I can't understand a word in Captain Harlock but I feel oddly compelled to watch it.

I really have no idea what's going on in this movie trailer. Nor do I understand more than half the words, yet I feel oddly compelled to watch the film and pay full price (especially if it's in IMAX). Does that make me weird?

Well I kind of/sorta can figure it out. There's obviously a bad guy flying the spaceship with the skull on it. And the protagonist looks like he's very capable with weapons, is drawn beautiful, and might be a cross between "emo-kid" and a steampunk version of Han Solo. Oh and there's a white elf girl who is the epitome of grace (maybe she's a Princess Leia who's crossed with an elf and who's allowed to eat one cube of cheese a day to stay so small?). The world of Asian anime is so filled with idealistically perfect and emo young white people that it seems somehow wrong, but it may be a part of their culture (not quite sure). I do like all that fabulous hair flowing around though. I'll say it again. THE GUYS HAVE FABULOUS HAIR.

Oh and did I mention that they have a boy band singing the romance music in the background? Guys, it's like all the marketing in the world is converging into a singularity of something that should be so terrible, it just might be the best sci-fi movie of 2013. And even if you disagree, the event horizon created by combining 1) Asian boy band with horrible English pronunciation with 2) anime elves for diversity and 3) lots of beautifully drawn young white boys with incredible hair, and 4) explosions to get your mind off what may be a terrible plot and 5) what may be some of the finest computer animated sex that we'll ever see, will make it impossible for you to avoid.

I hope that after it releases in Japan someone licenses it for America and makes it available here. It gives me chills the same way that Akira gave me chills the first time I saw previews for it decades ago. So yeah, you should watch the video and see if this sci-fi offering from across the Pacific will jiggle your mojo. For the record, my mojo is still jigglin'.

UPDATE: My new friend "AnimeKritik" uploaded this trailer to YouTube with subtitles! So you can now go and read what's going on in English. Thank you so much AnimeKritic. You are amazing :) And a note to my followers: Please go visit their blog in the embedded links.

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Pacific Rim's focus on size proves it's the man card dispensing movie of the decade

I think Pacific Rim will be the one movie this decade that issues a man card at the door with the price of every admissions ticket. Why? Because this movie is all about size, and how that matters. And I think I'm pretty safe in saying, that size only matters to men. Women are probably going to get nothing from this movie, which means unless men blackmail their wives/girlfriends to go and see it, attendance should be pretty much 95% men and 5% women.

That being said, the latest trailer for Guillermo del Toro's "Twilight for Men" has got more testosterone packed into two minutes than a tube of Androgel. My favorite scene in this particular trailer: the huge Jaeger mech that unleashes the forearm blades to eviscerate a kaiju. The penetration and shear gutting power of those weapons has got to be over the top.

The only thing that could make this movie better would be a scenario where (when the two pilots are sharing memories) one pilot has a memory of screwing the other pilot's partner. Why else would you make a device that requires shared memories? The drama potential is unlimited! Here's the trailer in case you missed it when it "erupted" all over the internet last week. Watching it leaves me strangely satisfied, yet wanting. Fancy that.

*****

ANNOUNCEMENT: Author Roland Yeomans' book, The Bear With Two Shadows is available on audiobook now through Audible.com. If you don't know what The Bear with Two Shadows is, think of The Wind in the Willows meets the Lord of the Rings meets Native American mythology. You will never listen to another book like it :).

My thoughts are with you, Oklahoma. You are not alone.

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Brave

This is our first sort of fairytale,” John Lasseter told an eager crowd on the of Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, “This is our first period piece. This is our first female main character. This is Brave.”

The first clip showcased featured the lead, Merida (Kelly Macdonald) riding on her giant horse through the forest, shooting down targets hanging from the trees with her bow and arrow. The horse stops short of a log, throwing her into the mud. In anger, she throws a clod of mud at the horse’s nose, and he snorts it back to his face. She approaches him, angrily, but then kisses his muzzle.

Lasseter was joined on stage by the film’s director, Mark Andrews (clad in a kilt) and producer, Katherine Sarafian. They pointed out that they had two different research trips to Scotland to get everything down.

“We’re inspired by all the stories that are already there,” Andrews told ComingSoon.net backstage after the presentation, “There are stories about every landscape and every tree and every rock. It was inspiring to try and fuse that idea of how it connects us all.”

Sarafian told the crowd that Scotland’s phenomena of blue bog gas, called Wil-o’-the-wisp, will feature prominently in the story. The wisps have the power to “change your fate”, and lead Merida to the cottage of a witch. Seeing this as an opportunity to get away from being married, she insists the witch cast a spell. Naturally, everything goes wrong and the spell starts a chain of events that brings the highlands closer to war.

Concept art for the witch in BRAVE

Macdonald and fellow voice talent Kevin McKidd then took to the stage. McKidd pulls double duty in the film, voicing both Lord. MacGuffin and his incomprehensible son, Young MacGuffin.

“He’s a lovely guy and his heart is in the right place,” McKidd told us, “but no one can work out what he’s saying because he has a strong Scottish accent.”

The next clip featured King Fergus (Billy Connolly), who has called Merida’s suitors together to compete in a game of her choosing, the winner will receive her hand in marriage.

“[Merida] is reeling against her mother,” Macdonald said backstage, “She doesn’t want a suitor. She’s quite happy and wants to live her life, but her mother is trying to create this perfect princess. It’s a bit of their battle and their reconnection.”

Concept Art for Queen Elinor

“Merida sees an opportunity here,” Andrews told the audience in reference to the clip, “Do you know what game she picks?”

To which the crowd shouted back, “Archery!”

Unfinished, the scene played with some parts featured only as animatics and others roughly rendered. Most of the parts with Merida in them played beautifully. As the suitors shoot their arrows, Merida and King Fergus laugh about their ineptitude.

First is Macguffin. He timidly shoots his arrow and barely hits the target. Next is the Gene Simmons-esque son of Lord Macintosh, who fares better than Macguffin but misses the bullseye. He angrily tosses his bow into the crowd, where a young girl shouts “I caught it! Yay!” Finally, the aptly named young Dingwall goes next, barely enough brains in him to knock the bow. King Fergus angrily shouts at him to get on with him, and the spooked by looses the arrow and miraculously gets the bullseye.

Enraged, Merida appears on the field and shouts that she will be competing for her own hand. As she gets a perfect bullseye in the first target, her mother screams at her to get stop. Merida ignores her, and goes to the second one. At Dingwall’s, she not only splits the arrow, but her arrow cuts all the way through to the scaffolding of the target. Merida then turns to face her furious mother and the clip ends.

“We have our own take on Scottish lore,” Sarafian said of the overall tone of Brave, “It’s really Pixar lore, but it’s set in Scotland and its inspired by Scottish storytelling and designed to be a story that’s perfectly set in that landscape.”

Brave hits theaters on June 22, 2012, right after Prometheus :)) Oh summer...how I love thee.

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A King has his reign, and then he dies.

Those are the words spoken by (I believe) Noomi Rapace's character at the start of the amazing second trailer for Prometheus, which was unveiled at Wonder Con just this weekend. Knowing just a smidge about this film, I think that the words are chilling because the context may be a double entendre.  The "king" may also refer to man's domination of the universe and how it may eventually end:

And here is the viral Weyland Industries birth of David the Android

that was also released this weekend.

For those of you who are new to my blog, ‘Prometheus’ is a sci-fi film based on the Alien universe. It stars Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace and was shot on the RED Epic cameras and the Element Technica ATOM 3d rig. It releases in June 2012.

Director: Ridley Scott
Producer: Tony Scott
Cinematographer: Dariusz Wolski

Dariusz Wolski had this to say about the Epic camera and his work on Prometheus:

"In my opinion, the new Red Epic camera is about to revolutionize all spectrums of the film industry.

I am amazed with the quality of the image and the fact that you can shoot 5k at 120fps without compromising resolution, and...most of all...the size of the camera. 

Combined with the Element Technica Atom 3d rig, we will be able to shoot a 3d movie with the flexibility of a conventional cinema camera. 

I don’t see anything that comes close to it at the moment. I can’t even imagine the potential Epic will have on the big blockbuster industry as well as independent cinema."

HERE is my post on the TED video wherein Peter Weyland explains the myth of Prometheus.
HERE is my post showing Prometheus fan art.
HERE is my post of the entire Prometheus plot. Warning: SPOILERS! But it's epic.
HERE is a link to my Christmas Post wherein I embed the first Prometheus trailer.
HERE is my first post on Prometheus.

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