I saw The Avengers in 3D this afternoon and it made me wonder if I wasn’t doing incremental harm to my finely tuned survival instincts. You and I were born with some amazing skills at recognizing, and avoiding, danger. Think about it…in a split second we can see, and react, to something that is headed our way. We duck or swerve to avoid a flying object that might otherwise take us out. So, here’s what I’m thinking. Every time we have a virtual 3D experience with a flying object that DOESN’T do us harm, that part of our brain that is well trained to react in a split second registers a direct hit with no consequences. In other words, it has been fooled by the visual artistry that makes 3D action films so much fun. You may have heard the old saying, “fool me once, shame on you…fool me twice, shame on me.” Every technology comes with hidden consequences. Consider the loss of penmanship since keyboarding took its place. Others have argued that ready access to the internet and Google is reducing our capacity to remember. I can imagine a future where we are a nanosecond or two slower to react because of the de-evolution of our highly-refined reaction instinct. Something to think about the next time you are standing in line to see the latest 3D blockbuster.
Academy Award Apps
Many people engage in simultaneous media use…often a laptop or smart phone while watching TV. If you’re one of them…and you’re planning to watch the Academy Awards show this Sunday evening on ABC…this may be just what you need to occupy your attention during those boring acceptance speeches.
According to USA Today, apps for iPhones, iPads, Android and Blackberry devices are available offering a wide range of features.
For example, the Oscar Backstage Pass is, according to their promotional copy, the coolest thing since…well, the vuvuzela app from last summer’s world cup!
Get the ultimate insider’s view of Hollywood’s biggest night with Oscar Backstage Pass! The Oscar Backstage Pass app is the perfect companion app to have when you are watching the 83rd Academy Awards® on February 27th. You’ll get access to live streams from exclusive cameras placed throughout the Red Carpet, the Kodak Theatre and the Governors Ball so you can go beyond the tv broadcast and watch more live Oscar action as it’s taking place. With Oscar Backstage Pass you get more stars, more glamour, more of everything you love about the Oscars®!
To get the Oscar Backstage Pass for only $.99, visit the iTunes app store.
More coverage from the NYTimes.
C 3-D PO coming to a screen near you
Lucasfilm Ltd. just announced that the 
Star Wars films are being remastered in 3-D and will be released in theaters in 2012. The work is being performed by the team at Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic.
According to the Star Wars website,
There are few movies that lend themselves more perfectly to 3D; from the Death Star trench run to the Tatooine Podrace, the Star Wars Saga has always delivered an entertainment experience that is completely immersive. Presented by Twentieth Century Fox and Lucasfilm Ltd., the cutting edge conversion will take that immersion to the next thrilling level, with Industrial Light & Magic supervising the project.Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace is expected to be released theatrically in 2012.
According to the website The Wrap, IL&M visual effects supervisor John Knoll “told Variety that there are no plans to add or fix visual effects in the films, which should please fans who were upset when Lucas made a few digital tweaks to the original trilogy.” Unfortunately, that means we’ll have to endure Jar Jar Binks once again! Oh well, hopefully the fly-throughs will make it all worthwhile.
Dot. A very cool stop-motion animated viral video
Check this out. Nokia asked Oscar-winning film makers Aardman Animations – the guys behind Wallace and Gromit – to create an animated short to celebrate the Nokia N8’s 12 mega-pixel camera and a specially designed microscope. The cell phone camera and microscope can be used for a lot of things, including remote diagnosis of medical conditions for people in remote areas of the world.
Watch the short animation, then watch the making of…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD7eagLl5c4]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTbzSiwbRfg]
The short film is in the Book of Guinness World Records as officially “the world’s smallest stop motion character animation.” This is also related to our discussion of social media because the viral success of this short animation is bringing a lot of attention to Nokia and their new phone. Pretty cool, eh? What could you shoot with your cell phone camera?
It’s Almost Oscar Time
The 82nd Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards show, aka the Oscars, is just 12 days away. For the first time since 1943, ten films are up for Best Picture. Some speculators are predicting that Avatar will take home the gold. But there are some reasons to doubt. Avatar didn’t win a best screenplay nomination and none of the actors were nominated for their roles.
There will be awards for best actor, best actress, best director, best costume design, best makeup, best editing, best visual effects, best sound mixing, best…well, you get the idea. This is a big party and lots and lots of accolades will be distributed to the best and the brightest. For a partial list of nominees, see the Oscar website.
Two of the films up for best director are Avatar and The Hurt Locker. Both films have been nominated in eight categories in addition to Best Director. Directors James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow are not only competitors, they were husband and wife for a couple of years about 20 years ago.
As a fan of documentary films I will be watching to see which film wins in this category. I’m pulling for Food, Inc. Here’s a documentary that will make you want to go out and buy five acres, some chickens, goats, steers and take up farming and ranching. Any documentary that can make me reconsider eating meat (or at least meat produced on factory farms) deserves some kind of award.
The hosts of this years show are Steve Martin and Alex Baldwin. The broadcast, by ABC TV network, will air on Sunday, March 7th and will originate from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California.
Avatar Sinks Titanic and Moviegoers Turn Blue
A blockbuster is, by definition, either a large bomb (as in explosive) or a huge media sensation. The sci-fi movie Avatar fits comfortably in that second category where it has been making news by racking up some impressive numbers….over $600 million domestically and more than $2 billion world-wide to be precise. As of late January, director James Cameron is now the proud owner of the top TWO spots on the all-time, world-wide, box office receipt ledger board with Avatar at #1 and Titanic at #2. The exceptional performance of Avatar is not only accounted for by strong ticket sales, but also reflects the additional revenue generated by the 3-D screens. Because the film continues to attract movie-goers the final total may be much higher.
But there is another story here that may be more interesting than the record receipts. According to news reports, the stars of Avatar are not the only creatures feeling a little blue. CNN and Huffington Post reported that fans of Avatar are experiencing a let-down (“Avatar-induced depression”) when they leave Pandora…er, I mean, when they exit the theater. It seems that the film is such a powerful experience for many fans that they are having difficulty readjusting to the boring reality that defines their humdrum existence on planet Earth. Wow…sounds like somebody needs to get a life!
Movies by and about Michael Moore
There’s a new film out by Michael Moore (Roger & Me, Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko) but you won’t find it in theaters. In an attempt to allow as many people as possible access to the film, Moore is making the film available as a computer download at slackeruprising.com
The documentary chronicles Moore’s sixty-city tour in 2004 to get out the youth vote for John Kerry. In large stadium rallies, Moore challenges those in attendance to go to the polls. To help sweeten the deal, Moore is seen handing out Raman noodles and clean underwear to those who take his pledge to vote. Of course the outcome of the 2004 race turns this film into a review of what went wrong for Moore and his campaign. One suspects that the release of Slacker Uprising now is another attempt to motivate the college crowd to get out the vote….this time for Obama.
The documentary also chronicles Moore’s celebrity pals who show up to lend support. Eddie Vedder, Joan Baez, Viggo Mortensen, and Rosanne Barr are just some of the celebs who adoringly introduce Moore to the auditorium crowds. Film critics have been accusing Moore of being self-indulgent since Roger & Me premiered nearly 20 years ago…and this film will fan those flames again.
If you want to see a totally different perspective on Moore you can check out David Zucker’s comedy spoof called An American Carol, out in theaters now. This parody pokes fun at a character clearly modeled after Moore who is trying to abolish the Fourth of July holiday. While conservatives rail against Moore’s “liberal bias”, liberal critics accuse An American Carol of being “right-wing propaganda”.
What do you think?
Slacker Uprising trailer at blip.tv
An American Carol trailer at YouTube
Streaming movies to your computer, and to your TV
For years the movie industry has been trying to figure out how to distribute their products to consumers. Movies that have a theatrical release have film “prints” made, which are then shipped to theaters (BTW, printing and shipping can cost tens of millions of dollars), loaded onto projects, and presented to audiences sitting in the dark listening to cell phones and small talk while their shoes adhere to the floor. Although I’m exaggerating the down-side of the theater experience (and ignoring the positive aspects such as image and sound quality, the group dynamic that allows us to laugh, scream and cringe at exactly the same moment, etc.), the economic reality is that printing and projecting 35mm film prints is destined for the same fate as the broadsheet newspaper. But until digital distribution and projection technology (and security) improves, it is still the best alternative for the group viewing experience.
Viewing motion pictures in the comfort of your own home on your Blu-Ray high definition, 5.1 surround sound home theater system is another matter. With gas at $4/gal and climbing, there’s got to be a better way than driving to your local video rental store to pickup and return a movie on DVD. Cable would like you to subscribe to their VOD (Video On Demand) service to watch something in their library. But that’s part of the problem…their library is limited. Netflix, on the other hand, has a huge database of movies available. While currently only a fraction (about 10% of their 100,000 title library) are available for streaming to your computer, the good news is that more and more movies are being added, and you can purchase a piece of hardware for $100 that makes your Netflix moves available for viewing on your big-screen TV. Think AppleTV but cheaper. The Roku costs less (Apple TV is $250), and there is no additional cost per movie if you’re on one of Netflix’s unlimited plans that starts at $8.99/month.
When broadband internet connections and large-screen HD displays reach saturation, all movies will be distributed online rather than on disc. And if you want that group-viewing experience, you’ll just have to invite your friends over to the house!
Oscar is turning 80
Sunday night will be the 80th anniversary of the little annual party known as the Academy Awards. The Academy is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences…quite a mouthful…which is why people refer to the show as “The Oscars.” So who is Oscar? Oscar is the name of the 13.5-inch, 8.5 pound statuette that is given to each awardee. According to the AMPAS website the statuette, “depicts a knight holding a crusader’s sword, standing on a reel of film with five spokes, signifying the original branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers and Technicians.” Approximately 6,000 Hollywood professionals make up the Academy and vote for the nominees.
This year’s host is Jon Stewart of The Daily Show fame. Incidentally, Stewart’s show won four Oscars in the Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series category since 1999.
The program is sure to have a little something for everyone…including a couple of consumer-generated spots for Dove. And yes, all of you wannabe judges get to vote for the winning spot via text or online.
Speaking of voting, how about trying to predict the winners? Just download and print this ballot. The only thing more fun that sitting on your couch filling out a ballot as you await the start of the show would be sitting in one of the seats in the Kodak theater in Hollywood, keeping it warm while one of the celebrities visits the “powder room.” A couple of hundred “seat-fillers” perform this very valuable function every year…to avoid the embarrassment of empty seats when the cameras shoot the audience. Ah, the vanity of Hollywood!
