Movies Guide

Posted on Sunday, 20th March 2011 by Declan Palazzi

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Cameras started rolling Monday on director Peter Jackson’s production of “The Hobbit,” following months of delays on the prequel to his Oscar-winning “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

Hollywood studio funding problems, a threatened actors’ boycott and ulcer surgery for Jackson have plagued pre-production on the $500 million, two-movie project.

The director posted a studio news release on his website Monday saying production has commenced in New Zealand on the much-anticipated project.

British actor Martin Freeman will star as hobbit Bilbo Baggins alongside Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett and Orlando Bloom in twin movies of J.R.R. Tolki

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Tags: New Zealand, Zealand
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Posted on Saturday, 19th March 2011 by Aidan Bayly

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian director Carlos Saldanha is launching his new animated 3-D movie “Rio” featuring the voices of Anne Hathaway and Jesse Eisenberg.

The Brazilian-based movie tells the story of Blu, a rare blue male macaw from Minnesota who travels to Rio de Janeiro after his owners learn that a female blue macaw has been discovered there.

Jesse Eisenberg is the voice behind Blu and Hathaway is the voice behind the female macaw, Jewel. Together, Blu and Jewel escape animal traffickers, fight with monkeys, and share other adventures as Blu learns to fly amid samba beats, sunny beaches and sweeping views of the city’s Christ statue.

Saldanha launched the movie Tuesday.

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Posted on Thursday, 3rd March 2011 by Aidan Bayly

I’m not sure 3-D visuals are absolutely necessary to tell the tragic tale of “Carmen.” But if the gimmick helps make one of opera’s most iconic heroines as popular among movie audiences as she has been among opera fans for well over a century, I can’t complain. The amoral Gypsy is a natural for the big screen, and I find her a far more fascinating seductress than any played by Sharon Stone or Glenn Close.

And she sings!

“Carmen in 3D” is not as visually sumptuous as Francesco Rosi’s 1984 “Carmen,” another film based on Georges Bizet’s great opera, which starred Julia Migenes and Placido Domingo. But that one had the characters breaking into arias on the actual streets of Old Seville, where the opera is set.

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Tags: Carmen, Carmen 3d
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Posted on Tuesday, 1st March 2011 by Sean Permewan

The movies may be the main attraction at Cinequest but it’s the intense social scene around the 21st annual film festival that seems to be generating all the heat.

The spice of the Cinequest experience has long been the party circuit. That’s why a night at the festival is about way more than watching movies, it’s about making connections within the film business — something that happens a lot in Hollywood, but not in San Jose.

There are swanky VIP soirees before the screenings and kick-back meetups afterwards. Welcome to a glitzy mashup of bigtime directors and actors (John Turturro and Edward James Olmos this year) talking up their latest movies, scruffy aspiring filmmakers feverishly pitching their new projects (and themselves) and industry insiders trying to scout out the next big thing.

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Tags: Festival, Film Festival
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Posted on Tuesday, 1st March 2011 by Declan Palazzi

PICK OF THE WEEK
127 Hours : Just one of the seven nominees that deserved a Best Picture Oscar more than The Kings Speech, this truly thrilling tale of survival is sometimes harrowing but only as gory as it absolutely has to be.

OTHER TOP PICKS
Out of Sight : Steven Soderberghs 1998 Elmore Leonard adaptation, just out on Blu-ray, can be celebrated for two things in addition to its high entertainment value: making it clear that George Clooney, fresh from duelling duds The Peacemaker and Batman& Robin, deserved a big-screen career; and giving film history the single worthwhile movie performance in Jennifer Lopezs career.

FRESH FROM THE MULTIPLEX
Burlesque, Faster ; Love& Other Drugs

NEW ON BLU-RAY
Bambi ; The Cable Guy ; Michael Jordan to the Max

ARTHOUSE/FOREIGN
Just Before Nightfall, Mado

FROM THE VAULTS
Brenda Starr, Reporter, Dr.

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