Kim Kardashian is a Golden Nymph
Kim Kardashian is a Golden Nymph
She’s been having a ball in Monte Carlo this week, and yesterday Kim Kardashian attended the Golden Nymph Awards at the Monte Carlo TV Festival.
The brunette beauty looked stunning in a navy blue evening gown as she posed with her mother Kris Jenner, in a ruffly pink dress, and sister Kourtney in a black halter-style number.
Kim has been keeping all of her fans up-to-date on her life’s happenings via her blog. Here’s what she had to say about the opening day of the Monte Carlo Television Festival:
“We just had a very long press day in France… It started at 8:30 a.m. in the morning and lasted until 5:00 p.m.! All in all, it was very exciting because we got the awesome opportunity to meet with almost every radio station, television show, newspaper and magazine in the country! They are still in season 1 of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Isn’t that funny!?”
You Might See Captain America in The Incredible Hulk
The Incredible Hulk is filled with homages to the original comic and television series. For instance, Lou Ferrigno, who played the character in the television show, lends his voice to the big green comic book hero. And with Iron Man there was a cameo appearance by Samuel L Jackson as Nick Furry. And we know that Tony Stark himself (Robert Downey Jr) makes an appearance in Hulk, But the big question is, does Captain America show up in The Incredible Hulk?
“As a filmmaker and as a fan, I like to go see movies and watch them several times, … and every time I see it, discover little things in the background,” director Louis Leterrier told G4. “Did you know that in Iron Man, Captain America’s shield can be found somewhere? Well in Hulk you might see Captain America Himself!”
Could Captain America actually make an appearance in The Incredible Hulk? We know that the blue super serum that will be (or was) used to create Captain America makes an appearance in the film, but the Captain himself? That’s what Leterrier said, right? The “Captain Himself”! I’ve talked to a few people who have seen the film, and no one has spotted the red white and blue superhero, which means one of two things:
Captain’s appearance, like his Shield in Iron Man, might be something in the background of one shot, so hard to spot that if you blink, you’ll surely miss it (and even if you don’t blink, you still might miss it).
OR
The piece of footage might have not been included in the advance screenings. As you might remember, the Nick Fury footage was intentionally left out of all advance screenings of Iron Man, including the film’s premiere, to preserve the surprise for opening day.Watch the video interview, and tell me what you think in the comments below!
photo source: colorbyemi
Fox to Screen The Happening for Press After-all; M Night Afraid of Blogs?
For a couple weeks now it was rumored that 20th Century Fox had made the decision to not screen M Night Shyamalan’s The Happening to press after a bad review leaked onto the internet last month. And as you probably know, when studios decide not to screen a movie for the press, it’s usually for good reason.
But as it turns out, Fox has decided to screen the movie for press after all. Studios usually hold WOM screenings (or Word of Mouth Screenings) for the popcorn movies before release. It is typical for movie critics to see the film at these type of screenings. I think the general thinking is that a theater packed with the exact target demographic usually leads to a better theater experience (ie a comedy audience laughs more at more jokes, a horror audience jumps more at scares…etc), which in turn might be likely to influence the invited press also in attendance.
Instead, my local screening of The Happening is being held in a small private screening room, which is very odd for this type of film. Also, I’m not allowed to even bring a guest (another change from standard operating procedure). And I’ve heard the same from friends in other territories, so it appears to be a direct order for Fox themselves. Clarification: The reason I mention this is not that I’m bitter that I can’t bring a guest… 95% of the time I don’t even exercise the option. If I were to read between the lines, I would say that Fox wants invited members of the press, and ONLY invited members of press to screen the film early. Not allowing press to bring a friend or family member means one potentially less negative review on the web the next day.
Even New York Post’s Lou Lumenick notes an unusual addendum to the invite which warns against blogging: “Please keep in mind that reviews cannot post (online blogs included) or run until opening day, June 13th.” Is M Night really afraid of blogs? Is that why no one other than invited press is allowed to screen the film?
It should be noted that even though we are technically a blog, we always hold our reviews of a film until opening day (unless otherwise approved by a national publicist). The note above that Lou mentions is not directed at sites like us, per say (as we follow embargo rules), it is directed at movie critics with personal blogs.
Will the Movie Experience Die in the On Demand World?
About 68 minutes into a 103 minute 2005 Pixar lecture from the Computer History Museum (found via UpcomingPixar), writer/director Brad Bird (Ratatouille, The Incredibles) ranted passionately about how technology and convenience is ruining the theatrical experience:
“I hope that [the theatrical experience] doesn’t go away. I think that in our quest for 24 hour accessibility of everything under the sun, we diminish the value of certain experiences. And I liked the fact that movies use to have lines. And that it use to be hard to get into a movie. And if you saw it in it’s first week of release, you saw it on a giant screen or in ornate palace, and it was a show. Now we have made it so that on opening day you can see a film on a big screen, or on a crappy screen, or a screen that is a bootleg on your computer [inches] big. To me it’s diminishing the show experience.”
Bird is so right. It’s an issue I’m very torn about because I absolutely love the idea of an all you can eat on demand world where anything and everything is available whenever wherever. I’m a tech fanatic, an early adopter with tons of gizmos and gadgets. But at the same time I wish we could keep the experiences I agree up with (not to sound old).
And while I might be too young to remember a day without multiplexes, I do remember when attending a first showing on the first night of release was a magical experience. I remember lining up for tickets to Episode 1, and the line went around the movie theater. It was a party, it was fun. I went to line-up for tickets for Episode 2 and the crowds disappeared. By the time Episode 3 was released, only 15 or 20 people were in line. You could claim that it was because people lost interest in the series after Phantom Menace, or that people were trying to relive the nostalgia of their youth, but truth is that most of my friends were reserving their tickets for Attack of the Clones, but they were reserving the tickets online. The party died, and so did that experience.
And it’s not just relegated to the cinema. I remember when you could have a watercooler conversation about a television show. Even though we experienced these series by ourselves, in our own respective homes, we would be sharing the experience together. But now the watercooler discussions of shows like LOST are quickly becoming less possible because of the DVR. Timeshifting is yet another convenience which diminishes the experience. And someday soon most people will view new television episodes on demand or timeshifted, rather than live.
Sooner or later mainstream movies will be available day and date on some form of home video, and I’ll be ask a group of my friends if they’re going to the opening night of Transformers 3 at the AMC downtown, and they’ll TXT me back that they’re just going to watch it at home on their 100 inch OLED screen instead.
Discuss: Will the theatrical experience die in the new on demand world?