Multiplex - a comic strip about life at the movies
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Archive for July, 2013

 

Trailer Watch: Spike Lee’s Oldboy

FilmDistrict has released a Red Band trailer for Oldboy to Yahoo! Movies. Based on the manga by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya, the film, which was previously adapted by Chan Woon Park, is “a provocative, visceral thriller that follows the story of an advertising executive (Josh Brolin) who is abruptly kidnapped and held hostage for 20 years in solitary confinement. When he is inexplicably released, he embarks on an obsessive mission to discover who orchestrated his bizarre and torturous punishment only to find he is still trapped in a web of conspiracy and torment.”

The original film has a lot of its fans feeling like this re-adaptation is pointless, but I wasn’t in love with it, myself. There are a few small(?) differences that people who have seen the original will notice — perhaps from the manga, perhaps new to this film — I wouldn’t know. But between that and the suitably bleak tone, I think there’s a chance this could be worthwhile.

Elizabeth Olsen and Sharlto Copley co-star in the Spike Lee film (apparently he doesn’t make joints anymore?), from a screenplay by Mark Protosevich (The Cell). The film is out on October 25.

Trailer Watch: Snowpiercer international trailer

The Host and Mother director Bong Joon Ho’s English language debut, Snowpiercer, is out in South Korea in August, with a North American release… sometime after that, probably. Anyway, the trailer has hit the web courtesy the film’s official YouTube page.

Based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette, it is set in a post-apocalyptic future where…

an ice age has killed off nearly all life on the planet. The only survivors are the inhabitants of the ‘Snowpiercer,’ a massive train that travels around the planet and is powered by a perpetual-motion engine. Over time a class system evolves on the train, with the elites inhabiting the ‘front’ of the train and poor inhabiting the ‘back’ of the train. Tired of the poor conditions suffered by riders in the ‘back,’ a revolution occurs with the riders attempting to seize control of the engine which the elites in the ‘front’ consider ‘sacred.’

So, a little bit far-fetched, but sometimes movies have a way of transcending a goofy premise, you know?

The film stars Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Jamie Bell, Alison Pill, John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, and Ed Harris.

 

A few Multiplex iPhone app tips and tricks

Multiplex app iconAs I announced last Friday, Multiplex for iPhone and iPod touch is now available in the iOS App Store! Version 2.0 has been completely rebuilt with a great new interface, so for the 10% of Multiplex readers who visit the site on iOS devices, I highly encourage you to try out the app. I use it on my iPad mini, and while there is a laundry list of features we need to add to the app (including, obviously, an iPad-specific interface), I’m really proud of what we’ve built so far.

Version 2.0 is such a big upgrade over the previous version that I wanted to get it into your hands with relatively few new features beyond the interface. There are many more features to come — but I honestly think it’s already the best webcomic reader app I’ve seen. This totally custom experience is the reason I wanted to build an app just for Multiplex rather than see it shoehorned into some one-size-fits-none interface with a dozen other comics.

iPhone app jump menuWe’ve tried to make the app as intuitive as possible, as touch-based interfaces should be, but there are a few subtle features you may not know about. None of these are essential, of course, but

 Want to jump around the app a little more quickly? Long press (tap and hold) the Info button at the bottom left of the strip view to pull up an action sheet taking you to the strip’s current chapter or book page — or to the Home screen.

Want to view all your bookmarks a little more quickly? Sure, you can get to the Bookmarks menu from the Home screen, but you can also directly from the strip view by long pressing (tapping and holding) on the bookmark icon in the title bar.

Going on an archive dive? Hide the interface while reading strips by simply tapping on the image.

• Lastly, I wanted to acknowledge that there is one known issue with the new app so far. On very rare occasions, the Notes from the Manager for a strip may not load. We’re trying to get to the bottom of this, but when this happens, you can tap on the view three times to force it to reload the contents and that always fixes it.

Enjoy! And please remember to rate or review the app if you like it. (And if there’s anything you don’t love about it, please send us feedback!) Helping get it in on as many devices as possible justifies our continued development of the app.

 

Multiplex for iOS version 2.0 is here!

Multiplex app iconMultiplex for iPhone and iPod touch is now available in the iOS App Store! Version 2.0 is completely rebuilt with a great new interface! Dive into the archives, browse the Cast bios, and read the Notes from the Manager blog posts, all from the comfort of your iPhone or iPod touch!

If you love Multiplex and have an iOS device, please please please download the app and leave a review (ideally a positive one!) or head over to the Multiplex app page here at the website if you have any questions, comments, or feedback. Daniel Farrelly (a.k.a. the programmer) and I already have some exciting plans for version 2.1 and beyond, and your feedback is very important!

Thanks are due to our beta testing team: LynxAenslade, Jay Beane, Andy Edelheit, Scott Grandt, Jacob Hitze, Aaron Khoo, Kaylee LaMonde, Jay Malone, Adam Payne, Kevin Rubin, Melissa Savage, Alexandra Smith, Frank Sugino, Tom Spendlove, and Rob Wilson.

iPad Users: While the app is currently built for iPhone and iPod touch, it will run great on your iPad, too — strip images look crisp, even when the app is pixel-doubled. I use on my iPad mini, myself, and it’s my favorite way to re-read the strip. A universal app update is planned for a future release, however!

NEW IN VERSION 2.0: Completely rebuilt interface! Retina graphics! Support for 4″ displays on iPhone 5 and iPod touch (5th generation)! Multiple bookmarks! Book and Chapter cover images! Notes from the Manager blog posts! AS BEFORE, THE MULTIPLEX APP IS FREE AND COMPLETELY AD-FREE.

Download on the App Store