Tag Archives: Wizard of Oz

MOV005: “I love it when a plan comes together.”

Ray, Steve and Jeff discuss the announcement of the next Transformers Villian, Voltron coming to the big screen, a Wizard of Oz Prequel, Bear City Premieres, Chuck & Buck, The A-Team, and the Inception Trailer.

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News:

The Past: Chuck & Buck (2000)

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Director: Miguel Arteta

Staring: Mike White (Buck) , Chris Weitz (Chuck)

Trivia:

  • Mike White who wrote and stared in chuck and buck got himself eaten by a zombie in zombieland by violating rule #2, Beware of Bathrooms.
  • Chris Weitz went on to direct and produce such *cough” masterpieces like New Moon and The Golden Compass.
  • When Chuck turns to the TV in his office and claims to have signed the band whose video is playing, the TV is showing They Might be Giants playing their song “Dr. Worm”.

Talking Points:

  • James Keller says the film explores “the hysterical fear of exposure some heterosexual males experience” when they have had sexual relations with another man
  • Have any of us had straightboy crushes or crushes on the guys we’ve been trying to figure out?

What We’ve Learned:

  • Mike White can be really creepy.
  • Stalkers are scary, don’t entertain people who you think may be displaying stalker-ish behaviors!.
  • You never know when you’re going to run into people from your past!! So be prepared!!
  • “I’ve got freedom of my heart, it’s a brand new start” will give you nightmares if you hear it too often in one sitting.
  • Oodalee oodalee oodalee FUCK YOU! MAKE IT STOP!
  • Never invite your straight best friend over so you can blow him when you’re starting to get over him.
  • And Jeff can never watch this movie, not because he doesn’t want to, but because he’d run screaming from the room for 99% of the movie.

Trailer:

  • Impossible to find an embeddable one, but there are 2 versions on IMDB. Link.

Recommendations:

Jeff: Can’t recommend it. Can’t not recommend it either.
Ray: If the Idea of a Gay Stalker version of Napoleon Dynamite doesn’t scare you..go see it!
Steve: Wouldn’t recommend it to just anyone.

The Present: The A-Team

Director: Joe Carnahan

Staring: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Sharlto Copley, Jessica Biel

Trivia:

  • Bruce Willis was considered for role of Hannibal Smith
  • Common, Ice Cube & The Game were all rumored for BA Baracus
  • John Singleton was the first director, but left when the film went into turnaround by the studio
  • Woody Harrelson & Ryan Reynolds were considered for Murdock
  • Amber Heard & Olga Kurylenko auditioned for role of Lt Sosa
  • Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson was originally scheduled to face his heated rival Rashad Evans at a December UFC event. Jackson’s decision to act in The A-Team movie led to a war of words between himself and Dana White, president of UFC. Due to the conflict, On September 22, 2009, Jackson wrote on his website that he is “done fighting”, and would officially retire from the sport. However, now that filming is complete, Jackson and Evans are fought on May 29, 2010. Evans won via unanimous decision over Jackson.

Talking Points:

  • CGI vs Staged Stunts – which is better??? Did anyone else think the end sequence felt very Indiana Jones & the Crystal Skull??
  • Is it a new trend to show teasers in the trailer that aren’t actually in the movie for the big budget flicks? (noticed this both for A Team – window washing scene BA didn’t whistle the A Tram theme & Iron Man 2 – Tony didn’t do the “You complete me” quote)

What We’ve Learned:

  • Not only can OLD helicopters do barrel rolls, they have bullet proof rotors
  • Its completely possible to fly a tank
  • BA Baracus is a very complicated character
  • Only good guys can shoot accurately
  • Never trust the government
  • If a complete stranger shoots you in the arm..its ok as long as your both ex Army Rangers

Trailer:

Recommendations:

Jeff: See it! See it NOW!
Ray: If you were a fan of the show or fan of over the top action flicks..see it..otherwise its wait for video.
Steve: Would recommend it to people who like action, shoot-em-ups & who liked the original TV show.

The Future: Inception

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Berenger & Michael Caine

Trivia:

  • Leonardo DiCaprio was the first actor to be cast in the film. He and Nolan spent months talking about the screenplay. In addition, Nolan took a long time re-writing the script in order “to make sure that the emotional journey of his character was… the driving force of the movie”.
  • During production, details of the film’s plot were kept secret. Christopher Nolan, who wrote the script, cryptically described it as a contemporary sci-fi action thriller “set within the architecture of the mind.”
  • Early on, James Franco was in talks with Christopher Nolan for a role. However, due to scheduling conflicts, he was unavailable to join the cast. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was ultimately cast in the role offered to Franco.
  • The labyrinthine style of the movie’s logo resembles the logo of Christopher Nolan’s production company Syncopy.
  • Evan Rachel Wood was Christopher Nolan’s first choice to play Ariadne, but she turned it down.
  • After Evan Rachel Wood turned down the role of Ariadne, Christopher Nolan considered casting Emily Blunt, Keira Knightley and Emma Roberts, but chose Ellen Page instead.
  • Christopher Nolan’s first film since his feature debut, Following (1998), that is a completely original work. All of his films between them are either remakes or based on comics, novels or short stories.
  • Tom Berenger’s first film to receive a theatrical release in the U.S. since Training Day (2001).
  • Leonardo DiCaprio was Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan’s only choice for the role of Cobb.
  • The name of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character is the same as that of the protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s first feature film, ‘Following’.
  • Nolan worked on the script for 9 to 10 years
  • Script is loosey based on movies like The Matrix, Dark City & Thirteenth Floor where the main priciples are that the world around you might not be real.
  • In the spring of 2010 a viral marketing campaign was started for the film. On June 2, 2010 a manual was sent out to various companies. The manual was filled with bizarre images and text all relating to Inception. No one was really able to make out what it all meant and how it ties into the film. As the month went on, more and more viral marketing began to surface including, posters, ads and strange websites all related to the film
  • Special effects expert Chris Corbould and his team built giant rotating hallways and a massive tilting nightclub for scenes where dream-sector physics become chaotic. One of the film’s actors, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, spent several weeks learning to fight in a corridor that spun like “a giant hamster wheel”. Nolan said of the device, “It was like some incredible torture device; we thrashed Joseph for weeks, but in the end we looked at the footage, and it looks unlike anything any of us has seen before. The rhythm of it is unique, and when you watch it, even if you know how it was done, it confuses your perceptions. It’s unsettling in a wonderful way”.

Talking Points:

  • Inception was first developed by Christopher Nolan, based on the notion of “exploring the idea of people sharing a dream space-entering a dream space and sharing a dream. That gives you the ability to access somebody’s subconscious. What would that be used and abused for?”
  • Furthermore, he thought “being able to extract information from somebody’s brain would be the obvious use of that because obviously any other system where it’s computers or physical media, whatever – things that exist outside the mind – they can all be stolen … up until this point, or up until this movie I should say, the idea that you could actually steal something from somebody’s head was impossible. So that, to me, seemed a fascinating abuse or misuse of that kind of technology”.
  • He had thought about these ideas on and off since he was 16 years old, intrigued by how he would wake up and then, while falling back into a lighter sleep, hold on to the awareness that he was dreaming, a lucid dream. He also became aware of the feeling that he could study the place and alter the events of the dream
  • He said, “I tried to work that idea of manipulation and management of a conscious dream being a skill that these people have. Really the script is based on those common, very basic experiences and concepts, and where can those take you? And the only outlandish idea that the film presents, really, is the existence of a technology that allows you to enter and share the same dream as someone else”.
  • Originally, he had written the film as a heist film but found that “traditionally [they] are very deliberately superficial in emotional terms”. Upon revisiting his script, he decided that basing it in that genre did not work because the story “relies so heavily on the idea of the interior state, the idea of dream and memory. I realized I needed to raise the emotional stakes.”
  • Nolan has said that the film “deals with levels of reality, and perceptions of reality which is something I’m very interested in. It’s an action film set in a contemporary world, but with a slight science-fiction bent to it”, while also describing it as “very much an ensemble film structured somewhat as a heist movie. It’s an action adventure that spans the globe”.

Summary:
Acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan directs an international cast in an original sci-fi actioner that travels around the globe and into the intimate and infinite world of dreams. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb’s rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible—inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming. This summer, your mind is the scene of the crime.

Trailer:

Excitement:

Jeff: Intrigued
Ray: Hope it doesn’t end the way im thinking it will.
Steve: Effects look cool…interested in seeing how it all comes together.

Coming Attractions:

The Past: Soldier’s Girl
The Present: Get Him To The Greek
The Future: Resident Evil: Afterlife

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