Ain’t It Cool:  What exactly does Hype Park Entertainment need? 

SlashFilm:  Transformers coming to you on July 2 at 8pm 

The Movie Blog:  Amy Smart slated to star in Mirrors 

Celebrific:  Mary-Kate Olsen reveals why her mama dresses her funny  

Cinematical:  Patrick Stewart’s The Merchant of Venice still on the table  

Film Fodder:  The more the Jack Black the better, eh?  

Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino has pushed Italy’s movie industry’s buttons by calling the country’s film environment “depressing.”

Tarantino reveals, ”New Italian cinema is just depressing.

“Recent films I’ve seen are all the same. They talk about boys growing up, or girls growing up, or couples having a crisis, or vacations of the mentally impaired.”

But veteran actress Sophia Loren isn’t going to be signing up for a Kill Bill film any time soon, saying, “How dare he talk about Italian cinema when he doesn’t know anything about American cinema?”

Elsewhere Tarantino is being dubbed “mentally impaired” in the Italian press.  Well, let’s hope good ole Quentin wasn’t going to try shooting in Italy sometime soon…..

{Source}

Ain’t It Cool:  Hostel Part II  

SlashFilm:  The Golden Compass, behind the scenes look-see 

The Movie Blog:  Bloggers Choice Awards are here 

Celebrific:   Victoria Beckham backs out of reality TV deal 

Cinematical:  Killer B’s on DVD, can you contain your excitement? 

Film Fodder:   Harry Potter wins Georgia court case

Well, it’s not a blockbuster week for DVD releases, if you ask me.  I guess you could sink some teeth into The Messengers, but not much else is all that tempting.  You take a look & tell me if you disagree….

Here they are, folks, the DVD releases for Tuesday June 5, 2007:

CHiPs: The Complete First Season
The Cosby Show: Season 3
The Dead Zone: The Complete Fifth Season
The Fall Guy: The Complete First Season
Fantastic 4
Fantastic Voyage
The Messengers
Mission: Impossible – The Second TV Season
Norbit
Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season
Seinfeld: Season 8
Spongebob Squarepants: Bikini Bottom Adventures

Do I hear an, I told you so?

Pirates 3 may have held onto the top spot this weekend, but “Knocked Up” faired surprisingly well. The comedy starring Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl actually made more money per theater than it’s swashbuckling competition. Knocked Up was shown in about 1,500 less theaters than Pirates 3, and still managed to rake in over $29 million dollars this weekend.

That’s huge news for Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, and director Jud Apatow.

The Top Five for the Weekend were:

1. Pirates 3 – $43,188,000
2. Knocked Up – $29,284,000
3. Shrek the Third – $26,704,000
4. Mr. Brooks – $10,020,000
5. Spider-Man 3 $7,500,000

Ain’t It Cool:   Hostel’s Eli Roth tells all

SlashFilm:  Oprah says see Michael Moore movie, dammit  

The Movie Blog:  2007 MTV Movie Awards scoop 

Celebrific:  Are Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie really getting hitched this time? 

Cinematical:  Jack Black set to star in Year One

Film Fodder:   Gracie, reviewed

I missed this when it first came online last week. It looks amazing. The Golden Compass hits theaters on 12.7.07 – and I can’t wait to see it.

You can visit the official site here.

Harold Ramis – he of the Caddyshack, Groundhog Day, Ghostbusters fame (it’s Egon, folks) – will write and direct Jack Black – he of the Heatvision and Jack, School of Rock, Tenacious D, and Nacho Libre fame – in a film produced by Judd Apatow – he of the 40 Year Old Virgin, Knock Up fame – entitled “Year One”.

I don’t know what Year One is about…and I don’t care. I will be there.

I don’t need to see a trailer. I don’t need to know who else stars in it.

Ramis. Black. Apatow.

I’m in.

Variety has more…

Well, the 2007 MTV Movie Awards have come & gone now.  Sarah Silverman hosted the yearly event with special guests such as Cameron Diaz & Jay-Z.  After a few tame jokes about jailbird Paris Hilton, the event was underway & the winners are……. 

BEST MOVIE
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

BEST PERFORMANCE
Johnny Depp- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Jaden Smith- The Pursuit of Happyness

BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE
Sacha Baron Cohen- Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

BEST KISS
Will Ferrell & Sacha Baron Cohen- Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

BEST VILLAIN
Jack Nicholson- The Departed

BEST FIGHT
Gerard Butler vs. “The Uber Immortal”- 300

BEST SUMMER MOVIE YOU HAVEN’T SEEN YET
Transformers

MTV U BEST FILMMAKER ON CAMPUS AWARD
Josh Greenbaum

BEST MOVIE SPOOF

United 300

I’ve never been much of a Gundam fan. I’m more of a Transformers-guy, personally. Still, when I found this live action film in a DVD bargain bin at a local used record shop, I figured “what the hell” and dropped the $8 bucks for it. I got it mostly because I like seeing cartoons make the transition into live action, even if it’s done very poorly. And although I’m no Gundam expert, I can say with assurance that “G-Saviour” was done very poorly.

It’s Universal Century 223 and Earth has set up space station colonies known as Sides. The Sides have been in a political struggle with the Earth government known as CONSENT over independence. The Side known as Gaia has been the most aggressive and the key to their sovereignty just might lie in a formula for bio-luminescence which can make underwater agriculture a reality and eliminate famine. Former CONSENT soldier Mark Curran (Brennan Elliot) realizes that his former employers will do anything they can to get their hands on the substance, so he teams with a group of Gaian rebels lead by Cynthia Graves (Enuka Okuma) to get it from Earth to Gaia safely. Hot on Mark’s heels is his former commander of questionable moral fiber, Col. Jack Halle (David Lovgren), who has framed Mark for murder and is willing to wage war on Gaia if it means destroying the bio-luminescence formula. Gaia’s only hope to defeat the forces of Earth lies with Mark and his powerful Mobile Suit, G-Saviour.

The DVD box touts this movie as the special “Gundam 20th Anniversary Project”. I can’t imagine a worse way to celebrate a 20th anniversary than with a cheap, poorly scripted, poorly acted, poorly directed, poorly conceived made-for-TV-movie. This was apparently a joint production between Sunrise Studios in Japan and Polestar Television in North America and it left me thinking that something was lost in the transition overseas. Namely, the giant robots. The Mobile Suits seem like more of an afterthought in this movie than anything else. With a run-time of 95 minutes, you get maybe a total sum of 10 minutes of giant robot action. I may not know a lot about Gundam, but I do know that when I watch a Gundam movie there had damn well better be more than ten minutes of giant robots!

The bulk of the film follows the adventures of Mark and his gang of rebels as they try to escape Earth and get the secret formula back to Gaia. The characters are so two-dimensional I half expected them to float away on a stiff breeze. Mark is particularly wretched, being the stale soldier-who-quit-the-force-because-he-plays-by-his-own-rules-but-must-save-the-day archetype. And of course there’s the added bonus where he has to overcome his vow to never pilot a Mobile Suit again so that he can win the final battle, subplot. The rest of the cast are actually worse. You’ve got Dieter (Alfonso Quijada), a rebel who doesn’t trust Mark because he’s from Earth and gradually learns to respect him when he saves his life etc. There’s the aforementioned villain, Col. Jack Halle, whose evil just because. And so on and so forth. Needless to say, they occupy 85 minutes of this 95 minute movie and they do not carry it well at all.

The direction and cinematography are blander than a saltine cracker. Everything screams “made for TV movie”, from the uninspired camera work to the boring lighting. The sets also look especially cheap, particularly the cockpits of the Mobile Suits. They look like something I could have made myself with $50 bucks-worth of supplies procured at my local Home Depot.

I suppose if there had to be one upside to this movie it would have to be the Mobile Suits, scarcely as they’re used. Digital Muse choreographs some fantastic space battles and the Mobile Suits move very smoothly. The one downside is that the CGI is primitive. It does not blend well with live action surroundings at all and looks very cartoonish. Had this entire film been animated then the CGI would have been breath-taking. But as it stands, you’ll feel like you’re watching “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” at times. That bit of incompatibility aside, the final battle (all 10 minutes of it) looks great. Both Mark and Jack may have been terrible characters, but their brief Mobile Suit showdown was awesome.

But alas, ten minutes does not make a movie. Especially when the remaining 85 minutes are so painful you might sprout a brain tumor. I’m afraid I can’t recommend this to anyone, even if you do find it in a bargain bin for $8 bucks. I understand that even the hardcore Gundam fandom loathes this movie, if that tells you anything. View at your own risk.

Grade: F