IMAX 3D Theatres Have "The Amazing Spider-Man"

Columbia Pictures' The Amazing Spider-Man(TM) Swings Into IMAX® 3D Theatres On July 3

Climax Features Expanded Aspect Ratio Designed to Maximize the IMAX Canvas

IMAX Exclusive Early Release in Russia

LOS ANGELES, July 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- IMAX Corporation (NYSE: IMAX; TSX: IMX) and Columbia Pictures today announced that the highly anticipated 3D action-adventure, The Amazing Spider-Man, will be released in the immersive IMAX® 3D format in 447 IMAX® theatres worldwide. Domestically, the film will launch in IMAX on Tuesday, July 3 - simultaneous with the film's North American wide release - in 307 theatres. The film began its rollout to a total of 140 IMAX theatres internationally on June 27. Additional playdates will be added as pending bookings are confirmed. To date, the Spider-Man motion pictures have generated more than $2.5 billion in worldwide box office receipts. Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 were also released in IMAX.

The film will benefit from an IMAX exclusive one week early release in the 20 IMAX theatres currently open in Russia beginning Friday, June 29.

Director Marc Webb and the filmmakers have crafted the climactic finale of The Amazing Spider-Man to feature a larger aspect ratio of 1.9:1 versus the traditional 2.39:1 ratio in order to take full advantage of the IMAX canvas and overall experience. This aspect ratio, which is optimized to take advantage of the IMAX screen, will allow audiences to see more of the image and result in a full panorama of the action - allowing audiences to feel as if they were swinging alongside Spider-Man.

The IMAX release of The Amazing Spider-Man has been digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of An IMAX 3D Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology. The crystal-clear images coupled with IMAX's customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie. The film will also be released in 2D and other 3D formats.

About The Amazing Spider-Man:
One of the world's most popular characters is back on the big screen as a new chapter in the Spider-Man legacy is revealed in The Amazing Spider-Man(TM). Focusing on an untold story that tells a different side of the Peter Parker story, the new film stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, with Martin Sheen and Sally Field. The film is directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay written by James Vanderbilt and Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves from a story by James Vanderbilt, based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, and Matt Tolmach are producing the film in association with Marvel Entertainment for Columbia Pictures, which will open in theaters everywhere in 3D on July 3, 2012.

The Amazing Spider-Man is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents' disappearance - leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father's former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors' alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.

http://www.theamazingspiderman.com/

The Amazing Spider-Man has been rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence.

Review: "Madea's Witness Protection" is The Lighter Side of Madea

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 53 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

Madea’s Witness Protection (2012)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some crude sexual remarks and brief drug references
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry
PRODUCERS: Ozzie Areu, Paul Hall, and Tyler Perry
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Alexander Gruszynski
EDITOR: Maysie Hoy
COMPOSER: Aaron Zigman

COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: Tyler Perry, Eugene Levy, Denise Richards, Doris Roberts, Romeo Miller, Danielle Campbell, Devan Leos, Jeff Joslin, John Amos, Marla Gibbs, and Tom Arnold

Madea’s Witness Protection is a 2012 comedy from writer/director/producer, Tyler Perry. This is also the 13th film in the Tyler Perry film franchise (the twelfth that Perry has directed). In Madea’s Witness Protection, super-grandmother Mabel “Madea” Simmons shelters a businessman and his family in her home after the mob targets them.

George Needleman (Eugene Levy) is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the charity division at Lockwise Industries, but all goes bad when George learns that his boss, Walter (Tom Arnold), is running a mob-backed Ponzi scheme. Soon, George and his family: wife Kate (Denise Richards), daughter Cindy (Danielle Campbell), and son Howie (Devan Leos) leave New York City for Atlanta. There, George cooperates with Brian Simmons (Tyler Perry), an assistant district attorney investigating Lockwise’s criminal connections. The Needlemans need a place to stay that isn’t a normal part of the witness protection program.

Enter Brian’s aunt, Madea (Tyler Perry), who reluctantly opens her home to the Needlemans. Brian’s father, Joe (Tyler Perry), even discovers that he has a past connection with George’s mother, Barbara (Doris Roberts). The Needlemans’ problems, however, extend beyond George’s work troubles. Will they find that help in Madea’s wild and crazy southern home?

Tyler Perry’s Madea movies usually have two dominate plots or storylines. First, there is the storyline that depicts the antics of Madea the co-lead. The second is a melodrama, usually focusing on a female character who struggles to overcome a number of external obstacles and internal conflicts. Madea’s Witness Protection does not follow that formula. Madea’s antics are directly tied to the second main character, which is George Needleman. George’s story cannot move forward without Madea, so this is truly a “Madea movie.” It is also a bit of a stretch to sell Levy (who is 65 as I write this) as a 52-year-old man, which is George’s age. Otherwise, Levy does his usual schtick as the pitiful, put-upon, straight-laced white guy to polished perfection.

Tyler Perry in this triple role as Madea, Joe, and Brian is on automatic, although he plays Brian with self-assuredness that I don’t remember seeing before this movie. His performance as both Madea and Joe is also smoother than in earlier films. The Madea of Madea’s Witness Protection is also a lot less overbearing, not as rough, and less edgy than in films like Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Madea’s Family Reunion. Joe is also a lot less vulgar, not quite the dirty old man, and is certainly less untidy that in earlier films.

Madea’s Witness Protection features a Madea that is cuddlier, if such a thing is possible. She’s like a Motown spit-shine on some hollerin’ blues. She will still knock you out, but she’s ready to give you a hug and for her place in the mainstream. Madea’s Witness Protection is good, and Madea is as funny and as crazy as ever. Are we ready, however, for a Madea who goes down so smoothly?

6 of 10
B

Sunday, July 01, 2012

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Review: Mitchum Makes "The Night of the Hunter" a Classic (Remembering Robert Mitchum)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 29 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Night of the Hunter (1955) – B&W
Running time: 93 minutes (1 hour, 33 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Charles Laughton
WRITER: James Agee (from the novel Davis Gubb)
PRODUCER: Paul Gregory
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stanley Cortez
EDITOR: Robert Golden

DRAMA/FILM-NOIR/THIRLLER

Starring: Robert Mitchum, Shelly Winters, Lillian Gish, Billy Chapin, Sally Jane Bruce, James Gleason, Evelyn Varden, Peter Graves, and Don Beddoe

The subject of this movie review is The Night of the Hunter, a 1955 American thriller starring the great actor, Robert Mitchum. The film is directed by Charles Laughton, who reportedly also wrote the film’s screenplay, although James Agee is the credited writer. The Night of the Hunter is based upon the 1953 novel of the same name by Davis Gubb. The film follows a reverend-turned-serial killer who stalks two children to learn a secret he believes they know.

In this Depression-era tale, self-proclaimed preacher, Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), learns from his cellmate, Ben Harper (Peter Graves), a thief and double murdered condemned to hang from the gallows, that he hid $10,000 in stolen money, and only his two children, John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce), know where the loot is. When Powell gets out of prison, he charms Ben’s weak-minded widow, Willa (Shelly Winters), into marrying him. However, the children have made a pact never to reveal the whereabouts of the money, and the mature-beyond-his-years John stubbornly refuses to give into Powell’s threats of bodily harm lest they give up the money. As Powell stalks them, the children take up refuge with the indomitable Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish), an older woman who takes in abandoned and abused children, and so begins an inevitable test of wills between Harry and Rachel for the fate of the Harper children.

The Night of the Hunter is probably one of the scariest Film-Noir motion pictures you’ll ever see. Haunting, eerie, and dreamlike, its hold on the viewer is as relentless as the title character played superbly, with such gusto, and honest-to-God menace by Robert Mitchum. The wedding night scene in which Harry rebuffs Shelly Winters’ Willa Harper simply and definitively says that Mitchum’s Powell is a total asshole. Actually, it’s at that point Winters’ character really begins to register in this film; before that scene, Willa Harper was extraneous. In Mitchum’s scenes with the children, Powell’s demeanor and dishonest piety mark him as an evil shit. However, when he stalks the Harper kids across cinematographer Stanley Cortez’s otherworldly rural landscapes and its seemingly enchanted river, you know that Powell is an all-too-real human murder, even if he takes on a sort of supernatural aura.

In a sense the film is like a fairy tale, some Brothers Grimm tale that taps into primordial fears and bad dreams – young lambs that find that a ravenous wolf has replaced their parents and now stalks them for a prize. There are superb performances by the child actors. Billy Chapin ably becomes the little man that John Harper must become as he takes on the responsibility of both protecting his sister and his father’s legacy, symbolized by the money that Ben Harper stole specifically to make sure his children didn’t go homeless and hungry. It is with bitter irony that it is that same money is the reason Ben’s children end up homeless and hungry. Sally Jane Bruce mixes cuteness, a precocious confidence, and innocence into a unique mixture that allows her to face Harry Powell, to even sit on his lap on occasion.

Lillian Gish’s Rachel Cooper is God’s voice to as Mitchum’s Powell is the bad spirit; she is his exact opposite when it comes to viewing God. While Powell’s God is a hyper vengeful Old Testament deity who allows a madman to roam about killing his human servants, Gish’s Cooper believes in a God who sends children who will do great things into the world – children who will grow into Kings that will in turn save all God’s children.

Some people may be put off by the film’s theatrical style and staging and its religiosity, but that adds a layer of wonderful metaphors and symbols on director Charles Laughton’s otherwise gritty fable. Carefully and deliberately, he shaped The Night of the Hunter into a true classic in the film thrillers genre.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
1992 National Film Preservation Board, USA: National Film Registry

Tuesday, February 7, 2006

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Negromancer Independence Day

It's July 2012.  Welcome to Negromancer, the rebirth of my former movie review website as a movie review and movie news blog. I’m Leroy Douresseaux, and I also blog at http://ireadsyou.blogspot.com/ and write for the Comic Book Bin (which has smart phones apps and comics).

There are some big movies opening this month, starting with The Amazing Spider-Man on July 3rd.  For as long as I have been reviewing movies, I have also been picky about seeing movies, so I will skip some of those July movies.  I'll explain my movie viewing habits in detail at a later date.

All images and text appearing on this blog are © copyright and/or trademark their respective owners.

"Rise of the Guardians" Character Poster: Jack Frost

This character is "Jack Frost" from the upcoming DreamWorks Animation feature, Rise of the Guardians (November 21, 2012).  He is apparently the protagonist and is voiced by Chris Pine of Star Trek and Unstoppable.

VIZ Media Announces New 24-Hour Anime Channel Called "Neon Alley"

VIZ MEDIA UNVEILS NEON ALLEY

24-Hour Anime Channel Launches On Game Consoles This Fall

VIZ Media, the largest publisher, distributor and licensor of manga, graphic novels and anime in North America, unveiled plans for Neon Alley, a 24-hour anime channel featuring the world’s best titles set to debut on game consoles this fall. The service will be available in the United States and Canada.

Neon Alley’s schedule will include a mix of action, adventure, science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, and horror anime, all uncut and dubbed in English, and presented in HD (when available). Programming will include blockbuster anime titles like NARUTO SHIPPUDEN, INUYASHA: THE FINAL ACT, and DEATH NOTE, and will allow fans to discover new titles such as TIGER & BUNNY, BERSERK: THE GOLDEN AGE ARC, ZETMAN, and NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN, along with original content that provides news and behind-the-scenes access for fans of anime and manga.

“We created Neon Alley for fans to watch the best anime titles in the world right on their TV,” said Ken Sasaki, President and Chief Executive Officer for VIZ Media. “Neon Alley will have weekly exclusive premieres of the hit titles they love, along with a mix of new, cutting-edge titles they didn’t know they were missing.”

Neon Alley will be a subscription-based service, subsidized with limited commercial advertising, to keep the launch price to consumers at a low $6.99 per month. Anime fans can register online at NeonAlley.com for news, updates on the service’s launch, and to find out how to get a sneak preview of the series debuting during the first season. Neon Alley is the first platform designed to be studio agnostic, featuring titles from other anime producers and distributors, and will unveil its programming lineup, special introductory offers, new acquisitions and other partnerships throughout the next several months.

For more information on Neon Alley, please visit http://www.neonalley.com/.

For more information on VIZ Media, please visit http://www.viz.com/.

Review: "Point Break" is Still On-Point (Happy B'day, Gary Busey)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 146 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Point Break (1991)
Running time: 122 minutes (2 hours, 2 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence and adult language
DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow
WRITERS: W. Peter Iliff; from a story by Rick King and W. Peter Iliff
PRODUCERS: Peter Abrams and Robert L. Levy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Donald Peterman (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Bert Lovitt and Howard E. Smith

ACTION/CRIME/DRAMA

Starring: Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Gary Busey, Lori Petty, John C. McGinley, James LeGros, John Philbin, Bojesse Christopher, Julian Reyes, Daniel Beer, Chris Pedersen, Vincent Klyn, and Anthony Kiedis

The subject of this movie review is Point Break, a 1991 action film and crime drama from director Kathryn Bigelow and starring Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves. The title, “Point Break,” refers to a surfing term, and the film follows an undercover FBI agent who infiltrates a band of bank robbers who are also surfers.

Keanu Reeves wasn’t a good actor early in his career, but it was obvious from the moment he started appearing in films in the mid to late 1980’s, that he had star quality – that something, that essence that makes the camera love him. A skillful director can manage a real movie star’s deficiencies and make a credible film, which is what director Kathryn Bigelow did in the 1991 summer action flick, Point Break.

Young FBI Special Agent Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) goes undercover and joins a group of surfers while searching for a gang of bank robbers. Calling themselves the “Ex-Presidents,” each member of a bank-robbing quartet wears a Halloween rubber mask of one of four former presidents, and they’ve successfully pulled off 30 robberies in the Los Angeles area in three years without being caught. The FBI is puzzled, but Utah and his veteran partner, Angelo Poppas (Gary Busey, being a ham and generally acting nuts), believe they have an angle on catching the robbers. Angelo is sure that the thieves are surfers, and he convinces Utah to take up the sport.

Johnny meets girl surfer, Tyler Ann Endicott (Lori Petty), and convinces her to teach him to surf. Johnny eventually meets Tyler’s former boyfriend, Bodhi (Patrick Swayze), the leader of a small circle of local surfers. Bodhi takes a liking to Utah and quickly draws him into the surfing subculture. Entangled in this new lifestyle, Utah earns the ire of his boss, FBI Agent Ben Harp (John C. McGinley), and when Utah later discovers the identity of the Ex-Presidents, he finds himself ensnared in a trap of his own making.

Point Break was the movie that established Keanu Reeves as a convincing action star, when up to the time of this film, he’d mostly played naïve and/or goofy boys in a series of comedies and dramas (including Dangerous Liaisons, believe it or not). Overall, the acting here is mostly mediocre to bad, and the dialogue is a combination of hokey surf philosophy and the kind of phony law enforcement dialogue frequently found in cop movies. All of it sounds the worst coming from Reeves. However, the film features striking aerial photography and beautiful cinematography. Bigelow skillfully stages all the actions scenes to get the most out of them – including a thrilling scene when Utah chases Bodhi on foot. Point Break isn’t great, but the surfing and masked bank robbers angles make it memorable and definitely worth a view.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, May 12, 2007