Heineken/Skyfall "Crack the Case" event

Last night Heineken celebrated its 15-year partnership with the James Bond franchise in an exclusive event cleverly titled “Crack the Case” at the MTA Museum in Brooklyn. The entrance to the museum was decorated with a green carpet to remind us of the night’s sponsor. As we entered the museum, which is located in an old underground train station where the walls read “Court” as that was the name of the stop.

We were greeted by “bond girls” spread all throughout the event. There were about four different vintage train cars, three of them decorated with the themes of different James Bond movies:

‘Casino Royal’ which contained poker tables decorated with cards and chips

 ‘Die Another Day’ with stunning diamond decorations including a full size diamond skull

‘From Russia with Love’ delicately decorated with matryoshkas and a golden globe and telephone.

The train cars also were decorated with ads from back in the day and a subway map from New York City’s transit system early days. There were also TV screens showing some of the best moments from the 50 years of James Bond films.

DJ D-NICE entertained the guests hanging out in the train station platform while some of the stars began arriving.

Among them: Adrian Grenier from the show ‘Entourage’, Jacinto Riddick from ‘A Street Car Named Desire’, Jose Yenque from ‘Traffic’, Anthony Mackie who’s appeared in various films; his latest ‘ Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’ and director Ulysses Terrero to name a few.   

The celebration was a success filled with plenty of Heinekens including a dark tasty Heineken that’s not easily found, the hors d’oeuvres served among them mini hamburgers and chocolate covered strawberries were a great combination.

The marketing event got us all hyped up for ‘Skyfall’ coming out in November 9th 2012, which will mark the 6th consecutive global partnership with Heineken and the Bond Franchise. The most important fact to mention is that for the first time ever in this film Agent 007 will be drinking a Heineken beer, not his usual martini. The video ad makes it all the more interesting and explains why the event was held inside train cars converted into Bond movie sets.  

Michael Peña, ‘End of Watch’; tie at box office

There was a tie at the box office this weekend which has now been cleared as ‘End Of Watch’ the movie starting Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña, officially earned $13.2 million dollars. Although the movie is limited by its Rated R rating, the cop film has received great reviews and surely word of mouth helped it.

‘Trouble With the Curve’ the baseball drama has been bumped up to second place with a total of 12.9 million dollars. It’s an interesting dilemma whether Clint Eastwood’s charade at the Republican convention drew crowds in or away.

‘House at the End of the Street’ which stars Jennifer Lawrence, ended up at number three with $12.8 million dollars. The film definitely got a lot of attention because of Lawrence, unfortunately it was below everyone’s expectations and it didn’t satisfy the public.

The Top 10 in the Box Office are:

1. End of Watch – $13.2 mil

2. Trouble With the Curve – $12.9 mil

3. House at the End of the Street – $12.8 mil

4. Finding Nemo 3D – $9.4 mil

5. Resident Evil: Retribution – $6.7 mil

6. Dredd – $6.3 mil

7. The Master – $5 mil

8. The Possession – $2.6 mil

9. Lawless – $2.3 mil

10. ParaNorman – $2.2 mil

Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures

‘Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures’ on Blu-ray is the ultimate collector’s item. For the first time ever all four movies are together in one pack and what’s even better they’ve been digitally re-mastered in high definition. It features a two-part documentary called ‘On Set with Raiders of the Lost Ark’, also rarely seen on set footage and interviews with director Steven Spielberg, Executive producer George Lucas and Harrison Ford. For anybody who’s and Indiana Jones fan this is a must have.

 

This is a great way to spend a Sunday with the family, as it will take a whole day to watch: ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, ‘Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom’, ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade‘ and ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ along with a 5th disc which contains about 7 hours of new material and archival content. The original negative was scanned at 4K and then examined frame-by-frame so that any damage could be repaired as well as the sound, as Ben Burtt explained to us he used his archived material from 1981 for the improvements. With carful restoration and the correction of small technical flaws this is all of Indiana Jones adventures to the maximum.

 

It all beings with ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, which was completely restored and played in select IMAX movie theaters, the sound and images of the re-mastered film, are phenomenal. Watching this in the movie theaters was fantastic, but to be able to sit at home and watch all four films in Blu-ray in high definition is a real treat. It’s kind of surreal to watch something that was made in the 80’s and for it to look and sound like it was done in the year 2012 as the colors are vibrant and never dull and the whip cracks and shots are louder than ever.

 

It’s a nice way to re-live all the adventures as if it were the first time, being re-introduced to the characters, environments and surrounding stories once more while appreciating each magnificent treasure one after the next. To see Karen Allen and Sean Connery once more in their glory was very entertaining and it goes without mentioning that seeing Harrison Ford in his role of a lifetime with this high definition and sound not only made me swoon, but made me respect him even more as an actor. For everyone who’s waited to have these classic films together, it has all been worth it.

 

The storybook style of the pack contains:

Disc 1—Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark is presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 2.0 Dolby Digital and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The disc includes the following:
– Teaser Trailer (HD)
– Theatrical Trailer (HD)
– Re-Issue Trailer (HD)

Disc 2—Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 2.0 Dolby Digital and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The disc includes the following:
– Teaser Trailer (HD)
– Theatrical Trailer (HD)

Disc 3—Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 2.0 Dolby Digital and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The disc includes the following:
– Teaser Trailer (HD)
– Theatrical Trailer (HD)

Disc 4—Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The disc includes the following:

– Theatrical Trailer #2 (HD)
– Theatrical Trailer #3 (HD)
– Theatrical Trailer #4 (HD)

Disc 5 – Bonus Features
Bonus features are presented in standard and high definition (as indicated below) in English with English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.

NEW – On Set with Raiders of the Lost Ark
– From Jungle to Desert
– From Adventure to Legend

Making the Films
– The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981 documentary previously unavailable on DVD)
– The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark
– The Making of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
– The Making of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
– The Making of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (HD)

Behind the Scenes
– The Stunts of Indiana Jones
– The Sound of Indiana Jones
– The Music of Indiana Jones
– The Light and Magic of Indiana Jones
– Raiders: The Melting Face!
– Indiana Jones and the Creepy Crawlies (with optional pop-ups)
– Travel with Indiana Jones: Locations (with optional pop-ups)
– Indy’s Women: The American Film Institute Tribute
– Indy’s Friends and Enemies
– Iconic Props (Crystal Skull) (HD)
– The Effects of Indy (Crystal Skull) (HD)
– Adventures in Post Production (Crystal Skull) (HD)

‘Resident Evil: Retribution’ opens at #1

‘Resident Evil: Retribution’ topped the box office with $21.1 million dollars. The fifth chapter of the horror/sci-fi action franchise by Paul W. S. Anderson did well this past weekend, but it didn’t do better than its predecessors. Mila Jovovich continues to carry the film which is expected to make up for numbers overseas.

The re-release of the beloved family film ‘Finding Nemo 3D’ earned $17.5 million dollars. Although it made below what it was expected compared to other Disney re-releases, it still is bound to satisfy the studio which will re-realease ‘Monters, Inc. 3D’ next.

The horror film ‘The Possession’ which held the number one spot for two weeks fell to third place with $5.8 million dollars. Giving way to the fall movies while still holding on in the top 10.

The Top 10 Movies in the Box Office are:

1. Resident Evil: Retribution – $21.1 mil

2. Finding Nemo 3D – $17.5 mil

3. The Possession – $5.8 mil

4. Lawless – $4.2 mil

5. ParaNorman – $3 mil

6. The Expendables 2 – $3 mil

7. The Words – $2.9 mil

8. The Bourne Legacy – $2.9 mil

9. The Odd Life of Timothy Green – $2.5 mil

10. The Campaign – $2.4 mil

‘The Possession’ holds on to #1

This was a very weak weekend for the box office, the worst since September 2008. With that said, ‘The Possession’ was number one once again with $9.5 million dollars. This horror film is enjoying its second week in a row on top, but it surely will get bumped down a couple of spots next weekend.

‘Lawless’ holds its position at number two with $6 million dollars. The film staring Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy followed by other big names, has tried its best to earn more at the box office; but it seems like it won’t reach its goal.

Zoe Saldaña and Bradley Cooper’s ‘The Words’ opened at number three with $5 million dollars. The amount the film gathered doesn’t cover the cost of production yet, which was $6 million dollars. Surprisingly the duo didn’t have much pull at the box office.

The Top 10 Movies in the Box Office are:

1. The Possession – $9.5 mil

2. Lawless – $6 mil

3. The Words – $5 mil

4. The Expendables 2 – $4.8 mil

5. The Bourne Legacy – $4 mil

6. ParaNorman – $3.8 mil

7. The Odd Life of Timothy Green – $3.7 mil

8. The Campaign – $3.5 mil

9. The Dark Knight Rises – $3.3 mil

10. 2016: Obama’s America – $3.3 mil

Finding Nemo 3D (Movie Review)

Pixar’s ‘Finding Nemo 3D’ directed by Andrew Staton comes to us nine years after it was released in May 30th, 2003. Obviously technology has advanced so much in this amount of time, that Pixar chose the right time to put one of their most successful films in a 3D format. I felt honored to have been a part of a very small group of people that got to see the film in 3D in Pixar Studios’ very own movie theater, before anyone else in the world. We received a presentation before the film by Bob Whitehill Pixar’s stereoscopic supervisor and Joshua Hollander Pixar’s director of 3D production. They explained to us how time staking the process of converting an old film to 3D is. Starting by the fact that they had to convert the files careful not to harm the original, fix colors and mistakes from the previous one, they also had to do a lot of rendering to give it depth. The team wanted to get it just the same but with a higher resolution, to give it about 144% more detail, to bring it to a level of comfortable viewing.  It took them about a year and a half to convert the film. Knowing all of this before the film really made me and helped me appreciate it even more.

I felt like this was the very first time I saw the film, it already is so full of color that seeing it in 3D and high definition really takes you into the environment of the movie. A whole new generation of children that haven’t been introduced to this story will get to view it as never before, with its crisp clear colors, depth and beauty. If you loved the movie when it came out in 2003, you will love it even more now; it will feel like you are swimming in the ocean right along the characters. Pixar made a very wise decision to re-release this film in 3D and high definition in theaters September 14th as well as in Blu-ray 2D and 3D December 4th, 2012.   

For those that don’t know the story, ‘Finding Nemo’ follows the adventurous journey of Marlin (Albert Brooks) a clownfish who gets separated from his beloved son Nemo (Alexander Gould) from their home in the Great Barrier Reef, where a dentist decides to capture him and give him a home in the tank in his office. In his search Marlin befriends Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), a forgetful fish that accompanies him throughout the ocean to rescue his son. Both clownfish find out things about themselves in their journeys and become heroes in their efforts to reunite and get back home.

The reason why ‘Finding Nemo’ was so successful when it premiered wasn’t only because of the beautiful animated images, but most of all because of the amazing journey the story takes us through. Despite of the fact that I’ve seen the film a number of times, I was still fully entertained for the duration of it, it gave me chills of joy and I relieved the whole story as if it were my first time experiencing it. I can certainly say I left Pixar Studios completely satisfied and excited to share with all of you the amazing experience.

‘Fidning Nemo’ was already such a success: having wan the Oscar in 2003 for Best Animated Feature, named among the top 10 greatest animated films ever made by the American Film Institute, being the highest grossing G-rated movie of all time and remaining the fifth highest grossing animated film worldwide.  So, why bother converting it to 3D and why even spend money on watching a film your children have probably made you watch countless times? Well they made something that was already close to perfection, completely perfect, this is a whole new way of experiencing the sea voyague. Everyone that worked on this movie to convert it to 3D did such an amazing job and made it’s worth relieving this masterpiece that is completely at home in 3D format. The extra bonus you get from watching ‘Finding Nemo 3D’ in theaters is Mark Walsh‘s amazing short 3D film ‘Partysaurus Rex‘ right before the film, it definitely gets the party started (Click on the link below for a full review of the short film).What’s even better? Pixar is making ‘Monsters Inc.’ into 3D and it will be re-released in December 19th, 2012. There are rumors that more of Pixar’s beloved films will be re-released in 3D, so we have a lot to look forward to!     

5 behind-the-scenes pics of new IMAX ‘Indiana Jones’!

’Raider’s of the Lost Ark’ returns to theaters 31 years after its original release completely restored to be released on select IMAX for only one week in September 7^, 2012, and on 69 of AMC’s theaters across the country a marathon of INDIANA JONES will be help on September 15^th, presenting: ‘Raider of the Lost Ark’, ‘Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom’, ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ and ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’. This will be followed by a Blu-ray release of ‘Indiana Jones: The complete Adventures’ on September 18, 2012 which features seven hours of bonus material, with a two-part documentary called ‘On Set with Raiders of the Lost Ark’, also an hour of rarely seen on set footage and interviews with director Steven Spielberg, Executive producer George Lucas and Harrison Ford.

I have to admit that I haven’t seen ’Indiana Jones: Raider’s of the Lost Ark’ probably since I was a little kid, which is no surprise since this first Indy film came out in 1981. So, it’s fair to say that seeing it in the AMC IMAX theater that Paramount took us to was as if I were seeing it for the very first time, as I recall very little of it. Seeing it on IMAX though was fantastic as the high definition quality of the picture really brings out the colors and clarity in the film and now I can see why women go crazy over Harrison Ford, he was a total hunk when he was younger.

The film was restored into the image and sound quality that is expected of IMAX, with careful attention to preserving the original look, sound and feel of the original. The problem is that we’ve grown so accustomed to the special effects and thrills that technology has given us that some of the action scenes look almost silly; but they are still certainly fun to watch. The dialogue is certainly outdated, but it gives us a look back as to how movies were 30 years ago. The IMAX experience was very rewarding and still very entertaining.

The next morning after a late viewing of the film, we were taken up to George Lucas’ very own SkyWalker Ranch, about an hour outside of San Francisco in a dense area where deer were out running around the hills. As we arrived we drove past the main house to the tech building, where we had a brief press conference in the in the beautiful in house movie theater with sound designer Ben Burtt and visual effects director Dennis Muren.

After the press conference we were given a very special exclusive treat…a trip to Lucasfilm Archives! There we were surrounded by objects and artifacts used in the ‘Star Wars’ movies like a life size R2-D2 and Chewbacca mask, also there was a different display for each one of the Indiana movies starting with his usual archeologist outfit, hat, whip and all, followed by the main treasures of each movie such as the Ark from the first and the Crystal skulls from the last. Truly, a fan’s dreams come true!

They also explained to us how an Indiana Jones adventure called “Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology” which first opened in Montreal’s Science Center and then went on to Valencia’s Ciudad de Las Artes y Ciencias; will premiere in the United States at Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, California on October 12,2012 and will continue until April 21, 2013. The exhibition, which will be about 10,000 square feet, is equipped with a personal video companion, where visitors can go on a quest to find the real origins of archaeological mysteries. It contains materials from the Lucasfilm Archives, as well as videos from the National Geographic Society and Penn Musuem.

After this gratifying experience we took a short walk around the surroundings of the Tech building where we saw grapevines and other crops in a lovely, peaceful scenario accompanied by a small lake.

Needless to say that the die-hard fans of Indiana Jones have all the things listed on here to look forward to. It sure will be a treat for the generations that grew up watching the films and for the new ones being introduced to them.