Posts Tagged ‘movie’

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…three guys?

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

Pfft...showoff...

If you were in New York City recently and double-took something in the air as a flying person, turns out you were half-right.

To promote Chronicle, an upcoming film surrounding three teenagers who get superpowers, three radio-controlled planes that were designed to look like people and flew them around the city.

It brings up those dreams we all had wishing we could just magically fly around in the air, breaking the rules of gravity with mystical propulsion with only the thought of wanting to go up.

Though I’m sure people mistook it as model planes that were oddly shaped, it was still a neat concept to sell a big part of what the movie was about -- being teenagers with superpowers.

In fact, most movies involving superpowers or unexplainable attributes usually occur around the early-to-late teen years.

This is most likely because when we’re going through all those tough times of puberty, we’d much rather be able to run super fast or see through walls than break our voices.

I remember watching the Superman movies when I was little and imagining how awesome it would be to live in the shoes of Clark Kent. That element of secrecy, and being invincible seemed so interesting. That is until I saw the old Spiderman cartoons, but that’s a whole different story.

The film Jumper highlighted the ability to travel to any place on Earth. I would’ve loved to be in Jumper (let me rephrase that, I wouldn’t want to just act in the film, just take the powers).

What film/TV show/book made you dream of having powers?


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Testostallone: The Sequel

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

A pyramid of pew-pew-pew!

Lads, think back to the days where explosions and fast cars were all you obessed about.

…okay, let me rephrase that. Think back to when you were a kid, and explosions and fast cars were all you obsessed about. A movie like Rambo, with an immense array of weaponry and things going ‘KABOOM’, was something of awe, mostly because you were too young to watch it and were getting a rush thinking you’d get caught.

But as you age, you tend not to obsess so much over those things that made your mind giddy with excitement. Oh the poor, innocent security guard, you say, as the T-1000 stabs his liquid sword into the mushy brain of his. What of his family? That’s horrible, you think, when the hero of the film walks away from an explosion, too cool to turn around and have a peek of what he blew up (Saturday Night Live helped explain that phenomenon).

But see when The Expendables came out…that was like travelling back in time. There were all those action heroes we grew up with, together, in the same film, all kicking ass. It didn’t need a storyline. It could’ve been that Jet Li’s character looked at Jason Statham’s girlfriend. The whole place starts being showered with bullets, and then one of the heroes explodes the building.

The trailer for the second Expendables film has come out, and they just had to one-up it. Chuck Norris, Jean Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger have climbed on board to testosterone the hell out of the sequel.

Girls, you had Sex in the City. Us boys have got this. We’re not proud of it, but damnit, you’ll see that same shimer of child-like love for simple entertainment.


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If you don’t have anything nice to say…

Saturday, November 12th, 2011

Ratner filming X-Men: The Last Stand.

It was a short, but sweet moment thinking Eddie Murphy would host the Oscars. When it seemed he may be coming out of the family movie format and fitting more into his Beverly Hills Cop-esque comedy, fans that were pushed into hiding were getting a taste of fresh air once more.

His latest film Tower Heist was directed by Brett Ratner, known best for Rush Hour and the third (and really bad) X-Men film. Brett, as it turns out, was also producing the Oscars, though he’s got into trouble for saying an anti-gay slur on the radio recently, leading him to pull out (no pun) of the Oscars. Eddie Murphy followed suit by leaving, either out of principle of the matter or being worried the Oscars may not be for him after all. Eight-time host Billy Crystal has jumped in to save the day, and hopefully the image of the Oscars, which got slammed this year for James Franco and Anne Hathaway’s performances.

But Ratner didn’t stop there. He had to go and actually upset Iron Man 2 and I Don’t Know How She Does It beauty Olivia Munn. In Munn’s autobiography, she mentions dating a Hollywood figure, and while never mentions a name, Ratner appeared on her old show ‘Attack of the Show’ to insinuate he ‘banged’ her, which turns out is *gasp* not true.

You may affect a TV show that hands out awards to high-paying actors, but you leave people with talent alone!

Ugh, maybe I’ll stop reading gossip this week and turn to my new love…Skyrim. I’ll keep you updated on the biggest and most epic RPG video game to date. I feel sorry for my upcoming lack of a social life.


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I am a Green, Sam, I am. I do not like the ‘Man’

Monday, October 31st, 2011

How environmentally-friendly is the extra dimension from 2D to 3D?

Who would’ve thought the man behind green eggs and ham would be fighting against the man?

A new trailer for a film made by the same company who put together Despicable Me takes on one of Dr Seuss’ books about the environment.

While it’s not a direct book-to-film (added characters and storylines), it feels right at home to the fun and imaginative Horton Hears a Who! world (except Zac Efron and Taylor Swift are the voice actors, and not the highly comedic Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell, so fingers crossed it all works out!).

But I’ve missed the only ingredient that may save this film! Danny DeVito, the loveable short fellow from Twins, will be The Lorax.

With climate change being the highest on environmental issues, the thought of deforestation has been completely wiped from our minds. Cartoons as a kid like Ferngully, Captain Planet and Widget the World Watcher were there to make sure kids were getting more of a message delivered through the medium.

And Dr Seuss was no stranger to discussing issues of race, environment and consumerism either. Who would’ve thought there’d be more to nursery rhymes than scaring little children to not trust wolves when they come knocking at your door?


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I hear the steel a’comin’…

Monday, October 10th, 2011

No scrappy hits in Real Steel

Hugh Jackman’s newest movie out now is Real Steel, which combines the love of robots beating each other up with a ring. Instead of New York City being destroyed by space alien robots, you have the not-so-distant rock-em-sock-em robots that I’m sure with an astronomical budget, could be achieved.

What makes you amped up for films nowadays can’t just be the trailers. In fact, some would argue that the trailers ruin the whole film, as the plot gets pretty much unravelled in that 30-60 seconds.

But what I find more fascinating is the behind-the-scenes stuff. I can remember sitting through countless hours of behind-the-scenes footage for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The amount of detail in the props alone was immaculate, and I wouldn’t have known with how quick some scenes were cut.

This video here is a great look inside of how modern-day blockbuster flicks come up with their sound effects.

In this case, you’ve got your laundry list of metallic machines smacking fists together, joints echoing and crowds going nuts for the fights. While I’m sure the storyline isn’t as deep as Million Dollar Baby, I didn’t watch Rocky for the dialogue (no wait, maybe I did).

“WOLVERINE!”


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Want to watch your dreams?

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

Before and after

It sounds crazy, but it just might happen! Berkeley University has come up with a technology that can create images of what the brain sees. Using ‘functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)’ they can read the reactions to the brain. Read the full story here, or watch their findings here:

I’ve always dreamed of watching my dreams, and soon enough I could watch that Inception-worthy concept! While it’s nowhere near that capacity, it’s marvels of science such as this one that gets the imagination flowing.

Who knows, maybe we can record our imagination to explain movie concepts! It would’ve certainly shortened J.R.R. Tolkien’s books if he could just show them to you.

More importantly though it could help people with speaking problems, and those unable to physically move to speak.

Imagine all the money people could save on psychiatrists! Or better yet, recording an embarassing dream and bringing it out on your friend’s wedding night (you’d be a terrible friend, but it should be a great video).

Of course it all leads into the negative sides of this technology. Dreams are sacred videos of the deepest recesses of our mind. Unholy thoughts are kept well hidden from public knowledge (says someone who used to love Will Smith’s ‘Getting Jiggy With It’).

Could it be something similar to Total Recall, perhaps? If they can learn how the mind visualises, they can play it backwards. That’d be dangerous if used in certain ways.

What if your loved one caught a glimpse of what you were dreaming? That person you swore has nothing to do with who you really love could then become a non-existent enemy. But look on the bright side ladies -- At least men’ll know what you’re thinking now.

Or is that a good thing?

What do you reckon is the best or worth to come from this possible technology?


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Recycling and Reusing for the Future

Monday, July 4th, 2011

Recycling for the Future

*Captured from YouTube*

For those who rushed out to see Michael Bay’s latest Transformers film Transformers: Dark of the Moon got no doubt a couple hours of action-packed scenes and not much else.

And why would someone wanting action expect anything else, like storyline or acting?

Shia LeBeouf has been given more of a focus in the third film, and that fights for the side of humans to not be replaced by robots in every movie. That’s fantastic for him, but this relates to a different issue.

When spending millions of dollars on expensive stunts for a film, that golden shot where the car blows up or the house falls apart is golden. So golden, it becomes something of a cherished piece.

If you had read a book and found it to be so amazing you wanted it to somehow be in another book just so you could read it again, it wouldn’t have the same effect as before.

A video that has popped online comparing two clips from Transformers 3 to Michael Bay’s 2005 action film The Island (not sure how long the clip will be around for):

As you can see, footage has been recycled and reused six years later. This cost-cutting procedure seems to make heaps of sense (and cents) in the editing room, but is it a good idea?

Michael Bay was caught out doing this before with Pearl Harbor and the first Transformers. This recycling of material in different films can be missed by those who do not possess an incredibly large photographic memory, but when someone points it out, it becomes a concern.

Personally I would not have noticed, and I do apologize for those heading out to see the film and see that one scene, but I’m not on the completely negative side here.

Think of the potential here. We could take Shia LeBeouf from his Transformers work, and put him in Terminator 3. All that yelling and talking about machines could be put to good use!

We could grab the scenes from all of our Hollywood films, stick them all together, and have Darth Vader fighting Qui-Gon Jinn, Rocky beating himself up (or Rambo shooting it out with Rambo II and III), and even the most epic shooting scene with Heat, Scarface, The Matrix and The Killer.

We’ve seen remakes of films, but what about mash-ups? Hollywood…your turn.


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How long can you talk on the phone?

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

Oh the things Beyonce would tell her...

An American woman was arrested last week on a train after talking on her phone for sixteen hours.

Just think about that for a second. How long have you talked on the phone before? My record was seven, but I mean this was in between doing things, sighing, and repeating the stories, but realising how tired we were not long ago for repeating said story hours before.

She was apparently a “loud talker”, and during the long train ride from California to Oregon she refused to quieten down. But she was talking longer than a viewing of Titanic! She chatted longer than the whole extended version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Actually, let me write this down. She spoke for 960 minutes, which is the equivalent of:

*Big Bang Theory season 1 and season 2 back to front, and 26.27% of season 3.
*Watching the Titanic sink five times (and almost seeing Leo DiCaprio die five times).
*Listening to Lady Gaga’s Born This Way album almost 16 times in a row, or listen to The Fame, The Fame Monster and Born This Way six times through, then halfway through it again (but would you?).
*Watching the entire extended version of Lord of the Rings trilogy, then flying from Sydney, Australia to Auckland in New Zealand, then back again.
*Watching the complete saga of Star Wars films, then watching Avatar (too many aliens!).
*Watching Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, Alien vs. Predator, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, then spending 4.7 hours asking yourself why you watched the last three.

It’s a long time when you think about it.


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Seagal packs a crunch

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

Here he is breaking the Da Vinci code.

Oh what a glorious sight to see Steven Seagal breaking bones in his action films.

It’s those moments when you buy those 8 DVD packs that you can grab a couple of friends around, load up the fridge, and watch action films that make you laugh for all the wrong reasons.

Making the sound effects for breaking bones sounds more like people chewing on carrots and breaking celery, which gives you a pretty clear indication why kids don’t eat their vegetables – it reminds them of when they broke their finger on the swing set.

Crunch.

The film buffs responsible for ‘Every Arnold Scream From Every Arnold Movie’ and ‘Cinema’s Abused Dwarfs’ put together a video containing every bone that Steven Seagal has ever broken. Foolish ol’ me guessed it would be thirty, but I was way off before half the video finished.

Imagine a script reading for Steven and a director:

Director: “SO you’re going to take down the bodyguard at-”
Steven Seagal: “And break his arm?”
D: “Well, no I was thinking maybe punch him or someth-”
S: “I could break his nose?”
D: “I guess, but does it have to be breaking?”
S: “………yes.”

I suggest you check out the video here, then scoop up some Seagal action packs here and here.


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Peter Jackson’s back in Hobbiton

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

Lookin' good Pete!

Peter Jackson might be a name that still resonates when you hear it, but it used to be someone I was a keen follower on.

Step back in time for when the first Lord of the Rings was released. Remember the amazing special effects, beautiful cinematography and pure orchestrated soundtrack that immediately took you somewhere else?

I was infatuated with the film. So much so, I even attempted to read the books, just so I could find out what happened next. I didn’t end up reading past the second party the hobbits had. Amazing detail in those books, but wow it was real deep on small details.

When the second film came out, again it was a flurry of internet websites reading every production note, and hunting for DVD extras behind the scenes.

The Hobbit has started filming this week. Lord of the Rings was an amazing trilogy and after King Kong, most were expecting Jackson to fade into the darkness, never to pop up again.

But as a talented director – demonstrated by his earlier work – it wasn’t his time to finish. Sure, it’s back to the world of Tolkien, but if anyone was going to do The Hobbit, it would be he.

Fighting months of delays, it’s back in the works, and this may be the only project I’m looking forward to for a secure endpiece.

That, and the motion-capture Tin Tin film.

Was anyone as big a LotR fan as I?


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