August 2009 Archives

Disney Buys Marvel: The Pros and Cons (from a Fan's Perspective)

Today, the news broke that Disney has bought Marvel Entertainment, lock stock and barrel, for $4 billion. That includes Marvel Comics, with over 5,000 characters, and Marvel Studios, with the successful Iron Man and Hulk film franchises, plus the upcoming Thor, Captain America and The Avengers. It seems like it's a win-win scenario -- Disney gets a boys' brand to bookend the Disney Princesses, and Marvel gets some global multimedia clout -- but what does this really mean for our beloved Marvel superheroes? As fans, these are just a few things we're worried and/or excited about.

Halloween 2: What's Next for Horror Movie Remakes?

With the sequel to Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween in theaters, the director has decided it's the perfect time to announce that he will next remake The Blob, the 1958 movie about a... well, a blob. From space. It's already been remade, in 1988 with Johnny Drama from Entourage, but we'll ignore that one if it means we'll get a grisly new sci-fi story from Mr. Zombie. Of course, Zombie doesn't have a monopoly on remaking old horror movies, and there are already a slew of re-imaginings in the works. We rounded up info on a few of the more high-profile ones, so you know which movies are currently getting hacked to bits in the editing room and which are just plain dead.

Gamer: Haven't We Played This Game Before?

As an office full of Crank fans, we're psyched to see Gamer, the next project from Crank and Crank: High Voltage directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. Maybe it's because it looks like it has a lot in common with the Cranks, as far as hyperkinetic action and video game iconography go, but it may also be that the plot reminds us of some of our favorite movies of the past. In Gamer, a convict named Kable is a remote-controlled soldier in a real-life video game, and he only needs to win three more games to win his freedom. Maybe it's on purpose, maybe it's just coincidence, but here are a few of the films that we think of whenever we watch the Gamer trailer.

I Want My DVD: Tuesday, August 25, 2009

I Want My DVD was getting out of control, so drastic action has been taken. No, we haven't instituted a ban on Mickey Rourke -- the dude will act in anything, but we'll still cover all of his movies, even the weird ones. No, we've removed TV shows from the mix and given them their own home. For the latest television releases, you can check out TV on DVD over in the Telefile. All movie releases will remain right here, just in time for us to call out one of our favorite movies of the year, as well as a couple of the worst.

Taking Woodstock: How Ang Lee Makes Everything Boring

There is a part of us that is vaguely interested in the movie Taking Woodstock, since we love Demitri Martin on his show Important Things, and the supporting cast (Emile Hirsch, Eugene Levy, Liev Schreiber cross-dressing again -- remember Mixed Nuts?) is impressive. But while the concert at Woodstock was certainly an exciting event, haven't there been enough movies about it? And is Ang Lee really the director to tackle the subject matter? Because when given exciting material, Lee has a tendency to turn it into a snooze-fest.

Post-Mortem on Post Grad

I wound up at Post-Grad this weekend, mostly because I was with a girly friend and Julie & Julia was sold out and I couldn't even imagine seeing The Time Traveler's Wife. And you know what? It was worse than just a Reality Bites redo that Mindy speculated about (which it certainly bears a strong resemblance to). I thought the adorable charm of Zach Gilford and my warm feelings about Gilmore Girls would make it a tolerable experience, but alas, that was not the case. Here are the reasons that I would rather sit through The Ugly Truth every time I take a plane than to have to watch this ever again. Fair warning, there may be things that could be considered spoilers, if you actually care.

Do You Wanna Date James Cameron's Avatar? Hell, Yes.

In the past, we've wondered if James Cameron's project, Avatar, could really live up to the hype. Even the trailer, released last week, left us feeling kind of meh. But on Friday, Cameron released 20 minutes of 3-D footage in IMAX theaters nationwide, and it was instantly apparent why Cameron felt an Avatar Day was necessary, and why non-3-D footage of the movie doesn't convey how amazing the movie looks. Not that the movie is some groundbreaking piece of cinema: the storyline is a sci-fi take on Dances With Wolves (with a dash of Soul Man), the designs for the aliens and the military vehicles are old hat, and some of the dialogue is horrible. But when you're watching naked, blue versions of Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington running around the jungle in high-definition 3-D, all of these worries melt away. Read on for a day-after description of the footage; I may be hazy on some details, but it's mostly the same as the footage that was shown at San Diego Comic-Con. And don't worry about spoilers, as a 3-D James Cameron informed us a the beginning that these are all from the first half of the movie.

Inglourious Basterds: My Dinner With Nazis

If there's one thing you are guaranteed to get out of a Quentin Tarantino film, it's good dinner table conversation. Not to say that you'll necessarily want to discuss the events of a Tarantino film around your dinner table, especially if there are children present, but within the reality of the movies themselves you can expect to spend at least part of your time in a restaurant or a bar, watching characters converse over a meal or drinks. In Inglourious Basterds, we get three -- one in a kitchen over milk, one in a bar over drinks and one in a restaurant over strudel with cream -- and each one of these little sit-downs is just as pulse-poundingly terrifying as any action sequence you will ever see.

I Want My DVD: Tuesday, August 18, 2009

As we get closer to the fall television season, studios pick up the pace in releasing their previous season's TV shows on DVD -- even the canceled ones! Still, a couple of gory flicks managed to sneak into stores amidst all of the TV offerings, as well as a teen girl musical, an old man comedy and a retro sci-fi actioner celebrating its 25th birthday. Happy birthday!


I Liked Post-Grad Better When It Was Called Reality Bites Aww, why am I picking on little Post-Grad? This modest movie starring Rory Gilmore and Matt Saracen is completely minding its own business and is totally harmless, but still -- I keep seeing the commercials for it, and I can't helped but be irked by all the things whoever made Post-Grad (the person who directed Shark Tale? And the person who wrote a thing Demi Moore directed?) lifted from Reality Bites.

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