Middle-earth may have some perils of the stomach variety if Kiwi viewers are an indication of things to come. Early screenings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in New Zealand have left some movie-goers feeling nauseous. The latest anticipated epic from Peter Jackson had its world premiere Down Under last week and has already begun attracting audiences to the film that was shot using high-speed 3-D technology. Some have complained that the high frame rate, which screens at 48 frames per second compared to the traditional 24 frames per second, has resulted in dizziness, nausea and even migraines for some fans, according to The New Zealand Herald . [ ‘The Hobbit’ At 48 FPS: A High Frame Rate Fiasco? ] Director Peter Jackson trumpeted the sped up frame rate at the premiere for bringing “enhanced clarity and smoothness.” “You have to hold your stomach down and let your eyes pop at first to adjust,” tweeted one N.Z. fan. Jackson received mixed reaction when he teased footage of the Hobbit at Comic-Con last Summer though it met with some complaints that it looked “too real.” “48 frames absolutely helps 3D because suddenly you’re removing a substantial amount of the motion blur that you get at 24 . Your eyes get a much smoother experience,” Jackson wrote on the Directors Guild of America website earlier this fall. “Frame rate is a very similar thing to CinemaScope. It’s a choice. It opens up another toolbox for filmmakers.” [ ‘The Hobbit’ 3-D Early Review: Back Again, But Not Quite There ] This certainly won’t be the first time a movie has caused audience squeamishness and discomfort. Avatar and Breaking Dawn caused some fans to complain of sickness and they certainly did not result in lower box office totals. Even more dramatic, the New York Film Festival debut of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction back in 1994 famously caused one audience member to pass out (though it was rumored he had suffered a heart attack – later proven untrue) which caused an interruption in the screening until paramedics arrived to help. Then the screening continued. [ Sources: ABC News , New Zealand Herald ] Read more on The Hobbit and Peter Jackson’s 48 FPS . Follow Brian Brooks on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Another day another Hollyweird divorce ! Well for now it’s just a separation… but still we can’t believe that after over 30 years of marriage Danny Devito and Rhea Pearlman appear to be headed for splitsville. According to Entertainment Tonight reports : Actors Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman have separated after more than 30 years of marriage, ET has learned. The couple’s rep Stan Rosenfield confirmed the news to ET. The pair, who married in January of 1982, have three children together — daughters Lucy, 29 and Grace, 27, and son Jacob, 24. The couple worked together on the classic sitcom Taxi (1978-1983) and appeared onscreen in the 1996 comedy film Matilda. The pair founded Jersey Films, a production company behind many movies including Pulp Fiction, Garden State, and Freedom Writers. This is pretty sad. Hit the flip for a photo of Danny hugged up with the alleged homewrecker that caused the split.
The World Premiere of Ang Lee ‘s Life Of Pi will open the New York Film Festival September 28th. The screening launching the 50th anniversary of the annually anticipated film event will be a return for the Oscar-winning director, who screened Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as the festival’s closing night event 12 years ago. Robert Altman, Pedro Almodóvar and Francois Truffaut are the only other directors to have had more than one film chosen to bow the festival. Lee’s The Ice Storm opened the 1997 edition of NYFF. The film stars Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Tobey Maguire and Gérard Depardieu. Life Of Pi will the be the first 3-D NYFF opener. Based on the book that has sold more than seven million copies and a number o f years on bestseller lists, the feature takes place over three continents, two oceans, many years and a wide world of imagination. Lee’s vision, coupled with game-changing technological breakthroughs, haas turned a story long throughout un-filmable into a totally original cinematic event and the first truly international all-audience motion picture. Life Of Pi follows a young man who survives a disaster at sea and is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While marooned on a lifeboat, he forms an amazing and unexpected connection with the ship’s only other survivor…a fearsome Bengal tiger. The Twentieth Century Fox release is due in theaters November 21st. Life Of Pi is a perfect combination of technological innovation and a strong artistic vision,” Richard Peña, Selection Committee Chair & Program Director at the Film Society of Lincoln Center said via a statement. “And Lee has managed to make a deeply moving, engrossing work that will delight audiences as much as it will astonish them. We’re enormously proud to have this film for our Opening Night for the 50th NYFF.” “I am both delighted and honored to be back a the New York Film Festival with Life Of Pi ,” Lee said in a statement. “I have the deepest respect for Richard Peña and his team and to be selected by them as the Opening Night Film for the 50th anniversary is extremely gratifying. I am also excited because this is my hometown, and to be unveiling this film that I am so proud of here is a real pleasure.” Last week NYFF said it will close out its festival with the world premiere of Robert Zemeckis’s Flight , starring Denzel Washington. Previous Opening Night Gala titles include Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel (1963), Gill Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers (1967), Akir Kurosawa’s Ran (1985), Pedro Almodóvar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994), Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies (1996), Stephen Frear’s The Queen (2006) and David Fincher’s The Social Network (2010). Produced by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the 50th New York Film Festival will take place September 28 – October 14th Watch the trailer on YouTube .
Amanda Plummer has signed on for a role in Catching Fire . The veteran actress and former Golden Globe Award nominee will star in The Hunger Games sequel as Wiress, an eccentric Tribute who becomes an important fellow player/friend to Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss. A Broadway star, Plummer is likely best known to film fans for her role as “Honey Bunny” in Pulp Fiction . While Catching Fire fans continue to await movie news on who will play Finnick , other characters are being snatched up. Aside from Wiress, we know that Jena Malone will portray Johanna Mason and Philip Seymour Hoffman is a go for Plutarch Heavensbee. Catching Fire will be released on November 22, 2013, while two-part final installment of Mockingjay will be hit theaters in 2014 and 2015.
The adaptation process is always a tricky one, but Oliver Stone had to make some especially tough choices in editing his big-screen version of Don Winslow’s Savages – and as a result, scenes with Uma Thurman , one of his cast’s biggest names, were left on the cutting room floor. Paring down the book to tell the tale of two Southern California weed growers ( Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson ) going commando to get their kidnapped girlfriend ( Blake Lively ) back from the Mexican cartel, Stone (who adapted Winslow’s novel with Shane Salerno and the author) had to leave certain material out; at a rambling two-plus hour run time, it’s already crowded with languid scenes and a deep line-up of characters. Thurman joined the cast last year and shot scenes playing the Laguna Beach-dwelling mother of Lively’s rich hippie girl O (short for Ophelia). The character, a frequently absent multiple divorcee, is mentioned in the final cut but ultimately was snipped out in the name of ruthless editing. (There goes that Pulp Fiction Travolta reunion.) “Oh we cut a lot; the book is one hundred and twenty scenes. I think we only in a movie have 30 scenes to play,” Stone told journalists in Los Angeles of the sections of the novel whittled down and excised in the adaptation process. “We had to make decisions in script, we made decisions in the editing, we had to consolidate so much and there’s so many things different in the movie than the book, you have to read the book to understand that.” “We have some good deleted scenes that you’ll see one day that are fun, but they had to go,” he continued. Also apparently left on the cutting room floor are scenes of Benicio del Toro as cartel thug Lado at home with his family, including Mia Maestro as his wife – humanizing relationships that del Toro’s Lado mentions but aren’t seen in the film. So perhaps an eventual Savages extended cut/DVD/Blu-ray release will insert Thurman’s scenes back in; Lively says their scenes together help explain why O is the pot-smoking, perhaps reckless free spirit that she is. “Her mom is off with her eight different husbands,” she said. “It’s a shame that you will miss that, in the movie. It was really beautiful stuff with Uma Thurman, and I think it really told a lot more of how a girl could end up this way. She’s the modern girl. Divorces are so much more common now than they were. Love is very untraditional, and these are three people who don’t have a family, creating a family within each other.” Savages is in theaters today. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
We break down highlights from French DJ’s movie-themed set. By Ryan J. Downey Martin Solveig arrives at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards Photo: Christopher Polk/ Getty Images “The Hunger Games” was one of the big winners Sunday night (June 3) at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards , where the juggernaut collected several Golden Popcorns against a musical backdrop culled from some of the most iconic film scores of all time. That nostalgia-inducing soundscape came courtesy of DJ Martin Solveig, who remixed themes from classic movies ranging from “Star Wars” to “Pulp Fiction.” The Black Keys, Fun. and Wiz Khalifa all brought the house down as musical guests at the MTV Movie Awards, held at the Gibson Ampitheatre in Universal City, California. The French electronic-music DJ and producer entertained the audience throughout the show, which was broadcast to viewers live as the show went in and out of commercial breaks. Solveig carefully curated a delicious mixture of some of the most memorable melodies from the movies that have shaped generations of popular culture with their stories, performances, tone and dialog. His set was also as much about the present as the past, perfectly summarized by the mix of the Doors and screamo singer-turned-Grammy-winning dubstep standard-bearer Skrillex. Miss a few tunes? We’ve got you covered. Solveig’s selections on Sunday included “Hello” (Martin Solveig featuring Dragonette), Calvin Harris’ “Feel So Close,” Skrillex and the Doors “Breakin’ a Sweat,” Kavinsky + Lovefoxx’s “Nightcall” (from the movie “Drive”), “Ready 2 Go (Hardwell Remix),” “Misirlou”(made famous all over again in “Pulp Fiction”), Martin Solveig & Dragonette feat. Idoling!!!’s “Big in Japan (Ziggy Stardust Remix),” various mixes of “The Night Out” and some of Daft Punk’s work from “Tron: Legacy.” And these were the tracks spinning off from the most legendary themes: “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Theme (Martin Solveig Remix)” : Clint Eastwood’s “Man With No Name” spaghetti Western trilogy (which concluded with 1966’s “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”) is the stuff of legend, most recently memorialized in Johnny Depp’s animated “Rango.” For many years, Metallica has opened each and every concert with composer Ennio Morricone’s “Ecstasy of Gold” from “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” with the crowd often singing the lyric-less melody in unison as a series of “whoa-oahs.” If the 83-year-old Italian composer was watching the Movie Awards, he heard his composition mixed up for the modern electro age. “Jaws Theme (Martin Solveig Remix)” : Who hasn’t tried to play the “Jaws” theme on a piano at some point? It’s so simple yet so brilliant, like “Chopsticks” for people who want to remember how terrified they were to go into the water. The music from future “Star Wars” composer John Williams certainly helped Steven Spielberg kick off the modern blockbuster featuring the scariest fish since Moby Dick (OK, technically, neither were fish); they re-teamed on several other films. “Imperial March (Martin Solveig Remix)” : “The Imperial March” has been synonymous with ominous evil, impending doom, villainous tyranny and light sabers that only come in the color red since the original “Star Wars” movie kicked off an enduring worldwide phenomenon in 1977. It’s impossible to hear this theme without picturing Darth Vader boarding the starship transporting Princess Leia, holding that guy up in the air by the throat and demanding to know various things. So cool! “Superman Theme (Martin Solveig Remix)” : Hey, what do you know! Another John Williams score. And another grandiose theme that’s synonymous with the film. The music instantly conjures the image of the late, great Christopher Reeve soaring through the skies of Metropolis as Superman. Whether battling Kryptonian super villains, trading barbs with Lex Luthor or romancing Lois Lane (let’s not mention that Richard Pryor entry), Supes was defined by this killer theme. The 2012 MTV Movie Awards are officially under way! Stick with MTV News for minute-by-minute coverage, and don’t forget to go to MovieAwards.MTV.com to cast your vote for Best Movie! Jaw-dropping, heart-pounding, gut-busting moments galore. See what just happened at the 21st annual MTV Movie Awards ! Related Videos 2012 Movie Awards: MTV Stars At The Awards 2012 Movie Awards: Backstage Moments Related Photos 2012 Movie Awards: Show Highlights Related Artists Martin Solveig
Via NYDailyNews: The Daily News tracked down one of John Travolta’s first accusers, revealing him as a hulking 250-pound masseur and certified black belt who works at a posh spa in Atlanta. John Truesdale — formerly known only as John Doe No. 2 — sued the “Welcome Back, Kotter” star for sexual battery only to withdraw the case on Thursday. He was nameless and faceless until the Daily News found him this week. “I thought I was supposed to be anonymous,” the mild-mannered massage therapist said, as he posed for a photo. Truesdale, 40, confirmed he works in the spa at the posh Mandarin Oriental in Atlanta but declined to discuss claims that Travolta sexually accosted him in a hotel suite on the 15th floor in January. At that time the swanky hotel was called the Mansion on Peachtree. “The paparazzi are here for me?” he asked, breaking out in laughter. “I can’t believe it.” Truesdale dropped the suit and his original lawyer, Okorie Okorocha. He’s now represented by Gloria Allred, a move that set off fireworks between the two lawyers. A beefy 6-footer with massive arms, Truesdale is soft-spoken and has a calm demeanor. He’s a certified nail technician, a licensed massage therapist and a married dad. He filed a bombshell $2 million federal lawsuit on May 8, claiming in graphic detail that the “Pulp Fiction” star had “bloodshot eyes” and a “strange” disposition as he stripped naked and started to “hump” a massage table set up in his private suite on Jan. 28. Truesdale accused Travolta of “spreading his butt cheeks.” Then the actor asked for an odd amount of work on his butt muscles, he charged. He said Travolta groped his upper thighs and grabbed between his legs, according to the lawsuit originally filed by Okorocha. The Atlanta man said the Oscar nominee started pleasuring himself with about 15 minutes left in the session and “forcibly” hugged him as he tried to flee. “I can’t talk about (the case),” said Truesdale, a former high school football player and onetime U.S. Army medic. “I’m not allowed to give any comment.” SMH at John Travolta.. Read more HERE…
This ain’t good Johnny boy, this ain’t good at all… John Travolta Has Another Masseur Accuse Him Of Sexual Assault The second alleged victim says that on January 28, 2012, at an Atlanta, Georgia resort, during an in-room massage, Travolta removed the sheet from his body and asked for his buttocks to be massaged, during which time he opened his legs to reveal an erection. He then tried to “force Doe Plaintiff No. 2′s hand on Travolta’s scrotum. Then, Travolta started to grab, rub and caress Doe Plaintiff no. 2′s upper thighs and buttocks,” RadarOnline.com reports the lawsuit states. The first alleged victim told a similar story, alleging Travolta, 58, touched the unnamed plaintiff’s genitals, propositioned him and touched himself lewdly. Travolta’s rep said in a statement to E! News that John Doe No. 1′s claim was a lie and the “Pulp Fiction” star was on the East Coast on the day the incident allegedly occurred. “This lawsuit is complete fiction and fabrication,” it reads. “None of the events claimed in the suit ever occurred. The plaintiff, who refuses to give their name, knows that the suit is a baseless lie. “Plaintiff’s attorney has filed this suit to try and get his 15 minutes of fame. John intends to get this case thrown out and then he will sue the attorney and plaintiff for malicious prosecution.” Looks like this thing is gonna get worse before it gets better. Hold ya head John, or, better yet, don’t! Source
Interviews and Profiles Galactic Chat interviews Claire Corbett (podcast). Sense of Wonder interviews Daryl Gregory. The Far Edge of Normal interviews Sue Burke. iHull interviews Adam Roberts (video). A.M. Dellamonica interviews Joshua Palmatier. Weird Fiction Review (Adam Mills) interviews Eric Basso. Rachel Swirsky interviews Mazarkis Williams. Examiner.com (Josh Vogt) interviews Tobias Buckell…. Broadcasting platform : Vimeo Source : SF Signal Discovery Date : 06/03/2012 00:15 Number of articles : 2
