The cost of infinitely reproducible digital ‘goods’, transferred via the web, will approach zero.
In the States, McDonalds has dropped the price on very good, fairly recent movies to a dollar a night. And that’s for a DVD with real production and transportation costs.
Some of the big Hollywood production houses try to fight Redbox. A losing battle, I predict.
This Matt Damon Hollywood blockbuster The Green Zone brings Iraq back to public interest. It details blunders made and deliberate lies told by some in the U.S. Government.
Iraq’s been largely forgotten, I feel, as attention shifted to Afghanistan. This movie is timely.
… The film was inspired by the non-fiction 2006 book Imperial Life in the Emerald City by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran, which documented life in the Green Zone, Baghdad …
Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.
It’s a work of fiction, based loosely on fact. That seems a misrepresentation of history to many critics.
Personally I thought Green Zone a very compelling movie. Not Bourne compelling, but strong.
The only downside is that the plot hinges on WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction).
There are many reasons why the American led invasion of Iraq will go down in history as a mistake as colossal as Vietnam. Lies told about WMDs are one of the lesser reasons.
Ironically, I feel that George H. Bush did the right thing in Desert Storm (1991). An awesome, strategic air strike. And then withdrawal as quickly as possible.
If you threaten the USA, expect the bombers and drones over your capital city within weeks.
I wish George W. had done the same.
Nelson Mandela is a great hero of mine.
I can’t think of any actor better suited to play him in a Hollywood movie than Morgan Freeman. Nor any director better than Clint Eastwood.
Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.
Loved it.
Invictus is a 2009 biographical drama film based on events in South Africa before and during the 1995 Rugby World Cup, hosted in that country following the dismantling of apartheid. …
The story is based on the John Carlin book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation. Invictus was released in the United States on December 11, 2009.
Here’s the real Mandella with captain François Pienaar. (much bigger than actor Matt Damon, you notice)
Invictus – the poem
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.William Ernest Henley
hmmm …
How do I get to the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand next year …
Corrino is the 3rd in the prequel trilogy of books leading up to the original novel, Dune.
I enjoyed it so much that I’ll continue with the audio version of the master work, itself.
I see a huge future film epic something like Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, the acting and story more important than special effects.
Paramount, I expect, wants to make another Avatar 3D, but … you know, … in the desert.
Chase Palmer has been hired to write director Pierre Morel’s (Taken, From Paris With Love) version of Dune at Paramount. According to THR, Palmer will be working with Morel to stick close to the original source material, which is the 1965 classic book by Frank Herbert. As most of you know, David Lynch took a crack at Dune back in 1984 at Universal.
It’s important to note while Palmer has been hired to write the script, that doesn’t mean Dune is moving in front of the cameras anytime soon. With what has to be a huge budget and complicated source material to adapt, many have tried to get Dune off the ground with little success (Peter Berg). Just because a hot director wants to make the film, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. It’s going to take a lot of happy studio executives and some big name stars to get this thing rolling. More as we hear it.
I saw the movie 2012 and could not comprehend how and why talented people would conspire to make a move so terrible.
… Peter Travers of Rolling Stone criticized the film by comparing it to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: “Beware 2012, which works the dubious miracle of almost matching Transformers 2 for sheer, cynical, mind-numbing, time-wasting, money-draining, soul-sucking stupidity …
What’s the business model for making even John Cusack embarrassed for having joined the cast?
… It topped the international box office in its first weekend with $225 million … ultimately grossed over $769 million worldwide …
Crap like that sells. I guess.
Why do movies suck? Because you’re too old, probably. Author Edward Jay Epstein explains why in his fascinating new book The Hollywood Economist, and the future looks bleak for audiences over 25 or so years of age. …
full article – Noted journalist Jay Epstein explains why movies suck
Amazon – The Hollywood Economist: The Hidden Financial Reality Behind the Movies
What a shame.
Chris Jones’ magazine profile of Roger Ebert in Esquire seems to have triggered an onslaught of media coverage.
It has been nearly four years since Roger Ebert lost his lower jaw and his ability to speak. Now television’s most famous movie critic is rarely seen and never heard, but his words have never stopped.
check it out – Esquire
In fact, Roger may be more popular with more people than ever before. Follow him on twitter EBERTCHICAGO.
Finally saw the 3D version.
Overall AWESOME.
A breakthrough in technology that just might save the movie theatre business.
Dialogue was good. Acting, overall quite good. Special effects simply brilliant, a big leap forward from anything else I’ve ever seen.
I’d heard the plot was crappy and laughable. But Avatar has the same plot as every other Hollywood blockbuster:
Boy meets Girl … Evil challenges Good … BIG fight with plenty of gore and explosions … Good triumphs … James Bond and Girl walk hand-in-hand into sunset.
Are you telling me every Hollywood blockbuster has a plot line crappy and laughable?
Few would argue that Meryl Streep is not the greatest actress of all time.
The only other choice could be Katharine Hepburn.
While beautiful, I’d say Meryl was not at all the typical Hollywood starlet nor bombshell. Perhaps because she wasn’t simply eye candy, she had a chance to get some meaningful roles.
Cover girl at 60
Hollywood is no place for older women—or is it? In the cover profile of Vanity Fair’s upcoming January 2010 issue, Leslie Bennetts investigates the mystery of how, at age 60, Meryl Streep has become the industry’s “new box-office queen.”
The evidence is indisputable:
• Her 2008 screen musical Mamma Mia!, Bennetts writes,“has grossed $601 million worldwide, despite some cringe-worthy reviews (for the movie, not its much-lauded heroine).”
• The Devil Wears Prada, also from 2008, in which Streep played a demanding fashion-magazine editrix, has raked in $324 million around the world.
• And Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia, released earlier this year, has earned $121 million and counting.
To read more of the interview visit Vanity Fair.
I’ve been a huge fan since Out of Africa. In fact, as a young man I recall organizing my own Meryl film festival, renting one of her movies each night for a week over Christmas.
She was brilliant, recently, as Julia Child.
I’ve not seen It’s Complicated. But I love Alec Baldwin. And the trailer looks amusing.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The next question is … what male actor is greater?
I downloaded a rental movie online for the first time. It worked perfectly US$3.99.
The Bourne Trilogy is fantastic. Why aren’t more Hollywood movies put together like this?
Click PLAY or watch a trailer for the Bourne Ultimatum on YouTube.
Video tutorial … How to Rent Movies With iTunes.
Amazon Video on Demand for the same film was only $2.99, but could not be downloaded to Canada for some reason. Amazon is usually cheaper than iTunes, but doesn’t work quite as well.
I’ll rent more from iTunes.
