I doubt it’ll work as advance promotion for the latest Resident Evil scheduled for August 2010, because this is sorta all you want to see. In fact, I would have sooner laid down ten smackeroos and bought popcorn for the unveiling of these shots on the big screen than another Paul W.S. Anderson (her husband) [...]

A $23.4 million opening weekend for what had been widely billed as the major comedy event of the summer seemed a tepid shrug of a reaction, and certainly not in line with the expectations and media buzz preceding it. But it won the weekend, however weak the competition was, and there remained room to suggest [...]

Several humorous parallels from columnist Bilge Ibiri within that don’t so much  successfully argue for  Joe being a rip-off of World Police, but do get to the heart of why Parker and Stone helped make a straight-faced telling near-impossible at this stage. Full Future of Classic post, excerpts below: “The Fall of Paris G.I. Joe: [...]

From the slightly annoying to just plain excruciating, with audio corrections by Amber L: 5. Bruschetta – acceptable Often incorrectly said as: broo-shheh-tuh or broo-shhkeh-tuh How to say it: broo-SKEH-tah A minor offense, because to Anglo eyes it certainly looks like a SHH sound should be in there. A reasonable person can look at the [...]

Yeah, looks like it. Amidst today’s news that the author of The Ice Man, the chilling profile of prolific hit man Richard Kuklinski, has axed a film adaptation over the production team’s choice of star, bland b-boy hunk (or is it punk?) Channing Tatum (a true WTF if there ever was one),  these new snaps [...]

My expectations for this long-awaited Terry Gilliam project were definitely not through the roof. Given the obvious production difficulties, it seemed that it might be best to remain sober about its potential as a film and consider it a fond tribute to its fallen lead actor. But the footage shown off here, and assurance and [...]

Possibly the filmmaker who personifies the 1980s more than any other, writer / director John Hughes has died of a heart attack at age 59 (via Variety). Being too young at the time to appreciate the seminal big hits that made his name, established his brand (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink), I [...]

Reflecting on the lost critical acumen of one Ben Lyons: “Over the years, Adam Sandler movies have grossed about 1.5 billion dollars at the box office and I expect this to be one of his biggest hits yet. See it.” “Bryan Singer did a great job of balancing the intense scenes of dialogue with also [...]

“Breaking: Obama picks Bud Light for ‘beer summit’ USA Today President Obama will drink Bud Light at the Thursday meeting with the African-American professor and white police officer who got in a dust-up earlier this month. Press secretary Robert Gibbs just made the announcement to the press pool on Air Force One. The full menu [...]

Positively fantastic teaser cut by the very talented trailer director de jour Mark Woollen, condensing the rhythms of the Coen brothers’ best dark comedy while giving precious little away in terms of plot. Roger Deakins is back as the cinematographer, and you can tell right away here with the crisp, deep colors settling well into [...]

Hang your heads in shame, racist Facecrackers. From SF Weekly: “Last week, a study showing that older folks have flocked to Facebook was all over the news. But word of an even more provocative trend waits in the wings: white flight from MySpace to Facebook. Self-styled social media pundit Danah Boyd [...] compared the exodus [...]

There are now CC  panels and promotions for just about everything that has any trace of geekdom following, and even some things that don’t (2012 was there!). What you consider the most interesting talks obviously has to do with what you’re a fan of. But the most generally noteworthy appearances this year were probably: Friday’s [...]

Robert Duvall or Gene Hackman would more likely be my gut response, but Cazale’s all-too-brief film career certainly sported the best batting average of his or any period. He did five features: The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather: Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, The Deer Hunter. Wow.  His volatile vulnerability was both searing and thoughtful, [...]

The Right Stuff author himself proclaims July 20, 1969 a “giant leap to nowhere.” Harsh, but is he wrong in his assessment of space program staleness and decline? That the lunar landing is still seen as such a momentous occasion, THE pinnacle of space exploration, would suggest not. But I also tend to think we [...]

Trudging through this just tends to make one angry and sad all over again over what a goddamn shame this loss was. And is. But it’s a solid, well-researched piece, typical of Biskand’s writing. Here are excerpts: Ledger’s fans—a category that now embraces almost everyone who goes to the movies, thanks to his Oscar-nominated performance [...]

The Bourdain maverick posturing can be a bit much at times, but he’s still both damn smart and damn entertaining, and his is the best travel program on television, and probably the best food show as well. The new season is airing now, and I caught the Australia episode tonight. It was a good one, [...]

This luminously bleak but achingly humane Nicholas Ray noir is built around a late Humprey Bogart performance that may well be his richest and deftest. His tortured screenwriter Dixon Steele, by turns violent and vulnerable, charming and ugly, is the best argument against anyone who opines that he just coasted on his well-worn tough guy [...]

It’s been a slow year for standout films, but Duncan Jones’ resourceful and eerie Moon is the best 2009 release yet seen, as well as the most thoughtful and compelling sci-fi film in many years. Applying some of Soderbergh’s Solaris gloss (which smartly classes up the shoestring effects) to the disorienting claustrophobia of ’70s sci-fi [...]

Along with more of Mickey Rourke as Mickey Rourke as Whiplash, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly. Not bad, the Raggedy Ann look works in a weird way. But original choice Emily Blunt would have run circles around Johansson in this role, and it’s a shame she was blocked from doing it.

Good for Breaking Bad and Big Love, though it’s a wonder how they can pick the latter for Drama and not nominate any of the actresses.  As a lonely fan of the minisculely-rated Damages, I can inform you that it didn’t deserve a nomination for S2, which was a mess. Glenn Close yes, everything else, [...]