March 6, 2009 - Watchmen
July 17, 2009 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
December 18, 2009 - Avatar

In 2008, which is already almost halfway over, I’ve only watched three movies: Cloverfield, Planet B-Boy, and Prince Caspian. (All three were pretty good, with Planet B-Boy being my favorite). Compared to my friend Rob Cowell, three is probably a lot, considering he’s probably watched less than three movies in the last three YEARS, but it’s not a lot for me, considering I have been interested in other movies such as the recent Iron Man, Forbidden Kingdom, and … er … well … I guess the pickings have been slim so far this year.

Last year was a turn-off for me because of all the dark movies that were coming out. At this point, I don’t desire to come out of a movie depressed and gloomy.

Anyway, all that to say there are a few movies I’m very excited to for in the coming years. Here’s just a few that comes to mind:

3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Yes, I’m a big fan of the seven books. None of the movies have really stood up to the quality of the books, but I thought the fifth one was the best effort yet. I guess the producers agree, because the director of the fifth movie, David Yates, has been asked to come back to not just direct Half-Blood Prince, but the seventh and eighth movies also (they are splitting the seventh book into two movies). This is exciting news because the sixth and seventh books are amazing, and I’m very excited for the November 2008 release of Half-Blood Prince.

2. The Watchmen: Unlike Harry Potter, I have not read the source material of this movie. But, I did buy it online, so I do have a copy of the Watchmen graphic novel, which is hailed as one of the greatest pieces of work in this genre. Before the movie comes out, I will read it, since Time Magazine did name it one of the “100 Best English-Language Novels since 1923,” calling it, “A work of ruthless psychological realism, it’s a landmark in the graphic novel medium.” Better yet, the movie is directed by Zach Snyder, who also brought us 300. It’s slated for a March 2009 release.

1. Avatar: It’s been over a decade since James Cameron’s last narrative movie, a little pic called Titanic. You go further back, and you find that Cameron’s done great sci-fi epics such as Aliens, Terminator I, and Terminator II. And since I’ve always been into sci-fi, he’s one of my favorite director. He’s also an incredibly intelligent man and every interview I read of him I enjoy. His latest work has been long in the making and utilizes the most advanced 3-D digital technology available. Yes, so with Avatar, we will sit in a movie theater and watch it in glorious 3-D. There will be a ton of CGI also, but he promises they will be “photoreal animation,” unlike a lot of the standard CGI you see in today’s movies. I won’t even go into the story of Avatar, though I’m sure it will be entertaining. Regardless of how good this movie turns out, it will be a technical break-through for movies, and an evolutionary event in entertainment. Unfortunately, my number one anticipated movie won’t be out until December 2009. He’s actually has wrapped principal photography, and is already editing, but it’s such a complex project that it will be another year and a half before it’s released.

The trailer looks beautiful. The director? Chen Kaige of “Farewell My Concubine” fame. Check out the trailer: http://wip.warnerbros.com/promise/

What are the other things? Real briefly since I really want to actually get 8 hours of sleep tonight, which means being asleep in 15 minutes:

March was as busy as advertised…many dances, many performances…an ex-roommate and my co-workers actually came to one of my performances, which marks the first time in years and years that I think invited friends from outside my dance circle to a performance.

And yes, the grad school responses did come. NYU’s rejection letter came on Saturday, March 25th; U. of Virginia’s rejection letter came on Friday, March 31st. BUT IT’S ALL GOOD.

April is still going to be very busy with dance stuff…and by the end of the month I hope to be able to create a new dance number on the subject of “Religiosity”…

until next time…

That’s all for now but very soon I wanted to put up a link on here to some online videos of dance pieces I and others have done for Mosaic. Look for that soon.

The latest one to gain my notice is called “The Fountain”. Actually, I wrote about it a long time ago on my old blog. It’s directed by Darren Aronofsky, of “Pi” and “Requiem of a Dream” fame. He disappeared after Requiem precisely because he was trying to get The Fountain to the screen — it is his most ambitious movie yet. Years ago I heard about it, but then Brad Pitt, who was his original star, dropped out. I thought the project died then and there. To my surprise, it has resurfaced, this time with Hugh Jackman as the lead. Rachel Weisz co-stars.

This is a description I found on another website:

“A quest for immortality - via a “tree of life” found in Central America - is attempted in three different centuries, the ultimate lesson being that death, as part of the process of rebirth, is to be embraced, not feared.”

I know very little else, but I respect Aronofsky and think this will be a very interesting film. As best as I can tell, it’s due out in the late Fall.

I think people mostly remember him for Titanic, for better or for worse, but the rest of his filmography is pretty impressive too, at least for those of us who like sci-fi. And after Titanic came out in 1997/1998, he was on top of the movie world. Just like Peter Jackson is on top now after his Lord of the Rings trilogy and can do whatever he wants (he chose to do a remake of King Kong), James Cameron was there back in the late ’90s. So what did he do? Nothing.

Nothing as far as directing a feature film at least. Instead, he chose to pursue other projects like creating the Dark Angel series for television, and after that, doing a string of deep-ocean documentaries destined for IMAX, like the recently released Aliens of the Deep.

For years now, I’ve checked up on him, but unlike my other favorite directors such as Spielberg or Ridley Scott, who always had something lined up and in the works, Cameron had effectively disappeared from the world of movies.

Seven years later, there’s finally word. Cameron himself is talking about his next project. When is it due? 2007, nearly 10 years after his last movie. What is it? Battle Angel Alita. Okay, now many of you have probably never even heard of it, but it’s a Japanese manga (sort of like a comic book) by Yukito Kishiro. I haven’t read/seen this manga, but the story seems to have a lot of the elements that Japanese entertainment seem to love: a post-apocalyptic world, set in the far future, with the heroine being a cyborg. He plans for it to be live-action with CGI — in fact, the heroine is planned as a CGI character BASED on an actual actress (like how Gollum was done).

For sci-fi fans like myself, or anime/manga fans in general, this is exciting news. But there’s more, and that’s where Michael Jackson comes in. I don’t know if they still have it at Disneyland, but remember that 3D show they had starring Michael Jackson as Captain EO? I remember watching it a long time ago, putting on the 3D glasses and being pretty dazzled by the 3D effect. It was only 17 minutes or so but it was pretty entertaining, if for nothing else than for the 3D effect. Well, Cameron developed a 3D camera system, I believe for one of his deep-ocean documentaries, and now he says he can’t imagine going back to a regular camera. He also says that by 2007, many theaters will be equipped with digital projectors, which will allow him to release a 3D feature film to the public. Yes, a feature-length film where you put on 3D glasses and watch the entire thing in 3D. Brilliant!

George Lucas pushed the cinema world into the digital domain, and now Cameron is taking things to the next level. Cinema has come a long way in the last century, from silent to sound, from black and white to color, currently from film to digital, and perhaps over the next decade it will turn 3D, taking one more step toward the promise of virtual reality, a subject matter that Cameron explored in Strange Days, one of the movies he wrote but did not direct.

I for one am pretty excited about it.

The theme for the piece is “Revolt”…breaking out of conformity and finding individuality and power. I’m using parts of “Tough Guy” by the Chemical Brothers, though most of it comes from a song called “Tango Forte” by Dublex, Inc., an electronica gem I stumbled upon. Anyway, tonight’s my only chance to mix the music the way I want and then to choreograph it, because I scheduled the first rehearsal for tomorrow night.

With lots of catchup reading and studying to do and the dance piece also on my plate, of course I find myself posting to my website for the first time in weeks. Ah, typical.

By the way, Happy Chinese New Year…I only know it’s this week because my parents kept calling me to come home for dinner last night. It’s actually on Wednesday, but they cooked up a feast last night, and my mom told me to be careful this year, because as a rabbit, and this now being the Year of the Rooster, it’s supposed to be a bad year for me (financially, as she seemed to believe). Well, I’m rejecting that notion because I already had my fill of financial problems over the past year, including the past three months, so this year BETTER be a good year. Good thing I don’t believe in the Chinese Zodiac.

Movie Notes: Yes! Another teaser trailer for War of the Worlds came out on Super Sunday. You can see it at www.apple.com/trailers. Also, check out Kung Fu Hustle too. It looks like a very promising and entertaining movie from Stephen Chow. There’s also a trailer for a movie called Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior where they advertise the star, Tony Jaa, as the heir apparent to Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li. It does look like he’s got some skillz.

- Sin City: One of the most interesting trailers I have ever seen, this movie is based on the comics by Frank Miller and directed by Richard Rodriguez of Desperado fame. It definitely attracted a lot of interesting names, including Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Josh Hartnett, Elijah Wood, Nick Stahl, just to name a “few” - yeah, they’re all in the movie. But you have to see the trailer for yourself, which you can find at www.apple.com/trailers. Due out in April.

- Kingdom of Heaven: You ladies will appreciate the fact that this one stars Orlando Bloom - your favorite elf is a knight in this one, directed by Ridley Scott. The trailer makes sure that you know this film is from the director of Gladiator, of course this should attract the same kind of crowd. It also has Liam Neeson and Jeremy Irons and an actress I’ve never hear of before named Eva Green. Another great looking trailer with some visuals that will definitely invoke some of the battle scenes of Return of the King. There’s a lot of capes and robes flapping in the wind and a lot of scruffy faces wearing some mean looking armor. You can also check this trailer out at www.apple.com/trailers. Due out in May.

- War of the Worlds: Steven Spielberg, making the kind of movie he makes best, sci-fi. Tom Cruise is in this remake of H.G. Wells’ classic. Only a teaser trailer is out so far, but this second collaboration between Cruise and Spielberg should be at least as good as their first, Minority Report. I imagine that this movie is going to be what Independence Day would have been if Spielberg had directed it. Due in June.

- XXX/State of the Union: I’m actually not anticipating this one. But I have to give it some notice, if for no other reason than for laughs. This is a sequel to XXX starring Vin Diesel, but this time, the anti-Bond is…….ICE CUBE. Ha! Check out the trailer just to see them try to make Ice Cube look like a killing machine.

- The Pink Panther: Yes! I used to love those Pink Panther movies, and who better to make a new one then Steve Martin? He plays Inspector Jacque Cousteau (sp?) with a cast that also includes Kevin Kline, Jean Reno and Beyonce Knowles. Due out in August.

- Unleashed: I guess Jet Li’s not done collaborating with those French. In this one coming in April, he plays a man that was raised “as a dog”, with some type of mind control collar, and trained to kill. Apparently he somehow ends up with a blind character played by Morgan Freeman who, along with a young woman, helps him become more normal. Meanwhile, his former master is looking for him. Strange concept, but it looks like there’s some cool fight scenes, which is basically what you look for in a Jet Li movie.

- The Island: No trailer for this, but here’s the synopsis from another film site - “Lincoln Six-Echo (McGregor) is a resident of a seemingly utopian but contained facility in the mid-21st century. Like all of the inhabitants of this carefully controlled environment, Lincoln hopes to be chosen to go to the “The Island,” reportedly the last uncontaminated spot on the planet. But Lincoln soon discovers that everything about his existence is a lie. He and all of the other inhabitants of the facility are actually human clones whose only purpose is to provide “spare parts” for their original human counterparts. Realizing it is only a matter of time before he is “harvested,” Lincoln makes a daring escape with a fellow resident named Jordan Two-Delta (Johansson). Pursued by the forces of the institute that once housed them, Lincoln and Jordan engage in a race for their lives to literally meet their makers.” Sounds a bit like the Matrix under a different context, but I love the actors they have, including Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson and Steve Buscemi. This one’s directed by Michael Bay and is due on in July.

- Doom: I couldn’t help take notice of a film starring The Rock based on one of the most popular video games of all time. The game that basically jumpstarted the first-person shooter genre. It’s from the guy who directed Cradle 2 the Grave and Exit Wounds, neither movie of which I’ve seen. Not much other info on this, except that it’s so far due in August.

- Sometimes this blog feels like it’s my online journal, but it’s not. Not everyone I know knows about it so I feel free to express myself pretty openly, but I definitely do not let my deepest darkest thoughts out on here. No way. Not with all you heartless wolves out there lurking in the shadows. Yes, I see you — all two of you. Everyone has to maintain somewhat of a facade after all, right?

- My hair is growing longer and longer…I forget when the last time I had it cut was, though I KNOW I haven’t cut it in the three-plus months I’ve been back in Los Angeles. And I also know that this is the longest my hair has ever been. Some of my friends who can’t accept me with long hair have said I’m growing a mullet, but in general, I’m digging it.

- I am in the middle of reading “My Life” by Bill Clinton. I am on page 228 and I still haven’t gotten to his Presidency yet. In fact, he’s not even governor of Arkansas yet on page 228. On page 228, he has recently graduated from Yale Law School, found work as an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law, and had just narrowly lossed in his first attempt at elected office (for Congressman). Two things about Clinton: he has the most amazingly detailed memory, and he’s gotta be the most peoplest people person who ever lived. Yes, that’s right, I just made up a word. The whole book is 957 pages. It should last me through the rest of January or much further beyond because:

- Man, I knew I was going to have a lot of reading this quarter but this is ridiculous. In my Sociology of Family class, we’re assigned SIX required texts. These includes a textbook, a novel and a course reader. And I haven’t seen the syllabus for my Self and Society class but I hear there’s a lot of reading there too. And I haven’t even gone to my Politics and Society class yet. My Self and Society professor is a character. In her own words, she puts on a show for us, and I think she expects us to be dazzled. I had a straight face for the most part, so I think she had it in for me. At one point I looked down towards my notes and she snaps, “Sir with the hat — eyes open!” Sure, I had less than four hours of sleep last night, but I certainly never closed my eyes. In my book, she’s gonna have to make up for that blunder.

- I enrolled in netflix.com, and the next seven or so movies I have lined up in my queue are all Akira Kurosawa flicks. I had seen his “Seven Samurai” last year and loved it. Then I recently got a documentary on him from netflix and enjoyed that, so now I’m going to go on a Kurosawa binge. I’ve just seen “Ran” after the documentary, which was somewhat depressing but very enjoyable. I think “Rashomon”, his first global real hit, is next in line, then “Yojimbo” after that. I also have “The Magnificent Seven” and “A Fistful of Dollars” mixed in there because those are western remakes of “Seven Samurai” and “Yojimbo” respectively.