Pop Culture Roundup 46 / The Superslice

A human is composed of 46 chromosomes. The forty-sixth edition of Pop Culture Roundup is dedicated to your geek and fangirl/fanboy DNA. Here it goes…

We stumbled upon this cool video tour at the header. Director Quentin Tarantino has filmed most of his work in his hometown of Los Angeles, California. We are referring to such locales as the warehouse and Pat and Lorraine’s Coffee Shop (1720 Eagle Rock Boulevard) in Reservoir Dogs, to the River Glen Motel (2934 Riverside Drive) and the Fosters Freeze (2760 Fletcher Drive) in Pulp Fiction, to the (alleged Detroit) movie theater and Safari Inn (1911 West Olive Avenue) in True Romance (I was a 5 minute walk from the Vista Theater (4473 Sunset Boulevard) when I lived in Los Feliz, back in the day). The City of Angels is filled with famous locations from Quentin Tarantino films. Follow film critic Devin Faraci, from Bad Ass Digest and CineFix, as he takes you on a journey to five QT film locations.

Wired has the Google Maps of Django Unchained’s Plantation.

While we’re on the QT tip, you need to check out 88 Madness, an 8-bit online web browser game created by Juan David Gómez and flavourmachine. The 8-bit Tarantino homage was created using the Processing.js HTML5 open programming language. Try your best at slashing your way through the Crazy 88. (via Laughing Squid)

“I refuse your question. I’m not your slave and you’re not my master. You can’t make me dance to your tune. I’m not a monkey.” Don’t ask QT tired and repetitive questions he’s already answered. He will shut your butt down! (forward to the 4:20 mark for some awkward and slightly heated moment in this interview)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the Oscar nominations this morning. There were several surprising snubs, in our humble opinion. The Master and Skyfall were missing in the Best Picture category. Ben Affleck, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kathryn Bigelow and Quentin Tarantino were questionably absent on the Best Director list. Leonardo DiCaprio turned in a stunning performance and was left out as a Best Supporting Actor nominee. We will say, regardless of the snubs, 2012 was a stellar year compared to how dismal the offerings were in 2011.

Check out the list or watch the actual announcement broadcast with Oscars Host Seth McFarlane and actress Emma Stone below.

Best Picture

Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Director

Michael Haneke, Amour
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Best Supporting Actor

Alan Arkin, Argo
Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Adapted Screenplay

Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Tony Kushner, Lincoln
David Magee, Life of Pi
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Chris Terrio, Argo

Best Original Screenplay

Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom
Mark Boal, Zero Dark Thirty
John Gatins, Flight
Michael Hanake, Amour
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

TRAILERS, TEASERS and FEATURETTES

Couple links about film before we get into the goodies.

The New York Times: Action! Kathryn Bigelow Makes Movies That Go for the Gut by Manohla Dargis
The New York Times: Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan in Your Movie by Stephen Rodrick
io9: How to Cope With All The Stages of Fan Letdown by Charlie Jane Anders
Bobby Bottleservice’s top 10 most awesomeist moviez of 2012 by Comedian Nick Kroll

Gangster Squad (Extended Trailer) – This opened today! Critics hate it, viewers love it.

Pacific Rim (Official CES Trailer) – This extended trailer was shown at the (currently taking place) CES hosted by Qualcomm (hit the links for some snide chuckle-inducing recaps of Qualcomm’s wildly out-of-touch keynote). There’s even the not-so-subtle snapdragon product placement at the 1:03 mark in the Pacific Rim trailer.

Trance (Official Trailer) – Danny Boyle‘s next film with James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson and Vincent Cassel. An art auctioneer who has become mixed up with a group of criminals partners with a hypnotherapist in order to recover a lost painting.

42 (Official Trailer #2 and Featurette) – The Jackie Robinson biopic with Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (Official Movie Trailer) – The latest trailer; we’re still looking forward to this one even with the push of the release date to 2013.

Only God Forgives (Teaser Clip) – A short teaser for Nicolas Winding Refn‘s upcoming film starring Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas and Vithaya Pansringarm.

The Call (Official Trailer) – In order to save a young girl’s life, an emergency operator must confront a killer from her past. Directed by Brad Anderson and starring Abigail Breslin, Halle Berry and Morris Chestnut.

Möbius (International Trailer #1) – A film with Jean Dujardin and Tim Roth. An FSB officer (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation) falls in love with his agent, an American woman who works as a trader in a Russian bank.

Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (Official Trailer) – With Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, iconic filmmaker Werner Herzog embarks on another unforgettable journey into the heart of a remote natural environment. Deep in the Siberian wilderness, leagues away from civilization, a mere 300 people inhabit the village of Bakhtia on the river Yenisei. This outpost can only be reached in two ways: by boat and helicopter. There is no running water, no medical aid or even a single telephone. The locals, whose daily routines have hardly changed over the centuries, live self-reliantly according to their cultural values and traditions. With insightful narration by Herzog, Happy People follows a few veteran Siberian trappers through the Taiga’s four seasons to tell the incredible story of a society untouched by modernity. From Music Box Films. In theaters January 2013.

Pixar‘s The Blue Umbrella (Film Clip) – Pixar’s newest short film, The Blue Umbrella, is due out in June. Amidst the rain in a singing city, two umbrellas – one blue, one not – fall eternally in love.

The Dark Knight Rises (Game Day Destruction – Behind-the-Scenes)

Behind the Magic: The Visual Effects of The Avengers – We are proud to present this video which showcases some of ILM‘s Oscar nominated effects work for the 2012 hit film, Marvel’s The Avengers. This reel represents a small fraction of the work created by over 200 ILM artists, scientists, and engineers backed up by a world class production team. The stop motion animations which open and close the reel were done the old fashioned way – by hand, one frame at a time. They were crafted by ILM’s stop motion guru, Erik Dillinger specifically for this reel.

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III – Jason Schwartzman as Kirby Star

TELEROUNDUP

GQ: TV Critic Alan Sepinwall on the Golden Age of Covering Television
IGN: The Walking Dead: Check out the New Poster for the Second Half of Season 3
The Hollywood Reporter: Why ‘The Walking Dead’ Killed Off Its Latest Showrunner
See Sons of Anarchy (We’re big fans!) showrunner and loudmouth Kurt Sutter‘s videoblog responses concerning Robert Kirkman, his buddy/colleague Glen Mazzara, and AMC, Part One and Part Two)
Purchase: The Concept Art of the Walking Dead by John Watkiss

Game Of Thrones Season 3: Three-Eyed Raven Tease

Game of Thrones Season 2: Opening Credits: Audio Commentary – This made us unbelievably happy. The Stark Children, Maisie Williams (Arya), Sophie Turner (Sansa), and Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran), freestyle and beatbox over the theme song. I dig how Sansa says, “Dragonstone,” like she’s an East London grime rapper…

Community Season 4 Sneak Peek: The Hunger Deans

The Following (First Look Promo) – Let’s play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and a Serial Killer. The series premieres January 21, 9/8c, on Mondays.

A&E’s Bates Motel (Promos: Breath, Dance Party, Hand) – Bates Motel premieres on A&E, Monday, March 18th at 10pm.

All 13-episodes of Netflix Original Series Hemlock Grove, from director Eli Roth, arrive exclusively on Netflix on April 19. The Monster Is Within.

So Jimmy Kimmel and his show have been kicking ass at their new time slot of 11:35pm. He’s finally beating Leno and Letterman in key demographics. Here’s some recent stuff from the show.