Category Archives: Video

‘The Hobbit’ production vlog #9

Believe it or not but Peter Jackson is back with yet another Hobbit production vlog as the movie premiere is only four days away. Number nine focuses on the post-production process, specifically shining light on the work that goes into the special effects and sound design. Jackson leads a tour through the Park Road Post Production house in Wellington, New Zealand and we even get to travel 18,331 miles to the UK where the Hobbit soundtrack is perfected with a full orchestra in tow at Abbey Road Studios.

Jackson says that post is “due to be completed two days before the premiere, hopefully.” Though this rolls off his tongue playfully, I don’t think he is joking. It’s full speed ahead for Jackson and his talented team of animators and composers; An Unexpected Journey premieres this Wednesday, November 28 in New Zealand and then it comes to the States December 14. A tenth vlog is teased at the end, one that will take fans to the movie’s big Wellington premiere.

Editor’s note: In the craze known as Comic Con I must have missed vlog #8 and never posted it. I made sure to embed it after the break in case you missed it, too. In it Jackson takes us to San Diego and presents the Hobbit footage he screened in front of a packed panel. Continue reading ‘The Hobbit’ production vlog #9

Movie trailer round-up: ‘Now You See Me’, ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’ & ‘Oz: The Great and the Powerful’

If you’ve seen Christopher Nolan’s The Illusionist, this new magic flick should inspire you to visit theatres soon. Now You See Me tells an intriguing story about a group of magicians who perform seemingly impossible tricks on the road. In this first trailer for the movie, we see them performing on stage in Vegas and somehow they are able to magically rob a bank in France and teleport and shower the money all across their astonished audience. A large ensemble cast includes Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Melanie Laurent, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, Common, Michael Kelly, and Elias Koteas; rounding out the cast are Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine, giving this even more of a Chris Nolan feel. But he is not at the helm; Louis Leterrier (TransporterThe Incredible Hulk) is.

So how do they do it? Is it magic? Is it technology from the future? Morgan Freeman opens the trailer with this:  “Come in close, because the more you think you see, the easier it’ll be to fool you.” And he ends it like this: “Look closely, because the closer you think you are, the less you’ll actually see.” You figure it out when Now You See Me hits theatres on June 7.

Jump after the break for more trailers. Continue reading Movie trailer round-up: ‘Now You See Me’, ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’ & ‘Oz: The Great and the Powerful’

The Weeknd drops 33-track ‘Trilogy’, three music videos, a message to the fans

On November 13, Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, re-released his three mixtapes as one collection in Trilogy. The 33-track album contains mixed and mastered versions of every song from House of BalloonsThursday, and Echoes of Silence plus three, never-before-heard bonus tracks “Twenty Eight,” “Valerie,” and “Till Dawn (Here Comes the Sun).” At $9.99 Trilogy, which also includes the music video for “The Zone” featuring Drake, is the definition of a steal. Digital and physical ($11.99) copies are available. Trilogy was released under Universal Republic Records and Tesfaye’s own XO label. If you enjoyed his mixtapes, support a growing, talented artist by picking up Trilogy today.

In addition to dropping the album, The Weeknd also directed three music videos to promote the release. Clips were shot for “Rolling Stone,” “Wicked Games,” and the previously aforementioned “The Zone” featuring Drake. In a note directed at his fans, Tesfaye opens up and sheds light on the symbolism behind the “Rolling Stone” clip. He acknowledges that signing to a major record label and releasing a studio album in Trilogy takes him away from “the underground” and into the spotlight, but promises that “this does not mean what you think it means.” In other words, he will not be affected by his new-found fame and next-level success. “YOU WILL CONTINUE TO GET WHAT YOU FELL IN LOVE WITH, AND I WILL CONTINUE TO GIVE YOU WHAT YOU ASK FOR. I’LL NEVER MAKE YOU WAIT AGAIN,” he shares in all caps.

Click after the break to view the note in full and all three music videos. In addition, you’ll find a new track “Enemy” outed last month that is not included on his first major release. Continue reading The Weeknd drops 33-track ‘Trilogy’, three music videos, a message to the fans

A grander look at ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ (trailer #2)

Rockstar Games knows how to make ’em. Here’s our second official look at the next Grand Theft Auto. It’s number 5 if you’re counting and can’t read Roman numerals. The developer says that Los Santos, the new LA-influenced setting for the game, is the most ambitious and expansive open world they’ve ever created. After you watch this trailer you’ll see exactly what they mean. Also, it looks like we’ll be following three different protagonists this go-around. If you were blown away by the game’s visuals the first time around (over a year ago!), just wait and see what this peek has to offer.

And now we have a release window. GTA V is slated to drop Spring 2013 for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

TV poster: ‘Game of Thrones’ season 3 [Update: promo teaser inside]

This official poster serves as a reminder that HBO’s fantasy series Game of Thrones returns for its third season on March 31, 2013.

Update (11/19): A promo teaser joins the promo poster after the jump. There is no actual footage from the upcoming season; what we get is this fiery and icy quote: “The great war is between death and life, ice and fire. If we lose, the night will never end.” Continue reading TV poster: ‘Game of Thrones’ season 3 [Update: promo teaser inside]

Netflix original program ‘House of Cards’ gets first trailer

Could House of Cards be a game-changer in terms of original content distribution? That’s where we last left off when Netflix announced it would be exclusively streaming a new show from executive producer David Fincher (The Social Network) and Kevin Spacey. The streaming giant released a trailer for the “wicked political drama [that] penetrates the shadowy world of greed, sex, and corruption in modern D.C.” Kevin Spacey stars as Congressman Francis Underwood, his wife Claire is played by Robin Wright, and together they “stop at nothing to conquer everything.” Kate Mara (American Horror Story) and Corey Stoll co-star.

Production value looks on-par with the best premium cable giants like HBO and Showtime have to offer. Will it attract the same kind of audiences Game of Thrones and Homeland score? We’ll find out shortly after House of Cards premieres on Netflix February 1. Just like the streaming company is doing with new episodes Arrested Development, all thirteen episodes of House of Cards will be made available on day one. No matter its performance, Netflix is committed to two 13-episode seasons of the politically-driven drama.

‘SNL’ parodies ‘Homeland’ with over-exaggeration and spot-on impersonation

It was only a matter of time before Saturday Night Live produced a sketch parodying the uber-popular Showtime series Homeland. Anne Hathaway proved that she’s got what it takes to over-exaggerate Claire Danes’ “crazy” Carrie Matheson, Bill Hader can add yet another spot-on impersonation to his list with his subtle portrayal of Mandy Patinkin’s Saul Berenson, and Taran Killam has the look and just the right sized mouth to pull off a believable Nicholas Brody; Kenan served as David Estes and Nasim popped in at the end for a brief but effective poke at Brody’s annoying daughter Dana. From the re-creation of the opening credits sequence to Carrie’s obsession with corkboards and her quivering chin, SNL did a stand-up job parodying the show that’s on everyone’s DVRs. Though they had the opportunity to do so much more with it (where was Saul’s ruler and peanut butter…anyone?), it’s an instant classic in my book.

‘Family Guy’ reaches 200 episodes this Sunday

After staging a comeback from the depths of cancellation, Seth MacFarlane’s Family Guy has managed to survive and thrive into its tenth season which premiere earlier this fall and tomorrow night the FOX animated sitcom will air its 200th episode. MacFarlane is acknowledging the milestone with a special episode titled “Yug Ylimaf” in which Brian fiddles with Stewie’s time machine and accidentally causes time to run in reverse. The logline spills that “he and Stewie must figure out how to restore the forward progress of time before Stewie is unborn.” The episode will relive a bunch of classic moments in Family Guy in reverse, including the unforgettable ipecac barf gag. Following the landmark 200th episode, FOX will air a half-hour retrospective called “200 Episodes Later” that includes a behind-the-scenes look at the long-running series and interviews with MacFarlane, producers, and the voice cast.

Sneak a peek at the one-hour Family Guy event set to air this Sunday at 9PM on FOX in the video embedded above.

‘FRINGE’ video: Joshua Jackson discusses Peter’s impending transformation

Fringe spoilers follow; if you haven’t watched the episode “An Origin Story” do not read ahead.

At the end of the episode “An Origin Story,” Fringe took Peter Bishop’s character in a bold new direction. After interrogating a captured Observer, Peter discovered and removed a chip from the back of the baldie’s noggin. “You are nothing but tech,” Peter lashed out to the Observer. “I would be ten times what you are if I had that tech in my head.” In a fit of rage following the recent death of his daughter Etta at the hands of the Observers, Peter lodged the tech into the back of his head and thus began his journey of revenge. He must’ve forgotten what Anil told him an episode prior: “A person who embarks on a path of revenge should first dig two graves.”

So what can we expect from this transformed Peter? In an interview clip embedded above, Jackson shares that “once [Peter] has the tech in his head he’s kinda drunk on his own power all of a sudden” and that “Peter as we know him is very rapidly slipping away.”

And if you watched last night’s episode “Through the Looking Glass and What Peter Found There” we got a glimpse of Peter’s new abilities, though the tech doesn’t seem to be fully affecting his capacity to show emotion…yet. Just as Olivia starts to reach out to Peter, he pushes himself further away by injected the Observer tech into his head. Olivia’s portrayer Anna Torv discusses this topic in the clip.

Minor spoiler from “Through the Looking Glass…” follows. Jackson makes an interesting point in the clip at the end when he mentions that Peter and his father Walter are experiencing “parallel lives.” Jackson is undergoing a transformation thanks to the Observer tech, and Walter is similarly changing ever since Etta and Simon installed the missing parts of Walter’s brain in the pivotal “future episode” 419 last season. Walter made an emotional realization at the end of last night’s episode: “I’m not safe. It’s my mind. Ever since the pieces of my brain were reimplanted, it’s been changing me back into the man I was before. Bit by bit. I’m losing myself, Peter. I’m losing the man that you helped me become.” He’s afraid that he is transforming back into the “arrogant” man he used to be during the days he experimented with William Bell. It will be interesting to watch these parallel character transformations unfold as we enter the final stretch of episodes. Peter promises that he will not let Walter lose himself, but can he keep his word if he’s losing himself to the Observer tech?

Fringe airs Friday nights at 9PM on FOX.

Movie trailer round-up: ‘World War Z’, ‘Jurassic Park 3D’ & ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’

After reports of numerous setbacks including reshoots and rewrites, the film adaptation of Max Brooks’ popular novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is on track to release June 21, 2013. Directed by Marc Forster (Quantam of SolaceFinding Neverland) and written by Matthew Michael Carnahan (State of Play) with help from Damon Lindelof (Prometheus) and Drew Goddard (Cloverfield), World War Z stars Brad Pitt as a United Nations worker attempting to stop widespread zombie outbreak. Despite the public setbacks, the material stitched together in this first-look trailer is exciting and intriguing to say the least. Unlike the walkers Rick Grimes has to face in AMC’s The Walking Dead, the zombies here are mighty fast and travel in extremely large hordes. The plan is to expand Brooks’ novels (“Z” is preceded by two “Zombie Survival Guides”) into a trilogy of movies, all depending on how the first one performs at the box office. With a trailer as suspenseful and intense as this, anticipating World War Z‘s release won’t be hard to do.

Jump after the break for more trailers. Continue reading Movie trailer round-up: ‘World War Z’, ‘Jurassic Park 3D’ & ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’

Kid Cudi parties with King Chip in “Just What I Am” music video

Cudder’s released a self-directed music video for the first single off his upcoming fourth studio album Indicud. Along with featured guest King Chip and a young group of ragers, Kid Cudi mellows out and has fun partying it up and driving around town. You’ll notice that the video is framed inside a boarder that’s accustomed to holding artwork. “All my videos will be in a baroque frame. I create art, so it will be presented as such. ART IN MOTION,” explained Cudi in a tweet.

Watch the music video above, download the single here, and anticipate the second single “Immortal” coming soon.

‘Halo 4’ releases Tuesday; prepare and watch ‘Forward Unto Dawn’ web series

This Tuesday Halo 4 releases for Xbox 360 and a new trilogy forges on. In the original trilogy developer Bungie introduced us to the iconic Master Chief and we controlled the super-solider as he discovered the Halo Array and the Ark, crippled the alien alliance known as the Covenant, and battled the parasitic Flood. After going on to release a prequel to Halo 3 designated ODST and a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved with Halo: Reach, Bungie handed the franchise’s reigns to a new developer, 343 Industries. Halo 4 brings us back into control of the Chief, and we find him just where we left him at the end of Halo 3 in 2007; he’s aboard the UNSC ship Forward Unto Dawn, floating in space drifting toward a mysterious Forerunner planet called Requiem. Chief’s last words were delivered to Cortana, his AI companion, and they were, “Wake me, when you need me.” Halo 4, in addition to providing addicting online multiplayer modes, will delve deeper into the franchise’s mythology as Master Chief inadvertently crash lands on a Forerunner planet infested with Covenant, Forerunner technology, and, according to the game’s marketing, “an ancient evil awakens.” And on top of that, there’s something wrong with Cortana; she is going “rampant” (or insane) because she is operating beyond her natural lifespan.

Excited yet? Let me give you a boost…

Leading up to the release of Halo 4, Microsoft Studios and 343 Industries developed a five-part live-action web series set in the Halo universe. Forward Unto Dawn follows a group of freshman cadets at the UNSC’s Corbulo Academy of Military Science and places particular focus on troubled cadet Thomas Lasky. The story takes fans to the beginning of the Human/Covenant war and it seamlessly weaves into where things kick off in Halo 4. The series is a bold journey into the Halo universe and it tells a compelling story worth investing your time in, especially if you’re a fan of the franchise. The acting and special effects are surprisingly effective, and in addition to amping you up for the new game it will also make you wish a Halo miniseries a la HBO’s Band of Brothers was made. Forward Unto Dawn can be viewed online at Machinima or on your console via the Halo Waypoint app.

Halo 4 is being sold in various forms; there’s the regular copy ($60), the limited edition copy ($100), it’s bundled in a Halo-themed 320GB console package ($350), and there’s a Halo-themed wireless controller ($60). Want a read more before jumping in? IGN gives a glowing review. Watch the launch trailer after the break. Continue reading ‘Halo 4’ releases Tuesday; prepare and watch ‘Forward Unto Dawn’ web series