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The Fanboy Remix Podcast Episode 1.15 "The Hangover"

Whatta ya hear, whatta ya say! The three B's are back for a tension filled installment of "The Fanboy Remix Podcast." In which Bobby is inhabited by the spirit of a 30's gangster, Brad recalls a time he lost all control of his bodily functions and Brian gives a health lesson we couldn't unlearn even if we wanted to. Somewhere in between our able hosts have a spirited debate over "The Hangover" and take on their first gangster film.

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The Fanboy Remix Podcast Episode 1.14 "Drag Me 'Up' To Hell"

The three B's are back in a jam packed episode of "The Fanboy Remix Podcast." In which our wise hosts reveal they know a little too much about the plot of "My Boyfriend's Back," debate when Matthew McConaughey went full on worthless, and try to hold their shit together while reviewing Disney/Pixar's "Up"

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The Fanboy Remix Podcast Episode 1.13 "Terminator Salvation"

Our hosts return in this long overdue episode of "The Fanboy Remix Show," to review "Terminator Salvation." In this shortened installment Bobby ponders the uselessness of a human being, Brad transplants a Harry Potter character into the machine apocalypse and Brian commits a theft that shant soon be forgotten.

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The Fanboy Remix Podcast Episode 1.12 "Angels and Demons"

Our brave hosts venture into unfamiliar territory for our God-centric twelfth episode. In between being blasphemous heathens Brad, Brian and Bobby decide "Parenthood" is not for them, excommunicate "Angels and Demons" from the movie world, and discover that the best way to talk about God is with signing and dancing.


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The Fanboy Remix Podcast Episode 1.11 "Star Trek"

Near death experiences, time travel, and Chris Pine in his underpants are all part of a very special episode of "The Fanboy Remix Podcast" Brian, Brad and Bobby are joined by Colleen from "ChuckCast" and Jay from "The Lost Podcast With Jay and Jack" who help our brave hosts ejaculate all over J.J. Abrams "Star Trek." Along the way they announce a contest winner, Brad has delusions of grandeur, Brian plots to keep the Star Wars prequels out of the hands of his children, and Bobby freaks out about the age of Steven Soderbergh.

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Funny picture of me Jay was talking about:

The Fanboy Remix Podcast Episode 1.10 "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"

Like a 15 year old with a schoolboy crush Fanboy Remix returns to celebrate a meaningless anniversary. That's right it's Bobby, Brad and Brian's 10th episode! In which the three B's go beserker on "Wolverine," question where a superhero gets a room full of sandbags, how eating poop ranks next to watching "Dune" and why Brian is the only man on Earth who likes Star Trek 5.


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The Fanboy Remix Podcast Episode 1.9 "The Soloist"

Bobby and Brian are back for the ninth episode of The Fanboy Remix Podcast in which they debate how much feces Crank: High Voltage is worth, decide if The Soloist makes sweet music and discover that 2001: A Space Odyssey is a great substitute for mind altering drugs.

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The Fanboy Remix Podcast Episode 1.8 "State of Play"

In our giggle filled ninth episode Bobby and Brian kick off a DVD giveaway with the help of a few old friends. Together they report on "State of Play," banish "Dune" to the phantom zone and help Bobby confront the truth about his feelings towards Zac Efron.

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The Fanboy Remix Podcast DVD Giveaway!

We here at Fanboy Remix have been mulling over some ideas to better serve our listenership and have come up with contest that will allow us to give away a DVD a month to a lucky listener.

We are going to hold a trivia contest every week. From all the right answers that come in we will randomly choose a winner. And that winner will automatically be entered into the end of month drawing for the DVD. At the end of the four weeks we will choose one from that pool and that person will be able to choose any of the movies in our marathon. So, for this first contest you can have a copy of Solaris, Alien 3, Dune, 2001 A Space Odyssey or Dark Star.

However, There are a few stipulations. In order to qualify you must send an email to fanboyremix@gmail.com with the answer to the question, our star ratings for the previous week's movie and your top five movies on the topic we are discussing that week. In other word's participation is rewarded!

The contest shall commence this week with our show on State of Play.

Good luck and happy hunting,

Your Hosts,

Bobby and Brian

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Television: Dollhouse Ep 1.9: A Spy In The House of Love

If ever there were an episode of Dollhouse that gives you a mindfuck and a half, this was it.

We start with Topher, whom I'm starting to just adore, finding a chip in the back of his imprint-o-matic (not the official name but it has a ring to it, doesn't it?). He informs Dominic, who calls for a complete shut down of Dollhouse until the perp is found. Echo becomes interrogation gal, and Sierra becomes a female Jack Bauer, sent into whatever head quarters to find information on who the spy might be.

Meanwhile, Agent Ballard is going all insane with his 5,872 articles of dollhouse pasted on his wall, and Mellie comes in to whine about him loving this investigation more than her. So what's a guy to do except have sex to make things right? Except as soon as said intercourse is about to happen, Mellie stops being Mellie and starts delivering a message.

This was the scene that made me realize how much of an emotional connection I was starting to have with the characters. For Ballard, of all people, who I thought was Captain Cardboard for a while (like that sly Buffy reference, don't you?). His face, his emotion, when he finds out Mellie is just a doll planted to find information... ouch. But at least now he knows he can go on obsessing about Echo full time without feeling he's a cheater... every cloud has it's silver lining?

If that isn't enough we also find out that DeWitt is Ms. Lonelyhearts, the "client" who uses Victor as her romantic affair. Wow, that girl needs to get out of the Dollhouse more. Thing is, i can't figure out if it's that she has a thing for Victor himself, or if the person he's imprinted with his like a lost love she knew.

So Sierra returns with files saying it's all Ivy... you know, Ivy? The assitant to Topher that we generally tend to forget about? Well, it's all sorted out, except not, because expert Echo figures out it was just a plant placed there by Dominic! Ok, who really didn't see that coming? Dominic seems so inherently evil that he had to be the spy! Except we find out his motives were to protect the Dollhouse, because he feels it isn't being run the way it should.

So does he really have anything to do with the chip or was that just the catalyst to finding him out? Was he really aware of the re-imprinting of these dolls, or is there another spy?

All I know is, they promote Boyd to head of security, which seems awesome... until we realize he won't be Echo's handler anymore. He isn't too thrilled about that prospect either. So in comes new handler, an asian guy with a scary mustache, who goes over the protocol sayings with Echo.. but when he asks "do you trust me?" she looks to Boyd and says "with my life". Dun dun DUN!

I love Boyd and Echo's relationship. Like I've said, it's very Giles/Buffyesque. Even more so, because Echo really needs to be looked after, especially in her childish doll state.

Here's a bit of trivia: the title of the episode, "A Spy In The House Of Love" is actually a novel from 1954 about a woman who, at home, pretends to her husband that she's a actress, and who really goes out and tries to seduce as many men as possible. Take from it what you will.


Unfortunately we have to wait 2 weeks until the next Dollhouse episode... I hate when networks do this!

Alas, until next time... another week, another imprint!

The Fanboy Remix Podcast Episode 1.7 "Observe and Report"

Our brave hosts return for the seventh and most offensive episode yet. Where they start a sci fi marathon, quote "I Love You Man" a little too much and take "Observe and Report" to retail prison.

Bobby's Top Five Mall Scene's
5. "Zombie Shooting Gallery" Dawn of the Dead (2004)
4. "Hello Baby" Juno
3. "Escalator Respect" Mallrats
2. "Arnold's the good guy!" Terminator 2: Judgment Day
1. "Mall Escape" Minority Report

Brian's Top Five
5. "Balls out action sequence" Commando
4. "Historical Figures in a Mall" Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
3. "Arnold again" True Lies
2. "Easter Bunny" Mallrats
1. "Arnold thrice" Terminator 2: Judgment Day

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Fanboy Remix Podcast 1.6 "Adventureland"

In which our brave hosts tackle the topic of how to rate their movies, review "Adventureland," list off their top 5 coming of age tales and try to tame an angry alter ego that manifests itself through Brian.

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Television: Dollhouse Ep. 1.8: Needs

Hey to all dolls and handlers...

Ok so I know I've been lacking in the Dollhouse recaps. I blame work. Evil, retail work that causes me to be leaving my job at the time Dollhouse airs. And thus falling a couple of episodes behind. I know! For shame!

But here we are, the Sunday after the airing of Needs, another kick-ass episode from the house of Whedon.

What an awesome mislead in the promo for the episode and the way that it started, leading the audience to believe Sierra, Victor, November (as we find out is Mellie's "doll" name) and Echo have suddenly woken up with their real personalities... only no memories. We find out before the opening credits that DeWitt planned this all!

Seeing the "true" Victor made me really fall in love with the character. He's funny, he's strong, from the last episode we've had a glimpse into his memories of being in the military so we know he's got his certain strategic way of thinking... and we learn how much he cares for Sierra, even if he doesn't remember everything about their relationship. It's an interesting touch on love being deeper than memory or experience. Oh Joss, you and your deeper levels.

Was it just me or did Sierra's accent come and go? The actress is Australian, so the accent is her natural speech, but it seems like it came and went a lot this episode. It was strange and I'm not sure if it was necessarily purposeful.

So Sierra goes and confronts her demons, the man who raped her in her true life, and we find out November/Mellie had a daughter who passed away. Echo/Caroline gets to have her moment as savior which was kind of moving... though I'm not sure that I like Caroline. She's over-zealous activist girl, and it gets a little grating. It's not the acting, it's just the character herself. And Victor gets the girl. Which was kind of the lamest of all of them.

And so with closure, now they stop glitching? It sounds interesting but knowing Joss, not without it's problems.

I'm still DYING to see Alpha, or at least have him a part of an episode if not SEEN and I'm hoping next week's episode to sniff out the inside spy will have more about what Alpha is doing.

In not so great news, Dollhouse's ratings are steadily dropping. There's rumors of it getting cancelled. It better not be another Firefly case, where I buy the DVDs but it's painful for me to watch because I get progressively angrier with each episode that it didn't get to develop further.

Well, until next time... another week, another imprint.

Fanboy Remix Podcast Episode 1.5 "The Haunting in Connecticut"

Brian and Bobby try to make up for lost time as they review "The Haunting in Connecticut" run down their top five haunting films, dissect the latest episode of "Dollhouse," introduce a new format, and debate whether not they want to slap track Robocop.

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Television: 'Angel' Actor Andy Hallett Dies of Heart Failure

This news comes a little late from us, but being there are a few Whedonverse fans here, I felt it important to share anyway.

Sadly, actor Andy Hallett, who played the vivacious and wise Lorne on Angel, passed away Sunday, March 29th. Hallett was suffering from heart disease for 5 years and he finally lost the battle. He was only 33 years old. Many fans were unaware he was even ill (like myself) and this has come as a great shock to the community of Whedonverse fans.

I think a fitting way to commemorate such a talented actor and singer alike, is to watch a few Lorne-centric episodes like The House Always Wins, Life of the Party, or the Pylea arc.

That and maybe have a seabreeze.

Goodbye, Andy. Hope your singing your heart out up there.

The Lost Watch 5.10

**NOTE: For once, the tardiness of this column was by no fault of my own, or my best friend, Laziness, but rather the blame lies completely on Comcast and my Mother, who took exception to that Juliet-barb last week and stalled the Internet ever since...***

Salaam and hello, friends. Well, after last week’s utter insanity that was “LaFleur,” this week’s “He’s Our You” was a return to the original storytelling of the series. Before we move onto discuss the themes and such of the show, I’d like to take a moment…
A friend of mine and I were discussing this week’s episode. She was all aflutter about it (a huge Sayid fan), while I was certainly more subdued than this time last week. She finally said something along the lines of Lost needing to be balls-crazy for me to love an episode (To which, I responded, that she only liked movies with sex between gays, a fact she couldn’t deny). I believe this is not true. The end of this week’s episode was shit-your-pants shocking (we’ll discuss shortly), but the rest of the episode was not running-to-the-bathroom insanity.
But I certainly dug it. Quite a bit.
This may be my favorite Sayid episode ever, in fact, and for several reasons. Firstly, I enjoy the flashback, character-centric stories. After a half of season of whirlwind time travel, returning the show to form structurally anchors the show in an at least temporary, static time. I, let the record show, have really enjoyed this stretch of non-character-centric episodes; they were very natural, and considering how few episodes this show has left, allowed for a lot of exposition to pass through very quickly and get the 6 back onto the Island much faster than the saga that was Shannon’s death (Shannon! Nooooo!!) in Season 2.
Also, I felt like this was a great way to catch up with Sayid. Of all the principle characters on the show, I’ve always thought that Sayid was the most mishandled. Speaking of Shannon, I HATED their faux-romance in Season 2. It felt contrived and forced, and the 38 episodes it took for her to finally die (though “The Other 48 Days” is part of that mini-series and one of my favorite all-time episodes) are some of the most dragging. For a while thereafter, he lost his balls. Last season I started to feel Sayid a bit more again. He had some great fights last season and I was cool with his role of our heroes’ blunt object. “You,” though, brought Sayid back to Season 1 – complicated, bad-ass, tortured, funny and natural.
This episode also referenced other moments in Lost lore. The opening sequence gave us our earliest glimpse into a child-Sayid’s life. In a scene that mirrored a moment in Eko’s youth, Sayid steps in to slaughter a chicken so his seemingly older brother wouldn’t have to. It seems even as a youngster, Sayid was willing to get his hands dirty to do what must be done. In contrast to Eko, I don’t particularly think anything altruistic was in the young Iraqi’s intentions in killing the chicken for his brother, whereas Eko kills an old man in order to spare his brother from child armies in Africa. All I know is I thought a lot about Eko in this scene and couldn’t help but wonder if that allusion to Eko and his destined fate isn’t possibly some hint as to Sayid’s.
Later in the episode, we meet Holden, the Dharma Initiative’s resident Sayid (“My name is Holden, and I am a torturer” didn’t quite come out of his mouth, though) and namesake of the episode. He drips some Veritaserum on a sugar cube and drugs Sayid into revealing everything about himself. As soon as they tied Sayid to the tree, I thought back to Locke knocking Boone unconscious and drugging him in order for him find some truth and let go of Shannon (Shannon! Nooooo!!). It also turned the whole blunt, verbal exposition on its ear. Hearing Sayid tell of his last 24 hours was like trying to explain the plot of Lost to nonbelievers. It sounds totally ridiculous completely out of context in a two sentence synopsis, just as I’d imagine explaining you’re from 30 years in the future to a bunch of people who live on a mysterious Island would be. Richard could buy it from Sawyer; he offered tangible information that no one else could have known to prove his story. Sayid sounds like he watched some Battlestar Gallactica with a couple of bong rips and a bag of Nacho Cheesier Doritos in describing his arrival in 1977. Luckily for him, this probably saved his brown behind.
But from what fate? Ben, in trying to recruit the 6 to come back to the Island, labels Sayid a killer, plain and simple. While certainly an arguable, yet definitely not entirely undeniable statement, Ben’s image of Sayid in principle highlighted the nature of their relationship. Broad strokes. Huge blanket statements. Sayid is a killer. Ben is a mass murderer. I found it to be an interesting case study of Ben to see him through Sayid’s eyes in such a flat way. We know how complicated a character Ben Linus is by now, and this season we’ve even gotten a glimpse into his intentions and motivations. Seeing him in full-out-crazy-nefarious mode, fedora and all, is both really cool from a geeky stand point, but fascinating in that we know these characters far more intimately than they know each other. And yet, neither is wrong. Sayid is a killer on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Ben is a genocidal maniac every third weekend. Ben can see this, I think. Sayid, however, is too beaten down to see anything broader than his hatred of Ben Linus.
Even, it seems, when he’s a small child. The other purpose highlighting such a “one-note” Ben of the Present is to further dichotomize him from the Ben of the Past. We see child-Linus delivering chicken salad and escape routes (Juliet to Jack-like?), much to the chagrin of Roger Workman. On a scale of terrible father’s on the show, Roger’s up there with pretty terrible, so seeing him again stirs up insta-sympathy for Ben, in my eyes, and with all the maturing going on with the castaways, particularly Saywer, I expected Sayid to march away with Ben to the Island’s version of the Big Brothers, Big Sisters Club. I don’t know where that would be, but if Sayid were to try to positively influence him…I don’t know. I certainly never expected Sayid to shoot a child, even if he were to grow up to be the devil incarnate.
I give Naveen Andrews super-props for this scene. I think Sayid is amazing in the scene, blind with tears over Jin’s unconscious body, saying “You were right about me. I am a killer,” before shakily pulling the trigger. Sayid earns this scene and is really a moment that will define the character for the rest of the show. One way or another, Sayid is going to pay for shooting Ben. The Island, the Others, Dharma, the castaways or himself will catch up with him. It was some shocking shit, and it was certainly a huge exclamation point/question mark-ending that Lost loves to tease us with.
But seriously, will Ben die? Can he? If he dies in 1977, even if it’s alternate 1977, will it kill “Present” Ben? Would there even be a present Ben? Would all the shit that’s happened since Henry Gale stepped into our collective consciousness still have happened?
Ben could not or will not die. There’s no way they’ll kill the most intriguing character on the show, let alone the greatest actor, Michael Emerson. I do think that it would theoretically erase Ben of the Present from existence, though not his entire existence until Sayid goes back in time. We could argue the rules of space/time travel forever, but I think it’s a moot point: there’s not a chance in hell Lost is going to kill off its “villain” right now.
This week gave me a bunch to chew on until next Wednesday’s offering. Keep twiddling those dials…
~Romulus

Movies: Ghosts and Monsters Top the Box Office

This just in Dreamworks Animation announced their next animated film called "Poop on a Stick" and it is already projected for a $60 million opening! This coming on the heel's of "Monsters Vs. Aliens" opening this weekend to an expected $58 million from 4,104 sites and a killer $14,181 average. The opening was no where near the last two "Shrek" films but on par with last year's Dreamworks offering "Kung FuPanda" which opened to $60 million last June. "Monsters" did play in around 2,000 3d theaters and with the elevated ticket prices a matching of "Panda's" haul was expected. But it is still a solid opening for the commercial juggernaut.

The real surprise of the weekend came at the number two spot where the Virginia Madsen starring "The Haunting in Connecticut" scared up $23.1 million from 2,732 sites for a very strong 8,422 average. The fright flick was projected to finish in the mid teens but made an almost 10 million dollar jump. The tally once again proves the allure of horror films released in the early months of the year.

This move was not unlike the one experienced by last week's number one film "Knowing." The Nicholas Cage thriller, which surprised insiders to lead the frame last week, held strong falling only 40 % to an estimated $14.7 million for a total cume of $46 million.

40% is a great hold for a science fiction film as they typically lose 50-60 percent of their audience but the true hold over of the week is the laugher "I Love You, Man" which lost only 29% of it's audience. It came in with a strong $12.6 million tally and a cume of $37 million. The Paul Rudd starring film should continue it's strong hold and be headed towards 60-80 million.

Rounding out the top five is the under performing "Duplicity" which fell by 45% to an estimated $7.5 million for a two week gross of $25 million.

Overall the Box Office was up a whopping 58 percent over a year ago when "21" led the box office with 24.1 million.

1	Monsters vs. Aliens	$ 58,200,000			4,104	1	$ 14,181	$ 58,200,000	Paramount
2	The Haunting in Connecticut	23,010,000			2,732	1	8,422	23,010,000	Lionsgate
3	Knowing	14,700,000	24,604,751	-40.3	3,337	2	4,405	46,215,000	Summit
4	I Love You, Man	12,600,000	17,810,270	-29.3	2,717	2	4,637	37,007,000	Paramount
5	Duplicity	7,556,000	13,965,110	-45.9	2,579	2	2,930	25,639,000	Universal
6	Race to Witch Mountain	5,637,000	12,786,041	-55.9	3,268	3	1,725	53,295,000	Buena Vista
7	12 Rounds	5,300,000			2,331	1	2,274	5,300,000	Fox
8	Watchmen	2,750,000	6,801,114	-59.6	2,010	4	1,368	103,291,000	Warner Bros.
9	Taken	2,700,000	4,057,695	-33.5	1,961	9	1,377	137,074,000	Fox
10	The Last House on the Left	2,611,000	5,776,160	-54.8	2,251	3	1,160	28,459,000	Universal

Movies: Bizarre "Stooges" to Hit Big Screen

I don't know about you but when I think Sean Penn I think hilarity and I definitely think physical comedian. If this sounds like a bizarro description of the recent Oscar winner to you,well, then we have entered the Twilight Zone.  The most serious man on Earth has been cast as Larry in the Farrelly Brothers directed "The Three Stooges"  Joining Penn are Che Guevera himself Benicio Del Toro as Moe and elastic comedian Jim Carrey as Curly.  The film will not be a biopic of the three actors but a comedy about the antics of the three characters.  

The cast is certainly star studded and out of the box. My first thoughts were to discount this but I'm sure Penn and Del Toro can do anything and say what you want about Carrey but he is a brilliant physical comedian.  I'm looking on with curiosity.

Video Games: Zelda Back on "Track"

We have a new Legend of Zelda game headed our way and we are getting it by year's end! The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks has our hero as the conductor of a train that transports from,where else, dungeon to dungeon.  It looks like a spiritual, if not actual sequel, to Windwaker and Phantom Hourglass.  The big N is not sharing the plot just yet so for now just feast your eyes on the embedded trailer courtesy of CNET.

Video Games: Nintendo Jogs it's Memory

We only had to wait a paltry 2 1/2 years but the days of cleaning out the fridge are over. 

Because at the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco Nintendo unveiled (and launched) their new SD card interface titled System Menu 4.0.  This update will, in some way, solve the storage problems that comes from the Wii only have 512mb of internal memory by unlocking that SD slot on the front of your console.  You can now transfer and even download  your Virtual Console and WiiWare titles to the card and play them right from there, sort of.  You don't actually run them off the SD card. When you choose a game, say Super Metroid, the Wii actually transfers a virtual copy of the game onto an allotted space on the system's internal memory.  So, if you have a full console you still won't be able to play said game.  But never fear Samus fans the big N has created contingency called Auto Manager that will give you the option of moving files to the card so you can free up some space.

The update also allows you to use mega sized 32GB  SD cards which should make the space issue a non starter.  However, in true Nintendo fashion, the update is not without it's quandaries.  You can still not run save data from the card.  Because using memory cards, something we've been doing for a better part of 15 years, is a little out of Nintendo's depth. That gripe aside with Wii Speak and now this we finally have a fully functioning console!

Fanboy Remix Podcast Episode 1.4 "Synecdoche, New York""

Bobby and Brian return after a week's hiatus for the Fanboy Remix Podcast. In our troubled fourth installment we wrestle technical issues, battle over the status of Sam Raimi as a horror director, debate if Quidditch can get you laid and struggle to pronounce the name of the movie we are reviewing. Despite this we manage to review two Disney films and the newest Charlie Kaufman work "Synecdoche, New York."

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Movies: Bobby's DVD Corner 3.24.09

Namaste, Wilkkomen, and greetings I'm your intrepid reporter and managing editor Bobby Shortle and I thought I'd try my hand at a weekly DVD column. I will attempt to run over the week's major releases and give you an idea of what I think is worth your scratch. I'm going to start small but if you enjoy the column please get in contact with me and I'll expand it. Without further ado let us dive deep into the dark waters of retail and see what we find.

Quantum of SolaceA very good action film and a middle of the road Bond film. I felt it took too much from the Bourne films and lost alot of the British flair that Casino Royale seemed to balance so well. That being said you can do a lot worse it's worth a watch for the opera house scene alone. The disc itself includes 8 featurettes the longest being the 24 minute "Bond On Location." This is a big week for 007 because....

Never Say Never Again, Moonraker, The World is Not Enough


It's a Blu-Ray and Bond kind of week as three films from three eras hit shelves. Connery's Never Say Never Again, Roger Moore's Moonraker and Pierce Brosnan's The World is Not Enough. All three were much maligned upon their respective releases and have fared no better as time passed. That being said the previous Blu-Ray releases have been solid discs with outstanding transfers. So, if you like the suave Englishman you could do worse.

Bolt

2008 was a great year for animated films and although Bolt wasn't the best of the big three (Wall E and Kung Fu Panda being the others) it was certainly a return to form for Disney Animation Studios. They stopped trying to impersonate Dreamworks and got back to telling solid stories. All Disney films are sites to behold on Blu-Ray so if you are picking it up there you won't be disappointed. As far as features there is:
All-New Exclusive Super Rhino Short
Deleted Scenes
A New Breed Of Director: A Filmmaker's Journey
Act, Speak! The Voices Of Bolt
Creating The World Of Bolt
Miley Cyrus And John Travolta Sing The Song I Thought I Lost You In Studio
DisneyFile Digital Copy

Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter

From the desk of fucking awesome shit Watchmen companion Tales of the Black Freighter hits shelves this week. The DVD also contains a mockumentary "Under the Hood" which is pulled from the appendix of the novel. My better judgment says to leave this and wait for the catch all Watchmen DVD to hit later this year. But since when does DVD buying have anything to do with better nature?

The Lost Watch 5.09

Egads, Losties! We had ourselves a crazy week with “Namaste” hitting our TV’s evening. This episode was one of those great mid-season-could-have-been-a-finale/premiere episodes where all kinds of crazy crazy shit happened!

Before we go any further…is Christian alive or dead? This appearance might lend itself to the “alive” argument, but it could have also been a “Ghost of Christmas Past” kind of setting where Christian could interact with the environment without interacting with the events occurring. Like a pensieve, Harry Potter style. It’s the question I think the most about at this point, and what’s fascinating is that it can be stretched to question other things about our sordid Island past. Like, was Locke’s father/the original Sawyer dead when he was brought back to the Island and the Island reanimated him? Could Locke be one of our own hero’s daddy? Fathers and sons have always been thematically important to the show and I think the Christian quotient may lead to reveals about both the Island’s “powers” and connections amongst the castaways. I’m tellin’ ya!
The baby Ethan reveal blew my balls away. I have nothing more to add to this.

The entire episode was jam-packed with juicy, juicy bits, like any time Hurley came by to close out a scene or the reunion of Juliet and Kate at Orientation. I even jizzed myself a little bit when I realized Ajira Air Flight 316 was landing on the very runway (nay, the foundation!) that Kate and Sawyer had built during their time in captivity with the Others, circa Season 3. The meat and potatoes of the episode, though, was the meeting of Jack and James.

James’s ascension to the top of the survivor heap has been just as much about him actually living long enough to become the leader, as it has been about him growing into the role much more naturally than either Jack or Locke (or Ben, for that matter) had when the position was thrust upon them. He is the true embodiment of a leader forced into the position: unwitting, yet completely willing to act when the moment arrives. His defense of this position was eloquent, particularly the bit about Churchill, and properly asserted his dominance on the Island.

Jack seemed all too happy to let someone else lead the way, a position I didn’t expect, but was pleasantly surprised to witness. I super-dug his moment with Juliet, but I loved that he took the Juliet-James pairing in welcoming stride. He just seems genuinely happy to return to a universe that can make sense to him, even if it doesn’t always work to his advantage.

I do think, though, that Sawyer came out at the end. To so blatantly mark your territory to an “opponent” who has clearly stepped aside was “the Old Sawyer” and one that I kind of thought we were done with. It’s not that I expected the two of them to crack open some beers and play a game of pinochle, but I don’t think Sawyer’s parting remarks were entirely necessary. I don’t think that I disagree with the idea that James wouldn’t revert back into his old ways when his former nemesis comes back to New Otherton, but I was hoping for a little bit more maturity, a running trait in all of the men that come into my life!

Before we part ways for another several days, I’d like to touch upon the question of why Sun and Ben aren’t with the rest of the survivors in 1977. Our host, Bobby, believes that Sun’s intentions may be keeping her from achieving her goal. After all, she did make a deal with Whitmore before flying to L.A. to meet up with the rest of the 6. I think this is a compelling argument, and one I can’t refute for lack of any substantial evidence. He also thinks Ben couldn’t be in two places at once, but quickly took that back once it was pointed out that Sawyer had to have existed in two times at once during the skipping-Island factor. We can easily, though, continue to trace the ill-intentions theory with Ben, though I think it can be filtered down even farther.

I don’t think Ben is supposed to have ever come back to the Island at all. I think that his not being with the rest of those “present” in 1977 is the Island’s way of shunning Mr. Linus. Conversely, the Island is testing Sun due to her mal-intent. Interesting questions…

And so, fellow Losties, we’ve meet then end of our weekly pow-wow.

Keep twiddling those dials,

WAIT!!!

Daniel Farraday...where is he? I don't know! I don't know!?

~Romulus

Movies: Cage Box Office King!

So, you can count me in the shocked category on this Sunday afternoon because math thriller Knowing has landed Nicholas Cage on top of the box office once again. The Alex Proyos(Dark City, The Crow) film nabbed $24.8 million on 3,332 screens for a $7,447 average. Prior to this weekend's haul most industry experts were tracking the film at third place bow and around $15 million for the weekend. That prediction was blown out of the water when the sci fi offering pulled in $8.9 million on it's first day. Knowing once again proves the muscle that Cage brings to genre pictures.

Finishing very strongly (and right on expectations) was the Paul Rudd, Jason Segal vehicle I Love You, Man the laugher co-starring Rashida Jones toke in an estimated $18 million with a $6.641 average from 2,711 sites. This opening is right on target with other comedies of it's ilk with Role Models and Forgetting Sarah Marshall pulling in $19.2 and $17.7 million respectively. There is great word of mouth on Man and it should hold up as well as those other pics did.

The other new release of the week Duplicity opened decently in third place with $14.4 million. The Clive Owen/Julia Roberts vehicle failed to incite the same kind of fire as the similar Mr. and Mrs. Smith which bowed in the summer of 2005 to a whopping $50 million. That movie had the benefit of the summer season and a spicy Angelina Jolie/ Brad Pitt off screen tryst. Still, there was a day when a Julia Roberts movie would not be third banana.

The top five was rounded out by a couple of holdovers. Disney's Race To Witch Mountain fell 46% for an estimated $13 million and Watchmen continues its precipitous fall losing 62% of its audience for a weekend haul 0f around $6 million. The two films have gathered $44 million and $98 million respectively.

I did want to note one more top ten film. Coraline swept back into 3-d theaters this weekend and in doing so only lost about $600,000 weekend to weekend. It came in at number 10 with around 2 million bucks. It's nice to see such a well made film really resonating with a main stream audience. It's total cume now sits around $72 million.

1	Knowing	$ 24,813,000			3,332	1	$ 7,447	$ 24,813,000	Summit
2	I Love You, Man	18,005,000			2,711	1	6,641	18,005,000	Paramount
3	Duplicity	14,402,000			2,574	1	5,595	14,402,000	Universal
4	Race to Witch Mountain	13,004,000	24,402,214	-46.7	3,187	2	4,080	44,715,000	Buena Vista
5	Watchmen	6,720,000	17,817,301	-62.3	3,510	3	1,915	98,060,000	Warner Bros.
6	The Last House on the Left	5,921,000	14,118,685	-58.1	2,402	2	2,465	24,047,000	Universal
7	Taken	4,100,000	6,568,651	-37.6	2,661	8	1,541	133,139,000	Fox
8	Slumdog Millionaire	2,700,000	5,002,777	-46.0	2,067	19	1,306	137,202,000	Fox Searchlight
9	Madea Goes to Jail	2,510,000	5,108,532	-50.9	1,835	5	1,368	87,208,000	Lionsgate
10	Coraline	2,143,000	2,718,231	-21.2

Movies: "Year One" Trailer

The first trailer for writer/director Harold Ramis' upcoming prehistoric comedy Year One recently came online. In it, Michael Cera and Jack Black star as prehistoric hunter-gatherers who are banished from their village and end up on a journey across the ancient world, meeting all kinds of people along the way including Paul Rudd,Hank Azaria, Oliver Platt, David Cross and the delicious Olivia Wilde.

You can head on over to Yahoo and see the trailer in a plethora of formats.....HERE

Video Games: Milano Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts!

Source: Variety

Ghostbusters: The Game has taken a hit in nostalgic cred but a major step up in the hotness meter as Alyssa Milano has signed on to voice Dana Barrett in the Atari published game. The part was originally played by Sigourney Weaver who declined the chance to reprise her roll.

How weird is the world when you can get the normally aloof Bill Murray to come back but not Rick Moranis or Sigourney Weaver. Milano is a good actress my only pause is that it might sound out of place. She is certainly saying the right things though. Milano stated "I have so much respect for that character in the movie that I hope I do the position that she is in justice. I was just flattered to be asked to be part of 'Ghostbusters'."

Ghostbusters: The Game hits the PS3. XBOX 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, PS2 and PC on June 16th.