Posted on February 17, 2010 by Darren
Lost returned to Sky One recently, for its sixth and final mind-bending season. In the fourth season it was flash-forwards, in the fifth season it was time travel and this year it looks like it’s alternate dimensions. In fact, this season opens with an alternate universe where the Oceanic 815 flight from Sydney never crashed. Yes, there exists a timeline where an Oceanic Airlines flight made it from one side of the world to another. I’m a big fan of linking seemingly disconnected threads from various strands of fiction together – like postulating that Fight Club is a sequel to Calvin & Hobbes – so I was quite impressed to learn that Oceanic Airlines have a long and varied history of aviation disasters across any number of movies and television shows.
Note that flying that low over London is incredibly dangerous... and perfectly in keeping with oceanic's standards of safety...
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Filed under: Movies, Television | Tagged: common threads, fiction, lost, metafiction, Movies, oceanic airlines, Television, trivia | Leave a comment »
Posted on February 17, 2010 by Darren
Something just occurred to me while I was working through my Family Guy DVDs over the weekend. I was just learning to hate the damn piracy advertisements – you know the ones, with the “You wouldn’t steal a… [insert noun here]” ones – and I wondered what the hell are these things doing on a DVD I paid good money for. I forked out money over the counter for these bad boys, why do I have to sit through these painful little snippets every damn time I put them in the player? You can’t even skip them on some DVDs! Seriously, what’s the point of having an anti-piracy advertisement on a legitimate DVD? “We know you won’t do it, but in case you were thinking about it…” or “we know you care enough about the industry to buy a legitimate copy, but here’s a lecture anyway…”? It’s like lecturing about truancy at a school meeting or handing out condoms to elderly couples. It’s redundant and it’s annoying. Surely money would be better spent advertising on the web or on television or outside in media where people you buy pirate media are likely to actually see it, rather than simply irritating those of us buying originals.
I’m sorry, that just really ticks me off.
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: dvds, Movies, original, piracy, pirates | 3 Comments »
Posted on February 16, 2010 by Darren
Hmm… I knew there wasn’t good news on the horizon when Disney announced they were steamrolling ahead with their plan to truncate the cinematic run of Tim Burton’s upcoming Alice in Wonderland adaptation. Obviously driven by the home entertainment market (and the fact that parents would be look for distractions for the kids as the summer holidays approach), they want to release the DVD 12 weeks after the movie premieres, rather than the standard 17 weeks. As you can imagine, this has ticked off the cinemas who make more money the later into a film’s release you see it, so it looks like we may have a boycott – in the UK at least. 95% of 3D screens may not be showing it. Including Cineworld, the largest cinema in Dublin.
Through the looking glass but not necessarily on the big screen...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 3d, alice in wonderland, boycott, cinemas, cineworld, disney, DVD, film, home media, Movies, release, the future of cinema, tim burton | Leave a comment »
Posted on February 16, 2010 by Darren
News broke last week that Julia Roberts received $500,000 a minute for her screentime in this year’s romantic ensemble comedy Valentine’s Day. Yes, for six minutes of screentime, she got $3m (which really doesn’t seem that impressive without the zeroes – so $3,000,000). However, that wasn’t the most interesting part of the coverage of the movie – well, at least for me. A bit of commentary revealed how Hollywood can attract so many big names under one matinee sign (which is, undoubtedly, a key part of the movie’s success).
Here's to you, Mrs. Roberts(on)...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: budget, ensemble, film, garry marshall, jamie foxx, julia roberts, Movies, romantic comedy, valentine's day | 2 Comments »
Posted on February 15, 2010 by Darren
There’s been a fair amount of hub-bub (it’s a word – I swear!) about these year’s presumptive Academy Award winners. I’ve been following the Oscar race since early last year, and I was as surprised as anyone when Sandra Bullock’s name came into the race, first as a nominee and then as the sure-bet winner, for her dramatic turn in The Blind Side. I was also, I must admit, a little chuffed when the ever-loveable Jeff Bridges moved to the head of his pack for is own turn in Crazy Heart. However, I’ve noticed a lot of people talking about these two nominees and one question seems to be coming more than others: do those favouring these performers believe that they deserve to win for these roles, or simple that they deserve to win for years as solid and respectable actors? Do these roles just offer us a chance to recognise their longterm contributions? And is that necessarily fair?
Don't worry, Colin, your time will come...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 82nd academy awards, acting oscars, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor, best supporting actress, charlie chaplin, christopher plummer, Honorary Oscars, jeff bridges, lifetime achievement award, limelight, Mickey Rourke, new blood, oscar nominees, Oscars, sandra bullock, sean penn | 2 Comments »
Posted on February 15, 2010 by Darren
I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately, what with the US version of Life on Mars ending on FX over the weekend and the rumours that Caprica doesn’t have strong enough ratings to secure a second season. We live in what is increasingly the era of “one season wonders” – television shows that are lucky to get a full season (or maybe a full season and a half) before being unceremoniously dumped from the schedule. It’s easy to look at shows like Firefly and Dollhouse and bemoan executives unwilling to take a chance with edge material, but part of me thinks it might really be for these best. Although maybe I’m trying to put a good spin on a bad situation.
The network may nuke Caprica early...
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Filed under: Television | Tagged: battlestar galactica, cancellation, cancelled, caprica, cult, dollhouse, firefly, heroes, joss whedon, life on mars, life on mars usa, one season, one season wonders, reruns, syndication, Television | 4 Comments »
Posted on February 13, 2010 by Darren
Who says sexism is dead? To look at the bulk of the romantic comedy genre, you wouldn’t know it. The subtext of any given mainstream big budget romantic comedy is that guys are stupid and unaware dinosaurs, while women are just the tiniest bit uptight and are neurotic in a mild and endearing manner. The Ugly Truth probably isn’t the worst offender – I felt much worse coming out of 27 Dresses, to be honest – but it is the most recent one I’ve seen.
It's a familiar dance...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: gender, gerard butler, Katherine Hiegl, Movies, non-review review, review, romance, romantic comedy, sexism, sexist, the ugly truth, valentine's day | Leave a comment »
Posted on February 12, 2010 by Darren
Sometimes a movie lands (pardon the pun) at the right time. If you had told me that a movie about a guy looking to earn 10,000,000 frequent flyer miles in first class would be arguably one of the most interesting explorations of the recession that Hollywood would offer, I would have laughed in your face. But, against all odds, it works. That the guy in question is George Clooney and the man behind the camera is Jason Reitman undoubtedly helps.
It isn't plane-sailing for Ryan...
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: best picture, downsizing, films, george clooney, ivan reitman, Movies, non-review review, recession, review, up in the air | Leave a comment »
Posted on February 11, 2010 by Darren
The Ruins is a decent enough little horror movie. In fact, it’s a cut above the average mould. Eschewing the torture porn or the gratuitous slasher movies, The Ruins is – after a fashion – a creature feature in the style of eighties. It can’t hold a candle to the true classics of the genre, like The Thing, but it offers a perfectly decent substitute. What’s more is the way that – like all good horror films – it is able to generate pure menace from what should be a ridiculous premise.
Worst. Vacation. Ever.
Note: Towards the end of this review, I’ll discuss some items which might be considered spoilers. Nothing as glaring as the ending, but some stuff you might not want to know ahead of time. I’ll flag it a paragraph beforehand, so don’t worry. If you want a recommendation, it’s an old-fashioned horror which works like any truly effective monster movie: the threat is not just outside the group, but also within it. It won’t rock your world and it isn’t a masterpiece, but is worth a go.
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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: creature feature, film, genre, horror, Movie, non-review review, review, the happening, the ruins, the thing | Leave a comment »
Posted on February 11, 2010 by Darren
Wow. It looks like getting Nolan to sign on for Batman 3 wasn’t the hard part. It was getting him to sign on to be the brains behind the new Superman reboot. Yes, there’s a new Superman reboot coming. Guess DC is finally doing something with the Man of Steel. Looks like it’s no longer just fanboy hopes riding on Christopher Nolan – it’s the future of DC comics on film.
Forget Clark Kent, Christopher Nolan is the real Superman...
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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: batman, Batman 3, batman begins, dc, dc comics, news, superman, superman 3.0, superman returns, The Dark Knight, the dark knight sequel, Warner Brothers | Leave a comment »
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