The Elysium Trailer That Makes You Wish It Was Coming Out This Weekend

This is the second trailer for Neill Blomkamp’s sci-fi epic Elysium. The first trailer for the film was perfectly fine, but the second trailer that debuted this week is definitely ‘next level, go see this opening day’ material. Along with revealing more about the story itself, the trailer sheds some light on Matt Damon’s character Max and his motivation to get outfitted in the world’s most uncomfortable looking super suit so that he can raid Jodie Foster’s off world summer home to save himself and for those with tearjearking sensibilities, a terminally ill little girl.

Sharlto Copley’s aptly named villain Kruger is fleshed out a bit too, as he seems to be some some sort of attack dog for Jodie Foster, dead set on keeping the riffraff out of her space Hamptons setup. Kruger seems to have inherited a comparable super suit (under closer inspection, Kruger may even be more machine than man) and cool gadgets to go along with it, but if I were placing bets on who is going to win the Copley v Damon brawl, I’d put my money on Jason Bourne every time.

A Visit To Powell’s Books In Portland

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I finally managed to make it to the infamous Powell’s in Portland, known as the largest independent bookstore in the world, the mecca of books in the Pacific Northwest and by far one of the coolest bookstores I have visited. The Portland staple even has an entire floor dedicated to science fiction and fantasy (seen below after the jump).

This is a welcome change from the standard Barnes & Noble template that relegates the two genres to sections usually shoved onto the second floor next to the bathrooms and freight elevator. An area, much like a low tide cave, that only has a small window of accessibility in a given day when enough introverted middle schoolers reading manga on the floor clear out and open passage through the narrow connecting aisle. Hasn’t the success of Game of Thrones at least bought speculative fiction some first floor real estate? Or at least placement that doesn’t require you to harass the one Barnes & Noble employee you can actually find (which is usually a barista that only returns blank stares) just to get a ballpark location?

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‘The Doors of Stone’ Update

89703_1243332362_large1This is almost a non-update on the release date for Patrick Rothfuss’ The Doors of Stone, but in the latest interview conducted with the author by Triangulation, Rothfuss discusses the pressure that deadlines place on writers and why it has kept him from penciling in a date. He especially highlights the pressure he felt when he started working on the second book and shifted from what he calls a story hobbyist to a professional writer. For this reason, Rothfuss says that he is hesitant to set a release date for The Doors of Stone and can only say that it is forthcoming and will be good. However, when asked if 2014 or 2015 was the more likely release year, 2014 seemed to win out in his mind (If you’re interested, discussion about the release takes place around the 12:00 and 68:00 minute marks in the interview).

While this sort of update certainly won’t satiate the rabid fans, if anything, it does remind them that he is hard at work on the story and doesn’t want to rush things and have the trilogy suffer as a result. So, all we can do for now is wait patiently and wish him the best of luck on the endeavor. He will certainly have his hands full this year with revisions on the third Kingkiller Chronicle book, his Worldbuilders charity and story development on the new game Torment: Tides of Numenera.

RIP Roger Ebert

SISKEL EBERTIt was really sad to hear that Roger Ebert passed away last week. I was always a big fan of his reviews and his thoughts on cinema as a whole. I especially loved his Great Movies books, which were thoroughly enjoyable essays on some of his favorite movies. Each entry was a portal into seeing just what Ebert loved about movies and why he did what he did for a living. I think some critics, curbed by their only cynicism, only exist to slam and negatively dissect material. But, Ebert, he truly knew how to celebrate movies he liked, whether it be in his Sun Times column or on some of the select DVD commentaries he did (Dark City was an especially good one). His presence will certainly be missed. RIP, Roger.

Links:

- Fans and Friends Gather At The Chicago Theater To Remember Roger Ebert (suntimes)

- Ebert on Death (salon)

- Ebert Reviews Your Favorite Movies (ign)

- What Did Roger Ebert Think of Your Favorite Movies? (ign)

- Ebert’s ‘Great Movies’ Review Archive (rogerebert)

- Movies That Roger Ebert Really Hated (canoe)

- Ebert Reviews Dark City (rogerebert)