Quick clips for Wednesday June 24

Avatar still on pace to change all of our lives

There's hype ("Oh my God, The Hangover is so funny that it made me laugh hard enough to give me permanent epilepsy. It also cured my suicidal friend's clinical depression.") and then there's HYPE ("Avatar will cure your cancer, give babies to infertile women, and reverse hard-line policies in the Middle East."). I've been on record saying that the effusive praise for Avatar is only serving to raise the bar high enough for James Cameron to rack himself on. Apparently, nobody else got the message, as JC screened 24-minutes of footage to some distributors and it caused them to have fits of pleasure stronger than a revivalist preacher casting demons from them. Slashfilm.com has the best wrap-up I've seen of the event, and did a pretty kick-ass job compiling the relevant collective nut-bursting over the footage. Here's some of my favorites (all of this is taken from Peter Sciretta's excellent compilation):

“The Insider” files his report on ComingSoon: “jaw-dropping experience.” … “3-D until now has been used as a gimmick.” On the human characters inhabiting their Avatars: “It took my breath away. I thought–just like you guys–that I’ve seen it all with Gollum, or The Hulk, but Cameron has done it again. These creatures seem so real, that within minutes you forget you’re watching an enormous and very blue CGI character. Even the eyes are totally convincing. The characters have real personalities and a soul.”

If you're keeping track at home, this one appears to suggest that James Cameron has created new life, complete with "a soul." Good thing we're not exaggerating things and making him sound like the divine creator himself and not a guy making a movie with a computer.

Unique Cinema Systems Nord on Twitter: “stunning, literally jawdropping. Amazing visuals unlike any before seen, with incredible detail.” … “CGI was photorealistic, characters look really real. Believe the hype, this movie will be massive!” … “Cameron told audience each frame of finished film takes 30-50 hrs to render, then double that up for 3D.”

I really love any use of "literally" during a freakout review like this. I hope the jaw-reattachment surgery went well. Also, using the math, this film took 17 years to make. Incredible.

GJKooijman on Twitter: “is mindblown” … “Still in awe of meeting James Cameron… Avatar will change movie industry forever.. thank you Jim” … “It’s nothing you can imagine, it’s real. Cameron made a new planet and took a cam there.” … “THIS WILL CHANGE MOVIES FOREVER. Trust me, it will.”

This guy is ready to full-on make out with Jimmy. Plus, he's the first to take things to ALLCAPSVILLE, where your passion is demonstrated by HUGE LETTERS! I don't know that I can trust you Kooijman, will it change movies into something else? Like turtles? Will movies be turtles now?

Sperling on Twitter: “It’s official! The footage from “Avatar” shown at Cine Expo was amazing. Absolutely stunning in 3D. Should be a huge hit.”

Then you get the one guy who gets it. This is how you describe things that are good without making messypants. I think he's probably right on. The movie will be pretty, it will likely be a big hit because it's a spectacle (especially in 3D) and then we'll go right on living our lives, as though nothing had happened. Also, one more acknowledgment of the rad work Peter did at Slashfilm on this compilation, as those quote-gasms were spread across a number of sites.

Facebook schmacebook, if Fincher directs an Aaron Sorkin script, I'm pushing the "like" button

The prospect of a movie called The Social Network, which sounds like a slutty follow-up to Sandra Bullock's epic The Net, is bleak. That is...until you find out who is circling the project. The film is about the creation of Facebook, a platform that has consumed far too much of my time with things I can't believe I did ("Which Twlight character AM I?"), which again sounds about as interesting as a documentary on the crinkling of leaves. But Aaron Sorkin is writing it. People say stupid shit like "I love (insert actor here) so much that I would watch him read the phonebook." In the case of Aaron Sorkin, I love him so much I would watch anything he wrote, include Phonebook: The Movie. Thus, I'm already in for this flick. Then Variety reported today that David Fincher is in "advanced talks" (having graduated from "kindergarten talks") to direct. I wasn't a big fan of Fincher's last film, Benjamin Button, but he has a great eye and can make things visually interesting without having to go batshit insane with the camera. A lot would depend on casting (has anybody seen Ryan Gosling around?), but this could develop into a slyly interesting little project. By the way, they rerun episodes of "The West Wing" on Bravo now at 7 in the morning, as if they knew I'd be working out at the time and could catch them. If there was a better-written show in history, James Cameron must have created the superbeing that wrote it. Even knowing how everything turns out, I'm still riveted.

Looks like I can remain interested in Robocop...for now

The Internet giveth and the Internet taketh away. Take one ambiguously answered question by director Darren Aronofsky (see Chud.com), add in news that he's making a project with Natalie Portman (God, what I wouldn't give to "make a project" with Natalie Portman), combine that with some puzzled tweeting back and forth speculating about time frames and interest, and you have a festering rumor that Aronofsky had moved on from the now long-gestating Robocop reboot. That news sucked and pissed me off, as my interest in Robocop is directly tied to Aronofsky's involvement. This isn't to say that I'm not a fan of Mr. Cop. I once went with my friend Andrew to see a guy dressed in a wickedly awesome Robocop costume (no, this was not last year and no it was not a guy in spray-painted boxes yelling "I am ROBOCOP"). I just want so badly to see Aronofsky work on something "mainstream" and see a superhero-esque project by an artist that is skilled, as most of the time skilled artists aren't associated with such projects. It won't work in every case, just imagine Paul Thomas Anderson's Captain America...okay, actually that just gave me the piss jitters with excitement, but you get the point (um, let's go with Sofia Coppola on Wonder Woman...DAMMIT, that works too). So, imagine my relief when Harry from Aintitcool.com, informed us that Darren Aronofsky was staying put on the project. How does he know? Well, that's what Darren Aronofsky said. He said "no, still on it" and told Harry that no new details had come up but he was still the guy. I wish I had Aronofsky on speed dial, but I'll have to settle for that good Chinese Place sitting on Speed Dial Number 3.