Napoleon Dynamite Animated Series

Hmm… Seven years after the movie was released, Fox Broadcasting Company is planning an animated series based on  Napoleon Dynamite.  It will be written and produced by Jared Hess, Jarusha Hess, and Mike Scully.  The actors from the movie are going to provide the voiceover for the series.  I’m curious what else there is to say about this story, so I’ll probably check it out when it is released.

In the meantime, here’s a trailer Fox released.

Netflix and Miramax Deal

Netflix and Miramax have reached a great deal!  Beginning next month, several Miramax movies will be available via Netflix’s instant view program.  That means that Netflix members will be able to instantly stream movies such as Pulp Fiction, Muriel’s Wedding, and Bad Santa.  I have a Netflix account and I love the instant streaming feature.  I did notice that movies such as Pulp Fiction were missing from the instant view list, so I’m really looking forward to this capability.

Check out this TV!

I have found my next TV and it will be great for those Netflix movie-watchin’ nights.  It’s a Bang & Olufsen BeoVision 85-inch 3D HDTV.  No price has been set yet, but Bang & Olufsen stuff ain’t cheap.

Feel free to get this for me.  Thanks!

My 2011 Oscar Picks

For the first time ever, I saw all 10 movies nominated for Best Picture.  My favorite was Inception, but I don’t think the critics enjoyed it as much as I did.  Here are my Oscar picks for a few of the categories.  Do you agree with me?  Who knows, The Social Network could be that movie that blows all the others away and that ends up winning every category it’s in (but I sure hope not).

• Actor in a Leading Role: Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
• Actress in a Leading Role: Natalie Portman – Black Swan
• Actor in a Supporting Role: Christian Bale – The Fighter (I also loved Geoffrey Rush in The King’s Speech, but I thought Christian Bale’s role was more of a stretch.)
• Actress in a Supporting Role: Melissa Leo – The Fighter
• Best Picture: The King’s Speech
• Directing: Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
• Animated Feature Film: Toy Story 3
• Cinematography: Inception
• Documentary (Feature): Exit through the Gift Shop
• Music (Original Score): The Social Network – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Inception – Hans Zimmer was my favorite, but I think Social Network will win.)
• Visual Effects: Inception

The Academy Awards ceremony is coming on in a couple of hours, so I can see how accurate my guesses were.

 

Daft Punk Tron Legacy soundtrack tops iTunes

Daft Punk’s soundtrack for Tron Legacy is number one this week on iTunes. If you like electronica music, you will love their music and this album – the music worked really well with all the action in Tron Legacy. Daft Punk also appears in the movie as the DJs during the club scene.

The song that was playing when Sam first entered the club is called End of Line, the song during the fight scene is Derezzed, and  the song when Flynn arrives is Fall.

You can listen to 30-second samples of the soundtrack’s songs on iTunes or on Amazon.com. You can view more information about the soundtrack at www.tronsoundtrack.com.

Tron Legacy: Review

Tron Legacy did not just win the weekend box office for December 17-19, it blew away the competition. Tron Legacy earned $44M while the number two film, Yogi Bear, earned $16.4M.

I expected Tron Legacy to be all flash and no substance, with the plot taking a backseat to the special effects and 3-D technology. The storyline certainly had its issues, but I was pleased that the plot was stronger than I expected it to be, although a bit complex at times.

Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) is the controlling interest shareholder of ENCOM, the company his father, videogame programmer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), helped bring success. Unaware that his father has been zapped inside the game the elder Flynn created, Sam feels abandoned by his father and has no real interest in participating in the day-to-day operations of ENCOM. Then, a mysterious page is received by Sam’s godfather, Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) – yes, Tron himself. Sam decides to go down to his father’s old video arcade and investigate and, well, you know what happens then. Yep, the younger Tron is laser sucked into the videogame world (a little too easily, if you ask me) where his father has been for the past 20 years. That’s when the real fun begins…

I saw the movie in 3-D and I recommend that you do the same. Be aware that the scenes outside of the digital world are not in 3-D, but the scenes where it really matters take place within that world. The fight scenes are spectacular and the light cycle competitions are visually stunning – I mean, they are really, really well done. Really.

As I mentioned in previous posts, Jeff Bridges plays the aged Kevin Flynn, the young Kevin Flynn, and Clu, who, of course, has not aged since Flynn first entered the cyber world. Digital Domain created the younger looking Jeff Bridges characters and it was both intriguing and freaky at the same time watching those scenes.  It was “off” just enough that your eye could tell something was not quite right looking at the younger versions; still, it was very cool how they did it. Olivia Wilde does a great job playing Quorra and Michael Sheen does well as the flamboyant club owner, Castor.

I give Tron Legacy three and a half Slurpees out of five and I highly recommend it if you are a fan of special effects and lots of action.

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* Tron * Director: Joseph Kosinski * Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner * Writers: Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis (screenplay) *  Time: 127 minutes * Rated PG * Action/Sci Fi/Thriller * Trailers *

Tron Legacy fact: Online Game

Tron Legacy fact #9

You can play the Tron 3D game online at the Disney site.  You will need to install the unity web player in order to play the Tron Legacy Light Cycle game.

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* Tron * Director: Joseph Kosinski * Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner * Writers: Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis (screenplay) *  Time: 127 minutes * Rated PG * Action/Sci Fi/Thriller * Trailers *

Tron Legacy fact: Tron Trilogy

Tron Legacy fact #8

Apparently, they are already preparing for a third part to the Tron empire. Disney has commissioned Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis to develop a plot.  This duo was part of the writing staff for the TV series Lost.  I guess the likelihood of this franchise producing a trilogy will depend on the box office success of Tron Legacy.

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* Tron * Director: Joseph Kosinski * Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner * Writers: Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis (screenplay) *  Time: 127 minutes * Rated PG * Action/Sci Fi/Thriller * Trailers *

Tron Legacy fact: Space Paranoids

Tron Legacy fact #7

You can play Space Paranoids online at interestingly enough, www.spaceparanoidsonline.com. Remember, that is the game that Kevin Flynn invented in Tron.

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* Tron * Director: Joseph Kosinski * Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner * Writers: Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis (screenplay) *  Time: 127 minutes * Rated PG * Action/Sci Fi/Thriller * Trailers *

Tron Legacy fact: Visual Effects

Tron Legacy fact #6

Digital Domain created the younger looking Jeff Bridges avatar.  Digital Domain is a digital production studio that is behind the visual effects on such movies as Titanic, iRobot, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and 2012.  Trust me, they were involved with a wide variety of movies that you have heard of – go to their site and click Feature Film -> The Work.  Also, click Behind the Scenes to see a number of really cool “The Making of…” shorts.

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* Tron * Director: Joseph Kosinski * Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner * Writers: Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis (screenplay) *  Time: 127 minutes * Rated PG * Action/Sci Fi/Thriller * Trailers *