Sundance First Look: Trailer for Ashton Kutcher's 'Spread'
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After watching the trailer for Ashton Kutcher's romantic 'dramedy' Spread, I can't help but think this film could be much better than this first promo would have us believe. So maybe this first glimpse isn't going to 'wow' you right off the bat, but the combination of a May-December story with Kutcher in the lead makes you think the film might have something to say other than 'ain't love grand'.Spread is the story of Nicki, a top-notch womanizer (Kutcher) whose player lifestyle is brought to a screeching halt by two very different women. Anne Heche also stars (in a role originally occupied by Jennifer Jason Leigh) as the older woman whom Kutcher is involved with when he meets an enigmatic waitress (played by Margarita Levieva) who is just a little more 'age-appropriate'. But, when true love knocks, it isn't exactly what Nicki has in mind, and judging by the terribly 'earnest' music being played over the second half of the trailer, you know that there will be few life-lessons learned along the way.Spread was written by first-time screenwriter Jason Dean Hall, with David Mackenzie at the helm. It was just announced that the film was being added to the Sundance line-up (but only on the non-competition roster). Spread is expected to arrive in theaters later this year, so I would assume that Kutcher and company will be doing a hard sell out in Utah to generate a little buzz. Sound off below on whether you think Kutcher is forever cursed with being Kelso, the lovable goofball, or can he make the move to being a bona-fide leading man?
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sundance, Trailers and Clips Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
By the Numbers: 'Dark Knight' Will Be Nominated for Best Picture Oscar
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As a precursor to the Oscars, all the Hollywood guilds and associations have been announcing their own nominations, and you might have noticed a pattern developing:
The Producers Guild of America named these films as candidates for its best picture award: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, Milk, and Slumdog Millionaire.
Then the Directors Guild of America announced its nominees, and they were the men who directed these films: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, Milk, and Slumdog Millionaire.
And the Writers Guild of America had 10 nominees, five each in original screenplay and adapted screenplay, and among those nominees were the people who wrote these films: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, Milk, and Slumdog Millionaire.
The same five films were nominated for each of these guild awards -- a trifecta, to use a word I don't get to use often enough. So now you're wondering, is this trifecta common? And how does it predict the Oscar nominations?It turns out it is pretty common for a movie to be nominated for all three of these. (It helps that the WGA nominates 10 films, increasing the chances of overlap with the other awards.) The PGA awards are the newest, having begun in 1990, and since that time 43 films (not counting this year's) have hit the trifecta. And of those 43 -- and this is the important part -- only three have then failed to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. So if history is any indication, the nominees for Best Picture at the Academy Awards will be these five films: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, Milk, and Slumdog Millionaire. Put on your sad clown mask and take it to the bank.Filed under: Awards, Oscar Watch Permalink | Email this | Comments
Insert Caption: Hotel for Dogs
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Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the online game that totally supports an actual hotel for dogs ... except we don't want to work there. Last week we asked you to churn out your best for a photo from the new flick Last Chance Harvey, and with only one winner to take home the prize, we searched hard and long for the caption that turned us off the most. (Or something like that). Congrats go out to Mark P.1. "Dustin turned, and suddenly it struck him: "Jesus! From this angle, she looks like me with long hair..." -- Mark P.See full image and all captionsThis week we're checking in to Hotel for Dogs (in theaters January 16th), and checking out all your witty captions for a photo from this film about two kids who secretly take care of nine stray dogs in a vacant house ... and hilarity ensues. Once again we're looking for only one winner this week, which means you really have to be on your caption-ing game. But the prize is totally worth it -- the person behind our favorite caption will run away with one Hotel for Dogs Nintendo DS and one Hotel for Dogs Nintendo DS game. So bark out those fine captions and sound off below ...Read the official rules for this contestFiled under: Fandom, Contests, Insert Caption Permalink | Email this | Comments
Danny Elfman Scoring 'Terminator: Salvation'
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While one can't be blamed for mistaking all of composer Danny Elfman's work for sounding like his distinctive collaborations with Tim Burton, the three-time Oscar nominee has been kicking as much ass as ever when it comes to more conventional action fare, with work on The Kingdom, Wanted, and Hellboy II: The Golden Army, not to mention dramas like Milk and Notorious.So when the MTV Movies Blog broke the news that Elfman just began scoring this summer's Terminator: Salvation, it sounded like as good a fit as any. He doesn't promise the return of Brad Fiedel's signature theme, though he also doesn't rule it out. Even if he sticks with a wholly original composition, I really think he'll bring something exciting to the table, whether or not director McG manages to.MTV also brought less surprising news that hip-hop artist Common, who starred in Wanted and stars in this, will be contributing a track. Now I could see the beat turning up for that:Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh -- WHAT?Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh -- YEAH!Y'all feelin' me? No? Well, are you at least feeling the Elfman?Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels Permalink | Email this | Comments
Review: Not Easily Broken
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Among his other achievements, Tyler Perry can be credited for helping create room at the multiplex for Christian-themed, African-American-targeted melodramas. Just as Judd Apatow has made the R-rated comedy fashionable (and profitable) again, Perry has reminded distributors that there's a market for tame, moderately enjoyable message films. Not Easily Broken is the latest movie to benefit from Perry's track record. Granted, its director, Bill Duke (also a recognizable actor), has been at this since before anyone knew who Perry was -- but I doubt Not Easily Broken would be opening on 800 screens if it weren't for the success of tonally similar films like Meet the Browns and The Family That Preys. The chief difference between Duke and Perry seems to be that while Perry's films idolize women and make most of the men out to be villains, Not Easily Broken looks at the current state of black American malehood and gently urges men to be better. The title comes from a minister's assertion, in the wedding scene that opens the film, that while a regular marriage can be disrupted by worldly influences, a marriage that includes God as a third partner (not like THAT, you sickos) can withstand almost anything. That's eventually the main point of the movie, too, though it's supplemented by other good points that are less religious in nature. Filed under: Comedy, Drama, New Releases, Theatrical Reviews, ReligiousContinue reading Review: Not Easily Broken Permalink | Email this | Comments
Buy This: Wrap 920AV Video Eyewear
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I swear, sometimes it feels like folks are getting all their inspiration from Back to the Future II. Earlier this week, Vuzix introduced a new pair of video eyewear that kinda looks like the glasses worn by the future McFly kids in BTTFII. These, however, aren't for talking on the phone -- instead, you'll be able to watch video that provides an effect as if you're looking at a 60-inch monitor from nine feet away. Not only that, but apparently you'll still be able to see out of the glasses while watching the video (hello car accidents) ... and look uber stylish the entire time!No word on pricing or what the video resolution is (two very important factors, in my opinion), but The Wrap 920AV will be compatible with iPod, iPhone, Portable DVD Players, Media Players, Digital Cameras, Camcorders, Cellular phones with video out, Video Game Systems, PCs and Laptops with S-Video. Is has a 30 degree field of view, noise-canceling earphones, weighs less than three ounces and works on 2 AA batteries for six hours. Optional accessories include a stereo camera pair and a clip-on, six degrees of freedom head tracking system. So whaddya think? You buying one?Filed under: Fandom, Tech Stuff, Home Entertainment Permalink | Email this | Comments
Indie Spotlight: New Releases for Jan. 9
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Hey, what do you know, it's already the second weekend of 2009! Only 50 to go before 2010! Most independent-film distributors took a break the last couple weeks (as did most of mainstream Hollywood), but they're getting back into the swing of things now, and the Indie Spotlight is here, as always, to let you know what's playing beyond the multiplexes. Your indie selections this weekend are: Cargo 200, Just Another Love Story, Silent Light, Yonkers Joe, and the After Dark Horrorfest 2009. Keep reading for the scoop on each of them. Silent Light (pictured)What it is: A quiet, slow, contemplative drama about a case of adultery in a small Mennonite community in northern Mexico. What they're saying: I reviewed it for Cinematical at the Portland International Film Festival last year and described the cinematography as breathtakingly beautiful, the story simple and mesmerizing. I'm one of the 83% of critics at Rotten Tomatoes who liked it. Make no mistake, though: It's a slooow movie -- on purpose. The idea is to become absorbed in the thoughts and feelings of the characters. Where it's playing: New York City (Film Forum).More info: The official site is lovely to look at it, if nothing else.Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Foreign Language, Horror, Independent, Noir, Columns, Indie SpotlightContinue reading Indie Spotlight: New Releases for Jan. 9 Permalink | Email this | Comments
Craven's 'Last House' Clearly Wasn't
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It's been nearly three four decades since Wes Craven made his mark on the horror scene with The Last House on the Left, and he's recently grown more adept at merely producing remakes of his own work, such as 2006's take on The Hills Have Eyes -- which I found to be a perfectly nasty piece of work (yes, that's a compliment).Well, at the risk of sounding completely and utterly immoral, I find myself similarly intrigued by this new trailer (watch below or over on Apple) for this new take on Last House, in which Sara Paxton gets seriously bullied by some local punks, who in turn unwittingly seek refuge with understandably vengeful parents Monica Potter and Tony Goldwyn. Scott, our resident horror-hound whose assessment of the original I happen to agree with (overrated, though not without merit), had this much to say after watching the trailer: "Uhh, motel room? She survives? Microwave? Eep. Nice to see Tony Goldwyn getting work, though."Okay, I'll give him the somewhat silly microwave bit, but other than that, I think this looks like an interesting enough revenge thriller that doesn't totally upend the original. And kudos to Rogue Pictures or whoever they have handle their trailers -- the ones for this, The Strangers, and The Unborn work pretty well, even when the final films*cough*Unborn*cough*don't.Whoa-whoa-oh, sweet trailer of mine...Filed under: Horror, Thrillers, Mystery & Suspense, Remakes and Sequels, Trailers and Clips Permalink | Email this | Comments
Review: The Unborn
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Any movie that begins with a dog wearing a human mask is in serious trouble. If it wants to use that kind of dream snippet as a launch pad for exploring a demented and increasingly bizarre world, if it wants to embrace a loony aesthetic and milk it for all it's worth, wonderful. Deliver a solid, jolting, dazzling, surprising thriller, and all will be forgiven.
On the other hand, if it desperately wants to be taken seriously, if it proceeds in a very measured and sober manner, if it becomes increasingly sedate as it calmly plods through tedious exposition, then you have a mess on your hands.
The Unborn looks like a ghost story, feels like a ghost story, and kinda sounds like a ghost story, but it's dead on arrival. Because writer/director David S. Goyer has been associated with a host of projects with which I have a natural affinity, I was cautiously optimistic that his fourth directorial outing (after ZigZag, Blade: Trinity, and The Invisible) might reflect more of the pulpy, noirish mood and momentum that are evident in some of the best scripts for which he's been credited in part or in whole (Dark City, Blade II, Batman Begins).
Instead, all the juice has been drained from The Unborn. Not even the sight of the lovely, lean and fit Odette Yustman, whose last name became Yowza! when the trailer and pics first hit the net, can salvage the film from mediocrity. Filed under: Horror, New Releases, Mystery & Suspense, Universal, Theatrical ReviewsContinue reading Review: The Unborn Permalink | Email this | Comments
'Slumdog' Nearly Sweeps the Critics' Choice Awards
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The Critics Choice Awards, given out by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, have successfully picked the Best Picture Oscar winner seven out of the last ten years (they went for Saving Private Ryan instead of Shakespeare in Love; Sideways instead of Million Dollar Baby and Brokeback Mountain instead of Crash). So things are looking better and better for Slumdog Millionaire, which all but swept the awards last night, taking Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Young Actor, and Best Composer. Heath Ledger won Best Supporting Actor, and The Dark Knight won "Best Action Movie," a nonsense new category invented for the sole purpose of giving The Dark Knight an award. Sean Penn won for Milk, surprising no one. Anne Hathaway for best actress (tying with Meryl Streep) and Kate Winslet for Best Supporting Actress were less foregone conclusions. Mildly off-topic, John Adams won the award for best TV Movie; Generation Kill, which remains my favorite film of any sort in 2008, wasn't even nominated, which is absurd. The full list of winners is after the jump.Filed under: AwardsContinue reading 'Slumdog' Nearly Sweeps the Critics' Choice Awards Permalink | Email this | Comments
Superbowl Movie Trailers Revealed!
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Unlike last year's poor showing, the Hollywood studios are bringing out the big guns for this year's Superbowl. What that means is our first look at Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, as it seems Paramount will be holding out for that Superbowl launch. Other much-anticipated trailers arriving that Sunday include G.I. Joe, Angels and Demons, Monsters vs. Aliens (the 3-D version, which requires special glasses, will air at the end of the second quarter), Land of the Lost and Fast and Furious, with spots for Pixar's Up and X-Men Origins: Wolverine also likely. Damn. Last year I believe a couple trailers leaked prior the the big game, but all of them were available online immediately afterwards. No word on whether any of these trailers will arrive online beforehand to soak up a little internet spotlight before having to share the main stage on Superbowl Sunday. Additionally, according to Variety, some studios -- like Warner Brothers, Fox and Disney -- still haven't bought air time, but may wait until the last minute to snag a spot at a lower price. Warners, for example, has Watchmen, Terminator: Salvation and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on the agenda, and we'd be surprised if none of those snuck in a little game day treat. Which trailer are you most excited to see?Filed under: Action, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fandom, Family Films, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Trailers and Clips Permalink | Email this | Comments
Sandra Bullock in 'All About Steve' Trailer: "Full Retard" ...or Worse?
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It appears that the only way for Sandra Bullock to make us grateful for her merely tepid rom-com fare (see: the trailer for this summer's The Proposal) was to offer something worse in comparison. As such, here's a trailer (watch below or over on Yahoo) for this spring's All About Steve, in which her bumbling Mary falls for eponymous cameraman Bradley Cooper -- despite indications that his interests fall elsewhere.What Steve doesn't seem to understand is that Mary appears to be... um, well, how you say, special.By which I mean mentally deficient.Oh, how she loves her red boots and drives through hurricanes after one-night stands and snickers at her own jokes and has hair like a Pomeranian and splits Moon Pies with strangers and falls down gaping holes in the ground while anchor Thomas Haden Church reports nearby -- isn't that all just melon-farmin' adorable?!? No wonder this puppy's attached to Bride Wars this weekend.Oh, wait -- I'm actually being informed that her character is merely 'quirky' and 'eccentric'. Go figure.All About Steve (which has no discernable connection to Fox's own 1950 classic, All About Eve) is opening on March 6th, 2009, and I suddenly understand why the studio is so desperate to get Watchmen bumped back.Filed under: Comedy, Romance, 20th Century Fox, Trailers and Clips Permalink | Email this | Comments
Review: Bride Wars
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Life. It's a word that describes pretty much everything. Certain movies have "life" in them, like Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married. Somehow, some way, that movie managed to capture a feel of what it really feels like to live, what it feels like to attend a wedding, what it feels like to need and hurt and be lonely. Anne Hathaway was a big part of why that movie worked, playing an essentially selfish, needy character but doing so in a completely three-dimensional way; we understood where her flaws came from, rather than simply being presented with them. Now here is Ms. Hathaway again, in a new movie, Bride Wars, and she manages that life once again, but only in one scene, for one fleeting moment. The rest of the time, for 88 out of its 89 minutes, it's a movie totally devoid of life.
In that scene, Emma (Hathaway) runs into with her ex-BFF's brother, Nate (Bryan Greenberg) and reluctantly goes with him to help him try on his tux (and, of course, tie his bow tie). Her relationship with her fiancé is faltering, her plans are falling apart and she misses her feuding friend. Nate asks her how she's doing. She says "fine." He prods, and she breaks down, all of those emotions: excitement, grief, uncertainty, coming out at once. She re-composes herself and leaves the store. It's an example of a skilled actor overcoming weak, lazy material, which is something I've come to see more and more lately.
Filed under: Comedy, New Releases, Theatrical Reviews, New in Theaters, 20th Century FoxContinue reading Review: Bride Wars Permalink | Email this | Comments
Cinematical Seven: Most Terrifying Tots!
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Everybody loves evil children! Judging from its trailer, the wide release of The Unborn this weekend promises to unleash a new terrifying tot upon a nation of unsuspecting teens. But the idea of scary juveniles extends far beyond the expected audience for David Goyer's jolt-fest.
One writer suggested that the idea of evil children originated "in the biblical tale of Elisha's mockery," in which 42 small boys disrespected a prophet of God -- and were promptly torn to pieces by two bears. The silver screen featured dozens of bratty kids in the 30s and 40s (e.g. the Dead End Kids/Bowery Boys) but none as murderously terrifying as 10-year-old Rhoda Penmark (Patty McCormack) in Mervyn LeRoy's The Bad Seed (1956), a rebel yell against a conformist generation of "perfect" suburban families.
The 50s also produced Jerome Bixby's short story "It's a Good Life," featuring a three-year-old with more super powers than anyone at Marvel or DC could dream up. First adopted as an episode of The Twilight Zone (with Billy Mummy), Joe Dante added layers of suburban subversion when he used it as the basis for his segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie (with Jeremy Licht as the kid).
Which tots, tykes, and teens have terrified you? Here's my personal countdown of evil children that have inspired nightmares or, at least, made me shiver.
7. Darby O'Gill and the Little People
I was five or six years old and had never seen little people before -- I freaked out because I couldn't understand why kids my age had wrinkles and beards, and were dancing and drinking liquids my Dad said never to touch. The wailing banshee gave me nightmares, but those little people made my hair stand up.Filed under: Classics, Horror, Fandom, Cinematical Seven, ListsContinue reading Cinematical Seven: Most Terrifying Tots! Permalink | Email this | Comments
'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' Poster Hits!
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So the first poster for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (aka Transformers 2) has arrived online via Yahoo, but I'm totally bummed Michael Bay didn't use a better tagline. What we have is the face of a robot with red eyes (the Fallen?) and the tagline Revenge is Coming, with a release date of June 26, 2009. In my opinion, however, this poster would've been ten times better had this robot face come with a tagline like Hey Summer, Guess Who Just Showed Up To Kick Your Ass Michael Bay Style! or Hey, The Fallen, Meet Awesome Part Two!. Whatever. I guess we'll take this until the first trailer debuts ... (Superbowl Sunday?).Filed under: Fandom, Movie Marketing, Images, Posters Permalink | Email this | Comments
Discuss: The Foreign & Indie Films of 2009
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Many of this year's foreign and indie releases showed up on some of the more obscure top ten lists of 2008, and will no doubt be rolling out across the country in various irregular patterns all year long. For example, Steven Soderbergh's Che turned up on more than half a dozen lists that I saw (including our own James Rocchi's), yet most people haven't seen it yet. I have seen it, and I doubt it'll be sticking around long, though I greatly admire it. It's a deliberate attempt to subvert the current biopic formula, and though it's somewhat cold and ultimately a bit one-sided, it's also endlessly mesmerizing. Silent Light, the newest drama by the great and peculiar Mexican director Carlos Reygadas (Battle in Heaven) is also due to show up this month. Matteo Garrone's Italian gangster movie Gomorrah and Steve McQueen's British based-on-a-true-story drama Hunger have also placed well on several top ten and awards lists, and will be turning up in February and March.
The two-time Cannes champs Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have a new one, Lorna's Silence, which I haven't seen, but that has a very nice poster. (It's supposed to be coming around in June.) And James Gray (The Yards, We Own the Night), who for some mysterious reason is quite beloved in France, opened his new film, Two Lovers -- starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joaquin Phoenix -- there to great acclaim. It's due here in February. And one of my contacts tells me that Roy Andersson's outstanding deadpan Swedish comedy You, the Living, which I saw early in 2008, will finally open to theaters sometime in 2009. I'm still waiting for a release date for Kathryn Bigelow's war film Hurt Locker, but it has enough buzz that I'm not worried. I'm a little more concerned about John Woo's Chinese epic Red Cliff, which will hopefully return that master to his former glory; so far there's no U.S. release date -- and no indication that the entire, uncut film will make it over here.Filed under: Foreign Language, Independent, DistributionContinue reading Discuss: The Foreign & Indie Films of 2009 Permalink | Email this | Comments
An Early Peek at Goyer's 'Unborn'
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This week will bring us The Unborn -- the latest horror movie offering starring Cloverfield's Odette Yustman, with a pretty sweet supporting cast that includes Gary Oldman, Cam Gigandet, Meagan Good, Carla Gugino, James Remar, Jane Alexander, and Idris Elba. But before it hits theaters on Friday, you can check out the clip above, courtesy of Empire. (You might recognize it as a longer scene from the trailer.)Sometimes twins just aren't cool. They either ingest you in the womb, or die and then haunt you later. Yustman plays a girl who is bitter about the fact that her mom left her as a child -- only to later begin to discover why. She turns to a spiritual advisor (Oldman), and tries to end a family curse dating back to Nazi Germany ... at least, according to the Moviefone synopsis. The trailer is more -- "Hey, I have a twin brother who is dead and ticked off about it."Is it her twin? Or just a demon disguised? No idea. But with Oldman along for the ride, it's got to be a sweet and scary journey.Filed under: Horror, Trailers and Clips Permalink | Email this | Comments
Sony Kills 'Fright Night' Remake, Instead Wants 'Hell Night'
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I just want to get this out there right at the start: whoever is responsible for putting the kibosh on plans for a remake of the 1985 horror Fright Night has my eternal thanks. Shock Till You Drop is reporting that Sony's Screen Gems has halted development on the project and word is that the real reason for Sony's decision was that they were unable to come up with a satisfactory script. The film's original director, Todd Holland, had been involved with the project, but in a previous interview with STYD, Holland had confirmed that the script "...apparently has gone through 3 unusable drafts..."Screen Gems has been in the horror-remake business for a while. Some of their other attempts included remakes of Prom Night, and the English-language remake of REC, better known as Quarantine. Fright Night might be safe for now, but fans of 80's horror still have plenty to worry about; rumor has it that Sony is still remaking the horror flick Hell Night, about a group of college kids getting knocked off in a variety of gruesome ways at an old mansion. Now hold on to you hats, kids, because it gets worse from here: Sony has already announced that Hell Night would be a PG-13 film. When pressed for a reason as to why Gems was looking to clean up the original flick, Screen Gems president was quoted as saying, "If you are going to make a movie for a bunch of kids, you have to make it PG-13. You try not to make a movie for an audience that is older than your protagonist." Unfortunately, that argument isn't going to change my opinion about 'gore-free' horror any time soon, how about yours? So is it just me, or is the goodwill of horror fans slowly running out for these kinds of remakes? Sound off below...Filed under: Horror, Deals, Sony, RumorMonger, Scripts, Remakes and Sequels Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Buy This: The Force Trainer
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Who hasn't, at one point in their life, secretly (or not so secretly, if you were intoxicated) tried to use The Force? Maybe the television remote was just out of your reach, and so you concentrated real hard and hoped it would magically move into your hand. Hey, we've been there -- don't feel ashamed. Well what if I told you that within the next year, a toy was hitting stores that actually allowed you to use The Force? Yup, totally serious about this one -- USA Today tells us that The Force Trainer will run somewhere around $90-100, and it "comes with a headset that uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere within a clear 10-inch-tall training tower, analogous to Yoda and Luke Skywalker's abilities in the Star Wars films."But this isn't the only mind-control game hitting the market in 2009; apparently Mattel also has something called the Mind Flex game (due this fall), which "uses brain-wave activity to move a ball through a tabletop obstacle course." Next up: Mattel gives us the Score A Date With That Hot Model-Type Mind Game. You wish. With the Force Trainer, you're hooked up to a wireless headset that reads your brain activity -- then, by concentrating and focusing on the task, you move a ping-pong ball up through a tower ... with your mind, dude! Creepy! But I'm totally buying this. You?Filed under: Fandom, Home Entertainment Permalink | Email this | Comments
Surprise! The People Chose 'The Dark Knight'
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It's not really a surprise, but our beloved The Dark Knight has grabbed the top honor at the 35th People's Choice Awards. If there was any award the film was sure to get, that's the one I'd pick. Aside from Favorite Movie, the film also scored a win in the Favorite Action Movie category, and an acting nod for Christian Bale and Heath Ledger. That's right -- one prize, Favorite On-Screen Match-Up. (Chemistry, baby!) Plus, a win for Favorite Cast and one more for Bale as Favorite Superhero -- sorry Tony Stark.With all the love and press, however, the Dark Knight wasn't able to sweep the ground out from under Will Smith, who picked up both Favorite Male movie Star and Favorite Male Action Star. And outside the realm of irresistible geek fare, Wall-E nabbed Favorite Family Movie, The Secret Life of Bees scored Favorite Movie Drama and Independent Movie (over Zachary? I think not.), and, egads, 27 Dresses won the prize for Favorite Movie Comedy. Really, people? Over Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and the other great comedies last year? Geez.Wrapping up the Favorite wins: Favorite Leading Man went to Brad Pitt, Funny Male Star went to Adam Sandler (did we go back to the '90s?), Female Movie Star went to Reese Witherspoon, Leading Lady went to Kate Hudson (again, what year are we in?), Female Action Star went to Angelina Jolie, Funny Female Star went to Tina Fey, and Favorite Song -- Meryl Streep and "Mamma Mia."Cinematical readers, you're "People," so I ask: Are these your choices?Filed under: Awards Permalink | Email this | Comments


