New French Competition for Pixar? LFM Reviews Despicable Me

Gru, the not-so-villainous villain of "Despicable Me."

[Editor’s Note: “Despicable Me” dominated the weekend box office, taking in over $60 million.]

By Patricia Ducey. Gru’s archvillain mojo is beginning to fade – even his mom (Julie Andrews) calls to needle him when another, better, villain steals the Great Pyramid of Egypt. Even Gru’s usual evil misdeeds, like scaring his suburban neighbors, aren’t as much fun as they used to be. Somehow he has to concoct an even bigger heist to take back his title, so to speak – and gain his mother’s love?

In its first release, Universal’s family unit Illumination scores a solid hit with Despicable Me (directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud). Full of wit and heart and remarkably free of left-leaning messages (no cynicism, environmentalism or US bashing here), Despicable is actually quite lovable. (I quickly forgave the one stereotype of people from Alabama in an early scene, when they skewered Keith Olbermann in the next.) At 95 minutes, it’s just right for kids.

Gru (ably voiced by Steve Carell) decides to steal the Moon, using a Shrink Ray gun, but he needs venture capital to get the project, literally, off the ground. Aided by Dr. Nefario, in a hilarious turn by Russell Brand – and hundreds of tiny yellow, perhaps robot, minions (Grunions?) – he hatches a plan. Gru rallies his minions a la Steve Jobs, in a very funny scene only the adults will get.

At the “Bank of Evil (formerly Lehman Brothers),” though, loan officer Mr. Perkins is not impressed. Perkins dismisses Gru with a curt: “We’re going with somebody younger.” Later we learn that Perkins is actually funding his son Victor, now ‘Vector,’ as top villain after his triumphant swiping of the Pyramid.

A not-so-master criminal.

If Gru can’t build a Shrink Ray, he will steal a Shrink Ray. After all, he is a villain. Gru decides to adopt three orphan girls who have managed to gain access to Vector’s lair by selling Vector his favorite cookies. But the best laid plans sometime go awry, and Gru finds himself falling for the delightful little girls instead. Continue reading New French Competition for Pixar? LFM Reviews Despicable Me

Loving the Cold War Lifestyle: UFO Remake on the Horizon

[Editor’s Note: Today we combine our recent space/invasion theme here at LFM, and Steve Greaves’ ‘Loving the Cold War Lifestyle’ series, with a brief look back – and forward – at the classic British TV show “UFO.”]

By Steve Greaves. Fans of the Supermarionation series Thunderbirds and the live-action Space:1999 alike will be intrigued to know that Gerry Anderson’s influential British TV series UFO is currently on track for a Hollywood summer tentpole updating. [See the opening titles of the original series above.]  Producer Robert Evans and British network ITV are slated to team up on the project, which will find the year 2020 as the new backdrop for the business of SHADO – the crafty organization that combats alien invasion threats from on high with an arsenal of labs, gizmos, purple wigs and cool vehicles that traverse every frontier.  Here is the new film’s website.

Scenes from the original British TV series "UFO."

Anderson himself was appalled by the miserable remake of his fantastic Thunderbirds franchise, as would be anyone who saw it, but the rumor is that he’s optimistic about the new UFO getting off the ground in style. The original series, which ran for just one season in 1972 in the US, was ahead of its time – especially for TV – and was notable for its special effects, art direction and vehicle design. Perhaps the most important legacy of UFO is that it directly influenced the look and approach to the better-known and more widely enduring Space:1999, which was Anderson’s series that ran from 1975-77 and starred Martin Landau.

Now, one key factor sure to be absent from any new UFO launch that anchored the many other-worlds of Gerry Anderson is the music of Barry Gray. Gray scored or wrote themes for virtually all of Anderson’s shows from the puppeteering days forward, including Fireball XL5, Stingray, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, Supercar, Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun, Thunderbirds, and – of course – UFO and Space:1999. The groovy, jaunty flavor of Gray’s music was part of what made these shows something fun and exciting to tune into, not to mention that his themes are among the catchiest in this universe or beyond. One listen to the head-bobbing Joe 90 theme will set you straight [see here and here].

Posted on July 11th, 2010 at 12:11pm.

The Mixed Blessings of Foreign Aid: Good Fortune

From "Good Fortune."

By Joe Bendel. According to filmmaker Landon Van Soest, $2.3 trillion (with a “t”) worth of western foreign aid has flowed into Africa over the last fifty years. What has been the result of these enormous outlays? Mostly ill-will and corruption according to the average Kenyans whose daily struggles Van Soest documents in Good Fortune, which airs this coming Tuesday on PBS’s POV.

UN program manager Sara Candiracci does not exactly have the common touch. The poverty of Nairobi’s Kibera slum personally offends her, which is laudable. Partnering with the Kenyan government, the UN is launching an ambitious redevelopment project for Kibera. However, she admits up front: “the strategy to move people and to bring them back is still not clear” – yet the residents should welcome the project anyway.

Kibera might be an eyesore to Candiracci, but it represents a better way of life for midwife Silva Adhiambo. Finding ample work there, she happily calls it home. In one telling scene, she perfectly illustrates why Kibera is so skeptical of the UN’s plans. The so-called slum is actually surrounded by three modern housing developments. One high-rise estate was billed as low income housing during construction, only to become home to well-connected government officials when completed. Another neighboring housing project remains unfinished due to litigation stemming from government embezzlement. A third development was allegedly built by Kenya’s First Lady with western aid money earmarked for AIDS programs – and then sold for a tidy profit. Indeed, having gone down this road before, the Kibera neighborhood is dead-set against the UN project, but Candiracci and the Kenyan government are not listening. Continue reading The Mixed Blessings of Foreign Aid: Good Fortune

Hollywood Round-up, 7/9

Aaron Eckhart, from "Battle: Los Angeles."

By Jason Apuzzo. The Social Network has a new teaser trailer. It’s pretty good, actually – although it’s still feeling like it’s all about lawsuits and female groupies.  Is this about Facebook, or is this the Phil Spector story?  The film will also be opening The New York Film Festival.

• Someone has posted an early review of Battle: Los Angeles, another big-scale ‘invasion of America’ flick (this time aliens).  The review is a little tepid on this film, which seems to be a kind of Cloverfield take on Independence Day.  Battle: LA apparently features Michelle Rodriguez as … a crusty-yet-benign Latina soldier!  When have we seen that before?  Maybe they should call this Battle: Pandora.

• … which reminds me that Michelle Rodriguez is also featured – wearing an eyepatch – in the new Machete trailer.  It’s a terrible, straight-to-video-quality trailer, and Robert Rodriguez better re-cut it fast if he still wants his tax credits.

• The title of the next Jack Ryan movie will be Moscow. I guess that’s because Kiev wasn’t available.

• Ian McKellen says he’s just “marking time” until production on The Hobbit begins. If that’s the case, then I’d like to invite Sir Ian to review Salt for Libertas because I don’t feel like sitting through that film right now.

• James Cameron apparently made $350 million off Avatar, but don’t worry – he’ll gamble it all on whatever he’s shooting next.

• On the Christopher Nolan front, word comes today that Batman 3 may start shooting in April, Warner Brothers is having trouble marketing Inception, Nolan’s Inception cast members are bad-mouthing Palin and Dick Cheney, Nolan would love to do a Bond film, and Nolan also took a great deal of trouble (including filming certain scenes in 65mm) to properly convert Inception into the IMAX format.  Nolan’s also thinking of joining the Miami Heat on a sign-and-trade deal, once he clears waivers.

• The Mel Gibson situation is growing so out of control (see here and here) that it almost defies belief.  Porn stars, racist rants, death threats, Russian mistresses, child custody lawsuits, secret recordings … why can’t Mel’s films be this entertaining?  Edge of Darkness is looking like such a bore right now.

And that’s what’s happening today in the wonderful world of Hollywood …

Posted on July 9th, 2010 at 6:46pm.

Space Nazis Invade in Iron Sky + Crowd Funding of Films

By Jason Apuzzo. Recently here at LFM we’ve been showing you some examples (see here and here) of up-from-the-bootstraps indie film productions that are taking advantage of low-cost VFX software to tell large-scale stories.  We’ve also noted how several of these films seem to be picking up on the ‘invasion of America’ theme, a theme that will no doubt be kick-charged in a big way when MGM’s Red Dawn remake is eventually released.

Today we wanted to mention another such production, a science fiction comedy that’s been getting hyped lately (see articles in Wired and in the Hollywood Reporter’s HeatVision blog), called Iron Sky.  Iron Sky is an example not only of what low-budget filmmakers can accomplish using high-end visual FX packages, however, but is also the latest example of how to finance a film through “crowd funding.”

First, the premise.  Let me quote from the film’s website:

Towards the end of World War II the staff of SS officer Hans Kammler made a significant breakthrough in anti-gravity.  From a secret base built in the Antarctic, the first Nazi spaceships were launched in late ‘45 to found the military base Schwarze Sonne (Black Sun) on the dark side of the Moon. This base was to build a powerful invasion fleet and return to take over the Earth once the time was right.  Now it’s 2018, the Nazi invasion is on its way and the world is goose-stepping towards its doom.

So there you have it – goose-stepping Nazis from outer space.  Iron Sky is being co-produced by companies in Finland, Germany and Australia.  Currently they’re in pre-production, with shooting set to begin in October in Germany and Australia, and this will apparently be followed by a year in post-production.  And here’s the kicker: the budget of the film is actually $8.5 million, with at least some of the money being raised from the public.

Nazi invaders from outer space.

So how did the filmmakers pull this off?  Basically, in 2008 they released the slick, cheeky teaser trailer below (at the very bottom of this post) – which by now has had almost 2 million views on YouTube.  They simultaneously began soliciting on-line donations from fans, using the “crowd funding” strategy that is becoming increasingly popular as a way to boostrap indie film productions outside the studio pipeline.  Then, twelve indie financiers got involved to close the funding gap. Continue reading Space Nazis Invade in Iron Sky + Crowd Funding of Films

NASA and Our Endangered Tradition of Heroic Aspiration

From 1950's "Destination Moon."

By David Ross. President Obama’s hostility to NASA has now become a subject of wide comment, and for good reason. It reveals, perhaps more than anything else, his resentment of everything that implies heroic possibility (the military, capitalism, Israel, etc.). The heroic quest to expand knowledge – to enrich consciousness – has nothing to do with his mindset or task, which remains that of the leftwing community organizer. Harold Bloom uses the phrase ‘school of resentment’ to describe the academic enemies of Shakespeare. In my opinion, the same psychopathology explains the enemies of NASA. This ‘resentment’ is directed against anything that suggests human beings transcend their social, economic, and biological context, and that they are irreducible to a formula of animal needs. Robert Zubrin, who has for decades lobbied for a mission to Mars as head of the Mars Society, makes precisely my own point in the June issue of Commentary (subscriber only):

The values championed by the Obama administration are comfort, security, protection, and dependence. But the frontier sings to our souls with different ideals, telling stirring tales of courage, risk, initiative, inventiveness, independence, and self-reliance. Considered as a make-work bureaucracy, NASA may be perfectly acceptable to those currently in power. But for mentalities that would criminalize the failure to buy health insurance, the notion of a government agency that celebrates the pioneer ethos by risking its crews on daring voyages of exploration across vast distances to terra incognita can only be repellent.

In a recent interview with Al Jazeera, NASA administrator Charles Bolden illustrates the extent of the Obama administration’s departure from the “right stuff.” Bolden told Al Jazeera: Continue reading NASA and Our Endangered Tradition of Heroic Aspiration