2012 Review

I saw tonight Roland Emmerich's 2012. I'm not a big fan of Emmerich's movies but i love "end of the world" movies, and 2012 is all about that.

So, what do i think about it? First, all the digital effects are perfectly - and even wonderfully - done. Two, it's not the worst of his movies - 10000 B.C was the worst one - it has a better story than The Day after (which is not difficult) and it's less "republican" than Independence Day (which is not difficult, too).

The main problem as always with Emmerich who is not - and will never be - Stanley Kubrick, is that the story line, characters dialogs, etc...are still very "primary". They could have cut at least 20 minutes in it (2012 runs 2h40min) and the movie would have been better. Still, some of the scenes (and i'm not talking about the destruction scenes but of the scenes which are in-between) are so predictable, mainly because we've seen them hundred times in other movies.

There is also another problem: if you've watched the teaser, the trailer, and the movie clip released last month you've seen already two third of the main destruction scenes. In two words: Emerich spent too many of his bullets in the movie promotion. But to be fair there still is beautiful and stunning scenes to discover like the one of the volcano explosion in the Yellowstone national park.

Obviously Roland Emmerich is the Irwin Allen of the 21st Century. With the main difference that Emmerich arrived at the digital era and can create never-seen-before images. But Irwin Allen had great actors: Gene Hackman, Shelley Winters, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, etc... in The Poseidon Adventure and Paul Newman, Steve Mc Queen and William Holden in The Towering Inferno. And i'm sorry to say that it makes a big difference as this old generation of actors not only were playing perfectly their part but also had an "interesting" acting. In 2012 actors are okay, they do their job quite well, but their characters are really stereotypes and of course none of them have an acting as interesting as the one i've just quote. If we except Woody Harrelson, probably the most interesting acting, we've seen so many times in other movies this kind of characters that it's hard to have any empathy for them.

Because the digital SFX are so well done we can watch 2012 with pleasure but basically the movie is between a summer blockbuster and a Deluxe TV movie which deserves of course to be watch on a big screen to fully enjoy the destruction scenes.

Picture: copyright Sony Pictures

Roland Emmerich 2012 Movie Clip : Good Lord! It's REALLY the End of the World !!!

I've already let you know about Roland Emmerich next "end of the world" movie, but this one is REALLY about the end of the world! The movie - which will be released in theatres next november - is based on an old Maya prediction that Dec 21st 2012 should be the end of the world thanks to an astronomical planet position that has been coming to resonance very slowly over thousands and thousands of years.

Okay, great. But once you've written this in a script, you must be visually at the height of the expectations... and this 5 minutes clip showing California's destruction confirms what i've already heard: 2012 is going to be totally awesome, and most of all it will show for real the end of the world! Have a look at the clip, full screen mode highly recommanded. For those of you who may have missed the first trailer, you'll find it below, after the 5 minutes clip.







Videos: copyright Sony Pictures

First 2012 Trailer : Wow!... Wow, wow, wow!

Just one word: WOW!

I was awaiting this first "2012" trailer and the least i can say is that i'm not disappointed! I always loved "catastrophe" movies, and especially "end of the world" movies. And Roland Emmerich "2012" is all about that. The movie - which will be released in theatres next november - is based on an old Maya prediction that Dec 21st 2012 should be the end of the world thanks to an astronomical planet position that has been coming to resonance very slowly over thousands and thousands of years.

In a previous article i show you the 2012 teaser - already very spectacular - but this first 2012 trailer seems to indicate that Roland Emmerich has decided to top the special effects of his previous "Independence Day" and "The Day after" movies. Cast include John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt and many more.

Watch by yourself - and don't forget to click to see it in full screen, just to make sure you'll have a big "wow"!



Video trailer: copyright Columbia Pictures

Where will you be on December 21 , 2012 ?

As i often do on sunday, here is an article about an upcoming movie. It's not about Disney, but don't go away as you will see that it's fun.

You may have heard about it, December 21, 2012 is supposed to be the date of...the end of the world! Why? Because of an old Mayan prediction. The Mayas, as we all know, were pretty good in astronomy, and, well, according to them, an alignment of planets will occur when the sun rises above the horizon on December 21, 2012, at which point the sun will rise in the middle of the Milky Way Galaxy, thus causing an alignment between the earth, sun, and the galactic center.

From that point, many theories emerged. One of them say that a currently unknown planet, sometimes referred to as planet x or Nibiru, which supposedly has an odd orbit that only enters the local solar system every 3600 years will return in 2012 causing many problems. Another scenario is that a shift of the Earth's magnetic poles may occur, and that this will leave the earth vulnerable to harmful radiation from the sun.

Don't worry too much anyway, as according to NASA magnetic pole reversal does not occur on a particular day or year, but over the course of thousands of years. Furthermore, the magnetic field does not vanish during this natural cycle, but becomes more complex as it makes the transition.

However, and to comeback to the "movie article", Hollywood couldn't avoid to do a movie with such a brilliant script, and guess who's doing it? Roland Emmerich, Mr "Catastrophe movie" himself, the man who gave us "The Day after" or "Independence Day". So, there he goes again, directing the "end of the world" for almost the third time!

Here below is the first teaser of the "2012" movie, and i must admit it's pretty well done as in less than one minute, with just a Tibetan monk running to his temple in Tibet - and what happen next - the teaser succeed to give the feeling of a real end of the world. By the way, it's much better to watch it in high-def, so just go HERE.

2012 - Teaser HD [VO]
envoyé par Lyricis

Now, in Paris, a group of talented animators called Passion Paris did their "new year's video postcard" on this 2012 theme, having fun of all the different theories on this highly-expected-end-of-the-world. Not only this small piece of animation is very funny, but it's also done with talent, so don't miss it, and enjoy!

Happy New End
envoyé par passionparisproductions

daily Motion videos: copyright Columbia and Passion Paris