Idris Elba, looking absolutely fabulous in pink with spray paint.
Idris Elba visits a street art mural promoting Star Trek Beyond in East London on July 14, 2016 in London, England.
Via Mashable.
Beautiful Tagger.
Affinity
Art, Fun, & Nonsense.
Idris Elba, looking absolutely fabulous in pink with spray paint.
Idris Elba visits a street art mural promoting Star Trek Beyond in East London on July 14, 2016 in London, England.
Via Mashable.
Dario Imbrogno does some of the coolest film work I have ever seen. His work is never easy, it makes you think, and it certainly makes you feel.
You can see more of Dario’s work here.
Credit: Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Resort.
July 25th – 13th Annual Ironworkers Festival.
The Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Resort hosts the annual Ironworkers Festival to celebrate past and present ironworkers. For more than 130 years, the Mohawk have been known for their ability to work high steel, and for their enormous contribution to shaping New York City’s skyline.
Each year, Ironworkers travel from throughout the Northeast to compete for the top prize of “Ultimate Ironworker,” in the skills competition which awards $6,500 in cash prizes. The funds raised through registration fees and t-shirt sales are donated to the Local 440 Ironworker Benefit Fund, which provides emergency relief to Ironworkers. The event is family friendly, so bring your whole crew out for a great day! Hogansburg, NY. http://mohawkcasino.com/events/ironworkersfestival/
August 17th – 22nd – 98th Annual Crow Fair. Crow Fair 2016 Poster.
Crow Fair, called the “Tipi Capital of the World,” is an annual event held the third weekend in August on the Crow Reservation in Montana. It is one of the largest Native American events in North America and is run by a committee of the Crow tribe. Crow Fair combines a celebration of Crow culture, reunion of family groups, powwow, rodeo, horse racing, and commercial vendors. Native Americans of various tribes and many non-Indian people, including visitors from around the world, gather to celebrate and enjoy themselves. There may be 1,000 tipis, along with wall tents, pickup campers, trailers, and mobile homes. Each family has its own camp area, and people visit and eat under arbor shades and awnings.
Image: Star Trek Beyond poster, Paramount
Sulu Is Gay in Star Trek Beyond and It’s Not a Big Deal.
Or, at least, Star Trek Beyond is presenting it like it’s not a big deal and praying fans follow suit.
The news comes from the Australian paper the Herald Sun, which says that the movie—rightfully—treats Sulu’s private life, in which he has a male partner and a child, as no big deal. (This daughter had better be Demora, is all I’m saying. Because Demora is awesome and deserves to exist in the alternate universe, too.)
According to John Cho, the decision was of course a nod to the original Sulu, everyone’s favorite Facebooking dad, George Takei. “I liked the approach, which was not to make a big thing out it, which is where I hope we are going as a species, to not politicize one’s personal orientations,” Cho told the Herald Sun.
YES! Full story here.
Production still.
Producers have been fretting about how to do feature films in VR, because the format doesn’t lend itself to traditional Hollywood techniques. However, it’s about to be used on one of the best-known tales of all time for Jesus VR — the Story of Christ, slated to arrive in Christmas, 2016, according to Variety. The 360-degree, 4K film will work on all major VR platforms, including the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear and PlayStation VR. Produced by Autumn Products and VRWERX, it’ll tell the story of Christ’s life from baptism to crucifixion.
[…]
The filmmakers behind Jesus VR haven’t said how they’re approaching the story, but appear to be focused on the immersion aspect. … That approach will let the camera operator “be” in scenes and should make for very high-resolution video, though it’ll require a lot of data post-processing to stitch everything together. “The viewers truly feel they are there with Jesus and his disciples,” director David Hansen said. “This is the most powerful story of all time and virtual reality is the perfect way to tell it.”
The most powerful story of all time. Goodness. I think that could be seriously argued against. Personally, I find it to be a weak and pale pastiche of earlier tales, featuring much better and more compelling characters, with great backgrounds. Virtual Reality? No. Virtual Bad Mythology, maybe.
Via Engadget.
there just might be a He-Man reboot.
Kellan Lutz.
Human thirst-trap Kellan Lutz tweeted about meeting with the filmmakers behind a reboot of Masters of the Universe, prompting the internet to subsequently geek the fuck out. […] Hollywood has been trying to churn out a He-Man reboot for a while, with several directors and writers attached to the project, but it now seems like it’s finally got some momentum. McG, of Charlie’s Angels and early-00s music video fame, has been working on getting He-Man to the big screen and recently Lutz met with him and producer Mary Viola:
Last year, I was excited to hear a movie was going to be made about Stonewall. I wasn’t so excited when I heard it would be directed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Patriot). Then I thought to myself, well, how bad could even Emmerich do, it’s a great story, filled with amazing people. Optimism really doesn’t pay off. After last September, I heard many negative noises about the film, and promptly forgot about it.
Did you see Stonewall? Based on its abysmal box office performance, it seems safe to assume you did not. The terrifically abominable thing — just a badly-planned and shoddily-executed work from start to finish — premiered last September and grossed just $187,674.
Stonewall is offensive on two counts: Not just for being a lousy movie, but also for whitewashing history. The 1969 Stonewall riots, as has been well-documented, was a landmark event for LGBT rights; two of the most prominent protesters were trans women of color, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera.
But Stonewall director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Patriot) wanted his movie to appeal to the masses, he explained to Buzzfeed, and in order to get that mainstream appeal, he created a fictional protagonist, Danny. Danny is gay but, in Emmerich’s words, “very straight-acting.” He is cis and he is white. He moves from Indiana to New York City and, in the film, is the brick-throwing rebel that incites the riots that sparked a movement.
:Gobsmacked: So Emmerich thought a white, cis-het appearing, apple pie and mom guy would magically appeal to the ‘mainstream’. Who did he think was going to be the major audience for a movie about Stonewall? This reminds me of the often blank reaction people get when they realize that indigenous people are still around – Stonewall was in 1969, and no, not everyone there and involved is dead, let alone long dead.
Perhaps it will not surprise you to know that many, many LGBT individuals and allies objected to this act of erasure — Johnson makes little more than a cameo, Rivera is M.I.A. — and over 20,000 people signed a petition promising to boycott the movie altogether.
No, that doesn’t surprise me at all.
One might think that Emmerich, nearly a year out from his film’s release and subsequent commercial and critical failure (Rotten Tomatoes rating: 9 percent) would, upon reflection, realize his errors. Or not! In an interview with The Guardian pegged to the release of sure-to-be-cinematic-masterpiece Independence Day: Resurgence, Emmerich “sighs at the memory of his passion project’s reception.”
“My movie was exactly what they said it wasn’t. It was politically correct. It had black, transgender people in there,” Emmerich said. “We just got killed by one voice on the internet who saw a trailer and said, this is whitewashing Stonewall. Stonewall was a white event, let’s be honest. But nobody wanted to hear that any more.”
Stonewall was a white event. Did I say I was gobsmacked before? No, Stonewall was not a white event. It wasn’t even close to a white event. Titus Montalvo, a Stonewall vet, put the crowd at 70% Hispanic and Black. That’s not overwhelmingly white, but I suppose to an Independence-minded Emmerich, that constitutes a white event. Mr. Emmerich, please, stick with your idiot pleaser popcorn flicks, and consider staying very, very quiet about events such as Stonewall. No one appreciates your continued whitewash.
Full Story Here.
From left, Anton Yelchin as Chekov, Chis Pine as James T. Kirk, Simon Pegg as Scotty, Karl Urban as Bones are shown in a scene from, ‘Star Trek.’ (Photo: Paramount).
Star Trek star Anton Yelchin has died at age 27 following a tragic and strange car accident early Sunday morning.
His publicist Jennifer Allen confirmed the news in a statement on Sunday.
“Actor Anton Yelchin was killed in a fatal traffic collision early this morning,” the statement said. “His family requests you respect their privacy at this time.”
Yelchin was pinned by his own car leaving his Studio City residence Sunday at 1:10 in the morning, Jenny Hauser, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department, said.
“A fatal traffic collision occurred, it was the result of the victim’s own car rolling backwards down his steep driveway, pinning him against a brick mailbox pillar and security fence,” Hauser said.
CREDIT: Wikipedia, KGC-03/STAR MAX/IPx/AP.
The lack of diversity in Hollywood isn’t exactly news to many — but the creators of an upcoming film about the 13th century Sufi poet Rumi clearly aren’t getting it.
David Franzoni, an American screenwriter who worked on the film Gladiator, and producer Stephen Joel Brown told the Guardian that they hoped their upcoming film about Rumi would challenge the stereotypical portrayals of Muslims in Hollywood.
But for the two lead characters — Rumi, and his spiritual adviser, Shams of Tabriz — they said they were hoping to get Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Downey, Jr., respectively. “This is the level of casting that we’re talking about,” said Brown, apparently seeing no irony in believing that whitewashing a film will help dismantle stereotypes.
[…]
As many on social media rightly pointed out, one thing about Rumi’s life, then, is clear: He wasn’t white.
While Hollywood has long taken an interest in other parts of the world, it hasn’t done enough to make sure that the people from those regions get a chance to tell the story. Lead roles have been whitewashed in many movies about the Middle East, including Gods of Egypt starring Gerard Butler, Prince of Persia starring Jake Gyllenhaal, and Exodus: Gods and Kings starring Christian Bale. The full list of movies that have been similarly cast with white actors — despite the characters clearly being of other backgrounds — is far too long, but recent examples include Aloha, Ghost in the Shell, and Doctor Strange, among many, many more.
As ThinkProgress has previously reported, there is a serious lack of opportunity for non-white actors in Hollywood. When it comes to Muslim and Middle Eastern actors specifically, they’re often typecast into roles such as “Terrorist #4” — making it that much worse when a lead role they can actually play is given to a white actor instead.
In an in-depth GQ interview with some of the most famous Middle Eastern actors — like Maz Jobrani, Ahmed Ahmed, and Sayed Badreya — Jon Ronson found that pretending to hijack planes and kill infidels were usually the only roles available. As Ronson noted, the lack of opportunity is so warped that many of the actors actually have tips for how to stand out at terrorist auditions.
“If I’m going in for the role of a nice father, I’ll talk to everybody,” Badreya told GQ. “But if you’re going for a terrorist role, don’t fucking smile at all those white people sitting there. Treat them like shit. The minute you say hello, you break character.”
“But it’s smart at the end of the audition to break it,” clarified Hrach Titizian, an actor who appeared on Homeland. “‘Oh, thanks, guys.’ So they know it’s okay to have you on set for a couple of weeks.”
Oh, but we’re post racist, you betcha! :Insert an enormous, spine-popping eyeroll here: If the casting of this movie goes as planned, I certainly won’t be watching it. I have never been a fan of DiCaprio, it’s a mystery to me what people see in him, the most I can elicit is a meh. Having read a fair amount of Rumi’s work, I would love a movie about him and his life if it was done well, and doing it well includes accuracy. That leaves Hollywood out.
Maybe God’s Not Dead, but he’ll probably wish he were when he learns about this lawsuit against the producers of the hokey franchise. According to The Wrap, Pure Flix Entertainment and co-founder David A.R. White are being sued for violating the eighth commandment, which The Simpsons or maybe Sunday school (and the New King James Bible) should have taught them is “Thou shalt not steal.” Screenwriters Kelly Monroe Kullberg and Michael Landon Jr. filed their suit on Monday, in which they claim that Pure Flix and White stole the premise for God’s Not Dead ’s from their screenplay for the unreleased film, Rise.
They are suing for 100 million dollars. 100 million. This pedestrian, boring meme of a story is barely worth one.
According to the complaint, “Rise” tells the story “of a freshman at Harvard facing an environment hostile to her Christian faith.” [T]he student then debates her professor three times on whether God exists.
The complaint notes numerous alleged similarities, stating, “The theme, set-up, opportunity, turning point, change of plans, complications, set back, final push, climax and aftermath of the ‘Rise’ screenplay and the ‘God’s Not Dead’ motion picture are the same.” [TheWrap]
I suppose Kullberg feels like she has a case on account of actually being a prominent Christian who went to Harvard, but that doesn’t change the fact that God’s Not Dead was essentially torn from the Marine Todd meme, which any shrewd idiot with a tolerance for tedium and an email account could’ve turned into a movie. I still want to see the Luke O’Neil version.
Interestingly, Kullberg and Landon are suing for $100 million, “a portion of God’s Not Dead‘s $140 million worldwide.”
Meanwhile, God’s Not Dead‘s lifetime international revenue is $62.63 million, according to BoxOfficeMojo. The only source for that $140 million number I can find is a Fox News interview with Kevin Sorbo. True, he says that includes DVD sales, but $80 million worth is a lot of DVDs.
Oh man, am I ever impressed with anyone who actually sat through this movie. I couldn’t even manage the whole trailer, I only made it to 1:48. I was afraid I might actually die of a fatal eyeroll. Worth 100 million? No way on earth. Or heaven. Or hell.
Just the other day, I posted about The Passion of the Christ: Jesus Returns, with the mild commentary Jesus Christ, a bad movie might be on the way to resurrection. Downright bland, compared to what Twitterers have to say about it all:
There are many more tweets to be enjoyed at Raw Story.
Courtesy of Photofest.
Jesus Christ, a bad movie might be on the way to resurrection.
Mel Gibson and writer Randall Wallace are working on a sequel to The Passion of the Christ that will tell the story of the resurrection of Jesus, Wallace tells The Hollywood Reporter.
[…]
Rumors swirled anew last month when Gibson was a surprise guest at Liberty University’s graduation ceremony to do an advance screening of Hacksaw Ridge and was asked about a Passion follow-up. He expressed interest in making a sequel but was not specific about his involvement. Wallace says demand in the Christian community influenced his and Gibson’s willingness to do another film.
“The evangelical community considers The Passion the biggest movie ever out of Hollywood, and they kept telling us that they think a sequel will be even bigger,” Wallace says.
No studio or financial backing has been lined up for the project, which is still in the early script stage. But Wallace indicates there are several financiers interested in investing. “It’s too early to talk money,” he adds. “This is such a huge and sacred subject.”
Oh, it’s such a huge and sacred subject, we don’t want to be crass, but hey, let’s do this and make a fucktonne of money, yeah?
Oh yes, and there’s a reboot of Ben Hur, too. All properly faithy and stuff. Anyone surprised Morgan Freeman is in this one?
Paramount Pictures and MGM are gearing up to release the reboot of “Ben-Hur” in August, and in a new faith trailer, viewers are given a glimpse into the impact Jesus Christ made on the fictional character Ben-Hur while an exclusive song by for King & Country plays in the background.
[…]
Writer John Ridley maintained that he had similar reservations while working on the script. “The most ardent fans of the 1959 film might find it blasphemous to revisit it in any form, but they forget these characters existed 80 years prior. People only tend to remember Charlton Heston and the chariot race, but Judah Ben-Hur is such a rich, classic character. He’s a wronged man seeking revenge and redemption. Compelling characters like Ben Hur and Messala are the reason we can return to these stories again and again, so I wanted to make the personal conflict between these former friends just as tense and memorable as the climactic chariot race,” he added.
Yep, it will be great, with added JESUS, JESUS, JESUS! Full story here.
(Photo: Grace Hill Media)
“The Conjuring 2,” brings to the screen another real case from the files of renowned demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, June 2016.
Case files of renowned demonologists! Okay, I had never heard of these people, but I do live under a rock. I really do dislike this insistent message of fear that is all things Christianity. This sort of thing does no one good; there’s enough in the world to be concerned about without creating and reinforcing a constant culture of fear.
“The Conjuring 2” is written by Christian screenwriters Chad and Carey Hills, and in their new horror film they hope to spread the message that God will conquer evil.
New Line Cinema’s supernatural thriller “The Conjuring 2,” directed by James Wan (“Furious 7”), brings to the silver screen another real case of the paranormal from the files of renowned demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, who use their faith to drive out demons. The hair-raising thriller will hit theaters June 10.
[…]
Although a straight horror film, the writers of “The Conjuring 2” want people to see that evil exists in the form of demons as written in scripture, but God will always triumph over them. The film also tackles spiritual warfare, prayer and faith in God.
[…]
CP: What advice does the movie offer to help people have faith in God?
Hills: Have faith in God, because he’s the winner. Through Him, evil is banished, a young girl is saved, and a family is brought back together. Without the Warrens and their faith, none of that would have happened, and this film is just one of millions of examples.
[…]
CP: There’s a quote in the movie that says, “God will be there for all who need.” Where did this principle come from, and what can you tell skeptics who do not believe that?
Hills: It’s something that we just believe in, and have had eyewitness accounts of that being truthful. Some may not see it as that, as they think what they need is one thing, and don’t see what God has provided them. We would encourage the skeptics to open their hearts and minds, and take a step back, and really look at their lives, and track the good as well as the bad. They may just be surprised at the outcome.