My 30 Most Anticipated Movies of 2013

District 9 director Neill Blomkamp's sci-fi film Elysium is my #1 most anticipated film of 2013, followed by Pacific Rim from Guillermo del Toro and Man of Steel from Zack Snyder.

My 30 most anticipated movies of 2013 are listed below in release date order.

You can find my bigger list of movies releasing in 2013 on the RPF here.

Some of the images below are placeholders until official posters are released. Click on the release dates to view the trailers and click on the posters to enlarge them. The list will be updated with posters and trailer links, so if needed bookmark this page.

1. Oz The Great and Powerful

March 8



















2. G.I. Joe: Retaliation

March 29



















3. Jurassic Park 3D

April 5



















4. Upstream Color

April 5



















5. Evil Dead

April 12



















6. Oblivion

April 12



















7. Iron Man 3 

May 3



















8. The Great Gatsby

May 10




















9. Star Trek Into Darkness

May 17



















10. After Earth

June 7



















11. Much Ado About Nothing

June 7



















12. Man of Steel

June 14


 
















13. This Is The End

June 14



















14. Monsters University

June 21



















15. World War Z 

June 21



















16. Kick-Ass 2

June 28



















17. Pacific Rim 

July 12



















18. The Wolverine 

July 26



















19. Elysium 

August 9













20. Gravity

October 4













21. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

October 4



















22. Captain Phillips

October 11



















23. The World's End

October 25



















24. Ender's Game

November 1













25. Thor: The Dark World 

November 18













26. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

November 22



















27. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

December 13
 












28. Monuments Men

 December 20



 















29. Saving Mr. Banks

December 20




 








30. 47 Ronin

December 25

My Top Favourite Movies of 2012

I managed to watch only about 24 movies of 2012 and I saw 18 of them in the theatres. Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty and Django Unchained are yet to be released in India and I've yet to watch Dredd.

The Avengers remains my #1 favourite movie of the year. It was entertaining and the most fun I had at the theatres in 2012. And even after watching it four times at the theatres, for me the movie still holds up.

1. The Avengers
2. Looper
3. Moonrise Kingdom
4. Argo
5. Life of Pi

Honorable Mention (in release date order): The Raid: Redemption, The Cabin in the Woods, End of Watch, Cloud Atlas, Skyfall, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  

Bob Gale offers comparison photos of Mattel Hoverboard and his screen used Hoverboards

Bob Gale recently expressed his concerns on how the Mattel Hoverboard didn't meet his expectations. You can read more about it in his open letter to fans here.

I like most BTTF fans was very pleased to see that Bob Gale addressed those quality issues directly and though he didn't have to, he offered an apology to fans who had pre-ordered the hoverboard based on his endorsement of the product from few months ago. There are few creators especially in the movie industry who even after so many years will go to such lengths to remain thoughtful about their fans. We're really grateful to have Bob Gale on our side.

After reading his letter I directed him to this Mattel Hoverboard thread to show how fans are appreciating his response in the letter. He was glad to see that his comments were taken positively by fans and he mentioned that he never takes his fans for granted. I also mentioned how many fans including RPF (Replica Prop Forum) members offered to help Mattel with all the necessary accurate details (including member Roland who has been offering his accurate hoverboard designs free of cost), none of which were considered by Mattel.

Few members on the RPF were hoping Bob Gale would provide comparison shots between the Mattel Hoverboard and his screen used Hoverboards. He noticed those requests and has now provided the comparison photos along with the following description.

About these photos, and the hoverboards

The accompanying photos show my two boards flanking the Mattel replica.

As far as I'm concerned, the basic design and colors of Mattel's board are just fine. 

Bear in mind the following: for the movie we had several different versions of the hero board, based on how it was to be used or seen in the film. Every version was a little different, both in color and material.  Neither of my boards have the real lenticular finish that's seen in some of the movie shots. 

One of mine (at left in the 3-shot) is the actual one used in the burning of the almanac scene. It's made of foam and has a wire stand on the bottom so that it could be filmed from above and appear to be hovering. That's why the middle part on the bottom is bigger than the one that Marty takes from the little girl: to accommodate the stand.  It was never meant to be seen in any other way. The round rear pad with the velcro strap was lost. 

My other board is made of solid wood. It's a stunt board, and was used by the 2nd unit. I have no way of knowing if it was hung from wires or sat on a piece of pipe. This board has no “magnets” on the bottom or any detail; it too was only to be seen from the top, and only in very wide angle shots. 

In the images, you can see how different the green color on the top is between the boards. Remember too that my boards are over 23 years old, and no doubt, the color has changed a bit over the years. Furthermore, in the movie, the colors would look different under different lighting conditions, and was again altered by the normal color correction we did in the film.  This is why no one should be troubled by Mattel's colors.  

I hope that satisfies your curiosity!

My thoughts on Looper and why I traveled eight hours to another city to watch it

Looper got released across theatres in India on Friday October 12, 2012. But judging by the way they treated the Dredd screening at Big Cinemas, I knew I couldn't risk watching it in the city of Mangalore.

Dredd's own production company Reliance Entertainment and their Big Cinemas in Mangalore didn't care for the film

I've been putting off to write this rant since the day Dredd got released worldwide including in India on September 21, 2012. I had planned to write a letter to Big Cinemas, but then realized it would be a futile effort.

Shopandship.com offers Protection Service against damaged goods

The parcel forwarding company Shopandship now offers Protection Service against damaged goods for international shipments.

Got a email today with the above image. This is the best news I've heard related to international shipping so far. I mentioned the site Shopandship.com before in one my previous posts. Well they're now offering Protection Service in case of damaged goods and their carrier is Aramex.

And the best part is that they cover upto $2500 USD !! Wow..even FedEx doesn't offer that. FedEx covers max $100 USD. If anybody wants coverage above $2500, they need to contact Shopandship directly.

If the item is below $100, it's covered for free by Aramex. One of my Looper posters was shipped via shopandship.com and it arrived in a damaged condition last month. I sent them an email regarding the damage and two days ago I received a cheque for Rs. 1073, which covered the cost of the poster that was damaged.

Cost of coverage is $1 for every additional $100. That is so reasonable. So if somebody orders a collectible statue costing $400, they pay $3 extra for insurance. If it's damaged they can claim that $400 amount, which is why the carrier is bound to be extra careful while shipping such fragile items anymore.

Maybe now collectors in India (who are way too rich) can even order life-size statues like Terminator Endoskeletons and not worry about damage :D.

You can know more about this service by reading their FAQ page.

Hot Wheels Elite - 1:43 BTTF DeLorean Time Machine Photos

Hot Wheels Elite have released photos of their new Back to the Future DeLorean Time Machine which will be part of their Cult Classic Collection of model cars.

Scale: 1:43
Collection: Cult Classic Collection
Limited Edition: no more than 10,000 pieces

To be released in December 2012 and you can pre-order them at the BTTF.com Store.

As per the Hot Wheels Elite website these are Deco Master Pictures and Not Final Images.

(Click on images to enlarge)

One of the most common inaccuracies in the previous BTTF DeLorean models was the side wiring, which should not go above the tires. And the three cylinder capacitors should be red in color and not grey.

These two details used to bug me all the time. I wrote to Sunstar and DST early on, they acknowledged their mistake but didn't bother to fix them. Sunstar did fix the red color but not the wiring for their final BTTF 3 Railroad DeLorean model. Hot Wheels thankfully got those details right.

Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Trailer for Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It aired on Saturday morning in US with two episodes.



Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Theme Song. Nothing beats the original TMNT theme, still I am digging this new theme song as well.



The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series was really good, of course it isn't gritty like the Mirage comics or the first movie, but as most who grew up watching the 80s cartoon will surely come to enjoy it and TMNT fans should give this new show a try.

The tone of the series is primarily directed towards kids just like the old show, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and laughed out loud number of times. The animation and virtual camera movements really works great especially during the fight sequences and helps to showcase the agility of the Turtles. Also I liked some of the little extra animation effects when they show some of the facial emotions including some pop out effects to infuse expression and humour through visuals.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Videos | Watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Online
Both episodes (Rise of the Turtles Part I & II) are now available for US streaming on the Nick website.


Pics of the toyline. The Playmates Nickelodeon TMNT figures are 4" and the new Playmates classic TMNT figures are 6". There are also larger figures with sound.


































Turtle Van.

My two attempts to get a Looper UK quad teaser poster shipped to India

These are my two attempts to get a Looper UK quad teaser poster shipped to India and I am pretty much running in a loop now.

The first time I used Shopandship.com (a mail/parcel forwarding service), I had the UK poster seller ship it to my UK shipping address and then Shopandship's courier service Aramex forwarded it to India and delivered it to my city in Mangalore.

I received it on August 31. Instead of opening the tube from the sides to check the contents, the poster tube was chopped in the middle like a cake by the Indian customs. Aramex sealed it with a tape during transit, but the poster was already ruined and creased up. I am currently communicating with Shopandship.com to compensate for the poster. Though I doubt I will ever get this poster for 10 pounds anywhere else. It's not even available on eBay anymore. I managed to buy the poster the second time for 12 pounds.

The second time I decided to risk it big time and had another UK seller ship the poster directly to my Indian shipping address, which meant once it reaches India it would get delivered by the Indian postal service. I received this poster today on September 17. The Indian customs this time didn't merely open it but also folded the whole poster tube like a tissue paper.

(Edit: Updated this post to include shot of the poster tube in its original full folded condition)

So yeah the Indian customs guys are a bunch of irresponsible sadistic jerks.

Perhaps my Loop is working against me and making sure I don't ever get to own a proper version of this gorgeous Looper poster, after all it's the only poster featuring the Time Machine.

Though I won't be framing these two damaged posters, I just have to find solace imagining that the damage to the posters gives them a little character and a distressed look fitting into the aesthetics of the film.

Total Recall (2012)

Total Recall has lot of great visuals including many real sets making their whole world believable. It's non stop action yet I wasn't really engrossed by it. Sometimes the much needed excitement was somehow lacking for me and knowing the gist of the story based on the original film had nothing to do with it.

Even the flying cars sequence which I was most looking forward to, started out great but lost steam eventually. Kate Beckinsale's early fight in the movie is probably the highlight of the movie for me.

Len Wiseman who directed this also directed the first two Underworld films, which I felt were also barely memorable. And my expectations were already pretty low for this movie, so I don't really consider that I was totally disappointed by it.

The streets of the Colony in this movie had a Blade Runner vibe, while some other parts in the movie reminded me of Minority Report. All that only made me realize that no matter how impressive the production design was, the movie still kinda felt hollow and forgettable to me. And neither Collin Farell nor Jessica Biel were the problem as they along with Kate Beckinsale played their roles quite well.

Also as I was watching the movie I kept thinking that there would be other capable directors who would deliver sci-fi masterpieces with such production values. Like Duncan Jones, who could have done his love letter film to Blade Runner which was titled "Mute".

I just hope the remake of Paul Verhoeven's other classic sci-fi film doesn't share the same fate.