AMERICAN HUSTLE TO RECEIVE ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE AWARD AT 25th ANNUAL PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS GALA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

 

AMERICAN HUSTLE TO RECEIVE ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE AWARD AT 25^th ANNUAL PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS GALA

 

Palm Springs, CA (December 6, 2013) – The 25^th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will award its Ensemble Performance Award to the film American Hustle.  The award will honor the film’s cast, which includes Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Jeremy Renner.  The Gala will also present awards to previously announced honorees Sandra Bullock, Bruce Dern, Matthew McConaughey, Steve McQueen and Julia Roberts.  Presented by Cartier and hosted by Mary Hart, the Awards Gala will be held Saturday, January 4 at the Palm Springs Convention Center.  The Festival runs January 3-13, 2014.

 

“David O. Russell has created a viscerally powerful film,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “American Hustle grabs you from the start and is populated by a group of eminently believable characters as brought to life by this brilliant cast.  The Palm Springs International Film Festival is proud to present the entire cast of American Hustle with our 2014 Ensemble Performance Award.”

 

Past recipients of the Ensemble Performance Award include last year’s Academy Award^®winner for Best Picture Argo as well as past Best Picture nominees Babel and The Social Network.

 

A fictional film set in the alluring world of one of the most extraordinary scandals of the 1970s,American Hustle tells the story of brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), who along with his equally cunning and seductive partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is forced to work for wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper).  DiMaso pushes them into a world of New Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that’s as dangerous as it is enchanting. Jeremy Renner is Carmine Polito, the passionate, volatile political operator caught between the con artists and Feds. Irving’s unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down.  Columbia Pictures and Annapurna Pictures present an Atlas Entertainment production, which also stars Louis C.K., Michael Peña and Alessandro Nivola.  Directed by David O. Russell.  Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell.  Produced by Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, and Jonathan Gordon.

 

The film received Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Jennifer Lawrence and Best Screenplay written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell from the New York Film Critics Circle

Photo Credit - Francois Duhamel.

Action legends Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger reunite in the intense, action-packed prison break thriller Escape Plan, arriving on Blu-ray Combo Pack (plus DVD and Digital HD UltraViolet), DVD (plus Digital UltraViolet), Video on Demand and Pay-Per-View on February 4 from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.

Action legends Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger reunite in the intense, action-packed prison break thriller Escape Plan, arriving on Blu-ray Combo Pack (plus DVD and Digital HD UltraViolet), DVD (plus Digital UltraViolet), Video on Demand and Pay-Per-View on February 4 from Lionsgate Home Entertainment. The film will be available on Digital HD two weeks earlier on January 21^st. In this "thrilling, exciting ride" (Movieline), Stallone stars as a prison security expert who must enlist the help of Schwarzenegger to escape from the most secure prison ever built. Boasting an exceptional, all-star cast, the film also features Jim Caviezel (TV's "Person of Interest"), Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson (Fire with Fire), Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) and Vinnie Jones (X-Men: The Last Stand) with Vincent D'Onofrio (TV's "Law and Order: Criminal Intent") and Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone). 

 

One of the world's foremost authorities on structural security agrees to take on one last job: breaking out of an ultra-secret, high-tech facility called "The Tomb." Deceived and wrongly imprisoned, Ray Breslin (Stallone) must recruit fellow inmate Emil Rottmayer (Schwarzenegger) to help devise a daring, nearly impossible plan to escape from the most protected and fortified prison ever built.

 

The Escape Plan Blu-ray includes audio commentary from the director and writer, three informative featurettes about the film and deleted scenes. The Escape Plan DVD includes audio commentary from the director and writer and a "making-of" featurette. The Blu-ray and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $39.99 and $29.95, respectively.

 

BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES*

• Audio commentary with Director Mikael Hafstrom and Co-Writer Miles Chapman
• "Executing the Plan: The Making of Escape Plan" featurette
• "Maximum Security: The Real-Life Tomb" featurette
• "Clash of the Titans" featurette
• Deleted Scenes

*subject to change

 

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES*

• Audio commentary with Director Mikael Hafstrom and Co-Writer Miles Chapman
• "Executing the Plan: The Making of Escape Plan" featurette

*subject to change

You all knew this parody was coming sooner or later...

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Secures

All Media Rights for Comedy The Hungover Games

 

Culver City, Ca. (Dec. 5, 2013) – Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA) has secured all media rights to the comedy, The Hungover Games, acquired from producers Ash R. Shah and Ben Feingold. 

 

The Hungover Games is a parody of contemporary films including The Hangover and The Hunger Games series in addition to other recent blockbusters. Stars include Hangover look-alike stars and character actors Ben Begley (NCIS: Los Angeles, Franklin & Bash), Ross Nathan (the Bollywood hit English Vinglish), Herbert Russell (Law & Order, Robot Chicken) and John Livingston (Mr. Wrong, The Stickup).  Katnip Everlean will be played by up-and-comer Rita Volk and comedy actors Jonathan Silverman, Tara Reid and Jamie Kennedy will also be featured. Additional appearances include Bruce Jenner, Hank Baskett, Robert Wagner, Kayden Kross, and the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ stars– Kyle Richards, Brandi Glanville and Camille Grammar.

 

Synopsis

After celebrating Doug’s upcoming wedding in a cut rate hotel in Laughlin, Nevada, our hungover

party-ers, Bradley, Ed and Zach, wake up in a strange room in an even stranger world… and without their pal, Doug. After meeting the haughty and flighty Effing and the gruff, alcoholic Justmitch, our trio puts the pieces together and realizes that they are on a train car headed to The Hungover Games. But instead of the twelve districts of The Hunger Games, our guys have to go toe to toe against various Pop Culture Districts, including The Superhero District, The Middle Earth District, the Puppet District, and the Johnny Depp District.

 

“The Hungover Games,” written by David Bernstein, Kyle Barnett Anderson and Jamie Kennedy marks the directorial debut of Josh Stolberg.  Producers are Ash R. Shah, Ben Feingold, Jim Busfield, Steve Small and Jamie Kennedy. For additional film news, please visit the official Facebook page here.

 

View the trailer for The Hungover Games.

 

The Hungover Games has not yet been rated by the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA).

 

Angry Birds Toons: Season One - Volume One Blu-ray Disc Review

My favorite video game to play is Angry Birds. I have completed the Roku 2 XS version using a Bluetooth remote with a built in accelerometer twice and completed Angry Birds Seasons HD and Angry Birds Rio HD the same way. Roku has Angry Birds Space, but is only available with the Roku 3 Streaming Media Player and has not been made available for purchase in the Roku Channel Store yet. However with all of the games available on iOS, Android, and Windows 8.1 are individual cartoon shorts published at about the rate of one or so a week and there is a free channel on the Roku for streaming episodes. Yet there is no way that I am aware of that one can watch all of the cartoons from the beginning with the best picture quality available until now with the release of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's Angry Birds Toons: Season One - Volume One on Blu-ray Disc.

Now in a beautiful 1080p/24fps high definition widescreen (1.78:1) aspect ratio, all 26 episodes from the first season beginning with "Chuck Time" and concluding with "The Hamshank Redemption" for this first volume, can now be enjoyed individually or via a Play All option (72:00). The average episode length is around (2:47) and the quality of the animation is true to the game though a bit cuter, but not to the point of sacrificing the appeal of these characters. The shorts are very reminiscent of the shorts Warner Brothers would produce for Bugs Bunny in the 1960s or so or the classic Tom & Jerry cartoons produced by MGM. 

What I love about the cartoons is the characters remain true to their video game roots with the birds and the pigs exhibiting no wings, arms or legs. They just move about very much like they do in the game. All of the episodes feature either the birds and piggies together or just the birds or piggies in their own environment with misadventures on Piggy Island.

All of the classic bird characters are featured like the Blues, Chuck, Matilda, Red, Bomb and Terence. Featurettes introducing the characters are included among the extra value features and run at about four minutes and can be viewed individually or collectively. The same is true of the behind-the-scenes featurettes (8:27) covering the series development, script and design. A motion gallery of character sketches (1:17) allows viewers the opportunity to examine the conceptual drawings a bit more closely. A special holiday short entitled "Wreck The Halls" (2:47) wraps up the bonus material on the disc.

All of the extras are presented in 1080p/24fps with the exception of the making of material, which is presented in 1080p at 60hz. Within the packaging is a limited time only code for a free download of the full version of Angry Birds for Windows 7/Vista/XP with Service Pack 3. I was also able to run the game without a problem in the desktop mode on Windows 8.1 too.

Trailers for The Smurfs 2 (2:26), Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 (2:23) and The Swan Princess (2:07) precede the main interactive menu, which is well rendered and easy to navigate. Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish Language Subtitles are provided as options for the extra value features related directly to Angry Birds.

Angry Birds Toons: Season One - Volume One is available on Blu-ray Disc now at retailers on and offline courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

(C) Copyright 2013 By Mark Rivera

All Rights Reserved.

Elysium Blu-ray Disc Review

Among my favorite sci-fi action films of the summer was Neill Blomkamp's Elysium. While not the knockout surprise his first feature District 9 turned out to be, Elysium still solidified Blomkamp as a high concept genre filmmaker to watch. The premise has Matt Damon as one of the 99 percent disenfranchised living on a depleted and ruined Earth circa 2154. In this year Los Angeles is depicted as one giant shantytown of endless proportions while high above in a rotating Stanford Torus are the world's one percent living on Elysium. Life there resembles the world's most exclusive suburban neighborhoods. Life expectancy is as near to immortality as one may likely ever get in the mortal world with medbays able to cure cancer, regenerate limbs, even a person's face, with just a passing scanner and a blue light. The medical technology is so advanced it dwarfs even the sickbay aboard the Enterprise in Star Trek. Why the technology in some form is not available to the public despite their awareness of it is never explained because the film is more of a metaphor about class inequality. 

When Damon's character receives a lethal dose of radiation on the job, he agrees to take on a data heist in order to get an illegal trip to Elysium which is the only place he can be cured. After the heist goes bad. He becomes the target of ruthless sleeper agents lead by Sharlto Copley, who plays one of the most memorable over-the-top sociopaths ever to appear on the big screen. Jodi Foster plays the ruthless powerful head of security defending the status quo on Elysium. William Fichtner has a short, but somewhat exaggerated role as a corporate head who conspires with Foster's character to put her in charge of Elysium in return for a two hundred year contract on homeland security for the habitat. His behavior at times seems more robotic than the amazing robots of the film. Through a mix of practical and digital effects by WETA workshop, Elysium features some of the most flawlessly animated and original androids ever created for the big screen. Syd Mead was among the conceptual designers for the film too. Alice Braga, Wagner Moura, and Diego Luna also star in the film.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment presents Elysium with a spot on AVC encoded 1080p HD widescreen presentation taken from a 4K Master and all of the extra value features on this Blu-ray Disc are in full HD too. In addition a standard definition DVD copy of the film as well as a coupon for a limited time only redeemable Ultraviolet HD Digital Copy are within the Blue BD case. English DTS 7.1 High Definition Master Audio as well as 5.1 Surround Soundtracks are provided along with a French DTS-HD MA 5.1 Soundtrack and a Spanish 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is provided as listening options. English and French Language Descriptive Audio Service Tracks and English and French Language Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired are encoded onto the Blu-ray Disc along with English, French, and Spanish Language Subtitles.

Included on both the Blu-ray Disc and DVD are featurettes covering the cast and crew preparations for the film (13:17) and designing the space station for the film (11:43). Exclusive to the Blu-ray Disc are a multi-part documentary (45:49) about the making of the film, a featurette on the visual effects (10:34) and the technology of the film's futuristic world (10:12). An interactive exploration of the film's art and design (19:59) and an extended scene (1:45) are also available as Blu-ray Disc exclusives.

A perfect companion to owning this film on Blu-ray Disc is the sold separately Elysium: The Art Of The Film hardcover coffee table book published by Titan Books. I bought it for myself over the summer and think it is a must own for fans of the film who enjoy books on conceptual art as it applies to filmmaking.

Previews for Old Boy, Monuments Men, Captain Phillips, American Hustle, Helix: Season One and Bad Country wrap up the bonus features included on this Blu-ray Disc.

Elysium will debut on Blu-ray Disc on December 17, 2013 at retailers on and offline courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Please Note:

ELYSIUM visual effects supervisor, Peter Muyzer, will be participating in a Google Hangout on Wednesday 12/4 from 10 AM PST – 11AM PST, during which he will discuss the making of the film from a visual effects perspective.  The hangout will be streamed live from the Autodesk University 2013 conference in Las Vegas, “moderated” by Autodesk’s Maurice Patel.  Note: Autodesk is the software program used to create some of the visual effects in the film. 

The hangout can be found here on 12/4 at 10AM PST:http://area.autodesk.com/CAVE2013

 

Elysium Blu-ray Disc Review (C) Mark Rivera

All Rights Reserved.

A quick quote from The Final Arbiter.

"Emotions without intellect are like a wild animal uncaged."

From The Final Arbiter

By Mark Rivera.

(C) By Mark Rivera

All Rights Reserved.

Happy Thanksgiving!

May your bellies be full with no indigestion and may your hearts be full with the love of others near and far.