Tag: Steven Spielberg

How Likely Will Speilberg’s Idea of Disclosure Day Happen? There’s a 1% chance.

With Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day streaming sooner than later, will it motivate our real world governments or someone to say they’re here? (Sorry Carol Anne)

Disclosure Day movie posterNow Streaming on AppleTV, Google Play and YouTube

Steven Spielberg‘s Disclosure Day is now streaming, and that’s about the only way I will see this movie. I opted not to see it in theaters because I knew it is nothing like Close Encounters of the Third Kind. What it offers is a textbook case of downsizing the UAP phenomenon rather than going big. That’s because I knew there would be no grand spectacle, no family drama, and no genuine hunt for the truth. Worse still, for a story built around disclosure, it never feels anchored to the evidence that has kept the subject alive for decades.

Or rather, there would be no return of the little grey visitors and the people they abducted to discover strange new worlds and other wonders. Instead, the message boils down to: “We’re here, we’ve been here for a while, we’re observing you, and we’re deciding whether humanity is ready for space.”

Continue reading “How Likely Will Speilberg’s Idea of Disclosure Day Happen? There’s a 1% chance.”

Even at 50 Years Later, Jaws Will Make You Afraid of Going to the Beach (Again) For The Special Events Taking Place

When this week and next is filled with lots of Jaws related celebrations, is it really safe?

Jaws 50th Anniversary Release
Now available to purchase on Amazon USA

Jaws has another re-release on home video, and when this year celebrates this movie’s golden jubilee, perhaps it’s okay to go to the beaches of Amity Island, New York again. This seminal hit from Universal Studios made some folks afraid back in the day, and Bruce can be found on display at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.

What’s special about this anniversary edition is the new documentary included, titled “Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story.” The video transfer is the same as the prior 4K release, and there is also a Steelbook edition. Both releases contains over five hours of bonus features, including deleted scenes, outtakes, “The Making of Jaws” documentary, “Jaws: The Restoration,” and “The Shark is Still Working: The Impact and Legacy of Jaws.”

As for just how good this recent addition is, I would say it’s finally worth adding to the home video collection. Without it, I would not be looking at filling in the “one day I’ll buy” bucket list. Yes, I’m one who hasn’t bothered to pick up prior releases, and that’s because it’s not a film high on my priority list to own.

Continue reading “Even at 50 Years Later, Jaws Will Make You Afraid of Going to the Beach (Again) For The Special Events Taking Place”

Listing All The Significant Events in the Transformers Timeline is Needed to Make Sense of the Big Picture

Here, we present a chart of everything you need to know in the Transformers timeline to know where this franchise is headed!

The order of which live-action Transformers movies to watch first is easy to figure out, but to understand where all the events fall into place in this Transformers timeline is haphazard. It requires rewatching the films again or looking at a good movie information page to review what’s significant. After catching the early access release of the latest film yesterday, I realised I had to make this chart in order to identify the master plan.

Transformers Rise of the Beasts Movie Poster

After Rise of the Beasts, the Optimus Prime we meet isn’t the same as the one from those early films. He’s a lot more rough at the edges, and to explain if he left Earth at some later point in time only to return again in Michael Bay’s film may well have long time viewers confused. That’s assuming this filmmaker’s movies are still important to the longer narrative. It’s possible that Hasbro and all the producers will have to decide to return to the present to address the story as it’s still left untold.

Even though Bumblebee is considered a soft reboot by ignoring the future by giving us tales set in the past, at some point the narrative has to return to the now to explain a huge plot hole.

Thus, we have the following points to consider from the Transformers timeline (spoiler alert):

17,000 B.C. (Transformers 2) – The First Cybertronians discover a method to harness the power of the Sun, and when one of them selects Earth’s solar system to burn out, he gets banished. His evil decision went against their prime directive.

Continue reading “Listing All The Significant Events in the Transformers Timeline is Needed to Make Sense of the Big Picture”

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is 40-Years Old and Regarding Its Anniversary Re-Release!

In what shines are the two new featurettes. We have “40 Years of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” an all new retrospective of the film, and “TCM Classic Film Festival’s An Evening with Steven Spielberg.”

The Extra-Terrestrial is 40-Years OldAlso playing at Victoria IMAX Oct 27-31.

It’s hard to believe E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is 40-years old. This movie was developed hot after Close Encounters of a Third Kind, and to say it belongs in the same universe is a feasible fan theory. To say this has been confirmed isn’t in the new featurettes in this celebratory re-release, but I get the sense that Spielberg would be okay with it. He interest in UFOlogy may have been limited to these two films, but when we consider his War of the Worlds adaptation, the idea does fall apart.

Anyone who didn’t purchase the prior versions isn’t missing much. I could have picked up the 35th anniversary release, which had a 4K restoration, but I don’t always count this year as a seminal milestone. This latest release does one better, and it’s all in the two new featurettes made for this release. In terms of collectables, the ultimate set (available on Amazon USA) offers a collectible tin tote, thermos, booklet and Certificate of Authenticity for the die-hard collector to proudly display. Another release adds a Bendy Figs figurine for Walmart, and the Steelbook updates the art (Target). Anyone wanting either just needs to ask a friend in the States to buy or one can order online.

All the material from prior releases (deleted scenes, the evolution, and creation of E.T., and 20th anniversary premiere) are offered in this collection. The old content are:

Continue reading “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is 40-Years Old and Regarding Its Anniversary Re-Release!”

I’m All Abuzz with Bumblebee the Movie

Whether this Bumblebee the Movie acts as a soft reboot to this franchise or not, I enjoyed this film more than the past works.

Transformers Bumblebee the Movie Poster Spoiler Alert

Anyone who played the Transformers War or Fall of Cybertron games will be in for a treat in the opening act of Bumblebee the Movie. I heard about the buzz and still had a bit of trepidation with the designs. I’m glad I was wrong and when I found time to see this film, not only did it take on familiar tones from How to Train Your Dragon in the relationship of a troubled young girl and her “pet” car but also, the nostalgia play was bang on. Anyone who saw Transformers: The Movie (1984) will know what I am talking about.

Continue reading “I’m All Abuzz with Bumblebee the Movie”

Beyond Ready Player One. On Technology and the Music

Ready Player One gets a full on review and deep analysis in Ed Sum’s review of the movie that’s loosely based on the novel.

Ready Player One

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

  • Spoiler Alert

The virtual reality (VR) interfaces we have today has not drastically changed in Steven Spielberg‘s adaptation of the book, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Futurists have to believe advancements in neural interfaces and holo projection will fill in the gap instead of advancements in the hardware used today. The former is vaguely suggested and the latter, none is even considered. This movie is not comparable to The Matrix or The Congress. Amusingly, a joke is made when nature calls. Unplugging is required.

Even in the future 30 years from now, folks are still wearing those darned headsets! I am having neural seizures since not everyone is going to have full command of their senses to believe the world they are jumping into is real. The IMAX 3D presentation hardly jumped; much of the visual treatment was flat. The music featured, however, was amazing and it spoke to me. Although for this glimpse into virtual reality, when my first exposure into this discourse is with William Gibson’s Neuromancer, the bar is set high. This work is neither at Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell level of exploration, even though the story offers a fleeting tease of what could be.

Continue reading “Beyond Ready Player One. On Technology and the Music”