The Governator To Be Written by Steven Banks of Spongebob Fame

You heard that right: Arnold Schwarzenegger's new animated show, The Governator, will be written by Steven Banks, whose writing creds include Spongebob Squarepants and Jimmy Neutron. Putting together the lunacy of Banks with the. . .well. . .lunacy of Schwarzenegger is the formula that will either be transcendentally amazing or soul-crushingly bad. I'm going to pray for the former while banking on the latter. (But, really, what has Schwarzenegger ever done that wasn't amazing?)

Bond is Back!

MGM has come to a deal with Sony to bring Bond back to theaters. As you all know, after the MGM bankruptcy back in 2010, the future of many film rights in their library (including The Hobbit and Bond) were in great jeopardy, but after this deal it looks like Mr. Craig, Daniel Craig will be back in action on Nov 9, 2012. The film is unofficially titled Bond 23 and will be directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead). This deal also conveniently coincides with Netflix's offering of the Bond back-catalogue on instant stream. Color me excited.

Powerful Three-Minute Short

Tune for Two (2011) from alfa primo on Vimeo.

Great cinematography and emotion from this short entitled Tune for Two. It's impressive to see what directors can come up with in such constrained amounts of time. One of film's largely employed traits is the ability to compress time, but it is also able to elongate time, leaving the viewer on the edge of his seat.

Trailer: Lars von Trier's Melancholia

Melancholia from Zentropa on Vimeo.

This trailer for Melancholia, the next film by Danish provocateur Lars von Trier, looks fascinating. The movie has an apocalyptic backdrop, over which it appears to address familial stress and the finiteness of love. Von Trier tends to address hidden corruptions in the human soul and Melancholia is not a departure from that theme. Von Trier's movies are also gorgeous, due in large part to his collaboration with cinematographer Anthony Dod Manalt (of Slumdog Millionaire Fame). If any of you haven't seen his works, I'd suggest you start with either Dogville or Antichrist, though the latter will probably disturb you and keep you up at night (but hey, who doesn't want to be disturbed into sleeplessness every once in a while?).

Melancholia is set to premiere at Cannes. Magnolia is handling the U.S. distribution, but no release date has been announced.

James Cameron on the Future of Cinema

James Cameron is once again touting that he is a seer for the future of cinema, and this time it is increased recording and projection speeds. He proposes that we will replace the standard 24 frames per second with a new standard of 48 or 60fps. The move is designed to decrease the strobing effect in film and increase the fluidity of movement, which would be especially beneficial if this whole 3D craze ever catches in. (Don’t count on it, says Ebert)

While I am not a huge proponent of 3D movies, it will be interesting to see how an increased FPS will affect the cinema. Most digital cameras are already capable of shooting at these speeds, but to process and project the movie the FPS is usually lowered in order to cut costs (when you have to render effects on twice the number of frames, it essentially doubles the cost, and higher-speed projectors are more expensive). However, Peter Jackson is currently shooting The Hobbit at 48fps and it would prove to be a wonderful test of the new technology if Warner Bros. and New Line decide to cough up the extra money to render and project the movie at 48.

'The Hobbit' Begins Shooting

 
Despite pre-production problems, union difficulties, and Guillermo Del Toro leaving, The Hobbit has finally begun to film, according to a report by Variety. While I would be more optimistic about this movie if it were still in the hands of Guillermo Del Toro (who doesn't want to see his take on Middle Earth?), I'm still confident that this will turn out to be a great movie and I'm excited to see the final results. Now we only have a couple years left to wait!

Aronofsky Exits 'The Wolverine'

Aronofsky has exited 20th Century Foxes The Wolverine, according to a report from Deadline Hollywood. A possible cause of this departure is his recent divorce and the fact that he does not want to spend a year in Hollywood, as the film is planned to shoot in Japan.

While I was excited to see Aronofsky's take on The Wolverine, I also had trepidations about whether the movie could be any good, considering the first. Hopefully this means that Aronofsky can move forward with other projects, and it seems as though he is still in good standing with Fox, especially considering the award-winning success that was Black Swan.