Movie Trailers: Watchmen, Terminator: Salvation, The Spirit

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Watchmen

About "Watchmen" (via Wikipedia):
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"Watchmen" is a twelve-issue comic book limited series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Originally published by DC Comics as a monthly limited series from 1986 to 1987...To date, Watchmen remains the only graphic novel to win a Hugo Award, and is also the only graphic novel to appear on Time Magazine's 2005 list of "the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present.
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"Watchmen" is set in 1985, in an alternative history United States where costumed adventurers are real and the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union (the Doomsday Clock is at five minutes to midnight). It tells the story of a group of past and present superheroes and the events surrounding the mysterious murder of one of their own. "Watchmen" depicts superheroes as real people who must confront ethical and personal issues, who struggle with neuroses and failings, and who - with one notable exception - lack anything recognizable as super powers. The comic book's deconstruction of the conventional superhero archetype, combined with its innovative adaptation of cinematic techniques and heavy use of symbolism, multi-layered dialogue, and metafiction, has influenced both comics and film...
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Warner Bros. confirmed in June 2006 that Zack Snyder would direct a film adaptation of "Watchmen", which is set for release on March 6, 2009. The cast includes Patrick Wilson, Malin Akerman, Jackie Earle Haley, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Previously, directors including Paul Greengrass, Terry Gilliam, Darren Aronofsky, and screenwriter David Hayter have been attached to the project over the years...

Here is the first trailer:
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Terminator: Salvation
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About "Terminator: Salvation" (via Wikipedia):
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"Terminator: Salvation" is an upcoming science fiction action film set for release on May 22, 2009. Directed by McG, it is the fourth film in the Terminator franchise and stars Christian Bale as John Connor, Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Connor, Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese, and Sam Worthington as the new terminator Marcus Wright.
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The film is set in 2021, focusing on the original war between humanity and the Terminator computer network Skynet. It abandons the formula of the series (Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Model 101 Terminator time traveling to the present to protect or kill someone of future importance), and the film could be rated PG-13, unlike the other R-rated films. Filming began on May 5, 2008.
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Trailer for Terminator: Salvation:
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The Spirit
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About "The Spirit" (via Wikipedia):
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[comic book] The Spirit is a fictional American masked crime-fighter, created by writer-artist Will Eisner in 1940, who starred in a Sunday-newspaper comic-book insert. His namesake, seven-page weekly series is considered one of the comic-art medium's most significant works, with Eisner creating or popularizing many of the styles, techniques, and storytelling conventions used by comics professionals decades later.
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"The Spirit" chronicled the adventures of a masked vigilante who fought crime with the blessing of the city's police commissioner, an old friend. Despite the Spirit's origin as a detective named Denny Colt, his real identity was virtually unmentioned again and for all intents and purposes he was simply "The Spirit". The stories ranged through a wide variety of styles, from straightforward crime drama and noir to lighthearted adventure, from mystery and horror to comedy and love stories, often with hybrid elements that twisted genre and expectations.
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[movie] "The Spirit" (also known as Will Eisner's "The Spirit)" is an upcoming 2008 American film adaptation based on the newspaper strip The Spirit created by Will Eisner. Batfilm, OddLot, and Lionsgate are set to produce. Frank Miller wrote and directed the film, which stars Gabriel Macht as The Spirit and Samuel L. Jackson as his nemesis, The Octopus. Filming began in October 2007, with release scheduled for December 25, 2008.
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Trailer for The Spirit:
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I was pretty impressed by all three trailers, but the trailer for "The Spirit" tops the other two simply by being the most visually stunning. The news about the new Terminator movie being PG-13 rated is rather disheartening though.
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[Thanks to John from SF Signal for the original article]
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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Movie Trailer)

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"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is a 1922 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald (read it here). In short, the story speaks of the life of Benjamin Button who is born with the body of a seventy years old man and how his life unfolds as he ages backwards. The story gets complicated when he falls in love with Daisy, a thirty year old.

The movie will be aired just before Christmas this year, but the trailer is really promising and might just be enough to get your juices flowing until then. The people involved in the making of this movie are enough of a reason to get excited - the cast (Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button and Cate Blanchett as Daisy) and the director (David Flincher; Se7en, Alien 3, Fight Club and the announced Rendezvous With Rama) are hopefully a recipe for a great flick. [IMDB]

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But you should really see the trailer in better quality (link).

The Cathedral (Short Animated Movie)

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"The Cathedral" (Amazon: USA)
by Tomek Baginski (IMDB)
based on a short story by Jacek Dukaj
running time: 6 min 20 sec

Yeah, I know, "The Cathedral" (orig. Katedra) is far from being a new thing. It impressed me back in 2003 when it was nominated for an Academy Award and I'm sure that it was the same with many of you. I rediscovered it now - and was impressed again.

For those who managed to miss it: "The Cathedral" is a short animated movie, made back in 2002; the author is Tomek Baginski (also the author of "Fallen Art"). It was nominated (as mentioned above) for Oscar in 'Best Short Film, Animated' category and won the title of 'Best Animated Short' - Siggraph 2002. It's available on DVD (region 1 format only), but you can also watch it on YouTube. I warn you, though - you should really see it in high-res. :)

But there was one thing I managed to miss - the film is based on a short SF story by Jacek Dukaj. The story, however, is originally written in Polish and was never fully translated (at least not officially; if there is a translation on the Internet I don't know about, feel free to notify me). You can find the translated parts of it here - they are pretty awesome. There are also some other partly-translated short stories on Dukaj's site, along with selected excerpts from one of his novels, "Black Oceans". His only short story that's been fully translated is "The Golden Galley" - you can find it in The Dedalus Book of Polish Fantasy.

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~Trin~

In The Limelight - 2008 Hugo Nomination List (Short Version)

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---Hugo nominees for 2008 have been disclosed publicly and the sf&f blogosphere is buzzing with the news. I'm not posting the whole list with all of the categories and nominations since you can view that here, but I'll try to point out the most notable categories and comment on them succinctly. Given my inadequate knowledge for a more detailed analyzation I'll keep my comments on a short leash and mostly point out other peoples findings (thoughts) on the matter. Here goes nothing:

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---Best Novel

• The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins, Fourth Estate)
• Brasyl by Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Pyr)
• Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor; Analog Oct. 2006-Jan/Feb. 2007)
• The Last Colony by John Scalzi (Tor)
• Halting State by Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit)

----Last year's winner: Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge

If Brasyl would be omitted from this list, than it would have been even quirkier than it is. I've been a pretty observant follower of the genre this year but for have for some reason never come across Rollback or the author - Rober J. Sawyer. I'm not saying that he hasn't been mentioned, only that this (obviously?) outstanding novel somehow missed my radar. And there is ABSOLUTELY no fantasy picks on the list, now what is up with that...Hugo's preference for sf is well known, but not even one fantasy work deserves the nomination? If you check the round-up of all the "Best of 2007" lists that I've managed to put together, you'll notice many titles that would deserved to be nominated more than some of the titles above - most notably: The Black Man/Thirteen (Richard Morgan); this novel was received very fondly everywhere I turned. I myself found Morgan's Takeshi novels seriously over-rated, but a lot of people out there feel very strongly about his newest novel (in a positive sense of course). Halting State by Charles Stross got some very mixed responses and even those who liked it didn't think it his best work (that would arguably be Accelerando or maybe Glasshouse; both nominated in previous years actually), but since this is his fourth (or is it fifth?) subsequent nomination the "unlucky bastard" might just get it this time. Scalzi's The Last Colony also got some mixed reviews and is opined as "light sf read", not exactly an award material, especially when the weighty Hugos are concerned. The Yiddish Policeman's Union has garnered some flowery reviews and is the only sf novel with a "general literary value" on the list.

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---Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

• Enchanted
• The Golden Compass
• Heroes, Season 1
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Stardust

----Last year's winner: Pan's Labyrinth

I can't say that I'm proud of the fact but I've actually seen all the movies on the list (including Pan's Labyrinth and Heroes, season 1) and I'd give the award to The Golden Compass or maybe Harry Potter in a heart-beat. The Golden Compass was a beautiful representation of the novel on the big screen, even though my friends called me 'tasteless' (mild term) for saying so and HP5 is clearly the best movie in the series with great photography, pacing and visual effects. I'm too old for wash down fairy tales (Enchanted) and felt a bit under-whelmed by Stardust (the scenes with Robert De Niro are priceless though). And while I liked Heroes (season 1), I feel the series falls short of greatness - it had some major plotting and pacing problems, and the cast was lackluster as well.

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---John W. Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Writer (An award for the best new writer whose first work of science fiction or fantasy appeared during 2006 or 2007 in a professional publication.)

• Joe Abercrombie (2nd year of eligibility)
• Jon Armstrong (1st year of eligibility)
• David Anthony Durham (1st year of eligibility)
• David Louis Edelman (2nd year of eligibility)
• Mary Robinette Kowal (2nd year of eligibility)
• Scott Lynch (2nd year of eligibility)

----Last year's winner: Naomi Novik (Temeraire)

I'm not familiar with the works of Amrstrong, Edelman and Kowal but between the remaining three authors (Abercrombie, Durham and Lynch) it could go either way. If I indulge my self and speculate then I'd say that the laurels will be acceded to Mr. Lynch or possibly David Anthony Durham who's Accacia: War with the Main got a great response from the fans of epic fantasy. If the world would turn to my tune, than Joe Abercrombie would get it - his First Law trilogy is absolutely sizzling with good vibes. I wonder if Daniel Abraham was eligible for the award?

Whatever my personal thoughts and reservations, I congradulate to all the nominees and wish them best of luck.

Claymore (anime series) and the new Indiana Jones movie trailer

Claymore is a 2007 anime series, comprising of 26 episodes, with average length of 20 minutes per one episode. Anime's setting is clearly Western European and medieval, with a few fantastical elements. Foremost of them being "Yoma" - evil monsters which feed on human intestines, and "Yoki" - monster's life energy (similar to chi in Eastern Philosophies and/or Religions). Our main protagonist is a claymore named Claire. Claymores are half-human half-yoma beings, equipped with giant swords (hence the name), with a sole purpose to their existence - seek and destroy all Yoma life. Their half-yoma nature gives them preternatural abilities enabling them to fight Yoma, whose strength, speed and overall fighting abilities are far superior to humans. Yomas and Awakened Beings (something like advanced gen Yoma) may camouflage as humans, but their true forms vary considerably - from giant godzilla-like creatures to many limbed arachnids, winged demons and insectoids. Their repulsiveness (evil) is in stark contrast with the beauty of Claymores (good), who just happen to be blonde women, one and all of them, without exception.

The story picks up fast and I held to my seat well past after the middle episodes were behind me. The story of Claire and her personal vendetta against a particular Awakened Being is quite compelling as her power progresses in a similar fashion to roleplaying games. The plot is not as pedestrian as the setting might lead one to believe, but its not as complex or depressing as is the deal with some of the more philosophical animes on the market (Neo Genesis Evangelion, Akira, Ergo Proxy, Gilgamesh etc.).

Claymore is not spotless thought. There are a few notable plot holes and some unnecessary filler content when the series crawls towards its conclusion. The Claymores are quite indistinguishable between each other, even with the different hairdos. The different fighting techniques become too numerous with progression of the series, making them lose some of their initial uniqueness. There are also a lot of unbearable cheesy moments, and that includes the ending itself. Nevertheless, all of the complaints I might have had with Claymore, I still have to admit that I absolutely loved the series and cannot remember the last anime I've enjoyed as much as this one. Highly recommended 4/5

As an aside - the new trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is awesome. Check out the link to watch it in HD.

- Thrinidir -