• Quentin Tarantino set to raise funds with special Chi-town screening of “Inglourious Basterds.” [Chicago Tribune]
• Andrew O’Hehir on the lawsuit that could derailed the “Hobbit” adaptation. [Beyond the Multiplex]
• In a tight economy, how do you decide what films deserve your hard-earned cash? [The Guardian]
Zoom. Smash. Bang. Grunt. Zap. Splash. Screech.
A single sound effect can capture a character, emotion or setting. And creating such sounds is no easy task, requiring creativity, ingenuity and constant communication with the other filmmakers to best capture the feel of a film.
The manifestation of these aural components — as well as their integration into the overall soundtrack of the film — is recognized by the Academy with the award for Best Sound Editing.
I suspect we’ve seen at least two – very possibly three or even four – of this category’s eventual 2009 nominees already. (At this point last year, we had seen four of five!) Blockbuster entertainment tends to rule the day. Let’s take a look.
Though I doubt it will be able to win, given the failure of its predecessor to do so, I am pretty confident that massive box office, not the complex mechanics involved, will manage to bring “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” into the final five. Michael Bay’s films do well with the sound branch.
Also from the summer, another film I strongly expect to enter the fray is “Star Trek.” Against all odds, the film managed to be a very successful reboot to this franchise and sound effects were pivotal to its success. While the series has only been embraced by the category intermittently, if there is one category where I expect this film to score, this is it. The sound effects were impressive and with a wide range.
It’s panning out to be a good end-of-decade run for Hasbro, the Rhode-Island-based toy manufacturer smartly focused upon in this Dave Itzkoff New York Times pre-release piece for “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” After all, what of substance can you really dig into, journalistically, when it comes to these films? An internal email that won’t matter in a week, if it even does after the weekend?
Anyway, in addition to “Transformers,” Hasbro will also finally see its G.I. Joe line make it to screens in August in the form of the reportedly troubled “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.” But the fun doesn’t end there for the company, which saw a heyday in the 1980s that it’s hoping to reach once again with revamped versions of old franchises. A slew of boardgames have been optioned for adaptation, including Battleship, Candyland and Monopoly, as well as Ouiji, which is being developed by “Transformers” director Michael Bay.
Oh, and don’t forget about Ron Howard’s “Stretch Armstrong.” Silly, of course, but it seems Hollywood isn’t willing to place a risk on anything without at least some form of built-in fanbase, no matter how ancient the fan base.
I’ve kind of been expecting a piece along these lines for quite a while now. Every time I go into my local comic book store (guilty), I see some series lining the shelves based on either a film or television show, sometimes in form of a prequel. I generally refrain from picking up, say, “C.S.I.” or “Fringe,” but that “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” prequel book has me somewhat interested.
Here’s the opening few graphs from Scott Bowles’s piece:
Having plundered comic books for decades, Hollywood is giving a little back. Studios are increasingly turning their properties over to illustrators and writers before movies are released to generate Internet chatter, early fans and anticipation within the all-important comic-book community.
The latest comic comes from Push, the sci-fi thriller starring Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning that opens Friday. Wildstorm, a division of DC Comics, has created a six-issue series that fleshes out the movie’s plot about expats with supernatural powers.
And a magazine rack-full of other movies are here or on the way.
Bowles then goes on to rattle off a multitude of examples, from “G.I. Joe” to “Terminator Salvation” and everything in between. I’ve always felt there was a great opportunity with this kind of concentrated cross-medium promotion. Of course, some viewers aren’t interested in comic books, and that’s fine, but what’s wrong with an amplified experience? To boot:
“It’s a great way to flesh out back stories and create references for the movie,” says Hank Kanalz, Wildstorm’s general manager. “You can watch the movie without reading the comic book. But you’ll have a better experience if you do.”
Interestingly enough, last summer’s blockbuster “The Dark Knight” didn’t come with the usual comic adaptation.
Check out the full story at USA Today.