MPAA Praises Republicans

MPAA Praises Republicans
Entertainment Weekly

Conservatives often complain that Hollywood is in the bag for the Democrats, but when it comes to internet freedom, the motion-picture industry likes what the Republican Party has to say. Chris Dodd, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (and former Democratic senator from Connecticut), officially embraced the Republican Party’s campaign platform on intellectual property and internet freedom…

Excuse me for getting into politics…

I’m a conservative through and through, but if nothing else has scared you about the Republican Party this week, perhaps this should.…

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Why Would You Mess With Liam Neeson Twice?

Why Would You Mess With Liam Neeson Twice?

The original film Taken is the story of a retired CIA agent traveling across Europe. He relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter, who was kidnapped on a trip to Paris to be sold into prostitution.

Human trafficking is a real concern that many people have yet to come to grips with. I know when I saw the original Taken film it was an eye-opener for me and many of my friends. We are far removed from the grim realities. Taken is the first film that made a big hit with general audiences that includes the subject.

It’s always gratifying to see a man’s man in action. Bryan…

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The Hunger Games — Review

4 of 5 stars
The Hunger Games

Released to theaters back in March, The Hunger Games has recently been released to home video, which afforded me another chance to watch the film this past weekend.

I first became familiar with The Hunger Games through the recommendation of a good friend of mine that I should read the books. I used to be a ravenous reader. I mean an actual reader, like books with actual paper, laying on my bed reading books. Those days are long gone now that I’m a married man with work to do all day, every day. There are videos to edit, websites to design, movie websites to curate…

The way I consume…

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Writer David Koepp leaves ‘Snow White’ Sequel

Writer David Koepp leaves ‘Snow White’ Sequel
Movie Line

David Koepp couldn’t envision a Snow White and the Huntsman sequel without Kristen Stewart — which is one reason he says he’s no longer involved in the project.

Koepp — who scripted Jurassic Park, the original 2002 Spider-Man movie and co-wrote and directed this weekend’s new bike-messenger thriller Premium Rush — told Movieline that he departed the project because he had worked on a script idea “that I really liked” involving Stewart’s character. “And their situation, I hear, changed a little, so they weren’t interested in pursuing that idea anymore.

So the writer thinks it would be…

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Manly Superheroes are Not Americans?

UPDATED:

It was noted by one of our readers (that’s on top of things) that Leonardo De Caprio is not Australian. I knew that too, but I hadn’t drank my coffee for the morning when I wrote the post. My apologies to Leo for the mix-up.

Manly Superheroes are Not Americans?
Travel Light

Maybe you’ve been noticing this lately. Most of America’s favorite superhero roles were taken no less than by gorgeous men from across the Atlantic, England in particular, who dropped their accents to land on these meaty roles.

The Avengers introduced some exceptions to this, but for the most part American actors have not played superheroes in the movies for the last decade. Why is that? Because manly men are not among the Hollywood crowd, so acting scouts are looking offshore for talented masculine men to play the lead roles.

Superman played by Henry Cavill in next year’s The Man…

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‘Thor 2’ Casting

‘Thor 2’ Casting
The Hollywood Reporter

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje has joined the cast of Thor: The Dark World, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Alan Taylor is directing the picture, which brings back most of the first movie’s cast including Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor. Kat Dennings signed on to reprise her character, Darcy Lewis, on Tuesday.

In a supporting role, Akinnuoye-Agbaje will join the ranks of the bad guys led by Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who), who is playing Malekith, ruler of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim.

I don’t really know who the actor is nor do I remember his role in G.I. Joe, but I’m simply…

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Hollywood Actually Encourages Piracy

Hollywood Actually Encourages Piracy
Scientific America

Streaming movies offers instant gratification: no waiting, no driving—plus great portability: you can watch on gadgets too small for a DVD drive, like phones, tablets and superthin laptops.

 

Hollywood movie studios should benefit, too. The easier it is to rent a movie, the more people will do it. And the more folks rent, the more money the studios make.

Well, apparently, none of that has occurred to the movie industry. It seems intent on leaving money on the table.

And if you don’t make your product available legally, guess what? The people will get it illegally. Traffic to…

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Box Office Overview as of August 21

Box Office Overview as of August 21

We still have a few more films to go this year, but I thought it would be interesting to take a few moments to compare the box office results of the films so far that I care about (in other words, I’m not going to talk about ParaNorman, just for instance) and talk a little bit about the results. There’s a couple of films here that came out before we launched MovieByte so I want to talk about them a little bit anyway.

The films I’ll talk about are, in order of release date, The Hunger Games, The Avengers, Brave, The Dark Knight Rises, Total Recall, and The Bourne Legacy.

The Hunger Games

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Abrams on Big Budgets

Abrams on Big Budgets
Los Angeles Times

“It is preposterous and embarrassing that movies cost what they do.”

...

“I am as interested in and obsessed with what can be done in the feature world for a price as anyone at any studio,” said Abrams, who’s looking to expand Bad Robot’s slate in the coming years. “I feel like it is incumbent upon filmmakers today to treat it like their own money.”

I first became interested in this subject when reading (wait for it, this is really geeky, but since we’re already talking about Star Trek anyway…), “I Am Spock.” In it, Mr. Nimoy talks about the troubles that plagued the big budgeted…

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Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams Team Up for ‘Trouble With The Curve’

Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams Team Up for ‘Trouble With The Curve’
Total Film

It seemed as though he had all but retired after Gran Torino back in 2008, but Clint Eastwood is back on the big screen once more in baseball drama Trouble With The Curve, the first trailer for which has just arrived online.

Eastwood plays a grizzled old baseball scout whose body is beginning to fail him in his old age. When his daughter (Amy Adams) offers to lend a hand on one last scouting trip, Clint grudgingly agrees, only for the two to explore some home truths on their way around the country.

Justin Timberlake drops in for the ride as Adams’ ball-playing love interest while John…

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