And so The Green Lanternhas no shoes. Seen from these studio images of CG-suit on actor Ryan Reynolds, the folks perhaps decided that while the energy construct forms the outer-suit, it also decided to leave out "shoes". I know the Oan Gaurdians float in mid-air, but do they not know the concept of foot-wear? (Or were there no sneaker-sponsors?) *Those-Alien-Savages*
Animated prologues are in! Taking a promo leaf off of the Sucker Punch animated series by Ben Hibon, the Korean-manga "Priest" gets adapted into a CG-fueled movie by Russian animation director Genndy Tartakovsky (creator of Sym-Bionic Titan). Maggie Q does a video-intro and I'm already sold!
We previously blogged about PREIST on TOYSREVIL in 2010 circa SDCC. Here is the post, along with a little history of the story:
From Manhwa To Movie: Priest in 3-D:
Making it's "public" debut at San Diego Comic Con 2010 [tagged] was Screen Gems' PRIEST ~ a 3-D feature film adaptation of Korean manhwa / comic book created by Min-Woo Hyung. Starring Paul Bettany as "Ivan Isaacs" (Priest) and Maggie Q (as "Priestess" ~hur), and directed by Scott Stewart, "Priest" is scheduled for a May 13, 2011 release. Truth be told, it was the motorbike on show at SDCC which got my attention first LOL
ABOUT-THE-MOVIE: Priest is an upcoming futuristic superhero vampire-western horror film loosely based on the manhwa, the Korean name for comics and print cartoons, of the same name. The film is directed by Scott Stewart and stars Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet and Maggie Q. [Wiki].
ABOUT-THE-COMIC: Priest (Hangul: 프리스트) was a manhwa (Korean comic) series created by Hyung Min-woo. It fuses the Western genre with supernatural horror, Gun fu, and dark fantasy themes and is notable for its unusual, angular art style. An interview with Hyung in Priest: Volume 3 states that the comic was inspired by the computer game Blood, which featured a similar horror-Western aesthetic and undead protagonist. Priest was published in English by TOKYOPOP. [Wiki]
DIFFERENCE-BETWEEN FILM-AND-COMIC: Fans of the manhwa have voiced their heavy criticism against the movie regarding changes related to central storylines and core characters. Primarily how the protagonist and antagonists in the film have been altered. In the books, Ivan Isaacs was portrayed as a priest that turned into a demon possessed undead creature. In the film he's a human that's a priest and a vampire hunter. The books had him face a multitude of enemies, mainly demons, zombies, and angels with zero encounters with vampires. The main antagonist in the books was an angel called Temozarela. The film's antagonists are only vampires with a leader called Black Hat. [Wiki]
Actress Maggie Q is in it, so I'm absolutely fine with whatever differences to be had, IMHO.
Finally caught David Fincher's THE SOCIAL NETWORK on DVD (I was in Stroke when the movie premiered in cinemas, so gimme a break here lol) and as much as I did enjoy it, it was somewhat pedestrian and inevitably forgettable. I wish I could lord over it more - as everyone seemed to have had, along with a slew of film awards - but alas my attention is left wanting, when the film credits roll.
I have always been a staunch fan of Fincher's work, with Se7en and Fight Club et al firmly etched in my psyche (enjoyed Panic Room too but have still to watch Benjamin Buttons tho...), and am more amazed by this excessively "talky" film being captured and portrayed as such, as well the behind-the-scenes featurettes - which actually made me miss the days of filmmaking ... or rather, the "beautiful notion" of filmmaking anyways.
But perhaps my viewing of "making-of" diluted what I had felt for the film itself (the CG-element of the twins were such a surprise tho), as well the expectations heaped upon it by many a viewers, left me expecting more than what I saw, much more.
Or perhaps the "effortless" result of everyone's acting, put me off guard, and I could find nothing else on the screen to focus on, as immaculately banal and "regular" as the designs looked (the effort of which is only seen in the behind-the-scenes segment of the DVD). For sure Fincher crafts his scenes and shots, but perhaps this is the level of mature and exact filmmaking I have found myself currently less endeared to. Perhaps it spoke to YOU mores than it did me.
In the end, the film provided a slice of "reality" so close to the real world, the reel world product becomes a documentary about what we may or may not know of, or care about - even if we indulge in Facebook everyday, IMHO.
As remarkable, was that Social Network was shot digitally. Read more on Wiki.
I was actually looking forward to watching this flick, first time I caught chunks of it while shopping for other DVD movies (in my then wheelchair, no less lol), as well featuring a trailer of which, on my TOYSREVIL blog.
I find myself fascinated with a concept of a comicbook mini-series story getting adapted into a full-length feature film. In the initial three-issue comic also titled "RED" (published in 2003/04 by Homage Comics - an imprint of Wildstorm), we had minimal dialogue from Warren Ellis, and always-sweet artwork from Cully Hammer, and featured the (mis)adventures of one retired agent "Paul Moses" (played in the film by Bruce Wilis). The comic never did go beyond the recruitment of other agents, like the movie did.
(BTW - both gents were credited in the movies' opening credit sequence too).
As much as I appreciated the spot-on- casting of Bruce as "Moses" (who else looked as good "bald"?), his constant whispering and calm+quiet demeanor was actually off-putting. His co-stars however, we great! Helen Mirren shined like the queen she was, as did the paranoid John Malkovich. Morgan Freeman had too short a cursory appearance, and Karl Urban was, well the ever-intense-faced "Karl Urban" from whatever film he has acted in.
The pedestrian romance between Moses and Sarah, Victoria's and Ivan, were distractions to the whambam-plot, but fair enough it provided excuses for scenes and plot-movements (what, they HAD to expand the 3-issue comicbook, didn't they? LOL)
Directed predictably by German film-director Robert Schwentke, I would dare claim this is highly enjoyable - mostly due to the senseless bullet casings expanded, and the efforts of the actors, Helen Mirren rocking them the most (as well Jon Malkovich) but ultimately forgettable, in a Hollywood slam-bang-sorta way. Decent watching tho, and don't forget your popcorn!
"On a dark and stormy night, as the rain threatens to pelt mother earth with it's devious droplets, i shiver underneath a torn umbrella alongside the curbed urban belly of…"no wait! … "it was a sunny afternoon, clouds dancing against the blue skies, and birds chirping away a melody echoing at the back of my mindscape…"no, wait! …. "As I sat alone in my grotto of conundrums, I clicked away furiously on my laptop, memories of yesteryears still lingering…"no, WAIT! … aaaahh I just like to yak on about movies, is all :)
Talk about a movie-PR-overload! The makers of the love-action GREEN LANTERN showcased a 4-minute teaser during WonderCon the weekend just, which was subsequently released to the public online via Apple.com. And not a day goes by when folks can breathe in the epic-nicity of the space-drama to come? We are bludgeoned with TWO TV Spots! And yeh, not to mention that new quad poster (first seen on the Apple.com page actually) … man, they are trying to turn the world "green" color aren't they?
This series of videos serve no other purpose than to see the ladies of Sucker Punch sans their on-screen reel costumes (no it does not mean they are nude) but dressed in real-world finaries, and yakking on about behind-the-scenes of the making of Sucker Punch. Seems the audio-synch might be off a tad, but hey, this is a series of gratuitous visual recordings of five attractive ladies, so chill and enjoy the eye-candy.
So have you folks seen SUCKER PUNCH yet? Regardless, here are a selection of video-featurettes showcasing each individual character from the movie, which you can essentially piece together IF you have seen the movie. If not? No worries, these are "story-free" moving visuals which you can fawn over and not need to cramp your brains worrying about the story. Yes, consider this a SPOILER WARNING of scenes to come.
Four numbers of THOR TV Spots released the day after WonderCon weekend in San Francisco (movies be taking over conventions more than SDCC it seems, and we be lapping them all up!) - each featuring edited scenes we have been seen before, and a coupla "surprises" (but none too drastic), and all featuring similar scenes from circumstances we have seen before. If it sounds like I am being a "whiney-wet-rag", then yeah, perhaps I am! I just want to see HAWKEYE in his costume, as seen in his cameo scene dammit ~ and I am not even a fan of the character! (Am such a sucker for hype, I disgust even myself... LOL).
But seeing one older spot on television (besides my smallassed laptop monitor) send me sum kinda goosepimples up and down my spine (moreso than the online variations), so perhaps that is a good thing? FORSOOTH!
I remember INCEPTION to be an absolute brain-screw, as I sat in the darkened cinema hall, and walking out with my skull bashed in with multiple pins. I remember missing the first 10 minutes of the film (which I am convinced that the beginning provides the answer to the end). And I remember the film provided an abundant amount of discussions between myself and my sister (who watched it with me), while we were having dinner afters (I no longer remember what we ate). The movie had made me think hard about what was real and what was make believe. And yes, predictably, the ending scene with the spinning top, provided loads of argument.
I remember all that and nothing else. Except for an intense Leonardo DiCaprio (who was more intense in Blood Diamond) and perhaps was more impressed by the stoic-nicity of Joseph Gordon-Levitt than anyone ever gave him credit for (I was a new fan after this flick). Other existed because they were scripted for (yes, even Ellen Page), and frankly that was all I had remembered, from Inception.
Inception screws with your brains and makes you question your reasoning abilities, but leaves not a mark, beyond a memory that i was a swell movie. And that's about it really. Will there be another movie like Inception? Perhaps. Perhaps there will be pretenders to the thrown. Will Inception be the celluloid legend that many claim to be? That is a question you know my answer for. What about YOU?
A while back, at the height of Inception's release and furor, much was made about it's story parallel to Satoshi Kon's earlier released animation PAPRIKA (for which I one the DVD of, an excellent film btw). And while I stand neither for or against whomever wrote what first, the mere fact that this concept is not original in the first place, stays with me regardless of the longevity of wither films. Brain-screws have been around since the days of Twilight Zone, and multiple-universed comicbook stories with faintly veiled excuses to crossover each comicbook companies. Satoshi had it assessable via animation (somewhat), while Nolan kept it obscure enough to fcuk with your thought-spaces.
For me, I remember Paprika moreso than Inception. But perhaps tis because I have watched Paprika twice (both on DVD) and do not own Inception on DVD, and do not plan to. Frankly, there are other more films that linger still in my memory-scape, and sadly Inception - as excellent as it seemed to be then - ironically was not that memorable enough for me.
But perhaps my viewing of "making-of" diluted what I had felt for the film itself (the CG-element of the twins were such a surprise tho), as well the expectations heaped upon it by many a viewers, left me expecting more than what I saw, much more.
"On a dark and stormy night, as the rain threatens to pelt mother earth with it's devious droplets, i shiver underneath a torn umbrella alongside the curbed urban belly of…" no wait! … "it was a sunny afternoon, clouds dancing against the blue skies, and birds chirping away a melody echoing at the back of my mindscape…" no, wait! …. "As I sat alone in my grotto of conundrums, I clicked away furiously on my laptop, memories of yesteryears still lingering…" no, WAIT! … aaaahh I just like to yak on about movies, is all :)
I remember INCEPTION to be an absolute brain-screw, as I sat in the darkened cinema hall, and walking out with my skull bashed in with multiple pins. I remember missing the first 10 minutes of the film (which I am convinced that the beginning provides the answer to the end). And I remember the film provided an abundant amount of discussions between myself and my sister (who watched it with me), while we were having dinner afters (I no longer remember what we ate). The movie had made me think hard about what was real and what was make believe. And yes, predictably, the ending scene with the spinning top, provided loads of argument.
