Saturday, August 22, 2009

Avatar - A 3D preview

Last night I got to see a preview of selected scenes for the new James Cameron movie "Avatar". It was shown on IMAX theaters all over the country. My usual theaters were sold out so I had to trek to Brooklyn and catch a viewing over there. I got there late, as usual, but caught like the last 10 minutes where Sam Worthington was already a Na'vi (the race of aliens they transfer his mind to. They're like 10 ft tall, blue and cat-like creatures).

**here's the story as I know it: A paralyzed marine is given the opportunity to walk again with the help of an avatar (where his mind and consciousness are transferred to the body of one of the aliens that live on a far off planet)**

From Kelly's Heroes to Inglourious Basterds (pt.2)

Back to Kelly's Heroes, where Kelly is played by Clint Eastwood as normal as you going to get him: laid back in no hurry at all. The whole movie was fun, and at two hours and change the movie moves briskly. The gang of characters is fun to watch as they complement each other on different situations. I knew Telly Savalas only from Kojak, but he brought his character to life in such a way that makes me want to watch everything else he's done. Don Rickles I thought to be this one dimensional insult comic, but he changed my point of view with this movie. Donald Sutherland, playing a hippie even before hippies were invented, genius! That part about his squad blasting music to scare the enemy reminded me of "Apocalypse Now" when Lt Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall's character) plays "Ride of the Valkyries" when he's attacking the village. I was wondering who copied whom? "Kelly's Heroes" was done almost ten years before "Apocalypse Now" and they portray totally different wars so I'm guessing this is a real technique employed during combat. Even Uncle Leo from Seinfeld makes an appearance!

Friday, August 21, 2009

From Kelly's Heroes to Inglourious Basterds

To get in the mood to watch Tarantino's latest film I watched Kelly's Heroes, an excellent example of the soldiers on a mission during World War II genre. It's true, every War World II movie has the soldiers on a mission to win the war, but the genre specifies a new tangent mission that is thrust upon the heroes and its the driving force of the plot. Some examples of movies like that we are "Saving Private Ryan", "The Dirty Dozen", "The Guns of Navarone", even "Stalag 17" (all great I made add).

Friday, August 14, 2009

Robot Chicken on Wheels Attacks NYC

You know Robot Chicken, don't you? The late-night TV show on [Adult Swim] that's mostly action figures doing sketches. Yeah that show with Voltron, and ThunderCats, and Transformers and G.I. Joe, and the rest of 80's staple cartoon shows. Well they had a DVD of their Star Wars Special (Episode II) and to celebrate they came up with the idea of making a Tour from California across the land to New York and decided to throw roller skate parties along the way. Last night was the end of the tour right here in New York City.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

WOLVERINE [anime]

El fin de semana pasado fue Comic-Con y como era de esperarse muchas noticias fueron anunciadas. En el fronte de peliculas animadas basadas en comics tenemos las peliculas de Marvel. Ya fueron anunciadas las peliculas producidas por Mad House (estudio japones) de dos superheroes: Wolverine y Iron Man.
Estas Animes seran versiones diferentes de estos personajes. Podriamos decir que estan vistas por el ojo de la cultura niponesa. Mas oriente que occidente. Aqui tienen el avance de WOLVERINE version anime. Disfruten!