The End

So, as you can tell by the post below me, this is our last blog post. While we are relieved and proud that we have our final magazine draft out, we've had to overcome some problems on the way. Overall, I'm proud of the work we've managed to done, and I'm glad that I've gotten to know my group members better. I think that this was a good course to have freshman year start out with, because it's everyday schedule provided consistency, and most of the work was in class, so we where learning a lot but at the same time it didn't overload us with work.

It's hard to believe that we've done so much in such a short time. We've gone from trying to remember words like "folio" and "body copy" to using them regularly in class. I also like the perspective that this blog has given me on film. Before looking up film news, I didn't realize how many sequels had been made, and how that was affecting the film community. I learned a lot more about the box office ratings, and how they work.

Over all, it was a good semester.

~Jessica

Final Post: Good Bye, Little Blog

Our first semester is coming to a conclusion, as this will be my last blog post. We are very close to the completion of our Montage magazine and our Electronic Magazine class. Throughout this first semester in Ezine, I learned a few things about the general American film industry that I had not known before. To be honest, I know only little to nothing about entertainment in America. As an anime/manga nerd, I don't pay attention to anything happening in America. Sure I know a few celebrities, most of whom I dislike and will not specify at the moment. Other than that, I have ZERO KNOWLEDGE about what is going on in American film. A specific example would be that I didn't even know the difference between an Oscar and a Grammy. Now I know that Oscar = film and Grammy = music.
After having to research about news in film for my blog posts, I was able to find out a little bit more about what is going on right now in the film industry of America. Upcoming films, new or recent releases, horrible films, five star films, I explored through a lot of those this semester. In this case, a lot means more than usual, in which usual means never.
Of course, movies always change as time flies. After a few months, even weeks, I will go back to knowing nothing about current films and movie news in America. But even so, I still gained a little knowledge about the entertainment here.

It was an interesting experience, and I'm probably going to miss being able to sit in front of a computer during the whole class.

Farewell!
--Ellen--

Last Post

This is a bittersweet week in the history of the great magazine Montage. We are making finishing touches on the first, and the last issue. All of our adoring fans will finally be able to see the great works of myself, Ellen, and Jessica. You will finally be able to see the bios of the stuntman Richard Hancock and the teacher Vanessa Mokry. You will finally be able see the opinions on the latest films and anime. And we, finally, will be able to move onto the dreaded SciTech. Oh we will cry when we are ripped away from our computers and our Indesign files. We will beg Ms. Young and Mr. Pace to let us stay and create more delicious content, just for you. There are many more films that we can report to you, Black Swan, Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Ong Bak 3, Blue Valentine, and so many more. How we wish to stay, but for all great things, there must be an end. And sadly, that end is now. I’m sure that my partners Ellen and Jessica feel the exact same way about this moment. Goodbye. This is Alex S., signing off. I’M OUTTA HERE FOOLZZZ!!!!! –Alex S.

Catherine Hardwick's New Project

Catherine Hardwick, director of "Twilight" (the first movie for the Twilight saga), has been chosen to direct a film for "The Maze Runner." It is said that she has great talent in directing movies revolving around the genre of young adult romance and horror. In my opinion, "Twilight" was a very lame movie. The transition from Bella and Edward falling in love to randomly climbing a tree made me fall over laughing. Although I do not like Twilight, I cannot say that I am ready to hate "The Maze Runner." I have not yet read the Maze Runner and this movie news just gave me a new book suggestion. It may be that I don't like Twilight's story, resulting in why I don't like Twilight's movie. For those who are fans of Hardwick's work, they can be looking forward to "The Maze Runner." This movie can also be for the Maze Runner fans out there. I am looking forward to see how this movie comes out, but before then, I will read the book.
 For more information, you can find the article here.
--Ellen--

Actor Leslie Nielsen Dead

When I first read of Leslie Nielsen's death on the Huffington Post last night, I was intrigued. It seems the star of such parodies as "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun" series was once a dramatic actor. It's hard to believe that a man who fell on the Queen of England, knocked Barbara Bush off a balcony, and politely asked not to be called Shirley could look or say anything remotely serious. But it turns out that he starred in the 1956 science fiction film  "Forbidden Planet" and in many serious television shows. Even more surprising is what he did before acting. Nielsen was born and raised in Canada and his father was a Canadian Monty. After graduating high school he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. I find it very hard to believe that a man could serve for the Air Force and eventually become a famous actor, always associated with absurd and stupid humor. Another irony in Nielsen's life is that he starred in the first disaster movie "The Poseidon Adventure" and then was later cast in the first film to parody disaster movies, "Airplane". I can't tell if I happy or disappointed that Nielsen left dramatic acting for absurd humor. I really enjoyed "Airplane" and "The Naked Gun", but they started a new genre of movie that would lead to crap that is "Scary Movie" and "Meet the Spartans." Either way, Nielsen's career is a great and prolific one, and I will miss the movies that he can't continue to make. -Alex

The full article can be found here.

Buffy Movie Remake

The movie poster for the original Buffy movie.

When I first heard about a Buffy movie remake, I didn't really know what to feel. On one hand, I'm so tired of remakes and sequels. To me, you can only make a movie series if it's based on a book, or has a clear way to continue without becoming boring. On the other hand, after finishing the real Buffy movie, all 7 seasons, all 5 seasons of Angel, and the Buffy comic books (out so far) I'm kind of ready for something else. And also, the original Buffy movie sucked, so you can only move forward from that.

DVD cover for the first season of the TV series.

But at the same time, Joss Whedon wouldn't be involved in the movie. At all. The main reason people (including myself) believe that the movie was the worst thing that came out of the Buffy phenomenon, was because Joss Whedon wrote it, but he wasn't involved in producing, casting, directing or even acting in it. For every thing after the movie, he was involved in many ways, including all of the ones above. So if your not even going to have Joss Whedon write it, your not going to have him directing, your not even going to have him anywhere near it, then how could it be any better than the original? Also, the chances of getting all of the actors back are very slim. And if you don't get the actors from the T.V. series (God forbid they get them from the original movie) then how could it be any amount of success? When Joss Whedon later said that what they where doing was a sad reflection of current trends the movie industry seems to be fallowing, I had to agree. Unless they pull off all of it, getting the actors, getting Joss, and probably getting other people who where very involved in the series, then they could probably make it pretty successful. But that's probably not going to happen, so why even try?

Click Here To Read The Story

Click Here To Read What Joss Whedon's Responce Was

~Jessica

Foreign Movie Poll

Here is a poll about foreign movies! Please fill it out!

--Ellen--

Best Way To Watch Movies/TV Poll

 This is a poll about how you prefer to watch movies and TV shows. We would really appreciate it if you answered.
Click Here

~Jessica

3D Poll

Check out this poll for your surveying enjoyment. It's right here. -Alex

Leonardo DiCaprio: "The Devil in the White City"

Leonardo DiCaprio's latest acting job is "The Devil in the White City," a movie based off of a non-fiction book about  "one of the first documented American serial killers" who possibly murdered 27 to 200 people in 1893. I myself love to read books and watch anime about serial killers. I don't particularly like the gore-filled anime, but serial killers are very interesting to me. The motives, skills, and trickery which lie within almost all serial killers draw me into the book, anime, or movie.
One particular movie I have watched is the Japanese movie called ,"Maou." It is about a lawyer named Naruse Ryou who is seen to the public as angel-like and never loses a case. In truth, he is actually a "murderer" (he's technically not the one killing people) who seeks revenge for his dead brother, Naruse Hideo. Hideo was killed when he was in middle school by one of his classmates, Serizawa Naoto, who bullied his friend. While protecting his friend, Hideo was stabbed by the Naoto. Using tarot cards and other objects  such as a tear-gas spray gun or teddy bears, Ryou manipulates those who are close to Naoto, or have relations with him, to kill Naoto's close friends who had helped him bully others. This causes Naoto to suffer from the losses of his friends from middle school. In the end, Ryou had planned to kill Naoto too. Watching how Ryou managed to manipulate others was very interesting to me. Although killing is not a justified way of doing things, I am interested in how DiCaprio will portray a serial killer. Serial killers have such twisted ways of killing people, which grab the attention of some.

Here is the link to more information on "The Devil in the White City."    

--Ellen--

Spy Kids 4, New actors, new premise

Before Austin director Robert Rodriguez begins working on Sin City 2, he has to break his chain of violent, gory movies with a kid friendly Spy Kids reboot. Now that the previous spy children Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara
are grown up, production will have to find two new kids, new parents, and a new villain. The film will revolve around a new parent, played by Jessica Alba. She is a former spy of the fictional OSS, and after marrying into a family with two new stepchildren, she is called back to undercover work. The two new stepkids will be portrayed by Rowan Blanchard and Mason Cook, two newcomers to the franchise. The two new children will obviously be caught into the spy action to somehow stop the new villain, The Time Keeper, a man intent on stopping time. Jeremy Piven has been cast as the baddie, and will star alongside Joel McHale of Community and returning actors Antonio Banderas, Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, and Danny Trejo. The movie will be titled Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World and will be released August 19, 2011. This entry seems like a cheap way to make money. I don't expect good things from this film, especially because of Rodriguez's most recent forays into kids film. The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl and Spy Kids 3D: Game Over were some of the worst films I've seen. This should have been expected; Rodriguez's films' only saving grace is the gratuitous violence and gore. These will obviously be absent from the new Spy Kids so my expectations are horribly low.-Alex

3 full articles on the film can be found here and 1 can be found here.

Rumors of 'Thriller' Based Film Are Adressed

It had been rumored that Kenny Ortega was going to make a film inspired by the Michael Jackson music video for the song Thriller. Kenny Ortega is the director of High School Musical, and This Is It, and is experienced in working with music in movies. When contacted about making a movie based on Thriller, kenny Ortega said that it was in a very early stage, and nothing was solid on it so far. He said that if the movie was done, the Jackson estate would have to sign off on it. He did say that if it did happen, he thinks it would take place in the next few years. Ortega, who said that he was "very good friends" with Jackson, say that he would never do anything to ruin one of Michael Jackson's creations or his memory. Whether or not this movie will be as relevant if it is released in a couple of years is yet to be seen. Some may claim that Michael Jackson was so big that he will be timeless, but there have been few musicians who's popularity has lived out past they're death. While icons like Elvis Presley have lived well past their death, they where still fairly popular and well know, where as Michael Jackson's popularity was already fading. With his last tour in 1997 and last album in 2001, the only thing he had recently done was his movie 'This Is It', but even that was released after his death. In the end, only time will tell how the movie will turn out.

Read the article here.

~Jessica

Lorax film adaptation in the works

Dr. Seuss film adaptations have been both good and bad. How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Horton Hears a Who were wild and humorous, good interpretations of the respected children's author. The Cat in the Hat was interesting, but it failed to bring in a respectable amount of money at the box office. Universal Studios, the studio who distributed The Cat in the Hat and How the Grinch Stole Christmas is hard at work at another Dr Seuss classic The Lorax. This creature is the sworn protector of Truffula tree, known for the soft material they produce. When noisy intruders come to his forest for the trees, the grumpy, lovable, and furry little creature will stop at nothing to keep his forest safe. Universal has had trouble portraying a classic character in the film form, and by the looks of the furry mustache and the voice actor, I think he will be well accepted. The equally short Danny Devito will voice the environmentalist. Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Rob Riggle, and of course, Betty White will also star in the film. The movie will be released in 3D in 2012, so we’re going to have to wait a while. –Alex

The entire story can be found here.

The Hangover 2, With Mel Gibson as a Cameo

The new fad, it would appear, is that if your movie is successful the first time around, it simply must have a sequel. The hangover 2 continues this trend.

Currently Warner Brothers is filming The Hangover 2, and they've booked Mel Gibson to make a cameo. As this post points out, another current popular trick is to get a role in an R rated comedy to get careers back on track. It points out that Tom Cruise and Mike Tyson did it, so why not Mel Gibson? While these trends seem tired and old, if Gibson had to pick a movie that he hoped would revive his career and make everyone forget all of the bad publicity he's been getting, perhaps a sequel to 'The Hangover' might not have been the best choice. The Hangover was considered by many crude at best, so if you want to make people forget some racist, homophobic and sexist comments that you've made, perhaps there are better movies. Then again, maybe they're trying to make some of the things that he said as mislead jokes. Either way, it's doubtful that it will result in anything besides much eye rolling and some immature jokes.

~Jessica

Paranormal Acitvity 2 Takes First Place in the Box Office

     In this weekend's box office report, Paranormal Activity 2 has beaten down every movie ranked after it with $41.5 million. Paranormal Activity 2 is about a young couple who find themselves having to cope with a potentially evil spirit in their house.
     I myself cannot tolerate the suspense and fear that emit from horror movies. My first, and last, experience of watching a horror movie was in second grade at a friend's birthday party. It was in the slightly chilling Saturday afternoon when I went to a friend's house to celebrate her eighth birthday. As a "fun" party activity, Jessica, the birthday girl, decided to rent a horror movie, The Grudge. At first, I had thought that I could probably handle it, after all, horror movies are almost never based off of true stories.  I was wrong, watching The Grudge was the worst movie experience I had in my life: people screaming, bone-chilling music, sudden pop ups, creepy-looking evil Japanese siblings, and blood. After watching The Grudge, I would always check around me to make sure something or someone wouldn't randomly pop up. The movie really haunted me.
    Since then, I have never watched a horror movie. Paranormal Activity has won over the box office for its ability to strike major fear into its audience. I myself wouldn't watch this movie but for those who love fear, this movie is recommended.

Here  is the full article.

--Ellen--

James Cameron Talks of a Sequel to Avatar

When the movie Avatar hit theaters, it wasn't necessarily a 'love or hate' movie. Even though many people expressed strong feelings about "hating" it, not many came forward and proclaimed that it was the most engaging, best movie they had seen to date. Even the people who liked it, tended to state "Well, the graphics where amazing, but the plot just didn't seem interesting." To people who know the basic rules of film can understand why.

One of the first things you tend to learn in film classes, are unspoken laws of the film industry. The fact that if your script isn't formatted correctly, it will be tossed in the trash. Also, if you try to direct the way things are supposed to be said, you won't do well selling you script. Another one of these is that you can't really submit a screenplay that's longer than 120 pages. The only people that can ''break" these unspoken laws of the film industry, are people who have previously established themselves in the film industry. People like James Cameron.

One of the reasons for the proper formatting of the script is that when all the dialogue and action is typed out in the proper format, one page is approximately one minute of screen time. Usually producers will only consider 60 - 120 pages because it would amount to one to two hours. At nearly 3 hours, avatar broke all the rules of the length of what a single film is supposed to be.

There are reasons that many people wont accept a film over 2 hours, it's because it simply can't hold your attention most of the time. Avatar didn't really have a plot that needed the movie to last over 2 or 2 1/2 hours.

All in all, the only reason why Avatar was so widely disliked (in comparison to the popularity of some of his previous it practically bombed) was because it was too long. The announcement of a possible sequel only results in all the mass of people who thought the movie was to long, groaning in despair. It was already to long, why make it longer?

~Jessica Skrobarczyk
Article Here

Harry Potter Movie 7 Ditches 3D Formatting

     Warner Bros. has decided to release Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, the seventh movie of its series, without its 3D format. It takes too long to create a 3D movie, thus ditching 3D would keep with the movie's schedule to be released to the public on  November 19th.

     This is a huge discouragement for 3D Harry Potter fans, but the 3D haters can be relieved. The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book held a lot of fighting action between the wizards and witches, thus it is believed that 3D fight scenes in the movie would be interesting. The question is: Do fans really want the 3D formatting on Harry Potter movies to the point that they don't mind if their release dates are pushed back?

     The answer is simple: it is more important to follow through with schedules than to push back a release date. When a movie comes out without 3D format, it is not as discouraging as when a movie comes out a few months after the date that it was originally planned to be released. Pushing back a movie release date causes fans to become even more discouraged because they have been looking forward to this movie for a while now.Warner Bros. has made the right decision to discard the 3D and go with the schedule.
Luckily for 3D lovers, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is still planned to be released in 3D. Afterward, Warner Bros. may plan to create a 3D version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.

Here is the article for a more thorough description of the upcoming Harry Potter movie.

--Ellen--

Spider Man Reboot Villian Reveal

After the official announcement of the Spider Man reboot, one of the most burning questions within the film community is "who will be the villian?" This question is asked whenever a super hero movie is announced, but finally the question has been answered. Welsh actor Rhys Ifans will portray Parker's Professor Curt Connors. From previous comics and video games, we know that Curt Connors created a serum to regrow his lost arm, but, as all movies go, the supposed cure turns him into The Lizard. Website The Wrap reported the info after the press release on Monday. Parker's reptilian foe will most likely live in the sewers, but his evil scheme is yet to be known. Connors was actually a character in the previous Spider Man films, but he never transformed into a villian, and the actor that played him will obviously not be returning. It's too bad the reboot will feature a villain few people know about, it seems the first franchise used up all of the popular villains. Spider Man will star Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker from The Social Network and Never Let Me Go and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy from Easy A and Zombieland.

The entire article can be found here.

Matt Damon: Not Appearing in "The Bourne Legacy"

   Matt Damon will not be reappearing in the "The Bourne Legacy," the fourth movie in its series. Whenever actors switch out from their roles, especially in movies that are involved in a whole series, I tend to have to adjust to the new actors. Although the character is the same, actors portray characters in different ways. One actor may portray a character harsher than another actor does depending on how their views of the story and the character's situation are.
    It usually takes time for me to get used to new actors, such as the change of actors playing Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series. The movie gets a bit strange because it is not the original actor acting as the character. There is a change in face and personality, causing me to have to sort of "adapt" to the situation. When the actor playing Malfoy was switched, I had to watch Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban about five more times before I grew adjust to having another actor play Malfoy.
   This is also the same with Dumbledore, especially because the voices changed from a timid, older sounding voice to a loud, mighty voice.
   When Matt Damon is switched, some Legacy fans may have to take a little time to accept the change and become used to having someone else play the main character for the rest of the series.

Here is the article with more description about Matt Damon's switch.

-- Ellen --

Zuckerber Takes His Staff to See 'The Social Network'

Two weeks after 'The Social Network' hit theaters, it's still number one. Many people, who, before the movie released with a booming success, said that they weren't going to waist money on it. A good amount of those people have opted to see it anyways, after seeing it's success. One of the people was Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook.

In previous interviews, he had said that he probably wouldn't be seeing the movie. It didn't really surprise anyone, considering that he's portrayed as a desperate collage boy, who rips off another companies ideas, and betrays his friend. What was considerably more surprising is when he finally caved and saw the movie, he decided to take his whole staff with him.

In an interview with  UsMagazine.com, one Facebook representative said that they decided to see 'The Social Network' to "celebrate a period of intense activity on Facebook". He also commented that they thought that the movie might be "amusing", because of how it portrays Facebook.

In the end, despite how 'The Social Network' might portray Zuckerberg, he has done some pretty big things to create a positive image. He recently donated $100 million to a charity for education, the Newark educational system more specifically, which is the largest city in New Jersey.

Article Here

~Jessica Skrobarczyk

A New Biopic of Freddy Mercury

A new biopic of  Freddy Mercury is now in the writing process. Peter Morgan, author of The Queen, and Frost/Nixon is penning the project, with Sacha Baron Cohen in mind for the role of the Queen front-man. An interview with the author revealed that the project was Cohen's own idea, and that the film would focus more on Mercury's musical career rather than his personal life and death. The author specifically stated that he would not like to write a movie about AIDS. It will probably highlight on Mercury's relationship with the other band members over the years. The project will have input from the surviving band members, who will work on it as producers.Morgan did admit that what he will right might not be viewed in the best light by the band members. The movie will take place during one of the hardest times for the band, the period where they stopped touring and relationships were strained. It will most likely bring back bitter memories for the producers, but it is necessary for the film to be as realistic as possible. The film does not start production until 2011, but until then it will be nice to imagine Sacha Baron Cohen dancing and singing We Will Rock You.

The full article can be found here.

-Alex-

Top Grossing Box Office of the Weekend

As the weekend box office results where released, it had some surprises, and some conformations of what the majority suspected as far as how much movies would pull in.

 The top grossing movie for this weekend was The Social Network. Even though some people where shocked by this, most weren't. The only people left wondering how this happened are mostly skeptics of social networks like Facebook, and those who aren't aware of how central Facebook is around many people's life's. Even then, you would probably have to be ignorant of sheer number of people talking about it, planning to see it.

Second on the list was a little more surprising to many people. Ledgends of The Guardians, a film about owls, presumably derived from a children's book, did extremely well despite the fact that it wasn't talked about or advertised as much. A logical conclusion as to why this might be is probably found in the fact that as a movie for children, it would be less likely to be advertised on radio shows and talked about in middle schools and high schools, and even advertised on the commonly watch channels by adults. Success of it can also be attributed to having an established fan base from the books.

It can also be noted on the chart that the top total grossing movie on the list is Toy Story 3, a fact unsurprising because of the large fan base the previous Toy Stories, and even just Pixar has gathered, and the fact that it is targeted to all ages, genders, and races.

Weekend Box Office Listings

~Jessica~

"The Man of Steel" Finds its Director

   Superman: a huge American icon, capable of saving the lives of many and defeating the malicious villains that haunt Metropolis. The time has come for the Superman movie to be rebooted, we shall see the great American hero rise again! As some may have heard, movie director Zack Snyder has recently been chosen to direct the new Superman movie, titled The Man of Steel. As an experienced director, who has directed the recently released "Guardians of Ga'Hoole" 3D movie which has hit box office charts placing 2nd, this choice seems to be well made. There will be high expectations for Snyder, considering that Superman is a well known and popular super hero to many. Others involved in the making of The Man of Steel are confident that Snyder will be able to come up with a creative script for their new movie, as he is a very talented director.
   It is certainly a great honor to be the director for this movie of a fictional American hero who has inspired many people of many age groups. Superman fans are looking forward to see what Snyder can do to what is widely considered to the public as a cultural American icon.
Further information can be found in this article here.

--Ellen--

Hobbit Production Faces Troubles

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/actors-call-equality-hobbit-3806824

I found this interesting story on the production of The Hobbit. After the on again off again pre-production, the film faces more troubles with actors and locations. The Australian Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) accused Peter Jackson of making a non-union film. They say he has refused to make an agreement with the actors union, and that the film should be boycotted. After threats by Jackson that he would move the film to eastern Europe, The New Zealand Actors Equity expressed wishes to meet with him over the location. The production company just wants to get the film started, and they believe that shooting on a location where actors are unstable could have unintended consequences. This is bad news for fans of The Lord of the Rings; The Hobbit has been postponed before, and news like this means the release date is only further away. The Lord of the Rings was shot entirely in New Zealand, probably because the beautiful fields and forests were mostly uninhabited and looked like an excellent Middle Earth. It will be disappointing to see the film move to a location like eastern Europe, where the land has been used constantly and the environment exploited. New Zealand actors could not return for the film either, which would also make the film seem different than the rest of the series. -Alex