50 Greatest Trailers of All Time

SHOOT: Great to see ALIEN at number 1. Blair Witch project is the scariest horror movie I've ever seen. CLOVERFIELD also has a great intro. I see WATCHMEN is at number 46, The Matrix at 32. Now where is the trailer for The Dark Knight?

clipped from www.ifc.com We know them as trailers, but they don't trail anything; they play before the movie, not after it. The name dates to their earliest incarnation, when they actually did follow the feature. The documentary "Coming Attractions" dates the very first trailer to a 1912 Edison serial entitled "What Happened to Mary?" After each installment, a black card with white text would appear to inform audiences "The next incident in the series of 'What Happened to Mary' will be shown a week from now." Not exactly "In a world..." but it did the trick back in 1912. 1. Alien (1979) 2. Psycho (1960) clipped from www.ifc.com clipped from www.ifc.com 11. The Blair Witch Project (1999) 12. Independence Day (1996) 15. Pulp Fiction (1994)

Transformers 2: Summer gets stoopid

SHOOT: Sorry doods, I'm going to break rank here and call this beautifully filmed toy story what it is - eye candy for kids (stoopid kids). Transformers is evidence that you can spend hundreds of millions - the special effects in this are killer - and you're still left with an empty shell of a movie. Young teens and tweens might like it, and get something out of it. But if you don't play with toys any more you might be wondering what Megan Fox is doing in the story. The slow motion candy shots of her start to jarr...are her lips really that big, have they been botoxed or is that CGI. If you're preoccupied with these thoughts your movie is in trouble. If the whole flick had been set on campus it may have been a huge hit. It's as engrossing and horrible and expensive as a car wreck, but just as quickly forgotten. 6/10 [Rotten Tomatoes gives it 57%]

clipped from www.wired.com 9: Megan Fox is in it. While there are rumors that she’s actually CGI-animated herself, Megan Fox is proving that she’s much more than just eye candy. She’s eye candy that can run really fast from giant CGI robots. 4: Peter Cullen is still the voice of Optimus Prime. He damn well better be. The studio probably didn’t want to even bother considering a Transformers movie until Cullen signed on. The fan outcry when the first one was in the works was so huge, that there was no chance it would have made any money without him. Prime only has one voice. 2: It’s not Wolverine. Which means it’s a movie full of giant space robots beating the crap out of each other. That is, no matter what happens you won’t be set up for disappointment. 1: There is no school. It’s summer. Your kids don’t need an excuse to be pulled out of school to go see a movie. You’re the only one that needs an excuse. And now you’ve got ten. Go get your kids and a couple giant tubs of popcorn and let me know how awesome it is

African Photography - FOR SALE

Some beautiful work by Nick van der Leek is going on sale this month.

clipped from www.nickvanderleek.com Storm in Mabua, Kalahari R3499 unframed. Foam at Kleinbrak River, Garden Route R1000 unframed/R2000 framed Blazing sky over Free State Windmill R4999 framed/R4000 unframed. For $US prices click here. For more photography go to my Facebook Album.

INTERVIEW with AFTER LAST SEASON'S MARK REGION

clipped from www.filmmakermagazine.com At the end of March, an exceedingly odd trailer for a feature film showed up on Apple's trailer page. For a film titled After Last Season, the trailer was a collection of almost random moments and conversation between students, researchers and a doctor seemingly involved in some kind of science experiment involving perception and telekinesis. The sheer mysteriousness of the whole endeavor — the fact that the trailer conveyed so little information about the film itself as well as its low production values (an MRI machine seemed clearly made from cardboard) — spawned an instant internet cult, with fans debating whether the film was real or a spoof, made by an "outsider filmmaker" or an elaborate stunt hatched by a savvy prankster Just over two months later, the film has opened in four cities, proving that it does indeed exist. Mark Region, did virtually no publicity, and, after seeing it, some viewers are still debating the intentions of the director and the meaning of the film.

Terminator Salvation: Roars then sputters

SHOOT: Suffers heart failure at the end...

clipped from videogameblog.tuscaloosanews.com The gang somehow manages to escape, and after destroying the SkyNet installation, John Connor is left dying on a hospital table back at the outdoor command center. That's not so bad. I thought they had guts doing that, and if Connor had died, I would've been fine with it. But noooooooooo. Marcus tells the doc to take his heart and give it to John. Look, I'm no expert in heart transplants, but I don't think the pregnant redhead had a great background in open heart surgery. I'm also pretty sure that the exclusion list for heart donors probably includes factors like ... he was dead an hour ago. I guess technology increases a great deal in the next seven years, despite the gigantic world war which culminates in the destruction of most of mankind. The ending is ridiculous and had I not been reviewing the film, I would have walked out.

BOX OFFICE AWAKENS TO “THE HANGOVER”

DIRECTOR TODD PHILLIPS’ NEW HIT COMEDY IS #1 AT THE U.S. BOX OFFICE

BURBANK, CA – June 8, 2009 – Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ new comedy “The Hangover” took the top spot at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend, surprising industry analysts. On the heels of critical and audience raves and a multi-targeted marketing campaign, “The Hangover” earned an impressive $44,979,000 in its opening weekend, making it the third-highest opening of an R-rated comedy ever. For Warner Bros., it is also the sixth film to open at number one in 2009 to date.

Jeff Robinov, President of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, stated, “Coming into this weekend, we knew we had across-the-board great reviews, extremely strong word of mouth, and a marketing campaign that I would simply call amazing. As importantly, we had a movie that delivered. Congratulations to everyone involved in the making of ‘The Hangover,’ including the entire cast and crew and the producers. And special congratulations to Todd Phillips, who has been a great collaborative partner and an important member of the Warner Bros. family.”

Sue Kroll, President of Worldwide Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures, added, “From our earliest screenings, we knew ‘The Hangover’ was something special. Todd made a brilliantly funny movie and we wanted to craft a very strategic and creative marketing campaign to match. Aggressively utilizing both the mainstream media and the internet, we set out to make this an all-audience film. We found unique ways to introduce the concept and the characters, leaving no chicken or tiger unturned. The wealth of material—not to mention a director and cast who worked tirelessly to support the film—gave us so many avenues to explore in putting together an all-encompassing and pervasive campaign. By the time we opened, we had not only created awareness but a definite must-see vibe surrounding the film. Jeff, Dan and I are also proud that ‘The Hangover’—added to such comedy hits as ‘Get Smart,’ ‘Yes Man,’ ‘Four Christmases,’ ‘He’s Just Not That Into You,’ ‘Sex and the City’ and ‘17 Again’—once again emphasizes our growing success in the comedy arena.”

Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. Pictures President of Domestic Distribution, added, “We are obviously thrilled with the box office results for ‘The Hangover,’ which came into this weekend against some very strong competition. The film did not have the benefit of instantly recognizable star names and it was not in the category of a big action blockbuster. But Todd Phillips does comedy like no one else and we knew ‘The Hangover’ was that rare gem of a comedy that plays to audiences of virtually every demographic. And it did. Based on this weekend’s overwhelmingly positive audience response, we anticipate that the excitement will continue to build through the summer as moviegoers turn out to get ‘The Hangover.’”

From director Todd Phillips comes a new comedy about a bachelor party gone horribly wrong. Two days before his wedding, Doug (Justin Bartha) and his three buddies (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis) drive to Las Vegas for a blow-out night they’ll never forget. But when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning with pounding headaches, they can't remember a thing. Their posh hotel suite is beyond trashed and the groom is nowhere to be found. With no clue about what happened and little time to spare, the trio must attempt to retrace their bad decisions from the night before in order to figure out where things went wrong and hopefully get Doug back to L.A. in time for his wedding. However, the more they begin to uncover, the more they realize just how much trouble they’re really in.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Legendary Pictures, a Green Hat Films Production of a Todd Phillips Movie: “The Hangover,” starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham, Justin Bartha and Jeffrey Tambor. The film is directed by Phillips from a screenplay by Jon Lucas & Scott Moore. Todd Phillips and Dan Goldberg produced, with Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, William Fay, Scott Budnick, Chris Bender and J.C. Spink serving as executive producers.

Nu Metro Films will be releasing THE HANGOVER in South Africa on 19 June 2009.

And now for a flick that will scare the living shit out of you [WATCH TRAILER]

If you like horror and have been dying for an American film that doesn't wimp out on you or have some stupid-ass rip-off bastardization of a Korean or Japanese film's twist ending or any of the other disappointments we've come to expect from every week's horror releases, this is a spectacularly refreshing change of pace.

SHOOT: Watch the Quicktime trailer here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/dragmetohell/

clipped from www.televisionwithoutpity.com Reviews of Movies We've Actually Seen Drag Me to Hell Review: It is Very Awesome. by Mindy Monez May 28, 2009 12:40 PM I feel I should start out this review with a little PSA: If you scare easily, do not allow your vindictive gorehound friends to sweet-talk you into going to this movie. It ain't frickin' Gothika. It's a horror film made for horror fans by somebody who knows what he's doing. It will scare the living shit out of you if you're not properly desensitized to this type of thing. And for the rest of us? It's still effectively scary! I jumped in my seat, I laughed a lot, I thought I might vomit a few times -- to sum it up, I had a fantastic time. This is the measure of a successful horror film, friends.

UP soars, Arnold Schwarzenegger back in next Terminator?

Of the 2009 releases, the three top worldwide winners are Monsters vs Aliens, Fast & Furious and Wolverine, all of which have exceeded $300 million so far. Could you guess which of the late-2008 releases have earned about $250 million? Gran Torino and Marley & Me.

News was not so good for Terminator Salvation, which lost a steep 62% from last weekend's gross. This fourth episode in the John Connor saga could trace the sorry trajectory of this March's action film, Watchmen, which earned more than half of its total domestic take in its first weekend. In plain English, that means the hardcore fans saw it immediately but didn't go back, or convince others to buy tickets. It also suggests that certain action franchises do need a star. Given the tarnished fiscal state of the Golden State, Arnold Schwarzenegger may wish he were a movie star again. Indeed, he's spoken of getting back into films after his term is up.

clipped from www.time.com To win a summer weekend, a movie usually needs a star name or an action-film punch, or to be a sequel to or the remake of a blockbuster. Except, that is, for any new Pixar release. Rising on the propulsion of a brand name known for quality entertainment, the studio's tenth animated feature, Up, surpassed most predictions by earning $68.2 million this weekend, according to official projections. Buoyed by higher ticket prices in theaters showing the 3-D version, and rhapsodic reviews that tallied a 98% positive rating on the Rotten Tomatoes web site, Up scored the strongest Pixar opening since The Incredibles in 2004. (Richard Corliss Names the top 10 Pixar Voiceover Artists of All Time) Pixar movies are not, however, the mammoth generators of box-office revenue that they used to be. The 2003 Finding Nemo earned $867 million worldwide — still tops for a Pixar feature — on a reported $94 million budget. WALL-E, which cost about twice as much to make, took in about 40% less.