most of us know, this all ties in to the United Nations' Agenda 21 and Sustainability."

"Agenda 21" is a largely symbolic, essentially-unenforcable U.N. resolution (so, in other words, a U.N. resolution) from 1992 to encourage environmentally-responsible development. Nobody cared about it (again, U.N. resolution) until Glenn Beck convinced his acolytes that it was evidence of "the plan."

Scary Stuff

I'm generally reluctant to post stuff from MSNBC (or anyone else's) opinion programs because it always degenerates into mutual bile-spewing about "bias;" but this clip from last night's Rachel Maddow Show is too much of a treasure-trove of religious-psycopathy for me NOT to call attention to...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

These are REAL guys - not satirists - many of them speaking to cheering, agreeing crowds of THOUSANDS in an allegedly modern country. I don't care what, if anything, your spiritual or political affiliation (or lack thereof) is - that FACT should scare the shit out of you.

Whenever I'm on about "Thinkers vs. Believers," this is the stuff I'm talking about.

Raimi-Approved "Evil Dead" Remake FINALLY Happening?

Somewhere between the post-production of "Spider-Man 2" and the clusterfuck of shenanigans surrounding "Spider-Man 4;" something seemed to have gone vaugely "awry" with Sam Raimi. Longtime collaborator Danny Elfman claimed they'd had a major falling-out, and on the business side his innability to make a project come-together was approaching that of Guillermo del Toro.

Recently, though, things appear to have turned a corner. The rift with Elfman has apparently been healed, his "Oz: The Great and Powerful" feature is looking like it could beat the inexplicable glut of upcoming "Wizard of Oz" alterna-takes to the screen, and now Bloody Disgusting reports that the long-promise "official" reboot of "Evil Dead" is on the way...

Supposedly, the Raimi-produced remake of the original "Evil Dead" has re-entered development, and BD claims that a highly sought-after young talent has been tapped to direct: Federico Alvarez, an Uruguayan indie wunderkind whose short film "Ataque de Panico!" ("Panic Attack!") - in which Montevideo is leveled by giant alien robots - became an international sensation a year or so back:

So that's what giant robots look like when they don't suck...

This Is Your "Dark Knight Rises" Teaser Poster

Christopher Nolan's "Batman" movie posters continue their "stuff making the batman-logo" motif. The first teaser-trailer is supposed to be attached to prints of "Harry Potter" this weekend.

It's simple, I like it, etc. The falling-building motif, naturally, will make some fans think of "No Man's Land" - a story-arc wherein Gotham was cut-off from the rest of the country by an earthquake. Yeah, possibly, but remember that the "blown-out skyscraper" from the DK posters wasn't in that movie, either.

It's all buildings, windows and blurry rubble, of course - so folks who haven't yet accepted that Nolan and co. have next-to-zero interest in "living up" to outlandish fan hopes are invited to enjoy poking through the shadows and reflections looking for The Joker, Robin, noteworthy villains aside from those already widely-known, other DC characters and other stuff that will not be in this movie. Have fun with that.

Big Picture: "History of Hollywood 101 - Part I"

Another two-parter.

The Escapist : The Big Picture : Hollywood History 101: Part 1

New Tintin trailer

People who are bigger fans of Tintin (the franchise really doesn't "exist" here in the States for the most part, though a cartoon ran on Nickelodeon back in the day) are going to have to tell me if the movie seems to be "getting it" or not; but thus far I'm pretty enthused.

I'm still not convinced that motion-capture animation is "there" yet, but it's not going to get "there" if people don't keep refining it. Also, good filmmaking can overcome limiting techniques, so we'll see.

It'll be interesting to see how, if this is good, it effects the debate in the animation world over the technique. Last year, The Academy Awards made headlines by deciding that films primarily using mo-cap DON'T qualify for animated-film Oscars; which to be honest sounds somewhat illogical to me. I understand that there's a pervading fear/resentment in the animation business that motion-capture devalues (literally and figuratively) the work of full-blown animators; but people have been rotoscoping for decades and I don't see how this is appreciably different - particularly in the case of something like "Happy Feet," which used humans to mo-cap non-human animal character with major animation-additions later.

NEW FEATURE! Weekend Catch-Up

It's the weekend! Here's some of the stuff you may have missed on the MovieBob Blogs this week!

THE BIG PICTURE: "TURTLE MAKI"
The infamous TMNT Anime is the subject.

AMERICAN BOB: "JOBBED"
Politics, jobs and the U.S. economy.

GAME OVERTHINKER - EPISODE 53: "THINGS LEARNED IN THE DARK"
The Playstation Network hack/blackout is discussed. Also, a bunny.

I was INTERVIEWED by EXAMINER.COM

ESCAPE TO THE MOVIES: "HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN"
Nuff said.

INTERMISSION: "THE MORE YOU KNOW"
How to speak Hollywood movie-press speak.
Naomi Harris is (maybe?) the new Miss Moneypenny.

VOTE on the topic of the NEXT "Game OverThinker" episode!

Here's a FAQ post about the new(er) shape of "The Game OverThinker" series!

REMINDER: MovieBob will be out and about at the IGDA Sumitt in Seattle!

As ever, feel free to follow MovieBob on Twitter @the_moviebob

Here we go again...

UK's Daily Mail - currently basking in the glow of being a British tabloid NOT shuttered by a horrific phone-hacking scandal - reports that the next installment of the rebooted James Bond series has found it's Miss Moneypenny: Naomi Harris, late of "28 Days Later" and "Pirates of the Carribbean."

If this is legit, it will make Harris the sixth actress (three in the "main" series plus two in the "side" films); and the first black actress to play the role. That second part will, of course, pass by largely un-remarked-upon and will not at all generate bleats of outrage from "racially-conscious" white people about "losing" this or that artifact of pop-culture; as everybody got that out of their system on "Thor"...

...right? ;)

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