John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

The (Disney) road not taken with Where the Wild Things Are

Our boy is really curious to see the adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, the much-delayed (it was shot almost three years ago) film by Spike Jonze. It's the not the first attempt, though. In the early 1980s, John Lasseter - who would go on to cofound Pixar (and run Disney) - helped with a digital mockup for the backgrounds of a film version that never came to be.

World Builder: A showreel that really showed

Below is World Builder, a short film that has become an internet sensation in the last couple of weeks. As of Monday, it had been viewed a million times online in just a couple of weeks ... which says something about how videos can get passed around online. Filmmaker Bruce Branit, who shot the live action sequences in a single day and then spent two years on the dazzling post-production work he wanted to show to the world, sent World Builder to various festivals, with evidently little success.

The web, though, has made it a phenomenon. If you have eight or so minutes, take a look. It's beautiful to watch, but it has a lot of heart, too, with a story that's as much about love as it is about virtual reality.

World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.

Quantum of Solace... oh dear

I'm really looking forward to Quantum of Solace, the upcoming Bond movie; I always anticipate them, but not like lately. Casino Royale was the best Bond movie I've seen in theatres. (My favourites - a few Connerys, and of course On Her Majesty's Secret Service - came out before I was old enough to buy my own popcorn, as it were.) Mark Kermode bitches enough about it here, though, to take the air out of my imported tires. (I hope he's wrong.) 

Update: A friend sends this link to a review in the Australian; this reviewer quite liked it.

Presto

Presto was the latest of a great line of Pixar shorts, released earlier this year with Wall-E.

Cool hand Harry ... er, Luke

Geektastic:

From Geekstir, which is always worth a laugh.

A big Mac attack, via Die Hard

Justin Long - the laid-back Mac to John Hodgman's button-down PC in those ubiquitous Apple ads - is not just a pitchman; he's been in movies for a decade or so. Live Free or Die Hard takes him to another level of celebrity. The teaser (the above frame was lifted from it) didn't reveal much about his role or the plot, but promised lots of bangs, blams and totally logical explosions involving four-way car collisions topped off by a dropping vehicle ... with the protagonists, of course, surviving. The trailer has more detail. Yep, I'll be there, scarfing back the popcorn, rolling my eyes, and having a great time.

Perfect for those Hoth evenings

You learn new things every day - like the existence of the Softie Awards. Or even the existence of "softies," which evidently are hand-crafted textiles that generally are kind of cute; the awards have a functional category, and here's the one that made me laugh out loud:

A thought on frames

"Cinema is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out."
- Martin Scorsese

Bean there, done that

Mr. Bean will be returning soon to movie theatres (in Mr. Bean's Holiday), although co-creator Rowan Atkinson says this will likely be it:

"You must never say never and I'm certainly not saying never but I think it's highly unlikely that I'll want to play the character again. I think we've done all we can reasonably expect to achieve."

I recall reading that Mr. Bean is one of the most successful TV series worldwide, for one very good reason: it was almost entirely silent, which made it easy to play in any language. I was a bit disappointed with the first film; maybe the second will be more satisfying.

Filmgoers in the U.K. and at least Australia will see Mr. Bean's Holiday later this month. Here in Canada, we're tied to an American release date of late September. The trailer is here. In the meantime, you can play some games at the official site.

Liebowitz Hollywood portfolios

Since 1995, Annie Liebowitz has done gatefold covers for Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood issue. The series, featuring a slew of ascending and reigning stars, was an interesting idea (and controversial, with a decision to put the first lot of starlets in underwear), but it ran out of steam; last year's cover - with Tom Ford and a nude Kiera Knightley and Scarlett Johansson - was proof enough that good ideas were spent. This year features just four funny guys ... with at least a joke on the inside, with nothing but penguins on the gatefold's turn pages.

The Vanity Fair site offers a slideshow of the whole series here.