October 2, 2008
While all you PC users out there might be dancing in glee about Netflix’s new deal that will allow streaming of over a thousand Starz movies, we Mac kids have our own celebration. Netflix is promising an Instant Watch solution for Macs by the end of this year.
From their blog:
[blahblahblah... new Starz movies are awesome... streaming NBC shows... look at what you're missing, Mac people!] And, for all of you Mac users (of which I am one) we’ve been busy working getting a solution that will allow you to watch instantly on your Mac. So hang in there – we’ll have something for you by the end of the year.
Looks like I’ll be holding onto my membership a little longer! I definitely miss the Instant Watching I was doing back in MA when I had access to my parents’ PC. It’ll be nice not to have to run out to the video store or shell out $4 to iTunes every time I want to watch a movie. Plus the indie selection is as awesome as always, so as a film major I can excuse my excessive movie-binging as academic study.
Of course, we all know that I’ll be watching more Belushi than Fellini.
October 1, 2008
With all the news about Spiderman 4 flying around, I thought I’d share this interesting post from “Comics Should Be Good!”
My opinion allies with commenter “Kane” on the blog: He totally hit that.
September 29, 2008
(NOTE: This post could have been named: “Are Ridley Scott’s Casting Choices Thought-Provoking or Just Plain Lazy?”)
Looks like Russell Crowe will be playing both Robin Hood and his nemesis the Sheriff of Nottingham in Ridley Scott’s upcoming period flick. This will either be incredibly interesting or incredibly gimmicky.
SOME PREDICTIONS:
I’m sure there will be many references to the “duality” of the human conscious in press interviews.
There will be a shot where one of the two Crowe characters sees the other in a mirror.
Lots of unnecessary special effects split screens will be used just because they can.
A small group of fanboys will say this is the best film made since “The Dark Knight.”
Elderly people will hate it as much as they did that “awful Batman movie with the cute young man from that movie with the jousting.”
An alien will pop out of somebody’s stomach.
September 20, 2008
Finally, Bill Hader will take the spotlight as the voice of some of the leads in the upcoming 3D animated film, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. This article from Cinematical goes more into detail.
My thoughts? What a perfect project for the camelion Hader is. Don’t believe me? Check out the commentary on Superbad in which Judd Apatow awkwardly forces him to impersonate the likes of Vincent Price and Al Pacino. In general, I would love to see Hader star in more flicks. I think he shows potential as more than the sidekick and could bring some sophisticated (or at least funny) comedy to the big screen in a big way.
This is definitely at the top of my to-see list. It also helps that Andy Sandberg is attached. I don’t care if he’s frat boy funny. He’s still funny.
September 6, 2008
Why was I not informed earlier that Del Torro was thinking of adapting Vonnegut’s classic novel, Slaughterhouse Five?
This combined with the Zack and Miri trailer and the Palahniuk/DC announcement, officially marks the best day of my life (at least in terms of pop culture.)
Here’s an excerpt, curtesy of AICN, of what Del Torro has to say about the film:
When I read the book and had the fortune of seeing the movie not far apart, I enjoyed both. But I thought that the way Vonnegut plays with and juxtaposes time was perhaps too edgy to be tackled on film at that time. The key for me was how in the book Billy Pilgrim becomes `unstuck’ in time. This allows for storytelling that can be eminently pure cinema, not so linear, where you can jump back from one time period to another, and present a reality where these juxtaposed time periods meld together. It can be less traditional and more adventurous, and presented a bit more boldly.
September 6, 2008
I forgive the copy editors over at /Film for their headline’s gross mispelling of the name of the only living author I go absolutely fangirl over, Chuck Palahniuk, because they announced some very exciting news:
Chuck Palahniuk and DC Comics might be teaming up to bring us a Tales From the Crypt-esque comic book miniseries.
I can only imagine that Palahniuk’s foray into sequential art will be incredibly rewarding. His writing always posesses a visual quality that makes everything he describes tangible to the reader, so I’ve never been surprised that his work adapts so well to visual mediums such as film. Paired with the right comic book artist, this could trump The Sandman by a mile.
At the very least, it’s gonna be entertaining as hell.
August 30, 2008
Nancy swears she will eventually start blogging, so we’re continuing the “random topic” segment (Nancy, come up with something more clever-sounding!) with Nancy’s next choice of topics: What supporting characters have really carried bad films?
Here’s my take on this:
- “Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay” – Neil Patrick Harris Don’t get me wrong. The original “Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle” was a stoner flick classic. It had more heart that Cheech and Chong and more wit than half the comedies being made today… But let’s face it: the sequel wasn’t quite the same. Sure, there were great performances, but there was some lazy screenwriting going on and the plot didn’t fulfill the premise. Everyone’s favorite child-star-turned-actor-extraordinaire, NPH, really save the flick from being a big disappointment. His fame-renewing self-characterization scored yet again as we watch him conquer a Southern whorehouse whilst wielding a bag of coke in one hand and an NPH cattle-brander in the other. I half-considered turning his brand into a tattooed tramp stamp before I remembered that the “Dr. Horrible” is still in the running for permanent body art.
- “Catch and Release” – Kevin Smith This flick was hardly a catch or worth the release, except for the fact that Kevin Smith provided a surprisingly heartwrenching and down-to-earth performance. He went from goofy fat dude to suicidal best friend with ease one wouldn’t expect from the guy who usual limits his performances to two-word utterings. (“No Ticket.”)
- “A.I.” – Jude Law I wish the combination of all the performances Jude Law gave after this career-defining role were even half as good as this. Law’s manic robot persona carried the charm of an otherwise numbing film.
- “Melinda and Melinda” – Will Ferrel OK, I’m probably going to get a lot of crap for both my choice of a bad movie and a good actor. Now, I’m a card-carrying member of the “Woody Allen Still Makes Good Films!” team, but let’s face it… This movie hardly fulfilled its potential. Allen seemed to get too caught up in the shtick of comparing a comedy to a drama and the story suffered on both fronts. This movie also loses points for casting Steve Carrell Ferrel, however, gave a brilliantly portrayal of naivety that almost makes one giddy to watch.
- “Batman and Robin” – Arnold Schwarzenegger In the most hated movie of the Batman franchise there was one shining oasis in the form of a performance so awesomely bad you can’t help but laugh. Cali governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gave that performance. His horrendous one-liners coupled with his incomprehensibly thick accent made for one craptastic movie.
- “United 93″ – Khalid Abdalla First of all, I am from the Boston area and have been living in New York for three years. I am not insensitive to the gravity of 9/11. However, let’s just admit it, this movie sucked. Its use of non-actors was hardly on par with neo-realism and the handheld camera was a predictable and nauseating choice. However, Khalid Abdalla stood out as a phenomenal actor in this film. He made you feel some level of understanding – and perhaps even compassion – for a terrorist who launched the U.S. into one of its darkest periods since the Vietnam War. In fact, I think what I dislike the most about this movie is that the terrorist character is played so humanly that the audience finds itself connecting with him the most. And to that I have two words: “Too soon.”
I’ll leave off on that controversal choice and hopefully Nancy will respond with her own list!
(I swear Nancy is real!)
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: 9/11, A.I., bad movies, Batman and Robin, Catch and Release, Film, Harold and Kumar, Jude Law, Kevin Sith, movies, Neil Patrick Harris, United 93
August 15, 2008
A few days ago, Nancy and I agreed to start doing “topic” posts (Nancy’s ingenious idea for focusing this blog) in which we both agree to blog on the same pop culture subjects. For our inaugural topic, we’ve decided to tackle the upcoming Tarentino flick.
The Topic: Who would be your dream cast for the Jewish American Nazi-slayers in Tarentino’s upcoming Inglorious Bastards? (Does not need to be Jewish in real life.)
My take is after the jump.
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