Hollywood Fads NEW TRAILERS

As the Twilight Saga finally comes to a close and the storylines for the Vampire Diaries and True Blood become tired we herald in Hollywood's three new fads.

The first being Werewolves, though to be honest with the usually amazing Teen Wolf ending on such a terribly confusing season finale I wouldn't be surprised if it only lasts one more season.

The second is classic modernisation with Once Upon A Time which has been a huge success for Abc since it premiered last year and some new additions such as Elementary (based off Sherlock Holmes) and Beauty and the Beast on CW. On film we have the newest reimagining of The Wizard of Oz series with Disney's Oz: The Great and Powerful starring a blockbuster cast headed by James Franco as Oz himself and Mila Kunis as the wicked witch. I'm hesitant to add this but Disney's retake on Snow White titled 'The Order of the Seven' starring Saoirse Ronan in the titular role as Ms. White herself was to be set in Asia as a kung-fu movie with Jet Li also in the main cast. Before we groan, this project has been put on hold indefinitely, no doubt because of the critical flops, 'Mirror Mirror' and 'Snow White and the Huntsman' earlier this year. It seems Snow White should be put back to sleep in the reel room for another several years until we exhaust all other fairytales. I would very much like to see a modern adult take on the Pied Piper. Imagine how much press a movie about an online peadophile would be if it was entitled the Pied Piper.

The third fad that is really starting to take traction now is the zombie movie. We've had plently of movies with zombies in them before such as the classic 'I Am Legend', 'Zombieland' and 'Resident Evil' but these films mainly focused on survivors slaughtering soulless zombies. With the new zombie movie we focus on other elements that have not previously been explored in film such as the political and social implications of a zombie apocalypse as World War Z sets out to do and the scenario in which a zombie falls in love with you as we see in the trailer for Warm Bodies.

I'll let the trailers do the talking:

Warm Bodies

World War Z

The Master (2012, Annapurna Pictures)

I think expectations will be high when The Master is released in September which is pretty much self-explanatory when you note that the film stars Joaquin Pheonix, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams playing cult initiators.

Pheonix plays the role of Freddie Quell, a soldier returning home from World War II apparently suffering PTSD. He meets Lancaster Dodd (Hoffman) who is launching a religious organisation (cult) and becomes totally submerged in the movement but later finds himself questioning his beliefs.

Some of the opening shots in the trailer already show off the fantastic photography we expect to see throughout the film. Especially the camera angles and placements definitely give the film an edgy and dramatic feel.

The Master opens worldwide on September 21st 2012. It was bumped up from October 12th partially due to the current interest surrounding Scientology after Tom Cruise and Katie Holme's divorce.

Skyfall (2012, Eon Productions)

The brand new trailer for the new 007 movie Skyfall has just been released.

Check out all those scrumptiously photographed environments in the trailer and let me know what you think about the trailer in general.

I felt like it was another pretty standard action movie trailer. Guns, explosions, 'clever' dialogue and a pretty girl. Though I bet the movie will be more than just another action movie. It is Daniel Craig playing the titular role of James Bond after all.
Also good to see Judi Dench back as a sassy old lady. Last movie I watched of hers, 'Notes On A Scandal' (2006) she was playing opposite Cate Blanchett as a possessive and lonely, lesbian spinster. She really is an outstanding actress.

The Imposter (2012, Picturehouse Entertainment)

Algerian Frenchman Frédéric Bourdin is a man guilty of assuming at least 39 false identities in his lifetime. The documentary 'The Imposter' follows the story of his 5 month stint impersonating missing 13-year old American boy Nicholas Barclay and how he managed to convince and then alienate the Nicholas's family and American authorities as to his identity. A fascinating tale about a broken man playing on broken hearts this documentary includes interviews with the real-life players in this story including Bourdin himself, the family of the missing teen and the FBI agent who eventually uncovered the truth. Interspersed with beautifully shot recreated segments with actors. Currently playing at film festivals worldwide.

Cloud Atlas (2012, Warner Bros. Pictures)

Can anyone tell me what the hell this film is about? A five minute trailer for 'Cloud Atlas' was released today but it does little to help explain the concept behind the movie. Rather I was left feeling confused but somehow intrigued. At first I thought it was a indeterminate time film that used the same actors playing different characters through different centuries such as Aranofsky's 'The Fountain' or an abstraction of a similar idea in a broader context such as Malick's 'The Tree of Life' but it appears that it focuses more on a single action that has repercussions throughout history.

As the directors described in a commentary, the trailer had to be 5 minutes as there was so much to explain.
I was almost relieved to hear that one of the directors (yes there are three) is none other than Lana Wachowski of the Wachowskis, the duo that came up with the epic The Matrix Trilogy that I never really fully understood either.

It remains to be seen whether the film will really conquer all the genres it claims to embody or whether it will become a horribly self-indulgent piece of art.

US release date is set for the 26th October this year.

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (and trailer for Life Of Pi)

I can't wait until this movie comes out on general release in Australia as I missed out on tickets to the screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival. The trailer looks stunning even though I have no idea what it is about except that it is a fantasy film that follows a young girl in New Orleans.

I guess it's a good thing that the trailer doesn't give away the plot though as these things always kind of plant preconceived ideas about how the movie should be and you end up spending the whole movie waiting for a particular scene or being annoyed that the movie is nothing like the trailer.

It is directed by Benh Zeitlin with cinematography by Ben Richardson. Not familiar with his work but will definitely keep an eye out for him as some of the shots from this movie are so beautiful in terms of composition.

And while we're on animal movies here's the just-released trailer for Ang Lee's screen adaptation of Life of Pi. Looks exciting and the visuals remind me of the dreamscape sequences from The Lovely Bones.


I should add that I am in no way affiliated with Fox Searchlight, I just happen to enjoy all the films they release.

Young Adult (2012, Paramount Pictures)

Mavis is just your average 30-something jealous, psycho bitch who returns to her hometown in an attempt to rekindle a relationship with her happily married ex after she recieves an email from him announcing the birth of his baby.
Along the way she bumps into a crippled man at a bar who turns out to be one of the less popular kids from her old high school and they establish a rapport.
Featuring one of the most awkward sex scenes in the history of mainstream American cinema Young Adult is a wickedly hilarious film about growing up.

The Descendants: About The Cinematography in Relation to the Story

5 COMING SOON films motioncolor can't wait for.

As a child I chanced on the Apple trailer website (http://www.apple.com/trailers/) when looking up the trailer for the first live-action Scooby-Doo movie and have since become a trailer addict. I can spend hours watching them so here's a list of the 5 most anticipated upcoming movies as judged by their trailers.





Already released in the US, Martha Marcy May Marlene follows a young woman's psychological journey, fresh after escape from an extremist cult. Expected in Australian cinemas in March 2012 the cinematography has already been praised by viewers.





With an Australian release set for mid-January, The Descendants explores issues of parenthood and self-discovery after the protagonist (George Clooney)'s wife falls into a coma and her extra-marital affair is exposed. Set in Hawaii expect to see a lot of exotic suburbia.





An action-fantasy remake of the Grimm Brothers fairytale the plot is expected to be predictable but the visuals will no doubt be mind-blowing if the trailer is anything to go by. From the producer of Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland and starring Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth it is set for a tentative June 1st 2012 release.





Similar in style to 'Horton Hears A Who', an adaptation of a Dr. Seuss story by French studio Illumination Mac Guff who animated 'Despicable Me' the trailer already showcases the beautiful worlds audiences can expect to romp through when it arrives in cinemas next year March. Showcases the voice-acting talents of Danny DeVito, Zac Efron and Taylor Swift.





Rebooting the Spiderman franchise 'The Amazing Spider-Man' retells Peter Parker's story true to the comic book series to which it owes its roots. Starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone what should be most exciting will be the special effects. Any film that includes scenes of a superhero soaring over the New York skyline will be a sure-fire hit with me.

The greatest job in the world

So get this, someone out there is being paid to listen to good music. This job actually exists, they get paid to watch stuff before its released and pinpoint certain songs to certain moments and set certain moods. The title is known as a "Music Supervisor" and they are people who have an appreciation for all styles of music and are good at spotting artists. If you've ever watched a tv show and wanted to know what song was playing during a particular scene because you've never heard it before you can thank the music supervisors for exposing you to new music.

Just throwing out some names:

Alexandra Patsavas, was in charge of the super indie to mainstream soundtracks of Twilight, The O.C., Greys Anatomy and Gossip Girl. For exposing mainstream audiences to underground music there is no greater job. Her superiority complex must be fantastically high.

Chris Mollere was in charge of music for Pretty Little Liars, The Vampire Diaries and Kyle XY. Once again angering hipsters world wide for betraying their favourite artists.

I thought I'd have a go at compiling a soundtrack. It's not for any particular film or tv show but it certainly sets a mood. Let's just say its the soundtrack for the first season of MotionColor.

Turning Into Stone - Phantogram


Trembling Hands - Explosions In The Sky

Gymnopedie #1 - Dragon Ash

My Blood Is Full Of Airplanes - The Cinema

Bad and Good Trailers

I love a good movie but sometimes I watch trailers of films after I've seen them and find that they are a completely inaccurate portrayal of the essence of the movie. I know I should get off my high horse but this just really ticks me off. For example the other week I watched the excellent Arrietty by Studio Ghibli (in Japanese of course, English translations of Asian dialogue are too awkward for my taste) and then watched the American trailer on Youtube.

There are two major problems I have. The first being that the trailer has actually just given away the whole movie, even the ending and this upsets me because there are no surprises anymore.

The second is all those jokes they insert into the trailer that are standard with American comedy trailers in that the music will suddenly stop when the pun comes and everyone's meant to laugh, music resumes. Its old and lame and Arrietty is not a comedy at all.

Those poor American kids will be so disappointed and bored during the movie because they can never sit still and with this film I can imagine for children they need an insane amount of patience to survive it.

Compare the American trailer with the British one below.

This trailer is not only insanely truthful to the film but it also manages to entice target audiences while not giving away the entire plot.

Most film trailer productions are outsourced to advertising agencies who produce the 2 minute clips. Sure they know how to market a film so that it looks amazing but sometimes they just butcher it as demonstrated by the first trailer. Below I've included a few of my most favourite trailers of recent films that made me really excited to watch the movie. Of the 4 of them I was insanely disappointed by The Roommate and Beastly but they still had excellent trailers.

Another Earth (see earlier post for review)

The Roommate

Never Let Me Go (see earlier post for review)

Beastly

Another Earth (2011, Fox Searchlight)

Director: Mike Cahill

Cinematographer: Mike Cahill

Starring: Brit Marling, William Mapother

"Within our lifetimes, we've marveled as biologists have managed to look at ever smaller and smaller things. And astronomers have looked further and further into the dark night sky, back in time and out in space. But maybe the most mysterious of all is neither the small nor the large: it's us, up close. Could we even recognize ourselves, and if we did, would we know ourselves? What would we say to ourselves? What would we learn from ourselves? What would we really like to see if we could stand outside ourselves and look at us?" Richard Berendzen

The break before the start of college Rhoda Williams crashes into another car while drink driving. She survives but a pregnant woman, her unborn daughter and her son die in the accident and Rhoda is sentenced to prison. After release she embarks on a journey of redemption whilst a global event is unfolding. Scientists discover another planet identical to earth both in geography and inhabitation. On Earth 2 there is a you. Someone who has lived a life identical to yours and who makes the same decisions as you do. Underlying the whole movie is the question Rhoda so potently asks. "If you met yourself, what would you tell yourself?"

Beautifully shot, Another Earth looks like an ordinary suburban drama except that in the sky there is a planet that looks just like earth. This ominous motif is consistent throughout and reminds us all of the bigger events that underscore the domestic. In fact the image of Earth 2 is the only special effect that you will encounter in this low-budget gem but the picture is so endearing that it is enough to classify this movie as almost sci-fi. The colour spectrum consists largely of different tones of blue and yellow signifying cool and warm. Of course the lighter blues that are seen in the ocean scenes are the most refreshing and help adjust moods. At times the colour work is sub-par to the point where scenes, especially indoor scenes in John's house appear to be shot with a hand-held camcorder but it only adds a layer of realism to the film. None of the cast are particularly famous unless you count Mapother being Tom Cruise's cousin as famous which is wonderful as it allows audiences to concentrate more on the character than the actor.

The score by Fall On Your Sword characterises the key protagonists in the film. For example Rhoda is symbolised by the cello and John the piano. The most beautiful scene in terms of the music is a scene where John plays the musical saw producing an eerie and haunting sound complimenting the fantastic cinematography.

Another Earth was possibly one of my favourite films of the year. It was released earlier in the year in the US and played at Melbourne and Brisbane IFFs. It has yet to be announced whether it will be granted a limited or wide release in Australia but I am keeping my fingers crossed as I would love for other people to enjoy this movie as much as I did.

Black Swan (2010, Fox Searchlight)

Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cinematographer: Matthew Libatique
Starring: Natalie Portman (Sarah Lane as dance double), Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder
















A tragic tale of a tortured ballet dancer was one of the best films of 2010. Along with 'Never Let Me Go' it was a film I had been looking forward to watching for months and it certainly didn't disappoint. There were a few scenes that were awkward to watch such as the masturbation and lesbian love scene mainly as they are such taboo subjects but I felt they were necessary, the first to demonstrate Nina's loss of innocence as a result of her obsession with dancing and the latter her being tipped completely into the deep end. All essential as part of her emotional journey towards the epic finale.

To complement this thriller is a muted palette that compliments the superb acting and really lends to the depressing feel of the movie. The recurring colors being black, white and pink. The grain also lends to the film's honesty.

A lot of controversy had arisen over whether Natalie Portman really did dance the entire movie or whether that was just part of a PR strategy to generate hype about the film. It's still uncertain how much she did actually dance but she did have a dance double, Sarah Lane from the American Ballet Company who refutes the claims that 90% of the dancing was by Portman. Some scenes where Lane was shot above the torso are impressive in the special effects field where they replaced her head with Portman's. This kind of technology has really taken off in recent years in films such as Captain America where Chris Evan's head was cged onto a skinny extra's body and surprisingly even The Social Network where Armie Hammer's head was cged onto Josh Pence's body so that he could play identical twins.

Adventureland (2009, Miramax)

Director: Greg Mottola
Cinematographer: Terry Stacey
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Margarita Levieva, Ryan Reynolds, Martin Starr, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig











Stumbling across the gem of a movie 'Adventureland' was the result of researching Jesse Eisenberg from The Social Network and obsessive watching of rollercoaster youtube videos.

Adventureland is set in the 80s and has equal amounts of scenes set in the daytime and nightime. Daytime is mostly reserved for activity in Adventureland and is filmed in a washed out yellow filter. Nightime scenes vary between the theme park with all its bright lights, bars and house parties resembling scenes from the classic, American Graffitti. The entire film has a washed out aesthetic and is multicolored in line with the funpark theme although not excessively so.

What is interesting is that the whole story takes place during summer vacation between when the lead character James (Eisenberg) graduates high school and starts college. And while everyone is wearing t-shirts and short shorts acting as if the temperature is sweltering the whole movie was actually shot in the middle of winter in Pittsburg and every day the crew had to find ways of hiding the snow that had fallen the night before.

The script is well paced but I feel that it was unrealistic that James (Eisenberg) would have been able to be such a player in the film and gotten away with being angry at Em (Stewart) for sleeping with the repairman given that he was dating another girl at the same time.

Never Let Me Go (2010, Fox Searchlight)

Director: Mark Romanek
Cinematographer: Adam Kimmel
Based on the novel "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield












Never Let Me Go was one of those movies that you got really hyped up about and then felt disappointed after watching it. Visually it was a feast for the eyes but because I had read the book a year prior I ruined it for myself. I guess it's the same with all movies based on books with Harry Potter being one of the few exceptions. I prepped myself months before by watching Romanek's earlier film "One Hour Photo" and Mulligan's "An Education". Both were excellent which is another reason why you should always walk into a cinema with an open mind. I was mainly disappointed as the film wasn't quite able to convey all the British repressed sensibility that was so ubiquitous in the novel.

The entire movie is in shades of khaki green exuding a kind of solemn feel. The only variation is mainly between the natural greens and the turquoise the latter of which only appears in scenes within the hospitals juxtaposing the natural and artificial. The whole movie is really quite grim as from the very start you come to understand that they will all die young.

Some of the most beautiful scenes were shot in the English coastal towns. My favourite being Victoria Pier in Clevedon, the scene where Ruth (Keira Knightley) speculates that they are the clones of trash and also where Tommy (Andrew Garfield) piffs a stone into the lapping waves of the ocean in anger. In fact the other coastal scene shot in Holkham Beach with the abandoned boat was the most endearing for me and it was the screenshot I used as my desktop wallpaper for a few weeks.

The sombre mood overall was well captured by cinematographer Adam Kimmel though I have a feeling Mark Romanek played a large part in deciding the palette as the film has quite a similar feel to his previous work "One hour Photo" although I'm probably just comparing the scenes in the photo lab to this movies hospital scenes which had very sterile atmospheres.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of Romanek's work in the future but I hope next time he won't try to adapt such an emotion-heavy book into a 100 minute film.