QuickTime Quick Picks - Metropolis Restored, Pixar Exec Produces English Version Of All-Time #2 Japan Movie

by , 2:30 PM EDT, August 20th, 2002

Every week, Vern Seward takes a look at Apple's latest offerings at the QuickTime Trailer site, letting your know what's new.

In 1927 a director named Fritz Lang created a motion picture that was so far ahead of its time that it is considered by many to be the de facto standard against which every science fiction movie since must be judged. Metropolis offered a dark vision of the future at a time in which many people had worries about that future. Lang's vision was both beautiful and disturbing, and in many ways is still relevant today. The visual effects in Metropolis rival those in today's cinema and leave a lasting impression.

Kino International has digitally restored Metropolis including the original movie score. Fans of the original movie will not want to miss this. Stop by the movie site for more information on this reconstruction of an all-time classic film, and stop by Apple's QuickTime movie trailer site for a look at the trailer.

Speaking of classics, this next movie is bound to be one. Judging from the trailer, it is an amazing piece of work. Spirited Away is a film directed and written by famed animator Hayo Miyazaki, and is to be distributed here in the US by Buena Vista. Pixar executive vice president, and chief creative honcho, John Lasseter, is the executive producer of the English version of the movie, which happens to be the all-time #2 movie in Japan. You must take a look at this trailer. The animation is remarkable and the English dubbing is excellent. Spirited Away look to be one of those moves that will make you wish more were made like it. Get more information on Spirited Away at the official movie site, while Apple is currently the exclusive distributor of the trailer.

Other movies of interest:

• Little Secrets: This is a cute kid's growing-up movie to which many parents won't object to taking their young ones. The only familiar star in the movie is Vivica Fox, and she doesn't even appear in the trailers, but keep an eye on the young lead actress, Evan Rachel Wood, we think she has a bright future in films.
• Ghost Ship: It's 'The Shining' on the high seas. Julianna Margulies, Gabriel Byrne, and Isaiah Washington find a big empty boat, only it ain't empty. Scared yet? This actually might hold a scare or two hidden in its rusting innards.
• Shanghai Night: The pair that brought you Shanghai Noon, Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson, team up to reprise their roles, but this time in merry ol' England. Shanghai Noon had Jackie Chan fighting Asians dressed up to look like very bad American Indians with very heavy war paint. Let's hope in Shanghai Nights he can find some more interesting adversaries while touring London. Maybe rouge members of Parliament whose true ethnic backgounds are hidden by strategically keeping those powered wigs in there faces as they fight Chan. Hey, it could work!
• The Ring: Halloween must be getting close because the fright films are starting to pop up like toad stools after a rain. The Ring centers on a weird video tape that causes whomever happens to watch it to die. If you see The Ring you're toast.
• The Tuxedo: Anyone remember that Disney remake of the classic TV show, My Favorite Martian? Yeah, us neither. Anyway, in that movie Christopher Lloyd played the Martian and he had a space suit that had a mind of its own. In The Tuxedo, Jackie Chan is an unwitting spy who dons what must be the cousin to the Martian suit. We'll reserve judgement on this one.

OK, that's it for now. Check out Apple's QuickTime Trailer site for more cool QuickTime stuff.

Apple QuickTime Movie Trailers