How ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ Should Have Ended

How ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ Should Have Ended

Great, as always. Look, I loved X-Men: Days of Future Past, but it was not without it’s plot flaws. Most of the great movies have plot holes you could drive a semi-truck (or three) through. The good ones just make you not care, and I didn’t care when I was watching the film.

I do love how HISHE is becoming a self-aware parody of itself with the super cafe. Great stuff.

Sony and Marvel Reach ‘Spider-Man’ Deal

Sony and Marvel Reach ‘Spider-Man’ Deal
Marvel.com

Marvel’s Kevin Feige to Produce Next Installment of the Spider-Man Franchise with Amy Pascal

Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Studios announced today that Sony is bringing Marvel into the amazing world of Spider-Man. 

Under the deal, the new Spider-Man will first appear in a Marvel film from Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (MCU). Sony Pictures will thereafter release the next installment of its $4 billion Spider-Man franchise, on July 28, 2017, in a film that will be co-produced by Kevin Feige and his expert team at Marvel and Amy Pascal, who oversaw the franchise launch for the studio…

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‘The Guts of Jaba’ Documentary (slimy piece of worm-ridden filth!)

‘The Guts of Jaba’ Documentary (slimy piece of worm-ridden filth!)

Some of these old “making of” documentaries are so great. While Return of the Jedi is easily the least of the three original Star Wars films, it’s still quite good. Among the good things is the fact that they just didn’t have access to modern CGI filmmaking and so were forced to do things that were physical, and in my opinion, more real. In fact, in this documentary, they say that even at the time, George Lucas wanted to use CGI but they just couldn’t do it because of the limitations of the time. He was unhappy with the look and the puppetry. Well, I have to tell you that Jaba looks the most…

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Nicolas Cage Praises Hayden Christensen’s Performance in ‘Star Wars’ Prequels

Nicolas Cage Praises Hayden Christensen’s Performance in ‘Star Wars’ Prequels
Kevin Jagernauth — The Playlist

Out doing press for his latest movie of the week, “Outcast,” Cage singled out his co-star Christensen’s work in the “Star Wars” prequels while sporting the greatest hair ever. “And so, I watched George’s movies, and the work Hayden did with George, and I was very impressed with Hayden’s sort of edgy, dangerous, dark and still soulful performance,” Cage explained to IGN. “I thought it was superb. And so I really connected with him.”

I don’t even…

But what…

I can’t…

What is happening?!?

The Quadrant System — Every Frame a Painting

The Quadrant System — Every Frame a Painting

This will be the second time I’ve posted an ‘Every Frame a Painting’ episode. I really need to subscribe to that or something. Anyway, I have not, sadly, seen Drive, but now I really, really want to. It came out just before I really started paying attention to film and wanting to write and podcast about it. So I need to correct this lapse in my education.

But, as regards this video, this really shows the craft of framing and cinematography. When I was an indy filmmaker full time, I could tell when a shot was well composed, and I’ve composed a few shots fairly well myself, but I was never…

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3,000 Piece LEGO ‘Avengers’ Helicarrier

3,000 Piece LEGO ‘Avengers’ Helicarrier
Germain Lussier — /Film

Lego has just announced their most massive, epic Marvel set ever. It’s the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier, a 2,996 behemoth of a set featuring mini-figures of Nick Fury, Black Widow, Captain America, Hawkeye and Maria Hill. The Helicarrier hits shelves in March and will retail for $349.99. Below, see a bunch of images and more info about the Lego Avengers Helicarrier.

I MUST HAVE THIS!

James Gunn Commentary Track on ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’

James Gunn Commentary Track on ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’
TOR.com

Want yet another way to watch Guardians of the Galaxy? Last night co-writer/director James Gunn popped onto Facebook (accompanied by Sean Gunn, Michael Rooker, and Stephane Ceretti, the VFX supervisor for Marvel) and held a communal screening! As he watched the film, he typed up a real-time commentary track and answered questions from fans. This Q&A format allowed Gunn to delve into a few aspects of the film, including a troubling moment between Drax and Gamora, and we got some insights into Rocket and Groot’s relationship!

There’s a lot of interesting information here you will enjoy…

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Video: Model Work, Matte Paintings, and Optical Printing in ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones’

Video: Model Work, Matte Paintings, and Optical Printing in ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones’

Man I love this stuff. I wish we did more practical effects work in today’s films. Can you imagine how good stuff would work with real models and today’s digial compositing technology? Call me a softie for some of the old technologies, but I really think sometimes the old model work looks better.

On the other hand, hearing them talk about how long and how much work some of these shots took is pretty amazing too and you can’t blame filmmakers to some extent for embracing the digital revolution.

Video of the Day: Phil Lord and Chris Miller Talk About Making ‘The LEGO Movie’ Realistic

Video of the Day: Phil Lord and Chris Miller Talk About Making ‘The LEGO Movie’ Realistic

It was obvious to me in the theater that love and attention to detail went into every single frame of The LEGO Movie. As if to prove that point, Warner Bros. has just released this 4 minute promo/interview with the pair (and some others) talking about how they made The LEGO Movie look real. I really love that they did all the CGI based on all real LEGO bricks. They put every brick into their virtual inventory and so every single thing you ever see on screen is from “real” LEGO bricks. That is pretty amazing to me. It was a bold stylistic choice and one that paid off so well. And the level of…

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