Welcome to… Randomness!

Unlike previous random news posts, this post will be small snippets of information and opinions that are too small to warrant a post of their own. So without further ado:

• The Oscars were last night and basically we can take this away: As long as your film features average acting and a realistic plot, you’ll win big. Avatar won for its visuals and art but besides that they were shut out. Up won best animated feature, which gives Pixar their second Oscar in a row.
• The Iron Man 2 trailer debuted and the only thing I can say is WOW! It looks like this film will be really big!
• Speaking of Iron Man, has anyone noticed that Marvel has a lot of red-headed girlfriends? I think Stan Lee must have liked red hair. There’s Mary Jane (Spider-Man’s gf), Jean Gray (Cyclops’ gf), the Black Widow, and Pepper Potts. (Both are in Iron Man) Of course you could also make the case that he liked blondes too. There’s Karen Page (Daredevil’s one time gf), Susan Storm (Mr. Fantastic’s wife), Gwen Stacy(Spider-Man’s first gf), and Agent 13 (Captain America’s gf).
• Rush Limbaugh’s New York Penthouse is on sale for $13.95 million. If you haven’t seen the pictures go take a look. I can’t tell whether it’s neat, wasteful, or just plain over the top.
• Yahoo news blog has a post about President Obama making the same mistakes as Bush.  It’s a good post that deserves a read. I only wonder, why is it that the last two presidents made the same mistakes?
• The Cincinnati Bengals are in talks with Terrell Owens. All I can say is that even if Ochocinco and Owens don’t produce results on the field, the off the field antics would be awesome!
• A new study has concluded that men become more accident prone in the presence of a beautiful woman. Basically a male’s testosterone levels go up which leads to a reduced sense of caution which in turn leads to more spectacular feats as well as more accidents. All of a sudden cheerleaders at sporting events make a lot more sense!(Note: Not that cheerleaders don’t keep spirits high, but in a huge college or professional stadium you can’t see them unless you’re on the field or on the bench)

Rapid Fire Movie News!

Fasten your seatbelts once again, I’m going to run you (the reader) through some of the latest movie news as well as a bit about the Oscars as well.

• I can’t wait for the Oscars! Not because I want to watch them, but after the Oscars, Robert Downey Jr. will unveil another Iron Man 2 trailer on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
• It’s rumored that Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds will be shot in 3D
• Harrison Ford said that George Lucas is working on Indiana Jones 5. If all goes according to projections, Harrison will be 70 when the movie is filmed.
• Marvel’s editor in chief has said that the first draft for the Avengers movie has hit his desk.
• The Battleship movie will feature aliens as the enemy. (At this point I’m thinking Avatar Lite)
• Wolverine 2 will begin filming next January.
• The first movie still from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie were released this week
• Fans are buzzing about a possible Thor cameo in Iron Man 2
• Sacha Baron Cohen has disappeared from the list of Oscar presenters. The reason being that the producer of the Oscars is worried that Cohen’s Avatar spoof sketch would upset James Cameron. You’d think that showing the world you’re scared of Cameron is a big mistake and you’d be right. However it’s nothing compared to the mistake of letting Cohen present during the Oscars.

Well that’s all I’ve got! Tell me what movies are you looking forward to?

News from the Movie Front!

I realize I haven’t covered movies in a while. Since there’s nothing out there but romance movies (and Avatar, which could come under this category) and I don’t watch them, I thought I’d just start talking about movies that are coming, could be coming, or could possibly might start thinking about coming out soon. So hang on cause here we GO!

• Christopher Nolan is in talks with WB about being a mentor for the Superman reboot. He won’t direct, but if this happens, he’ll have some creative influence on the film. Also, it’s rumored that he’s working on Batman 3.
• Marvel has brought in several actors to audition for the role of Captain America. The film will take place in WWII.
• The main actor from “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” has been rumored to be in talks with Sony about starring as Peter Parker in a Spiderman movie. (Not one of my picks, but not a bad choice) The Spiderman film will take its cues from the new Ultimate Spiderman books.
• For those of you who don’t know, a new Muppet movie is in the works and will begin shooting this summer
• A Smurf movie is scheduled for release towards the end of this year.
• The Chronicles of Narnia franchise has been picked up by Fox. Filming is expected to be finished in November.
• The Hobbit is set to begin filming in June 2010. Peter Jackson has said that they are casting unknowns for the role of Bilbo Baggins. Andy Serkis and Ian McKellan are set to reprise their roles of Gollum and Gandalf.
• Kirk’s dad in Star Trek has been cast as Thor in the new Marvel movie. Natalie Portman (Padme from Star Wars) will play Thor’s girlfriend. Filming began in January.
• Jon Favreau says that Iron Man 2 is set before the Incredible Hulk. This probably doesn’t mean much, but I just wanted it thrown out there.
• For those of you who haven’t heard, James Cameron has said that there will be an Avatar 2 and possibly Avatar 3.

Well there you go, hope it wasn’t too fast. 2010 and 2011 look to be big years for the big blockbuster hopefuls!

Random News Stories

A man named Curtis Smith was arrested for stealing money out of a mall fountain. He stole a grand total of $32.68 from the fountain. The 47 year old was held in a Memphis jail with a $100 bail.

I actually find this story pretty awesome! Everyone has always had thought about reaching in and grabbing the change at the bottom of the pool. Here’s a guy who did it and for that, he get’s some props.

The “Southern Sky Column” in Zhangjiajie in southern Hunan province formally had its named changed to “Avatar Hallelujah Mountain” in a ceremony on Monday. The government said the floating “Hallelujah Mountains” in the movie were inspired by the “Southern Sky Column,” as a Hollywood photographer spent time shooting there in 2008. Chinese citizens “accused officials of being money-oriented and blindly worshipping Western culture” in trying to rename the peak.

Say what you will about Avatar, it’s not just any movie that gets a mountain named after it! Unfortunately, due to public backlash, the government now says that they gave the mountain an alternative name, rather than renaming it. Still, it’s pretty cool!

Introducing the 3-D movie!

With the recent success of Avatar, studios have been announcing plans to make more movies available in 3-D. While this could be good, I question the move. It’s not that movies will be that much better in 3-D. Yes, Avatar looks amazing in 3-D but that’s because the fantastic graphics are one of the draws of the film. For a film that wants to present a good story over amazing visuals 3-D doesn’t make sense. Let me tell you the real reason that studios want to go ahead with the extra $5 million to make a movie in 3-D: More money at the end.

Let’s put it another way. Let’s say that 100 people will go see a movie in one day. If the ticket costs $10 this means that the movie makes about $1000 that day. Let’s say that the movie is shown in 3-D. 3-D tickets are normally about $3 more than a regular ticket If half of the 100 people go watch the 3-D movie then the movie makes about $500 plus the $650 from 3-D sales. Thus meaning that the total would be $1150, all because of the 3-D portion of the movie.(How’s that for some math?)

Studios realize this fact and are already planning to capitalize, claiming that it’s because of how much better the technology is. Don’t be fooled ladies and gentleman, it’s just the money making machine (Three cheers for alliterations!) at work again.