Summer Box Office Challenge

Here were my predictions 4 months ago:

1. Iron Man 2 - $370 million
2. Toy Story 3 - $359 million
3. Twilight: Eclipse - $316 million
4. Shrek 4 - $292 million
5. Inception - $243 million

And the actuals:
1. Toy Story 3 - $410
2. Iron Man 2 - $312
3. Twilight Eclipse - $300
4. Inception - $282
5. Despicable Me - $244

I can't tell you how glad I am Despicable Me replaced Shrek on that list. But hey - I was pretty close.

Bits and Bobs

First up, I saw Green Day again, this time at the Comcast Center. I swear to god they are the best live band around. They played for three hours straight. They were unbelievable. I mean, check out this setlist. Billie Joe is my personal lord and savior.

The sad news was that I was also going to see AFI play that night. The shuttle bus I took to get there got stuck in traffic and I missed them. Entirely. (I complained to the bus company and got a voucher in case there's another concert I want to see down there. Better idea - play BOSTON bands! Not a freaking hour away). Ah well. I saw them twice last year. But still. It was still disappointing. They are one of my three favorite bands of all time. Maybe there'll be a Blaqk Audio show I can catch in the near future.

Also - instant streaming kills my productivity. Most recently, I've been watching Veronica Mars. At first, I wasn't sure why it had such a rabid following and thought it was just okay. And then somewhere about halfway through the first season I could not stop watching. ohmygod - SO ADDICTED.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~thar be spoilers ahead~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So. It all builds up to the big season finale, which I was desperately trying to get through before sushi making started last Wednesday, and I'm at the point where I am YELLING AT THE SCREEN. Because most of the second half of the season (on top of the murder mystery, which is done really well) is whether or not Veronica and Logan are going to get together, those crazy kids. And of course, the whole episode wraps up on a cliff hanger and we don't see who is at Veronica's front door.

So again. I put off my roommate for another five minutes to start watching season 2, because I have my priorities in order. And of course it's Logan and young love wins out and all is well. And then we made sushi and it was delicious.

The next day I sit down to watch the rest of the episode. The episode is told in flash back but it becomes rapidly apparent that Veronica is no longer with Logan, she's with... I've forgotten his name already. Duncan. That's right. Sorry. The boy is so devoid of any personality I tend to be distracted by shiny things in the room while he's on.

My problem with all of this is not that Veronica is with Duncan (or even that I got spoiled. I went online to lookup one of the songs in an episode - the show has great music, including an excellently placed garbage track - and found out that Logan and Veronica do not end up together. Ah well.) Characters can make stupid choices. Real people do it all the time.

The problem I have is that the creators of the show put a lot of time and effort into carefully building up this relationship and then they tear it down in the course of a little under 2 minutes. Veronica doesn't discuss the fact that Logan set the community pool on fire before breaking up with him? He's under trial for murder, he just found out his father is a murderer, and you can't cut him a little slack or have a discussion with him before dumping him? Not to mention you don't pipe up when your father throws him out of the house? You don't hear him out? This is not the intelligent, caring character we grew to love.

Maybe she was too excited about finding out that Duncan wasn't a blood relation. Maybe she sensed Logan would always do bone-headed rich boy pranks. But whatever the reason, we hardly even get her voice-over talking about it. It's tons and tons of build-up all about Logan, and then... complete gear shift. Dropped like a hot cake. I got whip lash.

It's a poor show running decision. They had done such a good job with character development in season 1, if Veronica had wanted to move on in season 2, then that same sort of growth and change would have been nice. Maybe given some progression I would actually care about Blandly McBeige she's dating.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~spoilers ended~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Also, does anyone else think the writing for Wallace comes off as uncomfortably like a white guy trying to write urban at times?

In other news, the box office is looking to be particularly tricky this week. Estimates are ALL over the map. I have to say - I love such a wide open weekend. When everyone agrees on the top 5 slots and there are no surprises to mull over - it gets boring. I love that people are really debating over the chances of about 5 new releases (Vampires Suck, Piranha 3-D, Nanny McPhee, Lottery Ticket, the Switch). The Expendables staying in the top spot (despite the biggest percentage drop of the week) seems like the only sure bet.

Can I mention I weep for America a little bit when a 0% reviewed film could have a chance at being the top film? Damn you, Wednesday receipts. After the clever marketing, I hope Piranha 3-D does better.

And finally, I just realized today that I have been confusing Mila Kunis and Rachel Bilson for years.

Box Office

I am back in the top 50 of my box office game! Yes, I have finally made up the difference from being away the weekend Toy Story 3 bowed. And it only took 2 months.

Box Office

While I fell behind in my own personal ranking in predicting the box office (there was a mix-up the weekend I came home from abroad and I missed out on the TS3 revenue), I would just like to brag that my theater chain (the Grindhouse 20) not only won the week, but also beat Illuminati's Illusion in a match and we are the first chain to do so. Right now, they are the only chain ranked higher than ourselves. Woo!

By the by, my theater is named the Carnivale. Hee.

Long time no blog

Lots of catching up on life and personal work. Nothing much movie related at the moment, although I am seeing Iron Man 2 tomorrow, and hopefully Hausu on Sunday. We'll see if everything else gets done.

I am, however, 40th in my box office game (out of 3,216 players) and I'm entering a summer-wide contest for the top 5 earners this year. Here are my picks (May 7th - Labor Day):
1. Iron Man 2 - $370 million
2. Toy Story 3 - $359 million
3. Twilight: Eclipse - $316 million
4. Shrek 4 - $292 million
5. Inception - $243 million

So now I can check back in 4 months and see if I was remotely accurate. (I'm hoping for Robin Hood to be the big flop of the summer. Mwa ha ha.)

Also, Mick LaSalle has a particularly great column out today. (I tend to hate his reviews, but I love his column).

In other, non-movie news, I finished Being Human season 2, which I dragged out for as long as possible. *sigh* Only 8 episodes! And not another new one for like 8 months. Argh. I need a True Blood fix to help get me through.

Odds and ends

Breaking Upwards is being released and getting good reviews. Seriously?? Ugh.

Saw Red, White and Blue at the Underground Film Fest. Really good, and really disturbing. I suppose it would be called a horror film, but it isn't supernatural in any way. It's flawed people in bad situations doing nasty things to each other. It's far more character-driven than most horror films and it's really well done. But I do have to point out that I don't remember the last time I saw violence so graphic and realistic on screen that I couldn't watch it. But it's still a really beautiful film. Odd juxtaposition, I know, but it's well worth checking out. Noah Taylor is fantastic. I've liked him in supporting roles for years and I need to check out some of his other work.

There's an interview with the director here (scroll down).

iWire has an interesting article on the first quarter of indie releases. It's nothing like last year, but there's a strong crop of releases. 16 have already crossed 1 million, and I'm sure the next 3 will as well. I am glad to see that Imaginarium did a bit better than I thought it had and that the Oscar shorts program is going strong. Can't wait to see the Ghost Writer, A Prophet and the Runaways...

A Cannes wish list. I want to see Black Swan (Aronofsky), maybe Fair Game (I like Doug Liman, but Valerie Plame?), the Fighter (David O. Russell), Kaboom, Rabbit Hole (John Cameron Mitchell), the Rum Diary, the Tempest (ALREADY - Taymor), Three (Twyker), Tree of Life (Malick), the Way Back (Weir), and What's Wrong with Virginia (Dustin Lance Black).

iW also has an article on IFF Boston.

Right - I'm going to try to get a lot done today so that I can go out and catch one of those indies. :)

Box Office

I used to play a box office prediction game at EW.com, which I absolutely loved. You had to predict the top 10 films of the weekend, in order. It was awesome, I loved it, I was quite frequently in the top 10 for a weekend or the top 25 or 50 for a season. So of course they took it away.

I mourned, I moved on, I occasionally played in Cinematical's version of the top 5 to keep some of my skills sharp.

Then Flick Picks started up. I'm not sold on it. Basically, you run a theater and get points based on the revenues from your seven screens. I've been told it's a similar approach to fantasy football. Anyways, aside from the fact that if I actually were to run a movie theater, it would have cushy couches and armchairs, beer, pizza, and an art house repertoire, you basically are trying to guess the top 5 films, broken into 1-2 and 3-5. It's not as difficult. The scoring results aren't well laid-out. And the whole thing is not very intuitive to me.

But I would like to point out that my theater, the Carnivale, is ranked 45th in my division. That is all.

I'm baaack!

Hello? (hello... hello...) Echo... (echo... echo...)

'Sup, y'all? Sorry to have been gone. I've had two very rough weeks at work followed by a week of the plague. I was going to update for the emmys (I might still post a mini-recap at some point - oh and I came in 123rd out of about 3100 in the Emmy prediction game), but I was seriously ill. Whatcha gonna do? Here's about a week's worth of news and stuff. It's been a fairly slow news time for films anyways - I feel like there's been very little buzz out of the film fests.

(Oh - AND I'm raked 46th in the Fall Box Office Challenge so far. I rock.) (Oh - and how to fix the emmys) (Oh - and Josh Groban? I think Defamer puts it best; "Say what you will about his talent, his popularity, his banality, his backstory, whatever, but the guy isn't stupid. He knew the position he was in, he knew the job he had to do, and unlike the hosts, writers and producers who pumped (and tape-delayed!) three hours' worth of bullshit into America's beloved televisions, he did his job. And he pretty much meant it — every outlandish segue into a condescending gospel choir or Muppet guest appearance seemed to nudge his energy incrementally higher. It was genuinely stirring, as in: We might not have finished our liveblog without it.")

There are a bunch of things I want to see in theaters, but the only thing I've been up to seeing through my sickness was RENT filmed live, since it was limited run and pricey. But well worth it. While it wasn't perhaps the strongest cast RENT has ever had, and the filming of the production was not always great (the camera often seemed placed about 2 inches too low), it was worth it to see Michael Greif's superb stage direction one last time. There were some standouts in the cast (Mimi had a very lovely voice), which made up for others who were particularly rough (Benny springs to mind). Were a DVD ever available, I would probably buy it, RENThead that I am, but I'll still probably watch my bootleg of the Angel cast more often. Still, since I couldn't see it live one last time, at least with this set, these costumes, and this direction, the filming made for a nice final way to see it, even when it lacked some of the thrill and energy of a live performance (that was particularly noticeable when Rent kicked in). And hey - at least it's better than the movie. Here's a clip of highlights.

Choke is out! Choke is out! It's been a monsoon here, so I have yet to brave the out of doors and see it, but I'll probably go tomorrow. Here are some reviews: Entertainment Weekly, Cinematical ("...there's only one reason why I would recommend you check out this film, and one reason only: Sam Rockwell."), New York Times ("It remains for Mr. Rockwell to create a center for a satire that is about not having a center. He distills a skeptical attitude of an under-40 everyman from the educated class (he is a medical school dropout): bored and cynical, concealing his hurt under layers of defiance, sarcasm and feigned indifference. Mr. Rockwell makes you see all the layers as well as feel the pain that lies beneath.") Speaking of which, Sam Rockwell in High School. 7: sex addicts on the silver screen.

Paul Newman dies

The Academy's re-opening! Yay! Check out the architecture here. It's gorgeous. (Speaking of which, a mile long line to get in.)

I've been reading a lot of Mark Morford of the SF Chronicle recently. Here's a good one on Palin. And the Good News and the Bad News.

Synecdoche, New York poster, Changeling poster, Valkyrie

Trailers: Benjamin Button tv spot / trailer here, For the pleasure of being robbed, badass final Spirit trailer (I know... it'll probably be bad. But I'm gonna go see it.) the Elephant King, Valkyrie, Timecrimes, Hunger (this looks amazing), Revolutionary Road, Deadgirl, Synecdoche, Waltz with Bashir, Year of the Fish,

Fan Rant: Can we focus on Keira Knightley's performances, not her ribs? (Which is a good sentiment, if the author talks about herself waay too much) and this is also funny because a few hours earlier a different writer when commenting on Kiera taking on Zelda Fitzgerald, wrote, "Keira does a decent job with these sort of roles, but Zelda was not a waif. I hope, at the very least, she tries to get that cherubic flapper look for the role." That's right, focus on her looks, not the acting job required. Also: 7 Knightley costume pics.

7: movies within movies since 2000

The essay on Tom's Diner by Suzanne Vega

The most awesome magazine cover. Plus a great interview with Colbert and Stewart.

18 wild trips to the library

The Paddy's Pub Blog is fun for all you fans of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (how brilliant was the cannibalism episode?)

Hear the full Another Way to Die. I like it alright. I like the rhythm and the horns, but I'm not sure Alicia Keys was really utilized effectively.

I hate the new Sound Bites format, but John Krasinski's arms (9.24) crack me up

Watchmen legal update: dressing up as a comic book character solves everything!

Human nature, I guess?

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!!!! THE RED BAND FOR CHOKE IS BACK UP!!!!! GO SEE IT NOOOOOOOOWWWW!!! (also - Clark Gregg on casting).

Stayed home sick Thursday. Felt sorry for myself. *cough cough* (Okay, actually I was achy and had a sore throat, but there are no sound effects there). Also having family crises right and left. Fantastico. I was going to get myself a laptop this week, but I've decided to just save up to move. Yes, it stresses me out not to have a laptop and I really want to be able to organize all my photos from traveling. And my itunes. But I think I need to move first. Why can't I just win the lotto? It would solve so many of my problems.

Very excitingly, on Friday I got over to the library, where they have a First Folio on display in the rare books room - preeeetty. They also had several early quartos, including a Midsummer's Nights Dream from 1600. It was a very cool display.

Let's see. Saw Hellboy 2, Mama Mia. I didn't enjoy Hellboy all that much. I might have like it more if I saw it before the Dark Knight. Or had seen the first one, maybe. The visuals were very cool though. Mama Mia... gah. My mom wanted to go see it together, and I thought it would be kinda sparkly and fun. If nothing else, it would have a bit of Dominic Cooper. Here's what I got. We now know what would happen if Meryl Streep filmed an entire movie drunk. (And yes, that is Dominic Cooper in the pink spangly jumpsuit). Oh - and THIS. Why yes, those are men in tight swim trunks, snorkels, and flippers doing the stupidest choreography you have ever seen in your life.

Currently watching Top Gear (love) and the Great Raid (Joseph Fiennes does tortured so well). (BTW - did you know you can check out the Top Gear star leaderboard at wikipedia? Here you go.) (Also, one more reason to love Top Gear: their theme song is my song!)

Saw the Doctor Who Finale last night. I don't think I liked it. Spoiler sweep: [While it was exciting to get the whole crew together, I don't think they knew what to do with everyone once they were there. The jumpy editing between the two doctors made it feel like the acting was a bit off. As if David didn't really know how to play the two. I did really enjoy a lot of the plot and the middle bit with Donna. But here were my two biggest problems:

Donna - I was so upset by her ending. She had changed her life, she had done amazing things, and it was all taken away. Killing her would have been kinder.

Rose came back. ROSE. CAME. BACK. That's huge. That's massive - and I never felt that they really gave that reunion the attention it deserved. And I can't decide about the ending. I might have liked it more if it had been given more weight. I think because they still had to get onto Donna, it felt rushed. I just... I don't know. It wasn't him, you know? She had broken down the walls of the universe to get back to him and then got put back in the other world with almost him and no TARDIS. How exactly is that supposed to work? And why couldn't the doctor (the actual doctor) have just said I love you already? What was with that?

Oh - and last thing. I love Doomsday in part for how incredibly, desperately sad it is. But this episode it just so depressing. Tell me the end of David staring at the TARDIS didn't just depress you half to death.]
io9: Doctor Who Finale made us miss last year's Tinkerbell Jesus

Also saw the Robin Hood Finale. [OMG WTF They KILLED MARION?!? Not that she wasn't asking for it, but Jesus.] Also; Richard Armitage on Bits and Bobs. Oh my god he was in Cats.

I also saw the new Move On ad on tv for the first time. It made me laugh.

LOVE THIS: the 2008 Box Office graph. Ooooh.... pretty....

The Rain of Madness site is awesome. If nothing else, check out the biography on Kirk Lazarus' site.

Comic Con came and went obviously. Some highlights (because I sure as hell can't deal with the backlog); The Wolverine trailer bootleg, Comic Con in 3 minutes, the Spirit art school poster, visionaries panel = pure gold, more comic-con wrap up, Shirley! Shirley shirley shirley shirley, Dharma initiative steals the show at LOST panel, Heroes panel. OH! Can I mention that NATHAN is in the previews for next season?? Way to completely lose there Heroes. Just when it looks like you might strap on a pair and try to emulate some of the good aspects of LOST, you go and wimp out and refuse to kill anyone. And speaking of people coming back in S3. Also, Tim Kring makes puppies commit adultery.

For those about to Watchmen Includes a link to an annotation site, and an interview with Alan Moore. All-encompassing hype started 20 years ago. Watchmen posters. Love. There are watchmen interviews here (if you scroll over to Sundance 2008 you can see a vid on Choke, too). Also there is some shaky, partial comic con footage here. I will say Rorschach looks awesome. New Empire covers and pics. How dark will Watchmen be?

What does the HP6 trailer mean? I like it overall, but I will say that the tone in the scene between Dumbledore and Tom struck me as off. Also: hi res HBP stills, in case you are like me and are going "what? Ron was in the teaser?" And Beedle the Bard to be published in Dec. (Fictional books we'd like to read) And THIS WINS.

The world's funniest race call. ARRRRR!!

Will W be stupid or serious?

The Brothers Bloom trailer, Pride and Glory trailer, What Just Happened trailer, Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist trailer, Up teaser an octogenarian prank show, Princess and the frog trailer. I like the princess and the frog. The lightning bug worries me. It is also making me want to see The Rescuers.

So apparently there's a monster in NY?

Zombie Haiku

Terminator: Salvation poster, Doubt poster, My Bloody Valentine 3D poster. Are you my mummy?

The Dark Knight erects giant pile of flammable currency, Johnny Depp and PSH as Bat-villains? Where could Batman go next? Angie as Catwoman?


Captain Hammer's super powers, Stars banter at Dr Horrible panel


Keira Knightley's breasts officially unmarketable

Near impossible task of marketing Hamlet 2

Nottingham film pushed back for Sherwood foliage I am not looking forward to this film at all. I mention it only so that I can also mention that I have been to Sherwood Forest. It's true.

Bay changing script for Shia's mangled hand? Worth it for the image of Bay continuing to work through setbacks.

New Oz photo. Mmmmmm....

Oh nooooes! Horrible news! Colin Firth joins the Picture of Dorian Grey.

14 franchises that need to stop. Including the Land Before Time; the definition of sequels being a DO NOT WANT.

August a cursed movie month

GI Joe vs. the Thing. Uhhh....

Also - Cleolinda has a discussion of Breaking Dawn up over at her place. I have yet to read it, but I'm looking forward to it.

The world is a mess and I just need to rule it

OH MY GOD. SOO much has happened in the last week and my internet keeps going out for a couple of days at a time, so I'm going to miss a ton of stuff.


First off, I was doing some yard work last Sunday and found two snakes in the yard, which was exciting. Then, on Monday, I found out I came in 5TH - YEAH THAT'S RIGHT 5TH - in the Box Office Challenge, which was suuper exciting. Plus, Choke came out with a red band trailer, but the dating thing didn't work for me and then they took it down (ALONG WITH YOUTUBE! I don't get that. Why on earth would free advertising for your film be a bad thing? Why would you discourage fans from watching and sharing your trailer?)

[Update: I finally, FINALLY found a working trailer via a google video search and it is awesome and apparently too raunchy for the interwebs. It is also hysterical. I CANT WAIT]

Then the Watchmen trailer came out - EEEEE (it did seem to break the internets briefly, I had a difficult time finding the trailer for about an hour, and then finally I saw the apple version (and then today I saw it on a big, pretty IMAX screen, but more on that later)). OH MY GOD!! So good! Billy Crudup as Jon Osterman? Brilliant (I love, love, love him - he's easily one of the best actors around. I met him after an insanely brilliant performance of his on broadway and sort of lost the ability to speak English. True story.) It looks very accurate to the panels (I got that leap of glee that I had when shots in Sin City mirrored the comics so exactly.) In fact, about a day after hitting the web, people had already posted side by side comparisons. whee. Oh - I also don't mind the use of the Smashing Pumpkins' song. I think it fits well and the use of the same song does not mean the movies will be in any way equivilent.


I believe there was also a Twilight trailer, but I couldn't care less. I briefly thought it could be funny and sparkly and campy, but all signs point to zombie-awful.


Today, I caught the 10am IMAX showing of Batman. I'm having a hard time digesting the entire thing. There was just so very much there. I think I may have to go watch it again just to grasp it all. Although, and I said this when I walked out, the ecard about 'devastatingly bleak'? That's fairly accurate. It is dark. It is so sad. It is epic and gorgeous and there is so much to digest and process. It's musings on the nature of justice and good and... I just can't even write articulately about it at the moment. This not your oversimplified good vs. evil storyline. It is complex and the writing is handled extremely well (Well, maybe Gary Oldman's last speech was a leetle bombastic) but otherwise, there were just so many fine scenes. Batman and the Joker, Alfred describing what Batman needs to be for Gotham, the Joker and Dent, Bruce and Dent discussing heroism... the list goes on. There are so many fine moments. A lot of the tone is similar to the Dark Knight Returns, though of course the plot is different. But there is the question of people emulating batman, rather than being simply inspired by him. There are the themes of enduring an impossibly difficult mandate, the precarious link to the police, and the fact that Batman has always been the darkest superhero, the most criminal.


The direction is excellent. The action scenes are well done, the character scenes are well done, the entire affair is so well plotted that the MASSIVE amount of plot in the two and a half hours just zips along.


The cinematography is astounding. If you can see it in IMAX; GO. I cannot remember the last time I was so blown away by a shot (well, many shots). I have seen many films with great cinematography, but this elvates the form to a whole new plane. I know I posted this before, but this bears repeating.

Finally, the acting is stupendous. From every member of the cast. From Christian Bale down to Nestor Carbonell to the extras who get a few lines (the two on the ferries merit special mention). I am sorry that Christian Bale isn't getting much attention because, obviously, the whole thing falls apart without him. The fact that he gets Batman, he gets Bruce Wayne, he swings from menacing and scary to love-sick and unsure of himself; I simply cannot imagine anyone else pulling it off. Before Sam, Christian was my favorite actor all through high school, and I continue to think he is one of the best around. (While I understand it, the fact that he wasn't nominated for Rescue Dawn was criminal.) He pulls off an incredibly complex, difficult character with his usual assurance. He doesn't have the glib sarcasm of Tony Stark to fall back on; he's a man dressed up as a bat and he makes it both natural and really scary.


The Joker is astounding. I don't know what to say. He crackles on screen. He's psychotic and funny and terrifying and so natural. There is never a moment when the character slips. It is amazing that the two roles Heath Ledger will be best remembered for, this and Brokeback Mountain, are so wildly different. In the one, he was taciturn and closed off, in this, he is wildly exuberant and chaotic. It is astoundingly impressive.


Everyone else is superb. The actors are such high caliber and I think working together they all upped their game even further.


I've also had fun during this week with Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog, although I watched act 3 today after Batman and it made me sad. (Spoiler sweep: What is with women dying for guys to pine over? I thought Dr. Horrible was going to be this bit of internet fun to counteract the darkness of Batman and... no. I'll have to go see Mama Mia sometime this week.) Snap judgement from EW (I thought Act I was the best). Also it did super, super well.


Blurg. I can hardly digest it all. Maybe I'll have more coherent thoughts about Batman later. I also recommend checking out Cleolinda's thoughts. She thinks good thoughts.


Oh! And yay for 3 seconds of Cillian Murphy! AND FOR CHRISTIAN BALE ON THE RED MOTORCYCLE.


Speaking of the Dark Knight, the Dark Knight grabs the biggest weekend opening ever. I'm sure it'll have the biggest first week, too. BTW - in this week's box office game, I was only off on the total of the Dark Knight by a couple hundred thousand. I rock. Snarky batman e-cards at someecards.com Oh, and Heath's FHM interview. More on the box office. Note the figures have since been revised and anyway it just baaarely missed 200 mil for global (I left a comment to that effect).


Speaking of Watchmen, EW's exclusive first look. Q&A with Alan Moore. Patrick Wilson Says ‘Watchmen’ Ending Remains The Same.



And because nothing should ever be held too sacred; Dark Knight Cameos, Christian Bale, To the Owl-Copter!!

Uh. I don't know how to describe this.

22 best comic book films

The Emmys were announced! Who got snubbed? (Plus, all time 50 biggest emmy snubs) At least Flight of the Conchords got some Emmy lovin, if not best comedic actors... (they're up for writing, too) Emmys: EW critics react and Tin Man, Battlestar Galactica Get Emmy Nods. I still really want to see Tin Man

Comic Con sneak preview Featuring the Spirit, Star Trek (which I don't so much care about, but how much does Zacahry Quinto win the spock look-a-like award?), Terminator Salvation (hello pretty), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Max Payne, the Day the Earth Stood Still, Rocknrolla and... what is this Unborn thing? Why is crazy Gary Oldman screaming? Man, I wish I were going to Comic Con. Check out io9's annotated schedule here.


Justin Theroux to write Iron Man 2. Hmmm... Dedication has yet to reach the top of my queue, so I'll reserve judgement.


CSI news!!! William Petersen leaving! CSI's season of change! We can has more Greg now?


Bits and Bobs vol 3. I love it. A gathering place for Anglophile pop culture junkies. I love it so much.


Join my slow movie movement... eventually. It's so true. I had meant to get around to Forgetting Sarah Marshall... oops. And I want to see the Fall, which bizarrely is still out here. I need to get on that.


Neil Gaiman Celebrates ‘Sandman’ Anniversary With New Comic And More.


I forget if I posted this, so: New Trailer for 'The Spirit'


‘The Dark Knight’ Debate: Who Should Be The Villain In ‘Batman 3′? Can't this wait? No, wait... Scarecrow! Bring back Cillian!


Finally! 'Wicked' to Get a Movie Makeover.


The 'Terminator Salvation' Teaser


Ponyo on the Cliff Japanese trailer


This made me laugh: 'Daily Show' Tackles Bizarre Trend of Middle-Aged Women Enjoying Sex [Cougars].


The fifty worst sex scenes of all time. AHHH.


Annotated Picks for Comic-Con [Comic-con 2008]


Christian protests may leave 'The Golden Compass' as one of a kind Aww... that's too bad. I enjoyed the first one. I think I would've liked it even more had they not watered down the faith aspect. Also - it did a ton of money at the box office, you'd think that would engender a sequel.
Frog Bites Disney. Seriously?

Harvey Weinstein explains why he dumps movies Wibba? No Houdini flick?



Underrated music movies

Enough LaBouef HAhahaha

Page to Screen: Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist

New Jibjab vid

"You know, I've seen a lot of 'behind the scenes' photographs over the years, but these latest from Crank 2: High Voltage win the "what the heck is going on here?" award, hands down."



Update: It's taken me a couple of days to put this all together, and in that time; Did Batman assault his mother and sister? And already Phanatic wins for best comment, ever; "Of course he didn't. Aaron Eckhart did, Christian Bale's just taking the rap. "

Vanfire of the Bonities

*sigh* My mad box office skills are deteriorating. 253rd this week, for a total of 74 overall. I'll basically need to win next week to crack the top 50. But then the game restarts after 10 weeks for the second half of summer.

Checked out the Scooper bowl at government center. My belly is full of ice cream (Breyer's strawberry and Garelick/Gifford's Maine wild blueberry were the best).

My brother just wandered in with; "Past the rock that looks like a long neck and the mountains that burn." My family is so weird.

Here's a backlog of links. I still have more to look through, but it'll have to do for now.

Whoa. What happened to Cinematical?

Lostesness first: LOST: 4 Open questions, The pre-finale Doc Jensen, Season 4's best 15 moments

And tv: emmy nom wishlist, Castmates who click I'll second the Doctor and Rose, House and Wilon and Ben and Locke. Little Dorritt to be made into a 15 part miniseries. Supposedly the cast is brilliant. I recognize only Matthew Macfayden and Freema from Doctor Who.

And my favorite lolcat in a long time

Page to Screen: Prisoner of Azkaban

Very positive Hulk reviews pouring in. I had to read that sentence twice. Maybe Edward Norton's involvement actually did make a huge difference?

Should the blockbuster season be longer? And more on the subject

The Changeling gets a new release date

A rewrite on Jake Gyllenhaal's moon movie
Miracle at St. Anna poster
Hollywood is burning

New Spirit poster I like this one better than the last one, which was very X2 (fine, and all, but it's a good idea to try something different. Although is this a bit Rosario Dawson in Sin City?)

Liam Neeson in film about the Troubles

13 impressive movie dresses Oh, Atonement dress. You are so pretty.

Jaime Kennedy As someone who did not see Scream 3.... WHAT NOW???

New Dutchess trailer I think the Diana bit is ridiculously stupid, but I love all the new plot details. I can't wait for this one.

Vote Dent

Ask Dr. Clive I wrote in. We'll see if it makes it on.

A moment of silence, please.

Christian Bale could kick your ass

I was so off on the movies this weekend, I ranked 268th. Who knew so many people would be interested in a generic horror flick in June? (Apparently, 267 people knew better than I). This brings me to 89th for the summer so far. Next week, baby.

I also forgot to mention, on my trip to VT, I saw several hawks, an owl, a deer, and a groundhog. And we visited the Stone Zoo, which was cute.

Non-movie related: Tori Amos to leave Epic I love Tori, but I cannot afford how prolific she is.

And: Mythbuster reviews LOST Finale LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU. I clear it off the tivo tomorrow. I WILL NOT HEAR (more) ABOUT IT.

The top 25 animated films This list is terrible. Shrek and no Sleeping Beauty? The Little Mermaid above Finding Nemo? No Secret of NIMH - actually are there ANY Don Bluth on there??

The MTV awards (really the only good part is Carl, the nephew. "It'll do till the Dark Knight gets here"), No joke too old for the MTV awards

Speaking of the Dark Knight, it's featured in July's Empire.

Tim Burton and John August developing Dark Shadows AWESOME

Wall*E meets bouncy balls

Trailer for the Women They managed to take a feminist film from the 30s and turn it into crap. And get Annette Benning to sign on.

Also, I'm not really reporting on Twilight because I'm not a 13 year old girl. Sparkly vampires? Fun concept; if it's done well I might show up, but the absolute frenzy that is building this far in advance smacks of Snakes on a Plane with far less self-awareness. I enjoyed this comment by poster crumpeteer, "Okay, the Twilight people are really starting to scare me and MTV is enabling them."

Photos from Half Blood Prince

Awesome Kill Bill Poster

New, sexy Wanted trailer, Wanted Soundtrack Features Elfman Score, Vocals, new Russian Wanted posters

What Universal Lost in the Fire. Ba dum dum. Thanks folks, Defamer'll be here all week.

Box office and political action

Well, who knew the Visitor had such staying power? Slinking in at the 10th spot, it's box office take demoted me to 22nd in the box office game, tied with 178 other people who made the same mistake. However, that still moves me up to 90th in the game overall, or about the top 5%. Woot.

In other news, I got forwarded this message for help. I haven't been able to get through yet, so I can't confirm that this is real, but it seems genuine, and the cause is important enough to try.

"The office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is polling reaction to the California Supreme Court decision overturning the ban on gay marriage. Most of the response they are getting is in OPPOSITION to the court action.

To vote in support of the Supreme Court's decision on same sex marriage:

1. call 916-445-2841
2. press 1 (for English) or 2 (for Spanish)
3. press 5 (for hot issue topics)
4. press 1 (same sex marriage)
5. press 1 (for support)

After you've done this, please send it on to all supporters you know."

And although it's not related to marriage, it's always worth reposting; Armistead Maupin's "Letter to Mama"

And she's back!

Sorry to be MIA for awhile. I worked some insane number of hours last week to help out with all of Dr. Jane' s events. Luckily, I think the whole week went off very, very well, so I'm quite pleased. Plus Dr. Jane (and the wonderful Mary Lewis) came over to give me a hug at the end of the events for helping to put things together, so I was really touched by that.

In movie box office game news, I ranked 25th for the weekend of May 2nd, and 23rd for this last weekend. That brings me to 112th overall, and I think there are about 1400 players. One of these weekends I'm going to rock out and win the whole thing. I can totally do it.

I haven't seen any new films since Iron Man; I've been far too knackered. However, my brother and I got my mom a Tivo for mother's day/ early birthday, so I have a few things that are now being saved for me. Yay! (I did rewatch Velvet Goldmine, which I really enjoyed. I do think some of the music video sequences could have been edited a bit, but overall I think the visuals are just so much fun. It really made me anxious to see I'm Not There (Todd Haynes is the director for both). Plus, who doesn't love a movie about boys in makeup?)

Narnia seems to be getting good reviews. And as it has Ben Barnes, I think I'll go check it out this weekend.

Sorry most of the linkspam is all cinematical; I've been too busy to go for breadth in my movie news sites.

Cannes is on!! YAAAY!!! Blindness seems to be getting pretty good reviews. Learning that Gael Garcia Bernal is in it makes me way more interested; Mark Ruffalo might be a good actor, but Bernal is fascinating. Cinematical has a Cannes preview here. I'm most excited for the Changeling and Synecdoche, NY (I adore Charlie Kaufman).

Choke got pushed back to late September (according to cinematical)???? WTF?!?! I guess autumn might be a more appropriate time for it, given the subject matter, but dammit. I need my Sam fix!

Speed Racer Crashes and Burns. Mwahaha. Of course, I'm sure the Dark Knight will do fantastically (now that's how you run a campaign), but I'm kinda pleased that the Speed Racer fiasco hits the WB when they cut off Picturehouse and Warner Independent (that fabulous studio that released Snow Angels). As for Speed Racer, it looks like it has great visuals, but I'm saving my big screen funds for Iron Man and Prince Caspian; I never saw the show as a child, and I don't get the fuss over Emile Hirsch. I feel he's like Shia LaBouef; the studios are more convinced of his appeal than the general public (although I guess the returns for Disturbia counter that theory? Then again, it was a savvy release date; right in the doldrums of the movie release schedule).

The new X-Files trailer I really enjoy how some people (often the same ones who whine about movie trailers giving too much away) are whining that it is cryptic. It's the X-Files. I'd be pissed if it weren't. Although can I mourn Scully's hair for a moment? I think it used to be so much prettier. The long cut doesn't seem to work on her.

Oh my god; I am loving this graphic over at the NYTimes. Wheee!

Unofficial Watchmen set report.

I know this is a few days old (I've been BUSY!) but here is the really negative Indy review. And here is a sorta more positive one. My mom keeps talking about how excited she is for this one. And it was theoretically "the most anticipated summer flick of 2008." I don't get it. I'm completely ambivalent over this. Harrison Ford is old, Shia La Bouef is annoying, and no one was really clamoring for a new one after all these years. Iron Man? Whee! Dark Knight? Can't wait. Wanted? Check. Choke... well I'm going to ignore it being pushed back. Those were the movies I was excited for. Speaking of previews, I like the Chronicle's Summer Movie Preview (I must've missed EW's this year). Here's their take on Indy;

"The big picture: "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

Why you should care: Even at 108 years old (give or take), the hat still fits Harrison Ford. Karen Allen returns, and Steven Spielberg is once again running the show. The trailer looks fun, and any movie that features Cate Blanchett looking like a dominatrix can't be too bad. Assuming you didn't hate either of the other sequels, this one is pretty much airtight.

Why you shouldn't care: Considering how much time has passed, who will replace the Nazis as the main villain? The hippies? We're really bummed that neither Sean Connery nor John Rhys-Davies reprised their roles.

If you don't see this movie ... : Then you're a person who doesn't like filmmakers who call their movie "The Last Crusade" and then make another one anyway."

Australia Set to Screen series

George Clooney will 'Stare at Goats'.

David Cronenberg digging the Timecrimes remake? (I really enjoy the director at a Sundance party story). Timecrimes sounds like a really interesting film, although I wonder if it's ever going to be possible to see the original? It's gotten such great buzz, I'd be really interested to see it.

Top movies filmed in SF (mapped by location) I'm a little confused though. Wasn't the Maltese Falcon filmed there? Or did they film in SoCal even though it's set in SF? Doesn't part of the 2nd Thin Man happen in SF, too?

I Love You, Phillip Morris poster (and others). I find that image strangely hypnotic. Also, pastel polo shirts in prison?

Wanted goes viral.

Old Superheroes!

Trailers: The Edge of Love (yay Cillian Murphy!), City of Ember, Traitor, Waltz with Bashir, The Mummy teaser, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, August, and because I can't remember if I posted it before, Igor.

Cleolinda's thoughts on Twilight (you know, the sparkly vampire book adaptation?) make me really happy.

Also via Cleolinda; Scott Glenn to play Rumsfeld for Oliver Stone.

Audrey Tautou Still Adorable as Coco Chanel.

Stunning-looking ‘The Fall’ is totally illogical. [Ed: Looks purty.]

Deschanel, Gordon-Levitt join '500 Days of Summer.'

And: 'The Spirit' Moves to Prime Christmas Spot. "Hey! It's a Very Frank Miller Christmas! I know I can't wait for whores in my stocking."- cleolinda


OOOH! This just in; CA (re?)legalizes gay marriage! The CA Supreme Court voted to keep it! YAY!

This isn't the worst thing you've caught me doing

Favorite quote of the day. In reference to the Iron Man box office predictions (from cinematical):

"Why It Might Not Do Well: If every single person involved with this film went on network television tomorrow and shot a puppy, people would still flock to this one."

Hee. I have a ticket for the advance screening tonight!

Squirrels and toasters!

Sooo.... been a while, yeah?

Sorry about that. Things have been ABSOLUTELY INSANE. Quick rundown:

1) Still don't have a laptop. Working on it.
2) Spent a week in Ireland. Hung out with the best people on earth, had tons and tons of fun, stayed up waay too late, drank too much, and ate too many chips. It was fantastic. Plus we did Jameson and Kildare, which I hadn't before, so... awesome.
3) Went to book club, which was lots of fun. Had a great night. We had read the Ydiish Policemen's Union, and we're doing The History of Love next. Not that we spent more than half an hour on the book, but still...
4) Was in a car wreck. As in we were driving along, were slammed from the side, I couldn't get out of my door and the car might be totaled. Luckily, I escaped with only a few bruises and scrapes, and my neck cracks a bit more now. Whiplash - whee!
5) Played in the dirt on Earth Day.
6) Am absolutely slammed at work getting ready for Dr. Jane's visit to Boston. AHHH.

7) Finally, and most in my mind, saw Eddie Izzard last night at the Orpheum. (Right - on my birthday.) OH MY GOD. While the show was only in its second night, so not entirely polished, he was completely fantastic. Totally brilliant, so funny. I can't even begin to remember everything that had me doubled up with laughter. I think he is my favorite person alive right now. I can't wait to see how the act changes and gels by the time he gets to the Kodak and (I'm assuming) films it. I do wish there were a bootleg of last night's performance, though. And: he was like a fucking rock god walking on stage - the place didn't stop screaming and calm down for ages and ages. At one point he mentioned a topic that had been in... maybe Circle? I can't remember what it was now for the life of me. Maybe giraffes? Anyways, of course the crowd went nuts and he goes, "Jesus, I can't say a word I've ever said before" and goes off on that. At another point a woman in the front row put her purse on the stage and he went off on that. "Would you do that at Hamlet?" [Side note: most restless audience EVER. Long show+no intermission+beer = not a brilliant idea.]

Right. So. that's my life right now. I'll probably disappear for a bit again until after Dr. Jane is gone, but I am going to try really hard to be more punctual, despite the lack of internet.
Movie news? After 2 weeks, I'm 201/968 in the box office challenge (I'm behind because I couldn't get on the computer after the car wreck and had to direct my brother to submit my picks and Harold and Kumar wouldn't load and yada yada yada. I'll be in the top 50 soon!)

While in Ireland, Kristl, Saki and I went to see Pathology which was AMAZINGLY terrible. And yet, totally worth the price of admission. I was disappointed that they didn't focus more on the undetectable/interesting ways of killing people, which was a promising plot for a thriller. Instead, you got a lot of drug use (because I know so many med students who smoke crack), a token bisexual asian girl, an entire club of pathologists turned on by dead people, a girl who uses scalpels in sex play, one member of the group whose name YOU NEVER LEARN, and a ton of gaping plot points. On the other hand, you get lots of naked Milo Ventimiglia, so... worth the $9 euro, I'd say. And fair play to the director for going R, instead of some wimpy PG-13 route. We probably should have picked 21 instead, but we knew it would be trashy fun, so we had a good time. Particularly bashing it on the way home.

I also saw the 3:10 to Yuma, which I enjoyed, although I think the Assassination of Jesse James is a more interesting take on the Western genre, and Wordplay, which was quite cute.

I have a ton of newsy stuff to catch up on, but I'll do that in a separate entry.

Choke, movie grosses, and trailers

I noticed something while I was reading through recaps of Sundance. Most of the articles revolved around the fact that, despite the writers strike, few films were being picked up. Now some of the articles thought that the possible resolution to the strike was one possibility, while many mentioned deals in years past that had failed to produce returns. However, it really started to bug me that all of the articles only mentioned domestic returns. What movie studio focuses solely on domestic returns these days? It's like the reports that the Golden Compass was a flop or Stardust was a bomb. The Golden Compass made over 100 million for New Line (less marketing). Stardust nearly doubled its production budget, even before an additional 30 million from DVD rentals. Making movies solely for an American audience isn't profitable anymore.

Anyhoo. On that front, Owen Gleiberman over at EW has a great article on why Fox Searchlight, one of the best Sundance flick distributors, made the right decision in purchasing Choke. There is also a great review over at First Showing. And on AICN. Oh, and Choke got a special jury prize for work by an ensemble cast.

Elsewhere; the Coen bro.s got the DGA award. And I'm definitely behind on seeing No Country for Old Men.

Trailer round-up; Smart People. I personally really dislike Sarah Jessica Parker, but I do like Ellen Page. I've heard some good buzz out of Sundance, so I think this one is a maybe.

Shutter. Oh, Pacey. You're just never going to have a career, are you?

88 Minutes. I'm sort of surprised to see Al Pacino in this. It looks very routine. If you want a crime thriller why not go check out one of these instead? Or, if you want a twister involving Death Row, I liked the underrated Life of David Gale.

Sleepwalking. You know, Charlize Theron had potential. Maybe it was eaten by the giant bow monster. And Nick Stahl seems like he has potential, but I have a hard time seeing him and not thinking Sin City. *shudder*. For loner turned around by a young girl, go rent Lawn Dogs.

The Accidental Husband. Awww. Jeffrey Dean Morgan. When his character died, I gave up watching Grey's Anatomy. Because much as I enjoy storylines featuring multiple people impaled on a pole, his character was the only remotely likable person in that nuthouse. Plus, he kind of reminds me of Robert Downey Jr.-lite. (Hey, was that the guy from Office Space in that trailer? Whoa. Where have you been for 10 years?) Anyways, I hope Mr. Morgan eventually gets some kind of role beyond a film that has COLIN FIRTH in it. He of the disgustingly sappy romcoms in the world. Blech. And hopefully the Life Before her Eyes gets Uma Thurman some better parts as well.

The new Get Smart international trailer. Awww... the teaser had me all excited and now? Not so much. Missed it by thaaat much. I'll wait and see on this one. Although maybe Steve Carrell should tone down the work load and focus on quality, rather than quantity.

Animals. Naveen Andrews as a werewolf. No, really.