Official ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 4′ Images, More Plot Details [Updated]

[UPDATE: We've added additional official images released from the film]

Decked out in eyeliner and tangled dreadlocks, with a swagger that indicates he’s permanently intoxicated, it’s little wonder Disney officials were at first taken aback by Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow persona. Thankfully, the studio heads did not fire the actor for his radical interpretation of the character and will soon release Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth film to feature the quick-witted pirate.

The first official images have been released for Disney’s fourth Pirates of the Caribbean, along with some additional plot details that explain how the peculiar characters in the flick all end up getting involved in one another’s business.

Those that dared to sit through all 169 minutes of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (and considering the film’s box office gross , a lot of people did) will recall that the pic concluded with a shot of Sparrow setting out to sea in a dinghy, armed with nothing but his trusty compass, a bottle of rum, and a stolen fragment of a map that would lead him to the Fountain of Youth. When the official POTC 4 synopsis was released, few were shocked to learn that Sparrow’s quest to find the mythical fountain was the basis for the fourth film’s plot.

Depp’s Sparrow finds his quest for immortality in On Stranger Tides obstructed by corporate interests (insert Disney joke here) when he is captured by the guards of King George II (Richard Griffiths), who wants to recruit Sparrow to find the Fountain of Youth for himself – with the assistance of Jack’s old pal/mutinous first mate, Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).

Check out an image from that scene below:

Sparrow, captured and brought to St. James Palace in London.

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[MILD SPOILER]

Sparrow declines to acquiesce the king’s request (he says no ) and quickly escapes via a comical chase sequence involving carriages and a noblewoman (Dame Judi Dench) that the seafarer woos before splitting, her jewels and expensive trinkets in hand.

Here’s a pic from Sparrow’s Charlie Chaplin-inspired escape in the film:

[END SPOILER]

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The journey to the Foutain of Youth becomes all the more tricky for Sparrow when he later gets involved with an old flame, Angelica (Penelope Cruz), and her father, the merciless Blackbeard (Ian McShane) – though Captain Jack is not sure which of these two he should be more scared of.

Get an early look at Sparrow opposite the father-daughter duo in the pic below:

Expect the Jack-Angelica dynamic to be quite similar to the captain’s previous encounters with former flings (Sparrow will undoubtedly have to endure more than a few harsh slaps this time). As Depp told USA Today, concerning his and Cruz’s onscreen relationship, “We have our bouts in the film, but there’s also this residue of what might have been. It’s a kind of love-hate thing.”

Check out the couple as they wade through waist-deep swamps on their way to the Fountain of Youth in the image below:

Depp professed that he likes the standalone storyline of On Stranger Tides since “you don’t have to connect the dots for these subplots and sub-characters [like in the last two movies]. It felt like a a fresh, clean slate.” After the convoluted mess that was At World’s End (which even the screenwriters seemingly don’t fully understand), that’s a relief.

The POTC 4 trailer will arrive next Monday, December 13th, so we’ll have a better idea of how director Rob Marshall’s take on the swashbuckling blockbuster series differs from Gore Verbinski’s POTC trilogy.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides arrives in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D theaters on May 20th, 2011.

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Real Steel Gets IMAX Release, Plus New Plot Details

If the moody Transformers 3 teaser trailer didn’t satisfy your need for hardcore robot fighting action, maybe this news will help. According to a press release from Dreamworks, Real Steel, the robot boxing movie starring Hugh Jackman, will be released in IMAX.

In addition to the IMAX news, we also have some new plot details about the film courtesy of a script review from science and pop culture blog io9. The plot details in i09's script review (which may not actually be genuine since io9 reviewed a draft script written before the movie went into production) mesh with the official synopsis sent out this past summer. However, they also hint at a more compelling human drama lurking beneath the flashier premise.

We’ve broken down most of the pertinent information into bullet points for easier reading. Check them out below. If you don’t want to read any potential spoilers, skip past the next section.

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SPOILERS

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In the future, human boxing has been outlawed, which is why robot boxing exists. The sport is huge and is popular for gambling. The best robo-boxer is named Colossus, controlled by a kid named Tak Mashido, who always gets first-round KOs.Official robot boxing is expensive and hard to break in to, which is why there’s also illegal underground robot boxing. Hugh Jackman plays Charlie, an ex-boxer whose success never matched his determination. Charlie’s robots frequently lose and he’s in debt to a variety of people.When Charlie’s ex-girlfriend dies, he gains temporary custody of their son. Together, the pair reconnect as Charlie begins to gain greater success in the robot boxing world.io9 characterizes the script as “predictable,” but “well played,” noting that the background subject matter involving robot boxing keeps the story fresh.

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END OF SPOILERS

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Real Steel has been intriguing to me for some time. Sports movies and sci-fi movies rank high on my list of cinematic preferences, and Shawn Levy’s film seems to be the perfect marriage between the two.

Even with the somewhat predictable nature of the story (what sports movie isn’t predictable?), I think I could end up liking this movie a lot. I loved Hugh Jackman in Darren Aranofsky’s The Fountain, and I know the actor is capable of inspiring performances. Perhaps this is a film where he can show off his acting talents once again rather than simply slicing things up with his adamantium claws (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Source: io9

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LG’s dual-core Android handset shows up in new photos, confirms more details

November 30 2010 by admin in News |

Two weeks ago, the first photos and information about LG’s dual-core Android handset, codenamed “Star” leaked out.

It supposedly rocked a Tegra 2 processor courtesy of Nvidia. It had a 4-inch screen. It apparently was running a stock version of Android. It’s also said to have an 8MP camera with 1080p capabilities, a front facing camera and microSD and microUSB.

It was also said that it would be arriving in Q1.

Well, some new photos of the “Star” have surfaced courtesy of the folks over at Phandroid and they confirm a couple of new details about the device.

First and foremost, it’s rocking an HDMI port, you can see it very clearly in the picture below. Secondly, it doesn’t appear to have a stock version of Android on board.

Instead, it has Froyo with some alterations. Now, don’t take this a sign that it’s coming with Android 2.2. It could very well have Gingerbread along with it when it drops. Makes sense seeing as though Google’s latest and greatest is supposed to be out very, very soon. It’s also said to have a 480 x 800 capacitive screen which, is actually kind of a let down.

Hopefully that changes too.

Also, take a look at the benchmark scores.

Let that quell doubts as to whether or not this thing is going to be fast. And as if this thing needed to flex its ego anymore, whoever is in possession of this device says that it “outclasses” the Galaxy S series.

As it should.

One last picture of this glorious looking device.

What do you guys think?

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More details on Sony Ericsson’s “Playstation Phone” emerge

November 30 2010 by admin in Gadgets |

MobileCrunch has received some extra details on Sony Ericsson’s soon-to-be-confirmed “Playstation Phone”, its source providing them with clarification on what the handset will feature and the brand names associated with it.

The source confirmed that the device was real, something we are glad to hear considering we have seen shots of the device already, and that the handset would feature a crystal-clear display, providing some stiff competition to Samsung’s Super AMOLED screens and Apple’s Retina Display. It is thought that Sony Ericsson will be using its established Bravia brand name from its high-quality flatscreen TV’s for its new device.

The device is said to be “nowhere near ready”, meaning it won’t be ready until next year, possibly launching Spring 2011. As MobileCrunch points out, Mobile World Congress commences around that time, meaning we could see a high-profile launch in Barcelona.

Suggested unlocked pricing of the device is around $500 with five free games, although it is not known whether the games will be downloadable only or the device will support media of some type (old PSP games). The games will likely mirror pricing on smartphone app stores and Sony Ericsson is reportedly leveraging its gaming might to encourage a large line-up of independent games for its platform.

We have contacts at Sony Ericsson and have heard mutterings of something happening during Mobile Web Congress in February next year. We could see some movement on Sony Ericsson’s Windows Phone 7 handsets or the launch of the mythical Playstation Phone, although its likely it will carry the Xperia name.

More as we hear it.

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‘Akira’ Movie Script Details & Review

As a huge fan of the 1988 classic anime, Akira, I, like everyone else, have mixed emotions about a live-action movie version of the story.

After reading the script for the upcoming Akira movie (which is being directed The Hughes Brothers), I questioned whether this film is a good idea, when the anime version stands on its own merit. We’ll let you guys draw your own answer to that question, but today we have some details of the Akira script to share with you.

The story has been “Americanized,” with the center of the action taking place in New Manhattan after the decimation of the city ( an incident resembling a nuclear bomb explosion), has been blamed on the work of unknown terrorists, with the  iconic shot of Akira as the sole survivor clutching his teddy bear standing solemn in the crater at ground zero.

Flash-forward to sometime in the future where protagonists Kaneda and Travis (gone is the name Tetsuo – why not just keep it? ) belong  to one of several biker gangs that control the burned out old Manhattan, while the shiny new Chinese-owned-and-invested “New Manhattan” glitters back at them like a star that cannot be touched.

The story somewhat follows the animated film but introduces a new character, Ray Arcman, who is the mad scientist that created Akira by using psychic and kinetic experiments on children including the three Espers (the elderly looking 10-year-olds from the animated film).

Asian gangsters run the underworld along with several motorcycle gangs (sadly, the “Clowns” are not in the film). Illegal drugs are still in demand and the gangs in turn  have to pay tribute to their bosses, the ”Packies” (Pakistanis).

The Colonel from 'Akira'.

Liberties are taken with some of the characters: Princess Miyako is now an elderly trash-collecting lady in Old Manhattan and the Colonel’s part doesn’t come off as strong as he did in the animated version. I cannot see Morgan Freeman playing the Colonel at all – nevermind the rumor that Zac Effron could play Kaneda.

There are also continuity problems with the script. In one scene, the Colonel sets off a claymore mine in order to block the approaching Black Ops army and is wounded. Yet, in another scene after this, when he is captured, The Colonel is able to take out two military policeman and operate a .50 caliber mini-gun in a helicopter gunship in order to save Kaneda – then he promptly disappears for the remainder of the film.

Yes, Travis (Tetsuo) does expand and morph into a ballooning human amoeba, but only for one short scene. I think we can all agree that this is one of the landmark, crucial scenes that needs to be in the film, yet it’s only a mere fragment.

Kaneda gets a Tech 9 machine pistol instead of the high-tech-looking plasma-type weapon that was used in the original anime, and on the iconic Akira poster. This is not a change that makes sense to me.

I thought the ending of the script was weak (it hints at a sequel – please),  and you just didn’t care about the characters the way you did in  Katsuhiro Otomo’s production.

The time to have made this film was in the ’80s when there was still a buzz about it. This new version is not  for all audiences and sadly, I believe it will fall in the same niche category as Watchmen did.

Akira Header Image by Hideyoshi @ DeviantART

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