Flickchart Road Trip: Delaware
14 May2013
Welcome to the latest installment of Flickchart Road Trip, in which I’m starting in Los Angeles and “driving” across country, watching one movie from each state and posting about it once a week. The new movie I watch will go up against five movies from that state I’ve already seen, chosen from five distinct spots on my own Flickchart. Although I won’t tell you where the new movie actually lands in my chart (I don’t like to add new movies until I’ve had a month to think about them), I’ll let you know how it fared among the five I’ve chosen. Thanks for riding shotgun!
Delaware. Delaware. I’ve lost sleep over Delaware.
What would happen when I finally arrived, and couldn’t find five movies I’d seen set in Delaware? What would happen when I couldn’t find three? It threatened all the assumptions — nay, the very foundation — of this blog series.
The Top Ten Superman Movies of All-Time
13 May2013
Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 in the summer of 1938. An instant sensation, Superman was quickly brought to radio in 1940 and hit the screen in 1941. With Man of Steel on the horizon, every movie and geek culture website on the Internet has reflected on his past movie adventures. What separates Flickchart from all the others is that our ranked lists aren’t arbitrarily pieced together by a single writer, or even a select editorial team. Our empirical data comes from each and every Flickchart user, so we’re pretty confident that our list of the Best Superman Movies is the most accurate. Here are the top ten.
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by Nigel Druitt
Capital 8 Theaters in Jefferson City, Missouri is coming under fire this week for a publicity stunt it pulled for the premiere of Iron Man 3. To promote the film, several people were hired to dress in full tactical gear with fake weapons and storm the screening.
Several 911 calls were fielded by the local police office from theatergoers who panicked at the stunt. “We’re just getting into the car when I spotted a man in full assault gear, carrying what appeared to be a modified M-4 and 9 mm on his side,” one patron, an Army veteran, said.
“We received a series of 911 calls stating that a man dressed in all black and body armor and a rifle was walking into Capital 8 Theaters,” Capt. Doug Shoemaker of the Jefferson City police told the local news. “Everything was in place, it’s the opening night of a superhero movie, it’s somebody walking in all-dark clothes, everything pointed to bad things about to happen. There’s really no good that can come of this.”
Given the shootings that occurred at a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, California last year, one has to wonder how anybody could possibly have thought this stunt would be a good idea. But the manager of Capital 8 Theaters, Bob Wilkins, defends the stunt, and claims it was planned months in advance.
“My job is to entertain people,” Wilkins told the press.
This stunt, of course, goes above and beyond projecting a movie and selling popcorn. Wilkins and his staff did have somebody in an Iron Man costume, but it would be far too easy to mistake supposed “S.H.I.E.L.D. agents” as something more sinister. Somebody’s taking his job too seriously… or not seriously enough.
- In: Movie News
First Poster for Alfonso Cuarón’s ‘Gravity’
10 May2013
by Nigel Druitt
Warner Bros. has released the first tease for director Alfonso Cuarón‘s upcoming sci-fi epic, Gravity. The studio unleashed the striking image on Twitter with the tagline “Don’t Let Go”.
The film stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, and we should find out even more soon; Warner Bros. plans to release the first trailer on Friday. For now, here’s the synopsis:
Dr. Ryan Stone (Bullock) is a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney). But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone—tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth…and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.
Cuarón is responsible for the utterly beautiful Children of Men (which ranks an impressive #290 on the global Flickchart), so I, for one, can’t wait for his next foray into science fiction.
Gravity is due for release on October 4.
WATCH: Spock vs. Spock
9 May2013
by Nigel Druitt
Star Trek Into Darkness is just around the corner, but for anyone who wants a little more Spock (or two) in their life, check out this great video featuring a reunion between the two Spock actors, Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy, after their work together in Star Trek.
This commercial for Audi features Nimoy trouncing Quinto at a game of virtual 3D chess, but when the two decide to get together for a round of golf, Quinto’s spiffy Audi S7 trounces Nimoy’s Mercedes. This video is full of great Trek moments, and nods to Nimoy’s work in general. Watch it below.
[youtuber youtube='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPkByAkAdZs']
Quinto will beam back into theaters as Spock in Star Trek Into Darkness May 17.
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by Nigel Druitt
Thursday is the new Friday, apparently.
A new trend is emerging where big movies are opening a day or two early to pad opening weekend grosses. Star Trek Into Darkness (opening today in the UK, Australia and some other countries), which has already had IMAX preview screenings in place for Wednesday, May 15, will now officially open domestically on Thursday, May 16, a day earlier than originally intended.
And now, Warner Bros. has announced that The Hangover Part III will open a day earlier as well, on Thursday, May 23, with “traditional late-night screenings” on Wednesday.
It’s a cash grab, just as the release date-change is with Star Trek, but the bump for The Hangover has an additional purpose: Memorial Day weekend is crowded. Bumping the release date will give The Hangover a head start on Universal’s action sequel, Fast & Furious 6, and Fox/Blue Sky’s animated flick, Epic.
No matter what happens, Memorial Day weekend should be a pretty big one at the box office. The Hangover Part III is just determined to be the first one out of the gate. Apparently, Part III is doing well in preview screenings – after Part II was given a more lukewarm reception – so we’ll see if the studio’s tactic works.
via Deadline
- In: Movie News
by Nigel Druitt
Fantasy adventure is big business nowadays, particularly at Warner Bros., who currently have Peter Jackson‘s Hobbit trilogy firing on all cylinders. Now, the studio has acquired the rights to make a movie based on the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.
It seems like a no-brainer; Dungeons & Dragons has generated more than $1 billion in revenue from books and merchandise since its launch in 1974, and with the advancements in filmmaking technology that have come along since Jackson adapted the “unfilmable” Lord of the Rings novels, it looks as though the WB is putting this one on the fast track. They already have a script from Wrath of the Titans and Red Riding Hood scribe David Leslie Johnson.
The film will be produced by Roy Lee and Courtney Solomon, who are behind the currently-developing The Lego Movie. Solomon actually directed a Dungeons & Dragons film starring Jeremy Irons that died a painful death at the box office in 2000. (That movie barely registers on Flickchart, with a global rank of #9805 and a nasty 13% win percentage.)
One can hope Warner Bros. will do the popular property a better favor with this new version.
via Deadline
- In: Movie News
Flickchart Road Trip: Maryland
8 May2013
Welcome to the latest installment of Flickchart Road Trip, in which I’m starting in Los Angeles and “driving” across country, watching one movie from each state and posting about it once a week. The new movie I watch will go up against five movies from that state I’ve already seen, chosen from five distinct spots on my own Flickchart. Although I won’t tell you where the new movie actually lands in my chart (I don’t like to add new movies until I’ve had a month to think about them), I’ll let you know how it fared among the five I’ve chosen. Thanks for riding shotgun!
This past week represented at least my fourth trip to Maryland, which isn’t that much of a surprise since one of the best men at my wedding (I had two) grew up there and still lives there now. It was to attend his wedding that I visited Annapolis back in 2011, and to give a speech that was sort of funny but failed to really explain to everyone how awesome he is. Thankfully, it wasn’t one of those train wreck wedding speeches you always see in the movies, but I still regret that it was more roast than toast. Oh well. They were at his wedding, so I’m sure they know he’s awesome.
by Nigel Druitt
Google has a fantastic video tribute to Saul Bass on their homepage today. Known for designing movie posters and title sequences for filmmakers including Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese and Alfred Hitchcock, Bass’s work was incredibly unique in its minimalism and striking imagery.
Google’s video pays tribute to Bass’s work on films like Vertigo, Anatomy of a Murder, Spartacus and West Side Story. Check it out below.
[youtuber youtube='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUwL03mr6dI']
The video is timed to celebrate Bass’s 93rd birthday. Bass died in 1996 in Los Angeles at the age of 75.
- In: Movie News
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