George Lucas really just needs to learn to stop talking.

On the eve of releasing Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace in 3D, the father of all things Star Wars, George Lucas, answered five questions with The Hollywood Reporter.  One of them was about the changes he makes to his movies, and how he views them compared to the way the fans do.  In particular he was asked about the whole “Han Shot First” controversy.

THR: People can get fanatical about the movies — how does that make you feel? The puppet vs. CGI Yoda ruckus, and the who-shot-first, Han Solo or Greedo furor come to mind.

Lucas: Well, it’s not a religious event. I hate to tell people that. It’s a movie, just a movie. The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down. [...]

The confusion? Here is how the scene appeared in the original edit of the film.

I’m sorry, but is anyone confused about what happened here? Yes, the sub-tittles for Greedo are missing, but I think you can still get the point of what is happening here. Are you in any way confused about what you just saw?

You know, I really don’t care if Lucas wants to change every single shot in the films, its his right to do so.   And here’s how he defended that decision in the interview:

If you look at Blade Runner, it’s been cut sixteen ways from Sunday and there are all kinds of different versions of it. Star Wars, there’s basically one version — it just keeps getting improved a little bit as we move forward. … All art is technology and it improves every year. Whether it’s on the stage or in music or in painting, there are technological answers that happen, and because movies are so technological, the advances become more obvious.

Here’s the problem with that defense … I can buy any one of the sixteen cuts of Blade Runner that I want to. If I want the original theatrical cut, it’s out there. If I want to buy the Director’s Cut, it’s out there. Tell me, Mr. Lucas, can you tell me when the original theatrical cut of any of the original trilogy are coming to DVD or Blu-ray? Oh, that’s right, they aren’t.

Do whatever you want, Lucas, but don’t make lame excuses to try to explain away your poor decisions.  There was absolutely nothing confusing to the original Han/Greedo scene.  By the way, the original script also seems to have been pretty clear on what happened:

GREEDO: You can tell that to Jabba. He may only take your ship.

HAN: Over my dead body.

GREEDO: That’s the idea. I’ve been looking forward to killing you for
a long time.

HAN: Yes, I’ll bet you have.

Suddenly the slimy alien disappears in a blinding flash of light. Han pulls his smoking gun from beneath the table as the other patron look on in bemused amazement. Han gets up and starts out of the cantina, flipping the bartender some coins as he leaves.

HAN: Sorry about the mess.

So, George, just stop keep digging your grave.  It doesn’t help you’re case with the people who made you the billionaire you are today.  Change whatever you want, just don’t insult our intelligence.

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George Lucas Only Tired to Clean Up “Confusion” with Han and Greedo

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After years of development, crowd sourcing and delay after delay, the movie Iron Sky is finally a reality.

First appearing on the Web as a random video in 2008, people were immediately captivated by it’s very simple concept: What if some Nazi’s escaped to the dark side of the Moon and set up a base?  Eventually they would come back, and want revenge.

Okay, fine, lets ignore the fact that they would have next to no body mass … and that gravity would mess with them … and how did they build their base?  We’re just going to ignore all that … it’s Nazis … in space.  How can you not immediately rule this as awesome?

What has changed in the recent past is that it appears the film got into a bit of political commentary as you can see in the most recent trailer.  It isn’t what I was nitially interested in, but I still want to see this movie.

Here’s another teaser that explains a bit more of the story.

And here’s the video that started it all. As you can see, things have changed a bit, but it still appears to be awesome.

The film opens on April 4 in limited release.

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Iron Sky Finally Makes it Way to Theaters

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Over the past few days more footage for both The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man has been released, and between the two, a MARVELous summer is surely in store. (See what I did there?!? Stop looking at me like that! It was punny!)

First up was The Avengers with a new commercial during the Super Bowl that brought us a lot of new footage.  We still don’t get a clear shot at who is working with Loki, but there are numerous theories floating around out there.

Next up is The Amazing Spider-Man which shows just how far off book the new movie is going … and it’s pretty darn far. Peter finishing The Lizard formula? His father having worked at Oscorp?  Why do they constantly insist on messing around with these origin stories is beyond me, but here we go yet again.

The Avengers hits theaters on May 4, and The Amazing Spider-Man on July 3.  (And both are based on comics from Marvel if you didn’t get my earlier joke …)

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The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man Promise a Marvelous Summer

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Every time something new on Dredd, the ne Judge Dredd film, I somehow end up getting both excited and fearful at the same time.

2000 A.D. released some new still from the upcoming new Judge Dredd film that show off some new shots of Karl Urban as the title character, and our first real looks at Olivia Thirlby as Psi Judge Anderson.  While the new photos give me more of the grimy, dirty feel this dystopian future should come with, I still just can’t get over how silly the helmet is looking.

The producers have promised this film will be more faithful than the last outing and that we won’t see Dress remove his helmet, and we won’t see him kissing the female lead at the end.  At least those are steps in the right direction.

Karl Urban in his father’s helmet?  At least the chin is working.

Psi Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) teams up with Judge Dredd.

Dredd fires his Lawgiver.  At least we finally see the eagle at shows up in some form on his armor.

Anderson dispenses judgement?  (I’d say the shot came from elsewhere … such as from Dredd)  The Psi Judges are telepaths and empaths, while they do some of the work of a regular Judge, they are not typically around for street duty.

The film comes out September 21 in both 2D and 3D.

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New Judge Dredd Images Bring Both Hope and Fear

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A movie with some of the smallest media buzz I have seen in some time managed to take the crown at the box office this weekend.

Chronicle, the latest in the “found footage” genre, ended up winning out the weekend with $22 million at the box office. With a smallish budget of $12 million, and probably the least amount of advertising I’ve seen in some time for a film, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this film is already in the black.  While I’ve gotten fairly annoyed with the found footage film style, this one at least breathed some new life into the idea by being about kids who get super powers instead of your usual attempt at horror.

Coming in second with $21 million was the new Daniel Radcliffe horror film, The Woman in Black.  Analysts were predicting some healthy numbers for this film, so coming in second is sure to have surprised at least a few people, especially when it was beaten by a fairly unknown film.

Dropping 51.7 percent from last weekend to come in third was the Liam Nesson vehicle, The Grey.  The film brought in $9.5 million to bring its domestic total to $34.7 million.

Big Miracle, a new family-friendly film about whales, came in with $8.5 million, which is pretty anemic considering its $40 million budget.  Family films tend to hold on better at the box office than most other properties, so we’ll have to see how this one fares over the long term.

Rounding out the top five was Underworld Awakening, slipping another 54.7 percent, but it still brought in a pretty healthy $5.6 million.  This franchise just does not want to seem to die off, which, I must admit, does surprise me a bit.

There’s four decent sized releases next week, so get ready for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Safe House, The Vow and, sadly, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (in 3D).

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Chronicle Barely Flies into First at the Box Office

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Rumors are circulating that Rick Deckard himself, Harrison Ford, may be returning for at least a little bit of Blade Runner 2.

News of a Blade Runner sequel has been circulating since last March, and I made it fairly clear back then all the reasons I found this to be a bad idea.  I won’t rehash all of the reasons here, but my opinion of this idea hasn’t changed one iota in the interim.  So I’m sure you could imagine my delight when I read that Harrison Ford may be in early talks to make an appearance in the sequel.

According to Twitch Film, the belief has been that only Ridley Scott would return from the original, but now there is word that Harrison Ford may indeed be in early talks to reprise one of his most famous roles.  If true, this is a complete contradiction to what  Alcon Entertainment producer Andrew Kosove told the Los Angeles Times this past August,

In no way do I speak for Ridley Scott but if you’re asking me will this movie have anything to do with Harrison Ford, the answer is no. This is a total reinvention and in my mind that means doing everything fresh, including casting.

My big issue with this whole rumor is that Twitch Movie only says it has “learned” of these talks, but makes absolutely no mention of how they did so.  Was it a source close to Ford?  Was it a source close to Alcon?  Was it the homeless guy who lives in the stove box by the door of the studio?  There is just no indication of how they came about obtaining this information.

For now I’m definitely taking this with a grain of salt.  Depending on which version of the original film you watch, you walk away wondering if Deckard was a replicant himself, which would lead you to believe he wouldn’t age.  If he comes back as Ford currently looks then you’d have no question he was human.  Or would they use the same technology Tron Legacy did to make him young?  Either way it takes some of the mystery out of the original, and that’s just not something I think anyone wants.

[via Twitch Film]

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Harrison Ford Returning for Blade Runner 2?

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The hope I had when the first G.I. Joe: Retaliation trailer hit I had a little bit of hope, but that may now be evaporating.

For years now the Super Bowl has become a launch pad for summer movies, and already the commercial for G.I. Joe: Retaliation has hit the Internet, and while the footage still looks far better than the first movie – and more like you would hope a movie based on this franchise would look – they’ve already thrown in something to make you cringe: Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson) quoting a Jay-Z song.

While I can understand wanting to throw a little humor into this, why does it have to be so ham-fisted?

Hopefully this is a one-off moment, but I wouldn’t put it paste Hollywood to go nuts with this sort of dialog.

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G.I. Joe: Retaliation Super Bowl Ad Shows Off More Footage

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It seems that moviegoers were very much in the mood for some fresh films this weekend.

The new Liam Neeson film that shows him fighting wolves in the wilderness, The Grey,  brought in an estimated $20 million this weekend.  It’s behind some other recent films from the actor, but not a horrible showing.

Underworld Awakening slipped 50.6 percent this weekend to bring in an estimated $12.5 million.  It’s currently tracking slightly ahead of the second film in the series, the last to feature Kate Beckinsale, so depending on final numbers I wouldn’t be too surprised to see a fifth film to show up at some point.

The new Katherine Heigl film, One For the Money, was estimated to bring in only $5 million this weekend by some analysts, but the current estimates put it at $11.75 million. Based on a popular series of crime novels by Janet Evanovich, it’s a bit surprising it wasn’t expected to do better, but lets see how it does with a couple more weeks under its belt, but it’s getting marginal reviews.

Red Tails fell 44.6 percent, which is a healthy hold on its box office take, and slightly ahead of the normal decline films see in their second weekends.  It added $10.4 million to its take, bringing its total to $33.78 million.

Opening in fifth place was Man on a Ledge came in with $8.3 million, so it seems unlikely this movie will be around for very long.

Next week will see the releases of Big Miracle, Chronicle and The Woman in Black.

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The Grey Makes the Snow Fall on the Box Office

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Columbia Pictures has released the official synopsis for The Amazing Spider-Man, and … yeah, it isn’t good news.

Not only did we not need a reboot of the Spider-Man series this soon, but we especially didn’t need it if it means they’re going to play with all sorts of aspects of the character’s past.

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.” 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, 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.

His parents left him? (yes, there is one version of the comics where it turned out they were spies) A briefcase? Connors worked with his dad at Oscorp?

There are times where some changes to the core story work (i.e. X-Men First Class didn’t make me cringe in terror for the most part), but some of these “tweaks” are just outrageously wrong.  His parents, the origin of Dr. Connors and so on just make me already completely turned off to this latest installment of the film series.

Come on, Hollywood.  The comics have years and years of history, that have worked on, why can’t you just pick a part that works and leave it mostly alone?

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Official Amazing Spider-Man Synopsis Leaves a Lot to be Desired

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The nominees for the 84th annual Academy Awards have been announced.

The awards show will air Sunday, Feb. 26th, hosted by Billy Crystal.

Some of the films with the most nominations are:

• Hugo – 11
• The Artist – 10
• Moneyball – 6
• War Horse – 6
• The Descendants – 5
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – 5
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – 3
• Midnight in Paris – 3
• The Help – 3
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – 3
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon – 3
• The Tree of Life – 3

Full list after the jump.

Best Motion Picture Of The Year

• “The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer
• “The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
• “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer
• “The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
• “Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
• “Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
• “Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
• “The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined
• “War Horse“ Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Achievement in directing

• “The Artist” Michel Hazanavicius
• “The Descendants” Alexander Payne
• “Hugo” Martin Scorsese
• “Midnight in Paris” Woody Allen
• “The Tree of Life” Terrence Malick

Performance by an actor in a leading role

• Demián Bichir in “A Better Life”
• George Clooney in “The Descendants”
• Jean Dujardin in “The Artist”
• Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
• Brad Pitt in “Moneyball”

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

• Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn”
• Jonah Hill in “Moneyball”
• Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
• Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”
• Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Performance by an actress in a leading role

• Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs”
• Viola Davis in “The Help”
• Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
• Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
• Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

• Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist”
• Jessica Chastain in “The Help”
• Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids”
• Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”
• Octavia Spencer in “The Help”

Adapted screenplay

• “The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
• “Hugo” Screenplay by John Logan
• “The Ides of March” Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
• “Moneyball” Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
• “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Original screenplay

• “The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius
• “Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
• “Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor
• “Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen
• “A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi

Best animated feature film of the year

• “A Cat in Paris” Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
• “Chico & Rita” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
• “Kung Fu Panda 2″ Jennifer Yuh Nelson
• “Puss in Boots” Chris Miller
• “Rango” Gore Verbinski

Art Direction

• “The Artist” Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2“ Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
• “Hugo” Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
• “Midnight in Paris” Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
• “War Horse” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Achievement in Cinematography

• “The Artist” Guillaume Schiffman
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Jeff Cronenweth
• “Hugo” Robert Richardson
• “The Tree of Life” Emmanuel Lubezki
• “War Horse” Janusz Kaminski

Achievement in costume design

• “Anonymous” Lisy Christl
• “The Artist” Mark Bridges
• “Hugo” Sandy Powell
• “Jane Eyre” Michael O’Connor
• “W.E.” Arianne Phillips

Best Documentary Feature

• “Hell and Back Again” Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
• “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
• “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
• “Pina” Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
• “Undefeated” TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Best documentary short subject

• “The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement” Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
• “God Is the Bigger Elvis” Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
• “Incident in New Baghdad”James Spione
• “Saving Face” Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
• “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Achievement in film editing

• “The Artist” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
• “The Descendants” Kevin Tent
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
• “Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker
• “Moneyball” Christopher Tellefsen

Best foreign language film of the year

• “Bullhead” Belgium
• “Footnote” Israel
• “In Darkness” Poland
• “Monsieur Lazhar” Canada
• “A Separation” Iran

Achievement in makeup

• “Albert Nobbs” Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
• “The Iron Lady” Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

• “The Adventures of Tintin” John Williams
• “The Artist” Ludovic Bource
• “Hugo” Howard Shore
• “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Alberto Iglesias
• “War Horse” John Williams

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

• “Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
• “Real in Rio” from “Rio” Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Best animated short film

• “Dimanche/Sunday” Patrick Doyon
• “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
• “La Luna” Enrico Casarosa
• “A Morning Stroll” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
• “Wild Life” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Best live action short film

• “Pentecost” Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
• “Raju” Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
• “The Shore” Terry George and Oorlagh George
• “Time Freak” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
• “Tuba Atlantic” Hallvar Witzø

Achievement in sound editing

• “Drive” Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Ren Klyce
• “Hugo” Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
• “War Horse” Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Achievement in sound mixing

• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
• “Hugo” Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
• “Moneyball” Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
• “War Horse” Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Achievement in visual effects

• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
• “Hugo” Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
• “Real Steel” Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
• “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

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Oscar Nominations 2012 Announced; Hugo Leads the Pack

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