While it looks true to the source material, it's probably a safe bet that Snoopy won't be fighting a lawn chair any time soon...

Blue Sky's Peanuts Trailer: Lucy's Setup the Football - Now What?

November 20, 2014

20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Animation (the studio that brought you the Ice Age films and... the Ice Age films) have been long at work on a rebooted CG animation-based Peanuts to introduce the property to a whole-new generation of fans. The first-look trailer was supposed to be released at Thanksgiving, but apparently leaked a little early giving us our first glimpse at the series in motion.

The trailer definitely gets quite a bit right: keeping the animation to the same 2D-plane that's true to the Sunday strips as well as the classic Bill Melendez fueled television specials. The little bit of cloudy marshmallow-like depth that's been added to the almost painted look really makes the animation pop while also feeling familiar, and I actually really dig it.

But, as many have pointed out, as soon as a Disney Radio sounding pop song kicks in things start to get a little hairy and the trailer ventures into Jim Carrey A Christmas Carol territory. It makes sense that Snoopy's ride is a flight of fancy (no pun intended) but as soon as it becomes a music video inspired "HEY KIDS, PUT ON YOUR 3D GLASSES!" moment, you can't help but shift in your seat a little bit and worry. But all-in-all, I'm feeling pretty positive about what we'll be seeing up on the movie screens this time next year.

Still though, die-hard fans take take comfort in knowing that Charles Schulz's son Craig, whom I actually had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing when working on the You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown DVD bonus features, is one of the co-writers of the film along with his son Bryan Schulz. That's two generations of Schulz family working together to keep the family legacy going. And no stranger to reboots that need to stay true to the source material Paul Feig is producing.

The new Peanuts film will be released November 5, 2015.

The New Star Wars Sequel: Adventure Has a New Name...

November 6, 2014

StarWars.com slipped a huge nugget of cold hard fact through the interweb pipeline this morning when it announced via its Twitter, Instagram and the official site that the name of J.J. Abrams' forthcoming Episode VII will be Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Interestingly all of the graphics and announcements have dropped the cumbersome "Star Wars - Episode VII" nonsense that started back with The Phantom Menace in '99, which I find as a welcome nomenclature change. Nobody called Empire or Jedi "Episode V" or "Episode VI" and it's nice to have a title that rolls off the tongue like Awakens. (Though some have already snarked that they can see themselves slipping and calling it Awakenings, which yes - is a completely different film.

The Force also tells me that this will be a lot of peoples' computer wallpaper in 3... 2...

While fanboys are currently in the process of doing what they do best on the internet lately, complaining like there is no tomorrow, I'm pretty pleased with the title. It instantly tells you what the themes of the film will explore. It instantly gets the imagination going. And, as some have already pointed out, it's a little bit meta because it could also refer to the magic of Star Wars having been dormant for so long finally coming back into the spotlight.

I'm a little surprised with what little fanfare the title was released with however. Having been there at Comic-Con when Revenge of the Sith was announced and the huge hub-bub that surrounded that title reveal (even so much as creating a video that heralded it in the context of the other five films). So I'm wondering if something more is on the near-horizon, like an official photo, or a featurette, or something else to feed the marketing frenzy. There have also been rumors that a teaser trailer is in the near-distant future, though I would expect something like that closer to the end of the year at the soonest.

One thing is for sure, this certainly is a whole lot of fun. The conversations that I've been having with my friend Jason are excited moments of pure joy that I haven't had since around 1998. Before the dark times... Star Wars: The Force Awakens is in theaters December 18, 2015.

8 casts are together again for Entertainment Weekly, but let's be honest: only one really matters, right?

Ghostbusters Reunite for the 30th Anniversary

November 5, 2014

An unexpected surprise was waiting this morning as Entertainment Weekly revealed their latest cover featuring a reunion of the Boys in Grey in celebration of Ghostbusters' 30th Anniversary.

The cover image features Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Sigourney Weaver but curiously a video created in tandem for the Today Show features Bill Murray, Annie Potts, Ernie Hudson and Ivan Reitman.

Maybe Dan had some vodka to go and sell during the video or something, it's strange that he was around for the cover photo but not the interview (and that Annie and Ivan weren't on the cover). I'm wondering if maybe the reunion wasn't exactly a reunion and the cover was cobbled together from multiple shoots?

Regardless of those curiosities, the video is fun if brief. I had no idea that Al Roker was such a Ghostbusters fan and never picked up on any of his various references throughout the years. The article inside the issue will most likely go more in-depth and feature more photos of the cast reunion, and hopefully a longer interview with more Al Roker conversation exists and will be released somewhere down the line.

UPDATE: Apparently the whole gang was together for the photo shoot portion of the reunion if this photo released by Entertainment Weekly is to be believed:

"How am I supposed to hate this? What is this emotion that I'm feeling that I can't explain?!? Is it, happy?"

Cynicism and Cinema

October 9, 2014

I've been making a point the past few months to be less cynical. But with social media it seems to be too easy, and almost encouraged...

In our popular culture as of late, the trend seems to be snark, disgust and outrage no matter what the subject and no matter what the context. Is there a live event going on? Tune into Twitter or your favorite blog for "live snarking." Was something just announced be it a book, album, movie, or video game? Quick, take to the interwebs to shit all over it as fast as you can!

It didn't used to be that way. In fact, it wasn't all that long ago.

"Ugh, moving molecules around in order to transport them from location to location? That's a terrible idea."

I was listening to Grant Morrison's interview on Chris Hardwick's Nerdist podcast yesterday and it was interesting timing. In the interview, the two discuss how America went from being this happy-go-lucky sky is the limit for our future where Star Trek was our vision of mankind's next steps to a cynical view where essentially we have destroyed everything worth living for and shuffle around in the shambles vision of the future in The Walking Dead. Cynicism has become so prevalent in our culture that we don't even see a distant future for mankind anymore. Our aspiration is just to survive instead of thrive.

What the hell happened to us?

On a whole, has the predominant temperature from being hurt so many times (or on so many various levels) triggered some sort of a defense mechanism where we have to deal with any situation with the snarkiest and most cynical attitude possible? Is this a post-Phantom Menace syndrome where our feelings are attempting to protect themselves from hyping something up so much to a point where expectations are unrealistic by already deeming something terrible so that if it's actually good, it'll be a pleasant surprise? Is it connected to the strange upswing in political correctness and litigious tendencies that put everyone on edge? Is it because now that everyone has a voice through so many outlets that the squeaky wheels are louder?

The reaction isn't necessarily isolated to but has really piqued my curiosity with the most recent news that The Heat writer Katie Dippold would be joining Paul Feig to reboot Ghostbusters with female comedians in starring roles. Not necessarily ALL of the roles (as some are arguing back and forth, nobody has said that this is inspired by Y the Last Man and no testosterone will be present at all in the film). But the outrage seems to be triggered by all sorts of catalysts: it's a reboot, it won't feature the characters from the first two films, female actors will portray roles, Paul Feig wears a suit on set. Okay, that last one I made up but there actually might be someone out there that's angered by that and has taken to expressing so in 140 characters, I haven't checked.

No joke, a long-time fellow fanboy's immediate reaction to the news yesterday was:

"This makes me want to spin around, screaming while firing my space gun like Rocket Raccoon. Gnashing my teeth, rending my garments, pouring fistfuls of dirt on my head."

...oh... but congratulations, Katie for getting a paid writing gig on something still in development which still might never make it in front of cameras. We're happy for you, we swear. - I think is what was left unsaid in that update.

Meet the squeaky clean cast of your new Ghostbusters, bet you want to snark something in 140 characters about it right now? C'mon, admit it.

What happened that, in 1996 when Columbia (then Tri-Star) announced they were teaming with Bohbot to bring us "Super Ghostbusters" which would star a Goth girl, a Latino slacker, an athlete in a wheelchair, and Carlton from Fresh Prince, and my and others' reactions were an immediate, "Holy crap! New Ghostbusters! This sounds awesome! We can't wait!" As a then freshman in high school, I remember running home to watch the precision-set VHS recording that was waiting for me from recording while I was at school on the very first day the show aired. I was excited. It was new. It was different. Holy shit, it was Ghostbusters. Cool! Interestingly, the announcement yesterday that could essentially have mirrored the news in 1996 (that a new writer - yes, the fourth or fifth to be hired on this project by my count - had been hired, that the crew would be comprised of new actors and new characters, maybe one or two of the old guys might come back if they want) was met with this extremely polarized outcry from fanboys, movie blogs, moms, dads and pets all around the world?

Looking back on it, if present day me heard the same news from 1996 - would my reaction be as positive and optimistic? Or would I immediately violently react to the word "Extreme" being used as often was the trend in the 90s and calling the "diversity" of the cast nothing more than a gimmick? And sadly, if that was the case, would I have watched a cartoon that I actually really enjoyed and ended up making several friends from the production staff through the course of all because I had jumped to such a polarized conclusion?

Is it the arm-chair quarterback mentality that many think they could do better in some shape or form? Is it that the sense of humor in present day 2014 veers toward deprecation? Nerds have always found ways to poke holes and complain, that's nothing new (otherwise the Comic Book Guy on Simpsons would have never become the character that he has on that show). But what is it in the human psyche that causes someone to immediately not like something they know nothing about and haven't given a chance? Judging the so-called book by its cover (no matter how many details of the cover have even been revealed). Where's the fun in that?

I guess I'm trying to wrap my mind around why, after years and years of being strung along and finally being close to it happening, another Ghostbusters film being a possibility is causing fanboy flame wars and heated debate well into the early morning hours instead of excitement of potential? Especially considering how scarce details are for the discourse?

I'm guilty of it myself, and will openly admit to it. I reacted adversely to news that the new Terminator film would be called "Genisys" and immediately took to Twitter to be snarky about it. Aside from casting information and a shot of Arnold's back sitting in a director's chair, I know nothing about the film and it could be the awesomest thing that I've seen in my entire life. But why was my instinct upon hearing the (still ridiculously spelled) title to jump onto social media and shit on it?

Considering that this is my hobby, the distraction from the real world that should be adding joy to my life, why was that initial instinct to hate?