Now that everyone has grown tired of touting the allegedly thrilling promise of 3-D, we may have some chance of figuring out exactly what its future might be. While I still think 3-D is almost less than a gimmick, I've come to think that its real promise lies not in big-budget filmmaking along the lines of The Adventures of Tintin or even a picture as wonderful as Hugo, but in the hands of directors working on a more modest scale who simply have a good idea and a spark of enthusiasm for the medium. Wim Wenders has brought that spark to a rather unlikely subject, the late German modern-dance choreographer Pina Bausch. For years, Wenders and Bausch, longtime friends, had been working on a movie together. Bausch died suddenly in 2009, at age 68, and Pina is Wenders's tribute to her, less a strict documentary than a heartfelt -- and visually gorgeous -- celebration of Bausch's work and her mode of working.
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The alleged greatest 3-D film ever made held its world premiere today in Moscow, where Michael Bay and his Transformers: Dark of the Moon cast swept into town to kick-off the Moscow International Film Festival. Hit the jump to ogle Shia LaBeouf, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, John Malkovich, McDreamy himself, the guys from Linkin Park, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's sheer couture number on the red carpet.
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Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in the wake of Kung Fu Panda 2's disappointing box office performance, DreamWorks Animation head Jeffrey Katzenberg had some choice words for those other studios that have dropped the ball on 3-D theatrical releases. "We're not the problem," he said, pointing non-specifically to competing 3-D releases that have turned audiences off the 3-D viewing experience, ruining it for everyone. So, who is?
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Boston Globe film critic Ty Burr confirms what you may have already noticed at your local chain multiplex: picture quality sucks, and an unspoken company cost-cutting policy is to blame. Thanks to a perfect storm of practices uncovered at an AMC Loews in Boston, endemic to the company and other chains -- going cheap on projection, sweetheart deals with Sony, sheer laziness -- ticket buyers are getting shafted at 2-D screenings dimmed by 50 to 85 percent brightness.
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Director Jon M. Chu is one of the few working filmmakers with an intuitive grasp on filming in 3-D, as evidenced by his dynamic visuals in Step Up 3D and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, so the idea of a G.I. Joe sequel released in 3-D actually sounded promising. But Chu always said he'd rather go 2-D than rush a post-conversion on the action sequel, and a report today suggests that's just what will happen.
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The marketing machine for Transformers: Dark of the Moon is really ramping up now that early-bird journalists got their first look at the kinetic 3-D action stylings of Michael Bay -- a portion of which footage is now online for your perusal/approval -- and Paramount decided to move up their release date to June 29. After the jump, watch the 3-D trailer (in 2-D here, obviously) filled with wanton destruction, a tease of Dark of the Moon's conspiracy theory premise, and more glorious destruction as Decepticons tear through downtown Chicago.
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When Michael Bay's Transformers: Dark of the Moon barrels into theaters this summer in 3-D -- the first 3-D outing for the film series and for Bay himself -- you'll have one man to thank for it: James Cameron. Fittingly, Bay took the stage at a Transformers 3 footage screening Wednesday night on the Paramount Studios lot to compare notes on the format, its future, and its frustrating limitations with none other than Cameron himself.
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The first trailer for The Adventures of Tin Tin doesn't so much explain, well, anything, as it does establish a first look at the unique visual world director Steven Spielberg created for the motion-captured adventure. Otherwise? Spielberg and Paramount Pictures have a lot of work to do to introduce the Belgian boy hero to American audiences.
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DreamWorks has released the first trailer for their remake of the '80s horror comedy classic Fright Night, which either qualifies as heresy or amazeballs, depending on which side of the remake debate you're on. After the jump, watch smart-ass teenager Anton Yelchin do battle with his dreamy vampire neighbor, Colin Farrell, for moviegoers who were but a distant twinkle in their parents' eyes when the first movie came out.
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After combining on the award-winning, Oscar-nominated stop motion animation Coraline, Focus Features and LAIKA Inc. have re-teamed for a new 3-D stop motion animated dark comedy about a boy who can speak with the dead (voiced by Let Me In's Kodi Smit-McPhee) who must save his town from a zombie attack. Full first look after the jump!
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Deadline reports a deal in progress for Lionsgate to release the Drew Goddard-directed, Joss Whedon-produced horror pic Cabin in the Woods. Filmed back in 2009 and caught up in the MGM bankruptcy fiasco, the 3-D horror thriller languished in limbo and shuffled around the release calendar numerous times in the last few years. The wait, however, could benefit from the star power of Chris Hemsworth -- Thor himself! -- who shot the film before being cast as Marvel's God of Thunder.
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As soon as Paramount selected Jon M. Chu (Step Up 2 the Streets, Step Up 3D, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never) to direct their upcoming G.I. Joe sequel, the filmmaker faced the uphill battle of changing the perception that he was just a dance movie guy. But in a new interview, the helmer goes long on his love for the property, explains his vision for the sequel, corrects Rachel Nichols' Tweet that certain characters might not return, and vehemently swears that he'd rather make a 2-D film than convert to 3-D in post.
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James Nguyen, the possibly-delusional former Silicon Valley software salesman-turned-filmmaker behind the truly awful-and-not-even-in-a-good-way 2008 cult pic Birdemic (on DVD shelves this week), is hard at work on Birdemic 2: The Resurrection. That's the bad news. The good news: He's filming it in 3-D -- and the untrained Nguyen assures the Wall Street Journal that he's "completely mastered the art of 3-D cinematography." The self-described "Master of the Romantic Thriller" adds that the sequel might have something to do with the La Brea Tar Pits. We take it back. This is all bad news. [WSJ Speakeasy]
