DARK SHADOWS

Tim Burton brings TV’s original vampire soap opera to the big screen with Johnny Depp filling the formidable shoes of the late Jonathan Frid (making his last appearance here in a cameo) as the infamous Barnabas Collins.

HEADHUNTERS


Norway’s most accomplished corporate headhunter (Max Manus) moonlights as an art thief who bites off more than he can chew when he tries to bring his two disparate enterprises together in the form of a wealthy art collector (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Based on the best-selling book by Jo Nesbø.

SOUND OF MY VOICE


A documentary film team (Christopher Denham and Nicole Vicius) find themselves in danger after they infiltrate a religious cult led by the gorgeous Brit Marling (“Another Earth”), who also co-wrote the screenplay.

ELLES


Juliette Binoche plays an investigative journalist (a dying breed) dealing with a troubled home life while trying to sniff out a prostitution ring preying on gullible college coeds. Malgoska Szumowska directs.

FIRST POSITION


Bess Kargman’s award-winning documentary explores the joys and heartbreaks of aspiring ballet dancers as they compete in the prestigious Youth America Grand Prix.

GOODBYE FIRST LOVE


Writer-director Mia Hansen-Løve tries her hand at exploring young love in the form of a 15-year-old French girl (Lola Créton) whose affections for an older boy (Sebastian Urzendowsky) take a heartbreaking turn when he abruptly leaves her to go find himself in South America.

THE ARTIST


If you want to give Mom the perfect Mother’s Day gift, take her to see this year’s Best Picture Oscar winner, which begins a one-week run Friday in advance of its DVD debut next month. They used to say love means never having to say you’re sorry; but in the case of this black-and-white silent classic, love means never having to say a word.

Article source: http://www.enterprisenews.com/mysource/entertainment/x1266602129/New-movies-Dark-Shadows-Headhunters

MIAMI – Trends and fads are generational. The hippie movement died with Watergate. Disco ruled, until it became a bad word. MTV once dictated popular culture; now it airs “Jersey Shore.”

But geeks and nerds? They’re forever – and their ranks are growing.

In “Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope,” director Morgan Spurlock (“Super Size Me”) follows several attendees to the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con – the largest nerd mecca in North America – as they pursue their dreams of drawing superheroes for a living, winning elaborate costume contests, or tracking down prized collectibles.

Not so long ago, their passionate, sometimes quixotic quests – like one man’s frenzied hunt for an 18-inch Galactus doll – might have been written off as trivial pursuits.

Today, though, everyone is paying attention.

“There was a time when nerds were guys who sat around on their computers and geeks were the ones who read comic books and action figures, and everyone made fun of them,” Spurlock says. “But now, those two worlds – geeks and nerds – have collided, and today they control every aspect of the media and the entertainment business. Geeks and nerds are the ones who are creating those tablets we’re using to read, the iPods we’re listening to, the movies and TV shows we watch, the books we read. These people who were once seen as being fringe and weird have become incredibly influential. And now you see frat guys wearing Green Lantern T-shirts. It’s almost become a badge of honor to show you’re an adult who still embraces your childhood passions and still has a sense of play in your life.”

On Sunday, “The Avengers” broke box-office records by grossing an astonishing $200 million in its initial three days of release (its worldwide tally stands at $642 million). Due later this summer: a 3-D reboot of “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Dark Knight Rises,” Christopher Nolan’s final entry in his trilogy of “Batman” films.

The love of all things geek transcends superhero movies. On HBO, the medieval fantasy “Game of Thrones” – based on George R.R. Martin’s perennial bestsellers – is drawing nearly 4 million viewers per week, despite having been dismissed by The New York Times as fodder for “Dungeons Dragons types.” A “Game of Thrones” videogame is due May 15. “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,” another videogame released last November in which players slay dragons and perform magic, generated $620 million in its first month of sales. The “Harry Potter,” “Twilight” and “Hunger Games” series were worldwide phenomena.

“More people are embracing nerd culture because so much of it is so good,” says Michael Avila of AviLand Productions, a content provider for SyFy.com and other entertainment websites. “If they had tried to make ‘Game of Thrones’ a decade ago, it would have had the production values of ‘Xena: Warrior Princess.’ There were several Marvel movies made in the 1970s and ’80s, but they were terrible. Gradually, though, the budgets got higher and the talent pools got deeper. Today, there is a faction of the geek community that is drunk on the power the movie studios have granted them the past few years.”

Not every comic-book or geek-friendly movie is an instant smash: “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and “The Green Lantern,” two seemingly can’t-miss nerd magnets, both tanked. The mega-budget “John Carter” disappointed in March, despite an extensive promotional campaign by the Walt Disney Co.

Article source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/08/2789427/latest-boom-in-comic-book-movies.html

The new Marvel big screen production of the Avengers hit American theatres this weekend and will not disappoint comic book fans or those new to the exploits of heroes who were created largely by comic book writing and illustration legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 1960’s.

Of course, in the sixties things were different politically with the war in Vietnam, civil rights unrest, the threat of nuclear war and the military industrial complex taking center stage among young people who are now in some case members of AARP.

Politics was looked upon as a worthy profession then and some of the best and brightest wanted to serve to change America.

With all the social and political problems in the sixties it still produced John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King and many others.

The image of JFK giving his “ask not what your country can do for you” speech still resonates in the 21st century.

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Different than DC Comics with Superman and Batman, Marvel introduced heroes who had personal issues, were imperfect and addressed the politics of the time like war and drug addiction.

DC Comics during that time had a stable of almost perfect heroes (what problems did Superman really have back then?) with no real problems and the writing at that time drew a huge number of teens and college students toward Marvel Comics.

Other Marvel characters like Spiderman had girl problems, was often broke and could not pay his rent on time and even had spoiled milk in his refrigerator.

Iron Man was created by war profiteering.

Tony Stark, the armaments supplier and weapons creator was injured by shrapnel from a bomb much like those he created in his factories had to build a suit of armor to magnetically keep the shrapnel from reaching his heart and also providing him the means to escape his captors.

The Hulk was created testing a Gamma radiation weapon, a blast just as powerful as and more dangerous than a nuclear explosion.

Captain America was a product of a World War 2 experiment to create a super soldier serum to Administer to American soldiers for military application.

Thor was a mythological Norse demi-god who was sent to the Earth to better understand humanity and learn to discard his arrogance and conceit while using his powers over lightning and storm to help protect the planet.

Hawkeye, the Black Widow and Nick Fury were all essentially agents and spies working for the federal government.  The Black Widow also worked for the Soviet government.

Politically most of the characters in the Avengers would be conservative.

Captain America is from the World War Two era and probably would be overwhelmed by all of the political wrangling seen on 24 hour cable channels. However, his upbringing in the 1940’s combined with being 70 years away from his own time would not support the liberal views of today and the fact that more issues are grey rather than black or white.  

In the Ironman movies to date (number 3 is in production now) Robert Downey’s Tony Stark has even alluded to the “Liberal agenda” and is an unabashed second generation capitalist. His obvious predisposition to support a strong military was why he became Ironman to begin with. He even bragged that he had “privatized world peace.”

Bill O’Reilly with Fox News has even made a guest appearance in the second movie.

Of all the characters in the film Bruce Banner may be the most moderate by necessity. It is clear that he doesn’t want the Hulk to be commandeered as a weapon for the US government.

During the sixties when many protestors of the Vietnam War burned draft cards and protested many of the policies that American politics had guided the country into others supported continuation of the war, non-enforcement of civil rights and a different social policy.

All one would have to do is view an episode of Madmen on AMC to get a feel for the difference.

That is the beauty of the Avengers movie and also why it makes the film a better than even bet to break box office records and become the summers first blockbuster. Analysts expect the movie t come close to $150 million in the first weekend making it the best grossng superhero movie to date.

The writing of Stan Lee and the illustrations of Jack Kirby and other pencillers from the past poses excellent questions today about building weapons of mass destruction to produce lasting peace.

It further asks whom is really overseeing the decisions?

The definitive answers are not found anywhere in the movie, but the questions seem as relevant today as they were fifty years ago.

That is why the Avengers will entertain and even cause some of us to think.

Article source: http://www.examiner.com/article/the-new-marvel-avenger-s-movie-brings-up-some-relevant-political-questions

Actors Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo are shown in a scene from “The Avengers.”
(The Avengers, assembled. | Marvel Studios via Reuters)
In this week’s new movies, the much anticipated superhero ensemble flick “Marvel’s The Avengers” hits area theaters and “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” is too bland to constitute quality entertainment. Here’s what the Post critics had to say:

“The Avengers” (PG-13) “‘The Avengers’ has been executed with all the reverence the super-fans demand, as well as the winking, self-referential humor that has made it palatable for filmgoers disinclined to take a bunch of grown men dressed in spangles and spandex so very seriously.” — Ann Hornaday

“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (PG-13) “A blandly middling crowd pleaser, ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ follows a group of seven English retirees who have taken up residence in a seedy Indian boarding house. The entertainment that one is able to derive from it is directly proportional to the appeal of each character. Those levels vary widely.” — Michael O’Sullivan

“Restless City” (R) “It might not be obvious from the title, but “Restless City” possesses a poetic, contemplative sensibility as attuned to the vagrant beauty of polyglot urban life as to its chaotic unpredictability.” — Ann Hornaday

“Free Men” (Unrated) “Set in the community of Arab immigrants in Nazi-occupied Paris, ‘Free Men’ is not just another Holocaust drama.” — Michael O’Sullivan

“Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story” (Unrated) “Although the film is an enlightening and engaging journey, it trades in overt sentimentality and looks at Netanyahu’s shortcomings the way a potential employee might describe his weaknesses in a job interview – he just cared too much.” — Stephanie Merry

Article source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/going-out-gurus/post/the-avengers-and-more-new-movies/2012/05/03/gIQAzDjpzT_blog.html