A while back when it was announced that the New York Metropolitan would be putting on a 3D Opera and I jokingly said "Quick! Somebody make a 3D monocle!"? Well, somebody at Toshiba was listening ...
The forward thinking company announced their newest 3D peripheral called the "Spectacle" and it packs the tech of your regular bispectacled 3D headgear into one elegant eyepiece. I didn't think such scientific and technological innovation was possible, I was wrong:
If you are still in disbelief on how something like this could even theoretically work head on over to their official site for all of the tech specs (admittedly some of the science is over my head). I guess this means I'm getting a top hat and growing a wicked awesome mustache, how about you guys?
I thought I had blocked this out of my memory permanently, the 1990 Captain America movie was a travesty and probably doesn't deserve your time and is in no way related to the upcoming Captain America: First Avenger coming out this Summer.
If this is your first time hearing about a 1990 Captain America movie I both envy you and suggest just heading over here to rewatch the new 2011 Captain America trailer and continue your life in blissful ignorance, for the rest of you continue at your own risk.
Ok, first off what makes this version of the Cap so bad?
Oh, so many things. For starters the acting is just painful to watch and the production value was almost nonexistant. The Cap had a corny as all hell costume, although you could argue they were accurate to the source material (Probably the only thing that was) and they seriously bastardized some of the Captain America mythos, but none of these things were the worst part. The thing that confuses me the most about the 1990 Captain America is how epic of a failure this was considering it actually had a decent cast, including Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox.
Seriously, only watch this soul-crushing movie trailer if you want to risk ruining any hope or love for Captain America as a character:
If you watched that trailer I apologize from the bottom of my soul.
But before you assume it is a blatant cashgrab (It probably is, but don't make an ass out of you and me) it is worth noting that this will be a new director's cut of the film with about 30 extra minutes and a completely new soundtrack. And to be fair Director Albert Pyun has been known to revisit his films that were screwed around with by producers and rework them into something much more tolerable, or even good (Like 1989's Cyborg with Jean-Claude Van Damme). He is kind of like a Bizarro-George Lucas.
Pyun said this new cut of Captain America will be "more character-oriented and less super hero action" and is due out on Blu-ray sometime this May.
I highly doubt he can make it any worse, so more power to him.
No specific release date, artwork or word on special features yet but we'll try to keep you updated.
Cine-a-Tech primarilly exists to keep you updated in the general gadgetry and upcoming releases department, but occassionally things happen, alcohol is imbibed and against our better judgment our minds start to wander.
A Cinebriate's wandering mind is a scary thing indeed ...
People have been writing about William Shatner’s prolific acting career. He has had a simply stellar (Pun not intended, but then I read this sentence and decided that I am not above puns, so deal with it!) presence on TV and the silver screen.
People have mused over Bill “Rocketman” Shatner’s musical accomplishments. I really have nothing to add, his body of work speaks for itself.
All these are things that Mr. Bill Shatner is known and loved for, but what does Bill love? What makes Kirk tick? What does Denny Crane do to take the edge off? Get ready, because this news may come as something of a shock to those of you that have only known William Shatner as a public figure.
William Shatner is many things, actor, musician, Canadian, author, and spokesman. But if you were to ask Bill who he identifies himself as he will most likely say that he is foremost an equestrian.
That’s right Shatner’s one true passion in life is horses ...
Yup, ol’ Bill fancies himself a cowboy! But he doesn't do it solo; he breeds, trains and competes with the other love of his life, his wife Elizabeth Anderson, on his 360 acre horse ranch in Kentucky. The Shatman raises various kinds of horses but primarily American Saddlebreds and Quarter Horses (Yeah, I don't really know what that means either ...) several of which have actually become successful champions.
Shatner doesn't do this for just his own benefit though and in the truest fashion of awesome badassery he hosts a horse show disguised as a charity fundraiser in Hollywood that draws in the big wigs of the industry every year.
And you are damn right he wears a cowboy hat!
Hell, there is even a special riding competition named after him; the overly epic sounding Shatner Class.
At this point (if you are still reading this post about Shatner’s love of horses, and I wouldn’t blame you if you weren’t …) you may be asking yourself, “Self, why should I care about Billie’s horse obsession?”
Answer: Because William Shatner does, and that should be a good enough reason for you!
I could go on but because I just couldn’t possibly describe it any better then a shoddily taped, and extremely dated, TV interview I’ll just let the Shatman explain his love, in his ... own ... SYNCOPATED, PERsonaldialECT!
Enjoy, I sure did:
Aw crap ... now I have to write about his affinity for dogs.
Note: That little ditty I do where it says “Speaking In Tongues” is all about a series in the CEO of the temporary organization behind a film: the director. It is also an attempt to get an idea of their interests, style, motivations, and character through views at their work. In this case, I’m going to try and get to more films of Jarmusch (as I have just finished watching like….10!) but will move through them one at a time, and probably in a disparate manner.
Plot: Three men, unacquainted with each other overall, end up in jail for crimes they claim they were framed for; two fight and bond for a while until the third comes into the picture, inflicting a shot of much needed inspiration hilarity, driving them to escape.
What a fresh and fun independent movie; truly fantastic, especially as it defied many expectations for me, the viewer. The beginning of the film gives us a brief (yet kind of sloooowwww) introduction to each of the protagonists before they get arrested and subsequently joined together. At this moment, we move beyond the idiosyncratic unknown of the first act to what one could call the idiosyncratic adventure of three escaped convicts.
Anyone who has seen Stranger than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch’s debut feature, arguably) know of the director’s affinity for slow pace, beautiful black and white cinematography, and slight, dry humor. He continues much of that style here, only making the canvas grander to fit the motivated characters he has created, much different when compared to the slackers in the previously mentioned film.
Besides the wonderfully odd situations and settings the protagonists and we discover, the main star of the film has to be Roberto Benigni (Life is Beautiful, AKA “crazy Oscar winner”) who truly steals every scene he’s in. Of course we have frequent Jarmusch collaborators John Lurie and Tom Waits (who also wrote soundtrack) performing admirably here; one cannot help but laugh though when Benigni’s blissfully innocent Italian immigrant says one line of dialogue, or even just reacts to something. All three together create make an altogether interesting and diverse group of souls trying to find a way out of there ill-fitted predicament.
I must admit there were times I stressed and fretted the film would go nowhere, but one can say such things about every Jarmusch film if they never acclimate. There are meandering times ahead, and moments foreboding anguish and boredom. Fear not however, as you will be taken on a very satisfying journey through neighborhoods, prison, forests, and an oddly placed Italian restaurant. One must recommend packing tools to get you through: patience...
I don't know how to describe how I feel about these Transformers masks/3D glasses ... part of me (the nerdy, inner child part) is more than willing to dish out the $10, but the other part of me is still angry about the whole 3D thing.
For the upcoming 3D release of Transformers: Dark of the Moon Real-D, the leading purveyor of movie theater 3D tech, and Hasbro Toys has teamed up to develop yet another way to get your hard earned money. Dubbed a "Cine-mask" the Transformersthemed headgear comes with built in lenses that will work for all Real-D 3D movies. At only 10 bucks I would question the quality of the lenses, but hey, it's for the kids and not us filmsnobs ...
Yeah, who am I kidding? The first time I see one of these I am picking up and telling the nice cashier at Wal*Mart "No need to bag it, I'll be wearing this out". The real question is do I go with Optimus Prime or Bumblebee?
Yeah, yeah, we all know 3D movies are a cheap gimmick but I don't see them going anywhere anytime soon. That said what other 3D movies do you think they should make "Cine-masks" for?
Friday, April 1, 2011 at 5:01PM 
