The Placebo soundtrack on the trailer really drew me in.  That and the tag line "The Matrix meets 28 Days Later." Overall, it was following the recent trend i.e. normal vampire movie with a twist.  Not very engaging. The only link to the Matrix was tehir se of humans to survive… for blood this time, obviously.. not being used as batteries.  The Matrix had it done better though… they had a plan in place to replace dead humans… here the dead humans just die… leaving a blood shortage.

Anyway… it was a filler movie. something you can waste your time with and would be just as good if you got it on DVD or waited for it come on TV.

What was great about it was the colouring and the cinematography. It was noir in a  modern way and the soundtrack fit the movie really well.  Also, Ethan Hawke makes a really good vampire. On the plot… I like how they put in all the normal stuff that happens after being a vampire becomes normalised.  Things like the economy, class systems, food shortages, etc. start to take over the agenda.

I’d give the movie a 6/10 Enjoy.

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Promotional Poster for the movie parodying Obama’s famous Campaign Poster

One thing you have to admit… British Comedy has the uncanny ability to force the laughter out of you. With its heavily-laden sarcasm loaded with metaphors and similes and utterly, utterly offensive bad language. Some of it will make you cringe while you’re splitting your sides.

‘In The Loop’ is one of those comedies you really must watch. It’s a political satire split halfway between America and the UK and deals with different political relationships and the ‘politics’ behind them. It also puts politics as a heavy-handed one-up-manship between countries (USA and UK) and within the governments of those countries. Now this all sounds very serious but look at only two aspects… the relationships and comedy. These are the classic hallmarks of great comedy. Pissed off Brits taking the mick out of each other doesn’t fail to please either.

I loved the movie and I highly recommend it.

To get the nitty gritties out of the way (director, plot, etc.)… here’s the excerpt from Wikipedia…

In the Loop is a feature film directed by Armando Iannucci. It is an spinoff from the BBC TV series The Thick of It satirising Anglo-American politics in the 21st century. The film was released on 17 April 2009 in the United Kingdom.

In the film, the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom are looking to launch a war in the Middle East. The plot follows government officials and advisers in their behind-the-scenes efforts either to promote the war or prevent it. It stars Tom Hollander, James Gandolfini, Chris Addison, Peter Capaldi, Anna Chlumsky, Gina McKee, Steve Coogan and David Rasche. The film is a joint collaboration between BBC Films and the UK Film Council.

Enough talk.. Go See it

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Another one of my ‘most awaited’ remakes of all time. I remember growing up with Alice in Wonderland as a story and no doubt later recalling how that particular story had shaped my perception and shaped my life. I felt the same way when I first saw the Matrix. It had the effect of a crow-bar prying open my mind to new possibilities and opportunities. I loved it.

And here it is again… so far only a few pics of the movie have been released and the cast looks brilliant, with a few staples from the Tim Burton toolbox. Namely, Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen of Hearts. The nice touch is Anne Hathaway as the White Queen.

The movie is set to release on 5 March 2010.
Here’s an idea of what it’s going to look like…

Alice in the Caterpillar’s Garden

Johnny Depp – The Mad Hatter

Helena Bonham Carter – The Queen of Hearts

Anne Hathaway – The White Queen

I remember posting before on Sarah Michelle Gellar working on creating the movie version of that AWESOME game, American McGee’s Alice. I don’t
know when that will be released, but one at a time… right now I’m looking forward to Tim Burton’s recreation. I wonder who’s playing Alice???

Technorati Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton, American Mcgee, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, 2010

The trailer for the new TV movie – ‘Battlestar Galactica: The Plan’ chronicling the battle between the Humans and the Cylons, this time from the viewpoint of the Cylons. I assume it would be summarised seeing as the human side was told across five seasons and this new movie is only two hours long. But check out the Trailer below… it looks AWESOME.

Technorati Tags: Battlestar Galactica, Movie

Can’t wait for this one to come out!  Tarantino is back in the habit with this long-awaited World War II flick about a group of soldiers who’s only business is “Killin’ Nazi’s”.  The trailer already makes it look pretty damn cool.

“We’re in the Bid’ness of Killin’ Nazi’s, and baby… Bid’ness izza Boomin’!” – Brad Pitt

Here’s more insight from Amanda Palmer from “The Fabulous Picture Show” on Al Jazeera talking live from Cannes.

and the original trailer…

Technorati Tags: Movie, Inglorious Basterds, Tarantino

Please don’t waste your time with this movie… to be nice to it would say it’s “fuckin’ retarded.” Which is a quote from the movie itself by the way. With the advent of the 3D Cinema, some really good movies have been made which fit the new technology brilliantly… this movie is not one of them.

It is one of those really bad horror movies you know is bad when you see the movie poster, but are somehow intrigued to go and watch it anyway because of the “3D” tag to the whole thing. Please do not be fooled by this. After going through the whole schpiel and having some gory scenes displayed, in all their 3D glory, by the time you get to the climax of the movie, the 3D doesn’t factor into anything conciously… you’re mostly being gored out of your mind.

The most irritating of all though, is the extremely bad screenplay, predictable story-line and absolutely atrocious acting.

From a 3D Cinema perspective… I learnt something. I think the technology is just a tool and another cool way to bring the entertainment to life. The core still matters though, so if the story-line is shit, the rest will not make up for it. It’s sugar coated excrement.
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Coming from the World Premiere of “Behind the Rainbow“, which was held last night at Maponya Mall in Soweto, one can’t shake the feeling of how the media has actually shaped the perceptions of the man on the street with regards to South African politics and especially with regard to the personalities behind the politics.

Behind the Rainbow, directed by the seminal filmmaker Jihan El-Tahri, covers South Africa’s political history focusing on the internal struggles and challenges faced by the ruling party, the ANC. One can’t help being moved by the understanding of the conflicts within the party as we see very different personalities coming up against each other; each with their own way of working and their own visions of the future of their organisation and their country, even though they subscribe to the same Charter.

Of particular interest to me was the focus on the very recent events in which Thabo Mbeki (ex-President of South Africa) went up against his life-long friend and fellow comrade in the struggle for the ANC, Jacob Zuma. Two very different personalities by all accounts and the events which lead up to these two going up against each other at the Polokwane conference in 2007 and the recent “re-calling” of Thabo Mbeki by the ANC. Everything is covered… Corruption, The arms deal, Jacob Zuma’s Rape Accusation, the un-wielding support of Jacob Zuma by ANC members, the mindset behind the ANC Supporters and the Youth of the ANC in general, Black Economic Empowerment, etc. All of which give you a holistic understanding of what the ANC faced as they were put into power.

Many members of the ANC were present at the premiere itself… Mac Maharaj, Andrew Feinstein and some others who were featured in the documentary as well. The personal interviews with both Mbeki and Zuma, as well as personal perspectives of Members within the ANC make the documentary more personable than any other recent documentary done on the ANC and its internal workings. The fact that the documentary covers aspects right up until the recent appointment of current President Kgalema Motlanthe (who is also featured prominently in the documentary), shows its relevance to the here and now.

Overall, it was a very well researched documentary on the current state of South African Politics and the direction was nothing short of brilliant. It isn’t slow or make you lose interest in any way and keeps you hooked onto pertinent topics without straying or becoming boring. The points hit home hard, everything we’ve read in newspapers, seen on tV and analysed among friends is covered and criticised by the ANC members themselves.

A definite must-see for any South African interested in the past, present and future of the country they live in.

Directed by: Jihan El-Tahri

Produced by: Steven Markovitz

Behind the Rainbow – Trailer

Technorati Tags:
Jihan el-Tahri, Behind the Rainbow, Documentary, South Africa, Politics, Jacob Zuma, Thabo Mbeki, Nelson Mandela, Chris Hani, Andrew Feinstein, Mac Maharaj, ANC, African National Congress, Polokwane, Steve Markovitz

For all the comic book fans and especially those of Alan Moore’s absolute classic comic/graphic-novel “Watchmen”, the highly anticipated movie version is set to launch in 2009. Directed by Zack Snyder(300), the trailer has already been getting comments across the blogosphere for having extremely cool graphics.

Not all’s good in Watchmen land though, the series creator, Alan Moore, doesn’t support the comic being adapted to the big screen…

“I would rather not know [about the movie],” said Moore. “[Zack Snyder] may very well be [a very nice guy], but the thing is that he’s also the person who made 300. I’ve not seen any recent comic book films, but I didn’t particularly like the book 300. I had a lot of problems with it, and everything I heard or saw about the film tended to increase [those problems] rather than reduce them: that it was racist, it was homophobic, and above all it was sublimely stupid. I know that that’s not what people going in to see a film like 300 are thinking about but… I wasn’t impressed with that… I talked to Terry Gilliam in the ’80s, and he asked me how I would make Watchmen into a film. I said, ”Well actually, Terry, if anybody asked me, I would have said, ‘I wouldn’t.”’ And I think that Terry [who aborted his attempted adaptation of the book] eventually came to agree with me. There are things that we did with Watchmen that could only work in a comic, and were indeed designed to show off things that other media can’t.”

Zack Snyder’s comments on what he thinks of Alan Moore’s reaction to him making the movie…

“We all want to please Alan, and I think that’s a noble thing to want to do. There’s nothing wrong to get the guy who frickin’ created the thing to not hate it, I don’t think that’s an outrageous thing to want,” said Snyder. “I think the approach is to assume that the movie is better, and that’s a mistake. I would never make any assumptions.”

He also has told fans at Comic Con last year that the best he can hope for is that Alan Moore will someday watch the DVD and say, “You know, they didn’t fuck it up that bad.”

In terms of the character line up we have Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan, Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl, Matthew Goode as Ozymandias, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the Comedian, Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre, and — in an inspired bit of news — Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach.

So far the movie looks to be about 3 hours long, which is pretty long for a super-hero epic, but I can understand the length from just reading the comic book and the mazing amount of detail that went into it. What is interesting is that the “Tales of the Black Freighter”, which is the story-within-a-story in the Watchmen comic, is set to be released as a seperate DVD (obviously to make more money off the fans). either way I’d buy it, I just hope that, as Zack had mentioned, they don’t fuck it up too badly.

From what I’ve seen in the trailer though, at least it looks cool. For everyone reading this, get the comic, I very highly recommend it.

Columbia Pictures espionage thriller Edwin A. Salt, once expected to star Tom Cruise, will be rewritten by screenwriter Kurt Wimmer as a return vehicle for Angelina Jolie, reports Variety. Philip Noyce remains attached as director and Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Sunil Perkash are producing.

The movie is set to premier in 2010.

Jolie is close to a deal to play the title character, a CIA officer who’s accused by a defector of being a Russian sleeper spy and must elude capture long enough to establish her innocence. She took a liking to it, prompting the studio’s decision to rewrite it. The trade adds that the project won’t require that much of an overhaul to suit her.

Edwin A. Salt will undergo a title change, obviously, and if everything falls into place, the film shapes up as a return vehicle for Jolie, who recently gave birth to twins. Another candidate for her return is the Lionsgate drama Atlas Shrugged.

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The new Batman franchise revived by Cristopher Nolan into a more grown-up alternative to the old very cartoon-like Batman movies of yore has quite simply just worked. It all worked. I do have a few criticisms though of the recent incarnation “The Dark Knight”… I think the Joker was a little bit too serious. Heath Ledger played the part brilliantly, but no doubt it was a dramatic move away from how the Joker was always portrayed in the comics, cartoons and even the previous movies and the twist in terms of the Jokers deformed smile was very interesting. It would be cool for Nolan, in other incarnations of the Batman series, to provide a look into the history of The Joker and his exploits in Gotham.

The change, however, is welcome. Something like this should’ve happened ages ago, since the comics themselves have been regenerated to fit a more mature audience in terms of content. I have to admit though, that even though the previous Batman movies were below par, the Riddler played by Jim Carrey would fit really well into the current Batman Begins and The Dark Knight movies. I’ve already seen rumours that Johnny Depp is being cast as the next Riddler… a move which should be very interesting, given Depp’s performance with odd-ball characters like Willy Wonka in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.

The introduction of Two-Face was brilliant and the tie-in with Dent’s previous experience as an Internal Affairs agent was very ingenious. The new bat-mobile wasn’t a re-engineering of sorts, but rather made to fit into the story rather than previous attempts which gave him a new car every time a new version of Batman came about. This new series of Batman movies have made all previous versions look extremely childish and made all those big Hollywood stars who took the place of Batman and his nemeses look like idiots. Good show!