"Marvel's The Avengers" Trailer Sets iTunes Record

“Marvel’s The Avengers” Trailer Downloaded over 10 Million Times in First 24 Hours on iTunes Movie Trailers

Breaks Site’s Previous Most-Viewed Trailer Record

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Marvel Studios announced today that the trailer for next summer’s most highly anticipated movie, “Marvel’s The Avengers,” has been downloaded over 10 million times in its first 24 hours on iTunes Movie Trailers (http://www.apple.com/trailers), shattering the most-viewed trailer record in the site's history.

The trailer, which debuted Tuesday, October 11, exclusively on iTunes Movie Trailers, gives fans a sneak peak at “Marvel’s The Avengers”—the Super Hero team up of a lifetime—based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since.

The film unites the world’s greatest Super Heroes when Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) join S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson) to protect the world from the dangerously powerful villain, Loki (Tom Hiddleston).

An exciting event movie, packed with action and spectacular special effects, “Marvel’s The Avengers” is from Marvel Studios in association with Paramount Pictures, produced by Kevin Feige and directed by Joss Whedon from a screenplay by Joss Whedon.

“Marvel’s The Avengers” will be released on May 4, 2012.


About “Marvel’s The Avengers”:
Marvel Studios presents “Marvel’s The Avengers”—the Super Hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson, and directed by Joss Whedon, “Marvel’s The Avengers” is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since. Prepare yourself for an exciting event movie, packed with action and spectacular special effects, when “Marvel’s The Avengers” assemble in summer 2012.

“Marvel’s The Avengers,” is presented by Marvel Studios in association with Paramount Pictures, directed by Joss Whedon from a screenplay by Joss Whedon, is being produced by Marvel Studios' President, Kevin Feige, and executive produced by Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Jon Favreau, Patricia Whitcher and Louis D’Esposito. Marvel Studios’ Jeremy Latcham and Victoria Alonso will co-produce. The film will be released May 4, 2012.

About Marvel Entertainment:
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing. For more information visit http://www.marvel.com/.

"Hustle & Flow" Finds a Real Groove

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 122 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux


Hustle & Flow (2005)
Running time: 116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – R for sex and drug content, pervasive language, and some violence
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Craig Brewer
PRODUCERS: Stephanie Allain and John Singleton
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Amy Vincent
EDITOR: Billy Fox
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/MUSIC

Starring: Terrence Dashon Howard, Anthony Anderson, Taryn Manning, Taraji P. Henson, Paula Jai Parker, Elise Neal, DJ Qualls, Ludacris, and Isaac Hayes

DJay (Terrence Dashon Howard) seems like the typical philosopher-hustler – misusing his gift for words as a streetwise pimp living a dead end life on the fringes of Memphis society. Hearing that a former Memphis deejay named Skinny Black (Ludacris) has an album that went platinum makes DJay wonder what happened to all the big dreams he had for his life.

DJay has a chance encounter with Key (Anthony Anderson), an old friend who is a sound engineer. Key also has dreams of being in the music business, and that spurs DJay, who realizes that if he’s going to make his mark, this might be his last chance. He begins writing freestyle raps, and Shelby (DJ Qualls), a church musician with a beat machine, joins DJay and Key to lay down some bass crunching tracks. His housemates, Shug (Taraji P. Henson), an expectant mother, and Nola (Taryn Manning), a young woman DJay pimps out of his car to johns, join him in the creative process as DJay works this new hustle to create the flow that will take him to a better life.

Craig Brewer’s Hustle & Flow feels so real that the Memphis heat radiates off the screen and made me feel uncomfortable. Simply put, Hustle & Flow is a gritty and grimy drama that captures the desperate essence of hustlers, would-be artists, and struggling artists. Brewer who won the Sundance Film Festival Award in the category “Dramatic” for this film that recreates the real world of low level street pimps and drug dealers; this isn’t the prettified, “super fly,” rap version of pimping and dealing. Brewer’s film is so authentic that it, at times, seems like a documentary that has overdone keeping things real. Still, Brewer uses the first scene in which DJay, Key, and Shelby create a musical track to shock the film into a vibrant life that forces us to focus on this creative trio.

Terence Dashon Howard is a star on the rise, and this performance affirms that. His DJay is an earthy guy who is so common that he barely registers to anyone outside the few women in his life. Howard creates a character that is desperate and hungry, but even more resigned to a life that will soon finish him. Watch Howard bring him to new life as DJay realizes he has a goal; Howard modulates the performance so that neither DJay nor the story every come across as inauthentic to the audience.

Howard and Brewer aren’t alone in their efforts at make this a winning film. Taraji P. Henson’s Shug is so genuinely needy, and as Nola, Taryn Manning molds her performance to give it a contour that perfectly fits the ebbs and flows of Howard’s DJay. Anthony Anderson gives a quiet, but surprisingly nimble dramatic turn that tells us that Hollywood has barely tapped his talents. DJ Qualls also adds a small, but different flavor as the beat maker who is uncannily in sync with everyone else.

Hustle & Flow is not only one of the best dramas set amongst the black folks who live in squalor and deep poverty in a long time, but it rings with truth as few urban dramas have since Boyz N’ the Hood, the directorial debut of John Singleton, who is this film’s co-producer and the man who self-financed the film. I can only hope that Craig Brewer keeps bringing us back to this kind of real thing.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2006 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song” (Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman, and Paul Beauregard for the song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp"); 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Terrence Howard)

2006 Black Reel Awards: 3 wins: “Best Actor” (Terrence Howard), “Best Original Soundtrack,” and “Best Supporting Actress” (Taraji P. Henson); 3 nominations: “Best Ensemble” (Ludacris, Terrence Howard, DJ Qualls, Taraji P. Henson, Anthony Anderson, Paula Jai Parker, Taryn Manning, and Elise Neal), “Best Film,” and “Best Supporting Actor” (Anthony Anderson)

2006 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Terrence Howard)

Original "Footloose" Still Cuts Loose

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 81 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux


Footloose (1984)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR: Herbert Ross
WRITER: Dean Pitchford
PRODUCERS: Lewis J. Rachmil and Craig Zadan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ric Waite (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Paul Hirsch
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/MUSIC with elements of romance

Starring: Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, Christopher Penn, Sarah Jessica Parker, John Laughlin, Elizabeth Gorcey, Frances Lee McCain, Jim Youngs, Lynne Marta, Arthur Rosenberg, and Timothy Scott

Footloose is a 1984 teen drama in which the story is driven, in part, by its pop music soundtrack. The film was a hit upon its initial release, and the soundtrack sold over nine millions copies, with two songs from the film earning Oscar nominations. Footloose spawned a 1998 Broadway musical and is the subject of a 2011 remake.

Footloose focuses on Ren MacCormack (Kevin Bacon), a teenager raised in Chicago. As the movie begins, Ren and his mother, Ethel (Frances Lee McCain), have just moved to the small Midwestern town of Bomont to live with Ethel’s sister, Lulu (Lynne Marta) and her husband, Wes Warnicker (Arthur Rosenberg). Ren soon makes a friend of a local kid, Willard Hewitt (Chris Penn), and eventually attracts the attention of a wild, but pretty teen girl, Ariel Moore (Lori Singer).

Ren, who likes to dance and play loud music, soon learns that dancing and loud music are not allowed in Bomont, mainly because of Ariel’s stern father, Reverend Shaw Moore (John Lithgow). Ren decides that his senior class should have a prom, but he and his small circle of friends may have to take on the entire town, especially the town council, if they want to hold a dance in public.

There is a lot of cheesy synthesizer-driven music on the soundtrack and plenty of weird dance moves are on display. Still, Footloose is actually a good little teen drama. It’s like an ABC After School Special with a soundtrack, and if Dean Pitchford’s script is anything, it is sincere.

The story is rarely overwrought, and Pitchford created familiar characters without making them stereotypes. I’ve seen John Lithgow’s character, Rev. Moore, described as a “bible thumper,” and Moore is not. Even if the character were, Lithgow, an accomplished actor, would never play Shaw Moore as such. He is a complex man who means well and sincerely cares about the people of Bomont. The arc of his character is a journey to make sure that his good intentions don’t pave a road to Hell.

Kevin Bacon made a star turn as Ren in Footloose, and while the character can be a bit overexcited, Bacon makes Ren likeable and genuine. Of course, Sarah Jessica Parker sparkles, showing a hint of what her fans love about her today, and it’s good to see Chris Penn young, in shape, and nice looking – the Chris Penn before the weight, the drugs, and the tragic ending.

Footloose stands the test of time. I think it is as good today as it was 27-and-a-half years ago. I will give it the same grade I gave it back then, and I’d even watch it again. Its story of friendship and small town melodrama are more engaging than quaint.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
1985 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Music, Original Song” (Kenny Loggins-music and Dean Pitchford-lyric for the song "Footloose") and “Best Music, Original Song” (Tom Snow and Dean Pitchford for the song "Let's Hear It for the Boy")

1985 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Kenny Loggins and Dean Pitchford for the song "Footloose")

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Hollywood Movie Awards Top 10 Revealed

The 15th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards together with Yahoo! Movies are pleased to announce the nominees for the 2011 "Hollywood Movie Awards" competition.

The ten nominees in alphabetical order are "Captain America: The First Avenger," "Cowboys & Aliens," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2," "The Help," "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," "Rango," "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," "Super 8," "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," "X-Men: First Class."

The Hollywood Movie Awards® are presented by Yahoo! Movies and cover the public's favorites of the year. The voting takes place at the Yahoo! Movies site at http://cts.vresp.com/c/?HollywoodNetwork/21bfd04b36/5c5b76e819/b6ccdd304a

"We are very excited that once again the Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards, together with Yahoo! Movies, will continue their tradition of providing the public at large with the opportunity to vote for their favorite movie," said Founder and Executive Director, Carlos de Abreu.

"The Hollywood Movie Awards sets the early tone for the upcoming movie awards season, and Yahoo! Movies is delighted to once again be the destination where film fans can vote for their favorite movie of the year," said Sean Phillips, executive producer Yahoo! Movies. The Hollywood Movie Awards winner by popular vote will receive the award at the Hollywood Film Awards Gala Ceremony on Monday evening, October 24, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The 2011 Hollywood Film Festival has also announced that they will honor five-time Oscar nominee Glenn Close with the "Hollywood Career Achievement Award," Academy Award-nominated actress Michelle Williams with the "Hollywood Actress Award" for "My Week with Marilyn," Academy Award-nominated actor Christopher Plummer with the "Hollywood Supporting Actor Award" for "Beginners," actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt with the "Hollywood Breakthrough Actor Award" for "50/50,"and actress Felicity Jones with the "New Hollywood Award" for "Like Crazy."

Other honorees include the cast of "The Help" (Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Allison Janney, Chris Lowell, Ahna O'Reilly, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Cicely Tyson, and Mike Vogel), Director Michel Hazanavicius, Producer Letty Aronson, Screenwriter Diablo Cody, Film Composer Alberto Iglesias, Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, Editor Stephen Mirrione, Production Designer James Murakami, and Visual Effects Supervisor Scott Farrar at their annual Awards Gala. In addition, Gore Verbinski's "Rango" will be honored at the Hollywood Film Awards Gala Ceremony, along with additional honorees to be announced in the coming weeks.

The festival and awards will mark their return on October 20 for a weeklong series of screenings and awards. The Hollywood Film Festival will take place at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood.


YAHOO! MOVIES:
Yahoo! Movies is one of the leading websites for movie trailers, news and information.

ABOUT STARZ ENTERTAINMENT, LLC:
The Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards presenter is Starz Entertainment, LLC, a premium movie and original programming entertainment service provider operating in the United States. The company offers 17 premium channels including the flagship STARZ® and ENCORE® brands with approximately 19 million and 32.9 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs in total more than 1,000 movies and original series every month across its pay TV channels. Starz Entertainment is recognized as a pay TV leader in providing HD, On Demand, HD On Demand and online advanced services for its STARZ, ENCORE and MOVIEPLEX brands. Starz Entertainment (http://www.starz.com/) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation and is attributed to the Liberty Starz tracking stock group (NASDAQ: LSTZA).

Review: John Carpenter's "The Thing" Still a Great Thing

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 35 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982)
Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR: John Carpenter
WRITER: Bill Lancaster (based upon the story “Who Goes There” by John W. Campbell, Jr. writing as Don A. Stuart)
PRODUCER: David Foster and Lawrence Turman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dean Cundey
EDITOR: Todd Ramsay

SCI-FI/HORROR/THRILLER/MYSTERY

Starring: Kurt Russell, A. Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard A. Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Joel Polis, and Thomas G. Waites

Considered a remake of Howard Hawk’s Cold War-era classic, The Thing from Another World, John Carpenter’s The Thing is actually an adaptation of a one of the early classic science fiction short stories by acclaimed science fiction editor and writer, John W. Campbell, Jr., (also the basis of Hawk’s film). Carpenter does pay homage to the Hawk’s film in a few scenes.

The film takes place in 1982 at an American research camp in Antarctica. After a violent encounter with two Norwegians from a nearby base camp, the Americans, led by MacReady (Kurt Russell), learn that the Norwegians had discovered an alien space craft buried in the Antarctic ice and an alien passenger lying frozen near the craft. When the Norwegians thawed the creature, they discovered that the thing was still alive. The creature can absorb and take on the identities of living creatures. Now, the creature is loose in the American base, and MacReady leads the human survivors in discovering who among them is still human and who is not. They must also destroy “the thing” before it reaches the mainland and the rest of humanity.

The Thing is a study in paranoia, and director John Carpenter helmed one of the truly great sci-fi horror films by getting the most of his collaborators, such as Rob Bottin, a then 22-year old special effects man, who created special makeup effects that are considered a benchmark in film history. Ennio Morricone’s score is an understated masterpiece that quietly increases in intensity as the film progresses and raises the tense mood tenfold.

Carpenter, of course, didn’t rely solely on Bottin’s incredible effects work. He used his talented cast of character actors to create three-dimensional players who make this horrible but exceedingly fantastic situation seem possible. Kurt Russell once again proved why he is a leading man with charisma and machismo in the mode of classic Hollywood leading men like John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. And no matter how many times I see this film, The Thing always proves itself to be great.

9 of 10
A+

Naruto Movie Marathon Online

VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES NARUTO MOVIE MARATHON ON VIZANIME.COM AND HULU

The World’s Most Popular Ninja Takes Center Stage In Four Action-Packed Feature Films Set To Stream Throughout October

To celebrate the upcoming U.S. theatrical premiere and DVD and Blu-ray release of NARUTO SHIPPUDEN THE MOVIE: BONDS, and the birthday of the Naruto character on October 10th, VIZ Media has just announced a special NARUTO movie marathon on VIZAnime.com, the company’s own website for free anime, as well as on the streaming content provider HULU (http://www.hulu.com/).

A total of 4 feature films featuring the spunky ninja will stream on both sites from October 7th thru October 23rd and will include NARUTO THE MOVIE: NINJA CLASH IN THE LAND OF SNOW, NARUTO THE MOVIE 2: LEGEND OF THE STONE OF GELEL, NARUTO THE MOVIE 3: GUARDIANS OF THE CRESCENT MOON KINGDOM. For the first time, these films will also be made available to stream with either subtitled or English dubbed dialogue tracks. NARUTO SHIPPUDEN:THE MOVIE will also be available dubbed on both streaming sites.

VIZ Media will premiere the latest NARUTO feature film – NARUTO SHIPPUDEN THE MOVIE: BONDS – in a special theatrical event to be held at the New York School of Visual Arts Theatre (SVA) on Saturday, October 15th as part of the company’s activities at the 2011 New York Comic-Con. Esteemed Japanese voice actress Junko Takeuchi, who provides the original voice for Naruto, will also attend the event.

NARUTO THE MOVIE: NINJA CLASH IN THE LAND OF SNOW (Rated TV-14)
A land forever covered in ice... A princess missing for ten years... And one high-spirited ninja named Naruto!

In this first NARUTO feature film, Naruto and the rest of Squad 7 take on a new mission: bring popular movie star Yukie Fujikaze to the Land of Snow, where they're filming the final scenes of her latest movie. Trouble is, she's even more headstrong than Naruto, and she doesn't want to go! Her reluctance may be connected to what else lies in wait for them – three rogue Snow ninja and a tyrannical ruler seeking the key to a mysterious treasure.

NARUTO THE MOVIE 2: LEGEND OF THE STONE OF GELEL (Rated TV-14)
Naruto, Shikamaru and Sakura are in the middle of returning a lost ferret to its owner--the easiest mission ever. Or so they think! When a young knight, Temujin, attacks them out of nowhere, they are drawn into a fierce struggle over a treasure harboring legendary power – the Stone of Gelel. Temujin's master wants to use the stone's power to create a utopia, while the last of the clan who once controlled the stone wants to keep it sealed away forever. Naruto and the others, along with help from Gaara and Kankuro, must protect the stone from those who want to misuse its power. When the dream of utopia becomes a nightmare, it'll take a ninja to set things right!

NARUTO THE MOVIE 3: GUARDIANS OF THE CRESCENT MOON KINGDOM (Rated TV-14)
Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi team up with Rock Lee to protect Prince Michiru and his son Hikaru on their return home to the Crescent Moon Kingdom. Easy enough, until the royal family becomes a royal pain!

Prince Michiru can't help indulging his son, even buying him a circus along the way! Naruto has a tough time putting up with both the spoiled Hikaru and a saber-toothed tiger, but the real adventure begins when they reach the Land of the Moon and find themselves facing a villainous uprising. Does Naruto have what it takes to save an entire kingdom?

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: THE MOVIE (Rated TV-14)
A powerful spirit that once threatened to destroy the world is back! Naruto's mission is to protect a priestess named Shion, who is the only one with the power to seal away the monster. She also has the uncanny ability to predict someone's fate. Her latest prediction: Naruto will soon die. Naruto's only hope is to abandon Shion, but that's not Naruto's style. He decides to face her fatal prediction head-on – and die!

More information on NARUTO is available at http://www.naruto.com/.

"The Thing from Another World" Still Out of This World

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 67 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Thing from Another World (1951) – B&W
Running time: 87 minutes (1 hour, 27 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Christian Nyby with Howard Hawks (no screen credit)
WRITER: Charles Lederer with Howard Hawks and Ben Hecht (neither received screen credit); (based upon a story by John W. Campbell, Jr.)
PRODUCER: Howard Hawks
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Russell Harlan (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Roland Gross
COMPOSER: Dimitri Tiomkin

HORROR/SCI-FI

Starring: Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer, James R. Young, Dewey Martin, and James Arness

There’s no doubt. As corny as The Thing from Another World can be, it is one of the great sci-fi/horror films of all time, a true classic. I’ve it seen several times, and it remains a favorite of mine. I find it as creepy today as I did the first time I saw it almost two decades ago.

A group of scientists and military personnel at an Arctic research station discover a spacecraft buried in the ice. After accidentally destroying the ship, they manage to recover the body of an alien frozen in a block of ice, which they take back to the research station. During the first night, they accidentally thaw the creature from the ice, and it begins to hunt them.

The Thing from Another World is a film definitely of its time, hinting at the Cold War paranoia in America that was an element of some many sci-fi films, but it is still a creepy thrill, dated as it might seem. I always have a good time watching the research station’s occupants fight for the lives with the most serene attitudes. Everybody is so relaxed and chilled, talking about ordinary things like dating and having a good time with the friends, all the while they’re fighting for their lives. I think it makes us identify with the characters, especially the military guys, as if they were regular folks.

Christian Nyby, a protégé of famed film director/producer Howard Hawks, who produced this film, is credited as this movie’s director. However, many film historians and fans have said that this film bears Hawk’s imprint, so he either directed it in total or in part; at that time, a director of Hawk’s stature would not have directed a sci-fi film because doing so was deemed unworthy of an A-list talent.

Attitudes aside, this is a good movie. It certainly lacks the spectacular intensity of today’s hi-octane action-oriented sci-fi/horror movies, but those who can look beyond that will enjoy this gem.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2001 National Film Preservation Board, USA: National Film Registry

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