servizio di LUCA SVIZZERETTO

(tratto da Nuovo Oggi di sabato 28 novembre 2009) – Il film Disney di questo Natale è firmato da Robert Zemeckis (Ritorno al Futuro). ‘A Christmas Carol’ ennesima trasposizione filmica del racconto ‘Il Canto di Natale’ firmato da Charles Dickens nel 1843. Una storia che da sempre accompagna piccoli e grandi nel periodo delle festività e che ricordiamo sotto le versioni più disparate. Da quella con Topolino, Paperino e Zio Paperone a quel ‘Sos Fantasmi’ con protagonista un allora giovanissimo Bill Murray.
Questa volta il protagonista è il ‘mutaforma’ Jim Carrey nei panni di Mr. Scrooge con al suo fianco un grandioso cast composto da  Robin Wright Penn, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Cary Elwes, Daryl Sabara e Bob Hoskins.
Ieri a Roma è stato presentato alla stampa e nelle sale uscirà il 3 dicembre per restarci probabilmente a lungo. Girato con la tecnica del Performance capture (una tecnologia che permette di riprendere gli attori con cineprese computerizzate che spaziano a 360° gradi per poi trasformarli in personaggi da animazione) e visibile in RealD 3D.
Il film è stato portato avanti dalla Image Movers Digital, creata proprio da Robert Zemeckis per sviluppare pellicole in 3d performance capture.
Tecnicamente la ‘terza dimensione’ con questo film raggiunge livelli mai visti prima, con i protagonisti che sembrano voler uscire dallo schermo e tutto assume un tono fantastico, perfino i titoli di testa e di coda.
Zemeckis ha deciso di attenersi al racconto di Dickens senza aggiungere nulla di suo e così ci troviamo davanti al più classico ‘Canto di Natale’ visto al cinema negli ultimi anni.
Una storia che ha sempre del magico, che aiuta a respirare al meglio l’atmosfera delle feste e che riesce sempre a smuovere gli animi sensibili.
Carrey non può deludere nei panni dell’icona dell’uomo avarissimo che finisce con il redimersi, grazie alle sue conosciute ed indubbie doti di trasformista. Proprio grazie a queste i ruoli interpretati dal bravissimo Jim sono in realtà ben quattro perchè i tre fantasmi del Natale (passato, presente e futuro) sono sempre farina del suo sacco. Il motivo lo ha spiegato il regista: “Considerando che i fantasmi sono tutti un’estensione di Scrooge, è naturale che abbiano qualcosa di lui in loro. Quindi era perfetto che Jim interpretasse tutti questi ruoli”.
Per il pubblico italiano poi c’è anche una vera chicca, infatti la canzone conclusiva del film ‘God Bless Us Everyone’ (Dio ci benedirà) è cantata dal tenore Andrea Bocelli, che ha contribuito a realizzarne una versione in lingua inglese, una in italiano ed infine una in spagnolo.
Consigliatissimo a ragazzi, adulti e famiglie, promette di divenire un classico che ogni Natale passerà nelle nostre televisioni come accade da anni con il Signor Scrooge.

First,  it’s only appropriate that I do this:

This is what I’ve been up to; among other things:

I also do baby showers, bar mitzvahs, and Wal-Marts.  I have a ton of things to write about, but I can’t get a moments rest these days.  Be on the lookout for the next episode of The Incontinent Orson Welles.

-Crusher

O ano de 2009 foi ótimo para a JUJU. No mês de março, a cantora lançou o álbum “What’s Love?” e teve bons resultados em vendas. Depois disso, o seu décimo single, “Ashita Ga Kuru Nara” (colaboração dela com o cantor JAY’ED), atingiu a 1ª colocação no ranking diário da Oricon e ao todo vendeu mais de 143 mil cópias, se tornando o single mais bem sucedido da cantora. Sete meses após o lançamento de “Ashita Ga Kuru Nara”, JUJU lançou o seu décimo primeiro single, intitulado “PRESENT”.

Com a data de seu lançamento marcada para o dia 25 de novembro, o single foi escolhido para ser a música tema do filme  da Disney “DISNEY’S A Christmas Carol”, que aqui no Brasil recebeu o nome de “Os Fantasmas de Scrooge”. O filme é uma animação feita por meio de sensores, onde os movimentos dos atores reais são captados e trabalhados no computador. O ator principal deste filme é o comediante Jim Carrey. O filme entrou em cartaz nos cinemas japoneses no dia 14 e aqui nos cinemas brasileiros no dia 19 de novembro. Confira o trailer do filme logo abaixo:

O single “PRESENT”, além da faixa-título, vem com mais duas b-sides: “Everything Was You” e “Ex-Factor”.

Tracklist

1. PRESENT
2. Everything Was You
3. Ex-Factor
4. PRESENT (Instrumental)

_____________________________________________________________________________

JUJU é uma cantora que eu particularmente gosto muito. Achei esse single muito bom e a música PRESENT excelente. Infelizmente, o single não agradou muito os japoneses. Até o momento a melhor posição do single no ranking da Oricon foi a #22, muito abaixo das espectativas já que  PRESENT chegou a ficar em 1º lugar no Chaku-ta, liderando o ranking de downloads durante alguns dias. Basta agora esperar para ver até onde este single irá chegar…

O PV de “PRESENT” é muito bom. Ele não é uma “super produção”, mais ficou bem feito. Destaque para a própria JUJU que só aparece nos últimos cinco segundos do clipe só para mostrar que está “presente”! Enfim, gostei e recomendo a todos!

Nota: 4/5.

Para finalizar, veja a performance da JUJU no programa CDTV que aconteceu no dia 21 de novembro:

Abraços e até a próxima…

Steve Oedekerk (born November 27, 1961) is an American comedian, director, editor, producer, screenwriter and actor. Oedekerk is best known for his collaborations with actor Jim Carrey (particularly the Ace Ventura franchise), his series of “Thumbmation” shorts and his film Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002).

Oedekerk gained popularity with his series of “Thumbmation” shorts: Thumb Wars, Bat Thumb, The Godthumb, Frankenthumb, The Blair Thumb and Thumbtanic.

Trivia:

Is highly involved in Martial Arts.

Is best known for the “Thumb” movies.

Was a contestant on “Star Search” (1983), and appeared on the TV series “Full House” (1987) as Joey Gladstone’s (Dave Coulier) competitor on Star Search in the episode “Star Search”.

(Originally written on September 9, 2009)

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Today is nine-nine-nine, the day that the remastered collection of all of The Beatles’ albums and The Beatles:  Rock Band are being released for purchase.  Most people probably just assume that today, of all days, was selected for these releases simply because it’s cool that all three digits of today’s date are one in the same.  However, in all actuality, today was most likely chosen because the number nine had a very distinct significance to John Lennon.  He believed in numerology, as have many other rock stars (Jimi Hendrix and the number seven, for example), and was obsessed with the number nine – it literally controlled his life (think Jim Carrey in The Number 23).  I’m not going to go into detail about that; I just wanted to point it out.  If you’re interested in learning more, I would highly recommend reading Take a Walk on the Dark Side:  Rock and Roll Myths, Legends, and Curses by R. Gary Patterson – it is one of my absolute favorites, very intriguing and entertaining.

So – Happy Beatles Day!

Well, while everyone else was having fun today enjoying The Beatles’ remastered classics and Rock Band, I was sitting through forecast training in Connecticut.  It was a

three-and-a-half hour drive away one way, I had to be there and at the ready at 9am, and I didn’t get to leave until 3:30pm.  Yea, I got caught in rush hour both ways.  Let’s just say that today was definitely a very long day for me.  And the training was incredibly painful – as in having-your-toenails-pulled-out-with-pliers painful.  I mean, even after telling the guy doing the presenting that I have a Bachelor’s in Statistics, he still went through all of the basics (I was the only trainee).  It’s comparable to having someone today sit you down and insist on teaching you how to multiply, step by step, regardless of the fact that you told them that you already know how…for six-and-a-half hours.

Oh well, at least it’s over.

I am a big kid when it comes to my choice of movies. Yes, sadly enough my movie collection consists of titles from Ice Age I, II, and III to Hotel for Dogs (a personal favorite). My love for children’s movies began at an appropriate age… as a child. I started my Disney movie collection like any other normal child, however, at the age of 23… I’m still collecting.

Besides adding to my drawer filled with 3D glasses, I was looking forward to seeing Disney’s A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey. I grew up watching The Muppet’s Christmas Carol, I will admit this is slightly more humorous then what Charles Dickens’ might have bargained for in his day. Either way, my family shared many fond memories connected to this traditional Christmas story.

One can only imagine how thrilled I was, kids pack in hand, to see one of my favourite Christmas movies in 3D. I sat myself down in between two families with children between the ages of four and six, I was clearly right where I belonged. Not even a mere ten minutes into the film and these children who I was sitting beside were whimpering and I was covering my eyes.

I might have been mislead after 23 years of A Muppet’s Christmas Carol, but myself and the other small children in the audience would have appreciated it if the ghosts made us laugh instead of cry. I think the breaking point for my frustration with this movie was when the 3D ghosts’ jaw breaks off his face and he puts it back together screaming in pain. A little much? Perhaps not, if your movie collection consists of Saw I, II, and III.

Just a glimpse of the horror segments in this film.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to take your small children or big kids to a Christmas movie this year, may I suggest Santa Buddies? The Christmas Carol was not at all what I thought it would be.

www.jimcarrey.com

Si avvicina il Natale. Il racconto che più amo di questo periodo è il ‘Canto di Natale’ di Charles Dickens e tutti i suoi svariati adattamenti che fin da piccolino ho visto. Da quello di Topolino, Paperino e Zio Paperone al film Sos Fantasmi con Bill Murray. Riescono sempre a prendermi, a commuovermi e a farmi sognare. Ora mi ricordano anche mio padre e questo conta moltissimo.
Stasera ho visto, per lavoro, l’anteprima stampa del nuovo ‘Canto di Natale’ firmato da Robert Zemeckis (Ritorno al Futuro) con Jim Carrey.
Fantastico. Perfetto. Con un’animazione 3D mai vista fino ad ora.
Non mi dilungherò troppo sui contenuti, domani scriverò il mio articolo per il giornale e lo troverete in edicola sabato mattina (anche in internet).
Volevo solo lasciare una nota a margine sul mio blog perchè sta arrivando il Natale e mai come quest’anno non vedo l’ora di accoglierlo a braccia aperte.
Con un mese d’anticipo: Buon Natale a tutti!!!

]]> http://filmmedia.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/julklipp-filmklipp-for-julstamningens-skull/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:47:54 +0000 filmmedia http://filmmedia.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/julklipp-filmklipp-for-julstamningens-skull/

Jim Carrey vet hur man bjuder på sig själv…

I Monty Pythons värld är det alltid jul i himlen…

Musikalisk briljans…

Världens mest kända buktalare…

Ju(v)liga filmklipp, för julstämningens skull…

FilmMedia – Filmblogg

I shouldn’t complain to my millions of fans out there, when the sun is shining in Ireland – a noteworthy event especially after the rains through the weekend. And what am I dreary about? Did my home or business get flooded? Did I recently lose my job, my life savings, my home? Are my children sick? None of the above.

The deplorable fact is, I have nothing really to be dreary about. Simply a lack of support in an event I’m trying to organise. The simple feeling of having no support is a downer. I think of how a Jim Carrey character in a movie might react – diving head first into the project no matter how little support he gets, staying cheery no matter how few people turn up, and winning in the end because the one most important person does (you know, the usual romantic happy ending).

Over the next few weeks I’ll go to a few Christmas type fairs and wonder how come “they” (the multitude of hard working people who seem to find support to make things happen) pull off a successful fair / boogie night / drinks party.

I cheer myself with the fact that, though in one event I feel unsupported, in life I am: my best friend/ husband is always there with the latest Ugly Betty download or the next Sherlock Holmes episode, to be enjoyed over a glass of wine and/or ouzo.

Old Doctor Who Monster Totally Looks Like Jim Carrey’s Grinch

» Think you can do better? Make your own!

Pictures by: dunno source Look-alike by: dunno source via Totally Looks Like Builder

Can anyone out there even remember how long it’s been since the original Mask film arrived in theatres? Well think of it this way. Jim Carrey was just starting to make a splash on the big screen and a little unknown actress named Cameron Diaz was cast as his love interest. The year was 1994.

Flash forward 11 painful years later and what are we left with. Probably the worst comic-book movie ever conceived and quite possibly the worst film I have seen in 5 years of covering the silver screen. It is that bad.

The sequel which bares little resemblance to the original finds Loki (Alan Cumming), creator of the Mask, banished to Earth to find his mask that has caused so much mischief. Loki’s father Odin (Bob Hoskins) is keeping a close eye on his disappointment of a son.

Meanwhile, cartoonist and would-be animator Tim Avery (Jamie Kennedy) is struggling to start a family with his eager wife, Tonya (Traylor Howard). Tim wants a big promotion at work before they have the baby Tonya has always wanted.

To make a long story short, Tim acquires the powers of the Mask and wows the big-wigs at work. After he scores big at work, Tim rushes home to make love to his wife but forgets to take off the mask. Thus we get “The Son of the Mask”.

Will Loki find Tim and his new son and finally regain his former glory and more importantly the mask? Will Tim ever find a happy ending?

Ok so the film has a plot, well, sort of.

What makes “Son of the Mask” so utterly painful to watch is how much it insults the audience that is watching this train wreck of a film. Every low-brow bathroom joke, bodily function and other things I don’t want to mention are passed off as rip-roaring comedy.

There is a sort of zany cartoon element to the child in the film who faces off against a “Mask-enhanced” dog for the father’s affection. But the whole scenario is so out of this world that it belongs in a cartoon. The scenario being played out in real-life and CGI just seems utterly wrong.

I can say for a fact there wasn’t anything I liked in this film. The acting was awful, the effects were in poor taste and nothing was funny.

I would suggest that if you have to relive the adventures of the Mask, stay home, lock the door, microwave some popcorn and rent the original. I shudder to think some people actually wanted to see this flick.

This is probably the worst film I have ever seen! And that includes all seven Deathstalker movies.

0 out of 5

So Says the Soothsayer.

Director Robert Zemeckis after his successful “Polar Express (2004)” and “Beowulf (2006)” has taken his crush with 3D technology to the next level with a neat presentation of what greed can bring to a man in “A Christmas Carol”. The classic novel written by Charles Dickens has been adapted well on screen and this adaptation is quite different from the previous attempts made by our filmmakers. In fact this is a big budget animation tale which utilizes all available technology to the optimum level possible and the final product is a visual treat to watch. Read More

Celebreties Fight Autism

Jim and Jenny are great on this show, and really tell it like it is> Great Courage!

[link to www.youtube.com]

[link to www.youtube.com]

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[link to www.youtube.com]

[link to www.youtube.com]

Treatment to reverse autism involves removal of mercury by detoxification.

A few days ago, a school field trip found me meandering about the California Science Center with a group of about 15 other students as a part of my “Cinema in the Wild” course.  On a weekday morning before noon, no one goes to the California Science center except for busloads of small, buddy-systemed children, most in uniform, herded like sheep into the wide foyer of the museum.  I’m not sure where I thought the children were headed, but as it turned out, they were being ushered right into the same theater as I was: the 10:30am screening of “Under the Sea 3D” at the IMAX theater.

“Under the Sea 3D” was released in February 2009, mainly aimed at children, to provide an immersive (literally) experience of ocean life.  The idea is that children will sit down– legs swinging in their seats excitedly–throw on their 3D glasses, and be plunged into an educational journey with narrator Jim Carrey.

While reeling them in with images of turtles snapping, sharks swimming right past their faces, and sea lions popping off the screen to kiss them on the forehead, Jim will also give them a lesson about the importance of conservation and caring for our fragile environment.  They’ll take this in, surprised to learn that we–humans!–could be the reason for the death of cute, frolicking fish and pretty sea horses.  They’ll leave the theater a little scared, but aware of the responsibility we have to our planet.

Not quite.  I, for one, was not expecting a Thursday morning spent with what felt like hundreds of thousands of 3rd graders.  Nor did I expect a twenty minute line at the ladies’ room surrounded by pigtailed 9-year-olds, but that’s a different blog post. While the children were admittedly cute in their starched uniforms, unable to touch their feet to the ground, 3D glasses gigantic on their tiny faces, I was also starting to realize that the next 45 minutes would not simply be educational–it would be loud.

I’m not sure I heard Jim Carrey speak at all.  The lights went down, the credits started rolling, and the children started to chatter, awestruck by the names and titles that seemed to float right in front of our faces.  Once we took the dive into the depths of the ocean, all hell broke loose– there were screams as sharks brushed past, and as giant squid darted out to catch their prey.  There was jumping up and down, there were little hands grabbing at the fish and reaching out to touch the coral reefs.  There were excited squeals of “Sea lion!  Sea lion!” only to be indignantly corrected with, “That’s a seal, Manuel.“  Children spilled out into aisles, stood on chairs, clutched each other, and nearly tumbled into the next row in their efforts to get closer to the animals.

While the antics were overwhelming at first, we quickly realized that embracing the situation was the only means of survival.  And after a few minutes under the sea, we started reaching out to see if we could catch the fish, too.  We’ve all seen movies that were made for kids and can appreciate them–but seeing them in a theater with children is something that is a rare opportunity for many of us (and for me, something I typically try to avoid). It became so much more about seeing their reactions– the delight, the wonder and amazement, the terror at times– and much less about what the film overtly had to say about the state of our planet and the danger it’s in.

Perhaps no one walked away with a greater understanding of global warming or the endangerment of so many species of plants and animals.  But the reminder of childhood and the delight of discovery is a powerful thing, and can often be more memorable than the facts alone.  Seeing the depths of the ocean, close enough for us to touch, was a lively experience–but seeing the reaction of a theater full of 3rd graders was what really made it come alive.

Movie reviews are always one-sided and biased, so I tend to shy away from offering much of an opinion outside of friends and family circles. Now that I’ve thoroughly cornered myself, here is my brief review of Christmas Carol 3D.

• I have not seen a movie that has utilized 3D effects more than this film. Every scene was packed with 3D effects.
• The plot was almost word for word from the book.
• I loved their new take on the different ghosts.
• Jim Carrey did an excellent job, though he tends to vex me at times.
• Some scenes get a bit long in the tooth and are obviously only employed to further the 3D effects, which again, were enjoyable, but in the end, renders the sub-ghost plots flaccid.
• It’s a bit creepy in parts and loud. I would not suggest taking children under the age of 13 to see the film.

That said, enjoy the film!

Interview: Judd Apatow (Part One)

Read Part Two of this interview right here

Funny People was the latest in Judd Apatow’s ongoing series of summer comedies, but it was anything but a typical summer comedy: following a successful comedian (played by Apatow’s longtime friend Adam Sandler) who reflects on his life after discovering he’s going to die, the film offered lots of humor but with decidedly heavier themes lurking beneath the yuks. The film debuts on Blu-ray in a 2-Disc Collector’s Edition next week, and the contents are amazing, showing how Apatow combined lighthearted fare with more serious ideas in the service of exploring something substantive.

Cinematical was lucky enough to catch up with Apatow via telephone one recent morning to discuss the process of putting together the film’s home video iteration. In addition to discussing the bonus materials, extras, featurettes, and a documentary that’s the most thorough and thoughtful ever produced about a comedy production, Apatow talked about finding the right ending for his magnum opus, discovering and deconstructing the process of producing laughs, and front-loading the film’s universe with outside content about the supporting characters.

Cinematical: One of the ideas highlighted in the Blu-ray bonus materials was the fact that you knew this was going in a different direction than your previous films. Even knowing that while you were making it, were you surprised by the reactions of audiences and critics when it was released? Or does it matter?

Apatow: Well, while making the movie it was exhilarating to think we were doing something different that would elicit a wide range of reactions. I’m the first person to get thrown when Bill Murray makes The Razor’s Edge, but I did love the movie and then I read the book. But it took some work to understand what he was trying to do with his career, and only now that I’m older am I not angry at Woody Allen for making Sleeper 25 times (laughs). I’ve been through it with a lot of my friends, watching them take risks and attempt to grow; when we made The Cable Guy, it threw a lot of people because Jim [Carrey] was basically saying I want to have a varied career and do a lot of different things that you wouldn’t expect of me, and it paid off well for him with that movie and Eternal Sunshine and The Truman Showand a lot of ambitious movies he went on to make. It throws people at the time, but it’s great; who wants to watch me or anyone else do the same thing every time out? And it’s been fun. People overall have had a really more intimate relationship with the movie than the other movies; it definitely makes you think about things most people are trying to avoid thinking about most of the time (laughs). They write books called like A Year To Live, where people try to figure out their priorities by imagining what it would be like if they had less time, and in a strange way this is a comedic-dramatic version of that. It makes you think about how you would look at your life differently if suddenly you got sick and then got better.

Cinematical: You and Adam both say that he went anywhere you asked him to. Would you say that’s because you knew him well enough to be able to challenge him effectively, or was he just game for anything, with or without you pushing him?

Apatow: I think Adam is a brave artist. He said to me, “I’m going to do whatever you ask me to do and I’m not going to question it. I want you to make the movie you’re going to make.” And there’s nobody in show business who will do that! That was during the writing process, shooting and editing – he never came into editing and said, “don’t do that – it makes me look like a jerk.” He wanted me to fully express that character and was willing to do whatever it would take to help me – which included writing an enormous stand-up act, performing all of these songs; he really put himself out there. Some days he used to joke, “you’re really getting the full package of me on this one! I’m giving you everything!” To me that was one of the best parts of making the movie, feeling that trust from Adam; Adam loves the movie so much, and the fact that he was happy with the outcome means a lot to me because as I was making the movie I thought ‘I hope the movie’s as good as what Adam’s doing right now’.

Cinematical: Among other things, the Blu-ray for Funny People documents your long history examining and reflecting stand-up comedy. Do you tend to intellectualize comedy or deconstruct how things work, or to see what works better or worse? For example, in one of the documentaries, Randy says it’s funnier if he spins around seven times instead of six; that’s obviously a joke, but do you think about your work or comedy in general that way?

Apatow: I have the ability to talk about comedy in as full of shit a manner as anybody on the planet, but I try not to break it down because it just dies in front of you if you think about it intellectually. And I’ve seen people have conversations where they explain why people laugh; I watched a whole conversation between Alan Alda and John Cleese at the Paley Center where they were able to break it down. But that makes me want to never work ever again if I think it’s actually possible (laughs). It really is about your gut; sometimes afterwards you can explain it, but it is about just a feeling you get. It’s not that different than probably like when a batter is at the plate and he just somehow knows how to read a certain ball to get a hit; you’ve just got to feel for it and it becomes muscle memory. Some people like to talk about it afterwards, but I try not to (laughs). When you’re making a movie, you kind of have to sit and think, why are we telling this joke? What does this joke say? But I don’t like talking about, like, why is this joke funny.

Cinematical: When the film was released in theaters there was a huge wealth of supplemental material that was used as marketing. Even though not a lot of it ended up directly in the movie, what purpose do you feel was served by creating all of this content around it for characters who may not appear on screen a lot?

Apatow: Well, at heart I’m just a fan of comedy, so there’s a lot of hilarious people around and I just want to make a lot of stuff with them before they leave me. So if I’m making a movie, I have unlimited time with Aziz [Ansari] around, and I don’t know when I’ll get to hang out with Aziz again, but I know in this period, he has to come to work (laughs). I thought to myself I loved what he does in the movie, and the movie really can’t contain everything he could do with his character, so let’s make more stuff with Aziz. We paid for that with our own money; we were just so excited that he had come up with this hilarious comedian character that we felt like we had to max out what you could do with it. You’re aware it will be fun to put on the DVD and put on the web and hopefully it makes people more aware of the movie, but the main reason I do it is I just find it funny; I just want to see what Randy would do. I’m excited to see Aziz and Jason Waller, the guy who directed it, I’m excited to let them go nuts with no restrictions just because that’s exciting for me as someone who loves comedy. And people don’t necessarily get that many opportunities to do that; it’s rare for someone to just write a check to someone and say, “go crazy with Randy!”

So we did that, but it’s almost like a video game where you could just walk into other rooms and learn more about certain aspects of these characters. I mean, for me I see the Blu-ray as the new comedy album, so as soon as somebody says I’m allowed to put things on a Blu-ray, my mind goes crazy. What else can we put on it? Can we clear Adam on Letterman from the early ’90s? Can we clear me on The Dennis Miller Show? Can we put all of the phony phone calls from back then on there? As someone who loves these DVDs, I think, how can I make the best comedy DVD that’s ever been made? Before we started the process of making the movie, we decided to try to make a very strong documentary that wasn’t like your normal, generic making-of that you see all of the time. So we hired this amazing documentarian, Chris Wilcha, who was the director of the television series This American Life, and we tried to give him all of the access he could ever want, and the tools to really capture what this process was. It’s an oddly powerful documentary; you see how the movie was made, and there’s something very emotional about it because the movie is also a summation of all of our relationships.

Cinematical: In the commentary track Seth Rogen called the final scene of the film “a real motherf*cker.” How tough was it to determine where the story would and should end up?

fun11

Apatow: One of the first ideas that I had was that the movie would end with a small gesture of Adam writing a joke for Seth. Everything is always about George’s character and he’s never willing to help, and at the end, that would signal to the audience that at the very least he has some understanding of how damaged he is and he’s not forcing Ira to get out of his life. He wants an honest voice around, and maybe he’ll change slowly. Or not, maybe he won’t, certainly it’s going to be difficult, but the fact that he tries to keep Ira around is what the movie’s about. But I thought the movie was this slow reveal of who George actually is. You have some sense of what he is and what his problems are, and as the movie continues, you realize oh, he’s really much more damaged than I thought, and has limitations when it comes to maturing and finding a way to be happy, and then when it ended, you would think I know everything about this person.

Cinematical: Is it hard to surround yourself with people who can be that honest with you?

Apatow: I make a point of only working with people who are very excited about this type of process. Leslie [Mann] is a very daring actress who’s willing to go there at all times, and in a lot of ways she sets the bar for how emotionally raw you can get, and how much you can expose. It’s really exciting watching her act and watching her interact with other actors. Seth, I’ve been working with him since he was 16 years old, so he knows the drill better than anybody. And Adam has shown over and over in his career that he’s willing to commit fully to what he’s doing; Punch-Drunk Love is one of my favorite movies ever, and I love what he did in Reign Over Me, and he has this side to his work that is very vulnerable – and that was what I think was most exciting about working with him.

Check out Part Two on Monday, where Apatow talks about the film in the context of his career, and examines the emerging themes that seem to run recurrent in his work.

by Todd Gilchrist

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Aside from New Moon, I had a double dose of movie last week with Disney’s A Christmas Carol directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Jim Carrey.

The movie is based from a classic Charles Dickens book about the infamous penny-pincher Ebenezer Scrooge who spends his days making money and never cared to enjoy anything else in life.

It was last Saturday afternoon when A Christmas Carol premiered in Mall of Asia’s IMAX Theater. Like the kid that I am, I was pretty excited for the IMAX experience since it was my first time to catch a full film in IMAX ever (yuh, I know I’m such a loser… the only time I was able to “experience” IMAX was in HK Disneyland–and it wasn’t even a full movie).

Anyway, I arrived at the venue just in time for the cocktails. In spite of the disappointing serving of food from Chowking (with one siomai each person), the event was pretty much amazing. It had free glitter tattoo and photo-taking going on. SM also had some chorale singers to fill the air with Christmas carol.

I loved the way Disney perfectly picked Jim Carrey to be Ebenezer. It was such a splendid comical execution, truly something both the kids and oldies will enjoy. I love how the 3 ghosts carried totally different personalities (and I personally hate the eerie Ghost of Christmas Future). Overall, A Christmas Carol is a movie that you can watch with your family on a typical Sunday afternoon.

Opening on Nov. 25 in regular theaters across the Philippines, as well as in Digital 3D cinemas and in IMAX 3D in SM Mall of Asia and SM North EDSA.

Com um roteiro espetacular e atuações fantásticas, o filme mostra as lembranças que um homem pensa que quer esquecer

Por Rodrigo Gianesi

Você apagaria alguém e qualquer coisa que você viveu ao lado dessa pessoa de sua memória? O filme Brilho Eterno de uma Mente sem Lembranças explora essa pergunta. Joel (Jim Carrey) e Clementine (Kate Winslet) formam um casal de pessoas que não têm nada em comum, algo normal em vários filmes de romance. Porém, a abordagem deste filme dirigido por Michel Gondry é completamente diferente e intrigante.

Joel é tímido e metódico, enquanto Clementine é extrovertida, diferente e completamente impulsiva. Essa sua última característica a leva a, após terminar seu relacionamento com Joel, procurar a Lacuna INC., uma clínica que oferece um tratamento peculiar: apagar pessoas da mente de outras. Ao descobrir que sua ex-namorada o apagou de sua memória, Joel vê o mundo desabar, e, em um momento de desespero, procura o mesmo tratamento. Durante o procedimento, no qual os técnicos vasculham o cérebro do paciente apagando memória por memória, Joel vê todos os momentos em que passou ao lado de sua namorada, se arrepende de sua escolha e tenta voltar atrás, se escondendo em lugares remotos de suas lembranças.

Filme conta com grande elenco, com Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst e Elijah Wood

Em mais um roteiro alucinante de Charlie Kaufman (que escreveu também Quero Ser John Malkovich), o filme vai e volta no tempo através das lembranças de Joel com interpretações fantásticas, não só dos protagonistas Jim Carrey (que provou, mais uma vez, que não é apenas um ótimo comediante, mas um ator excelente e versátil) e Kate Winslet, mas também boas atuações de todos os atores que compõem esse ótimo elenco, que conta com Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst e Elijah Wood.

Brilho Eterno de uma Mente sem Lembranças é uma história linda que mostra que, não importa o que você faça, você não pode esquecer um amor. Ao ver o filme me lembro de uma frase de Nelson Rodrigues: “Todo amor é eterno. Se acabou, não era amor”.

Antes de responder a pergunta feita no começo deste texto, assista ao filme, e você perceberá que, não importa quão dolorosa tenha sido a separação, um amor nunca deve ser esquecido.

Brilho Eterno de uma Mente sem Lembranças (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind): 2004, EUA. Direção: Michel Gondry. Elenco: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood. Roteiro: Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, Pierre Bismuth. Duração: 108 minutos.

Notas:

Rodrigo Gianesi [10] Ronnie Romanini [10] Paulo do Valle [9.5]

Nossa média: [9.8]

Zooey Deschanel

Yo me considero una melómana “ruda”, ya que soy algo difícil para la música… Pero hoy, llegó a mí un disco que simple y sencillamente no puedo evitar recomendar.
A mi me gusta bastante, y es lo único que puedo poner a favor del disco porque no me siento con el poder ni objetividad suficiente para criticarlo y justificar un “Por qué lo recomiendo”… Ya que en un inicio lo escuché sólo porque la composición y canto vienen por parte Zooey Deschanel y con ella tengo corazón de pollo :$ … y ¿Como no tenerlo con esos ojos tan … AwwwWwW?.

Así que la desición es toda suya, PERO ANTES DE DESCARTARLA escuchenla ¡por favor!

¡¡¡¡¡Descargalo!!!!!

Además 4 canciones de la película “Yes Man” (Que protagonizó con Jim Carrey) Con “su” banda Munchausen by Proxy

Nota: (Favor de avisar por medio de comment si cualquier link ya no funciona y el disco será re-subido).

Reviewed by Gary Pollard (first aired on RTHK Radio 4’s “Morning Call”)

Since its publication on 19 December 1843, Charles Dickens’ novella “A Christmas Carol” has become a recognised part of the Christmas season. Never out of print since its first publication, it’s been turned into film, opera, and stage versions. There’ve been around thirty different movie adaptations.  It was one of Dickens’ own favourites. He chose it for his first public reading in 1853, read an abbreviated version in performance 127 times, and it was the piece he was reading at his final performance in 1870.

Most of the adaptations have concentrated on the sentiment, the feeling of Christmas bonhomie engendered by Scrooge’s personal transformation. Dickens had more serious intent. He wanted it to attack nineteenth century capitalism, and the way the Industrial Revolution had affected the life of the poor. The idea sprang from a planned political pamphlet called:  ”An Appeal to the People of England, on behalf of the Poor Man’s Child”. Dickens was writing partly in response to government changes to the Poor Laws, changes which required among other things, welfare applicants to work on treadmills. He himself had experienced poverty as a child when his father had been placed in Marshalsea debtors’ prison for three months and he had been forced to leave school, pawn his books, and work in a shoe blacking factory.

There aren’t many people who don’t know the basic story by now, how the miser Scrooge is visited by the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come, who show him the error of his niggardly ways. Perhaps the most successful film adaptation is the 1951 British version, which was made on a very low budget and works because of an utterly convincing portrayal of Scrooge by Alastair Sim. Reruns of that film have long been a regular part of Christmas in the UK and America.

So now we have “Disney’s A Christmas Carol”. Not “Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol”. Not even director “Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol”. And of course, we shouldn’t expect it to be as political as Dickens intended the original to be. The bigger disappointment is that although it’s a spectacular showreel for what can be done with motion capture and computers, it so completely misses the point of the story.

What Dickens did superbly in his novella, and what stops it being a mere social tract, was to show the humanity of Scrooge, show the disappointments and setbacks that had turned him from an open child into a misanthropic miser. And then, by presenting his life to him in flashback, give him a chance at redemption. It’s the human that matters. And it’s the human, and human sentiment, that Zemeckis has failed to capture.

That’s more disappointing because at first the movie looks like it’s going to work well, in a scene at the undertakers, where the body of Jacob Marley is being prepared for burial. The undertaker holds his hand out for money, and it is physically difficult for Scrooge to hand over two coins. When he finally does so, he recoups his loss by taking the two pennies from the eyes of the dead man. “Tuppence is tuppence” he says. This scene is not in the original, and it’s a clever addition by Zemeckis. Also impressive is the title sequence that follows, where the camera soars and swoops over a detailed recreation of 19^th century London. It feels thoroughly populated, life happening in every street and every room, a mini-portrait of the society Dickens is describing.

But it’s already beginning to create doubts. It’s technically impressive, but it’s also somehow distancing, as is the motion capture technique itself. And that’s the problem with the rest of the movie.

Zemeckis seems to have fallen in love with motion capture technology. He also used it for “The Polar Express” and “Beowulf”. But almost since the beginning of his career he’s been rather too easily diverted by the technically dazzling, at least whenever he’s had the resources to do so. I didn’t like “The Polar Express”, but at least the animation there mirrored the illustrations in the real book. And “Beowulf” was myth anyway. But using it for “A Christmas Carol” is a mistake. You end up with neither the freedom of pure animation nor the human engagement of real actors. You often feel the movie would be better with the actors, who include Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn, Bob Hoskins and Fionnula Flanagan, than with their motion captured and caricatured equivalents.

Jim Carrey’s Scrooge is a long-nosed, long-chinned creation that owes too much to “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”. In fact, it’s hard not to think that his casting in that film is the main knee-jerk reason for his casting here. He is not a natural choice for Scrooge, and makes the character even more cartoonish. He also plays the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.

Also disappointing is that the semi-cartoon, semi-real style is not consistent from character to character. The ghost of Christmas Present in particular seems more cartoon-like than many others.

Worse than all this though is the fact that Zemeckis and Disney think that they need to liven things up for contemporary short-attention-span audiences. They are so determined to make the most of the 3D that they use the computer graphics to give us A Christmas Carol theme park ride. This is most damaging in the sequence with the Ghost of Christmas Present, where the decision is to make half the floor disappear and move from place to place with Scrooge hanging over the scene. The perspectives are often wrong and just plain jarring, and here we should not be thinking about that but about the people in the scenes. In other scenes, Scrooge is chased by jet black horses, menaced by a giant rat, and even shot into space like a rocket. Well whoop-dee-doo. I think Dickens must be turning in his grave. It all gets to look a bit more like a Harry Potter movie, and one of the less good ones at that.

In the end, unfortunately, “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” doesn’t leave you pondering a man’s hardening through the years, or his redemption, or the spirit of Christmas, even though most of the dialogue is reproduced verbatim from Dickens’ original. It leaves you wondering why they wanted to make this film if they did not want to focus on precisely what makes the story so great. It’s tired rehash, glitzed up, made because they can. And, I suppose, because it can rake some cash out of the festive season. And that too is not what Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol is entirely about at all.”

Finally, I got to watch Disney’s latest 3D animated flick, A Christmas Carol, which stars Jim Carrey as the voice of the protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge.

As this movie is obviously based entirely on the Charles Dickens Christmas classic novella, I will not delve into the story. Go read the book. I find it a must to do so in order to comprehend the movie. If you go into the story of A Christmas Carol for the first time through the film, you will not understand it and you may be disappointed for paying so much just to see it. The language is in the old British-style English and, knowing Filipinos’ comprehension of this type of spoken English, you might never get to understand the dialogue. This is not to mock every Pinoy; take it from me, because while watching, I wasn’t entirely listening to what the characters were saying. I was just engrossed in the visuals and relied on what I have read on the story for the script. Basically, it is essential to read the text first and formulate your visual interpretation in your own head.

Downloaded wallpaper from Disney's minisite of "A Christmas Carol."

Critics have given it a moderate rating—not exactly a very much anticipated ranking, considering that it is from Disney and is based on a classic. Some critics have said that it is an excellent visual version of the classic Dickens story, but lacks in heart or spirit. I have to agree. I didn’t feel exhilaration or a sense of inspiration after watching it. It was plain fun with elements of comedy, horror, and drama. The thrill, in my opinion, was absent. Even if Scrooge was being chased down the alley by a huge horse-drawn carriage, I wasn’t at the edge of my seat, hoping that he wouldn’t get caught. I just stared, watched, and enjoyed the 3D ride.

A heartless and worldly-possesive Christmas critic and atheist...

If I could have my way, every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled in his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart!

–Ebenezer Scrooge

...transformed into a caring and fun-loving jolly man.

Catches himself laughing like the Ghost of Christmas Present:

‘I’ve heard that laugh before…’

Resumes laughing.

–Ebenezer Scrooge

There were several scenes that were non-existent in the book. Although I hate a love-hate approach to this kind of practice by directors, I approve of it for this particular movie due to the interpretation and significance that it lends to A Christmas Carol. Take for instance, the death of the Ghost of Christmas Present. In the book, it wasn’t stated that he died—he simply vanished into thin air. In this animated movie, he actually grew old (and fast!), stumbled, and was shed of his skin up to his skeleton. He was laughing the whole time he was dying—even his skeleton was laughing. Afterwards, his remains were blown away like dust. I have formulated the significance of this scene: The Ghost of Christmas Present, albeit dying, was laughing because finally, Scrooge was being stripped off of his “Ignorance” and “Want”—worldly and selfish characteristics of man. It meant that Scrooge has finally come to his senses and is willing to propagate change into him. It was a laugh of triumph in being able to divert a man from his greedy ways.

Of the three Spirits of Christmas, I prefer the Ghost of Christmas Present just because he is so damn jolly! His laugh will make you want to laugh along--simply infectious!

I applaud the visual-creation department of Disney and Pixar. The environment was very much realistic. The humans were hardly recognizable as CGIs if shrouded in shadows. The only thing that made them look like CGIs was when they were moving too fast and performing feats not seen in reality. I also liked the style where in the end, Bob Cratchit suddenly evolved into Charles Dickens himself, stating the closing lines of his book. I have to say, he really did look like the man himself. Not really surprising, but still, a surprise.

Hey guys, don't you just love it when at an old age, you can look back to the day in your life when you fell so hard in-love? That special girl, how she looked back then, and how everything all around, including time, seemed to stop and just vanish. *sigh!* Yeah, I'm a hopeless romantic.

All in all, I could say that my excitement for the movie has paid off, but it never reached my expectations. I was hoping for a film that would get through me, more than what the book did. Still, it was a great cinematic panorama, and it certainly helped me understand certain vague points in the novella. The 3D experience was fine, but not enough to convince me that 3D cinema is best enjoyed in live action films.