kylelibra.com   a blog about what’s on my mind

If you haven’t seen Tropic Thunder yet, immediately go check it out. The studio also made this spoof documentary which is now available for free online. It looks pretty funny, but I haven’t finished the download.

I think this was nominated for an Oscar, but I don’t have time to look it up.

In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon’s hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview about peace. 38 years later, Jerry has produced a film about it. Using the original interview recording as the soundtrack, director Josh Raskin has woven a visual narrative which tenderly romances Lennon’s every word in a cascading flood of multipronged animation. Raskin marries the terrifyingly genius pen work of James Braithwaite with masterful digital illustration by Alex Kurina, resulting in a spell-binding vessel for Lennon’s boundless wit, and timeless message.

I remember hearing about this film a few months back, but apparently I missed the trailer being released because I was in Europe. Check out the trailer here. I am very excited to see this film. If you can stand a little more intense religious humor you should check this site out, which may or may not be officially connected to the film.

Recently the trailer for the much anticipated Watchmen film was released in conjunction with The Dark Knight. It went unnoticed by a lot of people who couldn’t wait for the feature to begin. To change that I made this simple list about why you should get very excited about the Watchmen film. For those who have no idea what it is about, briefly it is a superhero story that takes place in the mid 80’s in an alternative history where the country is on the brink of war with the Soviets. Superheros exist, but are deeply flawed characters. The story begins with one of their own being murdered and follows the heros looking for answers.

1. The Watchmen book is Highly Rated
The original book is the only graphic novel to win the Hugo Award and the only graphic novel to make Time’s list of “the 100 best English-language novels.” That means critics regard it better than 300 and Sin City.

2. IMAX
Christopher Nolan shot scenes of The Dark Knight specifically for IMAX. Zach Snyder is doing the same thing and then some. More and more movies are being made to look great on IMAX and this is one will be ground breaking in the regard.

3. This is the Anti-Hero Movie
This summer has already seen Hulk, Batman and Iron Man and next summer has many more in store for us. We are going to need a break and luckily Watchmen is different. All of the superheros are regular people except for one and it explores their struggles with problems all people face. It is as dark as Sin City and as cinematic as 300.

4. Zach Snyder
Watchmen is being directed by Zach Snyder who also made 300 and Dawn of the Dead. Enough said.

5. The Trailer is Beautiful
You can check it out here.

Snag Films is a new site that offers full length documentaries for free. The catch is that advertisements are spliced intermittently into the films. They have some pretty good ones available such as Super Size Me.

If you haven’t seen The Dark Knight yet, what are you waiting for? It is the best movie I have seen in a long time.

There have been reports coming in all weekend about how it first had to have midnight screenings extended all the way up until 6am to meet demand. Now it has broken the all time opening weekend box office record. If that isn’t enough to make you go see it, there have been reports that IMAX tickets are hitting Ebay and selling for as much as $300. Reviews have been so good, it is currently the #1 movie of all time on IMDB.

If you are going to see the film and want to get yourself into the experience I suggest reading into some of this background material.

Gotham Tonight - These videos are supplemental material that should be watched before you see the movie. They explain what has happened in between the first and second films.
Christopher Nolan Interview - Get inside the head of the director. I would predict there will be some golden statues coming this guys way in the future.
Dark Knight Marketing - One of the biggest parts of the film was the incredible marketing campaign, this link explains what lengths they went to in order to make sure everyone knew about the film.
History of the Joker - If you weren’t aware of all of the stories about where the Joker came from, you’ll find this one interesting.

(spoilers in the links below)
Finally, for those of you who have already seen the film there are a few things you need to check out to get the total Batman experience. First this comment thread of initial reactions to the film will help you find words to express how good it was. Second, this poll also does the same thing. Finally, this lengthy post deconstructs some of the major themes of the film.

Update: I started thinking, who would be the villain(s) in the third film. After reading the Wikipedia entry on all the possibilities, I gave up thinking about it.