Who Cares About the New Year?

 Happy New Year!

Well here we are, ladies and gents, the last Thursday of the year. I would like to take this opportunity to say 'Thanks' to everyone who have been reading this blog so far. And that, I mean the only two people who have even done jack with this thing is me. That's right: I haven't had a single reader since I debuted on Blogger in August. Except for one person who invited me to the IMAX festival in MD, this place has been empty. I know I'm not Perez Hilton or a professional in journalism with many awards to show off how I've busted my ass to provide legitimate information about the goings-on in Hollywood to my friends. At this point, maybe I should take the advice that I was given by one of my friends and move on to WordPress. I bet there will be a lot more people who will give me the time of day to support my endeavors. I don't have write these blogs for my health.

If anyone has any options as to how I can receive a bigger audience who will take a look at my page, let me know in the comments. I might still be an amateur but I'm not going to give up on this page. I can't wait to see what awaits me in 2011. There better be a woman and a trip down to Florida with my name on it. If the chick's Demi, throw her down my way. I'll prove that she can do better than a Jo Bro. If you don't know who I'm referring to, you need to get some teen magazines and read. Better yet, watch Disney Channel. I need someone who will suffer with me watching the 1000th Suite Life on Deck rerun.

I have to give credit to the site who owns the above message:

http://www.zazzle.com/happy_new_year_2011_dog_shirt-155033411876277852 

Want your puppy to celebrate with you tomorrow night as we bring in 2011? Click the link.

Nightmare Before Christmas 2?

One of the biggest pieces of entertainment news just sprung to my attention. Apparently, as if Hot Topic needs more merchandise with Jack Skellington's face, Tim Burton is planning on making a sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas. I didn't see the film when it was released in theaters and enjoyed it when it was on TV, but do we really need a sequel? Wasn't Corpse Bride enough? That's right, it's considered to be the Dark Horse, excuse me, one of the few Dark Horses from the Burton Library; the second being Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I can even add Sleepy Hollow to the mix but whatever. People are going to eat this film up.

I know that there are some people who are thinking to themselves: What's the story? So far, there haven't been any details. Plus, the fact that this came from the mouth of Pee-Wee Herman isn't really saying much. There has to be proof in writing or from Mr. Burton himself about this project. We already know Burton already has his wife, Christopher Lee, and one of his most overrated and overused stars Johnny Depp lined up to be a part of this cast, but what does anyone from the cast of the original film has to say about this? 'At least the production budget will be less than that of Tron: Legacy', that's what.

The sequel might be made on a $20-$30 million budget, give or take. Then again, I don't know if that will be enough. Why should I even be worried about this? I'm not working on this film. For the people who's against the idea, they're not working on this film either....if it's the real deal of course. If you want more proof, check out the link below.

http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/41644/exclusive-tim-burton-working-nightmare-christmas-sequel

UPDATE: December 31st, 2010, 1:26 AM: There WON'T, I repeat, won't be a sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's a relief to a lot of hardcore fans and to me since I had mentioned that the film would be made just to get more merchandise in Hot Topics all across the U.S. I think Paul Reubens should think about what to say before it becomes public news. The update can be found in the link below:

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/A-Nightmare-Before-Christmas-2-Is-Not-In-The-Works-22411.html

Moving away from this story, I want to inform everyone, whoever reads this blog, that I'm going to be a bit slow with getting some movie reviews up. It doesn't mean that I won't work on them, because I have, but it means that it'll take a while until this blog is updated. This will also be true when it comes to the new year depending on whatever I see. So far, I'm thinking of having something up for 'Sucker Punch', coming in March 2011, starring Emily Browning, Jamie Chung, and Vanessa Hudgens along with any film that catches my interest such as 'Thor', 'Green Lantern', and 'Cowboys and Aliens'.

I'll let everyone know about what's up on my Facebook and Twitter. You can also contact me on Skype but you'll have to ask me first.

Tron: Legacy: The Ratings Shouldn't Matter

I've known about the rating for Tron Legacy for a good while before it was announced online a couple of weeks ago. You can't tell me that you didn't think of a PG or PG-13 when you saw the trailers. Sure the film could be harmless and the rating was created because the MPAA thought that it was different from Disney's other G-rated live action films. I know that I never knew that there were live-action films rated G from the mouse House when I was younger because as I was growing up, if a film involved live actors, have light or heavy cursing, some light or hardcore action sequences and sensual or sexual content that can also be heavy or light, the films gain a PG, PG-13 or R. We all know about the XXX rating so I won't have to explain it. At Toonzone.net, I found a post from one of the members who had his reasons about not seeing the upgrade to the Disney classic that relates to everything that I just said. To remind those who still don't know the rating for Tron: Legacy, here's a reminder:

Tron: Legacy is rated PG "for sequences of sci-fi action violence and brief mild language".


Now here's the person's response:

"Personally, I'm kind of relieved. I don't think I would have been able to see this movie if it had gotten a PG-13 rating, because that would mean that not everyone could see it, plus PG-13 just doesn't suit "Disney" (which means for example, had the PotC movies been released as "Touchstone", then I might have been more willing to watch them).

Now, I don't want this topic to turn into a debate about movie ratings or a debate about "Disney" vs. "Touchstone". This is just how I feel about it. I now look forward to watching Tron: Legacy when it comes out next Friday."

Here's my defense for the film:

"You really thought of not watching the film if it was rated PG-13? I'm not ridiculing you but I have to point out that, like all of the movie studios in Hollywood and elsewhere, Disney is a business. Like any business, it has to change to fit with the times. If it means catering to an older crowd with remakes, movies with material not suitable to a Saturday morning cartoon or having a multi-billion dollar franchise combining Disney classic films with characters from the Final Fantasy series, it will do so. If it means more money in their pockets, it will do whatever it takes to make ends meet and prevent themselves from being behind many other movie studios who have felt fine with creating films for people of all ages since the beginning of the movie industry. Now, I know that Disney will never make a film that will be rated R ever in its history, but you have to admit that since Disney's name was all over Pirates of the Caribbean since the ride was created decades ago, it would have felt out of place if, what you said about Touchstone being the distributor of the first trilogy of the Pirates films, other names of one of Disney's smaller movie studios were in the titles.

I'm seeing Tron: Legacy regardless of its rating. What you said about not seeing the film if it wasn't PG is like saying that you won't see For Colored Girls, which has been sinking like a stone in the Top 12/15, due to its original title from its original source material and the fact that it's Tyler Perry's first film when he's only the director and is rated R. I've been avoiding a lot of the preview clips and besides what I've seen in the trailers on TV and in theaters, I should be in quite a surprise come December 17th. Maybe Touchstone Pictures could have been the distributor of this particular film but think about it. Was its name in the original title of the first Tron? No. Who owns it, the sequel and whatever money it receives from pre-orders of the Tron: Evolution video game, Tron: Legacy toys, and other merchandise from the film? Who will be accepting the ticket sales both on the first day of release, pre-order, and the days following its release? It all goes back to the Mouse House.

Add the fact that Touchstone haven't had a decent hit this year. You Again, The Last Song, and When in Rome all received a lot of negative buzz this year. You can argue that Step Up 3D did well for Touchstone back in August but even that has the notion of being the worst performing film of the Step Up series. This could affect the planned Step Up 4, if it ever comes to fruition but while the company deserves a strong performing film, Disney's willing to not worry about it and think about what other future projects they can finance with the amount of money it'll receive from a film that has its haters and adoring fans like many films before it. Plus, this will be the first time people can listen to the music of Daft Punk even if they don't know that the band has a film, Interstella 5555, that, besides the hardcore fans praising the animation in said feature, has gone ignored for years.

I apologize if I have offended anyone but if anyone here was running a movie company, wouldn't it make sense to cater to have films catered to everyone regardless of rating? Shouldn't we let the ticket sales prove to us that the performances of the films are both strong and weak no matter what else we do to ensure success with the films whether it's bouncing between release dates, changing the film format to 3D, or deciding whether or not it'll be a nationwide/worldwide release or in selected theaters?"

Now it's up to you to decide. Would you see a film or, in this case, Tron Legacy, regardless of the rating? What about films have to convince you to watch them rather than waiting three months later and await the DVD/Blu-Ray release?

My Rambings About Tangled

While I'm still working on writing up my review for here and my blog, I'll be the first to say that the film was okay. I loved Maximus and Mother Grothel especially her songs but there were portions of the film that were forgettable. Not even the little chameleon made me crack a smile but then again, we had the well-animated horse so there was no way he could compete. I wish that there was more to Mother Grothel other than needing the flower to keep her youth. There wasn't any mention about if she was a witch or not. She was more human but given a curse it seemed. Also, since when babies come out of the womb with the hair length of a girl who's about four years old? It's one of the things I don't understand about films even though there was probably a passage of time from the time Rapunzel was born to the time she was cooing in her crib.

The Vikings were interesting although I already forgot their names. I know about their wishes but the whole song-and-dance number, while interesting, was also as forgettable as some of the songs from the film. Then again, if I take a listen to the soundtrack over and over again, the songs will be crammed in my head. Then again, after seeing The Princess and the Frog last year, I didn't have to wait until I received the soundtrack to have any of the songs to get stuck in my head.

While this film is the last of the fairy tales for now, I think that it pales in comparison to last year's Princess Classic however it was colorful and attractive calling back, once again, Maximus to the main lead even with her long hair in a braid. I'll admit that I grew to like Rapunzel and she's an interesting woman. Using her hair to swing around a tree to rescuing Flynn from being captured by his former cohorts and the Royal Army is, to me, the first superpower given to any young woman of Disney's history in the times of knights, handsome thieves, and no damsel in distress except near the end.

I think what held this film from being interesting to me was the plot. So what that Rapunzel wanted to see the many paper lanterns in the sky. I said to myself, 'The other princesses had better goals especially Princess Tiana who had to work, work, work in order to get what she wanted.' I know that it was another way of telling us that Rapunzel wanted to get out and see what she has been missing throughout her 18 years of being held in the tallest tower in the hidden sector of the forest but I wished that her goal in life was something better and stronger even when the film was in writing.

This isn't a film I'll pick up on DVD/Blu-Ray next year but I would show people Tangled to take a look at examples to assist them with transitioning the dynamics of 2D animation to be used effectively in a CGI film. This gains two out of my personal rating of four stars. With the animated projects we're getting next year from Disney, maybe they, or even one, might come off as being better than what I saw yesterday afternoon. Also, the marketing for the film didn't work since there were more little girls with their families than guys. Better luck next time with trying to reach your true demographic Disney. Then again, with their fairy tales, I don't need to be shown action in the trailers. I don't need to have commercials made exclusively for males my age and younger to pull them into this film. I'm not going to be negative on this film but I can see Disney complaining about not making a lot of money with this film. It could be The Princess and the Frog all over again but, in my opinion, it'll still collect enough money to be used for other future projects so I wouldn't complain.

For the trailers preceding the movie, none of them interested me. I already know that I'll check out Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader but everything else I'm skipping from Justin Bieber in Never Say Never 3D to Yogi Bear 3D although I might check out Cars II. Once you see the trailers for a lot of films online, you get tired of them once you have to deal with them before any film you watch in theaters.

Dreamworks’ MegaMind in IMAX 3D

How long has it been since Shrek 4? Like Tyler Perry and Disney, Dreamworks knows how it makes its money by releasing two-three films in one year. This is its most advertised film but it can also be lucked out from receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature since, let’s be honest, we know that Disney/Pixar is taking home with the gold after claiming the title of Best Animated Feature OF ALL TIME. That film’s definitely going to be tough to match. MegaMind, featuring Will Ferrell as the titular blue-headed villain and Brad Pitt as Metro City’s Metro Man, which opens this Friday is a lot of fun than I originally thought it would be. Like Despicable Me, the film amps up its wow factor in bits and pieces from seeing Hal Stewart (Jonah Hill), camera man for news reporter and frequent damsel-in-distress Roxanna Ritchi (Tina Fey) turn evil to the final battle that ends with what is the norm of all CG films: a dance number. If you have seen the commercials, you’ve seen most of the film but in case you haven’t: MegaMind and Metro Man both came from neighbor planets being sucked into a black hole sent to Earth who live out two different lives: MegaMind gets sent to a state penitentiary after being bumped by Metro Man’s ship as babies with Metro Man living in a rich family.

Fast forward a few years and we find that Mega Mind is having trouble fitting in at school with him making the decision of being the villain. Metro Man, fast forward about a good 20 years or so, becomes the pointy-chinned, Superman hair carrying stud who later dies from one of Mega Mind’s schemes with the assistance of his partner Minion (David Cross). Cut to Mega Mind taking over the city and later regretting his plan of killing him. Without good to battle evil, what does evil do? Rather than creating a mind-controlled slave army, Mega Mind decides to create a pill with Metro Man’s DNA that accidentally ends up in Hal Stewart’s nose turning the loser whose attempt to win Ms. Ritchi with a bouncy house and dip fails when compared to Mega Mind’s switcheroo to being a the librarian of the Metro Man Museum, falling in love with Ms. Ritchi while training Hal to handle his powers and becoming the city’s newest hero in the process. Like Despicable Me, the film, at once thought to never hold my interest, grabbed me with one character in particular, Hal, mirroring the look of his voice actor along with making me think of being the illegitimate son of Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles’ Syndrome. 

            With the advance screening I attended, the theater still had a few seats open to the public. For a film that had made it to the Guinness Book of Records for the Largest Gathering of Superheroes, that’s a bit of a disappointment. With my screening being on IMAX 3D, I can see why there weren’t a lot of people there. Some may have been turned off by the 3D aspect which has been one of the factors that have led to 3D films making less than most studios predict that they should. The film looks great in 3D although when tilting your head left or right, you lose the effect. The film delivered tons of laughs and awws from the audience but I grew tired of them after the first 10 minutes and the final 10 minutes even with a scene where the audience think a character’s going to die but lives. For a film that receives three out of four stars, it can be forgettable. As a guy mentioned while leaving the theater, he was mixed saying that it could had done more to appeal to both audiences. The problem is that he never fully explained what went wrong in the film. On Friday, more people will give their view on this film and it will be clear whether or not this is worth your money. To me, it was worth the price of admission if you have a free pass.

Nothing Good Comes Out From Working with Toys

I don't know why I continue applying for these idiots. I'm already losing money from purchasing lunch on campus to going to the movies and making purchases to please myself be it a new manga volume or a new t-shirt (I still don't know whether or not I should regret buying this DuckTales t-shirt yesterday or not). By the time I looked at how much was still left in my pocket, I knew that soon, I would be back asking my parents for cash. This was a route I didn't want to take. I applied everywhere from Sears to K-Mart to today's victim of my hate Toys R Us. Why should anyone apply to work for them is anyone's guess? The store continues to send me e-mails about me not being good enough to work at any of their positions especially that of a team member where I would begin as a cashier and slowly working myself up the corporate ladder until I become a manager. At this point, I rather be the manager so that I can make other potential candidates feel bad rather than the other way around where I have to fall victim to being left out in the cold while having to hear on the news or read online about the biggest lie coming from one of the country's biggest toy stores. I mean what do I have to to get the company's attention?

I'm not even going to bother with them anymore. They can go on and hire some newbie fresh from college for all I care. I'm surprised that people my age and lower can get a job and I can't. Is it because of me being in school? That was one of the reasons I was applied to work at Shopper's World but also was mistreated there. Guess this means that this Christmas, I'm not going to get anything. Good bye my future copy of Toy Story 3  Blu-Ray+DVD+Digital Copy Combo Pack. Good-bye to that Combo Pack copy of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Blame the corporate roulette that chooses candidates that the store think are good enough to work for the company even though there are plenty of people out here who can do much better with their job descriptions than they ever could.   

Stop Complaining PTC!

Hey, what do you know? I'M BACK!! What's new? Well not much except the PTC (Parent Television Council) complaining about three of the members from Fox's 'Glee' being in provocative photos with GQ Magazine publishing the photos and actress Dianna Agron having having a defense and an apology. Agron's sorry for the photos while the magazine says that the actors are old enough to do what they want. I have to agree that everyone's complaining about nothing. First, there's porn. There's so much of it that no one from any adult group, from what I remember, have complained recently about wanting to protect kids from adult images online and in your local 7-11 store. Here's the thing: the PTC, about two weeks ago, was complaining about Miley's new European single turned "adult" music video with her gyrating with boys and girls. I can't say a lot about both stories since there have been so many web sites discussing about these issues, all I can say is stop complaining. The PTC's worse than me having to write about everyday being a bad one because of past regrets and feeling that I don't have a lot of close friends. My words may not have a lot of strength to make sure that the PTC's weakened to the point of being turned away from its responsibilities of being the parents for children with parents who think they're good providers yet not the best to guard them from material that they'll see once they get to my age. Let's all complain about something else such as Taylor Swift's popularity. At age 20, how many more break-ups does she need to go through to create song after sone about heartbreak. recovery, and finding a better guy in her life? It's all been done and those themes have been covered in other songs written and sung by those who have been around the block about 25-40 years. Time to sing about something else sister.

Here's the link of one of the two stories covering the PTC babying children from celebs they've come to adore:

'Glee' Photoshoot Too Sexy? Yeah right.