The Bloated Penguin

Is it just me or is all of the news coming out of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland looking really awesome?

Case and point, check out these images from the flick that were released last week. I’m mostly looking forward to seeing the Cheshire Cat, but after seeing the Caterpillar and the Red Queen I can honestly say that the hype is on. I see Tim Burton as a complete filmmaker who pays equal attention to visual detail, story telling and continuity. Needless to say, I can’t wait for this flick to drop.

Seriously, I’m all for dynamic duos. There’s Batman and Robin (sort of), Holmes and Watson, Han and Chewy – but when actor slash director duos are formed it gets to be a bit much. Take for instance Ron Howard and Tom Hanks. Yes, both are pretty amazing in their own right, but after a bunch of flicks together, I think things are getting a bit stagnant with all of the religious code deciphering in Europe. Well, I think Ron Hanks has some competition in Tim Burton and Johnny Depp.

When the duo got together and made Edward Scissorhands all those years ago, who would have guessed it was eternal matrimony? Since then the duo have gone on to collaborate on Corpse Bride, Willy Wonka, Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood, Sweeney Todd and Alice in Wonderland. I also just read that they will be teaming up again next fall for a movie version of Dark Shadows….

I’m not saying these flicks are bad, but now whenever I see anything like “Starring Johnny Depp,” or “From the vision of Tim Burton,” I automatically think of the two of them as one. It’s like that couple that’s been together so long that they start to refer to their individual selves as “we.” I think its getting to be a bit much. Maybe they should take a little break or stage some kind of dramatic break-up for the media, then make a triumphant return to the big screen with a crazy new film.

That’s just my idea though and I’m sure Johnny Burton can come up with something better. Come on guys, take a break from each other.

Been following the production of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland lately? After a big Comicon push this summer with the release of the first trailer, Alice has gone down the rabbit hole for a little while. Well, this morning the production has released a brand new movie poster with the feature character being none other than The Cheshire Cat. The wonderfully disappearing and manipulative freaky feline looks amazing in CG. Personally I prefer the 2D version, but if he drops lines from the original like:

You may have noticed that I’m not all there myself

and

Why, she simply said that you’re a fat, pompous, bad tempered old tyrant!

Or, this very memorable conversation with Alice,

Cheshire Cat: Oh, by the way, if you’d really like to know, he went that way.
Alice: Who did?
Cheshire Cat: The White Rabbit.
Alice: He did?
Cheshire Cat: He did what?
Alice: Went that way.
Cheshire Cat: Who did?
Alice: The White Rabbit.
Cheshire Cat: What rabbit?
Alice: But didn’t you just say – I mean – Oh, dear.
Cheshire Cat: Can you stand on your head?

I’d be sold.

DT over at Killahbeez just sent this to me and I figured I’d share it here as well. Enjoy this awesome looking trailer from Alice in Wonderland. I think this was screened to people at Comic-Con just a few hours ago. Man I wish I was there instead of here….

This is actually a pretty cool idea. Facebook has teamed up with Tim Burton and the marketing crew behind the new Alice in Wonderland flick and have decided to run a bit of a friendly competition. They’ve created three fan pages for the live action fantasy. One is for fans of the Red Queen being played by Helena Bonham Carter. If you haven’t seen the image they’ve been running of Carter lately you can check it below. The next fan page running on Facebook is for the White Queen being played by Anna Hathaway. Same deal for her, you can check the image below. Finally, and this is probably the one you’re going to click on if you decide to get in on the competition, The Mad Hatter being played by Johnny Depp.

So the competition is for the amount of fans that can be gathered by July 23rd (Blah! in 2 Days!!!) and if you’re a fan of the winner then you’ll be treated with the very first Alice in Wonderland trailer. I suspect this will be the same trailer being screened at Comicon this week and I wouldn’t be too surprised if it ended up on Youtube a few hours after it premiers, but nonetheless, it’s a pretty cool concept. Me? I’m all about the Hatter and hopefully all of his fans can celebrate a very happy un-birthday come a few days from now.

Click to become a fan of the Red Queen

Click to become a fan of the White Queen

Click to become a fan of the Mad Hatter

I’m a sucker for animated story telling so when the trailer for 9 came out a while back I was all over it. Did some research and learned that although Tim Burton is credited as a Producer, the genius behind 9 is actually Director Shane Acker. Back in 2005 Acker put together a little short under the same name (9) and was praised for his animation style, his attention to detail, his character development and simply is unique way of telling a story. Well, over the past half decade the little short has grown into a full-fledged feature fully equipped with star powered voices and even a renowned producer in Burton. The concept is really nice in that I think this is what Judgment Day is essentially going to be once the machines take over. McG really should have waited for this flick to come out before screwing up the Terminator franchise as the concepts are similar. In 9, life on earth is no more. The planet is overturned by machines and humans no longer exist. But just as all hope has been lost, a small group of experimental vigilantes spring to life with a plan to recreate life on the planet. The only problem is that the machines are still around and in order to bring life back to the world, this group of sacks – for lack of a better word, must survive.

Acker’s concept is pretty good, but what really catches my attention is the detail he’s put into making these characters believable enough to care about. It’s one thing to be able to make something smile and cry, but its a completely different story when those characters hold the fate of life in their tiny hands. Hopefully this won’t flop when it hits theaters at 9-9-09 (appropriately).

I’ve been following the production of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland for a while now and recently there’s been a ton of news. Apparently a few people have gotten their dirty hands on a script and have been spreading around the plot. If you’re truly interested, finding out what this film is about won’t be hard – but don’t be a douche bag, wait to see it up on the big screen. Anyways, Burton and crew have been dropping tons of new tidbits of late like images from the film and the stars. That pic above this post is Tweedledee and Tweedledum and it’s looking pretty damn cool already. Anyways, check out this pretty cool cut of Three SIx Mafia over top of the Disney version of Alice.

After failing miserably to gather some friends to watch Monsters vs Aliens last night I decided to get my CG fix anyways and popped in Igor from last year. The flick isn’t bad, I mean it doesn’t fail at everything, but its what I would call a tweener-flick – not quite good, but not ass-backwards terrible either. Kind of the movie equivalent to the guy in your office who you wouldn’t consider a “friend,” but you wouldn’t kick him down a flight of stairs either.

Igor plays on the unsuspecting hero theme, but does so in a very Tim Burton-esque way. I haven’t done any research on this, but after watching just 5 minutes of this flick I could tell right away that if Burton had his hand in a 3D animation company, the guys who made this film would submit a resume. The tone is very childish, but not immature. You can tell there are points in the flick where the creators are trying to tap into the Shrek / Incredibles theme where kids like the shapes and funny voices and the adults enjoy the double entendres and clever dialogue – the only problem is that there aren’t that many.

It also follows a pretty standard story structure which helps with animated films. Protagonist rises from the ranks hoping to become a hero but makes bad decisions along the way – he eventually realizes his mistakes, makes amends and still becomes the hero in the end. Simple, yet effective I guess – just not very unique. There is one point in the flick that is quite entertaining and I’ll spoil it for you right now (HA!)

James Lipton (the old guy who does interviews on Inside The Actors Studio) is actually the catalyst to the entire dramatic change.

Igor’s cast looks like everyone who made it as far as call-backs for Monsters vs Aliens. John Cusack, Molly Shannon, Steve Buscemi, ect. As actors they’re all pretty good, but they don’t bring the star power to their voices the way other celebrities do.

Igor isn’t a movie I would go an rent but if you know a guy who knows a guy, who’s cousin is like… a computer guy you c0uld ask him to get one of those nifty downloads going and watch it off of a file.  I’m just saying…