MOVIE NEWS FOR JUNE 18TH, PART 1: PLAN 9, REMAKES, ‘NEVER LET ME GO’, AND AVATAR DESIGN ART

Plan 9 From Outer Space Being Converted to 3D

from Uncle Creepy at Dread Central
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San Diego-based 3D production and conversion studio PassmoreLab has some big plans. The company is about to take the Ed Wood, Jr. zombie “classic” Plan 9 From Outer Space, which was colorized a couple of years ago, and convert it to 3D. We don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or consider this the most awesome undertaking in the world.

From the Press Release:
The film, also known as the “worst movie ever made”…has become an iconic sci-fi cult classic due largely to its reputation for being so bad. “Being dubbed ‘worst ever’ was probably the best thing that ever happened to this film,” said Greg Passmore, president of PassmoreLab. “That label started a cult following, where it gained a massive fan base, with me included. It may be known as the ‘worst movie’, but it’s about to get best conversion treatment available. I am delighted to convert the original film into 3D using our proprietary technology.”

Read More here

Play it again, this time with feeling

via The Sydney Morning Herald
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Sometimes a movie’s best quality is one you least expect. In the deft 2008 Hollywood rom-com, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, as reformed rock star Aldous Snow, British comic Russell Brand stole every scene he was in. Presented as the nominal villain, Snow turns out to be the sweetest character in the story…

The film was only in cinemas a week when producer Judd Apatow signed Brand for an Aldous Snow spin-off, continuing a tradition that has become common in recent years of celebrated supporting characters getting their own sequel.

Will it work? Based on previous examples, Brand and co. don’t have to achieve a great deal to surpass these prior efforts at making sure we got too much of a good thing.

Catwoman (2004) Most everyone thought Michelle Pfeiffer was a hoot as Catwoman in 1992’s Batman Returns, clad in skin-tight vinyl and appealing to the caped crusader’s kinky side. But the spin-off took 12 years, culminating in Halle Berry, fresh from an Oscar win for Monster’s Ball, taking a huge cheque to fight Sharon Stone’s villain. The movie was witheringly dull, with a bad Catwoman costume to boot. Directed by French filmmaker Pitof, who was no Tim Burton.

Does it improve the character? No.

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Watch: Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan bring Sci-Fi prestige back with ‘Never Let Me Go’

By Gregory Ellwood at Hit Flix

[Director Mark] Romanek’s only feature release so far was the Robin Williams thriller “One Hour Photo” eight years ago. While the film received mixed reviews when it debuted, its grown in stature since and almost has something of a cult following. Now, he’s back with the intriguing romantic drama “Never Let Me Go.”

Based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro (“The Remains of the Day”), “Let Me Go” centers on three young adults who have been created (ie, cloned) just for the sole purpose of becoming organ donors. The films new preview does little to emphasize the Sci-Fi aspects of the story (although arguably neither did Ishiguro’s book), but instead focuses on the potential tragedy between three friends: Tommy (the incredibly talented Andrew Garfield), Ruth (Keira Knightley) and Kathy (“An Education’s” Carey Mulligan).

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They built Pandora: The ultimate guide to Avatar’s designers

By Charlie Jane Anders at io9
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Long before you watched Jake Sully leave his body and enter a world of warriors and dragons, dozens of super-talented designers were pulled into James Cameron’s imaginary world. We interviewed 17 Avatar designers, and here’s everything they told us.

We ran the results of our interviews with the Avatar design team over a few months before and after the film came out, but this is the first time we’re collecting it all in one place. Avatar probably had more designers working on it, for longer, than any movie before it. When you realize how much intense concentration went into every tiny facet of this movie, you gain a whole new level of appreciation for Cameron’s mania.

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I would totally go see Plan 9 in 3D! It really is terrible, but in that awesomely bad way. I have absolutely no desire to see Get Him to the Greek, because 1) it looked dumb even before I knew it was about Aldous Snow, and 2) spin-offs almost always suck.The basic idea behind Never let Me Go seems like The Island, but they look like very different movies. I hadn’t heard of the book before, but I’ll have to get it now; and of course see the movie. It seems more accessible than The Island I think, like The Time Traveler’s Wife, because it’s more of a love story with a sci fi set up.

What did you think of the preview? Will you go see Plan 9 in 3D?