Geek vs Life

As a movie fan, what makes you want to see a movie is your first exposure to it. It can be a rumor, an article or it just falls into you list of interests. More often than not though, what bring people to theaters is one of the most effective tools of them all: the movie trailer.

Who doesn’t remember a few years back their “WTF?” reaction after watching a trailer for Cloverfield? Or maybe for you it was the laughs while watching an ad for Police Academy. Different strokes for different folks.

The people at IFC.com released a list in which they chose the op 50 movie trailers of all time. Agree? Disagree? Here is a link to the article, where you can click on each individual movie to find out more about their selections or just read the list below:

25. Real Life (1979)

24. Schindler’s List (1993)

23. Red Eye (2005)

22. Sin City (2005)

21. Strange Days (1995)

20. She’s Gotta Have It (1986)

19. Unbreakable (2000)

18. Sleeper (1973)

17. Charade (1963)

16. GoldenEye (1995)

15. Pulp Fiction (1994)

14. Garden State (2005)

13. Mr. Sardonicus (1961)

12. Independence Day (1996)

11. The Blair Witch Project (1999)

10. The Shining (1980)

9. Mission: Impossible (1996)

8. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

7. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

6. Citizen Kane (1941)

5. Comedian (2002)

4. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

3. Cloverfield (2008)

2. Psycho (1960)

1. Alien (1979)

$158,411,483. That’s a lot of Happy Meals. That still will only buy you under 200 copies of Detective Comics #27 (CGC 9.4 value of $800,000). Holy fuck wad of cash Batman.

So not only did The Dark Knight smash the record established last year by Spider-Man 3 for opening weekend grosses, it also now holds the title of most money earned on opening day, <$67,165,092. It probably helped that the movie was also released on more screens than any other movie, ever: 4,366.

Check out the list of the top ten movie grosses for opening weekend courtesy of Box Office Mojo.

Whether you’re a fan of Disney and other American animation or not, an important figure in the world of animation has passed. Ollie Johnston, the last of those known as the “Nine Old Men,” passed away yesterday, at the age of 95, in Sequim, WA.

If you have seen the movie “The Rescuers,” and have seen the character Rufus the Cat, then you’ve seen Ollie, as Rufus was a caricature of him.

If you’ve seen the Fox and the Hound, the Rescuers, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Robin Hood, The AristoCats, The Jungle Book, Mary Poppins, The Sword in the Stone, 101 Dalmations, Sleeping Beauty, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Lady and the Tramp, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, The Wind in the Willows, Melody Time, Song of the South, Peter and the Wolf, The Three Caballeros, Bambi, Fantasia, Pinocchio, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Little Hiawatha, or a number of other Disney works (primarily early ones), then you’ve seen his work.

He and Frank Thomas were also the authors of Illusion of Life, an extraordinary book on the history and techniques of classic animation (it was actually my textbook for my History of Animation class).

If you care at all about animation, please observe a moment of silence for his passing, and the passing of the last of a group of animators who pioneered what animation would mean to the world for generations to come.

I am sure many of you know that Star Trek is being rebooted. (The process of starting over…you know like a computer.) It is coming out Christmas 2008. It is being directed by J.J. Abrams of “Lost” and “Alias” fame. It is written by by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, who have scripted “Alias” and “Lost” shows as well. The team also wrote Mission Impossible III.

The script is showing how the titular three met each other in the Starfleet academy. It also connects to the original Star Trek series with Leonard Nimoy playing Spock. The three of course being James T. Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy. Of course what everyone is interested is who is playing the pop culture icons as younger men. It has now been announced for all three playing the leads. James T. Kirk is played by Chris Pine. (Smoking Aces) Zachary Quinto (Skylar from Heroes) is playing Spock. Karl Urban (“Lord of the Rings: Two Towers” and “Return of the King”) is playing Dr. McCoy.

So now you know. And knowing is the half the battle. Oh, wrong franchise…keep an eye out for that in the next year.

I really don’t know if anyone cares about the forth coming Indiana Jones movie. It is slated for next May, but it has finally got a title and logo. Other websites have reported it, so I thought I would pass it on. Here is the logo, for what it is worth: