A very good friend of mine sent a link to this supposedly awesome Green Lantern movie teaser. Being a fan of GL, I promptly clicked to view the said trailer.

While watching the video, I immediately felt the usual and familiar hollywood flare. Then around halfway through, I realized where the familiarity was coming from… this one is actually a fan-made-trailer.

And quite a good one at that. Its really a well crafted combination of “technically modified” clips taken from previously released movies, TV shows and trailers. Some of the scenes I was able to recognize from the trailer are from:

• Firefly
• Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer
• Planet of the Apes
• Dragonball Evolution Trailer
• The Day the Earth Stood Still
• Smallville
• GI Joe Trailer
• Contact
• Star Trek Enterprise
• Star Wars Episode III
• Iron Man
• Star Trek Trailer
• The Chronicles of Riddick
• Escape from Witch Mountain Trailer
• Matrix Revolutions
• The Chronicles of Narnia – Prince Caspian
• Superman Returns Trailer

Unfortunately, there really isn’t a movie about Green Lantern. Well, at least not yet. Rumors have it that maybe 2010 would be the year for one. But at this point, nothing is confirmed yet.

Not to take away anything from trailer creator (Jaron Pitts). But he did a very descent job of threading clips together and superimposing effects to have Nathan Fillion come out as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern. The only possible downside could be that most of the clips he used came from very popular scenes. This may tend to estrange some people once they recognize the original.

From the boob tube to the silver screen!

One of Nickelodeon’s best animated television series gets turned into a live action film. Avatar: The Last Air Bender is the story of a boy named Aang and his adventures as the Avatar - the reincarnated spirit of the planet. Having the ability to master all of the elements (Water, Earth, Fire and Air), its his duty to keep the world in harmony. 

The show is not only highly rated and popular; garnering 5.6 million viewers on its best-rated showing, but has also been nominated and won various recognitions including a Primetime Emmy. This series is so popular that it has spun various program inspired merchandise. Among others, these products includes action figures, a trading card game, three video games, stuffed animals, and two LEGO sets.

The upcoming live action film is based on the first season of the animated show and is scheduled for release by Paramount Pictures on July 2010. The cast has been selected and actual filming already begun this year. The big screen version is adapted, directed and produced by M. Night Shyamalan. 

There are now a lot of discussions and criticisms regarding the cast selection for the movie. Much has been said, but I still think its going to boil down to how Shyamalan remains loyal to the original story line; and how much of a personal influence he would eventually exert on the film version.

This series is a personal favorite of mine, and I sincerely hope the film doesn’t suffer the same fate as the recent Dragon Ball movie.

While people have been buzzing about the recent series of cinema blockbusters (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Star Trek, Angels and Demons) a different kind of hit has been making news on the web. Mega Shark versus Giant Octopus had its trailer debut on MTV.com last week. And with just a few days online, its already been viewed over 250,000 times on YouTube. Meanwhile searches for “sea monsters”,” “mega shark vs giant octopus,” and “deborah gibson” also became top lookup trends in Google.

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Finally got to catch the release of “By Fan for Fan” flick The Hunt for Gollum. And I must say it went beyond my expectations. By no means is it perfect. But for me, it gets pretty considerable marks in most of the aspects you look for in a movie. I am no film expert, but here is how my rating would go.

Cinematography – Very good
Acting – Slightly Above Average
Screenplay – Average
Sound Mixing/Scoring – Above Average

The trailers and the official site turned out to be really good indicators of what to expect from the short film.

The story was pretty much straight and simple. But it could really serve as a good introductory supplement to the Fellowship of the Rings. The lead actors really did have striking resemblances to how their characters were depicted in the Peter Jackson movies.

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Haven’t had enough of middle earth?

Well, here’s another addition to the worldwide obsession for the chronicles about men, elves, orcs and the other beings of Arda.

A group of enthusiast filmmakers who happen to be avid Lord of the Rings fans were inspired to create an offshoot production from the works and main story line by J. R. R. Tolkien.

After a little over two years, the short independent film titled The Hunt for Gollum is now scheduled for its free-to-view release via the Internet. The 40-minute story is about a journey of Aragorn who is tagged as heir of Isildur and ”the greatest huntsman and traveller in Middle Earth”. The plot comes at a time between The Hobbit and Fellowship of the Rings. It carries off when Gandalf and Aragorn realize that Gollum is out somewhere and has vital information about the all-powerful-one-ring. And they decide to track him down before the enemy gets to him first.

This fan film project is again proof of how latest technology now provides talented and dedicated people the ability to create high quality production on a shoe string budget.

By looking at how they prepped-up some of the lead characters, its not hard to believe that they really were inspired by the texture and feel used by Peter Jackson on the original LOTR films. 

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