Film News - Comics Aphrodite IX will become a movie

Great news for comic's fans - Aphrodite IX is the next comics that will be adapted for the big screen. The short lived comics series maybe not very famous with the general audience, but it has large fan base and is quite familiar in the geek books world, mainly due to the lead character - Aphrodite Nine.

Created in 1996 in the Top Cows publishing house, by writer David Wohl and artist David Finch, the series tells a story of a female cyborg/android programmed for assassinations. She was also programmed to delete all her memories right after the job was done, but after a while she develops a consciousness, becomes self aware and begins to develop human emotions and sensitivity. On this journey to discover humanity in herself, she is trying to find who programmed her, encounters a secret society of revolutionary cyborgs that want to take down the government, and also fights monsters, other cyborgs and whatnot.

Being made for Top Cow publishing, Aphrodite IX features their usual female visual characterizations - she is an owner of big boobs and easily handles huge guns. Exactly kind of a sleaze young teenage boys are drawn to. But of course, like every story that involves even shallow philosophical content (what is human, what is moral, what is existence, what is blah, blah, blah), Aphrodite IX became a bit cult with more mature audience, looking not only for enormous boobs and explosions as entertainment, but for smart and more intelligent content too.

Having such sexy and indestructible female hero can only help. There is no doubt - Aphrodite IX hits exactly where it should, pressing the right buttons and arousing peni..., sorry, imagination in most of male primates.

The series didn't last long, with only few issues being released. In 2005 an attempt for anime was made, and they even released this trailer




But nothing came out of it and the project got stuck. Now the news about live action 3-D movie hit the web, and at least this project can be taken seriously. The producers are trying to recreate the success of Wanted, which was also acquired from Top Cow. And with big production and smart director they can really pull it off. With new standards in visual style, fitting the new age of Hollywood's big productions, a very fine and enjoyable product can be created here from that material.
Producers are looking for the lead actress right now, someone that can fit the expectations of the fans and the size of the bra.
And in LA it can be lots of women. My personal favorites for the role are Sophie Monk and Moon Bloodgood, both are on the rise right now. Check their photos and tell me if I'm wrong.

Video - Christian Bale and Joaquin Phoenix parody

Another funny parody of Christian Bale, this time throwing in Joaquin Phoenix too.



Steve Coogan is doing the Batman, and Frank Coraci is acting like Phoenix.

And here is another video from David Letterman show, with Phoenix as a guest earlier this month.

Star Wars The Musical is ready to go

Adding to the frustration of the Star War fans, "Star Wars - The Musical" is ready and will open in April in London with plans to tour in Europe and America.

The organizers promised to make is less like theatrical play and the production will be big and spectacular, involving giant screens and bunch of special effects. The music will be performed by Philharmonic Orchestra, under supervision of the original composer of the famous Star Wars' score - John Williams. All 6 movies of the saga will be rearranged into 90 minutes of songs and dance.

I think Lucas and his company were involved in this, and the producers of the show are confident in what they are doing.

Read the original story in here.









The images, of course are not from that show, but from some armature production from 2005. It's very funny to see Vader and storm troopers doing the jazz hands.

Trailer - The Pig People (2009)

Very sick trailer for the new horror movie The Pig People.

Video - John Turturro talks about his character in Big Lebowski

Guilty Pleasure - Lie To Me (2009)

I've just watched the first four episodes of the new series Lie To Me, and I must say - this is the best out of the worst shows on TV.
The reason I actually decided to watch the show was Tim Roth, actor that I really like ever since Reservoir Dogs, and he is truly upgrades the character by his unique presence. The premise of the show is very simple - Roth is Dr. Cal Lightman (Light-man, get it?), the head of some government firm that specializes on lie detectors, and not the machine ones, but human lie detectors. And it is not some voodoo mambo jumbo, everything is scientific, therefore he is a Doctor, and to get his academic status he spent 20 years all over the world studying the primitive cultures and isolated tribes. It is all based on facial expressions, body language, voice analysis and in the end on just usual common sense, and no machine can do that.

Like in CSI and its spin offs, Low and Order, or other similar new show The Mentalist, here as well the team investigates murders, political corruptions and any other misdemeanor, considered as criminal in the US of A.
And while others collect evidence, analyzing fingerprints, go to courts and basically waiting for the lab results, Dr. Lightman and his team just talk to people, well, mostly watching them. And they are really good, I mean no one has any chance to fool them. All it takes is less than one minute of conversation and the crime is solved. The suspect doesn't even need to talk, his face and body tell everything, nothing can escape. You don't believe me? Just watch the show and you'll see for yourself.

Beside amazing ability to solve any crime or even two crimes in just an hour (well, 40 minutes to be exact), everyone in the team has their own personal life and problems that he needs to deal with. And that is the whole show - very simple, very shallow, very fast, everyone seems to be always fresh, not tired and look at their best, the sense of time passing during the show is very smooth and things that should take at least a few days with many problems on the way, happen almost seamlessly and without any effort, like waving a magic wand. The types of crimes are nothing new and already used to dust in numerous shows before, and it's all so superficial, I mean, no complexity whatsoever. The plot is maybe twisted, and the way to solution goes through some surprises, this is why the show is interesting to watch, but eventually when we get to the solution it is all so very dumb and sometimes doesn't even make any sense. They even have that emotional montage in the end of the episode with touchy music, when it's time to show the conclusion, sort of "what did we learn on the show today" moment.

So why is this show any good? Dr. Lightman's ability to detect lies is absolutely stunning. The director of the series shows it in very skillful way, making the viewer see everything he needs to see to follow the story and to be involved. The observations and detections of lies are very cool, it truly creates the sense of almost supernatural power. Doctor's team is also good at this, and includes some very eccentric characters that know their job and do it well. So watching all of them is very nice, like watching someone doing your job while you are lying on the couch.

The other thing, which I found simply brilliant, is the constant comparison to the reality. Very often, when the lie is detected by the gesture and explained in the dialog, the same gesture is shown on some real life footage. For example, after seeing someone raising their finger while talking, and Dr. Lightman indicates this gesture as a lie, the real footage of Bill Clinton's "I did not have sexual relationship with that woman" famous speech is shown, and he does exactly the same gesture. This happens very often with different real life famous people, and just to show how new this show is, they even showed Barak Obama's speech during the election campaign, when he talks about John McCain and accidentally (?) shows a middle finger. This is of course connected to what we see in the show. The effect of such technique is very fresh and very convincing.

There is a good sense of humor in the show, the dialogs are witty, the content is not childish and involves many serious issues, the general attitude of the show is cool. Tim Roth, as I mentioned, is doing hell of a job, much better than his parallel colleagues in other shows. He is very self confident, very dependable, very tough, but at the same time he is likable and sensitive. He is that guy, that if he enters most dangerous, most fatal situation, goes to the most desperate person, looks him in the eyes and says "everything is going to be alright", everyone will believe him immediately. If anything, Dr. Lightman is very much like Dr. House.

The show will hold up for some time, it is interesting to watch and to follow, but unless they'll start to develop the characters beyond their current cliche nutshell, it will be hard to watch more than 10 episodes of it.

Lie To Me is clearly not the A class show, like Sopranos, The Wire, Dexter and etc., and not even B class like Lost, Dollhouse or Fringe. But among the C-graded TV shows it's one of the best and worth checking out when you have nothing else to do and you want to waste your time with some quick and painless entertainment.

Watch the episodes for free on the official site of FOX.

Recommended.

Map of the Galaxy Subway

Read the original story here.

Trailer - Stingray Sam (2009)

Very unique director Cory McAbee (American Astronaut) is ready to release his new film, and as expected it looks completely weird and surreal.

Funny Video - Parody from Jimmy Kimmel Live

Trailer - Agora (2009)

Robot Chicken - Michael Bay's Parody

Funny clip from Robot Chicken.

Posters - Inglourious Basterds (2009)

New posters for Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds are released.

Short Animation - Legacy (2008)

Submarine Movies

Following the news about collision of two submarines in Atlantic Ocean earlier this month (read the story here), I found it as a good opportunity to remember some of the memorable films involving submarines, which are always great environment to tell a story.

There is something very Freudian about submarines, whether it's their phallic shape, or the underwater claustrophobic and closed space, symbolizing the womb. The fact that their purpose is to hide, to approach places undetected, makes submarines very mysterious, dark and dangerous - a perfect material for a movie. Therefore numerous films were created involving submarines in any possible way. So I will list some of more familiar films, from recent history. Enjoy.


The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, USA (2004)

Absolutely fantastic movie with great acting performance by all actors. The story is surreal, funny and very touching, director Wes Anderson manages to create really magical reality with incredible depth. Not really a submarine movie per se, but very close.



U-571, France/USA (2000)

Suspenseful and entertaining war movie, maybe not perfect, but still worth watching.



Down Periscope, USA (1996)

Harmless submarine comedy in The Police Academy style. Fucked up characters and some good laughs.



Crimson Tide, USA (1995)

Less war, more intense drama and battle between ideologies. Nothing special but the acting is superb.



The Hunt for Red October, USA (1990)

Based on the book by Tom Clancy, the movie is full with top actors. Decent espionage thriller that provides what it suppose to.



Das Boot, West Germany (1981)

The movie has big cult following and considered one of the best war movies, with powerful story that hard to forget. Very gritty and unique.



20000 Leagues Under the Sea, USA (1954)

No list about submarine movies is complete without Captain Nemo. Many films and TV series were made based on the Jules Verne adventure book. This film is from more innocent time, without CGI effects and clever technologies. Classic adventure that doesn't really stand the test of time, but it's worth remembering anyway.

That's pretty much the tip of the iceberg and you are welcome to add more titles in the comments.

Featurette - Franklyn (2009)

Franklyn will be released in UK at the end of February, but right now there is no distributor in US for it, and it's unknown whether it will be released in US theaters at all. The trailer looks intriguing, and there is also a featurette, sort of behind the scenes, with additional footage and interviews with the cast and director.
The movie is clearly not an action film, far from it. It looks like existential sci-fi drama in Dystopian society, with some sort of anti religious theme and with big effort in visual style. Needless to say, these kind of material is not accepted well in US, maybe this is why US distributors are not in a hurry to buy the rights. So everyone is waiting to see the response of British critics and audience before making any move. Usually such movies are either total waste of time or excellent masterpiece.

Anyway, watch the trailer and the featurette below.

Trailer - Crawler (2009)

Horror movie about murderous tractor maybe sounds funny, but in fact it looks very scary and creepy.

Visit official site for more info

5 Rules to Steven Seagal movie

In case you wondered, Steven Seagal is still alive, and although he's got old and fat, he still manages to shoot 3-4 movies a year. Most of them he produces by himself, and he even writes some of the scripts. And above all that, he plays a guitar and sings too! He already released 2 CDs! What can you say, the man is multi talented, he is truly got it all.

The only problem is, that all of his last movies are pure garbage. And forget about ridiculous story, full of cliche and lowest emotional pathos moments, forget about decent production or decent acting.
When you see Steven Seagal making a scary face before breaking someone's arm or head, and then you see him actually doing that, you notice that it's not really him, but a stunt double.
All the action scenes, when he needs to do something physical - he has a stunt double to do it for him. The camera angles and editing are trying to hide this, but it's still very obvious. The true fans just don't really care anyway, and accidental viewers are having a laugh when they notice it. And sometimes his double doesn't even match his body shape or have different hair! This is complete disrespect of viewers' intelligence, and I think he does it on purpose.

After saying that, here is a funny video (HQ available), which is probably not fan made but an actual DVD promotion, I am not sure right now, of his movie Kill Switch. All the scenes are from that movie.



I guess he doesn't need any stunt double for that last rule. BTW, the blond girl that shows her nipples a little, is Andrea Stefancikova, a model from Czech Republic.
Oh, here she is.

Short Animation - The Switch (2007)

Short Animation - Oktapodi (2007)

Short animated film that nominated this year for Oscars.

Trailer - The Descent 2 (2009)

As many other people, I consider the original movie as one of the best horror movies ever.
Now, the trailer of the sequel is out, and although Neil Marshall wasn't involved we still have parts of original cast, and from the looks of the trailer we are still going to get lots of gore and claustrophobic environment. I don't know how about you, but I am definitely looking forward to this movie.

Funny

If you ever wondered what George W. Bush is going to do now, when he is no longer the president, here is your answer.

Thanks to Max for sending me this picture.

Teaser - Iron Sky

Wow, two Nazi items in the row! This time it's not Tarantino's violent exploitation, but rather sci-fi comedy with great looking design style.
The movie is currently in early stages of production, the people behind the movie are from Finland, and were responsible for the Star Wreck movies before this project.

Iron Sky is about group of Nazis that establish a space Reich on the dark side of the moon back in 1945, and after many years in space they are planning their comeback, and new conquest of the Earth... that's right.

With that ridiculous story, Iron Sky joins the already released Norwegian Dead Snow, as another Scandinavian movie making fun with Nazi themed content. So far it looks very promising, check out their official website for more cool stuff.

Teaser - Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Quentin Tarantino is back with his latest film.

Sports Illustrated - Bar Rafaeli

Bar Rafaeli, known better for being Leonardo DiCaprio's girlfriend, got the cover of this year Sports Illustrated magazine, which is apparently a big respect in the fashion world.
I thought it will be interesting to post here a short video from the photo shoot. The top of the frame is a link to the Sports Illustrated website with more videos of other models.

Enjoy..., yeah.

Short Animation - The Circle of Life (2006)

Feature Story - Amber Heard

The nature of Hollywood industry is always to renew itself, always to introduce new faces, young actors on the verge of the stardom.

It happens every year, and although these new faces do a lot of noise, most of them disappear very quickly into the abyss, without leaving any remarkable memory. Some get married, some are getting fat, some get too much into drugs, and some are just being stupid, ruining their starting careers.

In best case scenario, they will get their own "E! True Hollywood Story" special, or appear on TMZ as "remember her/him?" item.

So it's very nice to discover actors that take seriously what they do, getting mature, developing their acting skills and getting bigger roles. One of such fresh faces is Amber Heard. She is only 22 years old, but she is holding a resume of more than 20 film and TV appearances in just 4 years in Hollywood. Known mostly from teenage movies (Alpha Dog, Never Back Down) she is developing quite serious following with a lot of fans. It's easy to understand why just by looking at her pictures, and since she has no problem to take her clothes off in front of the camera, her future looks especially bright.

This can only last for so long, when she is still young, and without ability to act all this will end by the age of 30. But from what it seems this is not going to be the case with her, because right now she is moving strong into the big world. Short appearance in Pineapple Express was just a beginning, in 2009 she will be seen as leading actress, or part of the leading ensemble, in 5(!) movies, ranging from a comedy to serious drama.

And that's not all. The really big step awaits her in 2010, with leading roles in two announced movies so far. One is the The Ward, the directional return of John Carpenter after almost 10 years since his last movie, and the other one is The Rum Diary, based on the book by Hunter S. Thompson (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), and starring also, pay attention, Johnny Depp and Aaron Eckhart.

No need to say that expectations from both these movies are high, and Amber Heard is going to get a lot of attention. So prepare to hear her name, she is not going to disappear any time soon.

Meantime here is the trailer for her upcoming movie The Informers with another bunch of top actors, and she shows some skin too. Enjoy.

Art Photos - Annie Leibovitz

As promised, more Annie Leibovitz photos. This time it's from the set of "Australia", and Nicole Kidman never been so pretty. The one on the horse is my favorite. The setting, the angle, the composition, the lighting, everything so perfect. It was probably improved with photoshop, but the final result is very neat, like some kind of romantic painting from 19th century. Seriously, this could be on the wall in museum and no one will question it.
More Leibovitz's photos later.