Oscar winning director, Danny Boyle's follow-up to his acclaimed Slumdog Millionaire, will be hitting theaters before the end of the year making it a definite awards contender. 127 Hours tells the story of Aron Ralston, played in the movie by James Franco. Ralston was a rock climber who got his arm trapped underneath a boulder and had to chop it off then scale a 65 foot cliff before being found. Fox Searchlight has made an official release date for November 5th of this year, and I'm real excited for this. If there is one thing I love about Danny Boyle is he has always seemed to know who he is as a director, all of his movies being consistent in style and substance, and that is what makes Boyle one of the best currently making movies. 127 Hours sounds grizzly, but extremely intriguing and if played out right can be a cinematic marvel. With some more light shed onto the emotional component of the story, where during Ralston's time in the wilderness he recalls his lover and two hikers that he met just before his accident, this makes the movie sound all the more promising. More to come, including a trailer in due time.
Comic-Con fun doesn't end here. The 10th and Final Season of Smallville is coming up, premiering this September, and here is the first look at Season 10 from Comic-Con. I'm beyond excited, and that final scene where Clark catches the Daily Planet Globe, is he flying? Just see for yourself:
Not getting to go to Comic-Con is quite a bummer, but lo and behold in this day and age of vast technology, of the internet and television, I feel as if I've had the full Comic-Con experience aside from the sweaty nerd smell and getting to see all of the exclusive movie clips in the highly guarded panels. Regardless, I've gotten the full gist of Comic-Con, and fan reactions to these clips of the upcoming blockbusters are almost more important in many cases than the clips themselves in solidifying one's own opinion on how a particular movie is shaping up.
To me, all the hype about Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is lost on me, same goes, surprisingly, for The Avengers. We all knew it was gonna have a presence at the Con, so why do you feel the need to wet yourself? I'm more intrigued about what I've heard from Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor from the Con. I've been looking forward to seeing Cap on the big screen for some time, and all I've heard has neither made me more excited, but has not made me any less excited. As for Thor, Marvel did a good job with their recent slew of interviews and photos from the upcoming movie, increasing my anticipation for a movie about a superhero whom I've never cared that much for.
The new Simon Pegg & Nick Frost movie, Paul, sounds fun but nothing new to add that we didn't know before the Con, and same kinda goes for Tron Legacy, which the latest trailer still blew my socks off, but we knew most of what we learned months ago. While I'm still skeptical about Cowboys & Aliens, the surprise appearance of Harrison Ford at the Con made me green with envy. Speaking of green, the obvious winner of the Con for me was Green Lantern.
After seeing the first few production stills of Ryan Reynolds as the Green Lantern, I had started to warm up to him, but after reading descriptions of the footage shown at the panel and of fan reactions, not to mention the interviews conducted with cast and crew, I'm now sold on this movie 100%! I love Green Lantern, so I hope the movie does him justice, which I'm feeling much better about now. I think the real moment that made me realize that Ryan Reynolds could pull this off was when he recited the Green Lantern oath at the panel, and the amount of conviction in his words shows why he was chosen for the part. Check out this video below of Reynolds reciting the oath:
And that's it for Comic-Con. Till next year when I might be able to go in person, though not likely unless I become super rich between now and then.
I'm a big fan of the TV Show Smallville, and I came across this video a few weeks back. It's a fanmade version of the opening credits for the 10th and Final Season of the show. While most of the characters shown wont be in the show this upcoming season, it's still an amazing feat that looks better than the real thing. Check it out:
It's kind of weird to say, but is it possible for there to be such a thing as an adult kid's movie? I mean, a movie that is styled like a kid's movie, but deals with subject matter above and beyond a child audience? I think that is what Tarsem's movie, The Fall, is. It is an enchanting experience, capturing everything that I've ever loved about kid's movies, but in a package that was clearly targeted towards adults.
Roy is a Hollywood stuntman in the Golden Age of Hollywood, a man scorned by the love of a movie starlet. Roy has had an accident on set and found himself in a hospital pitying himself over the loss of his love. Here Roy meets a young girl named Alexandria, who has a broken arm. Alexandria and Roy strike up a friendship as Roy starts telling her this epic fantasy/adventure story about five men hunting down a murderous governor. As the story is told Alexandria blends people from her reality into the fairy tale, to where this story becomes real to her. But as we soon learn, Roy tries to bend Alexandria's desire to finish the story to his means to get him meds so he can kill himself.
The Fall is a movie that is at times, fun, at times frightening, and at other times sad. Like the great epics of cinema history, The Fall is a heartfelt movie that steadily drives forward to reach maximum emotional connection, but it is a movie that is brusque and rough at times. Alexandria catches glimpses of the adult world, these glimpses coming both in the fairy tale told to her by Roy and through her watching people around the hospital. It's a movie that keeps things like death and love mysteries, as they were when we were children, and it is these mysteries that keep one as an adult enthralled (cause are we any closer to solving them).
Actor Lee Pace plays Roy with upmost pity, and his performance is one that will be lost on many, being one of those performances that is consistent throughout but never has a real wow moment, but I for one was quite impressed by his skill and range. Lots can be said about little Catinca Utaru, who portrays Alexandria, she is cute as anything, wide-eyed, and innocent, and when she cries she breaks your heart. These two actors are the anchor to the whole movie, and I think it is why the fairy tale story spun by Roy has all the more resonance, when the fairy tale world and reality collide in Alexandria's mind.
Director Tarsem Singh's movie is filled with lush visuals of astonishing lands that are almost too fantastic to be real, but no CGI. This movie is epic, and what makes it all the more sweeping is that everything you see was done in camera. On a technical level, this is one of the most technically astounding movies I've ever seen. The cinematography is beautiful, the action well choreographed, and the blocking of scenes works to a point of visual perfection that few directors manage to do.
So I love this movie. The Fall is a fantastic cinematic achievement that has to be experienced. It's ethereal, totally unbelievable, playing like a kid's movie in terms of tone,but with adult subject matter. The Fall is a unique package, one that is a true Hidden Gem.
