Godzilla is the eldritch movie to satisfy your Lovecraftian wet dream

So, you guys know that I LOVE kaiju movies and yesterday was a treat because we got the first trailer for the new Godzilla reboot. Let's just say, it gave me chills. And yeah, I have to analyze it because that's just the way my brain works.

First of all, Let's begin with addressing some of the technical stuff for the uninitiated. The narration is done by actor David Strathairn. The last time I saw him on the screen was for the second season of the now defunct SyFy show "Alphas." For the record, I thought Alphas was good and hated how they ended the series by killing everyone (it's the only show I've ever seen that did that). David has one of those voices that's technically perfect for a voiceover movie trailer. But he's not the only one on the cast that I'm excited to see (insert mandatory "squee" here).

Walter White is no longer the "one who knocks." But aside from this jib at Breaking Bad (best series ever!) I'm experiencing a "baby blue euphoria" at spotting Bryan Cranston. The only thing really that could make the comeback of the King of all Monsters even better is a dash of Walter White and THAT'S TOTALLY WHAT WE'RE GETTING!

Now (I'm a little bit of a classical music geek) so I'll tell you that the opening score for the trailer during the paratroop sequence is called Requiem for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, 2 Mixed Choirs and Orchestra and hopefully some of you recognize it from the Stanley Kubrik adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey. It really makes the fall done by those soldiers seem like a descent into Hell (that combined with the absolutely stunning visuals of a city on fire). I'm reaching for words like "Eldritch" and "Lovecraftian." It really needed just one more thing: someone doing the whole "Oppenheimer speech" that I start my free short story, The Insanity of Zero, with. You know, the one that says "I am become Death, destroyer of worlds..."

As an aside, I'd like to point out that it appears atomic breath is back in a big way (the Matthew Broderick Godzilla film of yesteryear ignored this much to my chagrin). I point to evidence of the giant carved holes through the buildings that are all charred and melted-looking that we see in the trailer. Those weren't created by a big monster running cartoon-like through the sides of skyscrapers.

Also, what is a H.A.L.O. jump?
Ahem...a HALO Jump (for those of you that don't play the video game) stands for High Altitude Low Opening. This is used to keep aircraft above radar and limit the amount of time a jumper's parachute is visible. Think extreme height (like 20,000 feet) and deploy your parachute right before you go splat. That way you evade conventional anti-air fire or detection until the last minute. Because of the devastation and all the smoke, the flares we see are probably used more for the soldier's benefit than to actually hide from Godzilla. They probably think that the monster is stupid so can't act on the flares anyway, and they are so small they'll be beneath detection (which is entirely possible because Godzilla is frickin' huge).

This seriously needs to happen someday. Guillermo get on it please.

Now (small spoiler alert) the internet seems to think that the concept behind this film is that there's a secret organization called MUTO that's out there creating monsters and that Godzilla is a kind of "curse" the planet delivers unto us for doing so...for toying around with science. Find out more about M.U.T.O. by visiting their viral website HERE. The thing I love about this website is that it makes you feel like you're actually exploring some weird and classified information! And what better place to have Godzilla show up than the tech happy urban hub of San Francisco?

Honestly, I can't help but think that the reason San Francisco is being used is to support the "Occupy Google" movement. Yep, that's got to be it. So did I tell you everything you needed to know about Godzilla to be excited about it now? As usual, your comments on this important science fiction topic are greatly appreciated :).

I can't understand a word in Captain Harlock but I feel oddly compelled to watch it.

I really have no idea what's going on in this movie trailer. Nor do I understand more than half the words, yet I feel oddly compelled to watch the film and pay full price (especially if it's in IMAX). Does that make me weird?

Well I kind of/sorta can figure it out. There's obviously a bad guy flying the spaceship with the skull on it. And the protagonist looks like he's very capable with weapons, is drawn beautiful, and might be a cross between "emo-kid" and a steampunk version of Han Solo. Oh and there's a white elf girl who is the epitome of grace (maybe she's a Princess Leia who's crossed with an elf and who's allowed to eat one cube of cheese a day to stay so small?). The world of Asian anime is so filled with idealistically perfect and emo young white people that it seems somehow wrong, but it may be a part of their culture (not quite sure). I do like all that fabulous hair flowing around though. I'll say it again. THE GUYS HAVE FABULOUS HAIR.

Oh and did I mention that they have a boy band singing the romance music in the background? Guys, it's like all the marketing in the world is converging into a singularity of something that should be so terrible, it just might be the best sci-fi movie of 2013. And even if you disagree, the event horizon created by combining 1) Asian boy band with horrible English pronunciation with 2) anime elves for diversity and 3) lots of beautifully drawn young white boys with incredible hair, and 4) explosions to get your mind off what may be a terrible plot and 5) what may be some of the finest computer animated sex that we'll ever see, will make it impossible for you to avoid.

I hope that after it releases in Japan someone licenses it for America and makes it available here. It gives me chills the same way that Akira gave me chills the first time I saw previews for it decades ago. So yeah, you should watch the video and see if this sci-fi offering from across the Pacific will jiggle your mojo. For the record, my mojo is still jigglin'.

UPDATE: My new friend "AnimeKritik" uploaded this trailer to YouTube with subtitles! So you can now go and read what's going on in English. Thank you so much AnimeKritic. You are amazing :) And a note to my followers: Please go visit their blog in the embedded links.

Pacific Rim's focus on size proves it's the man card dispensing movie of the decade

I think Pacific Rim will be the one movie this decade that issues a man card at the door with the price of every admissions ticket. Why? Because this movie is all about size, and how that matters. And I think I'm pretty safe in saying, that size only matters to men. Women are probably going to get nothing from this movie, which means unless men blackmail their wives/girlfriends to go and see it, attendance should be pretty much 95% men and 5% women.

That being said, the latest trailer for Guillermo del Toro's "Twilight for Men" has got more testosterone packed into two minutes than a tube of Androgel. My favorite scene in this particular trailer: the huge Jaeger mech that unleashes the forearm blades to eviscerate a kaiju. The penetration and shear gutting power of those weapons has got to be over the top.

The only thing that could make this movie better would be a scenario where (when the two pilots are sharing memories) one pilot has a memory of screwing the other pilot's partner. Why else would you make a device that requires shared memories? The drama potential is unlimited! Here's the trailer in case you missed it when it "erupted" all over the internet last week. Watching it leaves me strangely satisfied, yet wanting. Fancy that.

*****

ANNOUNCEMENT: Author Roland Yeomans' book, The Bear With Two Shadows is available on audiobook now through Audible.com. If you don't know what The Bear with Two Shadows is, think of The Wind in the Willows meets the Lord of the Rings meets Native American mythology. You will never listen to another book like it :).

My thoughts are with you, Oklahoma. You are not alone.

Brave

This is our first sort of fairytale,” John Lasseter told an eager crowd on the of Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, “This is our first period piece. This is our first female main character. This is Brave.”

The first clip showcased featured the lead, Merida (Kelly Macdonald) riding on her giant horse through the forest, shooting down targets hanging from the trees with her bow and arrow. The horse stops short of a log, throwing her into the mud. In anger, she throws a clod of mud at the horse’s nose, and he snorts it back to his face. She approaches him, angrily, but then kisses his muzzle.

Lasseter was joined on stage by the film’s director, Mark Andrews (clad in a kilt) and producer, Katherine Sarafian. They pointed out that they had two different research trips to Scotland to get everything down.

“We’re inspired by all the stories that are already there,” Andrews told ComingSoon.net backstage after the presentation, “There are stories about every landscape and every tree and every rock. It was inspiring to try and fuse that idea of how it connects us all.”

Sarafian told the crowd that Scotland’s phenomena of blue bog gas, called Wil-o’-the-wisp, will feature prominently in the story. The wisps have the power to “change your fate”, and lead Merida to the cottage of a witch. Seeing this as an opportunity to get away from being married, she insists the witch cast a spell. Naturally, everything goes wrong and the spell starts a chain of events that brings the highlands closer to war.

Concept art for the witch in BRAVE

Macdonald and fellow voice talent Kevin McKidd then took to the stage. McKidd pulls double duty in the film, voicing both Lord. MacGuffin and his incomprehensible son, Young MacGuffin.

“He’s a lovely guy and his heart is in the right place,” McKidd told us, “but no one can work out what he’s saying because he has a strong Scottish accent.”

The next clip featured King Fergus (Billy Connolly), who has called Merida’s suitors together to compete in a game of her choosing, the winner will receive her hand in marriage.

“[Merida] is reeling against her mother,” Macdonald said backstage, “She doesn’t want a suitor. She’s quite happy and wants to live her life, but her mother is trying to create this perfect princess. It’s a bit of their battle and their reconnection.”

Concept Art for Queen Elinor

“Merida sees an opportunity here,” Andrews told the audience in reference to the clip, “Do you know what game she picks?”

To which the crowd shouted back, “Archery!”

Unfinished, the scene played with some parts featured only as animatics and others roughly rendered. Most of the parts with Merida in them played beautifully. As the suitors shoot their arrows, Merida and King Fergus laugh about their ineptitude.

First is Macguffin. He timidly shoots his arrow and barely hits the target. Next is the Gene Simmons-esque son of Lord Macintosh, who fares better than Macguffin but misses the bullseye. He angrily tosses his bow into the crowd, where a young girl shouts “I caught it! Yay!” Finally, the aptly named young Dingwall goes next, barely enough brains in him to knock the bow. King Fergus angrily shouts at him to get on with him, and the spooked by looses the arrow and miraculously gets the bullseye.

Enraged, Merida appears on the field and shouts that she will be competing for her own hand. As she gets a perfect bullseye in the first target, her mother screams at her to get stop. Merida ignores her, and goes to the second one. At Dingwall’s, she not only splits the arrow, but her arrow cuts all the way through to the scaffolding of the target. Merida then turns to face her furious mother and the clip ends.

“We have our own take on Scottish lore,” Sarafian said of the overall tone of Brave, “It’s really Pixar lore, but it’s set in Scotland and its inspired by Scottish storytelling and designed to be a story that’s perfectly set in that landscape.”

Brave hits theaters on June 22, 2012, right after Prometheus :)) Oh summer...how I love thee.

A King has his reign, and then he dies.

Those are the words spoken by (I believe) Noomi Rapace's character at the start of the amazing second trailer for Prometheus, which was unveiled at Wonder Con just this weekend. Knowing just a smidge about this film, I think that the words are chilling because the context may be a double entendre.  The "king" may also refer to man's domination of the universe and how it may eventually end:

And here is the viral Weyland Industries birth of David the Android

that was also released this weekend.

For those of you who are new to my blog, ‘Prometheus’ is a sci-fi film based on the Alien universe. It stars Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace and was shot on the RED Epic cameras and the Element Technica ATOM 3d rig. It releases in June 2012.

Director: Ridley Scott
Producer: Tony Scott
Cinematographer: Dariusz Wolski

Dariusz Wolski had this to say about the Epic camera and his work on Prometheus:

"In my opinion, the new Red Epic camera is about to revolutionize all spectrums of the film industry.

I am amazed with the quality of the image and the fact that you can shoot 5k at 120fps without compromising resolution, and...most of all...the size of the camera. 

Combined with the Element Technica Atom 3d rig, we will be able to shoot a 3d movie with the flexibility of a conventional cinema camera. 

I don’t see anything that comes close to it at the moment. I can’t even imagine the potential Epic will have on the big blockbuster industry as well as independent cinema."

HERE is my post on the TED video wherein Peter Weyland explains the myth of Prometheus.
HERE is my post showing Prometheus fan art.
HERE is my post of the entire Prometheus plot. Warning: SPOILERS! But it's epic.
HERE is a link to my Christmas Post wherein I embed the first Prometheus trailer.
HERE is my first post on Prometheus.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

I saw this trailer on the iTunes website yesterday. It's brilliant.  Oh and it's for "Mature" audiences.

1) It totally pokes fun at the kids camping meeting the psycho hillbillies.

2) It shows how bad things can get when people don't communicate.

3) It shows that you shouldn't judge a person by appearance alone.

4) The writing in this is fresh, exciting, and made of pure awesome.

Have a great weekend! See you Monday.