movies
Via Move Gifss
Many Bothans died to bring us this information.
While Disney has been happily jumping into their Scrooge McDonald-esque swimming pool of gold after the release of Rogue One, the rest of us are still watching Star Wars the old fashioned way. Apparently, the Mouse House has a 4K transfer of the Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope locked in the Disney Vault. But one man has seen it: Rogue One director Gareth Edwards. Help us, Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re our only hope.
Talking to Little White Lies, Edwards discussed his first day of work on Rogue One, and it’s definitely much better than sitting down with HR and learning the dress code. He got to watch A New Hope in pristine 4K. He says:
On day one, we were in Lucasfilm in San Francisco with Industrial Light and Magic and John [Knoll], our supervisor, he said that they’ve got a brand new 4K restoration print of A New Hope — it had literally just been finished. He suggested we sit and watch it. Obviously, I was up for that. Me, the writer, lots of the story people and John all sat down, we all had our little notepads, we were all ready for this. I’ll add that I’ve seen A New Hope hundreds of times. So I was sat there, ready to take notes and really delve under the surface of the film. You have the Fox fanfare, then scrolling text with ‘A long time ago…’, and then the main music begins. Next thing we knew it had ended, and we looked around to one another and just thought — sh*t, we didn’t take any notes. You can’t watch it without getting carried away. It’s really hard to get into an analytical filmmaker headspace with this film. It just turns you into a child.
This dude is just trying to make us feel bad.
Edwards doesn’t say whether this is the original cut or that one with that awful CGI Jabba the Hutt, nor did he mention whether this would ever see the light of day, but he did make our little Star Wars-obsessed lives green with envy.
Via Comicbook.com
Melding the bright colors and imagination of Inside Out and the crude, everything’s for sale cynicism of Trolls, Sony Pictures is delighted to present The Emoji Movie, and even they seem a little “meh” on it.
Following the story of what your Emoji keyboard is really up to when you’re not frantically Googling “What is life supposed to mean anyway?” The Emoji Movie boasts a star-studded cast including “Smiley Face” and “Poop Emoji,” who, get this, has a really dignified voice!
Ugh. Why is this happening? Oh, right, we’re in hell.
Sony Released an official synopsis, which, jeez, what’s going on where they had to make this movie?
“The Emoji Movie unlocks the never-before-seen secret world inside your smartphone. Hidden within the messaging app is Textopolis [Ed. Come on], a bustling city where all your favorite emojis live, hoping to be selected by the phone’s user [Ed. Stop]. In this world, each emoji has only one facial expression – except for Gene (T.J. Miller), an exuberant emoji who was born without a filter and is bursting with multiple expressions. Determined to become “normal” like the other emojis, Gene enlists the help of his handy best friend Hi-5 (James Corden) and the notorious code breaker emoji Jailbreak (Ilana Glazer). Together, they embark on an epic “app-venture” [Ed. Who is this joke for?] through the apps on the phone, each its own wild and fun world, to find the Code that will fix Gene. But when a greater danger threatens the phone, the fate of all emojis depends on these three unlikely friends who must save their world before it’s deleted forever. Directed by Tony Leondis. Written by Tony Leondis & Eric Siegel and Mike White. Produced by Michelle Raimo Kouyate.”
The Emoji Movie opens August 4, so you better start calling your state and local representatives now.
Via truTV
Adam ruins everything, but neglect saved It’s a Wonderful Life.
In a brief clip from Adam Ruins Everything, the eponymous ruiner actually tells how public disinterest in It’s a Wonderful Life saved it from obscurity.
As he explains, the movie tanked hard at the box office. Despite being nominated for six Oscars, the film was a huge loss for RKO Studios. It was even of interest to the FBI, who found the portrayal of bank Mr. Potter a threat to capitalism.
“With regard to the picture It's a Wonderful Life, [redacted] stated in substance that the film represented rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a "scrooge-type" so that he would be the most hated man in the picture. This, according to these sources, is a common trick used by Communists.”
“In addition, [redacted] stated that, in his opinion, this picture deliberately maligned the upper class, attempting to show the people who had money were mean and despicable characters.”
Luckily for the FBI, no one saw the picture, sparing millions of hardworking, capitalist consumers from communist subversion. However, that same capitalist instinct to save money actually led to the film’s revival.
Because no one cared for It’s A Wonderful Life, the copyright lapsed and was free for TV stations to air whenever they wanted. They started airing it every Christmas, and America was never the same. A full-blown communist take over was underway, which is why we live in the Soviet Union of America today. Hey, as the old saying goes, “No man’s a failure who has comrades.”
Via Mark Rober
You’ll shoot your eye out, or will you?
Don’t you want to know if a bb gun can shoot your eye out will? What about if you put a blow torch on your head for seven seconds? If a 95mph snowball hurts?
Now, before you run out and try them for yourself, these "professionals" tested them out for themselves. From A Christmas Story to Home Alone, these two test out the most famous Christmas movie myths. Watch as they shoot a cow eye with a bb gun, test a 95mph snowball, and more. The results may shock you.
Via Jim Casey
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. So YouTuber Jim Casey complied the shots that worked out.
In his video “The Most Beautiful Shots In Movie History,” you can see the most beautifully constructed shots of all time, and man, is it relaxing. With shots from Star Wars, Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, Days of Glory, The Shining, and more, you’re sure to see some of your favorites in here, and you might even leave with a new appreciation for the craft that went into them.
Also, check out part two, which opens with a clip of Orson Welles’ saying, “I thought you could do anything with a camera that an eye could do or the imagination could do. I didn’t know there were things you couldn’t do.” These videos prove him right.
So chill out with these two videos and the some of the most impressive shots in history.
Shhh… Martin Scorsese is working. Oh, wait, he’s done.
The trailer for Scorsese's long-gestating passion project, Silence, is finally here, and people are pretty excited for this one. Based on the novel by Japanese author Shusaku Endo, the film follows two Portuguese priests in search of their lost mentor in Japan.
It should come as no surprise that people are already predicting Oscars because he’s one of our greatest living filmmakers and the cast is stuffed with some Hollywood favorites, like Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, and Liam Neeson.
It does look gorgeous. You know what, everybody, be quiet, we’re watching the trailer for Silence. I’ll let the trailer do the talking.
It’s a big moment when you bust out of your teen years and into your 20s. No more mom and dad telling you what to do.
For the movie Space Jam, that time has come.
Turning 20 today, the Bugs Bunny/Michael Jordan vehicle has fans of all ages thinking back to that magical day in 1996 when they saw Space Jam for the first time. Step back with us, won’t you?
Disney has a rich history of animating folkstories and fairytales to massive success. Their cartoons fills stores, amusement parks, and my childhood toy box. Disney, however, was eventually replaced as the king of cartoons by Pixar, who shifted the trend from hand drawn movies to computer generated ones. Disney, who owns Pixar, has only recently recovered from that with the likes of Frozen.
But in the last few years, Disney realized it didn’t need to find new fairytales, when they could just remake their own movies with actual people and computer generated animals. Starting with 2014’s Maleficent and through 2016’s monster-hit The Jungle Book, Disney opened the Disney Vault and filled it with money.
Which brings us to Disney’s latest live-action remake: Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson as Belle and a star-studded voice cast, which includes Ewan McGregor, Emma Thompson, Ian McKellen, and Kevin Klein. Like 2015’s Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast looks like the cartoon come to life, capturing many of the iconic images of 1991’s Oscar-winning movie and rebuilding them with CGI. It will surely be a massive moneymaker. Check out the trailer above.
The Disney Vault right now:
Via Jo Blo
The world’s a scary place, but when Slender Man is involved, it gets even scarier.
Exploring the sorted history of the Internet folktale Slenderman, HBO’s new documentary Beware the Slenderman details the real-life, horrific consequences of Internet myth-making. The trailer gets into the spread of Slenderman and how a meme can lead to violent crimes committed by children.
Part Making a Murderer, part The Nightmare, Beware the Slenderman looks like it’ll be the scariest documentary of the year.
There was a problem rendering this video - it may have been deleted.
Via Tim Sessler
Look, it's been a long day, so why don't you give yourself five minutes to enjoy something, ok?
The Light, a new short film by director Brandon Bray and cinematographer Tim Sesseler, is just what you need to pull you away from the news for a little bit. Using drone cameras and lighting rigs, the filmmakers were able to put together an immersive and beautiful short that’s totally silent, 100 percent worth your time, and guaranteed to distract you from the rest of the world.
The goal of the piece was to “reinvent cinema lighting,” which is a bold claim, until you realize that this thing looks unlike anything else out there. This is a totally new experience, which will surely take your mind off of whatever else is going on today.
The filmmakers also included a behind the scenes, so you can see for yourself how they put this gorgeous film together. Check it out.
THE LIGHT - Behind the Scenes from Freefly on Vimeo.
Despite what many on the Internet would prefer, not only is the Ghost in the Shell movie starring Scarlett Johansson happening, but also there’s a trailer on the way. In this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it clip, we get a glimpse at some of the film’s effects, style, and, of course, controversial lead actress.
As you’ll remember a few months ago, the casting of Scarlett Johansson set off a bit of wild fire in the online community with claims that Ghost in the Shell was guilty of whitewashing. It’s hard to discount those claims when, yet again, an Asian role was given to a white actress, a bit of a tradition in Hollywood movies. The film’s producer came out and defended the film’s “international story,” but with this being such a common occurrence in Hollywood, it’s hard to ignore the problem.
Anyway, enjoy the teaser, if you can! The full trailer drops on November 13.
In the meantime, check out Last Week Tonight with Jon Oliver's "Hollywood Whitewashing: How is this Still a Thing?"
While Godzilla vs. the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz sounds like the shortest and most boring Godzilla movie ever, one passionate group of Godzilla fans want to even the score.
This team put together a huge tribute to the fire-breathing lizard known mostly for leveling Japanese cities and expressing post-World War II nuclear anxiety. Built from rice straw by over 150 volunteers, straw Godzilla doesn’t serve as the metaphor for nuclear destruction that its inspiration does, but it is really cool and took about four months to complete. It even has LED eyes, which makes it scary but not as scary as a giant lizard knocking over buildings and reminding us all of the awesome power of nuclear weapons.
Anywho, this Godzilla could totally take the Scarecrow, who serves more as a metaphor for the 19th century American farm worker than nuclear technology. Straw Godzilla just has a major height advantage — plus those cool LED eyes!
