John Carter Romances the Hero in All of Us

It’s been almost 100 years since Edgar Rice Burroughs created the character John Carter and the story “A Princess of Mars” which has lived through time as a truly transmedia tale from novels to comic books, artwork to animation, TV and now Academy Award®–winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton and Walt Disney Pictures bring “John Carter” to life on the silver screen.

This story follows a former military captain, John Carter (played by Taylor Kitsch), who is sick of war, but then finds himself transported to a different world, set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). John Carter finds this new world on the brink of collapse, and during all of the chaos around him, he rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.

Like the other movies that Stanton has been part of, Disney/Pixar’s WALL-E (winner of an Academy Award and Golden Globe), and “Finding Nemo” (Academy Award winner), they follow characters who are “out of their element” and face challenges both good and bad during their journey.

“John Carter” is an epic adventure, filled with action, romance and political intrigue with an impressive cast led by Taylor Kitsch (NBC’S “Friday Night Lights”, “X‐Men Origins: Wolverine”) in the title role, Lynn Collins (“50 First Dates,” “X‐Men Origins: Wolverine”) as the warrior princess Dejah Thoris and Oscar® nominee Willem Dafoe (“Spider‐Man,” “Shadow of the Vampire”) as Martian inhabitant Tars Tarkas.

Here are some interesting factoids about “John Carter”

• Famous for Tarzan: Edgar Rice Burroughs, born in Chicago and is well-known for writing and creating Tarzan—still one of the most successful and iconic fictional creations of all time.
• “John Carter” is based on Burroughs’ first novel, “A Princess of Mars.”
• Academy Award®–winning director/writer Andrew Stanton was one of the four screenwriters to receive an Oscar nomination in 1996 for his contribution to “Toy Story,” and went on to receive credit as a screenwriter on subsequent Pixar films “A Bug’s Life,” “Toy Story 2,” and “Monsters, Inc.”
• Production Designer Nathan Crowley was Oscar®- nominated for both “Dark Knight” and “The Prestige,” and Costume Designer Mayes Rubeo’s work is showcased in “Avatar” and “Apocalypto.”
• Pulitzer Prize winner, Michael Chabon, is a co-writer on the screenplay.
• Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino who has worked on Disney•Pixar films “Up” (Oscar® winner, Best Original Score; BAFTA winner, Best Music; Golden Globe® winner, Best Original Score for a Motion Picture; GRAMMY® Award winner, Best Score Soundtrack Album), “Ratatouille” (GRAMMY Award winner, Best Score Soundtrack Album; Annie Award winner, Best Music in an Animated Feature Production; Oscar nomination, Best Original Score) and “The Incredibles” (Annie Award winner, Best Music in an Animated Feature Production; GRAMMY nomination, Best Score Soundtrack Album).

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Release Date: March 9, 2012

Cast: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, with Thomas Haden Church and Willem Dafoe
Director: Andrew Stanton
Producers: Jim Morris, Colin Wilson, Lindsey Collins
Screenplay by: Andrew Stanton & Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon (credit not final)
Based on the story: “A Princess of Mars” by: Edgar Rice Burroughs

Cars 2 Review – Why We Loved it and You Will Too

Mingle Media TV was excited to be on the Cars 2 red carpet premiere to talk to the celebs last Saturday night and to be honest, we were even more excited to be invited to the early screening of this film at the El Capitan Theatre last night. Here’s our review of “Cars 2” without spoilers…

We’ve been a big fan of Disney forever (this reporter will not admit the year but it is more than 20 years) and found Cars 2 to be even better than Cars. From the moment the movie opened with a very serious mood to the next scene where the mood is comedic to the detail in the animation, music, and realistic scenery surrounding each segment, we found “Cars 2” to be delightfully engaging. The detail in the characters and their personality, the landscapes and the overall story were captivating. Just imagine Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) traveling around the world and driving on the wrong side of the road in England or driving in Tokyo where the street signs are in Kanji lettering not English. There were lots of kids in the theatre with us last night and we could hear them watching with their eyes and being surprisingly quieter than the adults in the theatre who like us, were laughing out loud and enjoying the ride. In true Disney fashion, this is another movie that transcends age, gender and even geo-location and can be enjoyed by all on planet earth!

Sidebar: Although we enjoyed Cars when it came out, we have to say that Cars 2 is one sequel that will surpass it in so many ways. (Our prediction: it will be a smash hit and be Oscar nominated – and win!)

My son and I started going to movies together when he was really young and we started a tradition to talk about our favorite parts as we left the theatre. As he grew older, this changed up from favorite parts to did you see this or that nuance, that might have been missed and is related to the writer, director, studio, like Marvel movies having Stan Lee make a cameo. Well, here are some fun facts about the film that you can share with your family and friends before or after you see “Cars 2” that we found interesting about the movie:

• Lightning McQueen is voiced by Owen Wilson but is named in memory after Glenn McQueen a Pixar animator who worked on the original “Cars” movie
• Lightning McQueen’s “Lightyear” tires are a reference to another Disney Pixar character: Buzz Lightyear
• The #95 on Lightning McQueen’s car is in reference to the year “Toy Story” came out 1995 (wow)
• Mater is voiced by Larry the Cable Guy and the number A113 is a reference to the CalArts classroom where director John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton attended
• Finn McMissile is voiced by none other than Michael Caine and his small tailfins are inspired by the late 50’s British sports car called the Peerless GT
• Finn McMissile would have been in the first “Cars” movie but was cut out  – only to be revived by Lasseter due to his love of spy movies
• Holly Shiftwell is voiced by Emily Mortimer and is equiped with all kinds of state-of-the-art gadgetry
• Believe it or not, Jeff Gorvette is voiced by and named after NASCAR racer Jeff Gordon
• The “Cars 2” character team built 145 new character models for the film with 781 variants making a total of 926 new characters
• The “Cars 2” film is an International adventure covering Tokyo, Paris, The Riveria, and London – pay attention to the integration of the landscapes, buildings and characters
• The PIT lane configuration is based on the Formula 1 track in the Kingdom of Bahrain
• If you are a car buff, you’ll also notice that the cars in all of the different locations around the globe match up to the country you find them in

Haven’t seen any trailers yet? Watch this clip to get a feel for the “spy genre” that was incorporated into this film:

We don’t want to spoil the story but can guarantee you won’t be disappointed one little bit…so we’re going to ask you to go out this Friday, June 24th, to a theatre near you and see Cars 2, in Disney Digital 3D or IMAX 3D. Don’t forget to be a FAN and LIKE the Cars 2 Facebook page: www.facebook.com/PixarCars.

If you want to see what the celebrities at the premiere had to say about their favorite Cars character  watch this video clip:

Don’t forget to come back and tell us how you liked it… Vrrroooom Vrrooooom.

“Run This Town” Web Series Has High Hopes for Live Action

What’s a good place to start when you’ve got a good story but you don’t have the “street cred” to make a feature? Web Series.

Charles Clemmons, Run This Town

At least that’s what we think. Meeting the soft-spoken Charles Clemmons, executive producer and director of “Run This Town” web series, was a bonus for us. Oh, and he has street cred… Charles takes this business – the business of filmmaking seriously. He’s not just making some video, he’s pulling together new and seasoned talent to support his vision. He’s got a business plan and is mindful of the promises he has made to his investors. He has high hopes for this series and so do we.

Take a second and watch this trailer – which had us hooked from the beginning!

Fierce Footwear

As with any creative process, you have to step away and let it fly – which is what happened on Sunday when Charles invited everyone to the Screening Room on Wilshire in Los Angeles.
Little did Charles know that he would have his World Premiere screen to two audiences – back-to-back, the crowd coming in was a bit overwhelming to this humble filmmaker. We were there in support of the cast and crew – which are such awesome people, humble but they are a cohesive group – you know they work well together on set. Can I say the ladies had some fierce footwear on and we were drooling!!

Jade, The Head of the United Alliance

What’s “Run This Town” got that we found interesting? Strong female lead characters. Not that the men are any less fabulous – but we loved Jade and her persona on screen sold her character as the leader. You believed she was the no-nonsense, take no prisoners character she was created to be.

Now we’re not just writing these kind words because it’s up on our Network at Mingle Media TV. There are notes you could write about anything you watch, like art it’s subjective. But this idea, this cinematography and this director deserve a chance to build and grow on what he has started here. He has a heart of a lion and the mannerism of a lamb.

Run This Town Web Series

We hope that you will support this INDIE (independent production) and watch not only the first episode… but the ones coming up. It’s hard to let your project fly – but when it takes wings and flies from other peoples support that is when you can sleep again.

Check out the series – be their FAN on Facebook and tell your friends to watch every Monday night and discover other awesome creations like this on the Interwebs!

More about Run This Town from Charles Clemmons

THE UNITED ALLIANCE: JADE “Leader of the Alliance”: HAWK “Medic and time Expert” : ANGEL “The Researcher: kid of the Group and Brains” ACE “Weapons Specialist : MacGyver of the group”, DANGER “The Sexy Decoy”

Watch new episodes of Run This Town on Mingle Media TV Every Monday!

Run This Town Web Series