Directors On The Move: Must Know Updates And Rumors

     The month of April has its up sides but when it comes to movies there really isn't much happening throughout the month which is a horrible thing, specially in light of exams being on the horizon and the need for an escape from regular activities being ever present due to stress. April is the last month before we start getting a series of blockbuster films starting with May 04th where we'll start this whole thing off with "The Avengers", its less than a month away, this is going to be good. Late April does offer us some better movies but for right now we get movies like "Lockout" which should feature Mark Wahlberg or Jason Statham but  does not which means that there are no redeeming factors to this brash action movie, not to worry though we do get a Statham movie later this month called "Safe" We don't want to ruin the plot of this movie but it's another Statham movie, which pretty much tells you the plot. On to this week's must know movie news.

   Stoller's New Comedy

     Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt and Alison Brie, need we say more? On the last week of April we will start to get some good movies, this being the first one on the list. The story revolves around Segel and Blunt's characters as they get engaged and tracks all theirs difficulties throughout the whole process of preparing a wedding. The movie is directed by Nicholas Stoller, he directed movies like "Get Him To The Greek" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", so this movie is sure to be a fun one. It was about time Stoller got Segel back on the big screen and delivered us another great comedy. Plus it's Jason Segel, the guy has not disappointed us yet, think "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Muppets", yeah, the guy is good. "The Five Year Engagement" will surely be another great success, we recommend you add this to your must watch list.

    Tarantino's Latest Project

   This week Tarantino finally gave us some more insight into his upcoming movie "Django Unchained", the movie centers around a slave who after being freed becomes a bounty hunter and is on his way to rescue his wife from a Mississippi plantation owner, knowing how Tarantino works this movie will surely be a blast. Tarantino did not pull any punches for this one gathering a long list of amazing actors to perform in this latest addition, actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz, Kurt Russell, Jamie Fox, and Kerry Washington, an amazing cast for sure. The movie should be coming out during Christmas time and is a project that we'll be sure to talk about again, you know something good and different is coming when Tarantino is involved.

    Ridley Scott's 2013Project Already In Talk

   If Ridley is not on the top of your radar list then we advise you to add him to it, here is man whose career deserves full attention. Ridley's latest movie "The Counselor" will be releasing sometime in 2013, not much about the movie is known as of yet except that it involves a lawyer and drug trafficking. The big rumor going around this week is that Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem and Michael Fassbender will all be performing side by side in this thriller. Though not confirmed there is talk of Angelina also being involved in this project, the first rumor was that Natalie Portman was to have the role but there are no conclusive news about it all as of yet, as soon as we hear more you'll hear more. If you are unfamiliar with Ridley Scott (God forbid) here is a sample list of some of his movies that should keep you busy this weekend, "Robin Hood", "Body Of Lies", "American Gangster", "Gladiator", "Blade Runner" and the upcoming gem "Prometheus" which looks fantastic.

   Burton Is Back With More Johnny

   Tim Burton just recently unveiled his upcoming vampire comedy "Dark Shadows" which will be featuring (Burton's favorite) Johnny Depp. There are some people who have begun to critique this movie already, for some reason there is a strong online following against Tim Burton, we don't think it matters much, Tim is still a brilliant guy and he has been behind amazing projects in the past, Burton and Depp have worked together for years and know how to bring out the best work from each other, therefore this movie should be on your watch list, its as simple as that. "Dark Shadows" will come out this year May 11th, we recommend that you watch the preview above, it looks like its going to be a really funny movie. If for some odd reason you are unfamiliar with Tim Burton's work then please do yourself a kindness and go watch some of his movies, we recommend "Batman", "Edward ScissorHands", "Ed Wood", "Sleepy Hollow", "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Big Fish", there are more of his movies we could add to this list but that would take up too much space, Burton's got a lot of good movies.

 "Catching Fire" Rumor Mill

  We mentioned previously this week the fact that Lionsgate lost their director for the sequel in the "Hunger Games" trilogy "Catching Fire" and how this could be a good thing or a really bad thing, turns out this might be a really really good thing after all. There are rumors going around right now that there are three directors in talks about taking the movie over, the first is Alfonso Cuaron who is known for movies like "Harry Potter And The Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Children of Men", the second is Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu who directed "21 Grams" and "Babel", and thirdly the one and only David Cronenberg whose career is vast and impressive, he's worked on movies like "The Fly", "Scanners", "Eastern Promises", "A History Of Violence" and a ton more. The bottom line is this, we have three titans fighting for this movie, which means that "Catching Fire" will be the "Empire Strikes Back" of the "Hunger Games" series, meaning that it'll probably blow our minds and be amazing. We'll be watching this story closely so as soon as we get more updates you'll get more updates.

   Well consider yourselves updated on important movie announcements and rumors that occurred this week. We hope this Friday is a great one for you and that this weekend might be restful. If you can't think of anything to do for this weekend then we recommend that you look into some of these directors, they will all blow your minds.

Love from your humble blogger,

Google's New Project, Next Gen Sytems and Catching Fire

        This month has been full of interesting stories so far, from next gen console rumors and news to new Google projects, this month has been filled with revelations, surprises and speculations, it sure is exciting to see so many new projects being announced. Technology should never be stagnant, we should never be stuck in place or ever think "there is no room for improvement" thus the plethora of news about new developments happening are always welcomed. So here are a few new projects you should know about and a brief update on the "Hunger Games" sequel "Catching Fire" who is facing some problems.

    Project Google Glass

   You can always count on Google to be pushing the limit when it comes to next gen tech, thank God for that. This new project consists of glasses that pretty much work like a smart phone interface who responds to voice commands and has an in built camera. The video shown reminds us a little of Siri, it's as if Siri was always with you helping you navigate the world. For those of you that are not familiar with Siri, she is the little voice tech on the IPhone that answers your commands and saves you time, so instead of typing something out you just say "where is the closest gas station?" and Siri finds them for you, she is quite useful. Obviously there is great speculation when it comes to the Google glasses, from if they will work properly to how much they will be and so forth, so much buzz has been created that parody videos have already started to circulate the web, it sure doesn't take long now-a-days for memes to be born but in the end this project is really exciting.

   Wii U: Nintendo's Demise?

   As per tradition every 5 years or so Nintendo releases a new system and this is the year that their new console Wii U will be releasing, some have dated it as early as November 12th. The system will be unveiled at E3 this June so everyone is very excited about that, the console itself has not been revealed but specs on the controller were released a few months back revealing the touch screen they will be releasing with it. Though we trust Nintendo to pull through and deliver a good product we have heard recent news as of late that claim that Nintendo's next gen's graphics aren't up to par. If the rumors are correct the new system has inferior graphics than  the 360 and PS3, which means that Nintendo will not be able to compete graphic wise, this is a big blow to the new system. When asked to comment Nintendo simply stated that gameplay was their main concern, this response, though expected, made many hardcore gamers worry that this new system will disappoint as much as the Wii did, only time will tell, in two months we'll either see the brilliance of Nintendo or the final years of Nintendo.

     The "Used Games" Controversy

   There have been rumors circulating the net about how the next gen systems for Microsoft and Sony will both require Internet access 100% of the time and will not run used games, in fact there is even talk about not needing for physical games anymore and just downloading games directly to your system. If this were to occur your local game retailer would die, and thus the controversy is set. These are but rumors, that's something we should all remember when dealing with these issues, Sony and Microsoft are both not stupid, to make a move so drastic as this would not only hurt the company but it would decrease their fan loyalty by a ton. People don't like to see big companies hurting the little guys, and any move by big distributors to try to remove retailers is never looked upon lightly by the people, thus why this future of no used games will probably not come to pass, it would be business suicide for companies to jump on this bandwagon. Though this is a push that will happen in the future, this is not the case for us today, maybe in 10-20 years we will see a very real push towards all online games but for now this is simply not a practical reality.

   "Catching Fire" Director Problems

   As it turns out the project has lost its director, Gary Ross has decided to step down from this project and will not be returning for the second movie. This puts Lionsgate in a very tight schedule, we will surely be receiving news very soon as to whom will be taking over this big project. On top of that, turns out that the shooting for Xmen: First Class 2 is being delayed for next year so that Jennifer Lawrence (she plays Mystique) might be able to finish shooting "Catching Fire" for its 2013 release. Thus this all means that yes we will have a sequel next year, it will be filmed this year and Lionsgate is on the lookout for the next director. What this means for the direction of the movie no one really knows, the next movie might look very different from the first one or it might follow suit, let us hope that whoever takes over the project learns from the mistakes that Ross committed and provides us with a better movie overall.

     We hope that you all had a good break this Easter and that this week might be  fantastic. It is never fun to come back from vacation but at the same time there is a sense of continuity when coming back to real life. We pray that this week might be a safe one for you.

Love from your humble blogger,

The Hunger Games Review

     Some of us last night got to watch the first installment in The Hunger Games series and for the most part we have to admit that the direction they took was brilliant. The movie isn't perfect, if you are an avid lover of the books then you might be annoyed at some elements that they chose to leave out from the overall story, and though some of these were important in the books they did not take away from the overall experience of the movie, books will forever have more detail then their movie counterparts, that's just a fact that will never change. Let's begin by addressing some of the brilliant moves the director took in order to make this movie the success that it is.

     It's no mystery that this movie's theme is a dark one, and it's no surprise that this book has been accepted by both guys and girls in a variation of ages, specially high school. Which brings us to the "motion cam" usage within the movie, this was a brilliant move for it answers the question of how does one create a movie about high school students killing each other and not make it rated "R". If the director had sought to follow the book to a T then yes there would have been no way for this movie to be anything other than "R", but doing so would leave out a good half of the audience that loves the book thus the inclusion of the motion cam is a brilliant move for all fight sequences are masked and though while watching you are aware of the gruesome nature of what is going on, you are not being faced with all the gory details.

    Another brilliant move was the soundtrack, the whole movie is either accompanied with an instrumental track or no track at all, in fact there are periods in the movie where there is no background music, just the awkward sounds of real life. What this does is make you nervous, it makes you understand the density of the story, it makes you feel uncomfortable a little thus giving off the very real emotion of "this is wrong" that this movie should give while not relying on shock factor or violence to bring that emotion about. Plus its so nice to have a movie that doesn't have a cheesy pop song in the middle of it, it would have taken away from the whole experience if they had included one in there.

      Another huge deal was the casting for this movie, the casting director should be awarded a medal here the picks were brilliant, well except for Cinna, but even there we all fell in love with his character midway through the movie. Jennifer Lawrence was magnificent, she portrays Katniss perfectly, the nervous girl who gets thrown into a nightmare but rises out of the ashes through willpower and courage. In some sense Katniss is the anti-Bela, she doesn't need a guy to save her, she is independent, she is a hunter, a loyal friend, she holds to her morals and so forth, we could write a whole essay on this topic alone. Woody Harrelson proved to us again why he's amazing and should be in more movies, he plays the role of Haymitch perfectly. There was concern about the casting for this movie when we first heard who was picked, but after seeing the movie we have to admit that the director knew exactly what he was doing.

      This was not a perfect movie, in fact many of the critiques going around about it are valid critiques, while some critiqued the "motion cam" use we found that to be brilliant, that and the soundtrack did not bother us but enhanced our enjoyment of the movie, but if we could critique one thing though we would talk about the the fight scenes. Though we understand the need to keep them PG13 in order for high school students to be able to see the movie as well, we felt like there needed to be more emphasis on the combat, some of it felt forced and did not hold the impact that it should have held, we don't know how one would go about doing that without going to an "R" rating, but some kill sequences just felt lacking in some ways. This is something that could be perfected by the next movie's release.

     The scene with Rue was the one we were the most nervous about (no spoilers promise), it is a delicate scene and a very important one, here we felt the director struck gold. The movie slows down quite a bit during this whole sequence and we feel the whole impact of what is going on through this relationship, the whole construction of this scene was brilliant. We specially liked the fact that they kept switching from "the games" to behind the scenes commentary, to Haymitch and others responses and so on, this was a great addition to the story and made the whole sequence in the arena a fluid one, and filled everyone that did not read the books in to important details in the story.

    "The Hunger Games" is not an easy book to adapt to a movie, and this end result is more than most could have achieved, thus we cannot help but give this movie an B+, there is room for improvement for the sequels that's for sure, but the overall experience was dense and fantastic, the story telling was fluid and the gruesome nature of the story is told without there being tons of gory details along the way. Overall we were satisfied with the end result and look forward to the other two additions to this series, we can't wait to see how they adapt those two to the big screen.

     We recommend that you check this movie out, this might just be the best movie that has come out this month, in fact we would say that yes this is the best movie of the month. We hope your week went well and pray that this coming weekend might be a good safe one for you.

Love from your humble blogger,