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David Bloom is a Deadline contributor. All six major Hollywood studios and a raft of major tech firms have joined to solve compatibility and other issues with next-gen “cloud computing” tools they are increasingly using to create, collaborate on, distribute, protect and archive movies and other media. Dell, EMC, Rackspace and EVault are among the big tech firms taking part. The Entertainment Technology Center at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts will manage the joint standard-setting effort, called “Production in the Cloud.” Ex-Sony Pictures tech executive Ken Williams, now the ETC’s executive director and CEO, said the studios are trying to avoid another round of format wars, such as those that dogged Hollywood with Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD or VHS versus Betamax. Such format wars bring “uncertainty, inefficiency, and confusion to the marketplace, and (slow) product adoption and business growth for all players,” Williams said. “This effort will work to avoid those pitfalls in the evolution of production.” The same cloud-computing revolution that has powered the rise of consumer online services such as Google Apps, Dropbox and Spotify is also transforming high-end services used in Hollywood such as editing video, sharing it with post-production and visual-effects companies and distributing the finished products to various outlets. The initiative also will develop standard formats for archiving films and providing security among other core functions.

Las Vegas is one of those distinctly American creations: it was designed and built by a gangster, in the middle of a deathly desert, as a utopian celebration for bad behavior, gilded excessiveness, criminal activity and off-color kitsch. It's a place where you can stay in intricately themed hotel/casinos based upon the pyramids of Egypt, Arthurian castles, New York City, Paris, Amazonian rain forests, Roman coliseums and Robert Louis Stevenson's novel "Treasure Island," but you'd be hard-pressed to find a museum or library to attend. And yet there's something hypnotically attractive about this place – we keep returning to it, again and again, both in real life and in the movies. This week's "Hangover, Part III" climaxes (as it were) in Vegas, high atop Caesar's Palace, and in keeping with this we decided to celebrate the bad taste and blinding neon lights of Vegas by showcasing ten of the very best Las Vegas movies.  "Ocean's 11" (Lewis Milestone, 1960) It's a swinging good...

Going to a press conference is a weird experience. Members of the press sit in a room at some swanky hotel while the stars of a movie sit in the front and answer questions thrown out at them. But you gotta do what you gotta do when you're an Entertainment Editor, so I agreed to head to Columbus Circle, NYC, on a weekend, to ask some qs to Amanda Seyfried, Jason Sudeikis, Aziz Ansari and more of the voice cast of Epic. And, let me tell ya, it was an all-around epic time. Here's what transpired... Photos: Beyonce and More Pop Stars Who Have Voiced Animated Characters I arrive to the press conference a few minutes early and take my seat, as other reporters are just sitting, eating some fruit, waiting around for all the action to happen. The studio people tell us the cast is running late because the red carpet premiere beforehand went long, but I was fine. Just taking in the sights and awaiting the celebs to come out. A usual Saturday activity. Right before the cast comes into the press conference room, I see a few of the actors outside by the kraft services table. Aziz was scoping out the breakfast options, as one would. Amanda was just standing there looking gorgeous. Colin Farrell was too. Then, they come in. Colin, Jason, Amanda, Aziz, Chris O'Dowd and the director, Chris Wedge, come out and take their seats in the front of the room as us regular folk look at them in awe. Then, the questions start a flowin'. Someone asks Chris O'Dowd (from Bridesmaids and Girls) if he's happy finally doing a more family-friendly movie, to which he sarcastically replies, "Normally I hate kids." Touche. He was joking, FYI. OK! Exclusive: Behind the Scenes at The Croods Press Conference Someone then asked how the actors prepared for their voice-over work, to which Aziz cleverly said, "I didn't even know the movie was animated.  I knew I was playing a slug, so I was confused...." His character, Mub, is the comedic relief of the whole movie. Aziz was the comedic relief of the day. Another reporter asked if any of the cast members have ever had an old, raggedy pet (since there's a blind, three-legged dog, Ozzie, in the film), to which Amanda replied, "I have a one-eyed deaf  cat." We went on for about 3 minutes talking about her pet Fran, and it was magical. Photos: Best Pics from The Hangover 3 Premiere Then Chris, being the hilarious person that he is, said "I have a one-eyed Tiger snake. Named Tiny Tim." Um, Chris, this is a children's movie. Let's keep it PG, please. Nonetheless, the room clearly cracked up at his on-the-fly comment. I was LOLing too. All was great, until one reporter (I don't know her name or her outlet but she was British and really pretty) asked a super personal question, although we always go into these things being told not to. She asked Amanda if she's ever fallen for a boy who was unattainable like she did in the movie (her and Josh Hutcherson's character have a thing). Dude! Really?! Amanda played it off well, though, saying that she's fallen in love with fairytale and ideas of certain men. Well-played, Amanda. Well. Played. Watch: Beyonce Talks About Her Role in Epic Then things go off on random topics, talking about bad guys vs good guys in movies, Fast and Furious 6 (thanks for that, Aziz), and why this film is amazing because it's going to get kids out in the backyards exploring nature. The last question was directed at the comedians of the bunch (Jason, Aziz and Chris), and Chris said that the film was about 90 percent scripted, even though those three dudes are definitely used to doing some improv. Guess things are different when you're in a voice booth though, right? Then the press conference ended after approximately 21 minutes, and Chris responded with "That's it?" Yeah, dude. I would've wanted to stay longer too. And hang out with you and talk about Lena Dunham and Kristen Wiig. But there's always next time for that. Everyone dispersed at this point, including the actors. I was this close to going up to Aziz and telling him he's funny since I was right next to him on the way out, but I didn't. I mean, how many times a day does he get THAT, you know? Meanwhile though, British girl who asked that awkward personal question to Amanda had the nerve to ask Colin Farrell to take a pic with her. Maybe I'm just bitter that she got one and I didn't? That she's aggressive and I'm not? Again, that will be saved for part 2. Photos: Celeb Couples Who Broke Up When Their Movies Came Out Epic comes out Friday, May 24! Are you going to see the film? Which of the voice actors in it is your favorite? Who's funnier - Aziz or Chris? Tweet us @OKMagazine, and stay tuned for our full review of Epic coming Friday on OKMagazine.com! Photo credit:  20th Century Fox

This weekend the sixth "Fast and Furious" installment, "Fast and Furious 6" (or "Furious 6" if you want to be really cool), races into theaters nationwide. This new film sees much of the cast from the original movies returning, with some notable additions (like Gina Carano from "Haywire") and an even bigger scale – one action sequence involves a tank, the other a runaway plane. And a little while back, we got to chat with director Justin Lin, who has shepherded the franchise since the third movie, "Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," transitioning it from a silly "Point Break" rip-off to one of the most consistently entertaining action franchises around. Lin told us how he has been mapping out the franchise since the beginning, what thoughts he has for James Wan (who will direct the next installment) and how Robert Altman was a big inspiration on this movie (yes really). Did you ever think, in your wildest dreams, that you were going to shepherd the franchise on after directing part...