Paul Newman, you wild, beautiful thing. You crazy handful of nothin’. You will be missed.
For the Bottlerocket fans, Dignan’s notebook has been transcribed.
I.O.U.S.A. Motion Infographics
Quite a few of the infographics from the upcoming documentary I.O.U.S.A. have made their way online. YouTube has a few clips like this lovely one. Motion graphics designer Brian Oakes is responsible and his portfolio is full of equally-well-executed work.
Related: Univers Ultra Condensed is apparently the font of choice for info graphics these days. Design accordingly.
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Aspiring super-villain Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) wants to join the Evil League of Evil and win the girl of his dreams, but his nemesis, Captain Hammer… oh, just go ahead and block out your lunch break to watch the newest offering from Joss Whedon and Co.
We recently started watching Mad Men, which is gorgeously shot, dressed, written and paced, though I’m still sort of waiting for something (anything) redemptive to make its way into the plot. That being said, there is an appeal to the shadowy lead character, which begs the question(s): what would Don Draper do?
Big. Man. Japan. Really, there’s not enough weird Japanese film culture that makes it stateside. It’s unfortunate.
I don’t care if it’s a crappy camcorder bootleg from Thursday’s ComicCon, this teaser trailer for Tron 2 has me completely nerding out.
The official Watchmen trailer is up on Apple. And by “official” I obviously mean “officially awesome.” It remains to be seen if they’ll capture the weight and greatness of the graphic novel from a storyline/character perspective (especially condensing a 12 chapter story into a film), but dang they’ve certainly nailed the way it should look. (More info on Watchmen at Wikipedia)
Five of the Worst Movies I Have Ever Subjected Myself To
1. Dogville
2. The Neverending Story
3. National Security
4. Daredevil
5. The Neverending Story II
Channel 4 Creative Services has a brilliant one-take commercial from the director’s point of view on the (recreated) set of The Shining promoting a series of Stanley Kubrick films they’ll be showing. Details, details, details.
The New Republic senior editor Christopher Orr calls The Happening “[A] film is so bad that I feel compelled to make a spoiler-laden list of its most laughably terrible parts…which will enable you to marvel at its anti-genius without sacrificing…90 minutes of your life.” Harsh, hysterical and, from all the friend anti-recommendations I’ve gotten, spot-on.
Aside from the somewhat silly-sounding name, the teaser trailer for the next James Bond film Quantum of Solace looks extra tasty. I’m loving the renewed direction they’re taking the 007 franchise.
Nine Inch Nails Lights in the Sky Rehearsal Videos
Pitchfork.tv has three clips of Nine Inch Nails rehearsing for their upcoming Lights In The Sky tour, all directed by Rob Sheridan who has done live visuals, motion graphics, videos, etc. for NIN in the past and is currently their art director.
This looks to be an incredible live band set-up for NIN, including a returning Robin Finck on lead guitar, Josh Freese on drums (he’s a personal favorite and that touchscreen drumloop interface he’s using at the beginning of the Echoplex clip is incredible!), former Beck bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen and Alessandro Cortini on keys and guitar.
Punisher: War Zone is in post-production. Iron Man’s screenwriter co-wrote it and the casting is spot-on — Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle, Dominic West as Jigsaw (!) and Newman from Seinfeld as Microchip — but the trailer looks like a boring shoot ‘em up, so it remains to be seen if Marvel can capitalize on Iron Man’s success.
Now THAT is a bad Photoshop job.
Interview with Battlestar Galactica Re-Creator Ron Moore
This sums it up:
[Battlestar Galactica] was about an apocalypse. The show opens with a genocide, an apocalyptic destruction of 12, count em, 12 planets. Billions of human lives are lost. The survivors heroically run away, fleeing an implacable enemy that is determined to destroy them no matter what, and they’re looking for a mythical place called Earth.
And the first place they go is the casino planet.
And therein lies the contradiction and the problem with [the original 1978 ABC show]. They were unable to square that circle. There was no way in that era of television that they could really play the premise. It’s a dark premise…I felt my obligation on some level was to do the show they should’ve made, the show that really honors the idea of what the show was about…[The current series] is a truer version of Battlestar Galactica in some ways than the original. — Wired Magazine interview with Ron Moore
I’ll put it plainly, if you’ve never seen the new Battlestar Galactica, you’re missing out on one of the best shows on television. If you rent the mini-series and you don’t get hooked, I’ll be shocked.