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Review: ‘Titanic’ 3D (maritime disaster via love interupted)

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Forget that we know how it all ends; it’s the drama of dealing with eventuality that tells the real story here.

In April of 1912, White Star Line launched the R.M.S Titanic on its maiden voyage to New York City. “The Ship of Dreams” was a floating palace for the wealthy elite, reportedly “unsinkable” by incorporating the latest in shipbuilding technology. After winning a pair of third-class tickets for himself and a friend in a poker game, Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) looks forward to returning to his native America but finds himself drawn to a first-class passenger named Rose (Kate Winslet). After a chance meeting on the ship’s fantail with Rose threatening to hurl herself into the ocean, an unlikely romance begins, but Rose is already promised to ‘Cal’ Hockley (Billy Zane), a high-society gentleman that doesn’t like to lose. On April 15th, an iceberg in the North Atlantic tests the character of everyone on board, from the ship’s captain to the poorest passenger.

When someone mentions James Cameron’s 1997 film Titanic, groans of Celine Dion, Leonardo DiCaprio, and throwaway teen romances often follow (for many diehard fans, of course, these are the selling points). Rewatching a freshly minted, fully restored, and 3D converted edition of Titanic reveals all, however; the film is an accomplishment of filmmaking and a masterpiece on practically every level. On the question of being worth the extra charge for 3D, the answers is wholeheartedly yes; the digital transfer is so pristine that you can count the pores between the stubble on Bill Paxton’s face, and the 3D conversion looks so good that it’s hard to believe it wasn’t shot this way. If you’ve never seen Titanic, this is the way to experience it.

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Today’s Reaper Thing: ‘The ABCs of Death’ (get ‘em started early, I always say)

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Does this need an explanation for why I love this? Mwa ha ha haaaaa…!

About THE ABC’s OF DEATH:
Twenty-six directors. Twenty-six ways to die. The ABC’s OF DEATH is perhaps the most ambitious anthology film ever conceived with productions spanning fifteen countries and featuring segments directed by over two dozen of the world’s leading talents in contemporary genre film. Inspired by children’s educational books, the motion picture is comprised of twenty-six individual chapters, each helmed by a different director assigned a letter of the alphabet. The directors were then given free reign in choosing a word to create a story involving death.

Official Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theabcsofdeath

Trailer: ‘House At The End Of The Street’ (at least it’s not the last on the left) #hates

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Did you enjoy Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss in The Hunger Games? Let’s see how well she survives a local murder house (without her bow and only half a shirt).

From IMDB: “A mother (Elisabeth Shue) and daughter (Jennifer Lawrence) move to a new town and find themselves living next door to a house where a young girl murdered her parents. When the daughter befriends the surviving son, she learns the story is far from over.”

Thanks to MovieVine for the severed head’s up.

Review: ‘John Carter’ (of MARS, you Disney marketing fools!)

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As a modern retelling of the “John Carter of Mars” story, the only failure here is Disney’s ability to successfully market a good thing.

A veteran of the American Civil War, John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is done with fighting for other people’s causes (and for good reason). When a chance encounter with a strange being in a secret cave mysteriously transports him to a new land, John finds himself the prisoner of alien creatures living in desert wasteland. It isn’t long before our hero learns that he has stumbled into yet another war not his own and possessing sought-after skills that could turn the tide in the favor of his choosing. Fortunately, Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) is hellbent bent on saving her world and her way of life, and in return for helping to save her world, John Carter may again find the home and family he lost long ago.

Mars. The story primarily takes place on MARS, dammit! Also, John Carter was a Confederate soldier; didn’t you see that in the trailers? These are just a few of the important details that make John Carter what it is: a story that science fiction has been borrowing heavily from for a number of years. Originally published as serial fiction in 1912, the same guy best known for inventing “Tarzan,” Edgar Rice Burroughs, was writing the blueprint for what would become both Star Warsand Avatar (at least the advertising got that right), but the marketing (reportedly costing upwards of $100 million) not only left out the word “Mars” but also anything explaining what was the hell was going on. Sure, the production design was striking (what else would you call ships that sail on sunlight?) but not enough to sell it to new audiences. Fortunately, the rest of the world seems to have figured out what Americans were never told or didn’t know, but more on that in a bit.

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Review: ‘The Hunger Games’ (coal miner’s dystopian daughter)

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While the ending is a bit of a mess, the rest isn’t terrible (and nobody sparkles in the sunlight).

Future North America is a place called Panem, a capital city-state surrounded by twelve districts. To keep the peace as a reminder of the horrors of war, each district is required to annually offer a boy and a girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to fight one another in the Hunger Games, and it’s a fight to the death. When a young woman named Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) does the unthinkable and volunteers for the games to spare her selected sister, it’s the first of many signs that point to her as a possible champion in the making. While the games offer a spark of hope for the both contestants and viewers alike, the people who manipulate the games behind the scenes aren’t about to let a poor girl from a backwoods district inspire anything but a glorious and entertaining death.

Never having read the book but still familiar with the story (you’d have to wear blinders online not to be), The Hunger Games borrows much from earlier dystopian science fiction and reworks it into young adult fare. With a cast of seasoned actors to carry some of the weight (including Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Toby Jones, and Donald Sutherland), the teens and ‘tweens mostly appear and die in as many ways as a PG-13 rating will allow (although following the book to the letter might have incurred a hard R rating). Where the story goes off the rails is the battle royal itself as Katniss lucks out or is helped out of every dangerous situation; when someone who refuses to kill others wins a fight to the death by default, there’s no other word for it other than manipulation.

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Trailer 2: ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’ (don’t axe… okay, go a head)

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There’s no secret how much love I have for producer Tim Burton, but if you’re not already familiar with the work of director Timur Bekmambetov, you’re about to be (and it looks like he just keeps getting better). Much love for the axe!

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter explores the secret life of one of the greatest US presidents, and the untold story that shaped a nation. Visionary filmmakers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (director of Wanted) bring a fresh and visceral voice to the bloodthirsty lore of the vampire, imagining Lincoln as history’s greatest hunter of the undead.

Starring Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Screenplay is by Seth Grahame-Smith, based on his novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Produced by Tim Burton and directed by Timur Bekmambetov.

Trailer: ‘Dark Shadows’ (what sorcery is this?)

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The original “Dark Shadows” was a campy, black and white supernatural soap opera remade years later as an over-serious drama. Tim Burton’s gothic-theatrical take seems intent on celebrating the absurd while playing the obvious ridiculousness straight-laced. It worked for Alice in Wonderland, so here’s hoping.

Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows movie, starring Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins. All content copyright Warner Bros.

Trailer: ‘Frankenweenie’ (the end… or is it?)

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The 1984 short Tim Burton film (that was reviled by Disney bosses at the time and hidden away before it’s eeeeevil creator made a name for himself) gets the stop-motion treatment.

Frankenweenie is an upcoming 3D black-and-white stop motion-animated film, directed by Tim Burton, and it is a remake of the Burton’s 1984 short film of the same name. Like the 1984 version, it is a parody of and a homage to the 1931 film Frankenstein based on Mary Shelley’s book of the same name. In the film, a boy named Victor loses his dog and uses the power of science to bring it back to life. The film is scheduled for release on October 5, 2012, and it will be the first stop-motion film to be released in IMAX 3D.

Plot:
After the death of his beloved dog Sparky, young Victor harnesses the power of science to bring him back to life. Victor tries to hide his creation, but Sparky gets out and causes havoc in the town.

Official Websites: http://www.facebook.com/FrankenweenieMovie