Holy Hot Damn… those are the first three words that came to mind after seeing this film this evening. As I mentioned prior, I minored in History and have researched Hoover in many instances and I must say, Clint Eastwood did a magnificent job with this film.

I know many people are going to moan and groan about Leonardo DiCaprio playing the former FBI Director, and the only thing I have to say to that, is watch your tongue. This is an Oscar worthy performance which he surely deserves and probably will get. Hollywood gets a stiffy over Bio Pics and this is one of the best I have ever seen.

Eastwood tells the story through both avenues of the story of the troubled director.

::SPOILER ALERT::

We get the story from the viewpoint of Hoover and then the audience is shocked to learn that Hoover’s story he has been telling throughout the whole film is not all reality. Those of you who know your history will pick up on this right away. The scenes of major historical importance are done wonderfully.

::END SPOILER ALERT::

The only complaint I have is the actor who plays President Nixon at the end of the film. Could have been cast a bit better, but that’s okay. I know many others have criticized this movie for its makeup and lighting and the such, and I must admit, there was some bad makeup, but not in the case of Hoover or Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts). The story is not confusing unless you’re a complete idiot and not following what’s going on. That was another argument against this film that I had read, simply untrue.

Regardless if you are on the fence with this film, drop the money and see it, you won’t be disappointed, and don’t be cheap! Many theaters have discount nights or whatever if you want to take advantage of that, but I even would have spent the ten bucks on this film and I’m super cheap!

Enjoy!

-Jim

…and the trailer to the only movie I really give a rat’s ass about this year.

NYCC 2011 unveiled some of the 3 3/4 inch action figure line  for next summer’s release of Marvel’s Avengers!

Enjoy the pictures of Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Loki! We stole  found these pictures on an internet message board, but they are clearly from Marvelous news, so go czech those guys out for more cool Marvel news!

HULK PLASTIC!!! RAAAGGHRRGRHRRAAA!!!

My Superpower is that I'm Jeremy Renner. Take THAT, undisclosed villains!

Yeah. We will most likely both be one per case. No love, I swear.

Dammit, 70 years and I still can't get away from costumes designed by a Stark...

…wait …who?

Comingsoon (and lots of other sites) are reporting the following news about the Hobbit toys:

Warner Bros. Consumer Products has awarded The Bridge Direct, Inc. the Master Toy License for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again. The toy line will launch in the fall of 2012:

Warner Bros. Consumer Products is pleased to announce today that it has awarded the worldwide master toy and game licensing rights for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again to The Bridge Direct, Inc., the global children’s consumer products company. The Bridge will develop an exciting array of products inspired by the two films being directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson—who previously brought Middle-earth to life with the award-winning blockbuster The Lord of the Rings trilogy—including action figures, playsets, and role play accessories, which are expected to debut at retail in fall 2012 prior to the December 14 release of the first film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

“We’re thrilled about our partnership with The Bridge Direct, which produces engaging products that will recreate the storyline with stunning detail,” said Karen McTier, Executive Vice President of Domestic Licensing and Worldwide Marketing for Warner Bros. Consumer Products. “Thanks to many of the same creative minds behind The Lord of the Rings trilogy products, we’re looking forward to unveiling a robust toy line for the two films that captures the excitement of the beloved adventure and delights loyal fans of the series.”

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again promise a timeless story, a broad range of appealing characters, thrilling action and the incomparable movie magic brought to life by master filmmaker Peter Jackson, all of which will make for an amazing toy line,” said Jay Foreman, President and CEO of The Bridge.

Timed to reach consumers prior to the December 14, 2012 release of the first film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Bridge will debut a multi-category toy line. The battle begins with Basic Action Figures, Adventure Packs, Beast Packs, and highly detailed Collector Figures. Fans can become real-life heroes with premium role play items including a Basic Sting Sword, a Basic Orcrist Sword, a Dwarven Battle Axe, and a Deluxe Sting Sword that features a blue glow just like in the film, bringing the thrill and the fantasy of the two films to life. The Bridge will reveal the 2012 product line to key retail partners in the coming weeks.

This news has been met with gloom and doom by just about every toy blog and news site out there. How did the company known mostly for the fad of Zhu-Zhu pets and Justin Bieber dolls get the high profile Hobbit licence?

Toy Biz had the license for the standard figures the first time around (for LOTR) and made a masterful collection of amazing figures. I still have a large display of them in my office, and my kids love coming over and playing with and looking at them. Yes, I let my children play with my collectibles. Well… some of them, at least…

But people/fans seem to have forgotten that Toy Biz was not the only player for LOTR merchandise back for the first movies. The license was split and different companies got different pieces of the merch pie. Toy Biz had 6-inch figures, Playmates had LEGO-like “building sets”, and a company called Play Along Toys had a small-scale figure line called “The Armies of Middle Earth”. These were small but articulated figures and environments that were pretty nice, in my opinion. I still have the Balrog set on my movie shelves in my family room.

So what, you may ask? Well, the head of The Bridge Direct, Inc. is Jay Foreman. Jay Foreman was formerly the President of Play Along Toys, the same company that created the Armies of Middle Earth figures. Also, the GM of New Business Development over at The Bridge is George Vorkas, who was a senior executive over at Toy Biz. I’m not certain, but I’m willing to guess he was there during the Toy Biz LOTR run. You can read the management bios for The Bridge over at their website.

In case you doubt that they do in fact have the Hobbit license, you can read the section on The Bridge’s site about their toy lines and if you scroll down you can see the Hobbit in that list.

Side note, the Bridge Direct are also planning to make stuff for the Annoying Orange, which makes me laugh and kind of freaks me out at the same time.

Back to the discussion at hand, I think it is way too soon to be spazzing/freaking out/upset about this announcement. It looks like the team behind the Hobbit toys has the experience with LOTR needed and the company certainly knows how to handle large and popular toy lines.

I look forward to seeing what is in store and I am certainly hoping for the best!

UPDATE: 10/14/2011

I had posted this article over on the Bridge’s Facebook page and got a response!

Here it is form the Bridge Direct, erm… direct!

“Rest assured that our team – from the CEO to the designers – has plenty of experience from the LOTR and other action figure lines, and the Hobbit is going to be great! Thanks for your support!”

Live-size, live-action “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots?”

Yes please!

The premise is pretty basic: a down-on-his-luck former boxing champ Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) needs cash for a new robot so he can make some $$$ in the ring as the sport of boxing has been outlawed and replaced with robot fighters. In debt to a lot people, he gets stuck with the child he fathered from a previous relationship. Discovering a robot buried in a scrapyard, it turns out there might be more to it (the robot’s name is ‘Atom’) than meets the eye (pun intended).

So how was it?

Very good flick!

Sure – it borrows heavily fro

m “Rocky,” “Over The Top” and a bit of “Short Circuit”  (is or isn’t the robot ‘Atom’ sentient?) but the movie hits it’s story beats perfectly and the film is well-crafted so you actually enjoy it despite the seeing the story outcome from the very beginning.

PROS:

The row-buts – very well-designed and executed. This one of those rare occasions where the CGI and the Puppetry / Animatronics is seamless (the last time I couldn’t tell when I genuinely knew there was an even mix was 2001′s Jurassic Park 3 with the Spinosaurus / Tyrannosaurus Rex brawl – I still can’t really separate the two technologies)!

The cast – especially the kid. 99.9% of the time you can’t stand the kid; the kid here is genuinely likable, smart and the story treats him as an equal to Jackman’s character.

Danny Elfman’s score – a very non-Elfman score, which so far, I’ve only heard once and that was 2003′s Hulk. You know what I’m talking about – Elfman’s Tim Burton mesh that is distinguishable and in the majority of 90% of film scores. This is a good thing as I like it when composers venture out into unfamiliar territory (Compare the Spider-Man score to Men In Black and you’ll see what I mean…).

One other thing I like – the date in which the film takes place is never mentioned; closest we get is the fact that one of the robots was manufactured in 2014. One of the thing I hate most that sci-fi flicks are esp. guilty of is “dating” their future. Nothing kills the escapism of a film than seeing a date, esp. a current “future” date which hasn’t quite turned out the way predicted (SeaQuest’s “guv’ment banning of beef” in 2004, anyone?). The only thing fanciful are the robots and the sleekness of some of the tech; but just like the swingin’ 60′s fifty-years past, people still wear business suits, jeans, sweatpants, sneakers, dresses, etc. and all the daily shenanigans of life play out as normal.

CONS:

The only real “con” I see is the story is a cobbling of already familiar plotlines…

The “champ / underdog” and “over-the-hill sportsman gets another shot of glory” of “Rocky…”

The “son travels with father to questionable locals while dealing / betting with shady characters” of “Over The Top…”

The “bad father who truly loves his son / discovers love for his son” from just about any family drama…

…but like a said – the film is so well made and adds some new tracks to the well-beaten path that you just follow along happily.

What I’m saying is…

…the movie was good – better, in fact, than some (most) of the mega-budget summer popcorn flicks!

Support it and go and see it!

TWEET TO DECIDE WHO IN THE WORLD SEES “PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3” FIRST!

 

Paramount Pictures Launches First Ever Global “Tweet To See It First” to Kick Off the Eagerly Awaited 3^rd Installment of the Thriller Franchise

 

Movie Will Premiere in 20 Cities Worldwide on October 18^th

 

HOLLYWOOD, CA (September 28, 2011) – In an unprecedented move, Paramount Pictures will debut PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 exclusively in cities where the most fans “Tweet To See It First”. This first ever of its kind campaign launched today at 8:00 a.m. PDT and is open to fans worldwide. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 will premiere on October 18^th in the top 20 cities with the most tweets, 3 days before the film’s global release.

 

“The support of this franchise from the online community is phenomenal. We again look to reward them for that support by offering them the chance to see it first, this time expanding our reach globally,” said Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount Pictures.

 

To vote, fans can go to www.ParanormalMovie.com and select their city from a global map, which will also serve as the point of entry to create a tweet with a special set of hash tags that link directly to twitter. Once a tweet posts, it counts as a vote. A leader board will show the top 20 global markets in real-time.

 

The “Tweet To See It First” competition is available to audiences worldwide and ends at 11:59 p.m. PDT on Thursday, October 13^th. The top 20 cities will be announced on Friday, October 14^th.

 

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 is produced by Jason Blum, Oren Peli and Steven Schneider and directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman from a screenplay by Christopher Landon. Follow PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TweetYourScream for audience reactions and important announcements.

 

About Paramount Pictures Corporation

Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands.  The company’s labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies.  PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group and Paramount Television & Digital Distribution.

…Or maybe not. It’s “artsy”.

OVERALL: I didn’t like this movie. It’s more notable to me for the camera they built to shoot it with which gave the film a unique feel.

I don’t want to be mean, because I’m not about tearing people down, especially when I know how much work goes into a film.  I heard secondhand that this cost just shy of $20k to make. That is amazing and admirable.

This movie would have worked well as a short. The story only picks up and gets interesting over halfway through and then only about the last 20 minutes or so breathe any sort of life on the screen. I heard someone describe this style of indie film as “mumblecore”.  I think that fits perfectly. It’s kind of interesting to look at for a little while, but the acting, directing and dialogue are so unfocused and sloppy that you quickly lose interest. It’s like when you find that you have a voicemail from someone you know that was left inadvertently. You can hear people talking, and you sort of have a challenge trying to figure out what they are saying and if they are actually talking to you, but then you realize it’s just a boring everyday conversation about something mundane and you stop listening and delete it. That’s what 80% of this movie feels like.

I was excited at the prospect of fire and guns and cars that shoot fire and the whole “Mad Max” obsession. I am also into all of those things. But this movie wastes them and tries instead to make you realize how much it sucks for a young man in today’s world with love and betrayal and friendships and blah blah blah. I kind of expected Woodrow to stop and say “I’m just so angry and young and angsty and confused!” while shaking his fists at the sky. These types of “youth in turmoil” statements work in movies where you care about the characters and the drama is set against some other forward moving factor: a war, a civil movement, a change in family (divorce, death, remarriage), going to college, etc. But this angst and aimlessness is the focus of this movie, which means it crawls along at a snails pace for the viewer. It’s like watching the channel in some apartments where you can see who is down at the lobby door.

But on the plus side, the car (Medusa) is pretty sweet.

This trailer actually makes it look really cool and action packed. Well done, marketers!

ACTING: I give respect to the lead Evan Glodell (he is also the director). He is a likable chap and I could see him playing both a good-natured everyman and a darker more sinister character, both of which he kind of gets to play in this movie. The rest of the cast is OK for this indie type of movie. Nothing great or amazing, but they show up and do the job.

FAMILY FACTOR: Strong language and brief bursts of violence abound in this flick. There is a bit of nudity and sexual situations. It’s not a movie for kids by any means.

SEE IN THE THEATER: If you like to support indie cinema. I think Evan Glodell has a future in movie-making, even if this film didn’t really gel into something interesting.

Bellflower is running in limited engagement all over the country RIGHT NOW. Check here for where it is playing near you: http://www.bellflower-themovie.com/theaters/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“FRIGHT NIGHT”  INVITES YOU TO ENJOY A QUICK BITE

WITH FRIDAY’S FEEDING FRENZY CUPCAKES

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – August 17, 2011 – Minneapolis workers, ravenous after a long week, are invited to sink their teeth into a bloody good treat this Friday, August 19.  The Cupcake Café truck will be parked from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM at 10^th Street & Nicollet Avenue to help celebrate the upcoming theatrical release of “Fright Night,” where the first 100 people to stake their spot in line will be treated to a Feeding Frenzy Cupcake, as well as other movie prizes.  Don’t miss out, these red velvet cupcakes are to die for.

“Fright Night” is about senior Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin), who finally has it all—he’s running with the popular crowd and dating the hottest girl in high school. In fact, he’s so cool he’s even dissing his best friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). But trouble arrives when an intriguing stranger Jerry (Colin Farrell) moves in next door. He seems like a great guy at first, but there’s something not quite right— yet no one, including Charley’s mom (Toni Collette), seems to notice!  After witnessing some very unusual activity, Charley comes to an unmistakable conclusion: Jerry is a vampire preying on his neighborhood. Unable to convince anyone that he’s telling the truth, Charley has to find a way to get rid of the monster himself in this revamp of the comedy-horror classic.

“Fright Night” is produced by Michael De Luca and Alison Rosenzweig, with a screenplay by Marti Noxon and story by Tom Holland, based on the film “Fright Night,” written by Tom Holland.

www.welcometofrightnight.com

“Fright Night” opens nationwide on Friday, August 19, 2011.

It is rated R for bloody horror violence, and language including some sexual references.

 

Click to make it freaking huge and scroll-y.