Tastemakers to get a bite of Star Trek at Sydney Opera House

Showing all posts about film

Tastemakers to get a bite of Star Trek at Sydney Opera House

26 March 2009

The Sydney Opera House will host the world premiere of the new Star Trek movie, on Tuesday 7 April 2009, before an audience of 1600 tastemakers (Internet Archive link):

Director JJ Abrams’ new Star Trek movie will have its world premiere at the Sydney Opera House next month, presented by Aussie star Eric Bana. Abrams, Bana and co-stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Karl Urban will present the blockbuster to 1,600 tastemakers in art, design, entertainment, fashion, media and politics on April 7. It is only the third time a film has debuted at the Sydney Opera House, and the first time a premiere has been held in the concert hall.

I wonder what it takes to become a Star Trek tastemaker then?

Originally published Thursday 26 March 2009, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.

Arthur C Clarke’s Newspad RSS news aggregator

30 May 2008

Author and futurist Arthur C Clarke is credited with predicting the emergence of a number of technologies, including a tablet-like device called a “Newspad”, which could serve the latest news stories from electronic versions of newspapers.

So far more has been said about comparing the Newspad to PDAs or Tablet PCs, but the Newpad also worked in a very similar way to today’s news aggregators, or RSS feed readers.

In the novelised version of 2001: A Space Odyssey, (chapter title “Moon Shuttle”, pg 66-67) Dr Heywood Floyd, chairman of the US National Council of Astronautics, spends time reading on his Newspad, while traveling to the Moon.

Floyd sometimes wondered if the Newspad, and the fantastic technology behind it, was the last word in man’s quest for perfect communications. Here he was, far out in space, speeding away from Earth at thousands of miles an hour, yet in a few milliseconds he could see the headlines of any newspaper he pleased. (That very word “newspaper,” of course, was an anachronistic hangover into the age of electronics.) The text was updated automatically on every hour; even if one read only the English versions, one could spend an entire lifetime doing nothing but absorbing the ever-changing flow of information from the news satellites.

Not only did Arthur C. Clarke predict PDAs and Tablet PCs, he also foresaw the emergence of news aggregators, and RSS technology.

Originally published Friday 30 May 2008.

Grow your DVD movie collection each time you visit the supermarket

9 December 2007

Going to the supermarket is increasingly becoming a one-stop-shopping experience. In addition to sourcing groceries, some stores now offer not-half bad coffee, which you can enjoy as you pace the aisles. And for movie fans, a visit to the supermarket is only going to get better, with news that DVD vending machines are being rolled out across Australia:

Instant DVD has installed vending machines in 12 supermarkets throughout Melbourne and Sydney and intends to expand to 500 throughout the country, creating yet more competition for the traditional video shop.

The hire prices are too bad either, and the “late fee” for not returning the title by the due date may not — depending how much you like the film in question — be so terrible either:

All movies cost $2.99 a night to hire and can be returned to any of the service’s vending machines. If you fail to return a movie within two weeks its price is charged to your credit card and it becomes yours to keep.

I’m not really up on the state-of-play when it comes to late fines on hire movies, since returning hires is about the only thing I actually do promptly, but it seems to me someone who’s a little more casual in this regard could end up with quite an impressive DVD collection.

If nothing else it makes for a good way to try before you buy. If you like the movie enough simply keep it, and two weeks later it’s yours. I wonder how the price of the “to keep” hires compares with those on weekly special at the supermarket though?

Originally published Sunday 9 December 2007, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.

RELATED CONTENT

Australia, film, legacy

Spider-Man 3, a film by Sam Raimi, with Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst

28 May 2007

I’d heard a lot about the third Spider-Man movie before I saw it, and not all of it was good. Terms such as “spider cheese”, and the like.

But this is the third and final instalment of the franchise as directed by Raimi Smith, and given he needed to tie up a few loose threads that have run through the series, I suppose some cheesiness can be forgiven.

Some things seemed a little rushed though (such as Harry’s turnaround). I still liked it. I don’t really like to say a movie was crap, but Spider-Man 3 wasn’t quite as fun as the previous two.

Originally published Monday 28 May 2007.

The History Boys, a film by Nicholas Hytner, with Richard Griffiths

21 May 2007

While I enjoyed The History Boys, it wasn’t quite the hilt at the British class system, or epic struggle against the odds, sort of tale I had expected. It was more or less a fly-on-the-wall look at the lives of a group of gifted students who had the opportunity to gain places at two of England’s oldest, and most prestigious universities, Oxford and Cambridge.

I actually thought the epilogue like ending was the best part, a scene which kind of melded onto the end of a teacher’s funeral. Given the story was set in 1983— just fourteen years ago — this is one of the best “where are they now” sequences I have seen in a movie so far.

Originally published Monday 21 May 2007.

Scoop, a film by Woody Allen, with Scarlett Johansen, Hugh Jackman

16 May 2007

Scoop is the latest Woody Allen production, and combines elements of his earlier work including Manhatten Murder Mystery, and the more recent Match Point, plus of course Scarlett Johansen. The result is a quirky, yet fun, murder whodunit set in London and the neighbouring Home Counties.

Allen plays a touring magician — who’s often surprised when a trick seems to work — who meets Sondra (Johansen), when she takes part in one of his shows. Together they find themselves trying to solve a murder, working only with scant clues supplied by a recently deceased journalist (Ian McShane), who has managed to return from the afterlife.

Fans of Allen’s trademark neurotic banter will not be disappointed.

Originally published Wednesday 16 May 2007.

Bobby, a film by Emilio Estevez, with Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore

14 May 2007

Bobby is a “what if” movie. What if Robert (Bobby) Kennedy had been elected president of the United States in 1968, as he seemed destined to be? What if he managed to stay in office for eight years, thus by-passing the Nixon era? What might the United States, and the world, be like today as a result of his influence? While the big picture is enthralling, the smaller one is no less so.

Bobby is a dramatization exploring the stories of some of staff and guests working, and staying, at the Ambassador Hotel, in Los Angeles, on 5 June 1968, the day Kennedy was killed. We also are left pondering “what ifs” of their lives. Kennedy is only seen in the movie by way of archival footage, but nonetheless makes the strongest screen impression.

Originally published Monday 14 May 2007.

The Last King of Scotland, a film by Kevin Macdonald, with Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy

23 March 2007

I’m not sure how exactly to classify The Last King of Scotland since it’s not actually a true story in itself, though the portrayal of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker), and his reign of terror, is certainly accurate.

The Last King of Scotland tells the story of Amin’s rise to power through the eyes of Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), a graduate doctor from Scotland, who through various turns of events becomes Amin’s personal physician.

Garrigan’s euphoria at being newly arrived in Uganda matches that of the Ugandan people, and their belief that the then new leader Amin would turn the fortunes of the country around. Garrigan’s subsequent lapse into depression and despair also parallels that of Uganda, as the previously charismatic and apparently affable Amin becomes increasingly tyrannical and oppressive.

Whitaker’s fits-like-a-glove portrayal of Amin surely matches that of Helen Mirren in The Queen.

Originally published Friday 23 March 2007.

The Queen, a film by Stephen Frears, with Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen

9 February 2007

Constitutional politics has always fascinated me. And The Queen offers — for me at least — an intriguing insight into the British governing hierarchy.

Set in 1997, newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) nervously sets off to meet the Queen (Helen Mirren), to be invited to form a Government. While the Prime Minister holds the real, executive power, the Queen has an authority of her own. But this standing is threatened, following the death of Princess Diana, in the weeks following Blair’s election.

Originally published Friday 9 February 2007.

The Pursuit of Happyness, a film by Gabriele Muccino, with Will Smith

20 January 2007

The Pursuit of Happyness: based on a true story. I loved the central character’s lateral thinking abilities. Often with little warning, he manages to devise excuse upon excuse, while lurching from one crisis to the next. And if losing your home and going bankrupt isn’t bad enough, Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is also trying to land an internship at a prestigious stockbroking firm.

Originally published Saturday 20 January 2007.

« older posts

newer posts »