GORT!

Just watched the trailer for The Day the Earth Stood Still a second time (over at Apple.com) and I'm really intrigued.  I know there's haters out there who will hate any remake.  However, I think it looks rather interesting because we see stuff actually getting destroyed - which is very different from the original (where nothing was destroyed).  And, as I predicted, Keanu Reeves is playing Klaatu just like how I imagined - and that's not a bad thing.  

But the big news is the very last shot of the trailer!  Check it out:

It's GORT!  And it looks awesome!  I'm glad they seem to be sticking mostly to the design in the original film.  This makes me very happy.

Bale Prefers Bondage Over Robin

Found this over at IGN:

Apparently, Christian Bale -- who plays the caped crusader in the franchise -- has said: "If Robin crops up in one of the new Batman films, I'll be chaining myself up somewhere and refusing to go to work."

Strong words. And I think I agree. With the Joker seeming to be more central in the next film than even Batman, flooding the screen with too many characters might cause our caped crusader to get lost in the crowd for the inevitable third film.

I'm not sure of the best way to word this, but I'll try. I always thought that once a trilogy is made, all the actors, director, et cetera should not come back for a 4th film. Example: Spider-man. Sam Raimi, Tobey, Kirstin had their trilogy. I think it would be a good idea for the next movie, or trilogy, to be done by a whole new crew. The new movies don't need to be directly related plot- and story-wise (see: The Incredible Hulk). The Hulk is proof that it could work. So, my opinion would be to start a new Spider-man trilogy and just start telling more stories (with less crying) about Peter Parker/Spider-man.

And now to my point. My point is that if they do want to bring Robin into it, do it with the next trilogy. Let Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale finish their trilogy with Two-Face, and have the next movie/trilogy introduce Robin (if they even want to) with a whole new crew.

Might I add that I feel this way perhaps because Spider-man 3 was so bad that I really wouldn't mind if they got new actors and a new director. (I like Sam Raimi, but I have this gut feeling that he purposefully didn't put much effort into the third film, as he stated way before they announced Venom would be in the film that he really didn't think Venom is an interesting character and that incorporating him wouldn't make a good film...) The Dark Knight, and the subsequent sequel, might be so good that I wouldn't want a new crew for the next hypothetical trilogy. We'll just have to wait and see.

WALL-E Review

WALL-E made me smile. WALL-E made me laugh. WALL-E almost made me tear. WALL-E also made me go "ehhh". But just a little bit.

First, let me start off by saying that everyone should see this movie. The visuals are fantastic and the animation is superb. This is Pixar we're talking about so these should come as no surprise. What's most endearing is WALL-E him(it?)self. He's adorable; a hard, resourceful worker. Innocent, yet lonely. He watches a movie where a couple holds hands, and we see that he yearns for the same thing. Sure, his cockroach friend is there, but, it's no female robot.

Of course, it's not long before his opportunity to hold someone else's hand shows up. This opportunity is EVE, a probe that comes to Earth and keeps scanning things. Oh, and she's a feisty one. Forget trying to hold her hand. WALL-E almost loses his life just trying to say hi.

A relationship eventually develops. But not before EVE finds a plant, the only plant on Earth, and gets whisked away in the spaceship she arrived in. Why this happens, we're not sure. WALL-E, in love, pursues EVE to the far reaches of outer space.

This is where the movie, for good or bad, changes direction. We find out that there's a "cruise" space ship containing the remaining humans of Earth. They're ALL fat and float around in hover chairs while looking, and only looking, at a holographic TV screen where they can be entertained or talk to their friends... who are right next to them. It's not until WALL-E accidentally breaks a girl's TV when she realizes Oh hey, we have a pool! A pool that was right in front of her... It's all good and funny, but this is also the part where I went "ehhh...".

There's pseudo-political/social critique of what can only be of Americans. All of the humans only had American accents. Sure, there were different races, but only American accents. For such a smart movie, they didn't seem to put much thought into the human aspect of the film. Just cliches that reminded me of Idiocracy (which I did not like). I get the satire, but I just felt it could've been done better.

And although the main story was between WALL-E and EVE, the end of the human story just seemed a bit too perfect-happy-ending-everything-will-be-fine kind of ending.

Otherwise, all of the other aspects were wonderful. All of the robots were great. The HAL-like computer was expected and welcomed. The love story was innocent and pure. And WALL-E was just so damn cute. I would love to see him in another movie.

I give WALL-E ***1/2 out of ****. GO SEE IT!

Seeing WALL-E Tonight

My girlfriend and I are heading out to see WALL-E tonight.  

I've been very excited about this movie.  A new Pixar movie is like having a good friend you haven't seen in a while over for dinner.  Its a guaranteed good time.  I agree with John over at TheMovieBlog.com: Pixar not only is a good animation studio, but one of the best movie studios in general.  Not one movie is bad (although some are not as good as others, see: Cars).  I unfortunately have yet to see Ratatouille, which I hear is fantastic.  I'll have to check it out after WALL-E. 

So, expect my first ever movie review either this weekend or on Monday!

Will Smith to play Barack Obama

I heard about this a while ago, and my friend called this even way before that. According to CNN, if they are going to make a movie about Barack Obama, it is said Will Smith not only will play him, but even wants to play him!

Speaking with MTV earlier this week, actor Will Smith said he'd enjoy playing the Illinois senator in an upcoming movie and noted the two share at least one feature in common: rather large ears.

"It's all right here," Smith joked as he pointed to his ears. "That's the key. That's the key. America loves ears, you know? Mickey Mouse started it; Goofy and Dumbo followed behind. And America just loves ears."

I think this is a great idea. Both are incredibly charismatic people, and Will Smith as proven he has the chops to make great drama. I'm quite excited to see whether or not this comes to fruition.

Tribute added to The Dark Knight

As some may have expected, a tribute had been added to The Dark Knight. This is what CNN had to say:

The end credits of the "Batman Begins" sequel include a farewell note to Ledger, who died in January from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs; and to special-effects technician Conway Wickliffe, who was killed last September in a stunt-car accident.

I was unaware of the other guy's death. It sucks that no one cares as much for him as they do for Heath Ledger.

Further, I find it funny that when someone overdoses accidentally on prescription drugs, there's no sort of outcry from people like there would be if someone overdosed accidentally on illegal drugs. Does no one see the problem of over-medicating people, no matter what the drug, legal or illegal? Hey, at least you can't overdose on marijuana.

New "Mummy" Trailer

Here's the new addition to the "Mummy" series: "The Mummy: Curse of the Dragon Emperor" I found over at IGN.

I loved the first one. It wasn't the greatest movie ever, but it was fun. I only saw parts of 2, and it didn't impress me; but I shouldn't judge until I see the whole thing. However, this new one looks awesome. Should be a good time!

"Taken" Trailer

Came across this trailer over at IGN.  Looks pretty sweet.  I'm really intrigued by Liam Neeson's character. He seems so freakin' badass, yet all we really see is him talking on a phone.  The bit about telling his daughter the unfortunate truth of what was about to happen was refreshing, rather than the typical "Ohhh don't worry everything will be OK" unimaginative crap most thrillers would've done.

The Infinite Degrees of the Internet

I find it fascinating how one can get lost and totally distracted by using the internet, and how one thing leads to another, and to another, and so on and so forth. The reason I say Infinite Degrees of the Internet is because, just like how there's the "6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon", one can keep going from one thing to the next on the internet. So, today, I decided to document my internet travels to show how you can start off with one thing, and then go to something related, and then keep going until you're no where near where you first left off.

Ok ready?

So, I get to work today, and I check up on www.themovieblog.com (awesome site!). I saw a post in regards to a movie called Solarbabies. So, I decided to IMDb it (love how all these websites are becoming verbs - example: Google it). Whenever I check out a movie on IMDb, I always check the External Reviews to see if my favorite critic has reviewed it: Roger Ebert. (I'll save why I love him for another post). So, whilst reading Roger's review of Solarbabies, he mentions how he liked a particular actress in it: Jami Gertz. I then googled her (damn verbs...) to first see some pics of who she is, and then read up on her Wikipedia. In her Wikipedia, it states how she played a comic legend in a movie named Gilda Radner (I was not aware of who she was). So, I then googled her. Found out she was a great comedienne who was married to Gene Wilder (love him!). Unfortunately, Gilda suffered from ovarian cancer, and essentially died (in a weird way). There was a quote from Gene Wilder regarding Gilda's death (which describes the weird way she died):

"She went in for the scan – but the people there could not keep her on the gurney. She was raving like a crazed woman – she knew they would give her morphine and was afraid she’d never regain consciousness. She kept getting off the cart as they were wheeling her out. Finally three people were holding her gently and saying, "Come on Gilda. We’re just going to go down and come back up." She kept saying, "Get me out, get me out!" She’d look at me and beg me, "Help me out of here. I’ve got to get out of here." And I’d tell her, "You’re okay honey. I know. I know." They sedated her, and when she came back, she remained unconscious for three days. I stayed at her side late into the night, sometimes sleeping over. Finally a doctor told me to go home and get some sleep. At 4 am on Saturday, I heard a pounding on my door. It was an old friend, a surgeon, who told me, "Come on. It’s time to go." When I got there, a night nurse, whom I still want to thank, had washed Gilda and taken out all the tubes. She put a pretty yellow barrette in her hair. She looked like an angel. So peaceful. She was still alive, and as she lay there, I kissed her. But then her breathing became irregular, and there were long gaps and little gasps. Two hours after I arrived, Gilda was gone. While she was conscious, I never said goodbye."

This quote really choked me up. With George Carlin dying, and looking at Gene Wilder and hearing about this, it saddens me that these great people won't be with us much longer.

And this is all from visiting a friggen movie blog.

Honest to Blog

What better way to kick of a movie blog post then a movie quote? Surely you've seen Juno, and if you haven't, then WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? GO SEE IT!

Couple things I want to briefly go over. I'm new to this. I have no idea where it's heading. I'm sure my posts during my first month or so will lack a clear focus, except for the fact that most of them will be about movies. Also, the title is Mostly Movies because I'm going to probably want to talk about other things besides movies. Rest assured, most of what I write will be about movies, except the occasional epiphany or need to rant.

With this said, please enjoy.