Sky High trailer. It looks fun. The concept is so Hollywood one-line pitch, though; "A son of superhero parents attend superhero highschool to find his trueself" or something of that sort. This could be the sleeper hit of the summer with infinite sequels and merchandising posibilities, if they played their power right.

Good screenwriting is the art of discovery.

Half-Life 2 QuickTime VR. Yes, it's that good. Imagine if this was YOUR 'virtual' set. Lucas would be so jealous.

I watched Primer on DVD twice, first without knowing anything except for good word-of-mouth, good reviews, and Soundance Grand Jury Prize-the ultimate indie cinema cred. I watched the second to hear the director's commentary on how he pulled it all off on his reported budget of $7000. (This is the first time I ever heard a director's commentary for any movie DVD.) I went to the main site to read more and caught up with some discussion on imdb. I was hoping for more solid physics facts on relativity and maybe quantum physics interwoven in the plot, but the director was interested in exploiting other themes with Sci-Fi materials. The production value of the movie literally 'shows', but the engrossing story grosses over many faults including distant and unsympathetic protagonists.

***** SPOILER WARNING *******

I wondered if the movie would cross-over better if it had Sixth Sense kind of ending where the whole thing was Abe's setup from the start as Abe repeatly went back through time to make things right. And Aaron tries to stop him from messing with the timeline. The dichotomy of their approach would've been more conventional, ie Hollywood, and make the film more comprehensive, in my opinion, and more exciting story.

***** END OF SPOLIER *******

The film likes this gives hope for true independent filmmakers around the world, that good story will be told, and be accepted.

AtomFilms: Star Wars Fan Film Awards. They get better and better every year. Every frame shows the labor of love, something the current indie productions seem to lack after the explosive growth in 90s.

'Kingdom' can't stop box office slide. "Industry hopes that "Kingdom" would pull the business out of a lengthy slump were dashed: the box office has now endured 11 "down" weekends when compared with the year-ago periods. According to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, this ties the longest losing streak, which ran from July to October in 2000." The Fox president is lying that he's delighted with meager 20 millions for this 'epic' film.

When I watched the film last night, I think Mr. Scott wanted to express something personal on a big screen that will cost, reported, 150 millions of dollars. So he had to compromise on his theme of reglious tolerance when America is moving toward theocracy by President Bush (Jr.) and provide epic battles that sadly mimicks another LOTR battle. Yeah, the CG got better, but what's else is new? There's no one to care for, and pretty boy Orlando Bloom only suffers minor scratch to his face in the heat of the battles. He tries to elevate himself to be a hero as the script dictates, but he just doesn't have the presence, like Russel Crowe in Gladiator. Masked leper king, uncredited Edward Nolton, got more character and presence than Orlando. He is supported by veteran actors, but they vanish when he needs them the most. I'm sadden that Eva Green didn't reveal any flesh to charm me, except to bat her eye lashes. No wonder Orlando turned her down. :-)

The marketing should've concentrated more of essemble of actors in the pictures instead of shouldering all on Orlando Bloom alone. But in the end, the film was murky as the theme got lost in the big stages battles, without making clear statement, and the characters didn't come across personally to affect us. Orlando Bloom's personal redemption got swept away like a sand castle as the picture screamed for more action and blood. Pity.

Maybe people thought they would be watching another LOTR set in a desert with Orlando Bloom and skipped for the DVDs. I believe they are wise to do so. At this rate, even Episode III will likely to disappoint as NO ONE I know is excited about the movie like the first two.

It was a clear example of how to juggle personal themes in the epic background in a film. As evident by this picture, even veteran director like Ridly Scott can have a trouble of balancing those two.

foldedspace.org: Why Star Wars Sucks. The Role of Our Heroes. Focus Shift. Scale. Prettification. De-Mystification. Bad Acting. Marketing. Nonsensical Political Struggles. Loss of Wonder. "The first two films amazed because they imparted a sense of wonder. Our heroes were small, but they're actions took place on a vast an awesome stage... Compare this to the eye-sore that is the climax of Attack of the Clones. Can you follow what's happening? Of course not. Nobody can. It's an orgasm of gratuitous digital effects. There are hundreds, or thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of objects on screen at once. There's nothing to latch onto.

My heart broke for every dead X-Wing pilot in the first film. When Porkins flamed out, I cared. I cared because the battle was kept on a small scale, an identifiable scale. There's no wonder involved in an all-out fight between a gajillion clone troopers and whoever it is they're fighting. (I can't even remember, which is a bad, bad sign.)" I think I can say the same for the Kingdom of Heaven I saw last night. Sigh.

The Bynk Zone: I hates Lucas! I hates it forever!. Everything you hated about the Star Wars series, including the new, digital remastered edtions, and upcoming Episode III, are written in words to spare you from the trouble and the time. Yet, I and many fans still believe in the Force. Sigh.

Slate: Paranoia for Fun and Profit - How Disney and Michael Moore cleaned up on Fahrenheit 9/11. By Edward Jay Epstein. "Eisner's solution: Generate the illusion of outside distribution while orchestrating a deal that allowed Disney to reap most of the profits. Here's how the dazzling deal worked. On paper, the Weinstein brothers bought the rights to Fahrenheit 9/11 from Miramax. The Weinsteins then transferred the rights to a corporate front called Fellowship Adventure Group. In turn, that company outsourced the documentary's theatrical distribution rights (principally to Lions Gate Films, IFC Films, and Alliance Atlantis Vivafilms) and video distribution rights (to Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment).

Because of the buzz and prestige attached to Fahrenheit 9/11, Harvey Weinstein extracted extremely favorable terms from these distributors, about one-third of what distributors typically charge. Their cut amounted to slightly more than 12 percent of the total they collected from the theaters. As a result, Fahrenheit 9/11's net receipts—what remains after the distributors deduct their percentage and their out-of-pocket expenses (mounting an ad campaign, making prints, dubbing the film)—would be much higher than those of a typical Hollywood film.

Fahrenheit 9/11, now an event, took in more than $228 million in ticket sales worldwide, a record for a documentary, and sold 3 million DVDs, which brought in another $30 million in royalties. After the theaters took their share of the movie's gross (roughly 50 percent) and distributors deducted the marketing expenses (including prints, advertising, dubbing, and custom clearance) and took their own cut, the net receipts returned to Disney were $78 million.

Disney now had to pay Michael Moore's profit participation. Under normal circumstances, documentaries rarely, if ever, make profits (especially if distributors charge the usual 33 percent fee). So, when Miramax made the deal for Fahrenheit 9/11, it allowed Moore a generous profit participation—which turned out to be 27 percent of the film's net receipts. Disney, in honoring this deal, paid Moore a stunning $21 million. Moore never disclosed the amount of his profit participation. When asked about it, the proletarian Moore joked to reporters on a conference call, "I don't read the contracts."

What of Disney? After repaying itself $11 million for acquisition costs, it booked a $46 million net profit, which Eisner split between two subsidiaries, the Disney Foundation and Miramax. While it was far less than Disney made on children's fare such as Finding Nemo, it was not a bad outcome. The Weinstein brothers also made a multimillion-dollar profit. They had a deal with Disney that contractually entitled them to a bonus of between 30 percent and 40 percent of the net profits on any film that they produced—in this case, that came out to about $8 million per brother. (The Weinsteins are now in the process of leaving Miramax.) But Michael Moore had perhaps the happiest ending of all. Not only had he made $21 million, he already had a sequel in preproduction—Fahrenheit 9/11 ½." Follow the money.

AtomFilm: Mobile Movie Theater for PSP. Groovy. Get your movies on the latest and the coolest portable gadget on the planet. Yes, yours. PSPCasting is here to stay.