Algebrafilms

Trailer: Hick

Dan — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:31:09 +0000

This trailer is a bit different than the usual fare I server here. For one thing, it’s a red-band trailer. I don’t post many of those, though I’ve never claimed this to be a family-friendly site. For those unaware, red band trailers can feature the subject matter that tends to get films R rating, or sometimes PG-13. They are not intended for all audiences like the green band trailers. They may have nudity, swearing, drug use, all those bad things.

Another thing that makes this movie different than the ones I typically highlight is it’s genre. This is a drama. I’m usually more moved by animation, science fiction, action, and the like. More often the movies I highlight are fluff stories or gritty sci-fi. This trailer caught me though and I wanted to spread it around.

The story follows a 13 year old runaway and her adventures as she tries to make her way to Las Vegas. It’s difficult to tell exactly from the trailer, but it seems she starts robbing people and gets in over her head a few times. She is taken in by a woman who seems to teach her how to survive her new lifestyle, but the road looks real rough. I’m not sure how difficult this story will be to watch in the end, but I guess I could read the book it was based off of, Andrea Portes’ Hick. This looks like it will be an uncomfortable, but compelling movie.

Trailer: Brave

Dan — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:18:51 +0000

I posted about this movie before a couple of times. Being a Pixar movie, it’s bound to get some attention. This movie in particular however has earned itself some special acclaim from my wife. This movie features a strong female character who, at least from the glimpses shown so far, never draws her strength or worth from attaching herself to a male character. She is not seeking love or marriage and does not seem to draw strength from those things. She is strong on her own. Love features in the story, but it is not love that gives the character her worth. This is perhaps unique in the world of animated films directed at kids. On top of that, it looks to be an interesting story in a lush world. So much to look forward to!

Short: Luminaris

Dan — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:30:21 +0000

I have to shout our to Vincent Laforet for tweeting this out. This is a wonderful little short movie made as live-action stop motion. I name it live action because people are the main actors here and I had a project in a community college video course to do something like this. My project was very short on story and not elaborate in the least. I really love the use of shadows in this film. The story is cute and really enjoyed it. Give it a watch.

Trailer: Looper

Dan — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:12:05 +0000

Here’s a time travel story with a twist. This film follows a specialized assassin. His job is to kill people sent back in time from the future for mobsters. In his time, time travel isn’t invented yet. That means those who are sent back are stuck. He seems to like his job and his lifestyle. Then something unacceptable happens. His future self is sent back to be killed, but escapes. Now he’s in trouble and needs to find and kill himself. Nice twist on the traditional time travel theme. Works a little like the Terminator time travel that way, though the people from the future don’t show up naked. Looks fun.

Trailer: Hotel Transylvania

Dan — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:42:27 +0000

I’ve been a fan of Genndy Tartakovsky’s work for a while. I loved his version of the Clone Wars cartoon. Samurai Jack is awesome! I had to say, I’ve lost touch of what he’s working on, and then I found this! In this 3d animated trailer (first use of 3d for him?), Genndy tells the tale of a hotel for monsters to keep them safe and hidden from humans. That is until an unwitting human stumbles in. Check it out! I expect this to be great fun!

More UltraViolet Madness

Dan — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:37:28 +0000

In my last little rant, I complained about the UltraViolet service that some are using for the digital copy included with DVDs or BluRays. One thing I was impressed with was the expiration date on the digital copy. The digital copy for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo had an expiration date two years out. The fact that it expires at all is still a problem in my mind, but they give you a good amount of time. That is appropriate.

Today I received my copy of Hop (it’s a gift for my kids, honest). This disk also has an UltraViolet digital copy. The expiration date for this disk? Five months out. Five months, that’s it. Really? Can you honestly print on the package in big lettering that this disk includes a digital copy and only allow the code for five months? This is a new low in my opinion. Keep in mind, I got this disk on release day, and I have five months. People buying later will have less. It’s not that you have five months, it’s that is expires according to the sticker on the package on 8/27/2012. Not cool.

Now, I mention UltraViolet here, but clearly this specific problem is not theirs. We have two extremes here with the service, one a decent term and one a laughably short term. I’d assume the studio has control over the expiration dates, so in this case Sony had a good policy and Universal and a bad policy. I don’t know that those two studios use consistent terms for all their movies, but for these two movies, this is the case. In the end, I still rather just have an iTunes code like I used to.

UltraViolet, Go Away. Now.

Dan — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:11:34 +0000

This Tuesday, I received my copy of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo from Amazon. I tried pretty soon after to claim my digital copy. I have gotten into a habit of doing that since some of my copies had expired before I got the chance to claim them. I always claim them in iTunes if I have a choice. I have one that was only available as Windows Media, which was The Men Who Stare at Goats.

Now we have this UltraViolet option. I get the idea. You’re supposed to be able to claim the code and watch anywhere. Fine nice idea. Problem is, it didn’t work for me. At all.

I signed up for the service. Note that I had to sign up in two places, once with Sony and once with UltraViolet. Now when I attempt to log in, it fails. It tells me my password is wrong. It wasn’t. So I tried the recover password option. It says I answered my security question wrong. I didn’t. Tried again with a different question. No dice. I’ve been locked out at this point because of too many failed attempts. I emailed support. So far, nothing.

Another strange part of this is I had already signed up for an account back in November. That account doesn’t appear to exist. For that movie, I was able to get an iTunes code instead. I MUCH prefer that.

The same day, I also got The Muppets. That movie came with a standard iTunes digital copy code. No problems at all. I’m quite satisfied with that.

If you’re going to change a system that works, you should make it better. At the very least, make it work. Are you listening UltraViolet?

Short: Ruin

Dan — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:02:50 +0000

I rather enjoy post-apacolyptic tales. The story here is very simple. A guy goes into a building and takes something and then tries to escape with his life. The world is a devastated city overgrown with plant life. It looks very lush and convincing. The chase is pretty exciting and overall I think it was quite well done. It makes me curious about the world and the back story of the setting. What do you think?

Short: Archetype by Aaron Sims

Dan — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 19:58:58 +0000

This is a pretty awesome short film made with no budget by some dedicated people. That dedication has paid off as they are now set to create a full feature film with a studio based off this. This short is more of a sneak peek type of thing, its not a complete story. It does set the world a bit and introduce the characters. I really like it and think the work done one it was phenomenal.

Trailer: The Avengers

Dan — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:05:27 +0000

I’m pretty excited for this movie. Joss Whedon as director appears to be a good choice based solely on the trailers. It looks like the conflicts and relationships between the characters will be credible and that is one of the most import parts of a story like this in my opinion. Each character has so much presence on their own that this movie could have been quite a disaster if not treated carefully. These glimpses indicate they have struck the proper balance. We’ll have to wait to see the whole movie before knowing if indeed they have.