AVATAR REVIEW FROM TORONTO STAR

Director James Cameron's new film Avatar was premiered in Britain on Thursday evening. Here is the Toronto Star's Peter Howell with his review...
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/article/738000--james-cameron-s-epic-avatar-brings-3-d-characters-to-life?bn=1

By the way, writer Howell states that the film cost a reported $500 million to make. Rest assured that is incorrect. That would mean Avatar would have to make well over a billion dollars before it would see any profit. More likely, that 500 figure is about what it will have to earn before it even looks as though anything might be gained.

Less than half the reported box office figures you read on Monday mornings make it back to the producing studios.

The good news is, even if Avatar comes up short, and it just might, it is future-ready because Cameron elected to shoot in 3-D.

Whatever: The story must click with audiences. Technical exercises are just curiosities, at best.

YOUTUBE TREK

It has been a busy week, folks. So much to do and not enough time.

After posting my previous entry (DECEMBER 7TH OF 1979) I took a few minutes to see if I could find anything interesting regarding "1979 Trek" and quickly found this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYPvH6LW_uY

... good ol' Youtube. That is pretty interesting stuff. I'm wondering why it is so rare, and took 30 years for this geek to see it for the first time.

In a few scenes you can see the 65mm camera... used for "plate" shots, where the image would be optically printed later on to form a final composite. Of course, regular 35mm motion picture film was used for everything else; lensed in 'Scope' by the very talented Richard Kline, of Camelot, and King Kong (1976) fame.

DECEMBER 7TH OF 1979

I'm reading the morning paper when I see that today's date is December 7th. What is it about this day, besides the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941?

On December 7th, 1979, I stood in line for some movie that ended up disappointing many people -- even though it went on to make a lot of money -- but became the favourite film 'in the series' for some.

Star Trek - The Motion Picture was a polarizing piece of celluloid... still is, or can be. Get over it, Trekkies. (The dirty little secret is a lot of fans do not like ST: TMP for the simple reason that there are virtually no "starship battles". Boo-effing-hoo!)

One thing's for sure, it is still the biggest budget Trek of the bunch (not that it means anything outside of trivia circles). That is the reason why Paramount was not happy; even though the film brought in the bucks it was not really "profitable", which is proportion of money made compared to money put in. That is also the reason why studios love movies like The Blair Witch Project -- insane amounts of money made in relation to the initial investment in the film. Juno (2007) is another good example.

Star Trek - The Original Series is almost entirely out on Blu-ray with the upcoming (December 15th) release of the third and final season. (The dirty little secret is that I have only the first season on regular DVD... and I do not even have a Blu-ray player, with no plans to buy one at this point in time. Strange, eh, considering I have long worked in 'imaging' in film and video, including home-video.)


Mark A. Altman wrote a 30 year anniversary tribute for ST:TMP...
http://trekmovie.com/2009/12/07/december-7th-1979-star-trek-the-motion-picture-began-30-years-of-star-trek-movies/

AVATAR

While a friend of mine was over visiting last night I played the 60 Minutes story from two weeks ago that was done on director James Cameron and his upcoming digi-epic (or digepic), Avatar.

As the segment wrapped up I got the gut feeling that Avatar will be a big bust. As God said during a certain Sam Kinison stand-up routine, "let's watch... ".

THE NEW PEOPLE - ON ABC-TV

I was reading a book today on science fiction television programs from 1959 to 1989.

While leafing through -- it was more a leafing than a real reading -- I came across a television series I had never heard of before: The New People ran on ABC from 1969 - 1970.

Here is the blurb that appeared above the main body of the article. (It may be the opening title voice-over.) See if it reminds you of anything...

"Forty American college students, part of a Southeast Asia cultural exchange tour, are marooned on a lost island in the South Pacific after their plane crashes. The island is Bomano, once designated as the site for an atomic bomb test.

The students find a makeshift city, left behind by the Atomic Energy Commission. The castaways, realizing that they're thousands of miles away from the nearest shipping lanes, must now build their own world. For them, it's year one."

... there were two accompanying photos from The New People. It was kind of eerie.

STAR RICHARD TODD DIES

British actor Richard Todd, star of many films, including The Dam Busters and The Longest Day, died yesterday at the age of 90...
http://imdb.com/news/ni1260941/

FEIST - ONE HIT WONDER?

What I learned today while scanning the newspapers is that Canadian singer Feist is a "one hit wonder". I had no idea. I do know that she played at Lee's Palace here in Toronto... a friend of mine went to see her and fell in love. (I think he was already in love.)

I don't know why a big deal is made about the whole issue of one hit wonders. Heck, some of my favourite songs are from that specimen/animal. Besides, one hit is one more than I have.

THE DAM BUSTERS ON BLU-RAY

Coming to a Blu-ray player near you, if you even have one, is the 1954 British WW2 classic, The Dam Busters. In 1943 a special RAF squadron (617) was set up to deliver a secret bomb-type with the intent of shortening the war.

As illustrated on Gary Tooze's outstanding website http://www.dvdbeaver.com/ the superb docu-drama looks sparkling. The reviewer -- Leonard Norwitz -- does seem to be confused as to where this transfer came from: He may not be aware that this home-video release was struck off the original camera negatives by way of the restoration done two years ago by the British Film Institute and which was released to British cinemas on a limited basis. For years and years all television prints, DVD, and VHS releases were struck off the same set of soft and degraded intermediates.

All technical matters, of course, what really matters is the movie itself: A true story done with dramatic aplomb while maintaining historical accuracy (for the most part). By the way, the Barnes Wallis "bouncing bomb" was still on the secret list when The Dam Busters was produced in 1953, and was until becoming declassified in 1962. The viewer therefor just sees a barrel-like protrusion from the bellies of the Lancaster bombers and is not even aware that a chain gear put a spin on the bomb before it was released... unless he or she already knew that interesting detail. (Paul Brickhill's excellent book "The Dam Busters" goes into the workings of the machinery and 617 Squadron itself -- the second half of the book covers the subsequent 'special operations' done by the special force after the dams raids.)


The article in question...
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews25/dam_busters.htm

(Still frame above: Robert Shaw and Richard Todd.)

CARLTON CINEMA - TORONTO

We always remember what movies we saw where, and when. At the Carlton Cinema in Toronto I saw such fare as The Architecture of Doom, The Player, and Visions of Light. I admit I have not being going in recent years. And now, I have no choice as that choice cinema is now closed.

And I call myself a movie fan. Fuck the mainstream!... I say. Too bad I did not put my money where my box office is... was.

DOCTOR DEATH: SEEKER OF SOULS - COMING TO DVD

On January 26th, 2010, home video distributor 'Scorpion Releasing/Code Red' is releasing one of my favourite movies, 1973's horror dandy, Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls, to DVD. It is, however, not just a dump-to-disc effort. While the DVD will not be the Blu-ray kind, Doctor Death was transferred to HD from the original camera negatives. (All of the 'elements' were in the possession of MGM.)

Actor John Considine, who plays the titular character, recorded a commentary track and an on-camera interview.

All technical matters, of course, but ones which will allow what is, to me, a superior example of a film which plays horror and comedy successfully in the same breath -- or dying breath -- to shine through. Oh, I won't forget mentioning the terrific score by Richard LaSalle... the superior audio of the upcoming DVD will, no doubt, help the music blossom.

(Trivia: Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls was directed by Eddie Saeta, who was an assistant director on a few of the old Three Stooges shorts -- which helps explain the cameo by Moe Howard; it was shot by Kent Wakeford, who worked for director Martin Scorcese on Mean Streets and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore; composer LaSalle also worked on Alice, writing its instrumental music; film editor Tony DiMarco cut episodes of the original The Outer Limits television series.)

Time to start throwing my pennies into the jar -- the one holding the heart.