January 31, 2009
Well it’s that time of the year again, where millions of people are huddled around the televisions and sports bar to catch the new year’s SuperBowl Ads. This year it seems like the big promo is the 3D Glasses. Ironically, it’s being pushed aggressively by some of the big Hollywood film studios.
While the claim is the overall improvement in the technology, Hollywood definitely wants to push in this direction - especially with the animation studios. Personally, I don’t think there can be much improvement in 3D simply because the basics of creating 3D is still the same. I’m pretty sure that the equipment being used, such as the camera, lenses, and computers are far much greater than of the old, I highly believe that it’ll make the whole experience any better.
Ironically there are a few people out there that are still subjected to getting sick or nauseated by just putting on the glasses. I personally am probably one of them, however, it won’t be from the glasses. It’ll more than likely be from the lack of substances in the commercials that we might see in tomorrow’s half-time show.
Here is an example of the new SoBe Ad…
While the animations and CG Graphics are impressive, the commercial itself is totally a cheese ball. If you also notice, they’ve done away with the Red/Blue lenses and are using Amber/Blue. Ironically, I remember a few decades ago, Disney in Orlando had a 3D movie experience with Michael Jackson. While my memory is faded of the story, what was truly memorable was that there were no Red/Blue lenses. In fact, they were Polarized lenses. But the best part about the Disney experience was that it was not only a 3D movie experience but it had sensory immersion. Meaning that when the character were caught in a trembling earth quake, you can feel your seat shake. When there were smoke in the scene, the theater would “puff” out a light smoke. Space battle? Laser lights in the theater… Aww yes, those were the days.
Too bad Hollywood never decided to bring this kind of total immersion to theaters. While it’s not probably cost effective for theaters, it would definitely bring the whole movie watching experience to a different levels, Of course - ticket prices would probably quadruple to $20 per person.
For now, I guess watching free 3D commercials and shows are probably better than nothing. Then again, I’m just really tuning to watch football.
Filed under: Advertising, Tech — Nick @ 9:46 pm
January 24, 2009
In light of the upcoming Oscars and while I didn’t spend a lot of time in the theaters in 2008, I thought I put down my top favorite films of 2008 - that I did watch. So here they are:
10. U23D
09. RedBelt
08. Mongol
07. Leatherheads
06. Kung Fu Panda
05. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
04. Iron Man
03. Wall-E
02. The Dark Knight
01. Felon
Ironically, Felon wasn’t one of the flick I caught in theaters since it had a limited theatrical release. I did however, watched it on DVD and let me just say that this was one of the best Val Kilmer I’ve seen yet. Kind of makes up for that sorry Batman flick he did back in 1995… yes, I’m still holding a grudge on that poorly made film. Nevertheless, I was really impressed with the story of Felon. Not only did it put the audience into some what of a relatable situation, what made the difference is the fact that it wasn’t a glorified prison film. Prison is scary. The film delivers it as insightful as it can be, while making you think about what you would do if put in that situation.
If anything, Felon was definitely the most impressionable film for me in 2008. The action was limited, but the story and character development were compelling. Its definitely not one of those macho flicks you’d watch mindlessly. However, its definitely worth owning on DVD or at least renting and listening to the director’s commentary.
Filed under: Film and Television — Nick @ 8:12 am
January 23, 2009
The 2009 Oscars Nominations were just announced a few days ago. To my surprise, some of the films that I liked didn’t even make it on the list. I really don’t know how they select these films for nominations, but I was a bit disappointed with some of the nominations.
Grand Turino didn’t make it on the list. I don’t know if it was because it was released late in 2008 or if they’re going to count it for 2009. But that was a bummer. Surprisingly, Wanted made it on the list for several categories. To be honest, that was one of the most boring films I’ve ever watched - in addition the storyline line and plot twist were predictable. And the acting were lacking. It seems like another re-hash of the Matrix meets The Killer.
I can tell you now that my two favorite films of 2008 are The Dark Knight and Iron Man. For Best Supporting Actor, Heath Leger was nominated and I wasn’t surprised at all. He really did a brilliant job. It was hard for me to distinguish him from the character. If anything, I couldn’t help but to dispense my belief and be mesmerized by the Joker.
Iron Man is my second pick. Simply because it was well played by Robert Downey Jr. Although the story was somewhat predictable - nevertheless, the way Robert portray Tony Stark was also believable. Of course, I had a hard time watching a bald Jeff Bridges playing the villain. What I really took away from this film was the score. Ramin Djawadi did a very outstanding job in composing and performing the film’s score. It was very upbeat and very melodic. You definitely can hear some of the “hero” cues, in addition to perhaps feeling the emotions and excitement from the film’s sequences.
The Dark Knight’s score was ingenious. I’ve always been a huge fan of Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. And the way Hans came up with the Joker’s chaotic tone of the film’s mood is mind blowing. James, in addition to scoring the hero’s score for Batman, it was a welcome delight to hear both of them working together again for this film. Honestly though, the first one, Batman Begins, was an decent score. However, it wasn’t as memorable as The Dark Knight.
Finally my last pick is Kung Fu Panda. Ironically, I actually did enjoy this film a lot. While it was also predictable, Dustin Hoffman was very “AWESOME” as Master Sifu. I truly enjoyed the hard work that went into animating the fighting sequences. In addition, the camera work and the color lighting they [Dreamworks] used help sell the mood of the story. Furthermore, I was also impressed with the film’s score. And guess who did the score - Hans Zimmer. What I really loved about the score is that it has that blend of “East Meets West” style with a flare of classical and modern sound. Finally - a kung fu flick without hip hop music that didn’t make sense. Ironically, the song “Kung Fu Fighting” was added to the film’s track. I guess that was for the kiddies. It was ok, but since I grew up already having heard the original written and performed by Carl Douglas… the expectation wasn’t met in this version.
Overall, it’ll be interesting to see which films actually make out with the most awards. I’m hoping at least TDK and IM do get at least 1 award. Interesting note - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button took a lot of nominations - along with Slumdog Millionaire. While I haven’t seen SM, I heard lots of good things about it. But that’ll be a movie I will more than likely end up renting to watch. Benjamin Button, I did watch in a theater. While it was a long movie, it was a good movie. I wouldn’t say that it was great. Nor would I agree on some of the nomination category it received, however, I do appreciate the hard work that went into that film. I heard that it took 150 days to shoot the principle. That’s a pretty hectic schedule for any Hollywood production. But that’s why they get paid the big bucks huh?
According to the Wiki, here are the top 10 grossing films of 2008…
01 - The Dark Knight ($997,063,938)
02 - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($786,636,033)
03 - Kung Fu Panda ( $631,908,951)
04 - Hancock ($624,386,746)
05 - Iron Man P( $582,030,528)
06 - Mamma Mia! ($573,034,202)
07 - Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa ($558,281,654)
08 - Quantum of Solace ( $552,427,630)
09 - WALL-E Disney ($531,009,491)
10 - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian ($419,649,113)
Filed under: Film and Television — Nick @ 8:06 pm
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