Tag Archives: Kung Fu Panda 2

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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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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