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Revenge of the Robots: Panic Attack, Skynet Symphonic

Today, it is all about Robot Revenge. Nice FX work on the first video, Panic Attack. So nice that it convinced a production company to finance his feature length version of the movie for theatrical release, to the tune of $30 million dollars. If it meets up with the promise of the short version, Fede Alvarez may just be the next successor to Neill Blomkamp (District 9), turning a home made short video into a career in the film industry.

The second video is the new entry into the world of Robot Mashups: Skynet Symphonic. All the sampled sounds are actually from ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’, and it is just plain fun.

Avatar Interview, Cowboy Bond, Iron IMAX

James Cameron had a quality interview at The Wrap in which he answered political critics comments about Avatar, and spoke about the technology and the future of movie making. Word is also going around that Daniel Craig is talking with the makers of Cowboys and Aliens, and might be taking over the lead in that film. The part opened up last week when Robert Downey dropped out of the project due to scheduling conflicts with Sherlock II and Iron Man III. The premise is similar to one of my favorite Harry Turtledove series, only this time the aliens land in the 1880s old west, instead of WWII. And word came out today that an Iron Man II IMAX release will be happening simultaneously with the regular theatrical release on May 7th.

Things to Do: Movies

This week is the release of The Book of Eli, a post-apocalyptic film starring Denzel Washington. I haven’t heard enough about this movie to make it stand out, so I am just as happy there is an alternative selection for the week: Jackie Chan’s The Spy Next Door. The latter looks to be a variant on his Robin B Hood story format, except I don’t think Jackie sings the theme song in the new film. If you missed him singing it for the other, here you go…

Things to Watch: DVDs and TV

Best choice for DVD’s this week has to be Duncan Jones’s Moon, filmed on a tiny budget but delivering a huge and powerful story. The creative use of miniatures at a time when everyone is making CGI effects is an entire tale unto itself.

A project that did focus on CGI and Animation to get its results was The Celestial Railroad. The classic Japanese story of riding a train through the Milky Way was used as a good jumping off point for creating a program to project onto a planetarium dome at IMAX resolution, and it is now available in Blue Ray.

For TV, tonight’s season 3 premier of Chuck kicked the series off in the right direction, even if a few details (like the whole Prague decision sequence) were beat on harder than they needed to be. And yes, if you missed it you can watch it online at that link. Later this week, the Discovery Channel Sci-Fi Science series gives you the info you need to build your own working light saber. If you haven’t already been following the series, then last week you missed how to build a Starship. Some of the top physicists in the world are involved with this one, so it is not just fictional speculation, but the real deal.

Jeep Rock, Tucker & Dale vs Evil

Some of the things you find online take more imagination than I generally expect from people, and the Jeep Rock video is an excellent example. The second video is the trailer from the film Tucker & Dale vs Evil, a comedy horror film that will hopefully get a distributor after it appears at Sundance this year.