Dan Goldwasser

DARK OF THE MOON Update... For those of you who enjoyed Steve Jablonsky’s music score for Transformers 3 (which I did, along with his work on the first Transformers film and yes, Revenge of the Fallen), I stumbled upon these cool behind-the-scenes pics of Dark of the Moon's scoring session taking place at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. These photos—which are promotional pics courtesy of Paramount Pictures—were posted on Scoring Sessions earlier this month. Click on that link to view more than 30 other images of the Dark of the Moon session taken at the Sony Scoring Stage!


Dan Goldwasser

As for buying the Dark of the Moon film score itself, for some odd wacky reason the music isn’t available on compact disc (unlike for the first two flicks). You can, however, download the score as separate MP3 files or the complete album itself on Amazon.com. I, personally, would like to buy it on CD instead...so I can convert the tracks to MP3 (via Audiograbber), upload them to my Winamp playlist and portable MP3 player, and store the CD itself on a shelf with other movie scores that I bought in the past. Yea, I’m being serious.


Dan Goldwasser


Dan Goldwasser

ASSASSIN’S CREED... Last week, it was announced that Sony Pictures is planning to adapt the highly-popular Ubisoft video game to the big screen. Assassin’s Creed wouldn’t be the first Ubisoft title to get a cinematic treatment, however; the video game company’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was released in theaters via Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer last year. According to Variety, Ubisoft also wants big-screen versions of its other bestselling titles, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon at the cineplex.

There were a few live-action webisodes produced as prequels to Assassin’s Creed II back in 2009. If Hollywood’s version of the game is anywhere as faithful as these clips, which are titled Assassin’s Creed: Lineage, then the brand should be in good shape...though presumably there’ll be less blue screen elements in Sony’s depiction (since the movie should most likely get a high budget and probably be a summer tentpole picture). Click here to view the three clips for Assassin’s Creed: Lineage.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3... I saw the latest installment in the Katie-gets-haunted-by-an-evil-ghost movie franchise ('horror movie franchise' is overused) yesterday, and I must say, it was both scary and clichéd at the same time. Being a prequel, Paranormal Activity 3 expands more on the subplot of Paranormal Activity 2 (SPOILERS AHEAD) in that it focuses on how the grandmother of Katie and Kristi made a deal with a belligerent spirit that would haunt the two girls up to their adulthood. Basically, the grandmother was part of a secret coven, and her deal caused the souls of all females in her bloodline to be forever owned by the spirit. Paranormal Activity 3 provides no solution as to how that curse could be lifted.



Paranormal Activity 3 was scary...though not as scary as the previous film (and I only saw the last 20 minutes of the first movie). It’s pretty much obvious that the motif throughout all three flicks is having Katie (and Kristi) suddenly being dragged from her bed by the evil spirit into another room in the middle of the night. It was totally frightening when Katie literally gets yanked off her bed in the first Paranormal Activity film, but by the third flick, this moment lost its shock value. Paranormal Activity 3 does have a freaky scene where the spirit, cloaked in a white sheet to look like your standard cartoonish Halloween ghost, sneaks up on the babysitter in the kitchen after Katie and Kristi’s mom goes out of town for the night. And we see how violent the spirit can be when Katie, who's playing tag with her sister in one scene, runs smack into the invisible entity (nicknamed 'Toby' by Kristi...who’s the first one in the household to encounter this ghost) in her bedroom...and gets pulled off the ground by her hair.



Paranormal Activity 3 falls victim to several horror movie clichés...namely numerous scenes where one of the characters (Dennis: the boyfriend of Katie and Kristi's mom, in particular) moronically walks into darkened hallways and rooms despite knowing something is amiss; having little children chant Bloody Mary inside bathrooms with the lights out; and even the subplot where the grandmother practices witchcraft itself. The final scene in the grandmother’s house was appropriately filled with lots of dread...with me saying 'dumbass" out loud (well, not too loud) a few times when Dennis walked around the home in the middle of the night looking for his girlfriend and her two daughters (who had suddenly gone missing). You would think that he would at least grab some type of object to use as a weapon after the household fell deathly silent. But noooo...all he has is that video camera to film his demise with when he stumbles upon that darkened room where the grandmother’s witch buddies are loitering in—and all hell breaks loose for Dennis when he tries to get away and realizes his GF and her kids are part of one screwed-up family. No wait, I forgot to say 'Spoilers Ahead'.

Would I recommend that you watch Paranormal Activiy 3 while it's still in theaters, you ask? Sure, why not. Just remember to tell yourself, "It's only a movie, it's only a movie...a low-budget movie" while watching the film. That is all.

IMAGE OF THE DAY... In case you didn't know yet, the Star Wars saga will be theatrically re-released in 3-D...starting next year. First episode to return to cinemas nationwide: The Phantom Menace. Darth Maul returns to the big screen! Along with um, Jar Jar (who unsurprisingly isn't featured in the poster below).

Microsoft Game Studios

HALO... Nope, I have absolutely no idea what’s going on in terms of bringing the über-popular Xbox video game to the big screen. A recent article stated that the movie was back on-track for a theatrical release next year...but this is obviously not true since the flick should’ve started filming this year to meet a release date for 2012—or maybe even begin production in 2010 if the visual effects were to truly look awesome (assuming reputable FX houses like Industrial Light & Magic, Digital Domain and/or Weta Digital worked on Halo). The main reason for this entry? Just thought I’d post these cool images that I found online.


Microsoft Game Studios

Apart from the budget (which I’m sure will be quite pricey), I can’t fathom any other reason why Hollywood and Microsoft would have trouble giving Master Chief and his Spartan soldiers the live-action treatment. Are they trying to look for the right actor to play the green-armored super soldier? Just get Russell Crowe or Gerard Butler to play him and be done with it. And have Charlize Theron or Kate Beckinsale play the lead female character from the video game...whoever that is. And have Aaron Sorkin (who wrote the screenplays for The Social Network and most recently Moneyball, respectively) pen the script. Just because. Oh and one more thing: Have Hans Zimmer or Steve Jablonsky (who did the music for the Transformers trilogy) do Halo’s orchestral score. Is that too much to ask for? Okay— The Aaron Sorkin part may be a bit much...but other than that, I hope not.


Microsoft Game Studios

THE AVENGERS... Check out the new theatrical trailer for next summer's highly-anticipated blockbuster film. The Avengers, which combines Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk and other iconic comic book heroes into a single combat unit, will be released in cinemas nationwide on May 4, 2012.

REAL STEEL... I saw the robot-boxing movie starring Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lilly at the theater yesterday, and needless to say, it was good family entertainment. Real Steel could've actually gotten a PG rating instead of a PG-13 certification since it was machines that were beating the crap out of each other and not humans, and there was only a scene or two where the language was somewhat mild. However, the flick was worth watching no matter what rating would've been handed down to it by the Motion Picture Association of America. (In hindsight, Hugh Jackman’s portrayal as an extremely-deadbeat dad and that scene where he gets his ass whupped by Kevin Durand and his goons were pretty intense for young kids.)



Real Steel was a robotic version of the recent Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)-inspired flick Warrior in that both films dealt with sons trying to win a major sports competition while being assisted by their estranged fathers. Speaking of UFC, Real Steel would probably have been a lot better if the robots were able to perform mixed martial arts moves as opposed to just doing boxing. But it's all good. It was cool to see Jackman's character teach his old boxing skills to Atom—the Sparring 'Bot That Could who would come close to defeating Zeus, the all-time World Robot Boxing champion whose spokeswoman is the lovely Olga Fonda [who somewhat resembled Jennifer Love Hewitt (with a sexy Russian accent) in the movie].



All-in-all, Real Steel was a fun flick to see. It's inspiring, it has great visual effects, and it has awesome fight scenes. I don't think guys like Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao or Oscar De La Hoya (even though he's now retired) would welcome the prospect of their sport one day being fought solely by machines, but oh well. Leave it to Hollywood to portray this concept instead. Oh and by the way, I still think Transformers (the first film or Dark of the Moon, to be exact) is a better rock 'em sock "em robots flick. Sorry mainstream movie critics.

THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 (FULL SEQUENCE)... For those of you who enjoyed the first film when it came out in theaters in 2009, check out the official trailer for the sequel below. I myself didn’t see The Human Centipede (um, First Sequence) when it stirred up controversy upon cinematic release two years ago, but if you did and enjoyed seeing people’s pie holes getting surgically attached to other folks’ a-holes, then The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) is the movie for you. Of course, you’d have to visit Los Angeles and New York City to watch the new installment if you live here in the United States. Those are the only two American cities where this flick is currently being shown right now.

Tom Six, who directed both Human Centipede movies, is planning to film the third flick here in the U.S. He’s envisioning 24 people stitched together for the next installment. 'Only' 12 folks form the centipede in Full Sequence. That is all.