ROBOT CRUSH

Sony Screws Duncan Jones… & Not Like His Girlfriend Does

robotcrush — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:47:11 +0000

Moon Director Duncan Jones Loses Out Financially from Sony Studio Trickery

One of the best films of last year was without doubt Moon. While nominated for a few Oscars, Sam Rockwell’s performance as an isolated worker on a mining base on the Moon was ignored despite being widely regarded as the finest performances of last year (indeed, of the last few years) and despite Director’s Duncon Jones personal twitter campaign to get him nominated.

Now Jones, a frequent twitterer (is that even a proper word yet?) tweeted today about how he’s been screwed over by Sony Studio’s in the release of the US market DVD.

“Just learned how we got “got” by the studio on Moon, and wont be getting any revenue from it. Very angry” he tweeted.

“Did you know that sometimes, when a studio wants to screw an indie film, they actually “give away” the DVD to large rental chains? Then they can split rental revenue with those chains, and pay the film makers… you guessed it… nothing.”

To put that into context, he said that while UK DVD sales of Moon are “a healthy 120,000+, US numbers are less than half of that because of the number of “free” copies given to rental companies”.

Jones appears to have removed the tweets since posting them earlier today (no doubt at the urging of the studio or a manager) but a number of news sources have already picked up the story and are reporting on it. Sony can only come out of this looking like some sort-of pseudo Bernie Madoff by entering into an agreement which they deftly sidestepped and tried to maximise their revenue stream from. Guess someone won’t be to quick to work for them again! Personally, best of luck to Duncan Jones (who seems like a geniune gent) in screwing them back.

Follow Duncan Jones on Twitter at twitter.com/manMadeMoon

Space Nazis Attack!

robotcrush — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:34:19 +0000

Iron Sky Promo Trailer

I’m coming late to this but Gizmodo today posted some pictures taken from the set of the production on a new low-budget film called Iron Sky. The premise of the movie is that the good ol’ Nazi’s went to the Moon in 1945, set up camp there and in 2018 decide it’s time for some goddamn payback against those pesky Allies. Sounds ridiculous but all we need to know is that it has Nazis, in Space, with kick-ass tanks and badass spacesuits. Think I might have to add this to my addendum of ‘2010 Movies to Watch Out For‘.

The official website is well worth checking out for those with a love of all things retro-steampunk-esque www.ironsky.net

Robot Love with a Splash of Vodka

robotcrush — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 12:16:55 +0000

Spike Jonze’s New Short Film – I’m Here

Spike Jonze’s can honestly do no wrong. At this stage in his career, Jonze is respected as one of the most gifted and visionary directors currently working. Having just completed, what will likely be the last big-budget arthouse film that will be seen for some time with Where The Wild Things Are, Jonze has thrown himself back into his filmmaking which has seen the release of the hugely well-received Kayne West short film We Were Once a Fairytale and now his latest project which comes in association with Absolut Vodka.

I’m Here is a bittersweet love story about 2 robots living in Los Angeles. The full 30-minute film is available to view online here in limited numbers (which can be infuriating if you miss the ‘screening’) but check below for the trailer.

We Were Chosen….

robotcrush — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:50:33 +0000

Predators Movie Trailer

As one of my “2010 Movies to Watch Out For” I’m pretty excited to see the full trailer for Predators arrive and in short, it’s pretty badass. The guys over at IGN got the exclusive which shows more footage than we got last week from the SXSW presentation by Rodriguez. Despite a lot of people’s inital eyebrow-raising at the casting of Adrian Brody, I have to say he looks like he yet might carry off the role of reluctant-action-hero. Check out the video below.

Download links for the Hi-Def Trailer via HD-Trailers.net Blog

HotFile Mirror: 720p
RapidShare Mirror: 720p

Predators Go a-Hunting

robotcrush — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:24:04 +0000

Predators Sneak Peek from SXSW

Robert Rodriguez has, as promised, delivered a sneak peek at the new Predator franchise reboot at the SXSW festival. The footage clocks in at 2-minutes and delivers all kinds of badass-ary including a very brief glimpse of the Predator hunting dog. My only gripe with the footage is the way it’s edited together gives the impression that Rodriguez is directing the film and has no real mention of the actual director Nimrod Antal. Anyway, who cares – it’s hunting season! The official website has also gone live.

Official Plot Synopsis: Royce, a mercenary who reluctantly leads a group of elite warriors who come to realize they’ve been brought together on an alien planet… as prey. With the exception of a disgraced physician, they are all cold-blooded killers mercenaries, Yakuza, convicts, death squad members human “predators” that are now being systemically hunted and eliminated by a new breed of alien Predators.

Dad, It’s Been A Long Time….

robotcrush — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:33:28 +0000

New Tron Legacy Trailer

So after a week of teaser images from the first few scenes of the new trailer – last night, we finally got to see the new Tron Legacy trailer and man was it worth the wait. The trailer fleshs out the storyline of the long-awaited sequel a lot more (not that there’s much to flesh out – boy looks for Dad, that’s it) and provides a link between the new and old film. The footage shows considerably more then we had previously seen in the now-famous proof of concept / VFX test footage from Comic Con 2009. Flynns derelict arcade looks like every single piece of dust has been lovingly and strategically placed and the new Tron world looks just how my skewered and completely biased version of the old film imagined it should’ve looked in 2010. And am I the only one who thinks this trailers screams Bluray glory already? I should say I am completely biased when it comes to this film – I’ve been obsessing about it ever since I saw the teaser footage and heard that amazing new Daft Punk song (YT / MP3). Check out the trailer below – it’s worth it.

Download links for the Hi-Def Trailer via HD-Trailers.net Blog

HotFile Mirror: 480p, 720p, 1080p
RapidShare Mirror: 480p, 720p, 1080p

Fuck Harry Potter…

robotcrush — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:03:01 +0000

Here’s The 2010 Movies You Really Need to Look Out For

Kick-Ass

Everything about this film is gonna be awesome. It’s based on a graphic novel by Marc Millar and was independantly produced outside of the Hollywood system so director Matthew Vaughn and Millar could produce the film they way they wanted – hard-R. The film is the story of a young adolescent boy who decides one day that he wants to become a superhero – the only problem, he has no ‘special’ powers. That however, does not stop our young hero in pursuing his dream and meeting a number of outlandish and downright-badass characters along the way including the 12-year old Hit-Girl with a penchant for big guns and bigger knives.

It’s the type of Superhero film to end the common movie-goers perception of superhero film and will most likely have everyone saying in 6 months time – “you seen Kick-Ass yet? That film is awesome!”

Clash of the Titans

Personally, I’m an unashamed-massive obsessive about the old Harryhausen mythology-based films & eventhough Jason & the Argonauts is my favourite, Clash of the Titans holds special value for me as my first introduction to the world of Harryhausen & his mastery. When word broke that a remake was on the cards for this film, apprehension didn’t begin to describe how I felt. But Louis Leterrier, who directed one of the finest martial-arts films of the 00′s in Unleashed/Danny the Dog, was then attached to direct and good vibes started to emanate from the set.

The first trailer was your typical Hollywood-fantasy-with-rock-score fest but the recent International Trailer took my excitement for this film to a whole other level which was so awesome even the giant scorpions rocked in time to the score – you just can’t buy that kind of editing! This film will be epic & will be the film that will launch a 1,000 remakes of the old Harryhausen classics.

Tron Legacy

A sequel to the cult-hit Tron has been in the making for a looong time. Every few years. word seem to creep up from somewhere that a new draft script was completed or that some big-name director was attached to direct. But now, geek-dom can finally rejoice as the Tron Legacy film is soon to hit. Based on even the small footage seen from the text visual effects footage that hit the internet last year, this film is going to push the boundaries of Special Effects in much the same way that Avatar has done. Trust me, people will actually be talking about this film and it’s effects more than other film this coming year. As for the story, who cares – it’s fucking Tron!

Buried

Buried is a film which just by the description will grab people’s attention and find it’s own audience. The film is based on first-time writer Chris Sparling’s script which basically tells the story of an American Contractor (Ryan Reynolds) who wakes up in a box buried underground somewhere with nothing but a mobile phone and a lighter. The hook of the film though is that the whole film takes place inside the box creating what many people are calling one of the most tense films of this coming year. The film was recently shown at Sundance and was the subject of a bidding war by every major studio for the distribution rights.

Iron Man 2

This film literally needs no introduction. It’s Iron Man 2 – meaning more witty Tony-Stark comments, more fast cars, more ridiculously hot women, more explosions and more AC/DC. Oh, and War Machine. What more can a man ask for?

Green Zone

Probably the oddest film of my ’2010 Movies to Watch Out For’ is Green Zone. Somehow, Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon managed to convince Universal Studios to fork out $100 million on an Iraqi war-movie that quite frankly, is only going to appeal to a niche market and will, with near certainty, fail at the box office. How they did this is a mystery but makes me want to see this film even more just to see what $100m can get you in an Iraqi war movie these days. Bourne vs those naughty Muslims?

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Obsessed. I am 100% completed obsessed with this movie and it’s amazing teaser trailer (which I already wrote about here). Bringing such an iconic character as Gordon Gekko back to the screen is a major risk (see Sharon Stone’s Basic Instinct) and many people thought Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas were simply in it for the money ironically. But the teaser trailer has allayed a lot of fears that this film might quite possibly actually be great. Douglas looks sharp as Gekko and despite the many criticism’s about him, LeBeouf looks as equally well-suited as the young-Gekko wannabe.

And just incase you were in any doubt about how unbelievable badass Douglas was as Gekko here’s that speech – Greed is Good

Predators

Reportedly, not long after the terrible fiasco that was Predators 2, a lowly Mexican called Robert Rodriguez took it upon himself to write a new Predators script. Reports say that the film was so epic and so ‘sci-fi’ that no one thought it could ever be filmed and so it sat on some guys desk. Fast-forward 20 years later and the world has seen the the ‘unfilmable’ Lord of the Rings and Sin City brought to vivid life. After the release of the recent bluray for Predator, renewed interest was found for Rodriguez’s script and before anyone really knew what was going on, some new hot-shot director (Nimrod Antal) and a cast were filming the reboot in typical Rodriguez lo-fi fashion. Antal’s recent film Armored points to some well-directed action sequences and with Rodriguez overseeing the film things can only be good – hopefully.

Daily Obsession: HTC Legend

robotcrush — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:21:22 +0000

I Will Sell You The Rights to Name My First Unborn Child For This

Ahh, the HTC Legend. For months now I’ve been comtemplating upgrading my old smartphone. My HTC Touch Dual (Nike) has served me well and upgrading the ROM to WM6.5 gave it a new lease of life. What sold me on it originally was the slide out 16-key keyboard along with the touchscreen capability but alas it seems everyone is steering away from keyboards these days except a few select other phones. Touchscreens is apparently where it’s at.

For the last few years HTC has quietly been developing and spreading it’s commited followers across the globe. Steadily building a name for reliable and customizable phones. Last July they unleashed the HTC Hero on the world. Not the first Android-based phone on the market but the first Android phone to really make a impact. Using Android 1.5 (then 1.6) the phone fast became a must for smartphone lovers who wanted the ability to customize their phone whatever way they wanted. From the first day I saw it, I wanted it. I mean, I really wanted it. But soon word started to leak that HTC were quickly developing a successor to the Hero.

After HTC’s Presentation at MWC2010, websites started quickly reporting that the Legend, & not the Desire, was the Android phone to end all phones. The Legend will be released rocking Android 2.1 with HTC’s Sense UI overlaid on it. It features capacitive touchscreen and the now-infamous ‘pinch-to-zoom’. But better than all this, and the thing that has me completely obsessed with it, is the fact that the outer case is made from a single-formed sheet of Aluminium. Let me repeat that – a single-formed sheet of Aluminium. How insanely-cool is that? Written down, it sounds like one of those things where you’re reponse might be ‘meh’. But when you see the phone, you realise what an amazing stroke of genius it was. It just makes the phone so… well, awesome.

Knowing Ireland, it’s going to take us 6 months for the phone to arrive on any carrier but officially the phone will hit the street next month and word is, that Google are so impressed they are considering selling it alongside their Nexus One in their online store. While there is promotional video out for the Legend but the video from the Engadget guys gives you a far better look at the phone.

Dammit, I need it now!

Video: Engagdet

Sony Deserves a Smack!

robotcrush — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:17:20 +0000

The Amazing Spider-man Reboot Fiasco (Waiting to Happen)

To me, this story reads like an episode of “How-Many-Bad-Ideas-Can-We-Come-Up-With-At-Once” produced and directed by, and starring Sony Exec’s. No one is going to deny that Spider-man 3 was a letdown. Sure the film made ka-gillions but the story was all over the place, the ‘Peter Parker as an asshole segment’ was just cringe-inducing and most people just wanted to smack Topher Grace everytime he was on screen. For me personally, it’s only saving grace was the performance of Thomas Haden Church (and of course the obligatory awesome Bruce Campbell cameo). Even Raimi has voiced his displeasure with the end result a number of times citing ‘studio-interference’ and other restrictions as the reasons we didn’t get the film he wanted and envisioned.

So now, in Sony’s infinite wisdom, they have decided to let Sam Raimi walk away from the franchise and decided that a reboot is necessary. A reboot – why didn’t we think of that? We only made $2.5bn with the last 3 films and that Raimi-guy can be a bit stroppy at times. Besides, who’ll remember the ‘old’ franchise by the time the new one hits?

Reboots (as you can guess) annoy me. If they’re justified then that’s okay (see Daredevil) but rebooting an already successful franchise just cause everyone else is doing reboots makes no sense. The Spider-man franchise was solid – simple as that. It cost money but it made a shitload more than it cost. That maths seems fairly simple to me. You had a director who actually cared about the story and characters and big-name actors queueing up to be in it. What was the problem? Okay, rumour has it that between Raimi & Maguire they were walking away with nearly 25% of the takings not to mind their actual fee for the films. That’s big money and in my estimation this decision comes down to nothing more than Sony trying to cut their costs and still cash in on the Spider-man name while it’s fresh in everyone’s mind.

So what of Marc Webb, the man who’s been tapped to take the directors chair. Well Webb is the unknown part of this new equation. Coming off the back of last years hugely critically successful (500) Days of Summer, Webb is aMusic Video director turned Feature Director. To his credit, he has publicly acknowledged the huge mountain he faces with following in Raimi’s footsteps. But is that good enough? He’s only directed one film. Sure it was great but it wasn’t a $80 million blockbuster, tentpole was it? Will he be able to handle the Spider-man name and do it justice. Personally I hope so. But then again I’d be happier if we got more films along the lines of Spider-man 2.

Whatever happens, they just need to make sure to remember the Bruce Campbell cameo….

Oh New Wall Street Trailer, How I Love Thee…

robotcrush — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:37:41 +0000

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps – Teaser Trailer

When we all first heard that plans were afoot to make a Wall Street sequel, collective groans could be heard around the world (& not it a good way). Really? A Wall Street sequel? Did no one pay attenton to the other 80′s classic The Lost Boys sequel? Or the way everyone started to run away from the proposed Point Break sequel? Then we heard that Oliver Stone was coming back to direct. Hmm, intersting we thought. Then Michael Douglas was onboard and plot details started to leak. The film was going to be set in a realistic timeline – Gekko has served his 20 years in prison and is released back into a world where ‘Greed’ is not only good but is now legal and where the worlds financial markets are crumbling down.

Simply put, this trailer is awesome. It does everything a trailer should do. It gives you just enough of the storyline to be interested, it shows you enough of a glimpse into the characters lives to let you believe you know who they are but most importantly it gives you Michael Douglas revisiting his most iconic role, a wiser and more manipulative man. The driving, industrial, Nine Inch Nails-esque music instantly alerts you to a different era from that of the old Wall Street. Stone uses universal symbols of greed to clinical effect to convey how out of time Gekko has become. A Silk Hankerchief, a Gold Money-clip (empty) and in prehaps one of the greatest trailer moments of recent years – a Mobile Phone. But not just any mobile phone, this is your 80′s, the size of a brick mobile phone. Gekko is old and out of place and Stone shows us. To me, I hope they never release another trailer for this film. This is all anyone ever needs to see.

Check it out….