Nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor, Columbia Pictures’ critically acclaimed sports-oriented film “Moneyball” is based on the true story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) – once a would-be baseball superstar who, stung by the failure to live up to expectations on the field, turned his fiercely competitive nature to management.

Directed by Bennett Miller (“Capote”), “Moneyball” also bagged nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Jonah Hill), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Sound Mixing.

In 2003, former Salomon Brothers bond trader turned author Michael Lewis, at the time best known for such business and politics bestsellers as Liar’s Poker and The New New Thing, published a book about baseball. Only it wasn’t just about baseball. On the surface, it was about how the under-funded, underrated Oakland A’s took on an unfair system of big-money and powerhouse teams. But it was really about the fascinating mix of men behind a major cultural shift and how a risky vision, born from necessity, becomes reality, when a ragtag team of cast-offs rejected due to unfounded biases, get the chance to finally prove their potential.

Now, Lewis’s book has been adapted into a feature film, “Moneyball,” starring Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, the A’s General Manager – the man who would have to think differently and reinvent the rules if his team was going to compete. “Moneyball is a classic underdog story,” says Pitt, who also serves as a producer of the project. “They go up against the system. How are they going to survive, how are they going to compete? Even if they do groom good talent, that talent gets poached by the big-market, big-money teams. And what these guys decided was, they couldn’t fight the other guy’s fight, or they were going to lose. They had to re-examine everything, to look for new knowledge, to find some kind of justice.”

At first glimpse, Lewis’ best-selling and groundbreaking book does not lend itself to a film adaptation. The book is a study of inefficiencies and oversights within the markets of the game of baseball and features case studies of undervalued items, (players, strategies, tactics), using analyses of statistics and theories. But at the center of it all is Billy Beane on a quixotic quest and as his story unfolds, something unexpected happens. His pursuit of a championship leads to something larger and more meaningful. The hallways and front offices of the Oakland Coliseum become an unlikely setting for inspiration and redemption.

Lewis’ book sheds light on the hindrances of groupthink and how irrational intuition and conventional ‘wisdom’ have dominated institutions throughout history. Challenging a system invariably provokes a fight. The film Moneyball builds its foundation from the experience of one man who chooses to take on that fight. Piercing through the layers of statistics, the film finds the quieter, deeper, and more personal story of Billy Beane, which bristles with moments of self-doubt and real life courage.

“Whenever a book is adapted into a movie, there are two possibilities: either the filmmakers stick to the book, or they make up their own story,” says Michael Lewis. “With `Moneyball,’ frankly, I wondered how they were going to do it, because the book doesn’t necessarily have a single narrative or the kind of dramatic arc you usually see in a movie. So it was truly tough to crack the code and get it right and it was an extremely pleasant surprise to see that Bennett and the screenwriters did the impossible – not only did I love the movie, but I was stunned by how well it represents my book. It is honest and true to what happened with Billy and the A’s and what they achieved.”

Bennett Miller adds, “I wasn’t interested in the tropes of sports movies. I’d rather not end a film with a hero carried off on the shoulders of teammates in a stadium where fans are screaming their heads off, champagne corks flying, trophies, fireworks, and all of that. I prefer the quiet triumphs, that might not burn as bright but deeper and more lasting, where you see someone struggle internally and then come out the other side to realize something has changed within them.”

“Michael Lewis likes stories about unconventional thinkers,” says Miller. “That’s what Moneyball is – a story about a character whose past and whose circumstances lead him to and require him to think differently. I like that you have a character who takes a risk not just to make something of himself, but more so to understand something about himself. Billy is trying to do something more meaningful than simply win baseball games – only even he doesn’t really understand that until he starts to turn things around. All of a sudden this baseball season, which is a David versus Goliath story, becomes not just one competitive man’s desperate attempt to win games. It’s really a trial, an attempt to prove something that would, if proven true, explain in part why his life turned out the way it did, which is a thrilling idea.”

Opening soon across the Philippines, “Moneyball” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.

Best Picture Nominee ‘Moneyball’ Soon in Cinemas originally appeared on Starmometer on February 9, 2012.

“The Bourne Legacy” is the fourth installment to the “Bourne” franchise based on the novels by Robert Ludlum and Eric Van Lustbader. Tony Gilroy, the screenwriter of the first three films starring Matt Damon, is at the helm.

Taking the role of Matt Damon for the fourth film is Jeremy Renner (Marvel’s The Avengers, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol).

Also starring in the movie are Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Joan Allen, Albert Finney, Scott Glenn, Stacy Keach and Oscar Isaac.

From YouTube:

The narrative architect behind the Bourne film series, Tony Gilroy, takes the helm in the next chapter of the hugely popular espionage franchise that has earned almost $1 billion at the global box office: The Bourne Legacy. The writer/director expands the Bourne universe created by Robert Ludlum with an original story that introduces us to a new hero (Jeremy Renner) whose life-or-death stakes have been triggered by the events of the first three films. For The Bourne Legacy, Renner joins fellow series newcomers Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach and Oscar Isaac, while franchise veterans Albert Finney, Joan Allen, David Strathairn and Scott Glenn reprise their roles.

Released by Universal Pictures, “The Bourne Legacy” is set to open in theaters on August 3, 2012.

Watch the trailer here:

Bourne Legacy – Official Movie Poster and Trailer Released originally appeared on Starmometer on February 9, 2012.

Reynolds is the perfect guy as Matt Weston in Safehouse, producer Scott Stuber recalls: “We had to be certain that the actor opposite Denzel would be ready. I’ve known Ryan for a long time and was sure that he would step up to that challenge. More importantly, he wanted such a challenge.”

Reynolds explains his interest in joining the team: “First and foremost, I was riveted by the story. It was also an opportunity to work with Daniel, who is an unusual and unpredictable filmmaker. He is unlike anyone I’ve ever worked with, or even met before. He’s this incredibly wise, intuitive, intellectual thug. It’s a weird combination that gives him this incredible street sense. He’s a guy who could easily be in a bar fight, and at the same time, if you name any book, there’s a good chance he’s read it—among the plusses, not the least of which was working with Denzel. You know you will learn a lot working with Denzel: Spending time with him makes you a better actor.”

The actor found the duality of Weston’s life—the housekeeper’s cover is that he is a health worker—compelling. He says, “I was fascinated by the fact that my character lives a complete lie. He’s lying to himself and wraps himself up in the flag. There’s a lot of hubris involved. He feels what he’s doing is righteous, and yet, there’s a dark, seedy underbelly to what he does—not the least of which is the fact that he lies to everyone he loves, and that takes its toll. He’s beaten up from this.”

Reynolds explains his character’s transformation: “Matt’s growth is debatable. In some ways, it’s almost a regression. Throughout the course of the film, he’s resorting to some of the same ways he’s previously despised. The audience’s concern as we’re watching is that Matt might be affected by Frost in the same way that Frost was swayed by whoever it was who caused him to go off book. One of the things that Frost does is reveal to Matt what this agency really is, how some of the black ops that it engages in are in the guise of a higher good. It affects Matt deeply, and he’s seeing how this could easily become him one day. Whether that’s growth or not, he’s definitely changed.”

Washington saw that growth in the man playing Weston and found Reynolds a worthy on-screen adversary. The performer compliments: “Ryan is a very good actor who works very hard, and we had good chemistry. He has an inherent innocence that I think was right for the part.”

Q & A with Ryan Reynolds

How did you come to this film?

I read the script and loved it. Then I met with Daniel Espinosa. I had seen SNABBA CASH, which he directed, and I thought it was incredibly inventive. It was a really interesting take on the action/crime thriller and I thought Daniel would be a great match for this project. I usually gravitate first towards a character and then towards the overall story. I liked that there is this hubris associated with these guys who enter agencies like the CIA thinking that it’s some romantic journey into a love of God and country. Then once they are involved, it is actually incredibly disillusioning.

What’s your character’s relationship to Denzel’s character?

Frost (Denzel’s character) represents everything my character, Matt Weston, despises. He’s betrayed his country and his own personal code of ethics in innumerable ways. Although my character opposes everything Frost stands for, by the end of the film we’re left wondering if Matt is going that same route.

Have you had a lot of action scenes?

The fights in this movie are really long and extensive. They’re not kung fu or the typical fight scenes that you see in this sort of film. These fights are just ugly. There’s biting and head-butting. The driving is pretty intense, as well.

How have you found working with director Daniel Espinosa?

Daniel is amazing. He embodies the aspects of a great psycho-analyst that all good directors have and he is very good with actors. He sees everything. Nothing gets by him.

Released and distributed by United International Pictures through Solar Entertainment Corp., “Safehouse” is set to open in Philippine theaters nationwide on February 10, 2012.

Ryan Reynolds Shines in ‘Safehouse’ originally appeared on Starmometer on February 9, 2012.

Seen at the well-attended screening posing with cosplayers and fans are from Star Magic talents Maliksi and Marikit Morales, Ann Sy, Janine Berdine, Kyline Alcantara, Queenie, Louise Bernardo, Veyda Inoval, Joshen Bernardo and newcomer Lerrick Serrano.

“Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace” in 3D is the first the widely phenomenal saga from George Lucas to be converted to 3D. Other Star Wars episodes are in the process of 3D conversion that will also be released in theaters soon.

EPISODE I’s framing plotline involves Senator Palpatine (played by Natalie Portman), an influential politician quietly making moves to consolidate his power in a time of unrest throughout the Republic, during which the government has been weakened and turned into a bureaucratic quagmire.

A specific incident within this framework places Palpatine at the center of a conflict between the gigantic, commercial Trade Federation and the small, peaceful planet Naboo. Naboo is threatened by the might of the wealthy corporate powers, which begin to disregard the constraints of the weak galactic government.

The young queen of Naboo finds herself faced with difficult decisions. Committed to peace, she must choose whether to sacrifice her ideals when war descends upon her people. Sent into this crisis to negotiate a settlement are two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. Prepared for a political dispute, the Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) discover that the Trade Federation is about to unleash its mighty forces in open combat against Naboo. Unless the two Jedi can succeed, the planet’s fate is grim.

In the course of their adventure, Qui-Gon discovers a young boy, Anakin (Jake Lloyd), who is a slave on the desert planet Tatooine. Qui-Gon senses that Anakin is the individual destined to bring balance to the Force, and makes a fateful decision to train Anakin as a Jedi Knight. At the same time, Anakin begins a friendship with the Queen of Naboo.

“Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace” in 3D opens in cinemas on February 9 (Thursday).

Stargazing at ‘Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace’ in 3D originally appeared on Starmometer on February 8, 2012.

In the depths of a crisis following a boating accident of Matt King’s (Clooney) wife, King has to come to terms with the fact that he has been largely inadequate as a father as he attempts to repair his relationship with his two daughters. Lack of parental support and stability have left both girls without direction. Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) is rebellious and has been sent off to boarding school. 10 year-old Scottie, played by first time actress Amara Miller, is precocious and in need of parental supervision.

Woodley plays 17-year old Alexandra, troubled daughter of Matt King (Clooney) who has to help her father come to terms with his wife’s coma – and her secrets.

Woodley is best known to US audiences for her performance as Amy Juergens in long-running TV series The Secret Life Of The American Teenager, for which she has received particular praise – including being named ‘Breakthrough of 2008’ by the magazine Entertainment Weekly.

Q: How would you describe your character, Alexandra?

A: I’d say she’s kind of a normal teen going through her angsty period in life and as a child she realized her Mom was going to be more of a best friend than an actual mother. And that her Dad was far removed and would show up for but not really have any communication within the family. So she built walls up and kind of became her own protector. She became very independent at a very young age.

Q: Could you relate to the character?

A: Yeah, of course, I went through my angsty period. I was probably about 14/15 when I hated the world, but that went away quickly and I didn’t really pull from my childhood for this character. For me acting is just about being yourself in the colors and restrictions of a particular character. I try not to pull from my own life or think about it too much. I’d rather just stay present to the situation in which the characters are being forced through.

Q: Is the first challenge of working with George Clooney getting over the fact that he’s George Clooney?

A: I wasn’t really nervous until he walked into the room for the table read in Los Angeles. I started sweating and shaking. Then he came up to me and gave me a big hug and he said “Welcome, Sweetie” and immediately the intimidation factor just disappeared. He’s so great. He’s just George Clooney, a guy from Kentucky with a heart of gold. He’s a spectacular human being on every level.

Q: The scene when you are filmed underwater, after you hear some bad news about your mother, must have been challenging.

A: I loved the underwater scene. I was literally born under water. I learnt to swim at one year old. Water is my personal comfort zone. In Hawaii, girls and guys alike learn to swim before they learn to walk. So I thought it was beautifully written that after hearing such tragic news she recedes into the water and has her moment to be vulnerable for the first time. I thought that was beautiful and then for me, selfishly, it was my own therapy session. I got to go under water and scream.

Q: Shailene is quite an unusual name.

A: Yeah. My Mom found it on a license plate actually. The name Shay was on a license plate in front of her. She was 18 and thought “Shay is cute but that’s a nickname.” So she added Shay-Lene, Shay-Line, Shay-Lin. And she liked Shailene. She didn’t have me until she was 26 but she remembered it for all those years. When I was born my Dad liked it too.

Q: As you’ve been acting for a long time and she is new to it, did you find yourself showing Amara the ropes a little bit?

A: Yes I did, and it was so much fun. She was 10 when we filmed so I definitely became the big sister and she was the little sister. It got to the point sometimes when I would say, “Scram! I need my space” and she was always coming from the position of, “Play with me! Play with me!” But, yeah, it was really cool. It was great when you could say, “So, this is how a camera works,” which seems obvious to those that have been on a film set many times but to a 10 year old, she literally thought there were only four people behind the camera. When she got to set and there were 200 people on the stage she thought, “What is going on? This is so bizarre!” But she is a really mature young lady. She’s definitely an old soul in the sense that she didn’t get overwhelmed. We got lucky. She actually can act.

“The Descendants” opens February 15 in theatres from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller: Raw Young Talents to Watch for in ‘The Descendants’ originally appeared on Starmometer on February 8, 2012.

Nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards, the film is a story that unfolds from inside the young mind of Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), an inventive eleven year-old New Yorker whose discovery of a key in his deceased father’s belongings sets him off on an urgent search across the city for the lock it will open. A year after his father (Tom Hanks) die on 9/11 in the World Trade Center on what Oskar calls “The Worst Day,” he is determined to keep his vital connection to the man who playfully cajoled him into confronting his wildest fears.

“What I find so moving about Oskar is that he feels there has to be an answer, but there is not always a clear ‘why’ or a ‘because’ to a situation,” Bullock says. “And sometimes the answer you get is not the one you expect, which is something Oskar has to discover for himself.”

Unlike Oskar’s father, his mother, Linda (Bullock), has always found it tough to reach her son, and that only seems to increase by a factor of 10 when her husband is no longer there to bridge the gap. Yet, much as she seems lost in her own private realm of grief, Linda is connecting to Oskar in ways of which he is not even aware.

Director Stephen Daldry felt there was an organic empathy in Bullock that would allow the role to work. “Sandra is a first-rate actress who really took her role to heart,” he says. “She looked after Thomas very well and formed a strong relationship with him that translated to the screen. She was able to bring a gravitas that was entirely appropriate but also a real charm.”

For Bullock, the intriguing part was playing a mother who has to work at bonding with her son and forging her own route back into his world after his father’s death. “I think when her husband was alive, Linda was always okay with just stepping back and letting Oskar and his father be a great team together,” she observes. “But now that Oskar has lost his playmate and the one person who grounded him and who he felt was his intellectual equal, she isn’t sure she can be any of those things to her son. And she’s in the process of grieving too, so she doesn’t have much energy to fight for that connection she so desperately wants with him. She has to struggle to find the solution.”

Given the subjective, first-person viewpoint of the film, Bullock also had to play her character the way Oskar perceives her – which was especially difficult because Oskar does not see the full picture of his mother. “I had to come to grips with the idea that the audience is seeing Linda on the screen entirely through Oskar’s point of view – and his view of her is not always very favorable,” she explains. “In some scenes, she can seem to be the opposite of nurturing, yet later, it becomes clear what is really going on with her. Still, I had to be okay with her looking at times like she wasn’t being a good mother to a child who is really in need. Part of it is that what Oskar sees is her grief, which is ugly and imperfect, but also very real. But what Oskar doesn’t know is that she is also very worried about him and that causes her to really try to think like he does.”

To explore Linda Schell’s experience more deeply, Bullock listened to recordings of phone calls and voice-mail messages left by those trapped in the World Trade Center for their families. “That was very hard for me,” she says. “But what floored me was to hear people giving comfort to those they were leaving behind. You really understand that the pain of hearing that is something that could never go away.”

Opening soon across the Philippines, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Sandra Bullock, Incredibly Affecting in the Oscar Nominated Film ‘Extremely Loud’ originally appeared on Starmometer on February 8, 2012.

Early in the summer of 1956, American film star Marilyn Monroe (Williams) set foot on British soil for the first time. On honeymoon with her husband, the celebrated playwright Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott), Monroe came to England to shoot “The Prince and the Showgirl” – the film that famously united her with Sir Laurence Olivier (Branagh), the British theatre and film legend who directed and co-starred in the film.

That same summer, 23-year-old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) set foot on a film set for the first time in his life. Newly graduated from Oxford, Clark aspired to be a filmmaker and found a job as a lowly production hand on the set of “The Prince and the Showgirl.” Forty years later, he recounted his experiences of the six-month shoot in a diary-style memoir entitled The Prince, the Showgirl and Me. But one week in Clark’s account was missing…

It wasn’t until years later that Clark revealed why. In a follow-up memoir entitled My Week with Marilyn, he recounted the true story of one magical week he spent alone with the world’s biggest star — the week he spent with Marilyn.

“For a lot of people Marilyn is more of an iconic image than an actress,” admits director Simon Curtis. “People haven’t seen her films as much as they have her portrait. My way into this project was falling in love with the first of Colin Clark’s two memoirs. As somebody who was assistant director at The Royal Court Theatre, I found it fascinating to uncover this moment in time.”

The first memoir, The Prince, The Showgirl and Me, recounts Clark’s experiences working as third assistant director on the set of Monroe’s first film as both producer and star in which she played opposite Olivier, who also directed. The book recounts the production’s myriad problems, fuelled almost exclusively by the lack of communication and understanding between the two stars: Monroe’s erratic behavior and tardiness were exacerbated by her addiction to alcohol and prescription medication; while Olivier, a staunch traditionalist, refused to accommodate Monroe’s idiosyncrasies or her devotion to Method acting, which she practiced under the guidance of Paula Strasberg.

While Clark’s memoir is a dishy, fly-on-the-wall account of Olivier’s and Monroe’s fraught partnership, his follow-up memoir, My Week With Marilyn, feels like an intimate confession. In it, Clark affectionately remembers one enchanted week he spent leading the troubled Monroe on a tour of the English countryside. It offers an all-too-rare glimpse of the real woman beneath the carefully cultivated image, unencumbered by the busy machinery of stardom.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when My Week with Marilyn was published,” avows Curtis. “Colin really did have this tense, erotically charged week with the most famous woman in the world, at the peak of her fame. I couldn’t believe my luck when I was able to get hold of the rights. People had tried over the years. And in the last year I’ve met at least three very established directors who have said, “I’ve always wanted to make that story.’ So I feel very lucky.”

‘My Week with Marilyn’ Exclusive at Ayala Malls Cinemas originally appeared on Starmometer on February 8, 2012.

By popular demand, directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard are bringing back some of Disney’s most beloved characters when “Tangled Ever After” picks up where “Tangled” left off. The Kingdom is in a festive mood as everyone gathers for the royal wedding of Rapunzel and Flynn. However, when Pascal and Maximus, as flower chameleon and ring bearer, respectively, lose the gold bands, a frenzied search and recovery mission gets underway. As the desperate duo tries to find the rings before anyone discovers that they’re missing, they leave behind a trail of comical chaos that includes flying lanterns, a flock of doves, a wine barrel barricade and a very sticky finale. Will Maximus and Pascal save the day and make it to the church in time? And will they ever get Flynn’s nose right?

“Tangled Ever After” is the perfect accompaniment to “Beauty and the Beast”, which is returning to the big screen in Disney Digital 3D and introducing a whole new generation to the Disney classic with stunning new 3D imagery. “Beauty and the Beast” was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning Oscars for Best Song, by the renowned Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, and Best Original Score (Menken).

“Beauty and the Beast” 3D is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International through Columbia Pictures.

‘Tangled Ever After’ is Special Added Attraction in ‘Beauty and the Beast 3D’ originally appeared on Starmometer on February 7, 2012.

In the film, Jack (Sandler) was living an almost perfect life, with the exception of one, annoying constant – his twin sister Jill (also played by Sandler). Every year he has to tolerate a Thanksgiving visit from his smothering sister, who doesn’t take long to turn his life upside down. As the weekend intrusion starts stretching into a month, the siblings fight, tease, and bicker in the way only twins can. When it becomes clear Jill is never leaving, Jack sets into motion several schemes that he hopes will return Jill to where he loves her most – the other side of the country.

“What I found interesting was that somewhere partway through the production I thought of Adam as playing Jack, but I thought of Jill as if she were her own person. Adam didn’t walk around off-camera acting like Jill, but after a while, it was as if Jill was a woman we hired who happened to look remarkably like Adam.”

In the film, Sandler plays Jack, an advertising executive who is one commercial away from hitting the big time – or, if the deal falls through, unmitigated disaster. Into this turmoil comes his twin sister, Jill – who always makes things more complicated than they need to be.

“I knew Adam would have no problem playing Jill. The part he worked at was to play Jack,” says Steve Koren, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sandler. “Jack’s the kind of guy who’s a little bit on edge – he’s had to work to make that guy different from who he really is.”

While writing the film with Adam Sandler, Koren found some interesting things. “Some twins actually create their own language when they’re little kids, so we invented a special, private language that only Jack and Jill speak,” he says. “We also found out that twins have a bond that is a lot stronger than some siblings, so we tried to incorporate as much of that as possible.”

Playing the dual role required an ingenious sense of timing from Sandler. “Part of the joke was that Jack and Jill would do the exact same things at the exact same time,” Koren explains. “What that meant, of course, was that Adam would do the scene once, and then he’d redo it as the other character. It was almost like a dance, a ballet; Adam had to have incredible focus and perfect timing. It was pretty incredible to watch.”

Describing the character and the plot of the film, Koren explains, “Jill had only two constants in her life – taking care of her parents and the love of her bird, Poopsie. She’s sacrificed her personal life. When she comes to visit Jack for the holidays and won’t leave, Jack tries to help her find a guy – a guy who he hopes will get her out of his house.”

Opening across the Philippines on Feb. 22, “Jack and Jill” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.

Adam Sandler Plays the Dual Roles of ‘Jack and Jill’ originally appeared on Starmometer on February 7, 2012.

Featuring an ensemble cast of Academy Award® winners and nominees, this critically acclaimed thriller tells the story of the infectious paranoia and fear that accompany the spread of a lethal virus.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh from an original screenplay by Scott Z. Burns (“The Bourne Ultimatum,” “The Informant!”), “Contagion” brings together a stellar international ensemble cast featuring Academy Award® winner Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose,” “Inception”), Oscar® winner Matt Damon (“Good Will Hunting,” the “Bourne” films), Academy Award® nominee Laurence Fishburne (“What’s Love Got to Do With It,” “The Matrix”), Academy Award® nominee Jude Law (“Cold Mountain,” “Sherlock Holmes”), Academy Award® winner Gwyneth Paltrow (“Shakespeare in Love,” “Iron Man”), and Oscar® winner Kate Winslet (“The Reader,” “Titanic”).

As part of the celebration for the video release, a limited edition “Contagion” DVD pouch containing the DVD and a Hygienix 55ml Anti-Bacterial Hand Spray will be released in partnership with Splash Corporation.

SYNOPSIS
An international traveler reaches into the snack bowl at an airport bar before passing her credit card to a waiter. A business meeting begins with a round of handshakes. A man coughs on a crowded bus… One contact. One instant. And a lethal virus is transmitted.
When Beth Emhoff (Paltrow) returns to Minneapolis from business in Hong Kong, what she thought was jet lag takes a virulent turn. Two days later, she’s dead in the ER and the doctors tell her shocked and grieving husband (Damon) they have no idea why. Soon, others exhibit the same mysterious symptoms: hacking coughs and fever, followed by seizure, brain hemorrhage… and ultimately, death. The numbers quickly multiply as the contagion sweeps across all borders, fueled by the countless human interactions that make up the course of an average day. A global pandemic explodes.
As the death toll escalates and people struggle to protect themselves and their loved ones in a society breaking down, one activist blogger (Law) claims the public isn’t getting the truth about what’s really going on, and sets off an epidemic of paranoia and fear as infectious as the virus itself.

Nothing Spreads Like Fear – ‘Contagion’ Arrives onto Blu-Ray and DVD originally appeared on Starmometer on February 7, 2012.

I love the scene when the camera circulates on Ironman (Robert Downey, Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).

Watch it here:

Marvel’s ‘The Avengers’ Super Bowl XLVI Commercial (Extended) originally appeared on Starmometer on February 6, 2012.

Set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars), “John Carter” tells the story of war‐weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.

“John Carter” is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first novel, “A Princess of Mars.” An American writer, Burroughs was born in Chicago and is best known for writing and creating “Tarzan”—still one of the most successful and iconic fictional creations of all time.

2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the character John Carter.
Since 1935, various filmmakers have attempted to make a movie based on “A Princess of Mars”—the first was intended to be an animated feature film by Bob Clampett of “Beany and Cecil” fame. If it had been made, it would have been America’s first full-length animated film, prior to Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” which premiered in 1937.

Academy Award®–winning director/writer Andrew Stanton directed and co-wrote the screenplay for “WALL•E,” which earned the Academy Award® and Golden Globe Award® for Best Animated Feature of 2008. He was Oscar®-nominated for the screenplay. Stanton made his directorial debut with “Finding Nemo,” garnering an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film of 2003.

“John Carter” screenwriters Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon discovered they had something in common when they met: they all still possessed the John Carter drawings and artwork that they had done when they were boys.

Crewmembers, working on location in Utah, found a large bone protruding from the ground. The Bureau of Land Management confirmed it was in fact a Sauropod bone—either a femur or scapula—from a dinosaur that could have been 60ft long. An excavation is currently taking place to retrieve the rest of the prehistoric skeleton.
The Ancient Barsoomian typography carved into the walls of the sacred temples in “John Carter” took their original design from actual markings found on the surface of the planet Mars.

Working from the original source material, a linguist was hired to create the entire Thark Martian language, using just a few words mentioned in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novels.

The actors playing the nine-foot tall, green Thark characters had to learn to walk on stilts to film the scenes with John Carter, giving the correct eye-line contact for the dialogue.

Stunt Coordinator Tom Struthers was delighted and amazed that Taylor Kitsch did 98% of his own stunt work, including an 85-foot jump in the learning-to-walk sequence, a 65-foot jump in the arena, battling the ferocious white apes, and a 250- foot long series of jumps in the Martian wilderness.

Cinema audiences will be astonished to see actress Lynn Collins, when not donning her Dejah Thoris look, has strawberry blonde hair and fair skin.

While filming in Utah, the film crew came across a small space center called the Mars Society Desert Research Station. No one was home but the Website reads: “Teams of hard-working volunteers, working in full simulation mode in the barren canyon lands of Utah, continue to explore the surrounding terrain, cataloging more waypoints, and analyzing the geology and biology of this fascinating and remarkably Mars-like region.”

Opening across the Philippines in March, “John Carter” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International through Columbia Pictures.

Fun Facts About the Making of ‘John Carter’ originally appeared on Starmometer on February 6, 2012.