Tag Archives: Angelina Jolie

MOV055: “Ska-Doosh”

The boys kick off their Pride Month celebration with a review of “BearCity”, then talk about their favorite gay-themed movies. In the present, they check out “Kung Fu Panda 2” and then head to the future to discuss Hugh Jackman’s upcoming flick, “Real Steel” or as we call it – Rock Em Sock Em Robots: The Movie. All this and news about LOTR, Spider Man, James Bond…and the fate of 3D at the movies? Join us in this 55th reel of COL Movies!

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News:

  • Its Lord of the Rings the return of the… Elf? Everyones favorite elf is back!
  • Peter Jackson confirms on facebook, Orlando Bloom confirmed for “The Hobbit” “Ten years ago, Orlando Bloom created an iconic character with his portrayal of Legolas. I’m excited to announce today that we’ll be revisiting Middle Earth with him once more. I’m thrilled to be working with Orlando again. Funny thing is, I look older—and he doesn’t! I guess that’s why he makes such a wonderful elf.”
  • The Amazing Spider-Man Swings into Comic-Con
  • Columbia Pictures will be presenting the film at San Diego Comic-Con 2011
  • Contest will pick one fan to be the “Face of the fan” and send them on an all expense paid trip to Comic-Con
  • To enter fans need to submit a 60 second video of why they believe they should be the “Face of the Fan’s” Correspondent
  • James Bond finally has a date!
  • Officers of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., today announced that the 23rd James Bond film will commence production in late 2011 for a worldwide release on November 9, 2012. The UK and Ireland will be getting the movie two weeks earlier, on October 26.
  • Is the 3D fad finally dying?
  • The latest “Pirates of the Caribbean” installment disappointed with only 47 percent of tickets from its $90.2 million weekend booty coming from 3-D purchases. So-called “event films” tend to do more than 60 percent of their business in 3-D.
  • 3-D tickets accounted for only 45 percent of Memorial Day weekend release “Kung Fu Panda 2.” Meanwhile, ” The Hangover Part II ,” which avoided the 3-D fad, opened to a staggering $103.4 million last weekend
  • Still, international audiences continue to embrace 3-D films, where they remain a novelty. “3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy” recently opened to $360,000 on its first day in Hong Kong, vaulting it past fellow 3-D picture “Avatar” to claim the record for the biggest single-day gross in film history there.

The Past: BearCity (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes: 57% Fresh; 47% Audience

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Director: Douglas Langway

Starring: Joe Conti, Gerald McCullouch, Brian Keane, Stephen Guarino, Alix Di Dio, Gregory Gunter, James Martinez

Trivia:

  • On June 11, 2010, world premiere at NEWFEST to a sold out, standing room only crowd.
  • BearCity wins the coveted Los Angeles Outfest 2010 Grand Jury awards for Outstanding Screenwriting (Director/Co-Writer Doug Langway, Co-Writer Lawrence Ferber) and Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film (Stephen Guarino).
  • BearCity wins the Audience Award for Best Feature at the 20th Skeive Filmer / Oslo Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
  • BearCity wins the Jury Prize for Best Feature Film (Fiction) at the 6th Andalucía (Spain) International Festival of Gay & Lesbian Cinema.
  • BearCity wins the Jury Award for Best Men’s Film at the 2010 Long Island Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
  • BearCity wins the Jury Award for Best Film at the 2Jury Award for Best Feature Film 2011 Stella Artois QFest St. Louis LGBTQ Film Festival.
  • BearCity wins Best Bear Video from The Complete Bear’s Best Of The Bears 2010

Talking Points:

  • How representing of the Bear community?
  • BearCity 2 in production – Expected Spring 2012 according to http://www.bearcitythemovie.com

What We’ve Learned:

  • Vowels just don’t cut it for the gay generation
  • You don’t get any attention with clothes that fit.
  • The director has the ecstasy

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: I really enjoy this movie, it’s sweet, and charming. Great? No, but still an enjoyable movie to me.
Ray: While I found some of it entertaining, most felt forced and gimmicky… like we were a few deleted scenes away from a bear porn.
Steve: It’s OK. A snapshot, but not necessarily truth for everyone. Appreciate that it shows there are good and bad sides to the community…you have to make the most of whatever ‘“family” you choose.

Intermission: Best GLBT Movies

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Jeff’s Gay Pride Month Movie Challenge

The Present: Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
Rotten Tomatoes: 80% Rotten; 87% Audience

Director: Jennifer Yuh

Starring: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, Michelle Yoeh

Trivia:

  • Kung Fu Panda 2 was screened at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival in early May before its commercial release.
  • In Kung Fu Panda 2, the production crew’s shown increased familiarity with Chinese culture. In 2008, after the release of Kung Fu Panda, Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and other Dreamworks members visited the city of Chengdu, which is considered as the “panda hometown.”
  • In addition to seeing real pandas, crew members learned about the local culture. Katzenberg has stated that Kung Fu Panda 2 incorporates many elements of Chengdu in the film.
  • The film’s landscape and architecture also found inspiration from those found at Mount Qingcheng, a renowned Taoist mountain.
  • Some critics noted the influences of executive producer Guillermo del Toro’s works in the film’s darker themes, and Jim Tudor of TwitchFilm.net describes that with del Toro on board, the film “effectively probes deeper into Po’s emerging hero’s journey and personal issues, evoking a truly fulfilling Campbellian archetype, but also remains fully viable as mainstream entertainment suitable for all ages.”

Talking Points:

  • Quality inconsistency, Great to Amazing and back.
  • Jack Black – another Will Ferrell?
  • Adoption theme?
  • 3D
  • Favorite scene?
  • Video Game?

What We Learned:

  • If you mess with the wolf, you get the fangs

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: I Loved it, minor point of goofiness timing I didn’t like but did not take away from my enjoyment of the movie.
Ray: Think I liked this one more than the first.. loved the use of experimental animation
Steve: I like it better than the first movie. I thought the 3D was great! Liked the adoption theme.

The Future: Real Steel

Director: Shawn Levy

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly, Kevin Durand

Trivia:

  • Based on the 1956 short story “Steel” by Richard Matheson.
  • In the short story, Matheson illustrates a cold-feeling dystopia, but Levy chose to set the film in state fairs and other “old-fashioned” Americana settings that would exude nostalgia and create a warmer tone for the film’s father-son story.
  • Filmmakers built 19 animatronic robots to feature in scenes with human actors. For scenes when the robots brawl, motion capture technology was used. Boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard was an adviser for these scenes.
  • Filming began in June 2010, taking place primarily in Michigan. Locations include those around Detroit and across the state.
  • While the film features boxing robots, Levy said he wanted to show in the trailer “the father-son drama, the emotion, the kind of rousing sports movie, the Americana of it”. He said, “We are very much the robo-boxing movie, but that’s one piece of a broader spectrum.”
  • Real Steel was initially scheduled to be released on November 18, 2011, but it was moved earlier to October 7, 2011 to avoid competition with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.
  • An episode of The Twilight Zone called “Steel” is also based on Richard Matheson’s short story.

Talking Points:

  • Rock’em Sock’em Robots: The Movie

Summary:

A future-set story where robot boxing is a popular sport and centered on a struggling promoter (Jackman) who thinks he’s found a champion in a discarded robot. During his hopeful rise to the top, he also discovers he has an 11-year-old son who wants to know his father

Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff: Rock’em Sock’em Robots: The Movie and I LOVE IT! Not expecting a great movie though.
Ray: When i saw the first trailer.. i was not impressed, but this one actually has me interested.
Steve: Yawn…bite off of Rudy and Transformers. Oh Hugh, what are you doing?

Coming Attractions

The Past
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The Present

The Future

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MOV052: “ZeroCool”

In this 52nd Reel, the boys go back in time to revisit “Hackers”. Does it still hold up today? As for what’s currently in the theater, they tackle “Thor” (and they like it! 😉 – haha!). Does it hold up to the plethora of comic book movies that are out there and coming up? Then, speaking of comic book movies, the boys check out the multitude of trailers for “X-men: First Class”. Do any of them actually excite the guys? All this and movie news including updates on the plot of “Expendables 2”, David Hasselhoff in he next “Piranha” movie, “Amityville Horror” goes 3-D, and “Dinosaurs vs. Aliens”? Pikachu…we choose you!!

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News:

The Past: Hackers (1995)

Rotten Tomatoes: 32% Rotten; 66% Audience

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Director: Iain Softly

Starring: Jonny Lee Miller, Matthew Lillard,Lawrance Mason, Angelina Jolie, Fisher Stevens

Trivia:

  • The high school scenes were filmed at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, one of a few elite, exclusive high schools for students gifted in math, science and computers. Real school seniors were extras in many scenes. In the real school, the pool is on the first floor.
  • The computer they break into is a fictional mainframe computer called a “Gibson” – a homage to cyberpunk author William Gibson.
  • The character name “Emmanuel Goldstein” is taken from George Orwell’s novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. It is also used as a pseudonym by Emmanuel Goldstein aka Eric Corley, who publishes the magazine “2600, The Hacker Quarterly”. Corley was an uncredited consultant for this film.
  • The “Hacker Manifesto” read by Agent Bob was actually written by a hacker of great renown in the 1980s named Loyd Blankenship, who went by the name of The Mentor. It was published in PHRACK magazine, issue 07, file 03 in 1986.
  • Eugene Belford uses the pseudonym Babbage at the end of the film. Charles Babbage was the inventor of an early form of the computer.
  • Jonny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie were married shortly after the making of the film, and then were divorced four years later.
  • Around the movie’s release, the official website was modified by its webmasters to appear that it had been “hacked into,” and digital graffiti and instructions to “see ‘The Net’ instead” was added to the site’s graphics.
  • All of the hacker handles proposed by the Joey were actual handles already used by real hackers.
  • The game being played in the arcade is a high-quality prototype of the Playstation game “Wipeout” by Psygnosis. It is done on a high-end SGI server and allowed the development team to try out tracks and gameplay, before porting it to the Playstation. As a result, there are features and graphics in the movie that do not exist in the actual game, including the “high score smashing” sequence.
  • The “hacking”-sequences – the scenes where you see the “inside” of a computer – are mostly motion-controlled models, because director Iain Softley thought that actual computer graphics would look too artificial.
  • The poster for this movie shows Acid Burn and Crash Override with various words and ASCII symbols transposed on their faces. Amongst the words are: – 1. Names of hackers in the movie, including Lord Nikon, Acid Burn, and Crash Override – 2. Some of the commonly-used passwords, according to Plague, such as God, Sex, Love, and Secret – 3. Phreak – a “phone freak” – a hacker who concentrates their knowledge on telephone systems. (Phantom Phreak was the main Phreaker in the hacker group)
  • Cyberdelia was built from scratch in an abandoned indoor swimming pool on the outskirts of London, with the center of the club in the depths of what was the pool. Producer Ralph Winter notes, “We never knew why, but the pool was designated an historic landmark, so great care had to be taken not to damage anything and to return it to its original state.”
  • The part of Kate “Acid Burn” Libby was originally offered to Katherine Heigl, but due to prior commitments to Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995) had to turn it down. The director auditioned Hilary Swank, Heather Graham and Liv Tyler for the role which ultimately went to Angelina Jolie.
  • At the beginning of the movie when Dade phones the security desk of the television station he is hacking in to he gives the name of Eddie Vedder, the singer of the rock band Pearl Jam.
  • The distinctive ring Kate Libby wears is the “Original Armour Ring” by jewelry designer Marche’ Noir.
  • The film’s writer, director, and some cast members attended the New York City 2600 meeting, a monthly hangout of the local hacker community, to observe and talk with real-life hackers.

Talking Points:

  • The competition

What We’ve Learned:

  • God gave men brains larger than dogs so they wouldn’t hump women’s legs at cocktail parties
  • Spandex is privilege not a right.
  • You wanna be elite you gotta pull a righteous hack
  • Hacking is more than a crime, its a survival trait
  • It’s in that place where I put that thing that time
  • There is no right and wrong, only fun and boring
  • Hackers used a lot of hard copy back in 1995.
  • HACK THE PLANET.

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: Totally unrealistic nerdy film. I adore it. Way dated though.
Ray: The Movie that made it “Cool” to be a computer nerd…. love it, although the tech aspect of this movie really dates it
Steve: Dated, but not as cool as other early computer-based movies like WarGames. To be honest, is early EMO to me. Not my fav, but others may like.

Intermission: Top 5 Computer Themed Films

  1. Tron
  2. WarGames
  3. The Matrix
  4. 2001: A Space Odessey
  5. Hackers

The Present: Thor
Rotten Tomatoes: 78% Fresh; 83% Audience

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Stellen Skarsgarrd

Trivia:

  • Comic writer Stan Lee who created Thor in 1962, appears as the truck driver who attempts to tow Mjolnir out of the crater it landed in… and fails miserably.
  • This is Anthony Hopkins’s first comic book film. He was previously offered the role of Alfred in Batman Begins (2005).
  • The Eye of Agamotto, a very powerful magical amulet, can be seen in Odin’s treasure room. This was a weapon wielded by a Marvel hero, Doctor Strange the Sorcerer Supreme.
  • According to producer Kevin Feige, the Bifrost bridge is the films’s most interesting set: “In the comics, it’s literally a rainbow that extends out from Asgard and pops down on Earth. We’re not necessarily doing that; we’re not having the big hard solid lines of colors. We’re saying it’s some sort of energy, almost a solid quartz bridge that as the light catches it and flows through it, you get some of that rainbow-esque quality to it.”
  • Anthony Hopkins signed on as Odin despite never reading a “Thor” comic or knowing anything about the Thor mythology. It was the concept of the father and son relationship that intrigued him about the role.
  • To prepare for his role as Loki, Tom Hiddleston trained in the Brazilian martial art of capoeira.
  • Thor holds a drawing of a crossroads with nine orbs in it. This is his perception and representation of Yggdrasil, in Norse mythology a great tree around which the nine worlds are tethered, making up the universe.
  • A model of the Infinity Gauntlet, an all powerful weapon capable of controlling aspects of reality (soul, time, space, power & mind) in the “Marvel Comics” universe, was constructed for this film. The model is made from bronze and copper (with jewels made from resin) and weighs 60 pounds. It was built to be operational so that animatronics could be built on it.

Talking Points:

  • There was very little exposition for a origin story film
  • Story – what you expected?
  • Natalie Portman…good or bad?
  • Loki looks like Johnny Weir
  • Chris Hemsworth..hottie or nottie?

What We Learned:

  • What you need is a rainbow bridge
  • I need sustenance!
  • A pet store is not the place to get a horse

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: I really liked it, not the best Marvel movie but not bad at all.
Ray: Tolerable, one of the weaker marvel movies as far as story goes. Don’t waste your money on 3D. Can we have the Avengers already?
Steve: Enjoyed it…was much more pleased than I thought I would be going in. Definitely worth a look…3D unnecessary.

The Future: X-Men: First Class

Director: Chris Miller

Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Kevin Bacon, Lucas Till, Zoë Kravitz, Jason Flemyng, Edi Fathegi

Trivia:

  • Bryan Singer, who directed X-Men (2000) and X2 (2003), was approached to direct this film in October 2009, but in March 2010 declined due to his commitment to Jack the Giant Killer (2012) and was replaced with Matthew Vaughn in May 2010. Singer however stayed on as producer.
  • Taylor Lautner was considered to play Hank McCoy (aka Beast) but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Nicholas Hoult was later cast.
  • The uniforms the X-Men wear are colored blue and yellow, in homage to the original blue/yellow suits the X-Men wore in the comics from 1963 (their debut) to 2001 (when X-Men (2000) inspired a change to black leather).
  • Filming was originally to take place on Tybee Island, but a producer browsing on the online map program Google Earth found Jekyll Island to be a more suitable location.
  • Sirs Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were considered to appear in the film as the elder Professor X and Magneto, but the idea was rejected as the filmmakers wanted to start a new X-Men trilogy, without any connection to the previous films.
  • A telepathic battle between Professor X and Emma Frost was going to be in the film, but upon the release of Inception (2010) the concept was scrapped.
  • This is the first X-Film without Wolverine or Cyclops.
  • Matthew Vaughn instructed the cast to do away with all accents in their performances. James McAvoy had planned to copy Patrick Stewart’s voice (since McAvoy was going to play a younger version of Stewart’s Xavier), but Vaughn quashed it; Vaughn also told Rose Byrne that Moira MacTaggart would not have her trademark Scottish accent in the film (to the Scottish McAvoy’s mild disappointment).

Talking Points:

  • How many versions of this trailer are there?
  • Trailer at least acknowledges the previous films, which I’m surprised at.

Summary:

Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-MEN.

Trailer:

TRAILER #1:

TRAILER #2:

TRAILER #3: International

Excitement:
Jeff: Stoked, but I’m easily stoked when it comes to comic book movies.
Ray: I am skeptical.. X3 really left a bad taste in mouth.. hopefully by going back to the past they can fix what they mucked up in the future.
Steve: Seems like it’s something I’ll like…origins of several characters versus a single movie on one. I’m down for it!

Coming Attractions

The Past
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The Present

The Future

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MOV047: “You’re A Sexist, Egotistical, Lying, Hypocritical Bigot.”

This week we check out the classic Nine To Five, the present Jake Gyllenhaal film Source Code, and look the Kung Fu Panda 2 trailer. This plus movie news all in this reel of COL Movies.

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News:

The Past: Nine to Five (1980)
Rotten Tomatoes: 88% Fresh, 69% Audience

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Director: Colin Higgins

Starring: Jane Fonda, Lilly Tomlin, Dolly Parton, Dabney Coleman

Trivia:

  • Dolly Parton’s first film
  • The TWA flight shown taking Roz to the Aspen Language Center was used in reality on the ill-fated TWA 800, which exploded off of Long Island, NY
  • Violets Fantasy Characters were to reference Snow White, and Robin Hood
  • A VHS Release was planned the same day as the Theatrical release, but was pushed back 3 months due to complaints from Theater owners.

Talking Points:

  • What 3 women would you cast if this movie was made today.

What We’ve Learned:

  • Xerox Machines can be operated by morons
  • Always check for a skull and crossbones when making your bosses coffee
  • Smoking in a hospital is always acceptable
  • Doctors don’t talk to candy stripers… piss off
  • Corpse Stealing, Kidnapping, Hostage Taking, Trespassing, Signature Forging, Credit Card Stealing are all OK as long as you get your boss promoted.

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: It’s a wonderful movie. Had a bunch of parts where I wanted to run and hide but in this case, it’s all good parts of the movie. I think I need this for my collection.
Ray: Another movie I watched over and over in my childhood…
Steve: One I hadn’t watched in a long time. Definitely smiled and reminds me of the female comedies of the 80s like Outrageous Fortune, Big Business, and similar.

The Present: Source Code
Rotten Tomatoes: 90% Fresh, 87% Audience

Director: Duncan Jones

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright

Trivia:

  • The Voice of Colter’s father on the phone was none other than Scott Bakula, from TV’s “Quantam Leap” and he started off his conversation by saying “Oh Boy” his catch phrase from the show.
  • Colter Keeps saying “Everything is going to be ok” a line he also spoke in the Alternate Reality mindbender “Donnie Darko”

Talking Points:

  • Not that you guys would notice, but I kept getting distracted by the things in Chicago that were “not quite right”
  • Quantum Leap on a Train?
  • The Doctor’s character…annoying?

What We Learned:

  • Chicago has WAY fancy commuter rail lines with huge bathrooms!

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: It’s a nice way of doing the Groundhog’s Day thing. Everything was well put together and enjoyable, just not great.
Ray: Although a bit predictable in certain respects.. it was an entertaining film.
Steve: It’s alright. Entertaining. Jake acted well.

The Future: Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom

Starring: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Lucy Liu, Dustin Hoffman, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Gary Oldman

Trivia:

  • The teaser trailer was shown with both 2D and 3D versions of the films Megamind, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Tangled, and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. The trailer was then released on the Internet on November 7, 2010. Three posters have been released so far.
  • The trailer was shown numerous times during the commercial breaks of the 2011 Kids Choice Awards.
  • On December 30, 2010, DreamWorks released a fifteen second TV spot for the film.
  • On February 4th, 2011, a thirty second TV spot was released on the internet, and was aired during Super Bowl XLV, on February 6th, 2011.
  • A full length theatrical trailer was shown in front of screenings of Rango and Hop. This was later uploaded on DreamWorks Animation’s YouTube page.

Talking Points:

  • Jack Black is like Will Ferrell

Summary:

Po (Jack Black), now a kung fu master, is fighting to protect the Valley of Peace alongside with Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and the Furious Five; Monkey (Jackie Chan), Crane (David Cross), Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Viper (Lucy Liu), and Mantis (Seth Rogen), when a new evil, the emperor albino peacock Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), emerges to take over China with a weapon so powerful, it threatens the existence of kung fu itself. Po sets out with the Furious Five to vanquish this threat, but must first confront his own mysterious past in order to find the strength to succeed

Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff: Skadoosh!
Ray: Yes Yes Yes!
Steve: Loved the first movie…so I’m going to take the chance on this one, despite Jack Black.

Coming Attractions

The Past
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The Present

The Future

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MOV012: “Keep Pumpin’, Blowin'”

The Pirate Movie, Salt, Paranormal Activity 2, and a slow news week.

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News:

The Past: The Pirate Movie

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Director: Ken Annakin

Staring: Kristy McNichol, Christopher Atkins, Ted Hamilton, Bill Kerr

Trivia:

  • This movie is one of few filmed adaptations of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates Of Penzance musical not to be known by that title, The Pirates Of Penzance. Others include The Parson’s Pirates (2004) and Die Piraten (1968).
  • This musical combines songs from the original stage production with new original songs written specially for this movie
  • This picture is one of two big movie adaptations of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates Of Penzance that were released in 1982/1983. This movie was first theatrically released in the USA only about six months before The Pirates of Penzance (1983).
  • This picture was filmed in Australia. After this movie, Christopher Atkins returned to Australia to appear in Exchange Lifeguards (aka Wet and Wild Summer! (1992) and Signal One (1994).
  • The movie’s main movie poster shows Christopher Atkins and Kristy McNichol wrapped-up together in a large black sack marked with the traditional pirates skull and crossbones emblem. Atkins is clearly not wearing a top and there is a suggestion that McNichol is completely topless behind the black sack, this imagery evoking the nudity and scant clothing of The Blue Lagoon (1980), Atkins’ earlier box-office hit movie he appeared in with Brooke Shields.
  • According to TV Guide, “The producers shot the film in a hurry in an attempt to beat the film version of Joseph Papp’s hit Broadway staging of the operetta to the screen.” They were successful, this movie was released in the USA about six months before The Pirates of Penzance (1983).
  • Reportedly, after this movie was released, Kristy McNichol and Christopher Atkins were approached by record companies regarding individual recording contracts.
  • The production required special permission for the filming of scenes approaching the cliff as this location was situated on sacred Aboriginal lands.
  • Christopher Atkins’ hair was permed for this movie. His hair is naturally straight.
  • Members of the cast extensively trained on a rope course for this movie.
  • The sword fighting scenes took several months of training and rehearsals.
  • Garry McDonald plays two characters in this movie, the Sergeant of Police and the Inspector. The Sergeant character is from the The Pirates Of Penzance stage musical by Gilbert and Sullivan; his Inspector character was not so much a spoof or parody of Inspector Clouseau but virtually a mimic of Peter Sellers’ characterization of Clouseau.

Talking Points:

  • Early 80s gay reference – to gay marriage!

What We’ve Learned:

  • Cod pieces must be adorned with sparkle.
  • Being born on February 29th on a leap year sucks.
  • I’m the very model of a modern Major General.

Trailer:

The Pirate Movie – When I Grow Up Video

Recommendations:

Jeff: /cry I enjoyed this movie. Why? Oh why? Kill me!
Ray: Giggle inducing, but ultimately a pretty bad movie i probably would have loved it in 1982.
Steve: Just good ole campy fun. Don’t take things seriously and enjoy it!

The Present: Salt

Director: Phillip Noyce

Staring: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski

Trivia:

  • The movie was originally scripted with a male lead and Tom Cruise was approached to play the title character. Ultimately, he backed out and the script was rewritten with a female lead and Angelina Jolie took the role.
  • On a budget of $130 million ($110 million after tax credits), principal photography took place mostly on location in New York and Washington, DC from March to June 2009, while re-shoots were done in December 2009.
  • Filming for a car chase sequence took place in Albany on Water Street near the Interstate 787 ramp between April and May.
  • Reportedly, Angelina Jolie did most of her own stunts.
  • On May 29, 2009, filming was temporarily halted after Jolie suffered a minor head injury during filming an action scene. She was taken to hospital as a “precautionary measure”; she was released on the same day with no serious injuries and filming was resumed.
  • It’s never stated explicitly beyond “present day,” but the main action in this film takes place “in the near future” after the movie’s release (summer of 2010). Evidence: In a scene shortly before the vice president’s funeral, a long shot of a TV newscast shows his date of death as 2011.
  • Shipped to theaters under the name “Cover-up”.
  • Terry George, Michael Mann and Peter Berg all came close to directing at one point or another.

Talking Points:

  • Interesting to think this was written for a male lead, but eventually went to a female lead. What does this say about Hollywood these days?
  • Suprised that they identified her as a spy so early in the movie.
  • Movie length – did it seem really short?

What We’ve Learned:

  • Am I a Russian spy?
  • You learn alot of things when you’re the wife to an arachnologist
  • Those Russians are crafty people.

Trailer:

Recommendations:

Jeff: This movie is a little cludgy in story telling but a worth see, might be fine of DVD but you won’t be wasting money seeing it in the theaters.
Ray: I found it enjoyable, but easy to figure out.
Steve: I loved it! Just sat back and went with it. Enjoyed the ride!

The Future: Paranormal Activity 2

Starring: Katie Featherston & Gabriel Liotta

Trivia:

  • On the official site for the film, after the trailer finishes playing, an image of the nursery room appears, and in the mirror, letters written in what seems to blood spell a message. After flipping the picture horizontally, the message says, “What is happening to Hunter?”
  • This film was announced shortly after Paranormal Activity (2007) was released into theaters.

Talking Points:

  • Is there room for a Paranormal Activity 2 after the first one?

Summary:
Plot details are hard to come by. Very limited information is available on what the movie is actually about to this point.

Trailer:

Excitement:

Jeff: Was this trailer suppose to interest me in the movie? It’s just not my cup of tea, I don’t think.
Ray: Never saw the first one, probably wont see this one
Steve: I liked the first one, so I’ll see it for sure! I just hope I don’t have Blair Witch 2 regret.

Coming Attractions

The Past: 12 Monkeys
The Present: Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
The Future: Howl

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