Category Archives: Cinema

Cinema, Technology

An Askew View Thinks Outside the Box

Ok, all the crude, vomitous humor and abhorrent language aside, director Kevin Smith usually thinks way outside the box. Smith has done some pretty unlikly things during his time in the spotlight. He has made movies on a shoestring budget yet he has still been able to attract big audiences. He has made movies that speak directly to his fanbase, The Viewaskeniverse, and yet many of his films have had mass appeal. Smith works on and off for those in the comic book industry helping to reinvent or revive old franchises such as the Green Arrow and Daredevil (DC and Marvel respectively).

Now Smith, hoping to create synergy between his fans, technology, and geekdom, is embarking on a new stunt that many Hollywood directors could learn from.

In an ingenious new ploy, (Smith) has recorded a commentary for “Clerks II” that will be available for free download on iTunes, encouraging viewers to take their iPods to the theater for a second viewing.


I would like to see this happening alot more. I think that video podcast has helped spread word of mouth and excitement about upcoming films. Disney/Pixar used them for “Cars” and Paramount for “Nacho Libre.” Director Podmentary could catch on as well. If there’s more money to be made…

Via
New York Times (Subsription only)

Cinema

A Legacy Has Been Saved From Greedy Oportunists

The best thing about the new Disney-Pixar partnership isn’t the creative synergy that can occur. It isn’t the amazing story telling & visual prowess that will dazzle movie goers for years to come and it isn’t even the money to be made.

No, the best thing about the Disney-Pixar parnership is this: Pixar chief asserts his authority over Disney by axing ‘Toy Story 3’.

John Lasseter, the creative chief of Pixar Animation Studios, has wasted no time asserting who is boss after Pixar’s takeover by Walt Disney – by stopping production of Toy Story 3, the controversial sequel to the two wildly successful animated films.

Mr Lasseter was deeply opposed to the idea but Disney went ahead, as it owns the intellectual property, putting 100 scriptwriters, animators and other creative staff to work on Toy Story 3 at its own Walt Disney Studios animation complex in Burbank, California.

“Toy Story 3” we hardly knew you. Now Disney can redirect most of its creative team back to churning out movies about theme park rides. I am dying for the white-knuckle-thrill-a-minute-feature-length movie adaptation of Big Thunder Mountain coming out in the Spring 2007.

Cinema, Popular Culture

Case In Point

3 Comments

On Friday, the much anticipated Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe opens in theaters nationwide. I am pumped! Last week, I posted a recently uncovered letter that C.S. Lewis had written concerning his thoughts on a live-action movie based on his beloved stories. Lewis told a then BBC producer that he would be oppossed to a live-action TV version. Of course, there was no such thing as CGI back in 1959. The illusion and mystery of Narnia would have been lost on the small screen back then. Today that is not the case. I am quite postitive, based on what I have seen and heard about this production, that Lewis would be delighted with this adaptation. We shall see on Friday.

While I was perusing the internet this weekend, I came across a rather humorous picture. I decided to again post the letter that Lewis had written to the BBC concerning a live-action Chronicles and place a link to the picture as an example of what Lewis may have been oppossed to. I don’t think that Disney/Walden Media have anything to worry about. Enjoy.

Dear Sieveking,
(Why do you ‘Dr’ me? Had we not dropped the honorifics?) As things worked out, I wasn’t free to hear a single instalment of our serial [The Magician’s Nephew] except the first. What I did hear, I approved. I shd. be glad for the series to be given abroad. But I am absolutely opposed – adamant isn’t in it! – to a TV version. Anthropomorphic animals, when taken out of narrative into actual visibility, always turn into buffoonery or nightmare. At least, with photography. Cartoons (if only Disney did not combine so much vulgarity with his genius!) wld. be another matter. A human, pantomime, Aslan wld. be to me blasphemy.

All the best,
yours
C. S. Lewis