Steven Spielberg slaps his name on a lot of random crap like Transformers and Cowboys and Aliens and Real Steel, but when it comes to movies he’s actually directed, there hasn’t been one since Indy 4 in 2008. This December, there will be two in the space of four days, with The Adventures of Tintin opening on the 21st and War Horse four days later. I’ll probably just pack some handi-snaks and watch this over and over until War Horse comes on.
After the jump, we’ve got the first full trailer for The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, a collaboration between Steven Spielberg (directing), Peter Jackson, and digital effects company WETA. I guess the big question is whether a team of writers that includes Hot Fuzz/Scott Pilgrim‘s Edgar Wright, Attack the Block director Joe Cornish, and British TV writer Steven Moffat can reverse Spielberg’s recent descent into suckitude (there is no excuse for Indiana Jones 4). It’s hard to say from the trailer, but if you keep your eyes peeled at the 57-second mark, you can catch my all-time favorite reaction shot, the classic, dog-covering-his-eyes-with-his-paws shot. YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING, NOT EVEN THE DOG CAN BEAR TO LOOK AT YOU! It seems to say. If my life were a movie, I imagine the director cutting to that after my every sexual encounter.
HOLY CRAP, IT’S A STILL PICTURE FROM A SPIELBERG MOVIE, TRY TO CONTROL YOURSELVES! The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn (trailer here), Spielberg’s motion-capture adaptation of the über-popular Hergé comic I’d never heard of, opens December in the US, and October in Europe. Hopefully it will be more representative of the writing team (Edgar Wright, Attack the Block director Joe Cornish, and British TV writer Steven Moffat) than it will of Spielberg, whose last two films were Indiana Jones 4 and what looks like an earnest adaptation of “Simple Jack“, or the fact that it’s motion-capture. The motion-capture FX don’t look horrible, but that seems like that’s the best you can hope for with motion-capture, which is why I don’t really see the upside. Either animate it or don’t, dudes. Not to mention, Hergé’s drawings always had dots for eyes, which seems weird to replace with notoriously creepy mo-cap eyes. Anyway, not having read the source material, the film seems to be about a well-dressed youth who reads books to his dog. Jeez, is that all they did in the 50s?
[Animati via ThePlaylist]
After the jump, I’ve got the new red-band trailer for Attack the Block (“Inner City vs. Outer Space”), a British comedy about an alien invasion that strikes a group of adorably British street toughs in South London (they make up for their lack of guns with rhyming slang). Directed by Joe Cornish and executive produced by Edgar Wright, it’s been playing to rave reviews among film dorks and finally hits the US (in limited release) July 29th. If you read my Super 8 review, you probably know that I’m not the best audience for cutesy kid humor and campy aliens (which fanboys love), but I am kind of gay for Edgar Wright and awesome sideways brohawk haircuts. The first time I called it that, someone told me it’s actually called a “Gumby,” but shut up, I like sideways brohawk better.
We’ve been hearing about The Adventures of TinTin: Secret of the Unicorn (directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by Peter Jackson) for what feels like decades, and finally, the first teaser is here. Based on the beloved Belgian comic strip I’d never heard of before this, the 3D, motion-capture project “stars” Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jamie Bell, and Cary Elwes. As far as I’m concerned, the most interesting thing about it is that Edgar Wright co-wrote the script (with Steven Moffat and Joe Cornish). Seriously, did you guys see Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson’s last movies? Anyway, now that the first footage is here, it sure looks… uh… motion-capturey. Although it may have broken the record for most dramatic music ever set to footage of a guy staring at a toy boat.
[HD Available at Apple]
Here’s Jackson’s explanation for using motion-capture to Empire Magazine back in November:
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