San Diego, July 6th, 2015 – We have the one, the only, the legendary world creator himself STAN “THE MAN” LEE signing at the Arcana booth (2515) on Friday July 10th at 5pm.
Not only will Arcana be at San Diego Comic-Con in a few short days, not ONLY will we be selling exclusive merch from Pixies, Howard Lovecraft and The Steam Engines of Oz, NOT ONLY will we be holding a panel discussing all upcoming films and projects on the Friday … but … the legend will be on hand signing!
“BUT HOW?” you ask, as you shout at your mobile device and/or laptop. Arcana is teamed up with Stan and his company “POW! Entertainment” for his upcoming project Stan Lee’s The Unknowns a brand new world of super-powered teens fighting alien invaders sprouted from the brain of Stan Lee himself and organized by Chris “Doc” Wyatt (Iron Man: Armored Adventures) and our very own CEO and Head Honcho Sean Patrick O’Reilly.
Obviously the co-creator of Spider-Man and walking cameo legend himself has very limited time and we WISH we could let you all shake hands, selfie, and sign to your nerdy heart’s content. However, space is limited for this event so we’re doing things the only fair way we know. By encouraging cross media promotion and assigning rewards at random.
SO log onto Facebook (Arcana Comics), Instagram (ArcanaStudio) , and Twitter (@ArcanaStudio). Find us, follow us, and repost our Stan Lee announcement with #ArcanaLee
Winners* will be contacted and announced and will get some face time with the Captain of Comics himself. We look forward to seeing you all at the big show!
*Winning is not a guarantee of interaction with Stan Lee. Some conditions may apply. Offer subject to change without notice. Arcana Studio is not responsible for any and all minds lost by interacting with a Comic Book super legend. Legal filler is hard to type. Purple monkey-dishwasher.
The Fourth of July Weekend was slated to be a battle between two movies- Terminator Genisys and Magic Mike XXL. Predictions had it as a fairly close battle with both of the movies pulling in somewhere in the neighborhood for 50-55 million dollars. Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the movies and the results were a very different outcome than what most were predicting. Inside Out (a movie that came out weeks ago) ended up making 45.3 million dollars over the holiday weekend to take the title as this weekend’s #1 movie. Jurassic World was in a dead heat for 2nd with Terminator Genisys each pulling about 44 million dollars apiece. Magic Mike XXL finished 4th making just 27 million dollars for the holiday weekend. This weekend provided some telling insight into where the public is spending his/her money at the box office. Let’s break it down.
Never underestimate the power of families–
Inside-out is showing some impressive staying power at the box office. According to Variety “Inside Out is showing at 4,100 theaters and has earned around 250 million dollars at the box office over the last 3 weeks.” According to boxofficemojo.com, Inside Out is showing very little in the way of slowing down as well even with the addition of other choices for the public to choose from. As a father of a 2 ½ year old, I can say that I am not at all shocked at the success of this movie. How often can we say that a movie is not only kid friendly, but able to keep adults engaged, and has a tremendous message for all children? Families matter and have the power to dictate the box-office I fully expect this to continue this weekend when the Minions hits theaters.
Never underestimate the power of nostalgia-
Jurassic World and Terminator both drew in people this weekend with promises of taking us back to when we were much younger. I know that even though I was going to see both of these films for free, I was excited to sit in that theater and compare the past movies with the new ones. Jurassic World took me back about 22 years to the original release of Jurassic Park. I could feel myself on the edge of my seat from beginning to end, just like I had been so long ago. People are drawn to movies that take us back and will continue to be drawn to them for the foreseeable future. As long as movie companies are committed to making sure the product is up to standard then these movies will make lots of money.
Never overestimate the power of a terrible idea-
Magic Mike XXL was released in about 3,300 theaters this holiday weekend with hopes of dancing its way into the #1 spot over the weekend. I remember thinking as I was heading into the theater, haven’t we done this already? As I was leaving the theater and I was telling anyone who would listen just how horrible that movie was I immediately felt that even writing the review for Magic Mike XXL would be a futile exercise. I had this feeling that women would go see this in groups thus making this movie a runaway hit. I didn’t take into account the power of word of mouth reviews. According to Variety ” Magic Mike XXL made 15 million dollars in its first two days of being released.” This had industry insiders already to hand Magic Mike the crown but then the word got out about this movie. The very women who went to this film started to realize how much of a terrible idea it was to buy tickets for this cinematic accident and started telling their friends, Ticket sales came to a screeching halt.
Faced with the prospects of not enough women to help hit those projections, this movie is destined to fall off that box office cliff into the Dollar Spot at Target.
Overall –
I think this weekend is a perfect example of no matter how much we try and predict what’s going to transpire at the box office, it all comes down to what families truly want to see. A family based film has a broader appeal. Nostalgia based films have a wider appeal as well. A movie made primarily for women, with no intrinsic value otherwise, has no broad appeal. Unfortunately, Magic Mike XXL is a dumpster fire of a movie and I’m glad that the word is now out. I fully expect Jurassic World, Inside-out, and Terminator Genisys to continue to make money. Magic Mike XXL will end up dying a quick death at the box-office.
Jurassic World continues to dominate the boxoffice
With Comic Con around the corner, two new Deadpool images were leaked online with one image the movie poster. Do you think that Deadpool is shooting a teddy bear because he doesn’t like Mark Wahlberg or Seth MacFarlane?
Deadpool is directed by Tim Miller, starring Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Gina Carano, Ed Skrein, and Brianna Hildebrand.
AndrewSS from the Ukraine created an amazing Captain America: Civil War teaser poster. If Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios were smart they would make this poster. This image captures the emotion of Civil War as this will be the first Spider-Man will be incorporated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Set for release in the United States on May 6, 2016, “Captain America: Civil War” is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo (Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Community”) from a screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (“Captain America: The Winter Solider,” Marvel’s “Captain America: The First Avenger”). The film returns Chris Evans (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron”) as the iconic Super Hero character Steve Rogers/Captain America along with Robert Downey Jr. (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Marvel’s “Iron Man 3”) as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”) as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Sebastian Stan (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”) as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”) as Sam Wilson/Falcon, Paul Bettany (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Iron Man 3”) as The Vision, Jeremy Renner (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Marvel’s “The Avengers”) as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Don Cheadle (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Iron Man 3”) as Jim Rhodes/War Machine and Elizabeth Olsen (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Godzilla”) as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch.
After his debut in Marvel’s “Ant-Man” on July 17, 2015, Paul Rudd (“Ant-Man,” ”Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues”) will make his first appearance alongside the Avengers as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in “Captain America: Civil War.”
The film also includes outstanding additional cast, including Chadwick Boseman (“42,” “Get on Up”) as T’Challa/Black Panther, Emily VanCamp (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Revenge”) as Sharon Carter/Agent 13, Daniel Brühl (“Inglourious Basterds,” “Bourne Ultimatum”), Frank Grillo (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Warrior”) as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones, William Hurt (“A History of Violence,” Marvel’s “The Incredible Hulk”) as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross and Martin Freeman (“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”).
“Captain America: Civil War” picks up where “Avengers: Age of Ultron” left off, as Steve Rogers leads the new team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. After another international incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to enlist the services of the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers while they try to protect the world from a new and nefarious villain.
Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War” is produced by Marvel Studios’ president, Kevin Feige, with Louis D’Esposito, Alan Fine, Victoria Alonso, Patricia Whitcher, Nate Moore and Stan Lee serving as executive producers.
Directors Joe and Anthony Russo’s creative team also includes director of photography Trent Opaloch (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Elysium”), production designer Owen Paterson (“Godzilla,” “Matrix”), and three time Oscar®-nominated costume designer Judianna Makovsky (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”).
Based on the Marvel comic character first published in 1941, “Captain America: Civil War ” continues the lineage of epic big-screen adventures chronicled in “Iron Man,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “Iron Man 2,” “Thor,” “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Iron Man 3,” “Thor: The Dark World,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and the upcoming release schedule, which includes Marvel’s “Ant-Man” on July 17, 2015, Marvel’s “Doctor Strange,” on November 4, 2016, Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy 2,” on May 5, 2017, and Marvel’s “Thor: Ragnarok,” on November 3, 2017.
On my drive home from North Carolina yesterday, we were treated to one fireworks display after another. The thing that struck me about this wasn’t that we had fireworks on the 4th of July but how many cars I actually saw pull off of the highway just to catch a glimpse quick burst of luminescence before the color fizzled and was gone forever. That image brought me back to a documentary that I saw last Wednesday entitled Amy. Amy Winehouse was the living embodiment of a 4th of July fireworks demonstration. She quickly rose into the stratosphere of music stardom gaining national acclaim only to fizzle rapidly when addiction brought her life to a screeching halt.
Asif Kapadia had the monumental task of putting this project together. I’m sure a lot of you are wondering what exactly I’m alluding to when I say monumental but it’s hard to achieve total objectivity in a documentary when you are being produced with the blessing of the late singers family. Asif Kapadia said in a statement to Rolling Stone Magazine,” We came on board with the full backing of the Winehouse family, and we approached the project with total objectivity.” The director continued “We conducted one hundred interviews with people that knew Amy. The story that the film tells is a reflection of our findings from these interviews.” One can’t deny that Asif Kapadia went about this the right away in search finding out what lead this bright shining star to fizzle out so rapidly. The film (which is due to come out July 10th) has already touched a nerve with the Winehouse family.
Speaking to The Sun on April 14th, Mitch Winehouse stated,” I felt sick when I watched it for the first time. Amy would have been furious. This is not what she would have wanted.” If you see the documentary, you will understand exactly why he would be so bothered by it. Mr. Kapadia presents a very compelling argument that the one person who may have had the biggest hand in leading her down a dark road of addiction was her own father. Was he the one that was handing her the pills? No, but the constant pressure of producing new songs and simply not acknowledging the fact that she needed help was enough of a catalyst that lead her down that dark path. This film doesn’t let anyone off the hook and presents compelling proof that even her tour management even went as far to feed her addiction by getting her heroin even while she was in rehab.
Through the use of interviews and archival footage you get the distinct impression of a young lady who was dealing with even deeper demons than the obvious ones associated with addiction. Amy’s tour manager at the time even told her that she should go to rehab. Amy stated “that she would go to rehab if her dad signed off on it.” They drove 50 miles to his home and flat out asked her dad to which he responded “absolutely not.” We learn that Amy turned this all too important moment (with the help of Mark Ronson) into the song Rehab that would jettison her into super stardom. Amy presents a haunting look at the life of an artist who found joy in her music and grief in the fame associated with it. The film will continue to garner negativity from the Winehouse family because as the saying goes, the truth hurts. I just read this morning in The Hollywood Reporter, that Mitch Winehouse is even considering his own movie to try and contradict the findings of the Amy documentary.
You can’t deny the brilliance of this documentary. The simplicity in which the director mixes in the archival footage with the music and the interviews they did is marvelous. This documentary is 2 hours long and I found myself wanting to reach out to the screen and help a truly doomed soul. You get to see the young clean Amy Winehouse that many of use never saw head down that rabbit hole of fame and ultimately make choices that lead to her untimely death. Amy seems to be living embodiment of tortured soul. I fully expect to hear about this documentary garnering award consideration towards the end of the year (SEFCA, Florida Film Critics) which will eventually lead to it being nominated for either a Golden Globe or an Oscar. This type of film making should be awarded and celebrated.
Amy Winehouse on stageCould the person to blame for Amy’s tragic demise be her father?
Because the last few years of her all-too-short life were defined more by sordid stories of drug abuse and alcoholism constantly appearing in the tabloids, it may be easier for some to remember the late Amy Winehouse for little more than the pop culture punchline she became, rather than as the singularly-talented artist and humble, down-to-earth human being that she was. Film maker Asif Kapadia (2010’s Senna) seeks to rectify this with his latest documentary work Amy, which utilizes everything from recorded voice mail messages to archival and home video to footage from live appearances and televised performances to put forth a telling of Winehouse’s story that has her voice, her thoughts, and her feelings as front and center as possible. This is Winehouse telling her own story, supplemented by observations from those who knew her best as well as those she worked and collaborated with, and the resulting film is a piece of cinematic art as powerfully poignant as the music Winehouse gave to the masses that came to idolize her.
Kapadia’s film takes audiences chronologically from the years preceding the release of her debut album “Frank” in 2003 through her international breakout success with 2006’s “Back to Black” to her final years, marked by her struggles with substance abuse and her relationship with her then-husband Blake Fielder, who she married in 2007 and who divorced her in 2009 while serving a prison term. Kapadia’s thesis seems to be that Winehouse, who never saw herself as a celebrity, never believed that she’d become a worldwide star and certainly never wished for that status (she even claimed somewhat prophetically that she’d go mad if she ever found herself in that situation) might have survived her self-destructive patterns of behavior had the right people around her put their foot down and told her “No” and “This has to stop” at several specific pivotal moments in her life. The numerous contributors to the film lending their recollections and observations, including but not limited to Fielder, Winehouse’s parents and lifelong friends, her first manager, Nick Shymansky, the producers of her hit albums Salaam Remi (“Frank”) and Mark Ronson (“Back to Black”), and peers such as yasiin bey (Mos Def) and Tony Bennett. When those contributions are pieced together with Winehouse’s own recorded thoughts and musings as well as the lyrics to songs both well-known and unreleased, a picture comes together of a bright, talented, vivacious young artist whose upbringing was perhaps too permissive and unstructured, who suffered from and went untreated for depression from an early age and believed she didn’t need professional help because crafting music and performing was her therapy, and who was prone to addiction and binging, leading to bulemia, heavy marijuana use prior to her stardom, heavy cocaine and crack cocaine usage during the heyday of her career, and heavy alcohol abuse throughout. Her spiral downward from the heights of success and stardom she reached at such an early age — she was 23 when she won five Grammys for “Back to Black” in 2008 — is harrowing and heart-rending, particularly because Kapadia takes time in the film’s first hour to introduce audiences to the teenager, the fierce friend and charming young woman she was before it all went wrong, thus providing some much needed balance to the film to keep it from being entirely funereal.
In addition to the somewhat implicit indictments of particular individuals around Winehouse who come away looking particularly responsible for the eventual tragedy, either because they enabled her self-destructive behavior or didn’t do enough to curtail it, there’s a not-so-subtle finger pointed at worldwide media and its treatment of celebrities, particularly the paparazzi in the UK who came to stalk Winehouse daily and who provided the material for the tabloids to regularly skewer her and portray her as nothing more than an entitled, out-of-control degenerate squandering her youth and her talent on drugs and bad decisions. The depiction of how quickly the tone of Winehouse’s media coverage turns from admiration of a one-of-a-kind talent with her own eclectic sense of style and substance to an easy target for late night television hosts and comedians is startling and brutal, but does not feel exaggerated in any way — time-compressed, perhaps, but not exaggerated.
Of all the elements of Kapadia’s approach to the material that make Amy stand out from other similar documentaries, the one that perhaps stands out the most is his omission of any sort of footage of sit down, face-to-face interviews with the film’s contributors. Audiences will hear their voices, and their names appear on screen so that it’s clear whose thoughts they are listening to, but those voices become voice-over narration for video footage or photo montages of Winehouse herself, thus keeping her always the focus of the production. In addition, Amy’s own music provides almost a secondary commentary track of sorts; as her songs were almost always inspired by her personal experiences, suddenly the real-life inspiration for songs such as “Stronger Than Me”, “Rehab”, and “I’m No Good”, as well as their connections to her overall state-of-mind as she wrote them, comes into sharp focus, and their impact becomes all the more plaintive. Kapadia utilizes the lyrics visually, either showing them in Amy’s own handwriting from her many songwriting notebooks to having them appear on screen as text alongside her as she’s delivering them in performance, and it further enhances the impact of each and every one of those words.
Of course, it’s important to note that Amy is certainly no way an “objective” view of Winehouse’s life and experiences, nor is it meant to be. Certainly there are other sides to this story and other ways it could be told that might have lead to audiences coming away from it with different conclusions. What is clear that Kapadia as a film maker and an artist himself was deeply sympathetic to Winehouse and her struggles, and crafted his film first and foremost to help viewers get to know Amy Winehouse in a very human and humane way. Those who were fans of her music and her style might be the ones who have the hardest time watching what Kapadia has produced, because the loss will no doubt suddenly feel raw and immediate once again. But even those who went totally unaware of her musical gifts and accomplishments, those who only knew her from the jokes made about her and the images of her splashed garishly across the covers of tabloids everywhere, may find themselves charmed by her vibrant persona and charisma, awestruck by her astounding talent, and eventually heart-broken by the course of events that lead to her leaving this world far, far too soon.
Either way, the film Amy, like Winehouse herself, proves to be unforgettable. It’s a film experience that should not be missed.
Amy
Directed by Asif Kapadia.
Running Time: 124 minutes
Rated R for language and drug material.
Ava DuVernay has decided not to work with Marvel Studios and she will not be directing Black Panther, according to an interview with Essence.
“I’m not signing on to direct Black Panther. I think I’ll just say we had different ideas about what the story would be. Marvel has a certain way of doing things and I think they’re fantastic and a lot of people love what they do. I loved that they reached out to me,” said Ava DuVernay.
“I loved meeting Chadwick and writers and all the Marvel execs. In the end, it comes down to story and perspective. And we just didn’t see eye to eye. Better for me to realize that now than cite creative differences later,” said Ava DuVernay.
Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman and scheduled to hit theaters on November 3, 2017.
Being “over the top” is a part of Mr. Robot‘s modus operandi–the ‘big bad’ is a corporation that our hero calls “Evil Corp”, after all. This week’s episode, however, takes it to the next level, at times pushing the series out of the realm of the possible and into the land of zany coincidences and laughably dramatic monologues.
Jumping right back where we left off, this week’s Mr. Robot finds Elliot asked by Evil Corp–specifically Tyrell Wellick, a tech-wizard himself at one time–to join them in their plans for world dominance. Okay, it’s not that direct, but it might as well be. The rest of the episode follows in this manner, as Elliot waffles between keeping his work-a-day life and throwing in with Mr. Robot’s increasingly mysterious crew.
The episode’s pacing is actually right on the money, moving us swiftly from storyline to storyline, each influencing Elliot’s decision in some way. Take, for instance, this week’s B-story–or the “monster of the week” side plot–wherein Elliot’s drug dealer–sleazy sweetheart, Shayla–has increasingly worrisome interactions with her supplier, leading Elliot to take matters into his own hands. Much like in his dealings with his psychiatrist’s con-man boyfriend from last week, Elliot’s interactions with his dealer’s dealer–an irrevocably evil bloke named Fernando Vera–forecast his reasons for the way that he handles Mr. Robot and his crew, as well as Evil Corp.
It’s just too bad about the dialogue and the handling of characters this time around. Where last week’s Mr. Robot played around with the idea of “evil”–sometimes stopping to consider the slow path it takes to go from average guy to mogul bent on world domination–this week we start out with Tyrell pushing us into the deep end of “evil” with his instantaneous power grab. For those keeping score at home, Tyrell was the very same guy from last week who “still liked to use Linux, because he was legit, and still cool and just like you, hacker bros.” Now all of a sudden he’s ruthless and quick to take over in the stead of Evil Corp’s fallen ruler, Terry Colby. It’s symptomatic of the weakness in this newest Mr. Robot; nearly every character is turned up to eleven. Fernando, the previously mentioned morphine supplier, isn’t just a drug dealer with a ‘tude. He’s a killer, a gun runner and a rapist. And why does he stoop to such means, you ask? Oh, because he realized that he hates himself and that same self-hatred gives him the power to rule the world, only from his little stoop–thus the reason why he can’t make the political/economic moves of the equally evil Tyrell. It’s post-True Detective character work, reveling in the depravity of modern man, but it doesn’t get us anywhere interesting. I get that Fernando presents Elliot’s morality with a dilemma, but Elliot’s ultimate decision doesn’t really say much different about his character than what we learned last week. More than anything, Fernando represents a guy who definitely ISN’T Elliot, even though they have similar character traits, proving that Elliot should definitely be our hero, uh-huh, oh yeah. Even Elliot is given short shrift in this week’s Mr. Robot, going from the quasi-druggy of last week–where his toking lead him to some realistically bad consequences–to becoming a full-on morphine addict this week, starting off the episode by doing four lines of morphine-blow. I won’t lie, it leads to an interesting sequence that plays up Elliot’s paranoia in a fascinating way, but you’re still left scratching your head and wondering, “Wait, why’d he do that again?” Outside of the lazy character work, we also get a cheap cliff hanger this week, one that seems ultimately pointless and phoned-in compared to last week’s legitimately surprising ending. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s another instance where the writing just feels off in this week’s Mr. Robot.
Luckily, the star actors all bring it this time around, with Christian Slater seeming especially comfortable as the mysterious Mr. Robot. Slater delivers on a charm level that makes him a natural as a group leader, never forcing the audience to question what compels Elliot to return to the hacker collective in the face of their dubious actions. Rami Malek returns with his same commitment to the role, making those aforementioned morphine scenes much more bearable where they would probably feel even worse in the hands of a less talented actor. All the other players, however, seem to fall down on the job, potentially because directing duty has shifted from the ever-capable hands of Mr. Robot‘s premiere episode director, Niels Arden Oplev, to the show’s creator, Sam Esmail. I don’t want to pounce on Esmail all throughout this review–after all, the premiere episode was one of the most engaging television pilots of the last few years–but either his writing or directing leads to some really lame character moments that I don’t think rest solely on the actor’s heads. Tyrell’s Martin Wallström in particular, either just doesn’t have the chops for–what should be–a fairly complex part, or Esmail isn’t hitting home the potential gravitas of the character to him. Darlene–the femme fatale of Mr. Robot’s crew–also came up short for me, coming off as annoying and childish, rather than the stand-offish character we got in Mr. Robot’s premiere, who clearly had some baggage that she was bringing to the table.
There’s a moment, somewhere in the middle of the episode, where Slater’s Mr. Robot says emphatically, “The world is a dangerous place, Elliot, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” It’s a salient point, one that seemed to be the ethos behind many of the messages in Mr. Robot‘s pilot episode. It exists here as a buoy amongst a sea of “extreme” scenarios and character personalities, promising that at its core, Mr. Robot still has a strong and willful purpose. I have faith. Sam Esmail dropped the ball with Mr. Robot‘s sophomore effort, but it’s still one of the most intriguing and engaging shows airing this summer and is easily the best thing on the USA Network, as I talked about in last episode’s review. There’s such a thing as a sophomore slump, and often times it takes an artist getting past that creative bump in the road to do some of their best work.
Two heavyweight Spanish directors, J.A. Bayona and Alejandro Amenábar, shot this summer’s commercials for two different beer brands.
J. A. Bayona was internationally acclaimed for his directorial debut The Orphanage (2007), also for manning the gigantic The Impossible (2012), which our new Spidey — Tom Holland — starred in, and for giving the go-ahead to the horror show Penny Dreadful with the first two episodes (that séance scene in episode 2 was incredible). Late last year he was also announced to be in charge of the sequel to World War Z.
Bayona is not exactly new to the advertisement world. In Spain, he’s worked on a commercial for a cleaning product before, turning it into a whole new experience. But now, he was part of an advertising campaign for San Miguel, one of the best known beer brands in the country.
His commercial was shot in Thailand and Spain, with 53 different actors and 254 extras, and finally debuted this week. Kristina Fender, who has worked for BMW, Renault and Hendrick’s campaigns was the director of photography. Essencially, Bayona’s work, titled “Y lo mejor está por llegar” (“And the Best is Yet to Come”), is a proper 1’45’’ long commercial that tells the story of the brand’s 125 years of life. Three famous figures, who were ambassadors for the brand for years, Grace Kelly, Orson Welles and Salvador Dalí are also included via body doubles.
You can watch it after these lines. If you know Spanish, you’ll enjoy it that much more.
Another side of the coin is Alejandro Amenábar’s take in the commercial making business. Of course, you know Amenábar from the brilliant The Others in 2001 (my favorite role Nicole Kidman has ever played), The Sea Inside (2004), which received an Academy Award in 2005, and Agora (2009). He most recently directed Emma Watson, David Thewlis and Ethan Hawke in Regression, which is set to release in US theaters in August 28.
Amenábar co-wrote and directed this commercial titled “Vale” — which you’ll know what it stands for if you watch it— and it isn’t just that, but it’s also a delightful 12 minute short film. It also debuted this week on television. The commercial stars the one and only Dakota Johnson, of 50 Shades of Grey fame, Quim Gutiérrez, a fairly known Spanish actor, and Natalia Tena, who geeks will recognize both as Nymphadora Tonks in Harry Potter and Osha in Game of Thrones.
What’s more engaging about this short film in comparison to Bayona’s cinematic commercial is how subtly is the beer brand, Estrella Damm, introduced and then brought to the center of attention. I really think it is a beautiful work. See for yourself (with English subtitles).
Viz Media has a nice premiere coincidence planned for Boruto – Naruto the Movie. The latest Naruto feature—which focuses on his son, who wishes to surpass his father—will premiere on Naruto’s birthday, October 10, at New York Comic Con.
