With Labor Day weekend at hand, I thought I’d cram a lot of awesomness into one mega post.
First up, James Cameron thinks he owns the concept of 3D and takes it upon himself to call out Piranha 3D as “exactly an example of what we should not be doing in 3-D.” This prompts Piranha producer Mark Canton to point out that not everyone can “take ten years using other people’s money to make and market a film.” All I can say is that there was ritual mating in both movies and the fish film did it right.
Shamelessly stolen from cbsnews.com
Elsewhere, I Watch Stuff reports that CBS reports that 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair report that nobody gives a crap how evil Mel Gibson is. 76% of those polled said that the scandal would have no effect on their likelihood of seeing a new Mel Gibson movie. If America can separate Gibson the man from Gibson the actor, I suppose I can start going back to my favorite Starbucks, despite that one barista’s outspoken views on abortion.
Here’s Doctor Who favorite David Tennant from the upcoming remake of Fright Night. I’ve never seen the original, but you can pretty much take any beloved genre actor and cast them as a magician and I’ll see that movie. Just ask The Prestige.
Speaking of awe-inspiring images, Juan Pablo Bravo made a HUGE size-comparison chart of just about any Hanna-Barbera character you can think of, 600 in all. Click the tiny sample below for the full shebang.
Almost as cool as knowing the exact relative heights of the Hair Bear Bunch, is Conan O’Brien announcing the name of his new TBS show. It’s a good thing he’s getting back to work. With that beard, he looks like he’d be on the streets with a beaver puppet, leaving angry voicemails for Oksana Grigorieva if he didn’t have something to keep him busy.
And finally, let’s usher in the holiday weekend with everybody’s favorite weekend activity. DANCE PARTY!
Well, I really wanted to link you guys to a great interview that Can’t Get Enough Futurama did with one of the show’s writers. It’s interesting both to fans of the show and anyone curious about TV writing in general. Unfortunately, the site’s down or something. It was fine this morning, but now it keeps asking for a password. Click the link and maybe it will be working again by the time you read this.
In the meantime, I’m very happy to report that after two lackluster episodes, the new season of Futurama is finally hitting its stride. The last three have all been worthy of the show’s original run. If you’re not watching, you should be. Check the clip below for a taste.
Come on… Come on! Listen to it! Listen to it! Come on. Come on! Listen to this podcast! It’s here! Listen to it! Come on! Listen! It’s here! Come on! Do it now! Listen to this podcast! REVIEWED: Predators. PLUS: If it’s for a prison movie, it’s not gay.
Futurama’s back this week! Forget what’s happened in the past 5 seasons and 4 movies? Comedy Central’s got a full recap up on their site. Well, actually it’s kind of flippant in its level of completion, but it’s still a pretty good way to prepare for the one-hour premiere this Thursday at 10pm/9c.
You’d better watch it, because if this show gets canceled again, I’ll track you down and jam you into a suicide booth.
Here are some things that happened recently that I never got around to posting!
"I'd like to run a few wrestling names for myself by you. Now, I've narrowed it down to Luscious Lou' and 'Texas Joe Hotdog'..."
Shia LaBeouf wasn’t thrilled with the last Indiana Jones either, and he refreshingly blames himself. To be fair, it certainly wasn’t all (or even mostly) his fault. Uninspired writing and terrible CG did most of the work. But it’s still nice to read this:
You get to monkey-swinging and things like that and you can blame it on the writer and you can blame it on Steven. But the actor’s job is to make it come alive and make it work, and I couldn’t do it. So that’s my fault. Simple.
Congratulations on pulling off an amazing show. Don’t tell anyone … but when ‘Star Wars’ first came out, I didn’t know where it was going either. The trick is to pretend you’ve planned the whole thing out in advance.
It’s nice of him to share his trade secrets, but it seems unnecessary. From what I’ve heard, the writers of Lost have already usurped Lucas for the title of laziest hacks in the business.
In happier news, Critical End! favorite John Landis is reportedly going forward with a biopic of Bill Gaines, the man behind E.C. Comics and Mad Magazine. I can’t think of a better director for the project. Hopefully this, along with Burke and Hare will represent a return to prominence for Landis.
And finally, this re-imagining of the classic Sesame Street Pinball Number Count (AKA “11, 12!”) is a must-see. Have a great weekend, kids!
Like many, I came out of Men In Black II disappointed. The story was kind of lame, Tommy Lee Jones’s reintroduction could have been much more epic, and it suffered from trying to cram in every character from the first film. I think I’m going to start calling that “Crank 2 Syndrome”.
In any case, I still thought the series had potential, which is why it’s good to hear that both Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones have agreed to a third film. Here’s the thing, though: Without the dynamic of introducing a new recruit to the Men In Black (which both movies used), what’s this movie going to be about? Maybe they’ll be forced to make the plot itself interesting. Or perhaps they’ll just write in a new rookie agent, treating us once again to the classic “small gun is surprisingly dangerous” bit.
I’m going to be honest. I miss Schwarzenegger. Sure, he’s terrible at acting as we traditionally define it. But he’s an expert at being Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"Come, Forest! We're late for our codpiece-enlargening appointment!"
When I was in high school, I did a few movie review segments for the campus close-circuit TV show. My best work was when I skewered the John Travolta travesty Battlefield Earth, calling it out for one of the worst scripts in film history.
Well, head on over to /Film for the true story of the movie’s inception, told by the screenwriter himself. According to J.D. Shapiro (who gave us Robin Hood: Men in Tights, so a little respect, please), he showed up at Scientology H.Q. because he heard it was a great place to meet chicks, and ended up in a meeting with Travolta by complete chance. An entertaining read.
