Saturday, July 18, 2009

"LINKTUMSEPRA!"

Vanity Fair that lengthy piece on Heath Ledger is now online in case you haven't read it
The Big Picture offers a pointed critique of the same
Cinema Blend I Love You Philip Morris trailer. Does this explain the distribution problems?
PopWatch Another photo of Jake Gyllenhaal from Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. For the sake of Gyllenhaalics everywhe
re, I hope this movie opens big. His taste seems to run towards smaller dramas and a franchise on the side would help bolster those opportunities
Coming Soon a couple of set and prop pics from Clash of the Titans and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Nick's Flick Picks has been doing a series on 00s films that need a second look. Nick & Tim discuss Spike Lee's controversial Bamboozled
/Film a third lawsuit for The Lord of the Rings. Will The Hobbit actually happen? Speaking of... worst idea ever: Harry Potter as Bilbo Baggins. I'm convinced that that particular casting rumor is only breathless fangasm and entirely removed from reality. Peter Jackson isn't dumb.
Antagony & Ecstasy offers up a great review/defense of (500) Days of Summer

One thing I've never mentioned here: I absolutely love the snide snail's
pace of Alan Rickman's line readings. He's a joy.

Potter Everywhere
i09 "Harry Potter and the Half-Hearted Ending"
Towleroad a few words from me... though you've heard my take on the vodcast
YouTube Harry/Voldemort rap battle. Kinda funny in concept. Less so in execution. I mean, a full 90 seconds before the rapping actually start? Er...
MTV Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) has his eyes on being a musician?
The franchise's new hunk Cormac McLaggen? He's played by Freddie Stroma who already has breathless fangirls and gayboys going weak at the knee which is all well and good since Hermione wasn't the slightest bit interested. For those who love beefcake, these underwear ads featuring the actor have been making the rounds (NSFW). Hey, a man's gotta make a living before that role in a billion dollar franchise lands in his lap.



Lazy Eye Theater shares a personal response to the growing Harry Potter franchise but his defense of the movie reads to me like an ode to the strengths of television series, not cinema. Since the majority of moviegoers seem to only care about franchises, does this mean they'd rather be watching TV but just like the bigger screens?
Bad Manors Squirrel Diner Harry Potter hovers, Have you ever seen this live stream? It's so silly. Each day new objects for squirrels to interact with as they eat. (Today it's hula girls).

10 comments:

Bernardo said...

WTF is going on with the trailer for I Love you Philip Morris?!?!

NoNo said...

Did anyone see the new Ironman 2 pictures for Entertainment Weekly. For some reason, I'm not buying Scarlett as a comic book villian.

Michael B. said...

I've already seen I Love You Phillip Morris and its actually pretty good.

After the film ended, my friend and I were chosen to participate in an audience examination. This guy asked us questions about what we liked and didn't like. Well at the end some man from the distribution (I don't know if he's head of the company or whatever, but he introduced himself as the "person who is distributing the movie") company asked us what we thought about a Valentines Day Release (2010) and also how they should market/advertise the movie.

I was shocked at his question because I knew the distribution didn't know at all what they were doing! I raised my hand and said to him "this movie should have a limited release for awards season consideration in either October, November or December. You won't get Oscar nominations but Golden Globe and maybe some other award shows, like the spirit awards. The Film, Carey and McGregor have a shot at the comedy awards at the Globes and if they get any nominations you can open your film in January or February with people more aware of the movie. But Valentines day is a horrible release cause its not a Valentines day kind of movie."

And also the audience wanted the posters and ads for the movie to have both McGregor and Carey on it because some of them felt kind of duped when they found out Carey was gay.

The movie is good, not amazing, but just watching the trailer(s) and seeing how they want to release it Valentines Day makes me cringe a little.

Henry said...

Loved, loved, LOVED (500) Days of Summer. I'm ready to name it the best film of the year. No question.

Sam said...

So all that guy does is dance around in his underwear? What kind of ad is that? That's . . . odd.

Unknown said...

One of those videos isnt Freddie

NATHANIEL R said...

freddie... is it the gymnast one? The gay sites were saying it was you too!

please to explain.

sam i assume that's the not the actual ad but the raw footage from which they draw the clips for the ads. Like film a model dancing and take out little snippets. mix with other models.

my assumption at least.

nono scarlett discussion a couple of link roundups ago.

PIPER said...

Nat,

Thanks for the link.

That's an interesting take on my post and thinking about it more, it's accurate because no other long-standing franchise out there relies so heavily on its characters. I think of James Bond, but he is always central to the action and once you establish he's a bad mfer, there's no other place to go. The thing that's great about Harry Potter is that the characters literally are changing. There hormones are like little bouncy balls, so the material for plot and fodder is definitely there. To me, it was just amazing that this movie got made the way it did without a producer standing up and yelling "where's my money shot?" "There aren't enough money shots."

Anonymous said...

a) I have not seen the movie. The trailer makes me want to see it. The funny thing that I am starting to ask as a gay man who is also black: "Are we at a point in gay movie making where gays want see them unless they are according to the same ritual of what straight people expect of gays?" For a long time, especially during the blaxpoitation era, I felt most of the images were what white's thought of blacks.

Now, we get a movie slightly off beat about being gay, and suddenly it's "I don't know how to fit it into a category." Isn't that a good thing? Not to be fit into a category? Is this where the industry is now? That's pretty sad.

But, then again, that explains a lot. We live in such emotionally dead times.

b) Black Willow, unless things have changed, is not a villian. She's an antihero. Are they playing her strictly as a villiain in the movie?

Anonymous said...

re-- agree they should have shown the movie in Oct/Nov/Dec as an awards movie. Good way to build buzz. Do not understand the 2010 date at all. Relying on start power alone is a mistake. If it was good enough for Sundance amongst others- it is good enough for awards season.