Man Who Stared at Goats Explains ‘Earth Army’

It seems too ludicrous to be real: a U.S. Army unit that sought to acquire and refine Jedi-like powers, and trained by attempting to kill goats through mind power alone. But the movie ‘The Men Who Stare at Goats’, starring George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey, is based on actual events and people.

One of those people is retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jim Channon, who was the brains behind the loopy 1st Earth Battalion.

From Sign On San Diego:

Channon, who is loosely portrayed by a Dudelike Bridges, embarked on a two-year government-funded fact-finding mission that included naked hot tub encounters and yoga retreats so he could write a military manual in 1978 to help Army “Jedi” soldiers reach a higher spiritual plane. He envisioned a more Zenlike approach to combat, with troops wearing ginseng-equipped uniforms, offering symbolic flowers, cradling baby lambs in hostile territory and greeting enemies with “sparkly eyes.”

“If the ideas were instituted and they worked, we would be a far better world,” Heslov says. “Do I believe it could happen? Probably not. But I’ve got to give the military credit.”

Channon now lives on an “eco-homestead” in Hawaii and describes himself as a “global elder” and “mystic landcrafter” still pursuing creative ways to bring world peace. In a video posted on his Web site, firstearthbattalion.org, he takes the movie’s humor with a grain of salt and asserts that his out-of-the-box thinking for his “mythical battalion” wasn’t absurd.

“If soldiers are telepathic during a firefight, that would be very useful,” Channon explains at one point. He ends the video with his trademark “Go Planet!”

The movie definitely takes liberties with the story – director Grant Heslov figures about 65% is lifted from Jon Ronson’s non-fiction book of the same name – but fear not, Jim Channon is here to tell you the real story. His website contains all kinds of information about the 1st Earth Battalion, and he explains some of it below:

Read more at Sign On San Diego.

Link [Sign On San Diego]

Crude: The Real Price of Oil

In just a few months, Chevron will likely be found liable for $27 billion in damages for its systematic contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon – but they’ve already said they won’t pay and have launched an aggressive PR effort to avoid accountability.

That’s where a documentary called CRUDE comes in. Coming to theaters this September, CRUDE chronicles the epic battle to hold Chevron accountable for this “Rainforest Chernobyl”. This film could play a major role in shoring up public support for the fight to force Chevron to clean up the mess it made in the Amazon.

Check out the trailer:

From CRUDEthemovie.com:

The inside story of the infamous “Amazon Chernobyl” case, Crude is a real-life high stakes legal drama, set against a backdrop of the environmental movement, global politics, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, the media, multinational corporate power, and rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures. Presenting a complex situation from multiple viewpoints, the film subverts the conventions of advocacy filmmaking, exploring a complicated situation from all angles while bringing an important story of environmental peril and human suffering into focus.

The landmark case takes place in the Amazon jungle of Ecuador, pitting 30,000 indigenous and colonial rainforest dwellers against the U.S. oil giant Chevron. The plaintiffs claim that Texaco – which merged with Chevron in 2001 – spent three decades systematically contaminating one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, poisoning the water, air and land. The plaintiffs allege that the pollution has created a “death zone” in an area the size of the Rhode Island, resulting in increased rates of cancer, leukemia, birth defects, and a multiplicity of other health ailments. They further allege that the oil operations in the region contributed to the destruction of indigenous peoples and irrevocably impacted their traditional way of life. Chevron vociferously fights the claims, charging that the case is a complete fabrication, perpetrated by “environmental con men” who are seeking to line their pockets with the company’s billions.

If you’re not already familiar with the details of what Chevron (formerly Texaco) did in the Ecuadorian Amazon, CRUDE will bring it to life in a way that will shock you and make you want to fight back.

The film opens in New York on 09/09/09 with screenings following shortly thereafter in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Check out more details at CRUDEthemovie.com.

Link [CRUDE]

Green Upgrader Takes on Monsanto ‘Facts’

The documentary ‘Food Inc.’ is taking the world by storm, unveiling the truth about industrial food production in America. Filmmaker Robert Kenner actually set out to tell the story from the points of view of both organic farmers and industrial food growers, but the big companies like Perdue, Tyson and of course Monsanto wouldn’t talk to him or let their production practices be filmed.

Ironically, Monsanto is now railing against the ‘biased, one-sided’ nature of the documentary with a list of supposed ‘facts’ on their website.

From Monsanto via Green Upgrader:

“Food, Inc. is a one-sided, biased film that the creators claim will “lift the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the American consumer.” Unfortunately, Food, Inc. is counter-productive to the serious dialogue surrounding the critical topic of our nation’s food supply.

“Throughout this film, Food, Inc.:

• Demonizes American farmers and the agriculture system responsible for feeding over 300 million people in the United States.
• Presents an unrealistic view of how to feed a growing nation while ignoring the practical demands of the American consumer and the fundamental needs of consumers around the world.
• Disregards the fact that multiple agriculture systems should – and do – coexist.  ”

GreenUpgrader takes issue with these claims:

“Food, Inc. demonizes American farmers.”  Not once in the movie do they vilify, demonize or wag their finger at a single farmer.  They interview a number of famers and illustrate how corperations like Monsanto, Perdue and Cargill have systematically victimized and bullied farmers large and small.  They go on to say “The film, Food. Inc, suggests the food supply is dominated by corporate farms.”  Also not true, the film suggests that corperations, like Monsanto dominate the food supply, in a large part becasue of the dominion they hold over family farms.

“Food, Inc. presents an unrealistic view of how to feed a growing nation.”  Monsanto would like everyone to believe that there is a shortage of food but that simply isn’t the case.  In fact we produce enough food to put it in our car’s gas tanks, have the most obese people in the world and be one of the largest agricultural exporters in the world.  Furthermore, sustainable agriculture does not mean every farm has to be a tiny backyard garden.  Large commercial farms can farm sustainably and efficiently.

Read the rest over at GreenUpgrader.

Food, Inc. is now playing in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Link [GreenUpgrader]

Coming Earth Day 2010: Disneynature’s ‘Oceans’

Disneynature’s incredible nature documentary ‘Earth’ just debuted on April 22nd, and they’ve already got another film ready to go for Earth Day 2010. A teaser trailer for ‘Oceans’ has been released, and by the looks of it, it will be just as popular as ‘Earth’, which has already made more than $100 million worldwide.

Official Plot Synopsis, via SlashFilm:

Nearly three-quarters of the earth’s surface is covered by oceans. French co-directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud have set out to capture the full expanse of these waters that have played such a crucial and constant role in the history and sustenance of man. The deep and abundant oceans are places of great mysteries and dangers that this film will dare to explore.

The teaser trailer itself definitely isn’t very revealing, acting more as a commercial for the Disneynature brand than for the film itself, but it does give us a peek at some of the amazing things captured in the sea by the Disneynature crew. Even if you’re not the type that just can’t get enough of nature documentaries, you gotta admit that it looks exciting.

Via [Ecorazzi]
Photo credit: AllMoviePhoto.com

Catch a Green Flick at a Solar Powered Movie Theater

Next time you’re heading out to see the latest eco flick (hey, there’s a really Oscar-worthy looking Val Kilmer movie due sometime this year!), you could see it in a solar-powered movie theater. At least, you can if you live in Livermore, California. Livermore Cinemas has installed an 18,000 square foot solar installation that will reportedly provide 35% of the theater’s energy needs, and cut its electric bill by 45%.

Alternative Consumer reports that the system will provide about 190,000 kilowatts of electricity over the course of a year, and that installation of the system isn’t expected to impact ticket prices.

But even if it did – would you pay extra? I think the willingness of consumers to spend an extra fifty cents or so per ticket would encourage more theater owners across the country to install their own renewable energy systems. I’d definitely go out of my way to patronize a movie theater that cares enough to install such an impressive solar array.

Link [Alternative Consumer]

Cartoon Caption Contest: Win a Disney ‘Earth’ Prize Pack!

EarthFirst.com and cartoonist Jerry King have another cartoon caption contest for you, and this time we’ve got a very special prize for the winner: a Disney ‘Earth’ prize pack! Leave your entry for a funny caption for this cartoon in the comments section below. We’ll pick our favorite, and the winner will receive a prize pack valued at $60 including a canvas tote, biodegradable tumbler, reusable grocery bag, and tree seedling.

You’ve got until midnight EST on Monday, April 20th to come up with something good! We’ll announce the winner on Earth Day. May the force be with you.

And don’t forget to check out the trailer for Disney’s nature flick ‘Earth’, premiering on Earth Day, April 22nd!

Disney’s Stunning Nature Film ‘Earth’: Trailer & Giveaway!

Nothing serves as better inspiration to protect the beauty of the earth than the earth itself, and though you may not be able to tour the globe to see its wonders in person, Disney’s new film ‘Earth’ may just be the next best thing. Directed by the same creative team behind the “Planet Earth” series, this epic adventure will be coming to a big screen near you on Earth Day 2009.

‘Earth’ is narrated by James Earl Jones and tells the story of three animal families – polar bears, African elephants and humpback whales – and their amazing journey across the planet, capturing the most intimate moments of our planet’s wildest and most elusive creatures. ‘Earth’ is the first film in the new Disneynature series, so we can look forward to more films like it in the future.

Check out the trailer below:

EarthFirst and Disney are also teaming up to offer our readers a chance to win an awesome ‘Earth’ prize pack, which includes a canvas tote, reusable grocery bag, biodegradable tumbler, a tree seedling and more. Stay tuned for our next cartoon caption contest for your chance to win!

Get more details about the film at the Disney Earth website. Don’t forget, ‘Earth’ debuts on April 22nd!

Link [Disney Earth]

Alberta Oil Sands Documentary ‘Downstream’ Now Viewable Online

If you haven’t already seen the controversial environmental documentary ‘Downstream’, by acclaimed filmmaker Leslie Iwerks, now’s your chance to view it in full online at Babelgum. The 2008 Oscar shortlisted film is hosted on “Our Earth”, Babelgum’s channel dedicated to nature and the environment.

About the short film:

With Canada (not Saudi Arabia) as the U.S.’s primary source of oil, the film relates how one courageous doctor fights for the lives of the aboriginal people residing downstream from the oil sands of Alberta, one of the most polluting and burgeoning oil operations in the world (over a million barrels of oil per day to the U.S.). The doctor spots a surprising increase in the rate of a rare type of cancer among the townspeople of Ft. Chipewyan, while the citizens have seen an increased amount of wildlife deformities in the river and ecosystem over the last 10 years.

Check out the trailer below:

A public screening of the film will be held by MP leader of the democratic party in Ottowa, Olivia Chow, in Toronto on April 14th – but the rest of us can now enjoy this critical look at just how destructive the Alberta oil sands really are in the comfort of our own living rooms.

Link [Babelgum]

Val Kilmer’s New Eco Flick: Horror in a Steam Room

Brace yourselves, kids, there’s another eco flick on the horizon starring none other than Val Kilmer.  The Steam Experiment tackles the subject of global warming in a rather, um, unusual way.

Ecorazzi explains:

Called The Steam Experiment, it features Kilmer playing a scientists that’s gone a bit nutty and wants the world to hear his theory on the destructive power of global warming. The only way he knows people will read it is if it’s the main headline in a major newspaper. To do this, (and giving life to metaphors on global warrming), he rigs a steam room to trap six, conveniently sexy people, and slowly raise in temperature. The longer his crazy theory and headline stay out of the newspaper, the longer the people cook and ultimately die.

Watch the trailer, below:

The premise is really kind of laughable, but I’ll reserve judgment until I actually see it. I mean, come on – it sounds like a PG version of The Saw, but in a steam room filled with attractive people and with a bloated Jim Morrison as the villain. Scary! It’ll surely make everyone realize how serious of a subject global warming really is!

And, if you just can’t get enough of Kilmer in environmentally-themed movies, he’s got another eco horror flick called The Thaw, which has something to do with defrosting wooly mammoths, coming out some time this year.

Link [Ecorazzi]

The Age of Stupid: Why Didn’t We Stop Global Warming?

Dire warnings are pouring in from the climate change conference in Copenhagen: global warming is accelerating far beyond even the worst predictions and threatening to trigger ‘irreversible shifts’ on the planet. Sea levels will rise twice as fast as previously thought. The Antarctic food web is already being altered by warming seas. And yet, despite all of this, there’s still a sizable chunk of the world population that believes we don’t need to act on global warming.

Decades from now, when the world is changed beyond repair and millions of people are suffering, won’t we be looking back and asking ourselves, why didn’t we act? A film called The Age of Stupid examines just such a scenario. Starring Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055 looking back at footage from 2008, the film asks that all-important question.

“We could have saved ourselves, but we didn’t. It’s amazing. What state of mind were we in, to face extinction and simply shrug it off?”

The film debuts in the UK today, March 15th, and will be screening at the San Francisco Film Festival in April. The U.S. will get to see it in theaters this September. We’ll let you know the exact date as soon as it’s confirmed.

Link [The Age of Stupid]

Environmentalism Flows Through the Lineup at the Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Festival itself might not be very green, but the lineup of films it’s showing this year sure is, with environmental themes showing up in at least 8 of them. The festival opened last Thursday and runs until the 25th, and is the scene of the world premieres of such anticipated films as ‘No Impact Man’ and ‘Earth Days’.  And, these 8 films are just the ones that were accepted – many more environmental documentaries were turned down.

From CNET:

“We turned down about 50 environmental docs this year, and some really good ones. We didn’t get anywhere near that many in the previous two years combined,” said David Courier, a programmer for the festival’s U.S. and world documentary competition. “We’ve had a history of showing terrific environmental docs, but this is the year for it, for sure…It’s absolutely a reflection of what’s on people’s minds.”

Check out the descriptions below, courtesy of the Sundance Film Festival website.

The Beekeepers

The Beekeepers is an experimental documentary film that explores Colony Collapse Disorder: due to the changing environment, bees all over the world are dying. With beekeeping threatened with extinction, Richard Robinson’s film charts the history of this ancient profession, searching for answers to its current plight while daring the documentary form to be as artful and mysterious as its subject.

Big River Man

Who is the greatest swimmer of all time? Michael Phelps? Mark Spitz? If gold medals are your barometer, then maybe, but I’d like to see either of them drink two bottles of wine a day and still swim the length of the Amazon river. This feat is attempted by Martin Strel, an endurance swimmer from Slovenia, who swims rivers—the Mississippi, the Danube, and the Yangtze to date—to highlight pollution in the world. In his fifties and rather overweight, his treacherous journey brings him face to face with many obstacles, including water predators, rapids, and toxic pollution.

The Cove

Flipper was one of the most beloved television characters of all time. But ironically, the fascination with dolphins that he caused created a tragic epidemic that has threatened their existence and become a multibillion dollar industry. The largest supplier of dolphins in the world is located in the picturesque town of Taijii, Japan. But the town has a dark, horrifying secret that it doesn’t want the rest of the world to know. There are guards patrolling the cove, where the dolphin capturing takes place, who prevent any photography. The only way to stop the evil acts of this company and the town that protects it is to expose them….and that’s exactly what the brave group of activists in The Cove intend to do.

Crude

Can 30,000 plaintiffs from five Indigenous Ecuadoran tribes find justice from Chevron, one of the world’s largest oil producers? Who is responsible for the unconscionable dumping of 18 billion gallons of toxic oil waste in the Ecuadoran Amazon, poisoning the most biodiverse place on the planet? Filmmaker Joe Berlinger’s latest documentary picks up the thread of the infamous “”Amazon Chernobyl”" case, a 13-year-old battle between communities nearly destroyed by oil drilling and development and one of the biggest companies on earth.

Dirt! The Movie

Possessing both a cosmic perspective that reaches into the vastness of time and space, and the kind of warm, earnest energy that inspires small revolutions inside human hearts, Dirt! The Movie offers an important and timely look at the vital relationship between those of us on Earth and something that is easy to take for granted—the soil upon which we tread. Inspired by William Bryant Logan’s acclaimed book Dirt, the Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, directors Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow employ a colorful combination of animation, vignettes, and personal accounts from farmers, physicists, church leaders, children, wine critics, anthropologists, and activists to learn about dirt—where it comes from, how we regard (or disregard) it, how it sustains us, the way it has become endangered, and what we can do about it.

Earth Days

Director Robert Stone concocts an inspiring and hopeful work in Earth Days, a feature documentary that recounts the history of the modern environmental movement from its beginnings nearly four decades ago. Environmental activism really began with the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, and precipitated an unexpected and galvanizing effect on the national psyche. Told through the eyes of nine very divergent witnesses, including a secretary of the interior, Stewart Udall, who actually cared about the environment; a biologist, Paul Ehrlich; a congressman, Pete McCloskey; and an astronaut, Rusty Schweickart, Earth Days is a visually stunning, globe-spanning chronicle of watershed events and consciousness-changing realizations that prompted a new awareness: the post–World War II American dream of a future world created by scientific progress, new technology, and economic expansion was rapidly changing into a nightmare.

The End of the Line

Sound the global alarm. Scientists predict that if we continue fishing at the current rate, the planet will run out of seafood by 2048 with catastrophic consequences. Based on the book by Charles Clover, The End of the Line explores the devastating effect that overfishing is having on fish stocks and the health of our oceans.

No Impact Man

GLOBAL WARMING! The headlines scream it; the thermometer confirms it; but few of us do much to address it. Author Colin Beavan and his family are pictures of liberal complacency—sophisticated, takeout-addicted New Yorkers who refuse to let moral qualms interfere with good old-fashioned American consumerism. Then Colin turns things upside down. For his next book, he announces he’s becoming No Impact Man, testing whether making zero environmental impact adversely affects happiness. The hitch is he needs his wife, Michelle—an espresso-guzzling, Prada-worshipping Business Week writer—and their toddler to join the experiment.
Link [Sundance Film Festival]

The Looming Deluge of Eco-Disaster Flicks

Since green is the new black, it’s no surprise that eco-themes are creeping into all aspects of life – including entertainment. Though we’ve yet to see a flood of environment-themed music a la Corey Feldman just yet, we’re definitely starting to notice the rising number of eco disaster flicks being made right now – and we’re not the only ones. Scott Brown of WIRED warns of the deluge of global warming- and environment-related flicks that are to come, wondering whether we’ll see a parade of camp or films with actual credibility.

From WIRED:

The dopiness of so-called ecotainment—environmentally virtuous entertainment—rises in direct proportion to its message-mongering. In this way, it’s no different from the Christian inspirational flick. To be sure, many classics prey upon our ecological anxieties—The Birds, Jaws, and Jurassic Park come to mind. But these highlight the indomitable and inscrutable brutality of nature, not the need for better stewardship of a beleaguered planet. They’re the children of Moby-Dick, not Silent Spring. Even in these jittery, post-Inconvenient Truth days of rising seas, killer storms, and T. Boone Pickens TV spots, blockbuster-scale ecotainment is still the poseur spawn of Towering Inferno-style disaster matinee and Silkwood-esque docudrama. The subject matter simply resists Hollywood idiocy: Environmental problems are complex and holistic, whereas mainstream movies thrive on conspicuous good/evil dichotomies that flatter our binary human minds. To oversimplify: Nature is Gore-ville; blockbusters are Bush country.

Brown points out recent films with eco themes or story lines: The Happening, Wall-E, Hellboy II and Quantum of Solace as well as some that have yet to debut, including The Thaw, Strays, a remake of Creature from the Black Lagoon and 2012.

We’ve also got a new Keanu Reeves vehicle to look forward to: an environmental-minded remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. You’ve probably seen the trailers, in which Keanu uses his vapid “acting” method to portray an alien who comes to earth to give a violent tough-love message about our planet-destroying ways.

Hey, more attention to all of these problems is definitely a good thing. Since entertainment seems to be the only way to get to many people these days, perhaps it’ll help raise awareness about the problems we’re facing, and the fact that they aren’t going to go away unless we do something about them.  So, bring ‘em on – and, as Brown says, “Hope that we’ll someday remake The Day After Tomorrow as a campy commentary on our catastrophic overabundance of fresh air and bluebirds.”

Link [WIRED]

EarthFirst.com Movie Review Funtime: Wall-E’s Green Message Is Wrapped Up In a Great Flick

You might have been waiting to see Hancock or Wanted or some other action flick with exposed and then blown-up flesh, but you should take your cue from the preschool set and go see Wall-E.

Wall-E is the latest film from the folks at Pixar, those that brought you Toy Story and Nemo and Monsters, Inc. Pixar has certainly earned their reputation for smart stories and innovative animation. But WALL-E is something else altogether.

In many ways Wall-E is a small movie love story that breezes through its 103 minutes. That the lovers in this story are robots limits their range of motion and emotion somewhat, and it eliminates the need for backstory. There is only a little change in these characters – when the fembot protagonist comes around. We aren’t waiting for Wall-E to turn from playbot to settled down housebot. It’s just sweet.

But what makes Wall-E an Official EarthFirst Movie Selection is the subtle and not-so-subtle messaging that turns this kiddie film into a powerful critique of what’s wrong with America.

The core plot of Wall-E is that a giant corporation sold us so much stuff that we littered the Earth to the point where it became uninhabitable. All the people of Earth then boarded ships with the plan being that the big company would clean up while they were away. The people would then return to a nice fresh smelling Earth. In the film we come in 700 years later, while the people are still living on their space ships. So in the most fundamental way this is a film about how consumerism run amok will inevitably destroy the planet – a very EarthFirst idea.

The deeper messages are, however, more interesting. The giant corporation is called Buy N’ Large – or BNL for short. They get so big that the CEO of the company becomes the President. They are the government. Sound familiar?

Pixar has gone that extra mile with marketing and set up a BNL website so you can get an idea of how big this company got and how it moved into control of government and news. Check it out at http://www.buynlarge.com

When all of your needs are met, the next step is “convenience.” Convenience means having everything packaged to such a degree that you don’t have to work. Or walk. Or use a fork. In the dystopia of the BNL spaceship, all food is served in a cup that looks a lot like a 7-Eleven Big Gulp. People ride on levitating platforms and have a screen affixed 24/7 in front of their eyes. They have grown so obese they can barely walk. They literally don’t see what’s right in front of them. Sound familiar?

The most subversive idea in the movie is that all of the abundance has made the people stupid and allowed their so-called leaders to control them. Deep down they retain their values and have a pioneering spirit. They are not bad people. But with constant media entertainment provided by the giant corporation, they failed to notice the erosion of what they valued most in the world – their world. They gave up community and hard work and a meaningful life for video games and big gulps. Sound familiar?

As Frank Rich wrote in the New York Times in lamenting the current political discourse, “While the real-life grown-ups on TV were again rebooting Vietnam, the kids at “Wall-E” were in deep contemplation of a world in peril — and of the future that is theirs to make what they will of it. Compare any 10 minutes of the movie with 10 minutes of any cable-news channel, and you’ll soon be asking: Exactly who are the adults in our country and who are the cartoon characters?

I think we know the answer to that.

Michael Hoffman is President of EarthFirst.com and CEO of See3 Communications.

Green Thriller ‘Burn Up’ Too Hot for TV, or So Bad Nobody Wants it?

British-Canadian co-production Burn Up has alternately had gushing reviews in the British press and giggles here in America at the overly dramatic trailer. Treehugger wonders whether the plot is just too controversial for American TV, while Ecorazzi noted that the tone of the voiceover and music might be a signal of B-movie status.

From Treehugger:

Some conspiracy theorists suggest that “Burn Up” is only available in Canada or Britain because the content is too controversial and anti-big oil, and too hot for the American networks to touch; Others point out that it is a British-Canadian co-production and therefore it is logical that Canadians get to see it first. Conspiracy or not, this might have been pitched as Al Gore meets John Grisham, with Rupert Penry-Jones and Neve Campbell smack in the middle of a pileup of Bradley Whitford (of West Wing fame) as a lobbyist, oil executives, environmental activists and politicians stabbing each other in the back or blowing each other up. Rupert Penry-Jones is terrific as the head of Arrow Oil, who quickly finds out that things are not quite what they seem. Kate Taylor at the Globe and Mail writes “This new thriller is hot, hot, hot!” ::Globe and Mail More tomorrow after Part II.

Watch the trailer, below, and form your own opinion. “Friends become enemies in a deadly game of greed and conspiracy!” Dun dun dun!

Link [Treehugger] + [Ecorazzi] + [Canada.com] + [The Globe and Mail]

Fraggles and Smurfs Big-Screen Movies in the Works

Fraggle Rock and The Smurfs are hitting the big screen! Not that we aren’t grateful for these two gems (supposing the studios responsible for the movies don’t mess them up too bad) but wow, is Hollywood totally out of fresh ideas? The film industry is turning into a recycling factory, and not the good kind.

The new Fraggle Rock and Smurfs films will bring the characters to a whole new generation of kids, and Ecorazzi breaks down the ‘green’ themes found in both beloved television shows:

The Smurfs live in mushrooms. Some innovative students in the real world have recently created home insulation made from Oyster mushrooms. We think we know where their inspiration came from…

There’s a smurf called Nat Smurf that can talk to animals and “loves all things to do with nature and the environment.”

Gargamel and his cat Azrael hates the Smurfs and everything about them — which we assume includes their love for eco-friendly insulation, vegetarian lifestyle, and forest-loving ways.

According to Wikipedia, Fraggles explore “complex issues of prejudice, spirituality, personal identity, environment, and social conflict.” TOTAL. HIPPIES.

Fraggles live in a natural system of caves and are complete vegans; with a culinary love for radishes.

The Trash Heap, also know as The Oracle (try to keep up), appears to be a giant compost pile. Rockin’!

The Smurfs already sounds like it could go either way in terms of quality – it’s been reported that it will be a mix of live action and CGI, a la Alvin and the Chipmunks, and you even didn’t need to see that movie to be able to tell how bad it was. But, hey, if they’re going to have live action, they could give Amy Winehouse a job – she already looks like Gargamel. Just take off the hive and put her in some red shoes.

Link [Ecorazzi]
Photo credit: Dlisted

Val Kilmer Starring in Movie about Global Warming Parasite

Global warming offers plenty of nightmare scenarios ripe for Hollywood interpretation, and one of the new ones coming up stars Val Kilmer and focuses on a parasite inside a thawing Wooly Mammoth. Sounds awesome.

Ecorazzi has it:

Well, apparently, a group of student-scientists stumble upon a thawing Woolly Mammoth in a melting ice cap. Unfortunately, the Mammoth is packing a deadly parasite that had laid dormant (and hungry we might add) for thousands of years. One-by-one, everyone becomes infected, all hell breaks loose, and well, you get the picture. According to the synopsis, “soon the survivors are left with only one choice – to make the ultimate sacrifice and burn everything to the ground… including themselves.” Toasty.

Dread Central has the scoop from director Mark A. Lewis:

”I don’t consider it my job to tell people about how or why we’re fucking up the world.” Lewis continues, ”The older I get, the more vulnerable I see people are (as individuals and communities). Global warming is a very scary part of our place in time on this revolving rock in the middle of God knows where. I consider it my job to translate, into a story, the emotions (in particular the fear) I’m experiencing around an issue that is extremely interesting to me. Hopefully people will find the result enjoyable, relatable, and perhaps even cathartic.”

Interesting! The Thaw hasn’t yet started production, but we’ll let you know when a release date is announced.

Link [Ecorazzi] + [Dread Central]