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Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Set in a mythic version of the late 1930s, this movie is a stunning tribute to classic sci-fi serials, comics and pulp magazines of that era. Starting with a reporter investigating the disappearances of top scientists, the story quickly becomes a nearly constant barrage of giant robots, aeroships, submarine planes, ray guns and retro technology on a grand scale. The plot, which hurtles across maps of the world Indiana Jones style, definitely take a back seat to the effects. The character interactions are all predictable. But all of that is consistent with the genre, and for me it didn't get in the way of enjoying the hell out of this movie.
What sets this film apart from others is that every scene was shot against a blue screen. Except for some hand props and the actors themselves, the whole thing was computer generated. We've certainly seen plenty of CG, going all the way back to "The Last Starfighter" in the 80s, but I've never seen anything done so stylishly or so well. Perhaps the hazy, murky look is perfectly suited to both the 1930s atmosphere and the current state of the art of CG. It works.
The packed screening was followed by a Q&A with director Conran, who turned out to be an impressively low-key, likable guy. He started working on the film about 10 years ago with a blue screen in his living room, wondering whether he could create an entire movie in his Mac. The first 6 minutes took him 2 years. Initially he made an animated version, which actors later used as a guide as they mimed their way through the live version. When Paramount got involved they insisted on big-name actors, so the theatrical release is actually version 3. Hopefully all three will make it onto the eventual DVD. Conran mentioned that for his next project he wants to tackle Edgar Rice Burroughs' epic John Carter series.
The presenter, a filmmaking friend of Conran's, closed the screening with a joke about Pete Townshend meeting Eric Clapton in a London bar and commiserating about some new kid named Hendrix, "who's gonna kick our asses." He imagined that Spielberg and Lucas might soon be having a similar conversation somewhere in California. I have to agree that it seems like a distinct possibility.
Thanks to serutan for this review!
Yeah for the little guy. Great to see he's made good with this.
the clock on the wall says 4 til 7
Anyone else have trouble viewing this article?
Pretty sure that Attack of the Clones was also shot entirely in front of a blue screen.
Support the First Amendment. Read at -1
I just saw the trailer for this yesterday. I must have been hiding under some rock (or not reading /.) for the past several months, because I hadn't heard of the movie until my roommate told me about it yesterday. Looks very cool.
From the commercials about this movie, it looks incredibly cheesy, like an unwitting hollywood insult to the retro-future styling (not to mention their choice of an actress, bleh). It's good to hear otherwise.
-Jesse
Nothing says "unprofessional job" like wrinkles in your duct tape.
looks like a very interesting movie. Cant wait to check it out for myself..
called The Immortal you can find it on the net, pretty wierd but shot intirely infront of a blue screen
of the PC / Xbox game "Crimson Skies" when I first saw the previews.
Let's see. 1. It's a Sci-Fi Movie. 2. It's not a sequal or a remake. And 3. It's not Star Trek!
Wow, they should make more of these!
The plot, which hurtles across maps of the world Indiana Jones style, definitely take a back seat to the effects. The character interactions are all predictable. But all of that is consistent with the genre
Is this a little contradictory? Special effects are not ground-breaking. Give me a movie with effects like these and a plot that doesn't insult me. Then, we can call it "groundbreaking."
... if you like the look of this movie also look at Sin City, directed by RR (Desperado, Spy Kids fame). It is also filmed all against a green screen like Sky Captain. Initial screenings have people drooling. Sky Captain looks good, but I think Sin City will own all when it comes to the style... go RR!
Flash Gordon plot re-hashes from the 1940's Groundbreaking??? Bullshit!!!
I've seen the trailer a few times in the movie theatre, and it looks pretty impressive visually- soft lighting, retro color scheme, etc. I guess it doesn't translate as well onto the small screen.
I saw my first preview for this movie this past Holiday season, when I was also playing through "Crimson Skies", the Xbox port. Both have a similar vibe, a retrofuture that never quite was, lots of planes, exploding dirigibles, etc. I'm really looking forward to this flick...
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
Wow my pirate / brunette bombshell fetish is finally realized!
GetTheJob.com : Nothing but Real Jobs.
Alright, so how do you figure this is good again? It sounds like another crappy big-budget *cough*Matrix Reloaded*cough* sci-fi *cough Episodes I & II*cough* that won't be even slightly entertaining beyond the initial awe of the special effects.
Sigs are for the weak.
That's what Jar Jar Binks, "Face Dances", and "AI" have in common!
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
Couldn't you have put in a paragraph or two drawing parallels between this movie and Columbine? Or how it relates to globalism? Your plain vanilla movie review kinda feels naked without you attempting to link it in with current events or society.
GMD
watch this
I've been waiting for that since I was in Junior High School!! I still own ALL the Mars books (my Grandson is reading them now), I can't wait to see 10,000 Green Martian warriors on great Thoats charging across the dead seas of Mars!!
Can't wait to see it.
Sola Deo Gloria!
I just visited that museum on vacation a few weeks ago. It's not very big, being shoe-horned into the Experience Music Project, but what it lacks in quantity it makes up for with quality. The exhibits and presentation was amazing. (for example, while a short loop about the Matrix displayed on a big projection screen, smaller projectors turned the walls into cascading 'Matrix-code')
May you be touched by His Noodly Appendage. RAmen.
I'm looking forward to seeing this movie, but I'll admit I'm starting to have CGI-fatigue.
CGI should be a tool to enhance a good, original story.
I rarely see original plots anymore being made into movies.
One notable exception though, is the recently made Oldboy, a Korean movie.
If you intend to see this work of genius, avoid spoilers at all costs.
Every time I hear this advertised I picture the cryogenic technician in the first Futurama episode, saying "Welcome to the WOOORRLD of Tomorrow!"
"The plot, which hurtles across maps of the world Indiana Jones style, definitely take a back seat to the effects."
Why can't Hollywood make movies that have great special effects AND good plots? The Matrix and Spiderman were the the only two decent movies in recent times that have had good CG and a decent plot. I guess you could toss some of the Pixar flicks as well, but that's still a small minority when compared to all the crap that has come out.
Hollywood, pay attention: we need something that interests us, not just something that looks pretty.
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. --Winston Churchill
He imagined that Spielberg and Lucas might soon be having a similar conversation somewhere in California. I have to agree that it seems like a distinct possibility. Wonderful. We'll have another director who relies solely on CG to sell his films, without any real focus on plot, dialogue, or acting, just like Lucas does these days. I don't think that this is a good trend; it makes for bad movies and deligitimizes CG technology, so that directors who actually use it well (like Peter Jackson in LOTR) don't get the recognition they deserve.
"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so." - Ford Prefect
I guess the world of tomorrow doesn't support Mozilla/FireFox. I can't view the page.
Special effects are not ground-breaking.
Why not? There's no SFX ground to break? Or does this not constitute a ground-breaking level of SFX achievement according to you?
Give me a movie with effects like these and a plot that doesn't insult me.
The plot insults you? WTF?
Its a pulp! I love these! Indiana Jones, Tom Strong, and now Sky Captain. I'm happy.
If you don't like pulps, that's your loss, but to say that it insults you...that's something else.
You can't take the sky from me...
SUre, the all-in-front-of-the-blue-screen point is important and impressive, but i'm equally intrigued by:
1. Laurence Olivier starring in the movie, from old celluloid.
2. That film noir look achieved through filming the scenes in black and white... and then colorizing them! (Smacks forehead) What a great, simple, and clever idea.
Those 2 slick gimmicks have to lend an air of retro feel to the movie with aplomb, nevermind the other design elements, like the look and feel of the robots.
Gotta see this one.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Saw the trailer a few times, the whole plot / effects looked cheesy, even though I normally love CGI. Hard to beleive the movie is that much better then the trailer.
Is the plane some kind of super plane? In the trailer it doesn't make sense that he is able to avoid getting hit while flying it for example.
OK, let's translate this...
...groundbreaking film...
...I was completely blown away.
What you said:
What you meant:
OK, OK, I know this film is just a cheesy knockoff of a pulp '30s-era sci-fi rag, but Angelina Jolie pops her tiddies out! TWICE!!!
The plot, which hurtles across maps of the world Indiana Jones style, definitely take a back seat to the effects. The character interactions are all predictable.
Awesome! First "I, Robot" and now this! What ground-breaking, revolutionary film-making! Where do I sign up!?
Tell me, does Nerd Captain and World of Nerdnerd have random product placement too?
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori
the fact that it was one man's vision, and started in his garage using off-the-shelf software and a whole lot of time before any studios ever got involved.
Wired had an article about it a while ago, and i've been excited to see it ever since.
Horray for garage studios!!
There are 01 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and me.
Cheesy? Of *course* it's cheesy! It's for every kid who sat in a theatre with a big bucket of popcorn, grinning like a madman at every swoop and explosion that graced the screen.
I wasn't part of the pulp era, but I enjoyed reading pulp and Golden Age sf works. There's just something free-wheeling, childlike, and wondrous about the visions of tomorrow that those stories embodied. I still like space opera, with vast galactic fleets spinning out of a nebular cluster to go into battle with the dreaded Zorkanoids -- or whatever the evil space being of the moment was.
The trailers for this reminded me of another "guilty pleasure" film, "The Rocketeer." I suspect "Sky Captain" will join "Rocketeer" in my movie collection as something that is aimless, harmless exciting fun.
for the action, special effects, or storyline. We all know that geeks since the early 90's have attended movies for 2 reasons and 2 reasons only:
1) Angelina Jolie (and her lips..god those lips)
2) Natalie Portman
Hence the reason the movie "Hackers" is a favorite among geeks, as well as the continued success of the new Star Wars Trilogy (and in some cases "The Professional")
Actually, this would be kind of interesting. I've read the original series (my father named one of my sisters after Dejah Therece, the Princess of Mars) and loved the sheer retro campty style of the "smiling Virginian" sword fighting his way across the Red Planet.
If done "so seriously it's fun" like Sky Captain appears, it could be one hell of a ride. If nothing else, I love a good swashbuckling movie.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
I suppose that CG has finally come so far as to make the books possible. I hope who ever does it, does it well because the books are fantastic. Many are the days I enjoyed them, and the old SPI game as well. Casting John Carter wouldn't be too tough I don't think - Hugh Jackman comes to mind. But Dejah Thoris? That is a tough one, a young Catherine Zeta-Jones maybe? Wow, this has set my weekend - time to dust off an old campaign I had tried to get together once long ago.
Sera
Slashdot, where armchair scientists get shouted down and armchair theologians get modded up.
...though I hadn't realized they had ported it over to the Macintosh yet.
If you haven't seen the commercials or trailers, take a look here . . . http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/skycaptain andtheworldoftomorrow/
Some people have a way with words, others not have way.
The real thing were written before physics was a respected scientific profession, and chemists and electricians were the cutting edge of technology. The World's Fair and the technological marvel of the Golden Gate Bridge are the settings for the Man of Bronze, a paragon of physical perfection raised by five scientists and flanked by his four comrades in arms, plus their pet monkey, pig and occasionally aided by Doc's sister.
They are slices of a different age, a different outlook. The world was as full of sinister forces as the headlines of today, but the steadfast belief that honorable and well trained (and euro-caucasian) men could triumph over evil was held as a truism. Airplanes were new, the world had just become global, but war had yet to span the whole planet.
Great books.
I have a strong feeling that this movie is based more on the modern steampunk and Sons of Ether (a la White Wolf's Mage) genre. A modern retake on an era, just like RenFaires have little to do with the actual Middle Ages.
--
Evan "Not for the Politically Correct sensitive"
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
And they took the Stargate theme music and used it in the UK trailers. Fucking weak.
Wired ran an article about Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow several months ago.
It is set in the 30s and yet we know this didn't happen. There isn't too many examples of SciFi movies that are set in the past. There's not too many people alive today that remember the 1930s all that well. I'd wager that a big percentage of them don't like SciFi as a genre. I'd also worry that there isn't too many theatres in 'walker' distance of an old-folks home. I just can't imagine that this would be commercially viable. But who knows, I would never have guessed that people would buy half the things on eBay either...
Hello! This is just a Holywood rehash and spin from Last Exile. Or at least that is what I see from the trailers and review. Hollywood cannot get orginial ideas they are pretty much dead!
In this world of tomorrow do we get flying cars?
I don't care about robots, submarine planes, or ray guns. I WANT MY FLYING CAR
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
Sorry, but I think this is going to be a complete box-office disaster. Everything about this just reeks of "boring".
Anyone remember "The Phantom"? Same shit, different pile.
I saw some ads for this movie last night that also called the film "ground breaking."
/. Um, oops, I think I just did.
Filmed in front of a blue screen is groundbreaking? Spy Kids 3D was also filmed this way. My kids liked it, but I'd never mention it on
No, Im serious.
:)
Watch it, then watch Last Exile
This isn't a review, it is a few paragraphs about having seen the film.
/. is trying to waste my time with worthless sci-fi sychophants and their crap about bad sci-fi(All of Star Trek).
Is not a review a critical assessment of the films intentions and its success in achieving its aims?
Why do articles like these get approved?
Sometimes I think
But which language, perl or php?
Jeez! I'm a little amazed. I've been reading Slashdot regularly every day and somehow, without really realizing when it happened, I'd almost completely forgotten about Jon Katz. How can this be? I still remember how he used to make my blood boil with his pompous, sophomoric rants. And yet at some point I sort of started to chalk that up to the nature of the beast -- listening to children in grown-up bodies blabbering on like they wielded the authority of a BBC field correspondent was all part of the fun of Slashdot. Then he disappeared and ... could it be ... my Slashdot experience seems to be none the worse for wear! How can this have happened? How can I have so quickly forgotten all about Jon Katz's seminal contribution to Slashdot history, when it had given me so much bitter, perverse joy?
Oh yeah... now I remember. That was about the time I started browsing at -1.
Breakfast served all day!
is because it's hard.
hollywood is kind of like the gymnasts in the olympics. you always want them to do a spectacular routine, they always wants to do a spectacular routine, they practice forever to do it right, but they can still screw up badly, even at the highest levels of competition. it's just plain HARD. and you can still fail on the easy stuff you know how to do in your sleep.
there is just so many variables involved, and so many nuances of execution to keep track of, that hollywood will always be churning out bad movies.
but look at it this way: there are no peaks without valleys. you can't have something seem great if you compare it against a bunch of other movies equally as great. you're a tough judge. we all are. if every movie was matrix-quality, then it stop impressing you as much as it did. so bad movies will be made, in a greater number than good movies, forever. it's statistical inevitability and human psychology conspiring together.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
It has a "league of extrordinary gentlemen" feel to it, and that was the vilest shitstain to hit celluloid in the history of film.
Did you even see the second Matrix movie?
On another note. Was Captain Nemo Persian or whatever in any other source before the league of extrordinary gentlemen came out?
Thanks to the internet, we can now all die alone together! -SomeWoman
What sets this film apart from others is that every scene was shot against a blue screen.
The trouble is: It looks very much like that.
Good use of blue screening results in the characters looking like they're "there". From the commercials I've seen of this movie, it reminds me of one of those old CD-ROM games where they mixed live actors and CG backgrounds.
This one just doesn't work for me. It feels so artificial.
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
I'll be waiting to hear the plot is terrible, like Catwoman -- another movie that "looked" great but was utter trash.
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
we need something that interests us, not just something that looks pretty.
And you probably like women for their personality too. Wierdo.
paintball
(Incidentally, this is why working with Hollywood is such a pain. Either you're in development hell, and there's no money, or you're in production, and and there's no time.)
"Sky Captain" does look a bit too much like Crimson Skies. Microsoft has a line of Crimson Skies pulp fiction novels. that seem designed to be movies. Dreamworks optioned movie rights for Crimson Skies back in 2001, but didn't use the option.
It's the first movie filmed entirely in front of a blue screen AND with all backgrounds being computer generated
Doesn't this movie just seem like a chance for a filmmaker to do something well in a technical sense. Sure the SF/adventure genre has been done to death, but for the story and genre how well did he do it? Like the example of great artists and painters who cut their teeth on replicating the works of the masters. Or gymnasts who go through the technical routine before peforming their own styles.
This might also be his opportunity to say "Hey, Film Industry! I can make a decent Hollywood A film. Hire Me!" Y'know something to put on the resume. For the kids.
Of course as other fans of the genre said, it might be nice to see the world again where the future is optimistic, and there are genuine heroes.
Command and Conquer with some Captain Proton thrown in for good measure.
As I recall, in all the John Carter books everyone ran around mostly naked. At least, that's how Dejah Thoris was described the first time John Carter saw her. Naked with some jewelry was described as normal attire.
So, I can see Hollywood doing naked women running around everywhere, but they would probably balk at male full-frontal nudity. I wonder how he would address this? Probably just put clothes on everybody.
"Conran mentioned that for his next project he wants to tackle Edgar Rice Burroughs' epic John Carter series."
Um, isn't Harry Knowles already working on the John Carter series?
While my wife and I were at Wondercon in SF back in April, they had a special presentation of Skycaptain and The World of Tomorrow. The director and producer were there to answer questions after the 8 minutes of footage that were shown. Good stuff, especially since most all of the work was done using PowerMac G5s.
You are not root, go away.
"Little guy with big ideas, can't bring them to fruition, needs to sell out to big media corps (TEH DEVIL!) to bring his dream to frution and expose it to the masses."
Now, if he had self-published, set up a website and sold his own DVDs, now that would be worth trumpeting.
This guy should be publicly flogged as a traitor, a collaborator with the evil corps! First against the wall when the revolution comes!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
I have one name for you - Dirichlet
we'll have films released that are boring wastes of computer time.
since i haven't seen "Sky Captain", i won't pre-judge it. but comments like
The plot, which hurtles across maps of the world Indiana Jones style, definitely take a back seat to the effects. The character interactions are all predictable.
will keep me away from the theater every time. i'm tired of being burned.
anyone else remember how badly "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" sucked? oh yeah, any visually pleasing film will get a "thumbs-up" from Ebert, regadless of how thin the plotline might be. he's a closet nerd.
didnt this get shelved last summer after a brutal panning by critics? i thought i remembered this movie being a laughingstock.
i have a friend who likes possibly the worst movies ever made. he was thrilled when too fast too furious got on HBO or starz or whatever it was on... and even he thinks this movie looks like cheesy garbage.
Then you should rather enjoy the adventures ofTom Strong, from America's Best Comics. Very good pulp.
I have a strong feeling that this movie is based more on the modern steampunk and Sons of Ether (a la White Wolf's Mage) genre. A modern retake on an era
There is a vocabulary used to discuss and analyse art, and by extension science fiction, that uses the words "modern" and "postmodern" that you might or might not be aware of.
I don't want to go into a lenghty explanation of the differences, but basically, postmodern sci-fi is darker and recycles elements of past stories.
Yes, "modern" means "contemporary", but art gave it another meaning:
And by opposition:
The fun with sky captain is that it looks like its got the retro modern feel to it: A sense of adventure and wonder, as opposed to the post modern weariness (post as in after that era of "modernism"
So Sky Captain and Tom Strong are both postmodern, but they seek to reanimate the feel of their inspiration's modern attitude (the "gee whiz" feeling of the newness of things that are now retro to us).
You can't take the sky from me...
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
all the way back to "The Last Starfighter"
all the way back to 1984?
Never heard of Tron? 1982? CG all over the place?
You whippersnappers with your fancy Angelina Jolie-la-di-da and Jude Law-la-di-doo! Back in my day, all we had was Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner in neon jumpsuits. And we liked it!
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
that makes sense, both Microsoft's blue screen and the Star War's I and II movies shot in front of one both cause the same sickly reaction.
Okay, now that would be cool.
With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter. -- William Lloyd
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
He had the most inane and illogical opinions, but I really enjoyed his articles because they just generated levels of flaming and hilarity that are classic on slashdot.
What happened to Katz? Why did he stop contributing to slashdot? Is he still talking about Columbine and geekdoom? Did he lear to use a computer?
I wish slashdot would post an interview with him, I predict record page hits!
Jon Katz we miss you, you sucked, but you are missed!
- sigs are for wimps.
woot!
that even you with stupid niche idea can get a movie with a lame title, weak plot, and flat characters made by a major film studio.
For the cherry on top, you can even get geeks to eat the shit up with a spoon just because it's classified as sci-fi.
The commercials overemphasize her role. She is actually only in it for about 15 minutes. Don't let it drive you away.
I would love to see a "Where are they now?" interview with Katz! He was such a staple of slashdot for so many years! Parent is right: Katz's articles would always generate tons of discussion and that's what we all come here for, right? Please, Slashdot Overlords, please try to do an interview with Katz!
no.
He started working on the film about 10 years ago with a blue screen in his living room, wondering whether he could create an entire movie in his Mac. The first 6 minutes took him 2 years.
i'm supposing if he turned it into a feature length blockbuster backed by a major studio, he used more than his g4 powerbook.
where's the obligatory massive beowulf linux clusters reference?
Princess of Mars, A (2006)
Announced, and in production as of March 2004, my friends!
And to start the rumors flying like a Sky Captain, I heard they are looking at Rena Sofer.
kulakovich
The trailers for this reminded me of another "guilty pleasure" film, "The Rocketeer." I suspect "Sky Captain" will join "Rocketeer" in my movie collection as something that is aimless, harmless exciting fun.
Hmmm....
Sky Captain, Angelina Jolie
The Rocketeer, Jennifer Connolly
Yeah, I guess I can see how both those movies would qualify as aimless & exciting fun but harmless? Just as long as you don't "enjoy" those films too often (you know if you do that too much you'll go blind)
Now, if he had self-published, set up a website and sold his own DVDs, now that would be worth trumpeting.
Sadly, if he did that, few would have the opportunity to share in even a "corporatized" version of his vision simply because all the trumpeting in the world isn't enough to reach the masses.
It's all about distribution.
IF I EVER MEET YOU, I WILL KICK YOUR ASS!!!
1. give blood
2. eat cookie, sip juice, wait for dizziness to pass
3. step out into the sunshine, suddenly clutch your chest as you find out just how good a collapsed lung feels. (hint: like an icepick.)
??? Yeah. It's rare but it happens. Your lung pressure gets greater than your blood pressure, and little bubbles of air can leak out into the space between the lung and the muscle, separating them and collapsing the lung. painfully. for weeks.
Sometimes seventeen/Syllables aren't enough to/Express a complete
Won't the oversaturated visuals, and light flares all over the place make viewer's eyes explode? It looks like an art student photoshopped every frame of this film...
word.
I don't know how great or bad this movie is, but I hope it succeeds just because it could help set a good tone for the (near) future. Think how things could change if a few talented art-geek types could put together the proverbial garage project that draws in some mainline talent and promotional money. Here's another I had big hopes for, although it seems to be taking forever...
the idiotic eyepatch, I'll have to assume this is definitely one movie not to waste time on. Odd that Paltrow agreed to be in the same movie, oh well.
I also have to think that anyone who has dated a batshit crazy woman (ah, the good old days... when I could look beyond a woman's crumbling psyche and see the great rack inside), sees the downside in Angelina. Basically, I might want to do someone who looks like Angelina, but even just a night with that psycho might be more work than it's worth.
- Greg
Start a happiness pandemic
for another beautifully constructed, all-green-screen movie, try Casshern, the live action anime mentioned here a while back. The trailer alone is worth burning to DVD.
free online diet tracking.
"They are slices of a different age, a different outlook. The world was as full of sinister forces as the headlines of today, but the steadfast belief that honorable and well trained (and euro-caucasian) men could triumph over evil was held as a truism. Airplanes were new, the world had just become global, but war had yet to span the whole planet."
People were less cynical.
and they decided to cancel their movie which they were already working on.
-- Boycott Shell
"Back in my day, all we had was Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner in neon jumpsuits. And we liked it!"
Don't ask, don't tell.
She's also in the buff in 'Original Sin' playing opposite of Antonio Banderas
"If you don't like pulps, that's your loss, but to say that it insults you...that's something else."
I heard that it beat him up, and took his lunch money too.
OK. Maybe we did like tron at the time. We also liked Pong. That doesn't make me nostalgic for it.
But I'd way rather see Angelina Jolie in a jump suit than Jeff Bridges.
Period. =)
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Before reading about the film's history I figured it was a Crimson Skies ripoff, like Underworld seemingly ripped off White Wolf's World o'Darkness.
Then again, maybe I am overestimating the impact that freakin' board games and RPGs have on Hollywood executives!
all 260-some pages of it. It certainly has a plot, and a good one at that. I haven't seen the film yet, so it is indeed possible that the plot takes a back seat to the effects. Don't be a knee-jerk and assume it has no plot. Amazon page for book
-- Boycott Shell
The Sleeping Dictionary
She plays a language teaching tart that has sex with her student a lot. Her ass would look equally excellent in polished marble, or riding my considerable johnson.
For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
It's not like we watch them for the plot or 'character development'........ Actually the comment Fat Lipps and sucktastic probably nail the reason we do watch her movies. Except my definition of sucktastic is probably different.....
I need some kleenex....
So Long and Thanks for all the Fish.
... if I'm the only one who really doesn't care if a girl has fake boobs.
+++ATH0
http://mp.aol.com/audio.main.adp?mxid=1153566 Hear the soundtrack
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sky_captain/ Rottentomatoes reviews
http://imdb.com/title/tt0346156/externalreviews Page with links to several reviews
http://the-flying-legion.com/ fan site
http://imdb.com/title/tt0346156/board/nest/1163158 9 FAQ on IMDB
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451411633/ qid%3D1094844850/ the book on Amazon
And no, you couldn't find this stuff in 5 seconds on google.
-- Boycott Shell
It's easy to decry someone who 'sells out'. But why lambast someone who used the system to bring a dream to life?
Gainsaying mainstream distribution by mplying traitorship to some imagined cause is silly. What's the cause in this case? Simply an artist's desire to bring his vision to life.
To reach the masses, he cannot do this on his own. He either uses 'establishment' media channels or uses the internet, which despite the apparent chaos and freedom, still runs on a commercial backbone. He cannot show the world his vision without some medium (or media) to carry the message, who cares what path he takes? The important thing is that a man had a vision, and that vision was powerful (or at least compelling) enough to make the powers-that-be in the media industry sit up and take notice. Why should we not celebrate his success for what it is?
If visionaries can make their visions seen, by hook (the internet) or by crook (big media) what more revolution do we need?
"Yes, Jayne, she's a witch. She's had congress with the beast..."
"She's in Congress?" - Firefly, "Objects in Space
The sad thing about EH is that the set design and even the premise could have been used to make a really great sf/horror movie. But they weren't.
... affection. (Disclaimer: not my idea, read it on usenet somewhere). But did they go there and give us all a decent thrill? Nope.
The only logical explanation for the ship doing what it did (and for Sam Neil going along with it) is that he built the EH using his wife as a human sacrifice. Explains why his wife died, why he still obsesses about her, and why he calls the ship "she" with such
I've seen the trailers for this and hearing the director's path to get this made reminds me of two recent anime.
The first, Voices of a Distant Star, is similarly, a labor of love by a single director. Its 25 minutes long, so you might want to check it out at Blockbuster (as I did) instead of purchasing it. It has an interesting catch for the plot, mixes 3-D and 2-D animation (both probably done on computers), and keeps up a nice pace. Definitely worth a watch if not a purchase.
The second, Last Exile, is currently being released on DVD, so there's some time left if you want to wait for the entire series (26 eps) to finish being released. Its also shown on G4TechTV, but I don't know the schedule. I like Last Exile because it also has the retro feel to it, with "vancraft" that are reminicent of WWI-era aircraft.
From the Sky Captain promos I've seen, Last Exile is similar in style in and art direction. You'll see plenty of flying retro-style craft battling futuristic enemies. However, Last Exile has a plot worth following.
Check 'em out!
I always get the shakes before a drop.
"Sorry, honey, I didn't notice her breasts."
-- Boycott Shell
"...great and powerful ruler of a free and enlightened people..."
Free people may (possibly) have, by their own revokable consent, "leaders", but rulers?!?!
I think not!
It's no style job... they were just too poor to afford color back then.
I'd have a personalized plate on my car, but "toxic bachelor" won't fit into 7 letters.
Please direct your comments to Jules Verne.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Come on the main theme is stolen from stargate, how can a film be good if they steal music from other things!
The source material in Sky Captain is mostly old movie serials from over 50 years ago, NOT SOME STUPID VIDEO GAME OR DISNEY CARTOON FROM THE LAST TEN YEARS!
Now if you were talking about the Fleischer Brothers' Superman Cartoon, MECHANICAL MONSTERS, from the '40s, then you'd be onto something.
-- Boycott Shell
I also have to think that anyone who has dated a batshit crazy woman (ah, the good old days... when I could look beyond a woman's crumbling psyche and see the great rack inside)
:) Now, I got me a logical woman *gasp, can it be true?*.
Brought back some memories here as well
-Jesse
Nothing says "unprofessional job" like wrinkles in your duct tape.
This thing is going to flop big time and probably become a cult classic when it's released on DVD.
mary lou retton should make films?
CYBORG 2, where she plays a robot and has sex with Casey Jones.
Ummm... I call bullshit, or at least Urban Legend. Name me one time this has happened. I hate to tell you, but that's physically impossible.
Air pressure @ sea level: 749 mmHG.
Average blood pressure 120/80 mmHG.
If your story was true, your lungs would never work.
What a butt-load.
Just because you haven't had an idea worth making into something significant, don't carp that this guy did.
Dying alone and silent in idealism is nothing to hawk to the masses. Or even individuals.
I predict you won't be back here in a week to eat crow.
-- Boycott Shell
It happened to me, first and only time I gave blood. I was on my back for 3 weeks. The *classic* way to collapse your lung is to lift a large object over your head, like a sheet of plywood, while holding your breath. You don't feel it immediately but a short time later you are hating life. It's just a leeetle hole that leaks air. Some people are more susceptible especially if you have low blood pressure. I'd already had it once so I knew what it was. But even the techs there had only heard of it happening after giving plasma. Fun stuff.
Sometimes seventeen/Syllables aren't enough to/Express a complete
Libertarian? A lot of us hackers (including myself) are liberals. Hacking is non-partisan.
Don't forget Tin Men, with Billy-Bob Thornton and John Cusak -- Angelina appears topless there. Good stuff.
You mean against the blue-screen, right?
sic transit gloria mundi
Perhaps it was the first movie filmed entirely on blue screen, but some others are right up there like the new star wars movies.
The thing is, CG is awesome and it really looks fantastic now, but it often has a detrimental effect on how the movie is played out - the way the characters interact with the sets, the way the camera work is done, etc.
Don't get me wrong - it's just as hard or harder to direct a CG scene or movie. The animation takes real skill and talent and the directors still have to direct the animated characters.
I guess I'm split down the middle. I like CG a lot but I also like good old sets and camera work. I think CG is better suited to compliment the movie, not become the movie.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
The presenter, a filmmaking friend of Conran's, closed the screening with a joke about Pete Townshend meeting Eric Clapton in a London bar and commiserating about some new kid named Hendrix, "who's gonna kick our asses."
As far as I know, Hendrix died long ago, while both Townsend and Clapton are alive and kicking.
Now who kicked some ass?
"30's Style Noir Art Deco Movie Serial" seems to be becoming a whole subgenre, and it's definitely one of my favorite classes of film. Few of the following have the pervasive Sci-Fi themes that Sky Captain has. Still, here are some of my personal favorites in this subgenre. Note that some are more "Noir", some more "Art Deco". but most are just good, clean, movie-serial style fun. Needless to say, I love anything with an airship in it. :)
Doc Savage, Man of Bronze
The Shadow
The Phantom
The Rocketeer
The Indiana Jones films (of course)
Flash Gordon (Queen soundtrack!)
Big Trouble in Little China
Brazil (noir)
Bladerunner (noir)
Though it really doesn't fit, I'd also add J-Men Forever.
Others?
Serving your airship needs since 1995.
Exactly. From the few trailers for the movie I have seen, and the prominent placing they gave her name in the opening credits, I figured she would have a much larger part. The director mentioned she was only on the set filming for three days... hardly a major role.
BTW, I went to the same preview showing you did (which was fun (and no previews!)). I had read about this movie a while ago (can no longer find the article online) and I thought it was an awesome premise and it was neat how the guy started it on his computer in his apartment before being picked up by the big boys. This is one of the few movies I actually looked forward to seeing and kept an eye on.
One more thing to note, in one comment, someone mentioned that the studio demanded they bet bigger actors for the movie. I think the director said it was the other way around. They showed it to Jude Law, who got Paltrow involved, and then the studios took note. At least, that is what I thought he said.
Andrew
PS: Damn the Cinerama for no longer offering free refills on popcorn!
Maybe the demo would have been better received in the 1930's?
"Entirely" is a misleading term here.
Recently, I noticed Best Buy was giving away Sky Captian promotional DVDs, which contain the two trailers, a making-of documentary, and a PC game (which I haven't bothered to try). In the documentary, they clearly show that the libarary scene (In which Sky Captian is shot across a small library or study by a mysterious woman in a leather suit) was shot on a soundstage set, and the bulk of the room was real. Bluescreen was only visible through the windows. I wouldn't be surprised if there were other such scenes that they weren't counting.
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
She's nude in taking lives too (at least the director's cut..that's the one I rented).
you complain about being modded +5 funny, now you're +3 funny. hope you're happy!
Here you go.
Give you've seen Leauge 6 times and you still don't understand the insipid plot, you're probably an idiot. Come on, "Special Agent Tom Sawyer"?!, wtf ever.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Look, boys and girls! It's geek cool to 'dis' popular music and listen to shitty garage bands, all the while claiming that in some mysterious fashion this raises your intellect to godlike proportions over the masses of sheep you egotistically look down on.
And now we have something new! It's now cool to do the same thing to Angelina Jolie! Those same geeks who watched "Hackers" 67 times and jacked off wildly to every scene with Angelina in it now turn around and try to score points with their uber-arrogant crowd by claiming that Angelina Jolie, like "suxx0rs, d00d".
You know, if it were legal to sterilize you little twits I'd be out there with a pair of nail clippers in a heartbeat, doing my part to clean up the gene pool.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
Hollywood makes movies that are designed to make money. Not movies that are good. Don't forget, capitalism rules over art unless good art makes money.
The days of the digital watch are numbered.
Now that CG is so advanced as to remove all but props and actors, I want to see a new movie version of "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder!
I hope it's a better tribute than Flash Gordon of a few years ago -- although the Queen sountrack was GREAT!
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Worst Movie Ever!
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
Um, I think he said libertarian, not Libertarian.
I have nothing to allude to, and I am alluding to it.
They really don't cost too much and they make movies more enjoyable.
Many of us have trouble viewing articles.
That being said, if that fellow would have just used a software solution to begin with, then he would have been more successful.
testing out my trending skills
I just clicked on the link to their web site. It was obviously set up to show a Flash animation or some such thing, but since I run my browser with no plugins enabled, nothing showed. And since they provided no alternative link, there was nothing to see. Their loss. Whatever they may be selling, I won't be buying.
I haven't forgotten it, but I think you might have forgotten some aspects of it, like the title .
The film were Billy-Bob met Ms Jolie is actually entitled Pushing Tin.
Tin men, also a good film, is about cynical, dishonest, aluminum siding salesman in 1950s Baltimore.
As for the comments suggesting Ms Jolie is some kind of psycho... two points. First, it may be worth bearing in mind that this image of her as a psycho sells papers. She may be a lot more benignly eccentric than psycho. Second, Billy-Bob is probably just as "psycho" as as Ms Jolie.
The pulp retro 1930s future with airships, aircraft, and advanced industrial age technologies (pre-computers) is a popular genre and has been featured in several other films and computer games such as "The Roketeer" and "Crimson Skies". I was probably going to see this film anyway and not expect very much out of it, but the good reviews here have sealed the deal. I am going to see it for sure now. Of course the dialog in these sorts of films is often dumbed down for the masses which detracts somewhat from what are otherwise interesting concepts (ala Hellboy or Van Helsing). We shall see...
sounds like this is the re-envisionment of George Lucas' Star Wars. It has all the same elements (sci-fi/fantasy, clear good/bad division, heroes and heroines, 50's pulp fiction feel, destroys the 3rd wall effectively, good music...), but drastically outperforms Episode I. :)
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Sorry, but I have to ask again. Is there a GPL'd free Quicktime plugin for Mozilla/Firefox yet? I am only finding a suggestion to buy Crossover plugin and run the Windows version which I don't want to do. Is there any other way?
Thanks in advance.
I definitely need to see this movie, if nothing else than to check for more similarities. :)
"Orthodoxy is unconsciousness" - Orwell
Friggin TV ruining the movie for me before I even see it. I hate to not be surprised by movies, and the ads on TV and before other movies in the theater always show too much! I hate that.
...so I don't watch it.
Not only are my movies not ruined by it, but the house is a much more pleasant place with that damned thing turned off. Also, reducing the number of commercials I expose myself to has had a very nice effect on my general outlook.
Information doesn't want to be anthropomorphized anymore.
Captain Whoever's Lightning Rod
That particular episode crawls with classic 1960's era ambiguosly gay super-tough chic.
Another new Steampunk movie is this Anime title; Steamboy.
Yes, I'm finding random things not showing up with many comments I've clicked on in the past while. Strange.
Global warming is neither science, nor politics. It is a religion.
I just can't get over how awful (visually) this film looks, based on the trailer.
... )
Apparently, that's the point. The style itself is supposed to be some throwback to the early 20th century (I guess people were hazy-looking then, changing from black-and-white eyes will do that
Global warming is neither science, nor politics. It is a religion.
No, I haven't seen this movie.
I am a Sci-Fi / action adventure / bombs / boobs / guns / explosions fan. That's pretty much the only movies I watch.
This movie looks like the crappiest movie to come out in ages. While nothing can rival the craptacular nature of AI, this movie looks like it's going to take it's shot of dethroning AI in raw stupidity. However, whereas AI was and tried to be something intellectual, this movie doesn't even aspire to that. It appears to aspire to the campy, god awful dialog, visual effects and "science" present in the 1930's era comics and sci-fi rags.
All that stuff is great, and should be left to history. Not dredged up again, given a spit polish of SFX and called new. There's nothing nostalgic about a NEW movie done in the "old" style. It just looks like crap. Then we have the story... giant "evil" robots invade or something equally as vapid.
Yay... err *yawn*. Hi! I and my fellow white male American humans grew up several decades ago, and we no longer want to read/listen to/watch shallow, vapid, unrealisitic stories that require MASSIVE suspension of disbelief. We want something that's possible, if not plausible. We want Sci-Fi that we can potentially see happening in 10, 20, 50, 100 years. Not something that's just so ludicrous and unrealistic that it makes us gag.
In short, there's nothing about this movie that I find even remotely entertaining. The fact that they used the music from Stargate SG-1 for the first 4 months of the previews didn't help matters much, either. It was a blantant attention grab by the studio to try to garner interest by loosely associating it with a respected, well established bit of Sci-Fi... and that pisses me off. If the movie can't stand on it's own even in the previews, and needs to ride the coattails of real SF, why should I bother to go see it?
Bleh... is about all I can say. The story sounds stupid. The monsters/robots look stupid. Jude Law is weak. Angelina Jolee is hot, but not with an eyepatch for Christs sake. Basically, the actors suck.
So, in short, this movie has absolutely NOTHING going for it. Thanks, but no thanks. Please drive through.
Thanks, just what I was looking for. I also downloaded the "xine-mozilla-plugin-0.2-040910.rpm" package and dropped a copy of "xineplugin.so" into my Firefox plugins directory. Except for my bandwidth limitations, everything works exactly as it should for playing Quicktime streams.
How much of what I had to do is considered illegal by the MPAA? I noticed when I was googling for one of the Xine RPMs that all the hits were outside the US borders.
Naw, you are first against the wall when the revolution comes, moron, to live in the REAL world you need to understand how things work and then use them to make what you want happen, not sit in the corner in your little idealistic, impossible to realize world and do nothing.
I saw this guy is great, he had a dream, he made it happen, no one got hurt!
Why can't Hollywood make movies that have great special effects AND good plots?
;)
They can next year: In Joss Whedons Serenity
(Note, it's not his fault there is flash on that there site
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
is because it's hard.
No actually that's not it. Its because they don't give a shit. Why spend money on a writer with talent, when you can still make a bundle from something scribbled down in haste by you, your friend and the janitor.
They have standards for the quality of photography, not none for good story telling.
Its not hard if you have talent. But it does become hard because most of the people with the money don't have talent and don't have time for those who do.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Libertarian? Like "Liberal" or "Conservative" it's fast becoming little more than a flag to wave, I'd be surprised if more than 10 percent of the folks who go calling themselves "Libertarian" have any real concept of political-social dynamics.
The commercials feature her fat lips so prominently it looks like another wretched Tomb Raider promo.
Of course, you know the supreme irony is that Jolie herself no longer has or never had quite as perfect a body as required for the Tomb Raider 2 marketing collateral or body shots. Yes, even the best surgery and personal trainers have limits. So for the adverts and the pseudo-nudie shots, what you see is her head pasted (expertly and imperceptibly) onto a body double's torso. This is true - I have it on good authrity from my wife's sister's roomate's friend, who worked on the digital compositing.
Da Blog
Why is it that some people always bring up the "looks so fake" argument over every CGI heavy movie. No matter how well done the effects are there are plenty of people who seem to pride themselves on pointing out that they look fake. Hmm, really? 100ft tall robots look fake? Gee, is it because they did a crappy job with the CGI or is it because your brain has never seen a realy one? Gimme a break - just enjoy the damn movie.
"Trying is only the first step towards failure." - Homer
She gets pretty damn naked with Antonio Banderas. Not XXX but what do you expect from a "respected actress".
"Trying is only the first step towards failure." - Homer
I predict you won't be back here to tell me how right I was.
Now, I got me a logical woman *gasp, can it be true?*
Your computer is female? Or did you mean your porno collection?
I've heard of it in relation to diving accidents, but never giving blood...
In a week, one of us will be proved wrong
-- Boycott Shell
I've read the book and know that the trailers and TV ads aren't showing too much.
A few of the online clips go a bit too far, but there's still much more.
-- Boycott Shell
It failed. It did open at #1, but it only made 16.2 million this weekend. That's a failure. It'll drop off by about 50% next week. The studio will be lucky if they get to 40 million.
#1 and made as much as the other two new releases put together? I'd say it's a wash at best. The budget was far less than $70 milion, Paramount picked up distribution rights for probably half that, and the foreign territories have already been sold. Just by opening, it has made a profit.
When I think of flop, I think of 3 million Gigli type numbers, not #1 at the freaking box office! OK, I was here and you were here.
You didn't eat crow, and I didn't tell you that you were right.
-- Boycott Shell