Well I originally had a different film in mind for my next viewing, but considering the news broke today that Patrick Swayze had finally succumb to cancer* I thought it would be best to select one of the few films of his I hadn’t seen during my formative years. That film being the post-apocalyptic epic Steel Dawn. Why I haven’t watched a film with swords, martial arts and futuristic desert wastelands is beyond me, but hear me now, this oversight shall now be rectified!
*Don’t cry! Hold it back. Let it turn to something else. Just let it turn to something else, okay? Listen to me. Don’t cry. Don’t you ever cry again as long as you live. Never do it. Do you hear me? Let it turn to something else Mattie. Let it turn. Let it turn.**
So the big news today is that the Avatar trailer was finally released. Its a decent enough trailer, the various aliens and their world certainly look pretty cool, but the CGI clearly isn’t finished yet. With the release of District 9 this past week the bar has clearly been raised and I’m sure those wonderful kiwis at Weta are feverishly working around the clock to finish the effects in time for the release date. But to certainly no avail, as I’m sure the Internet will erupt with exuberant apathy or some such nonsense before the day is out.
But what I am finding far more entertaining then the trailer, is the continual efforts of Fox’s marketing department to shoot this film in the mind controlled foot. First they announce they will be releasing an image, and it turns out to be a blurry and grainy amalgamation that confuses rather then excites. They follow that up with the announcement of a 25 minute preview for Avatar day, but the ticketing system crashes resulting in countless people being unable to get tickets for the event. Finally, we get the trailer release. Nerds have been feverishly waiting for this moment, only to have the Apple Trailers website crash under the weight. At one point their HD versions of the trailers finally make it up, but as if realizing the error of their ways, immediately crash in accordance to seemingly mandatory rules.
Making things even more entertaining, the first working Avatar trailer could only be found on MSN’s FRENCH website, the sort of backhanded marketing triumph that should send Ruppert Murdoch into a veritable tizzy. And while this dysfunction is to this point far more entertaining then anything I’ve seen from Avatar as yet, I simply can’t wait to see how truly disastrous this relationship between film and fans inevitably gets.
For those that don’t know Talk Cinema is a series of films shown on Saturday mornings over at the Landmark Edina Theater. The rub is that when you go to these screenings you don’t know what film you will be watching until the film is onscreen. Afterwords, their is a discussion about the film with either a local critic or some one associated with making the film.
Generally the films tend to be topical or with strong social messages, but that isn’t always the case, and in general they try to select films that won’t be released for at last a month or so to help increase the value of attending. This Saturday, the 21st, the Landmark Edina will be having another screening for Talk Cinema at 10am. Tickets are $18, though cheaper if you buy a full session pass, but only $5 if you have a student ID. Coffee is provided, and bagels and concessions are on sale if you would like those as well. After this Saturday there are only two more screenings left in the series, which won’t resume again until later in the year.
So if you feel up for watching a movie at 10am make sure to try and swing over to the Landmark Edina for Talk Cinema, and if you are a student you really should make it out there to take advantage of such a great. And if you need more of a push here are some of the films that have played at previous Talk Cinema screenings.
Films previewed in Minneapolis during the 2007-08 Season: Sleuth, The Rocket, Yella, The Kite Runner, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Band’s Visit, And Along Come Tourists, Caramel, Roman de Gare, The Life Before Her Eyes, Mongol
Films previewed in Minneapolis during the 2008-09 Season: I Loved You So Long, Slumdog Millionaire, Un Conte De Noel, The Reader, Last Chance Harvey, Wendy and Lucy, Two Lovers, Everlasting Moments, The Great Buck Howard
Still not convinced? Well then after the break check out the trailer for the film that will be showing this Saturday!
In what looks like it will be one of the most insane documentaries of the year, The Cove follows a group of activists who infiltrate a secret Japanese manufacturing plant to video tape the “horrors” that occur during Japan’s annual harvest of dolphins and whales from drive fishing. The results look to be both utterly fascinating and disturbing.
Since I’ve been wallowing in the muck of Ozploitation and a few other less then “art” films (though I would argue they most certainly were artistic), I figured it would be time to take a drastic change in course and dive head first into the works of Samuel Fuller. While I’m not a huge fan of war films, I do have several that I like to watch, and Fuller is widely heralded for his own personal style and take on the war film that didn’t glorify it, but rather dragged the audience into the war itself. Needless to say I am very excited to watch The Steel Helmet.
Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese and Jim Jarmusch talk about The Steel Helmet
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