Black Tuesday

I fear that today may be the day. All signs are pointing to it. The end is near. I should have worn a black armband today, because it is expected to be announced that Disney has indeed bought Pixar. Not just struck a deal. Bought. Incorporated. Enveloped and consumed. And this may very well be the slow, agonizing death of Pixar. I hope I'm wrong...........I hope I'm wrong.

transformers test footage

In case anyone wants the link to ilm test footage for the Transformers movie effects, here you go.
http://rapidshare.de/files/10753999/sideswipe.mpeg.html
I'm still not sure about this. I heard they were going to make it like the old cartoon, but I think if they make it too much like the old cartoon, it'll suck. Everyone who was a fan of that old show is now grown, and hopefully so have their tastes. I think they should keep the core idea, the characters, and the look of the cars as best they can, but make the story more serious. I have a feeling we have another Scooby-Doo or Garfield movie coming our way though. Makes me sad.

Munich

Ok, I went and saw The Chronicles of Narnia last night, which was ok, but nothing spectacular. The CG was great on Aslan and the beavers, the little girl was good, and Tilda Swinton was great (though I still love her in Constantine best), but it just didn't get me excited.
So as usual, we snuck into another movie, and the one that was most convenient happened to be Munich.
Now, I have to say, I already liked everyone involved with this movie, but I was still blown away by how good this movie is. Everyone brings their A-game to this film. Bana is probably going to be nominated for an Oscar here, and if Ciaran Hinds (Caesar in Rome) is ignored for supporting actor, I'll be pissed. Daniel Craig (Layer Cake) is terrific, and Mathieu Kassovitz (Amelie) is for lack of a better word, adorable, as the toy maker turned bomb maker. Geoffry Rush has a small part, but every scene he's in he steals. And all the other players turn in top notch performances, no matter how big or small their part.
But perhaps the best part of this film is that it restores one's faith in Spielberg. I for one thought the man was slipping a bit, and forgetting how to keep audiences attention glued to the screen. War of the Worlds was good, but there were parts that lagged, and the last quarter of the movie was pretty weak. And his other movies have been kind of lack-luster. The last great movie he made was probably Saving Private Ryan. And I think Munich is far better than that even.
So far, it's my choice for best picture of the year.

Kong

Oh yeah, and if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend Kong. Awesome work, and I swear I kept having to remind myself that Kong was entirely digital. I thought I was looking at a real living Gorilla.

Movies movies movies

So, as usual for Xmas, I got a bunch of DVDs. I got The Frighteners Directors Cut, Serenity, Sin City Extended Edition, The Brothers Grimm, and Star Wars III. The Frighteners and Sin City ones have the best extras of the bunch.
For the Frighteners, I love how Peter Jackson doesn't try to hide any of the "secrets" of the film. They put the laserdisc 4 hour behind the scenes feature on this DVD. About damn time.
Sin City has some really great extras too. I love The Long Cut where it shows about 15 minutes of uninterrupted footage with Tarantino directing. Also the 15 minute film school is good. Not as good as the one on Once Upon a Time in Mexico or El Mariachi, but still really good. And the highspeed green screen of the whole movie is fun to watch.
Serenity doesn't have a whole lot of bonus stuff aside from the usual, but it's still a great film. I loved Firefly though, but I don't think you have to have seen that to enjoy the flick.
Star Wars has a few good tidbits in the extras department, but I still don't love the movie. It's decent and has great effects, but the story felt WAY too rushed and slapped together. oh well.
The Brothers Grimm was fun, but didn't feel quite the same as the usual Gilliam movies. Still, a good fairy tale movie, and reminded me of Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow.