“9”, film by Shane Acker finally coming to theaters!

Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes! Ok, so I’m really excited for this movie. Almost two years ago someone sent me a link to a short (ten minutes) animated film by Shane Acker, entitled 9. I watched it, and was completely blown away. It was sort of like something from a person’s dream – somebody’s dark, bizarre, superawesome and intriguing dream. It was the only short film I’d ever seen that left me wanting much, much more; I felt as if ten minutes were not nearly enough to explore the universe Acker had created. You can image, therefore, how psyched I was to find out that the short was to be made into a feature-length film! And now that film is finally here! And with an amazing, all-star cast too! I’m already overdoing it with the exclamation points, and this is only how I felt before even watching the trailer!



How cool is that? 9 takes place in a sinister, postapocalyptic world where evil and frightening mechanical beasts threaten a group of sentient rag dolls who band together in an attempt to survive and find answers about themselves and the world that was. I was surprised at first that Elijah Wood was voicing 9, but I’ve come around to thinking he might be kind of perfect for the part. He can definitely do the whole earnest, innocent, underdog hero thing (à la Happy Feet, Lord of the Rings, etc) and he’s already done a lot of voice acting. Then we have Christopher Plummer as 1, coming right off his last big voice role with Pixar’s Up. He’s got a sweet voice, and I like it when he does animation, because then I can imagine the guy still looks like Captain von Trapp. I’m kind of neutral on Jennifer Connelly, but her character 7 does look pretty badass. The rest of the cast is pretty star-studded as well, but those three were the ones that jumped out at me.

One of the cool things about this film, aside from it’s unique design, is the fact that it seems to have the best action sequences I’ve ever seen in any animation anywhere. Check out this scene:



Although animated, 9 is not a kid’s movie. It’s dark and weird and features characters who fight what is essentially a losing battle. The beasts in this film are of the same brand of creepy that made the other mother in Coraline such a great villain. Check out this one, the Seamstress:



9 is directed by Shane Acker and produced by Tim Burton. In theaters September 9th. I am so there.

Looking ahead to True Blood season 2

HBO's begun to promote the sophomore season of True Blood, their television adaptation of Charlaine Harris' series of vampire/supernatural/mystery novels. In spite of the strongly mixed nature of my feelings towards this show, I must admit I felt a little shiver of excitement when I saw these stills. So I guess I'll be tuning in June 14th for the premiere of season 2. Let's take a look, shall we?

Let's see... We've got Bill and Sookie, the two luvy-dove birds, being all sweet together. Here's hoping for lots of wrenches to be thrown into that relationship in season two. Personally, I enjoyed the books a heck of a lot more after she ditched him and stood on her own for a while. Next up we've got Eric (yay, my favorite character), along with subbordinates Pam and Chow all putting their game faces on, so to speak. Below that is a picture of what I can only assume is a new waitress at Merlotte's. In the books, the bar's staff has a pretty quick turnover (with a few exceptions of course), but I guess this girl has a pretty significant role in season two judging from this photo. And then we come to my favorite still, featuring Eric's shorter hair! This is taken from the promotional video, not from an actual episode, but I heart it so there.

Starting from the top of the right column, we've got Jason finding (mis)guidance from the fanatical, cultish religious group known as the Fellowship of the Sun. I think he's still got a lot of lingering guilt from everything that went down in season one, but of course, being Jason Stackhouse, he's going to deal with it in the most boneheaded way possible. Below that we've got some kind of shindig happening at Merlotte's, and Michelle Forbes' character on the dance floor with none other than detective Andy Bellefleur. And finally, we have Sookie with Tara and Sam all gazing pretty intently offscreen at something that just went down. Because in Bon Temps, there's always something that's just gone down.

If a picture's worth a thousand words, how about a video? Here's the recently released promo for season two:

Let's see... Wierdness? check. Blood? check. Sex? check. Yup, looks like True Blood's back in business. This show walks a pretty fine line between kitsch and cool. Sometimes I find myself bemoaning the blatant proliferation of hackneyed genre stereotypes, while other times I find the show's innovative use of those same steryotypes to be very compelling. And then the rest of the time I'm just plain grossed out by the graphic imagery that constantly reminds me I'm watching an HBO production. In any case, the show is very different from the novels. They took a lot of the same characters and storylines, but they managed to give birth to en entirely new breed. Which is, I guess, what an adaptation should be. So, yeah, I'll give season two a shot.

Episode one of season one of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse

Gah! I am the worst fan ever! I think I must have been living under a rock for the past few years of my life. How could I not know that Joss Whedon, (TV mastermind behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Serenity, and most recently Dr Horrible’s Sing Along Blog) had a new TV show until after the first episode had already aired? What is wrong with me? Well, I usually don’t watch a show when it first airs, preferring rather to wait until it’s already gotten good before I jump on the bandwagon. But still, this wasn’t even on my radar until yesterday! I’m ashamed. Looking back, though, I’m glad I wasn’t aware ahead of time that this series was in the works, because I know I would’ve gotten way, way ahead of myself. I’d have waited and waited for it to premiere, banking on the magic of Joss Whedon, building up impossible expectations. As it is, the first episode wasn’t exactly a homerun for me (but then, the pilot doesn’t have to be a knockout for a series to be great), but it had definite potential. I’ve got a lot of faith in Joss that he knows what he’s doing, and that he won’t disappoint us. I hope he comes through.

One of the most jarring elements of the first episode for me was actually Eliza Dushku in the lead role. It’s just hard for me to not see her as Faith (her character on Buffy), and when she first appeared on the screen my initial reaction went something like, ‘No! Watch out, this bitch is psychotic, she’ll stab you in the back, look out!!!!’ (Side note: Yes, I know Faith had issues and eventually sort of redeemed herself, yadda yadda, but still. I’m a pretty patient, forgiving person when it comes to real life, but boy do I hold grudges against fictional characters. Uchiha Sasuke, for example? He’s dead to me.) Sooo, anyways, once I convinced myself that this was Echo, not Faith, the whole experience went along much more smoothely. I don’t think she’s a very consistent actress, but when she’s on she’s spot on, and I’m hoping she finds her footing and gets really comfortable in this role. As for the rest, time will tell. The first episode was a little scattered, but I think it has potential in the hands of Joss Whedon.

So, anyways, the basic premise has a kind of contemporary sci-fi vibe. The “Dollhouse” is a secret facility that houses the technology to erase a person’s mind, and reprogram it, giving them any conceivable personality, skills set, or attitude desired. These “dolls” are then hired out to anyone willing to pay the exorbitant fee in order to get exactly what they want or need. The dolls, also referred to as “actives” when programmed, are all young, healthy people who have ostensibly volunteered for this job, although none of them have any memory of doing so, of course. It’s still unclear exactly how aware they are of their true identities, but it seems like not very. They’re sort of blank in between jobs. The Dollhouse facility itself is a very lavish and nurturing place to live. Comfortable, yes. Creepy, most definely. I have no idea where Joss is going with this, but I trust that he’s got a destination in mind. So, I’ll be tuning in tonight to watch episode two on fox. Or I’ll watch it later on Hulu, but you get the idea.

It's Coming: The new Gambit movie! Oops, I mean Wolverine...

I know this trailer’s been out for a while, but I only just watched it for the first time.

So, I'm basically happy for three reasons. 1) I love X-Men. I can hardly remember a time when I didn't love X-Men. 2) I love Hugh Jackman. I just think it's so cool that a Broadway man became such an awesome Wolverine. I mean, this is the guy who used to be known for Oklahoma! And finally, 3) I love Gambit.

Okay. I know I’m not the only person out there whose interest in this film stems largely from the fact that Gambit will (finally!) be making an appearance this time around. I guess I can understand him not being included in the first X-Men movies, seeing as how there are zillions of X-verse characters to choose from, and he’s not exactly as central a figure as Wolverine and the others. But, come on, he’s just so cool! He’s definitely a fan favorite, as well as a personal favorite of mine. And then there were rumors of his inclusion in the third installment, which of course came to nothing, and now, finally, here he is! And I gotta admit, he looks pretty damn good. Of course, it could still go very, very badly for his fans. (I mean look at how drastically they changed Rogue, who was a love interest of his for a long time in the comics, in the other three films.) Yet I prefer to remain cautiously optimistic. So now I’m pumped for May!