Posted on April 17, 2010 by Darren
Cool. When I put together this bad boy last week, not everyone was quite on board, so I went back over it this weekend to add in those I missed. I think I got everyone (as of 6pm on Saturday), but please let me know if I didn’t by leaving a comment. Anyway, here’s the revised list, for those OCD people like myself who want an easy place to follow who took what. Enjoy!
Some more trivia (I like trivia!):
- Lotsa people cheating and bringing whole trilogies. Mostly The Lord of the Rings, although all three individual movies have been brought separately as well.
- Some more people bringing television shows, with The Wire, Arrested Development and The X-Files along for the ride.
- The original Star Wars trilogy has been rounded out.
- X-Men II is the only non-Batman superhero film on the list.
- The Dark Knight is still the most ‘desert-island-able’ film in blogdom.
- Red over at Anomolous Materials wanted to bring The Hobbit on preorder (I assume both movies), but I didn’t count it (in my defence, he’s taking all three Lord of the Rings).
Click the above for a larger image. Thanks again to Andy for all his hard work.
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: desert island, desert island discs, desert island dvds, films, lists, Movies | 6 Comments »
Posted on April 16, 2010 by Darren
News surfaced earlier in the week that reported Sony are reportedly less than pleased with how The Green Hornet is turning out. What are they unhappy about? Oh yes, the fact that the movie from Seth Rogan and Michael Gondry about a man who fights crime in an emerald business suit with a domino mask and a Japanese man-servant might not be delivered with the poe-faced gravitas that the very concept deserves. Apparently, it’s campy.
Wait, what?
Darker and edgier, what?
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Filed under: Comics, Movies | Tagged: batman, comic books, darker, darker and edgier, edgier, films, green hornet, michael gondry, Movies, mvoies, seth rogan, the green hornet | 14 Comments »
Posted on April 16, 2010 by Darren
Alternative histories have long been a staple of science fiction. The basic idea is simple enough: take a key moment in history and play it out just a little bit differently (or a lot differently). The Man in the High Castle, the story of how America lost the Second World War, may be the most famous example, but there’s literally a whole subgenre of literary science-fiction based around the idea of playing things out in a way different from how they did. However, this fascination with alternative history never really spilled over into cinema. However, there are slowly emerging signs that audiences may be gradually adjusting to the genre and the potential it offers.
Twenty more years!
Note: This is not to be confused with the historical school of alternative histories, which are all based on perfectly reasonable assumptions, like if a courier who really existed was late or if a wound to a historical figure had been fatal. It seems in mainstream sci-fi these are more likely to involve pepperpot-shaped aliens or glowing blue supermen. So, some historians out there may object to the term – maybe I should use ‘speculative history’ instead. But it’s all semantics.
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: alternate histories, alternate history, alternative histories, books, Movies, possible history, science fiction, speculative history, Television, the man in the high castle, watchmen, what could have been | 6 Comments »
Posted on April 15, 2010 by Darren
Whiteout is a “just okay” thriller, perfectly average in most areas (but hopelessly deficient in others). Setting a murder-mystery-thriller in the cold icy tundra and in the middle of a storm immediately brings to mind any number of cinematic fore-bearers, virtually all of which are superior to this little film. Perhaps the greatest crime that Whiteout is guilty of, aside from following the usual tropes and conventions too slavishly, is that it just doesn’t do anything with its setting, which seems to want to be distinctive.
Snow wear to go...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: antartic, film, kate beckinsale, Movies, non-review review, reviews, tom skerrit, whiteout | 4 Comments »
Posted on April 14, 2010 by Darren
I had to represent. Cause they had one good role for a black man, and they gave it to Crocodile Dundee!
-Alpa Chino, Tropic Thunder
Earlier in the week, Cinematical ran an article on M. Night Shyamalan’s new film, Avatar: The Last Airbender. For those unaware, the movie is an adaptation of a hit anime, long due a trip to the screen – I hope it ends up either significantly better than, or significantly trippier than, Speed Racer, the most recent such attempt (seriously, it’s what I imagine really hard drugs are like). Of course, this being Hollywood, Shyamalan has secured a predominantly white cast for his film. Well, except for one of the major roles, which will go to Dev Patel. The fact that that role is the role of the villain probably doesn’t help none, nor does the fact Patel was only the second choice. So why does Hollywood insist on the race lift?
Is the cast ethnicity a sticking point?
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: avatar, avatar: the last airbender, ethnicity, hollywood, M. Night Shyamalan, minorities, movie-making, prejudice, race lift, racism, racist, recasting, zoe saldana | 10 Comments »
Posted on April 14, 2010 by Darren
My copy of Grant Morrison’s Batman & Robin hardcover should be shipping from Amazon today. In recognition of that fact, and in acknowledgement of Grant Morrison’s description of his book as the Adam West television show filtered through the lens of David Lynch, I give you perhaps my favourite moment of 1960s Batman, from Batman: The Movie. Batman and the Boy Wonder have just been attacked by a shark, leading to the infamous “Bat Shark Repellent” scene, and the Caped Crusader (because it’s just… wrong to call Adam West’s version of the character the Dark Knight) must figure out who was behind the plot:
Batman: Pretty fishy what happened to me on that ladder.
Gordon: You mean, where there’s a fish, there could be a Penguin.
Robin: But wait! It happened at sea! See? “C” for Catwoman!
Batman: Yet — that exploding shark was pulling my leg!
Gordon: The Joker!
O’Hara: It all adds up to a sinister riddle… Riddle-er. Riddler?
And the scariest part? He’s 100% right. They don’t call him the world’s greatest detective for nothing.
On the phone? That's justice...
Filed under: Comics, Movies, Television | Tagged: adam west, bat shark repellent, batman, batman & robin, batman: the movie, detection, detective, grant morrison, logic | 10 Comments »
Posted on April 13, 2010 by Darren
Remember last week how I was said I was going to wait until the end of the year to post up one big post-season analysis of Matt Smith’s first season as the Doctor? Yeah, well I’m still gonna do that. But while the episodes still give us food for thought, I might want to post my thought on a given hour (or, in this case, the first episode of the show under an hour long in about two years). Maybe next week I’ll have nothing more to post than simply the fact that spitfires in space represent the coolest concept ever.
The belly of the beast...
Note: This post contains spoilers for The Beast Below, the second episode of the fifth season of Doctor Who (and if you’re going to argue about the given season number, you know exactly which season I’m talking about). I’ll flag them in the article below before I reach them, but consider yourself warned.
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Filed under: Television | Tagged: bbc, beast below, democracy, doctor who, eleven, matt smith, metaphors, starship uk, stephen moffat, Television, the beast below, the doctor, the happiness patrol, timelord, uk elections | 2 Comments »
Posted on April 13, 2010 by Darren
Sky caused a bit of a kerfuffle (it’s a word!) when they announced that The Pacific, the really rather excellent Second World War miniseries, would be airing on Sky Movies instead of Sky One – their television station. Queue the sounds of protest from various sources decrying the event as a television show which belongs on Sky’s primary television station – Sky One. However, Sky responded with the argument that Sky One simply isn’t equipped to broadcast a show like The Pacific, designed to air unedited and uninterrupted without overlays or advertisements. I’m going to take the unpopular path and argue that Sky were right: having watched the first two episodes, The Pacific should air on Sky Movies.
War over The Pacific?
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Filed under: Movies, Television | Tagged: advertising, bbc, broadcasting, hbo, sky, sky movies, sky one, subscription, the pacific | 5 Comments »
Posted on April 12, 2010 by Darren
Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.
We live in a spaceship, dear.
So?
– Wash and Zoe, Objects in Space
Joss Whedon writing a science fiction show – a science fiction western, to be precise. Doesn’t that excite you? Just a bit? Well, it should, because they’re just so… very… pretty. Huh? Look at that chiselled jaw!
And yes, I am already quoting it. It’s going to be a fun review.
Male bonding... Or bondage, I'm not sure...
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Filed under: Television | Tagged: firefly, joss whedon, nathan fillon, review, science fiction, serenity, Television, western | 13 Comments »
Posted on April 12, 2010 by Darren
It’s certainly an interesting concept: it’s the story of a love out of sync – of two individuals who live their lives at different speeds. Claire falls in love with a strange man she met in a meadow when she was growing up – only he hasn’t aged a day. That’s because he’s a time traveler. So, as you can imagine, that throws up more than the usual boundries to romance. In fairness, the movie seems aware of the myriad of possibilities suggested by its premise, but the truth is that it does little more than exploit them for melodrama. Cheap, heavy-handed melodrama.
Stuck in a movie I can't get out of...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: eric bana, films, Movies, non-review review, rachel mcadams, review, The Time Traveler's Wife, time traveler's wife | 4 Comments »
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