Tag: Cinema

Compass Golden?

Even more Comic-Con riches: A new, extended, walk-you-through-the-plot trailer for The Golden Compass is now online, and it looks…well, to be honest, it looks pretty darn good! Big ups to the art direction and casting people — Iorek (the polar bear), the daemons (particularly Miss Coulter’s twisted golden monkey), and the main players (Lyra, Lord Asriel, Mrs. Coulter, Lee Scoresby) all look note-perfect.

The Rite of Springfield.

I’m not about to give away the splendid opening sequence of The Simpsons Movie, suffice to say it includes a hilarious JFK homage and culminates with Homer (Dan Castellaneta) declaring something to the effect of “Why would anyone want to pay for a movie you can see for free on TV? Everyone in this theatre is a sucker!” Well, true, but this is The Simpsons, after all. And while this movie basically just plays out like a longer episode of the long-running, award-winning, much-beloved TV show, there are much worse ways to spend eleven bucks and 90 minutes of your time than an extended visit to Springfield. I caught this movie at a Friday afternoon matinee, and it basically felt like watching TV in a very big living room, with lots and lots of friends over, all enjoying themselves to the fullest. So, if you have any fondness at all for the Simpsons clan (and I presume that includes most of America, if not the western world), definitely check out the flick — You know what you’re getting, sure, but the getting is good from opening logo to closing credits. (And if you’re of the mind that the show has lost a step in recent seasons, have no fear — this is the primo, vintage stuff.)

At the start of The Simpsons, life continues in Springfield much as it has this past age — Homer is still an amiable oaf; Marge a long-suffering homemaker; Bart an anarchic terror; Lisa, an earnest intellectual; Maggie a silent enigma. But developments soon arise which threaten to shake the very foundations of this small-town American idyll: Grandpa Abe Simpson experiences what might have been a religious epiphany during Rev. Lovejoy’s Sunday service, Lisa realizes the nearby lake is lurching toward ecological catastrophe, Bart takes a second look at neighbor Ned Flanders as father material, and Homer adopts a pig. And, just as Lisa tries to warn the (rather disinterested) town — in her presentation, “An Irritating Truth” — about the dangers of overpolluting the local loch, Homer, in the throes of donut addiction, disposes of his new pet’s droppings in said lake, precipitating a Malcolm Gladwell-ish tipping point that immediately turns the waters black and causes the EPA (yes, this is the first movie since Ghostbusters where the EPA are the villains) to seal off the town in a large, unbreakable, transparent dome. As you might imagine, the town doesn’t take too kindly to their new total and utter isolation, and when a trail of (rather obvious) clues lead back to the culprit…well, let’s just say “D’oh!”

There’s more to the story from there, including definitive proof that this Springfield isn’t in Alaska. (In fact, it borders Ohio, Nevada, Maine, and Kentucky.) But all of it is in general keeping with what you’ve come to expect from the television show: jokes, witticisms, and sight gags delivered at rat-a-tat speed in sly, warm-hearted and/or vaguely misanthropic fashion. (My favorites include the aforementioned opener, a sight gag involving Moe’s bar and the Springfield church, “You’re the five people I’ll meet in Hell!”, Santa’s Little Helper’s subtitles, and most anything involving Kent Brockman, Hans Moleman, Capt. McAllister, Comic Book Guy, or Professor Frink.)

The devastatingly funny South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut upped the ante for the big screen by really reveling in the no-holds-barred vileness that’s often only alluded to on the show. But, other than a brief bit of full-frontal nudity, Otto with bong in hand, and Marge swearing (frankly, as out of character as it was for Mrs. Weasley in Hallows), The Simpsons Movie mostly just feels like TV writ large (There’s even a FOX commercial at one point.) But, again, to my mind, that’s not a bad thing — If it ain’t broke and all. I do kinda wish that the movie had been less family-centered and held more for Springfield’s large and splendid supporting cast to do. (For one, shouldn’t Mr. Burns have been behind the big plot? Where were Apu, Principal Skinner, and Groundskeeper Willie? And, as I said of the trailer, why isn’t McBain president? Then again, I’m a fanboy like that.) But, I’m guessing the show will be on again this Sunday (and then some) if I need a Simpsons fix, and, as Maggie notes in the credits, there’s always room for a sequel…

Man of Iron.

Also from Comic-Con, director Jon Favreau reveals an extensive (You-tubed) trailer for Iron Man. I’ve never been a huge fan of the comic, to be honest, but this looks much better than I anticipated (and the cast — Robert Downey, Jr., Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges — is solid regardless.)

Through a Lens Darkly.


“I shall remember this hour of peace: the strawberries, the bowl of milk, your faces in the dusk. Mikael asleep, Jof with his lute. I shall remember our words, and shall bear this memory between my hands as carefully as a bowl of fresh milk. And this will be a sign, and a great content.” Ingmar Bergman, 1918-2007.

You Must Be Joking.

“Bring your sense of humor, but don’t worry — we’ll supply the smile.” From the demented criminal mastermind who brought you IBelieveinHarveyDent.com…a Comic-con teaser for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight looks increasingly likely after another viral marketing site “by” the Joker — whysoserious.com — appears online. (The clock is ticking down to tomorrow’s Comic-Con presentation time, and the coordinates are in San Diego.) Update: A Kramervision version of the teaser has been Youtubed (also here), and it’s…a teaser, although you do at least get to hear Ledger’s suitably bizarre voice. (And, no, I’m not Rick-Rolling you.)

Update 2: Ok, the madness has begun. If you’re playing along at home, the number that appeared in the sky over San Diego was 800-395-9646. Call it, and you get a rather creepy message — apparently the Joker holding somebody at gunpoint — with the first password, “INSIDE JOKE.” Stage 2 — “Catherine, Annie, Elizabeth, and Mary Jane had someone I admire in common. Who was it?” Henry VIII was my first guess, but apparently the correct answer is “JACK THE RIPPER.” Stage 3 involves more legwork in San Diego…Update 3: Or does it? The Joker has left us a Morse-encoded laugh to ponder in the meantime. K, let’s see here…It’s “MOUNTEBANK.” (Some aspiring Bruce Wayne locked that one down well before I did…I was on “MOU.”) Stage 4 is an anagram of sorts — CPRAISMSEIOOFN — My summer a few years back spent trying to get actually decent on Scrabble, and the occasional cheating that ensued, would’ve helped me here, but somebody else figured it out first: “CRIME OF PASSION.” (Hint: As with the morse code, note the two large words.) Stage 5…well, the site’s locked up…

Update 4: While the Warner Brother server was flailing, balloons were passed out in San Diego with the next clue, “head games.” From there, it’s on to the Joker’s case file and another clue, apparently found in bathrooms at the next San Diego point, “74 BARS.” The Clown Prince of Crime then goes the US History route: “Who was the lawyer who got his client acquitted of murder by fatally shooting himself by accident in a courtroom in 1871?” (I’ll give you my own hint: Copperhead.) Answer: VALLANDIGHAM. The next checkpoint involved finding a particular brick in San Diego to ascertain the real name of “Dr. Death,” “GASLAMP DAN HASLAM.” Now, time for a game of cards… Note the actual still of Ledger and Gyllenhaal from the film (click on the word “knife,” or see below) — It looks like the Joker wears make-up in the Nolanverse, and didn’t fall into a vat of anything bothersome this time.) Also, note there are 26 cards at bottom, which should help you to discover the next keyword, “UNFORGIVABLE.”

(Phew, Holy detective work, Batman! This is hard!) Ok, next the San Diegans were to find a child on the street learning to defend himself (note also another police report) The accompanying surveillance site — and this picture — help in discovering the next (punny) clue, “BASEBALL BAT.” After that, we’re in anagram territory again…consider the missing letters and you might just end up with “LARCENY.” Alright, two more clues to go…the next one involves a “Gotham Girl Guide” and her cookies, so we’ll need the troops on the ground again for this one… Update 5: Ok, word has come back that the cookies password is “STARVE.” Then we’re sent to a half-lit LED on a bomb to ascertain the next clue, “REAPER.” (I was stumped by this one for awhile – all I’ll say is that green and red mean something, and the HA’s are there for a reason.) Finally, the San Diego fanfolk had to find a certain license plate reading “291759,” (on a limo near their start point) and, voila, the Joker covers his trail, and offers up a high-quality version of the teaser Youtubed above, before this all started. (Click on the dot.) Ok, a bit of a letdown at the end there, sure (As, one fanboy wit at AICN put it, “Be sure…to drink your…Ovaltine?”) Still, the journey was the reward (even if it ate up much of my Friday afternoon.) Clever, clever, Warner Bros. marketing gurus.

Maid Marion.

“Indiana Jones. I always knew some day you’d come walking back through my door. I never doubted that. Something made it inevitable.” Careful Cate…Dr. Jones’ original inamorata is back on the scene, and she’s got a mean right hook. Official word (and picture) comes down that Karen Allen is returning as Marion Ravenwood in Indy 4, which is definitely a welcome inclusion. Update: More pics, and a Comic-Con presentation rundown, here.

Vigilantes and Vulcans.


Also, some casting news that emerged on the eve of Comic-Con: First, the Watchmen cast is now official — yes, it’s finally happening — and it is as rumored (along with Jeffrey Dean Morgan of Grey’s Anatomy — um, ok — as The Comedian.) And, for the trekkies out there, it seems Matthew Quinto, a.k.a. Heroes Big Bad Sylar, has been cast as Starfleet Academy-era Spock for J.J. Abrams’ Trek movie. (Also, strange to discover from this article that Abrams and Greg Grunberg, the mind-reading cop of Heroes, are childhood best friends.) Now, Quinto is a good physical match…a highly logical choice. But Sam Rockwell as James T. Kirk? That’s genius. (Spock pic not official — I found it here.) Update: Another casting note: Tim Blake Nelson joins Louis Leterrier’s Incredible Hulk revamp as Dr. Samuel Sterns (a.k.a. The Leader), further swelling an already ridiculously tricked-out cast for a remake of a movie made less than five years ago. But, hey, gift horses and all that.

Fan Team Assemble! | World of Beowulfcraft.

The fanboy/fangirl nation is once again congregating in San Diego this weekend for Comic-Con, so expect a lot of news on that front over the coming days, including more word from Indy 4 (including probably the title) and maybe even (fingers crossed) a Dark Knight teaser. First up, tho’, the new trailer for Robert Zemeckis’ CGI-animated version of Beowulf, with Ray Winstone (CGI-buffed), Angelina Jolie (using her Alexander voice), Robin Wright Penn, and John Malkovich, poses this hypothetical quandary: Can they create an Anthony Hopkins out of pixels that’s hammier than the real guy? We’ll see. I gotta say, it looks a little “WoW cutscene” at times, but my curiosity is piqued.