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2009-06-22T21:10:00.002-04:00

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The Fanboy Remix Podcast Episode 1.15 "The Hangover"

2009-06-10T20:11:00.004-04:00

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.

FBR Episode 1.15 "The Hangover"

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

2009-06-05T11:22:00.004-04:00

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"

FBR Episode 1.14 "Drag Me 'Up' To Hell"

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The Fanboy Remix Podcast Episode 1.13 "Terminator Salvation"

2009-05-29T20:51:00.004-04:00

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"

2009-05-18T10:03:00.005-04:00

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.

FBR Episode 1.12 "Angels and Demons"

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The Fanboy Remix Podcast Episode 1.11 "Star Trek"

2009-05-11T20:55:00.008-04:00

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"

2009-05-04T21:56:00.003-04:00

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"

2009-04-27T01:20:00.003-04:00

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"

2009-04-20T01:21:00.003-04:00

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!

2009-04-14T17:57:00.006-04:00

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

2009-04-14T09:53:00.003-04:00

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"

2009-04-12T23:48:00.003-04:00

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"

2009-04-06T03:13:00.002-04:00

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.

FBR Episode 1.6 "Adventureland"

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Television: Dollhouse Ep. 1.8: Needs

2009-04-05T18:14:00.003-04:00

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"

2009-04-02T01:15:00.002-04:00

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.

FBR Episode 1.5 "The Haunting in Connecticut"

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

2009-04-01T13:29:00.004-04:00

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

2009-04-01T08:27:00.002-04:00

**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

2009-03-29T12:35:00.003-04:00

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

2009-03-25T20:49:00.003-04:00

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"

2009-03-25T20:37:00.003-04:00

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

2009-03-25T19:58:00.003-04:00

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""

2009-03-24T21:48:00.003-04:00

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

2009-03-24T15:55:00.008-04:00

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

2009-03-22T22:43:00.001-04:00

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!

2009-03-22T12:28:00.003-04:00

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

2009-03-20T19:59:00.004-04:00

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!

2009-03-20T19:46:00.004-04:00

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.

Movies: Set My Ring of Power to Stun!

2009-03-19T22:05:00.002-04:00

It seems DC/Warner Brothers might not be so far off from launching on of their major heroes to the big screen and they are looking to Captain James T. Kirk to do it.

Chris Pine who is all set to play the non Shatner Kirk in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot may be slipping on that all powerful ring and becoming the Green Lantern. That's word over at IESB anyway, where they report that Pine is at the top of the casting list.

This would mark the first major hero outside of Batman and Superman to make it to the big screen. (I don't count Catwoman and neither should any rational human being).

The film would be the story of Hal Jordan, a test pilot who was given a power ring by a dying alien, Abin Sur, and who became a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an interstellar organization of police overseen by the Guardian of the Universe.

Casino Royale director Martin Campbell is set to helm with an eye on a December release date.

Movies: Whitaker Expendable, 50 Cent Necessary!

2009-03-19T21:54:00.003-04:00

How do you go from Oscar winner to a sort of popular rapper? For the answer to that you must ask Sylvester Stallone. It has been rumored for a few days the Forrest Whittaker would have to back out of Stallone's macho epic The Expendables due to scheduling conflicts the only question was who was to replace him? Naturally Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson of course! I don't quite get how they are playing similar folks but it might just come down to the fact that they needed to start shooting and 50 was available.

For those of you who don't know what The Expendables is it's the story about the US with the help of other Nations secretly put together a squad of its most trained military personal to finally over throw the dictator who has caused devastation in South America for over 20 years. The team sets out on its mission to complete the assassination but with little help from the nations as they try to keep the mission secret. After they realize that there will be no outside help they rely on their own sources to fight not only the dictator's army but also the Governments that set them up.

The plot is whatever I know but take a look at this cast!
Hale Caesar is Curtis Jackson
Toll Road is Randy Couture
Monroe is Eric Roberts
Tool is Mickey Rourke
Bao is Jet Li
Lee Christmas is Jason Statham
Lacy is Charisma Carpenter
Barney 'the schizo' Ross is Sylvester Stallone.

Movies: "Sorority Row" Trailer

2009-03-19T21:29:00.004-04:00

The horror remake train is still at full steam. This year we've had Friday the 13th. My Blood Valentine and Last House on the Left and now there is Sorority Row. The remake of the 1983 film House on Sorority Row stars a bunch of nameless pretty people and of course Princess Leia. Head on over to MySpace for all sorts of HD goodness.

Movies: "Up" Making History at Cannes

2009-03-19T20:39:00.004-04:00

Source: Variety

Pixar continued their dance up the Hollywood prestige ladder today with announcement that their latest film Up would open the Cannes Film Festival. This marks the first time in a history that an animated film and a 3d film of any kind will kick of the festival. Up will, of course, screen out of competition.

Pixar has always been a genius factory but Wall-E was heralded by many critics as being the best film of the year and one of the best Sci Fi films of all time. However, it is said that Disney brass including John Lassester have been disappointed with the Box Office takes and think taking it to France will make people take notice. Cannes has obviously taken notice.

"Cannes has demonstrated for many years its interest in animation by selecting films from DreamWorks, as well as films that use animation differently," said Thierry Fremaux, the fest's director. "It's audacious to open the festival with an animated film, but we're conscious of our duty: By stretching its boundaries, cinema remains universal."

"It's a great honor for the Walt Disney Studios, and our incredibly talented cast members at Pixar Animation Studios, to have 'Up' selected as the first animated feature to ever open the Cannes Film Festival," said Disney chairman Dick Cook. "We are so proud of this terrific movie and can't wait to share it with the film making community and festival goers."

Disney Animation Studios head John Lasseter said, "This is a huge step for animation and further supports our belief that a great animated film is simply a great film."

Movies: Transformers 3 Has A Date!!

2009-03-16T22:01:00.003-04:00

Dreamworks and Paramount are jumping on the money train or should I say money autobot a little early this year.

Three months from the release of the second film the two studios announced that "Transformers 3" will hit theaters on July 1st 2011. This move continues the trend of Transformers marking out the July 4th holiday weekend.

Megatron joins Thor, Captain America, and Spider-man who were allready in habiting the dog days of 2011. Variety reports that: " No deals have been inked with director Michael Bay or franchise stars Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. Nor has a writer been hired for the third installment."

I could feign anger at Hollywood's consistent relase date before script trend but honestly it's a story about huge robots who change into cars. How much does the script really matter.

Movies: Sin City 2?

2009-03-16T21:55:00.004-04:00

I'm still convinced that we will not know when "Sin City 2" is coming until Robert Rodriguez finishes shooting it in his garage. But Rosario Dawson decided to tease us a little bit this weekend. Both with the above photo and with this quote:
“Yeah, I talked to Robert [Rodriguez] and Frank [Miller]... They actually just finished the script for ‘Sin City 2’ a few months ago.”

Count me in no matter what.

Movies: "Thirst" Trailer

2009-03-16T21:43:00.004-04:00

Korean "Oldboy" director and all around genius Park Chan-wook is laying his golden finger upon the vampire genre. "Thirst" tells the tale of a beloved and devoted priest from a small town volunteers for a medical experiment which fails and turns him into a vampire. Physical and psychological changes lead to his affair with a wife of his childhood friend who is repressed and tired of her mundane life. The one-time priest falls deeper in despair and depravity. As things turns for worse, he struggles to maintain whats left of his humanity.The trailer is embedded below!

Television: Dollhouse Episode 1.5: True Believer

2009-03-16T17:03:00.004-04:00

Sorry for the late update, weekends aren’t easy when you work retail. But alas, I have come bearing greatness in the form of the latest Dollhouse episode, True Believer. Lately the episodes of Dollhouse have been getting progressively better and this episode held true to that theory, for the most part.

Echo gets sent into a closed religious community as a pawn of the ATF after they discover a note that says “save me” that supposedly came from one of those on the inside. It doesn’t help that the leader, who prior to his epiphany from God, was a wanted felon. Fun stuff. Echo however, doesn’t know she’s being used. She has been imprinted to truly believe she had a prophetic dream that brought her to the community… and she’s blind. Eliza really shows her range her, which is such a big sigh of relief! She is fantastic, playing just the right amount of innocence and wisdom at the same time. I’m really beginning to believe in her as our leading lady.

On the flip side, the actual story seemed interesting at first, until we find out that the ATF guy was an ex-cop who has a vendetta against the ex-felon, and planted the note in the first place as an excuse to raid the place. And so ex-cop is just as vile and petty as the ex-felon, *yawn*, and then Echo’s handler Boyd saves the day. Go Boyd! He’s like the newer generation of a Watcher, and totally has a Giles-esque relationship to Echo. And he kicks major ass. There’s nothing to not like about this guy.

But this isn’t before Dominic, head security of the Dollhouse, tries to seemingly take out Echo by knocking her out and leaving her in a flaming house. Ok, they really need to fire that guy. All he ever does is moan about how Echo needs to be brought to the ominous “Attic”, where it seems they take those dolls who don’t want to be played with anymore. I think he’s working for Alpha.

Speaking of, when can we finally SEE this guy? Apparently the next episode is the one that “changes everything” as the over-dramatic preview announced, and I’m hoping there’s going to be more on Alpha, what he’s doing and why he’s doing it. And also, Patton Oswalt guest stars. Well that’ll be interesting.

Sidenote: Whedon apparently has 5 years of this show planned out. Why does this not surprise me?

Until next time… another week, another imprint.

Movies: Weekend Box Office

2009-03-15T21:11:00.004-04:00

Hey everybody sorry for the lack of posting the last few days. There was a family emergency so I'm just now getting back to old computer. I'll be back later today or tomorrow with my Battlestar review but for now here is the weekend box office estimates. I'm sad to see "Watchmen" fall so far.

# Title Mar 13 - 15 Mar 6 - 8 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor

1 Race to Witch Mountain $ 25,000,000
2 Watchmen 18,070,000
3 The Last House on the Left 14,658,000
4 Taken 6,650,000
5 Madea Goes to Jail 5,130,000
6 Slumdog Millionaire 5,025,000
7 Paul Blart: Mall Cop 3,100,000
8 He's Just Not That Into You 2,900,000
9 Coraline 2,655,000
10 Miss March 2,350,000

Top 5 $ 69,508,000 $ 82,036,259 -15.3
Top 10 85,538,000 97,720,570 -12.5

Top 10 vs. 2008 85,538,000 101,905,424 -16.1
Top 10 vs. 2007 85,538,000 100,707,696 -15.1

Hamm is Luthor!

2009-03-12T23:03:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the misleading headline but I figured it would grab your attention. A new video recently went up on FunnyofDie.com and you should give it a whirl!

"Lex Luthor Bailout" with Jon Hamm from Jon Hamm

Movies: Marvel Release Date Shake Up!

2009-03-12T20:07:00.003-04:00

Only one more bit of Marvel news today I promise! Today Marvel Studios announced a lot of new release dates for their upcoming films. Including the announcement of their first co-produced Spider-man picture. I'm kind of excited about this delay. I thought all these films were coming too fast anyway. Now they will at least have the appropriate time to gestate and be the awesome movies we know they can be. Below is an excerpt from Nikki Finke's column....

“This new schedule strongly sequences Marvel’s movie debut dates, big screen character introductions and momentum. It maximizes the visibility of our single character-focused films, leading to the highly anticipated release of the multi-character THE AVENGERS film in 2012,” said David Maisel, Chairman, Marvel Studios.

Sony Pictures’ and Marvel Studios’ SPIDER-MAN 4 is slated for May 6, 2011. To date, all three motion pictures in the phenomenally successful SPIDER-MAN franchise have generated nearly $2.5 billion worldwide theatrically.

Below is Marvel Studios’ 2010-2012 updated release schedule for its slate of self-produced and financed feature films:

Marvel Studios Feature Film Pipeline
IRON MAN 2: formerly May 7, 2010, now May 7, 2010
THOR: formerly July 16, 2010, now June 17, 2011
CAPTAIN AMERICA: formerly May 6, 2011, now July 22, 2011
THE AVENGERS: formerly July 15, 2011, now May 4, 2012

The release date for IRON MAN 2 remains unchanged.

Movies: Scarlet a Widow and Rourke a Ruski

2009-03-12T18:11:00.007-04:00

The internets is a buzz today with Marvel news.....

Mickey Rourke is in baby!! Marvel has ponied up the dough for Randy the Ram to play a yet to be named Russian villian in "Iron Man 2." This is a big win for the film as it strengthens an allready stellar cast. Rourke will join Downey, Paltrow, Jackson, Rockwell and....

It is being reported in the trades that Scarlett Johansson is all set to play Iron Man frienemy Black Widow in the upcoming "Iron Man 2." The roll was originally offered to Emily Blunt but she had to bow out when Fox exercised it's option and put her in "Gulliver's Travels."

Rourke? Johansson? Thoughts anyone...

Movies: "Twilight" Franchise Going Classy?

2009-03-12T17:56:00.003-04:00

Variety and Nikki Finke are reporting that Summit Entertainment has inked "The Orphanage" director Juan Antonio Bayona to direct "Eclipse," the third film in the Twilight franchise.

Considering that "New Moon" the second film in the series has not yet started production a directorial announcement may seem strange. However, it is to be noted that "Eclipse" is due out in just over a year from now so Summit had to get a move on.

This choice of director is a great one. In fact it reminds me of Alfonso Cuaron helming "Prisoner of Askaban" except for the fact that the Potter series comes from far superior source material. Bayona is a disciple of Guillermo Del Toro and a really talented guy in his own right. So, I'm anxious to see what he does with the franchise.

The Lost Watch 5.08

2009-03-12T14:37:00.002-04:00

Hello, Losties. Sorry it’s been a week longer than originally planned, but with this week’s mini-hiatus, I thought I’d hold the column to this week. So without further ado, here’s this week’s reaction to last Wednesday’s episode, “LaFleur.”
As simply put as possible, I really loved it.

One of my favorite questions raised by the show since the Season 3 finale has been what has everybody else been doing if three years have passed in “real” time. The idea those left behind could be literally anywhere at any time was a thrilling possibility. The reveal of this answer could have been a total let down or blown my balls away and changed how I feel about life in general.

But, as usual, Lost took the path of – and I say this not as a put-down at all – total least resistance. Considering where the show has been building with the handful of survivors left on the Island over the course of this season, looking back on “LeFleur,” nothing should have been shocking. However, the continuous payoffs of Sawyer and Juliet really coming into their own as leaders and as a new breed of heroes really elevated “LaFleur” over the “revelations” of last week’s “Bentham,” in my modest opinion.

Sawyer is walking a clear path of consciousness at this point in his character’s development, and considering there’s really no one else who could stand in for the more “absolute extreme” characters (ie, Jack or Locke or Ben), Sawyer’s manning-up is cool to me.

And Juliet. And Juliet. When Sawyer decides to go help Michelle Dressler and Juliet falls right in step…something in their characters felt absolutely right to me. I’ve felt all season that these two were going to get together, but their love story in this week’s episode takes these characters to new dimensions. Sawyer has literally been running for his life since well before he ever stepped onto our Island. Juliet’s been shouldering her own burden through three years of attending in vain to the pregnant on the Island. Joining this era of the Dharma Initiative, the two can settle into a (most deserving) faux-normality. The proof? When has Sawyer ever stopped to smell the flowers? Sawyer doesn’t need someone who could bolt as quickly as Kate could/would/has. He needs more than an intellectual equal in his partner. He needs someone who would fit with him, and Juliet fits that pattern to a T, much better than I think Kate ever could.

Ironic that I’ve been totally Team Jack in the war of Kate’s affection (and look how well that turned out…surprise!), but now I don’t want the two of them to eff up what may be my second favorite couple on the show (behind Bernard and Rose). That’s not true…I do love me some Jin and Sun. Sawliet might be #3.

And for the Juliet haters (like my mother)…if you can’t get on board with this chick, you’re just jealous. I’ve been sold by Juliet since Season 3 and I think this last episode cements her lack of ill intent on our heroes, her sincerity within her own plight and how right she is for Sawyer at this point in the story. Juliet’s one of our heroes. Deal with it!

Another thing this week’s episode got 100% right is the scene with Sawyer and Richard. Once upon a time, we would wait at least a season, maybe two, to get a payoff scene between characters like that. Even until recently upon a time, Sawyer would have made up some kind of crazy awesome story about what happened to those bodies instead of telling the absolute truth. I love the moments on the show where everybody gets clued in on that which everybody already knows everything that everybody knows and would need to be clued in on, but typically they come in someone slipping a Claire is Christian’s daughter to Jack at his father’s funeral. These reveals are generally stumbled upon. This conversation was blunt, here’s-what’s-going-on, let’s-get-rocking awesomeness.

In typical Lost fashion, I’m sure this established happy factor going on in New Otherton will be destroyed by the return of the Oceanic 6, et al. But one question I never asked myself before “LaFleur,” is whether or not I would want the Foundies to join back up with the Losties at all. This is the greatest contribution of this latest batch of episodes: we knew those who went back would somehow come back to the Island, but do we want them there anymore? Even taking Sawliet out of the equation, should Sun be home tending to the baby? Didn’t Kate vow to watch over Aaron?

We’ll have to wait ANOTHER week to find out just how much the Island will shake with the landing of the 6, but until then, I’m going to bask in the residual love of Sawyer and Juliet…

Keep twiddling those dials,

~Romulus

Movies: Saturn Award Nominees

2009-03-11T20:07:00.003-04:00

The nominees for the 35 annual Saturn Awards were announced today. The Saturn Awards which are put on by The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films are a specialty award show catering to genre films. Head right over to their official website for all the details!

Science Fiction Film
"The Day the Earth Stood Still"
"Eagle Eye"
"The Incredible Hulk"
"Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"
"Iron Man"
"Jumper"

Fantasy Film
"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian"
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Hancock"
"The Spiderwick Chronicles"
"Twilight"
"Wanted"

Horror Film
"The Happening"
"Hellboy II: The Golden Army"
"The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor"
"Quarantine"
"Splinter"
"The Strangers"

Action / Adventure / Thriller Film
"Changeling"
"The Dark Knight"
"Gran Torino"
"Quantum of Solace"
"Traitor"
"Valkyrie"

Actor
Christian Bale, "The Dark Knight"
Tom Cruise, "Valkyrie"
Robert Downey, Jr.. "Iron Man"
Harrison Ford, "Indiana Jones & Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"
Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Will Smith, "Hancock"

Actress
Cate Blanchett, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Maggie Gyllenhaal, "The Dark Knight"
Angelina Jolie. "Changeling"
Julianne Moore, "Blindness"
Emily Mortimer, "Transsiberian"
Gwyneth Paltrow, "Iron Man"

Director
Clint Eastwood, "Changeling"
Jon Favreau, "Iron Man"
David Fincher, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Christopher Nolan, "The Dark Knight"
Bryan Singer, "Valkyrie"
Steven Spielberg, "Indiana Jones & Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"
Andrew Stanton, "Wall-E"

Network Television Series
"Fringe"
"Heroes"
"Life On Mars"
"Lost"
"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"
"Supernatural"

Movies: Loki Might be Joshin!

2009-03-11T19:51:00.002-04:00

This story comes to us courtesy of IESB and JoBl and tells tale of a Thor casting rumor. Apparently Josh Hartnett is in the running to play the god of mischief himself Loki.

For those of you unaware Thor is the story of, well, Thor who is the Norse god of thunder. He is sent to earth by his father Odin to learn humanity and humility. Loki is his brother and constant fly in his ointment. Kenneth Branaugh is set to direct for a July 2010 release. Thoughts on Hartnett as Loki?

Movies: "Drag Me To Hell" Trailer!!!

2009-03-11T19:41:00.003-04:00

The first trailer for "Drag Me To Hell," Sam Raimi's return to horror film making,debuted at Yahoo movies today. All I can say is hell fucking yeah. We have one of the greats going back to doing what he loves. People who don't know Evil Dead or any pre Spider-man Raimi will be in for a major shock.

Click the picture to peep the trailer!

Movies: Fantastic Again?

2009-03-10T15:02:00.003-04:00

According to IESB 20th Century Fox is looking to reboot the "Fantastic Four" franchise. They plan to tone down the campiness and turn the production more towards an "Iron Man" like tone. The reboot would mean a totally different team. So, that mean Alba is out,Gruffold is out and Tim Story is out. However, Chiklis and Evans being out is not the best news. Evans as the Human Torch was the saving grace of both mediocre films.

I'm glad they are deciding on a new direction I just can;t put much faith in Tom Rothman's capabilities of letting a good hero movie happen.

Television: Let the Ratings Be With You!

2009-03-10T14:46:00.005-04:00

The long gestating "Star Wars" live action television show is getting itself underway. George Lucas revealed to MTV that this new show will he show will center around minor characters from the mythology between REVENGE OF THE SITH and the original STAR WARS. We will follow the Rebel Alliance as it slowly gains strength against the Empire. There will be no Storm troopers nor Jedi.

It doesn't seem to matter how many Jar Jars, Jake Lloyds or gay Hutt clan members Lucas gives me I still find myself stoked beyond belief at this news. I'm always hungry for more of the universe and hopefully with television budget constraints Lucas can make something more akin to the first trilogy. Thoughts?

The Fanboy Remix Podcast Episode 1.3 "Watchmen"

2009-03-09T22:19:00.001-04:00

Brian and Bobby return for the third episode of Fanboy Remix where they discuss "Watchmen," the evil that is Brett Ratner and stumble upon a golden idea for a new SNL film.

Episode 1.3 "Watchmen"
Mac: Option click for direct download
PC: Right click and save as

Subscribe on iTunes

Television: Dollhouse Episode 1.4 Recap

2009-03-09T00:24:00.003-04:00

Spoilers within, for those who have missed this episode!

It is no secret that I am a big fan of all things Joss Whedon, so when word was out last year of him creating a new series with Eliza Dushku as the lead, I waited with baited breath. Now, Dollhouse has already aired it’s fourth episode this past Friday, and though slow going at start, the series is picking up momentum.

So we kicked off this week’s episode of Dollhouse with Echo as a midwife helping to deliver a baby. Well, that’s something different from the usual promiscuous scamp she’s been portraying in opening sequences. And shortly after her wipe, we learn Echo, Sierra, and Victor are grouping together, having lunch together on a repeated basis, at the same table… you know what this spells… dolls, taking over the world. Dum dum DUM.

The set up for Echo this time? She’s a sassy, smart-ass criminal mastermind trying to steal a painting with a couple of other cat burglars. The attitude is reminiscent of her role as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer… in fact; many of the personalities she’s been “imprinted with” seem to fall in Faith territory. I’m not sure if it’s Dushku who can’t seem to expand herself beyond that point or if it’s just the material she’s given, but it’s all sort of becoming a little predictable. I do have faith (no pun intended) that she can pull other “personalities off”, it just seems a little too soon to tell yet.

So there they are breaking and entering as any good thief does, and Echo is suddenly remotely wiped, cradling her knees and asking “can I go now?” over and over. Yikes. Way to screw up mid-theft. So now Sierra (portrayed by the sort of attractive, sort of alien looking Dichen Lachman) is being sent to the rescue with the same personality Echo was originally imprinted with. Lachman seems to do an awesome job playing the same exact character as Dushku, in fact, she’s dead on. The two even share some of the same lines, and it’s rather convincing that they both have become the same personality.

Dushku plays her wiped doll state very well. It’s probably the most interesting she is so far on the show, when she’s vulnerable and uncertain and you really feel for her in the situation. It’s also when we start to see her becoming self-aware, a little at a time. She even holds a full, albeit disjointed, conversation with one of the other burglars, which is a step up from her repetition of phrases she’s heard. I slowly see it coming together, and with every moment she gives us with insight to her consciousness I get chills. Knowing Whedon, this is heading to something good.

Especially so when we have a faceless villain called Alpha, who is himself a “doll gone wrong” (and seems to be the culprit behind this remote personality wipe). It seems he has become aware and was also equipped at his most basic state with some killer instincts (yes, pun INTENDED there), since what we do know is at one point he massacred quite a few dolls and escaped. My thinking is he knows Echo is becoming aware, and instead of killing her, wants to bring her over to his side so to speak. And with rumors that Alan Tudyk of Firefly could be the actor playing him, the build up to the reveal is even more exciting.

Well that’s it for now until next Friday, with what seems to be the most interesting episode so far; Echo is sent blindly (literally) undercover by the FBI to a religious cult village. Oh Joss, you are your religious jabs. I love ‘em!

Movies: We Were Watching the "Watchmen" This Weekend

2009-03-08T19:46:00.005-04:00

A 20 year journey to the silver screen ended in a number one debut for comic book adaptation "Watchmen" this weekend. Director Zack Snyder's new film collected an estimated $55.7 million making it the third best March debut behind "Ice Age 2" and another Zack Snyder film "300." There was hope in some circles that "Watchmen" would open higher but it is still a major win for a film that was once believed impossible to make.

Tyler Perry's "Madea Goes to Jail" slid into a distant second place with $8.8 million for a cume of $76.5 million after it's third weekend.

Disney's "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience" plummeted 78% and just barely hung on to the top ten finishing in ninth place with $2.8 million. It's cume stands at a disappointing $16.8 million.

"Slumdog Millionaire" fell 42% to fourth place with a weekend tally of $6.9 million and raising the Oscar winner's cume to $125.4 million. The Weinstein Co.'s "The Reader" reached the $30 million mark as it grossed an estimated $2 million.

Overall the box office was up a healthy 11% from last year continuing a successful first half of the year for Hollywood.

Chart is courtesy of Box Office Guru:

1	Watchmen	$ 55,655,000			3,611	1	$ 15,413	$ 55,655,000	Warner Bros.
2	Madea Goes to Jail	8,800,000	16,175,926	-45.6	2,151	3	4,091	76,505,000	Lionsgate
3	Taken	7,450,000	9,864,197	-24.5	3,016	6	2,470	118,049,000	Fox
4	Slumdog Millionaire	6,925,000	12,026,343	-42.4	2,890	17	2,396	125,441,000	Fox Searchlight
5	Paul Blart: Mall Cop	4,200,000	5,602,392	-25.0	2,558	8	1,642	133,643,000	Sony
6	He's Just Not That Into You	4,020,000	6,011,405	-33.1	2,445	5	1,644	84,647,000	Warner Bros.
7	Coraline	3,313,000	5,261,129	-37.0	1,959	5	1,691	65,680,000	Focus
8	Confessions of a Shopaholic	3,121,000	4,634,534	-32.7	2,290	4	1,363	38,356,000	Buena Vista
9	Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience	2,785,000	12,510,374	-77.7	1,276	2	2,183	16,791,000	Buena Vista
10	Fired Up	2,600,000	3,701,562	-29.8	1,798	3	1,446	13,360,000	Sony

Television: DRADIS Contact: Battlestar 4.18

2009-03-07T18:19:00.004-05:00

"Islanded in a Stream of Stars" marks the first episode of Battlestar A.B. , that's after Boomer. The opening of the show deals in the aftermath of Hera's abduction. We learn very quickly of a Cylon colony, that Starbuck is now convinced of Hera's importance, and we witness an accident that leaves the crew in shambles. The rest of the episode shows Adama struggling to let go of the dying Galacatica.

"Stream" was definitely more plot dense than last week and yet I felt less forward movement. It seemed to be moving the pieces around the chess board rather than putting them on the attack. The inevitable abandoning of the Galactica was a welcome development s weas Hera's arrival with into Cavil's waiting arms. I don't really know if I buy Kara's anguish over Sam when she didn't seem to care not too long ago.

Grace Park continues to blow me away. Her one scene as Athena was heartbreaking and her time of Boomer managed to deepen that character as well as our sympathies towards her. Similarly, Helo's confrontation with Adama is a highlight for Tahmoh Pinkett in the entire run of the show.

Why Starbuck ever trusted Baltar I have no idea. His betrayal was one of those clarifying moments in his personality. That he is at his core rotten and warped. It's such a juxtaposition of his reaction to seeing Caprica 6. There he seems open and vulnerable. But in the end she is right he hasn't changed, not really.

We did get the return of several reoccurring themes. "All Along the Watchtower" made an appearance as a Number 8's dying words. The shared dream returned as did the "harbinger of doom." The question I ask myself is, who will she lead to their doom? I'm starting to think it will be the Cavil led cylons.

A few of my favorite moments:

Helo screaming "Look at me!" to Athena.

Lee's reading of the name "Gaius Baltaar!"

Lee's speech to Kara in the halls of Galactica. "This is all that matters" Which seems to be a reoccurring theme of the overall series. The question of humanity and what makes us human.

We are now set up for the epic 3 hour finale of the series. I'm sad and excited all at the same time. Tune in next week!

"So say we all!"

Video Games: A Boy & His Blob Make Their Way to the Wii

2009-03-06T21:02:00.004-05:00

Remember A Boy & His Blob, the stress-inducing, unforgiving NES game? Well then, you're old. But you'll also either genuinely love or hate the news (depending on how many times the game made you throw your controller across the room) that the game is now coming to the Wii in an all new, awesome way. Kotaku has some screenshots and even video. Check out the second video for sure, the music will be a definite blast to the past.
Here's some screens, and here's the vi deos.

Movies: "Star Trek" Trailer Beams Onto Net...

2009-03-06T11:55:00.003-05:00

The new trailer for the J.J. Abrams directed Star Trek film is up on Apple Trailers. I'm waiting to check it out with "Watchmen" tonight but for those of you who just can't wait click the link below.

CHECK OUT THE TREK GOODNESS

Movies: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Trailer

2009-03-05T22:27:00.002-05:00

The new Potter trailer popped up on Yahoo Movies tonight and its about as cheery as an old man without hard candy. The film retains the dark direction the series has been taking since the third film which is good news for anyone who has read Rowling's novels because the series grows in maturity with it's main character. "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" opens on July 17,2009.

Follow the link to watch it in all its HD goodness

Click Here

Video Games: The Beatles Set Date to "Rock"

2009-03-05T22:08:00.003-05:00

Erik Pedersen story over at The Hollywood Reporter wrote this story and I though I'd pass it along. I'm so excited about this it has what I've wanted since the first time I put my hands on a "Guitar Hero" controller. I hope I'm doing well financially so I can get the deluxe set.

Meet the digital Beatles.

The Fab Four will make their initial foray into d-music Sept. 9 with the long-anticipated release of "The Beatles: Rock Band." It marks the first time any Beatles music will be available in the digital realm.

Harmonix, MTV Games and the band's Apple Corps said Thursday that the game-- the first in the "Rock Band" franchise based on a single band -- will be released worldwide for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Wii.

And here's something new: Accompanying instruments modeled after the ones used by Paul, John, George and Ringo also will be available for $100. The game will be playable with existing "Rock Band" guitars, drums and microphones, though.

"The Beatles: Rock Band" will list for $59.99; a Limited Edition Premium Bundle will run $249.99. Some "exclusive content" will be available for those who preorder the game. Details will be announced in the coming months.

The game will be available simultaneously at locations in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand on 9/9/09 -- a date picked to acknowledge the significance of the number 9 for the band.

No song lists have been announced for the project, but Thursday's announcement said the game will "allow fans to pick up the guitar, bass, microphone or drums and experience the Beatles' extraordinary catalog of music through gameplay that takes players on a journey through the legacy and evolution of the band's legendary career."

McCartney said in a recent interview that the game "will feature different periods of the band -- you get early days, Liverpool, then psychedelic and on from there. It's very cool. And I like the idea that the game introduces kids to music, you know?"

Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer George Martin and co-producer of the Cirque du Soleil "Love" show, is serving as music producer for the "Rock Band" game, which originally was announced in October.

The Beatles have sold more than 600 million albums worldwide -- 170 million in the U.S. alone -- but the group's music has remained absent from the digital world. Beatles songs are not available at Apple's iTunes Store, for instance, as surviving members of the group and their representatives have closely guarded the distribution of their music.

A Web site devoted to the game has been set up at www.thebeatlesrockband.com.

Movies: Boyle not Bond

2009-03-05T21:53:00.003-05:00

Well tie me up and slap me silly. We ran a story a few days ago selling the idea that Danny Boyle was in the running for the director's chair on the new Bond flick. Well that has now been proven patently untrue. I did say that I would love to see Boyle on a big project and now it seems he may bring his significant skills to the movie musical. The "Slumdog" director is looking to remake "My Fair Lady."

"Lady" is based on "Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw and tells the story of Henry Higgins,a snobbish photenic professor, who takes a bet to teach a poor flower girl named Eliza Doolittle to be a proper lady. The most famous version is the 1964 film version starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn.

Boyle has proved over the years that he is a very pliable director. His works include the drug film "Trainspotting," the zombie film "28 Days Later," the family oriented "Millions," the sci fi epic "Sunshine" and of course the modern fairy tale "Slumdog Millionaire."
I would love to see what he does with the movie musical.

Tales of the Super Watchmen

2009-03-05T21:49:00.003-05:00

I saw this embedded up on Ain't It Cool and had to post it. I don't know if this is viral or fan made but its genius.

Television: "Seinfeld" is hitting the "Curb"

2009-03-05T21:37:00.002-05:00

source Hollywood Reporter

The gang is getting back together. It's not a "Seinfeld" reunion but its the next best thing. Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, and Michael Richards will appear together playing themselves on Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Alexander and Dreyfus have both appeared on the show in prior seasons but this will mark the first time for Seinfeld and Richards. Larry David was co-creator and a major influence on the entire direction of "Seinfeld."

Video Games: Guitar Hero Gets Greatest Hits

2009-03-05T00:29:00.005-05:00

News broke over on IGN today that Activision will release the tentatively titled "Guitar Hero" Greatest Hits" on XBOX 360, PS3, Wii, and PS2 this June. The package of 48 songs -- all master recordings pulled from Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. On the Xbox 360 and PS3 it will have a suggested retail price of $59.99, while Wii and PS2 will be $49.99 and $39.99 respectively.

Developer Beenox released the names of a few of the included tracks. They are "Them Bones" by Alice in Chains, Queen's "Killer Queen," "Nothin' But A Good Time" by Poison, Rage Against The Machine's "Killing in the Name," "I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts's "I Love Rock N Roll," Heart's "Barracuda. and Dragonforce's "Through the Fire and Flames!" The game will allow you to play all these songs in full band mode for the first time. However you will not be able to play downloaded tracks from "World Tour" in "Greatest Hits" or be able to rip the songs off the new set to play in your "World Tour."

Is it just me or does "Guitar Hero" just seem to fall farther and farther behind the times. Harmonix has utilized the ripping method for both "Rock Band 2" and their AC/DC track pack. Is it Activision's plan to keep us drunkinly swapping endless discs in and out of our machine during parties? But damn them they have Queen on this disc! It must be mine.

“Fallon on His Face” A Comics view of Jimmy Fallon’s first late night

2009-03-04T23:56:00.005-05:00

By Jeff Schaeffer

“Jimmy come on in,” a high powered NBC exec must have said. “ If your not too busy we’d like you to host the Late Night show. You know take over for Conan and we’d like you to do it tomorrow!" That would be the only excuse Jimmy Fallon would have for such a meager debut in the illustrious 12:30 time slot.

I was ten years old and sitting in the back room of a stranger's house while my dad’s rock band was practicing Scorpion tunes in the other room. I found a cassette recorder and a microphone and for the next three hours I filled that tape with interviews from the hot new show, “Late Night with Jeff Schaeffer.” It was my half of the interviews and my own laughter in response to the interviewees hilarious and imaginary retorts. My dad opened the door to take me home he caught the end of my first opening monologue. It ended with a killer joke about me dating the older 1992 Olympic gymnasts, all of them. It was gold. As you can see the job of late night talk show host is very important to me. In fact its my dream job.

The best part should have been the monologue; that should have been easy. I expected to see WEEKEND UPDATE just standing up and all by himself but I was disappointed from the get go. He started awkwardly and amidst his stammering and sweating the audience walked all over him with over supportive yelps and screams. It may not be fair to compare him to Jay Leno because the monologue is his forte, but I’ll do it anyway. When Jay is up there the show runs at his cadence, every word that comes out his mouth is planned and nothing happens by accident. Fallon had months to prepare for this first show, and it felt as if we were watching a dress rehearsal. The jokes were adequate, but I would rather have heard them from the drummer of The Roots.

The Roots were the best part of the show and were a creative idea that got me excited about commercial breaks. They were incorporated at the end of monologue when he “ slow jammed the news.” It was a great idea, and I hope to see it again just with better punch lines. That seems to be the detail I was waiting for the whole night, I guess that’s just Jimmy’s humor, no punch lines. Take the skit, “ People licking things for ten dollars.” I can’t even fathom what I was suppose to laugh at, there was just no point, but yet it happened three times. For the smart people who missed the show, the skit was just as lame as it sounds, he brought three people in from the crowd and they licked lawn mowers, and fish bowls, and a copy machine. Then Fallon would give them ten dollars, that’s it. Months to prepare for your big night, your first sketch and that’s all we get. I feel insulted. Maybe next week someone will wheel out Andy Richter topless and Jimmy Fallon will have to lick that. That would be hilarious.

Perhaps Robert De Niro wasn’t the best actor to have as your first guest, as a matter of fact I’d rather watch that new Filet O’ Fish commercial ten times before watching him give an interview but I think Fallon has a man crush on him. After hard hitting questions such as, “ How are you?” and “ How are you feeling?” Jimmy Fallon told a story about himself and Jack Nicolson at a Yankees game. With the always entertaining Justin Timberlake Fallon spent five minutes telling stories that started with, “ remember that time on Saturday Night Live?” While none of this was funny it did spark memories of something funny. The whole thing was very reminiscent of the Chris Farley SNL skit where he would interview big time celebs like Paul McCartney and never ask a question that could have a good response. Farley would ask “Remember that time you wrote the song HELP!?" In fact thinking of Farley was the first time I laughed during the Jimmy Fallon show and dejectedly it was the last.

Someone out there likes Jimmy Fallon and that same person probably thought he did a great job last night. I'm having trouble finding this person but based on the fact that he got this job handed to him on a golden platter, I know this person exists. My biggest fear is that this person is Lorne Michaels and because of this I think we are all going to have to deal with his Fallonisms for longer than we should have to. Maybe he’ll just get better. I guess its possible. If that happens you’ll have to let me know because I can't stand to watch someone muddle up my dream job.

In the mean time I’ll keep working on my Olympic jokes, although at my age jokes about the gymnasts are highly inappropriate.

-Jeff Schaeffer
JeffSchaeffer.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/jeffscomedypage

Movies: Apatow is Afraid of Ghosts

2009-03-04T23:40:00.003-05:00

Rumors were that Judd Apatow would even be producing a third Ghostbusters flick. But Sony's Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures released this statement to the LA Times. "We have some great new writers working on a new script, but Judd isn’t involved. Judging from the frenzy on the Internet, there still seems to be plenty of interest in the idea of doing another film, so we’re certainly taking that as a good sign." The word is that those writers are "The Office" scribes Lee Eisenberg and Greg Stupnitsky.

I don't know how to make head's or tails of this Ghostbusters 3 scenario. On one hand I don't want them to touch such a sacred property but on the other I wouldn't mind seeing the likes of Seth Rogen, Jason Segal, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd and others take a crack at it. I'm just glad we've moved past the days of Ben Stiller being a candidate.

Movies: "TRON" gets Daft

2009-03-04T23:26:00.003-05:00

TR2N is not on my RADAR. I can't find much to be excited about when it comes to the sequel of a 27 year old mediocre genre picture. But the news coming out of the Internets today at least has me interested.

French electronica duo Daft Punk have been brought on by the Mouse House to bring music to the 2011 release. This will mark the band's first new major release since 2005's "Human After All."

The film will return stars Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner as the titular TRON and is slated for a 2011 release.

Movies:Batman and Dr. Manhattan Vs. Captain Jack Sparrow..."Public Enemies" Trailer

2009-03-04T20:39:00.003-05:00

Holy Crap....I was having a bad day up until about 2 minutes ago when I laid eyes on the first trailer for the Johnny Depp starring"Public Enemies." Now I'm as giddy as a school boy. I've been pumped since the day I heard about this project and the trailer does not disappoint.

CLICK HERE TO SEE BATMAN AND DR. MANHATTAN BATTLE CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW

Movies: Trailer for Quaid's "Pandorum" hits the net

2009-03-04T20:27:00.004-05:00

Movies: More Madea on the Way...

2009-03-04T20:19:00.003-05:00

source: Variety

Lionsgate has renewed it's ticket on the Tyler Perry gravy train. The studio has acquired the rights for two more Perry vehicles. The films are "Why Did I Get Married Too" and "I Can Do Bad All By Myself." Perry will of course write,direct,and star in all three. Lionsgate made the announcement just a few days after the director's "Madea Goes To Jail" spent it's second weekend atop the box-office.

"I Can Do Bad All By Myself" will co-star Academy Award nominated actress Taraji P. Henson and is set for release on September 11,2009.

Movies: DiCaprio and Nolan Team Up

2009-03-04T00:23:00.005-05:00

Christopher Nolan's follow up to The Dark Knight has found it's leading man.

Leonardo DiCaprio will star in Inception for Warner Brothers. There isn't much known about the project except that it is said to be a contemporary sci-fi action picture. I love that Nolan takes time to recharge his Batman batteries by exercising other creative endeavors. I will always believe that it was Raimi living and breathing Spider-man for 8 years that gave us the dredge that was Spider-man 3.

I just hope it is as excellent as The Prestige. But to be honest I think Chris Nolan could direct a movie about poo and people would be excited.

Movies: Willis and Morgan Make a Cop Movie

2009-03-04T00:05:00.004-05:00

I'm so excited right now I could poo.

Kevin Smith is set to direct "A Couple of Cops" for Warner Brothers. "Cops" will star Bruce Willis and star of "Honkey Grandma Be Trippin'" Tracey Morgan. The film penned by Robb and Marc Cullen focuses on a pair of cops who track down a stolen baseball card, rescue a Mexican beauty and must deal with gangsters and laundered drug money.

"Cops" marks a few firsts for the man who was Silent Bob. It is hid first major studio picture and will be the first movie he helms he didn't scribe himself.

Fans of Smith will know that Willis has wanted to work with the director ever since they starred in "Live Free or Die Hard" together.

Movies: The Name's Boyle,Danny Boyle

2009-03-03T20:41:00.003-05:00

Stick this story firmly in the rumors folder but there are reports that newly crowned Best director Danny Boyle has been approached to helm the next Bond picture. The news comes from London tabloid "The Sun" so take it with a grain of salt.

Boyle could take his pick of projects right now but if this does end up being true it would continue the franchise's new penchant for choosing interesting directors. "Quantum of Solace" was piloted by Finding Neverland director "Marc Forester.

Movies: "Treader" To Leave Port in December

2009-03-03T20:29:00.003-05:00

Having learned the hard way how tough summer time can be Walden Media and new partner Twentieth Century Fox will release "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" on December 10th 2010.

It was December 2005 that "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" roared into cinemas and walked away with a $291.7 million dollar domestic gross. The sequel was released in the summer of 2008 and managed $141.2 less than half of "Lion's'" gross. The film did end up with $419.6 million worldwide but Disney elected not to produce the third film so Fox swooped in to pick up the tab and hopefully a lucrative franchise.

The "Narnia" books are wildly popular and there is a lot of story to mine. Up until now though they seem like "Lord of the Rings" lite to me. But they have a fine director in Michael Apted lets just hope Rothman keeps his grubby hands off.

Movies: Depp is Dillinger and Jolie worth her "Salt"

2009-03-03T20:24:00.006-05:00

A few pics for you today. One is the poster for Michael Mann's upcoming flick "Public Enemies" starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger. The second is Jolie in her new Phillip Noyce (PAtriot Games) directed spy flick "Salt" which is apparently going to finally happen. Click on the pics to biggie size them!

Movies:Catholics Call Howard Pic a "Demon"

2009-03-03T20:13:00.004-05:00

In another act of utter stupidity the Catholic church is lashing out at yet another Dan Brown adaptation.

"Angels and Demons" again stars Tom Hanks as globe trotting symbologist Robert Langdon. "Demons is the follow up to the mega hit "The Da Vinci Code." Which managed to ring up $758 milliom world wide inspite of (or because of) constrenation by the church.

The basic complaint is that the movie is anti-Catholic and the church plans to release statments about the falsehoods in this work of FICTION.

For a religion who believes in an all powerful God they sure feel the need to defend him a whole lot.

"Angels and Demons" opens everywhere May 15th

Harvey Milk Day?

2009-03-03T20:04:00.003-05:00

Fresh off his Best Actor win for "Milk" Sean Penn is now trying to recruit the state of California to name Harvey Milk's birthday a state holiday.

Penn will appear Tuesday in San Francisco with state Senator Mark Leno, who plans to reintroduce a bill making the Milk's birthday a "day of significance." This would suggest schools conduct exercises and functions in Milk's honor but not close the schools themselves.

The Govenator vetoed the bill once thinking that Harvey Milk should be recognized in San Francisco but not the entire state.

The Fanboy Remix Podcast Episode 1.2 "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"

2009-03-02T18:30:00.000-05:00

Brian and Bobby return for the second installment of The Fanboy Remix Podcast. Where they review "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," send Justin Marks to a different dimension, and turn the practice of segway into an art.

FBR Episode 1.2 "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"
Mac: Option click for direct download
PC: Right click and save as

Subscribe on iTunes

Cynthia Watros Mugshot

Mary Martin as Peter Pan

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

2009-03-02T14:41:00.003-05:00

Theodore Geisel was born on this day 105 years ago. A man who knew that imagination and intelligence were equally important to instill in children. It was about "all the things you can think!" I posted a few of my favorite bits of Seussian creation here. Have a great day everyone.

New "Terminator Salvation" posters

2009-03-02T14:32:00.003-05:00

Some badass new "Terminator Salvation" posters popped up today. There is also a new trailer on the way which will be up on Yahoo Movies at 7pm E.S.T. tonight. This all comes just days after McG spoke to a Wonder Con audience about the possibility of both Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger appearing in some capacity. If nothing else the production seems to at least have a healthy respect for what came before.

Click for a biggie sized image!

"Terminator Salvation" opens on May 21, 2009 and stars Christian Bale, Brice Dallas Howard and Sam Worthington. The film is directed by McG.

Knightley says "Never" as Bateman grabs some "Air"

2009-03-02T14:21:00.002-05:00

source: Variety.com

Some casting news surfaced today as Keira Knightley has signed on to star in "Never Let Me Go" for Fox Searchlight.

"Never Let Me Go" tells the story of trio who grew up in a boarding school with no contact or knowledge of the outside world until they discover they are clones grown for the sole purpose of organ donation. We can only assume Knightley will play the hot one in this "Island" like plot.

The man who was and still could be Michael Bluth has decided to work with an old friend. Jason Bateman has signed to star in "Up in the Air," the adaptation of the Walter Kirn novel for "Juno director Jason Reitman.

"Up in the Air" is the story of a corporate downsizer (George Clooney) who is obsessed with collecting frequent flyer miles at the expense of having a life. Bateman will play his boss.

Video Games: New Classic Controller

2009-03-02T14:16:00.003-05:00

Nintendo recently unveiled their new classic controller pro model over on their Japanese site. I'm really digging the form factor as it seems to be a better feeling and easy to use design. It will release in Japan in the summer no word on a forthcoming American release.

Video Games: Fatality for Midway

2009-03-02T13:57:00.003-05:00

Midway filed for Chapter 11, they sold of publishing rights to their Vin Diesel starring "Wheelman" game and now they may part with their most popular franchise of all.

"Mortal Kombat" has been the company's flagship franchise supporting 17 games in it's 17 year history. But now in order to save themselves from financial meltdown the Chicago based Midway is looking for someone to take Sub-Zero and company off their hands.

This move calls into question the status of the forthcoming "Mortal Kombat 9" and more importantly how Midway plans to recover with the lack of its most lucrative franchise.

Kotaku is reporting that the sale would help the company reach a milestone that would result in nearly 4 million dollars being paid out to several employees. Which should upset the many laid off workers who are claiming that Midway has shorted them on promised pay at the event of their release.

Video Games: PC :F.E.A.R. 2:Project Origin

2009-03-01T17:28:00.007-05:00

Being a fan of Monolith’s F.E.A.R franchise thus far, there was no hesitation in picking up the official sequel to the madness that is Alma. The original F.E.A.R introduced us to this creepy little girl and her story, that of being a child of psychic abilities so strong that she was taken to a lab were scientists poked, prodded, and brought about the birth of her son, Paxton Fettel. Fettel could psychically control a battalion of soldiers known as Replicas. When Fettel starts attacking those who so woefully mistreated his mother all hell breaks loose. The game ends with a big, apocalyptic type explosion brought on by the release of Alma into the world.

Fast forward to F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin. The story now follows a group of soldiers sent into take the head scientist of the company into custody, and you play as Beckett, one of the squad. The events occur right after the explosion in Project Origin, and your thinking, well crap, Alma is loose. Your ready to indulge in the scares and horrors of the first… but that never really seems to happen.

Project Origin feels like a different game from its predecessor. From the gun battles to story line to atmosphere, there’s something sorely lacking in its experience. The game seems to be less about Alma and a little more about blowing Replica soldiers’ brains out, which is all good and well, but there’s no actual fear for a game that boasts it in its title.

What few experiences we do have with Alma are seen coming a mile away, and the scares have lost their innovation. Where the first made you slow down and take a deep breath before heading into the next room, Project Origin felt more like I could run in guns blazing, especially because the usual tell-tale sign of Alma being near (flickering of your HUD) led usually to, well, nothing. Where are the pools of blood, the hallucinations, and the voices in your head? They were there as of the E3 demo that was released in 2007, but since then many of the Alma scenes that stood out seemed to be removed.

Even the two shorter installments, Perseus Mandate and Extraction Point, which Monolith seems to cower in embarrassment over and blatantly said were not even canon, were scarier than this official sequel.

It also doesn’t help that you feel a lot less vulnerable. Normal difficulty is a cake-walk, and Hard is barely a step up. It really feels like a run and gun first-person shooter and less like the psychological horror game it was meant to be. The feeling of invincibility sure takes the terror out of the experience. They did take away the quick save feature of the first, which in a way makes your every move a little more important as you rely on only save points throughout a level, but considering nothing really kills you except for the occasional sniper bullet to the head, it doesn't do much to raise the tension.

They tried to add some elements, like adding mechs into the game. Before, you encountered a few to be blown up to pieces, but here you can actually jump in one yourself. The feel of walking around is really immersive and all in all awesome, but the moments when you do use them feel unnecessary, and don’t make much sense in the context of the game.

The fire fights don’t seem as epic as the original. The A.I. seems to actually have gotten dumber, even though the developers boasted for months about how much of an improvement it would be. Leaning was taken out of the game, so the A.I. can lean out from behind walls, but you can’t, which really makes taking cover difficult. You are able to throw objects over for cover, but there is no actual cover system, so you just have to hope that crouching behind some table will help, which it usually doesn’t as you are still far too exposed.

There is a new highlighting system when going into good ol’ slow mo that highlights the baddies with a white glow. I liked the effect, especially coupled with the slow mo graphical experience. The graphics are a step up from the original, but there are still games out there pushing processors harder than Project Origin will.

The game is also automatically letterboxed, which on a widescreen PC like my own is just fine, but could pose problems for those with smaller resolutions.

The story is fairly straight to the point, but maybe that’s because the game as a whole only offers about 7 hours of game play. Your squad mates have interesting personalities, and really are rather likeable rather than just random generic solider buddies. The big twist comes through at the end, which seemingly comes out of nowhere, but did its job in leaving me with a big “Whaaaat?” reaction. A reaction mostly for its insanity and disturbing yet nonsensical approach, and less because it was really compelling in anyway to the story. And, as with the first, it has left us with a big “to be continued” sort of ending.

The game is enjoyable enough, and there’s enough blood and gore to satisfy anyone. In fact, I wouldn’t be against giving it another run through. But the tension and fear is gone, leaving you with just another shooter. A well-done shooter, but nothing more. If you are a fan it’s worth picking up the sequel just to see where everything has led up to. But if you’re new to the franchise, forget Project Origin, and pick up the original F.E.A.R.You’ll have a much creepier, much more enjoyable experience.

Movies: "Madea" puts the brothers "Jonas" in Their Place.

2009-03-01T13:35:00.002-05:00

The Jonas Brothers may be popular but Miley Cyrus they are not. The teen heart throbs' "Jonas Brothers: The 3d Concert Experience" managed an estimated gross of $12.7 million from 1,1271 screens and a 9,992 per screen gross. That is roughly one third the gross of last years "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour," which opened on less screens but grossed $31.8 million.

The $12.7 million was not even good enough to nab the boy first place. That spot went to holdover and cross dresser extraordinaire Tyler Perry and his "Madea Goes to Jail." The laugher grossed $16.5 million for a cume of $64.8 million.

"Slumdog Millionaire" scored the best Oscar bounce in more than a
ten years with it's number three placement for the weekend. Jamal and company "Jai Hoed" there way to an estimated $12.2 million from 2,943 screens for a cume of $115.1 million.

"Taken" eclipsed the $100 million mark in its fifth weekend, it grossed an estimated $10
million for a cume of $107.9 million. It managed to lose only 12% of its audience.

The only other wide release was Hyde Park's dismal videogame adaptation "Street Fighter:
The Legend of Chun Li," distributed by Fox. The film finished in sixth place, grossing an estimated $5.7 million from 1,136 screens.

Movies: The Ultimate 2009 Trailer

2009-03-01T10:31:00.007-05:00

Hello true believers I just thought I'd embed the trailer mash I made up on the site for all to enjoy. I hope everyone digs what they see. Click on the video to see a larger version!

Video Games: Flower

2009-02-28T23:37:00.009-05:00

Beautiful. Breathtaking. Mesmerizing.

If I could get away with writing those three words for this review I would. "Flower" is a game that is not done justice by words. It is a great game wrapped in visual poetry. The premise is simple; you are a petal and it is your task to awaken the sleeping flowers on the fields of the world. By doing this you bring color and life back to nature. By the end of each level you are a hurricane of flower petals filling the sky. It is a game of colors and music that envelopes the player rather than leading them.

To be clear this is a game in every sense. It has objectives to achieve, enemies to defeat, and levels to traverse. You steer your petal by tilting the SIX AXIS controller and control the wind by pushing any button.

There is even a plot twist that hits around the 4th level that really throws the game for a loop. And in fact I found this twist to be one of the more unsettling things I've played in a game in a long time. I won't give it away exactly but it becomes a nature under attack story and when you attack back its exhilarating .

"Flower" is a short game. It took me only about 3 hours to complete but I enjoyed all 3 of those hours immensely. And at 10 bucks its a good deal in tough financial times. If you own a PS3 it is a must have title. If only to get away from shooting things for a few hours. I applaud ThatGameCompany for their achievement and their ambition to make different games in a world filled with copies and sequels.

Flower is available for download on the Playstaion Store.

Movies: Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li

2009-02-28T22:54:00.008-05:00

Have you ever seen an action movie? Have you ever see a martial arts movie? Are you a twelve year old boy? Then congratulations you could have written "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li." But you are still incapable of enjoying it.

The crack team behind this cinematic marvel is director Andrzej "Doom" Bartkowiak and Justin "I'm in demand for no reason" Marks. Marks is the "It" screenwriter at the moment. Having penned "Green Arrow: Escape from Super Max," "Grayskull:Masters of the Universe," "Voltron," and "Hack/Slash." If "Street Fighter" is any indication those projects are in big trouble.

The movie's look is pedestrian most of the time and flat out ugly in instances. Bartowiak does manage to put together some entertaining if run of the mill fight scenes. Chun Li fighting the bums on the street definitely worked for me. Though all that is erased by the fact that the movie looks like it was shot on a camcorder.

The script is beyond inane. It ignores not just the first rule of screenwriting but the first rule of storytelling, "show don't tell." When people talk about bad voice over this movie is what they are talking about. It says things like "I was angry" while the character makes an angry face and "I have to investigate" while a girl Googles a crime syndicate.

I've gotten ahead of myself though. What is this "movie" about.?

Based on the storyless "Street Fighter" video game franchise. "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li" tells the story of Chun Li (Kristen "Smallville" Kreuk) and her quest to avenge her father's death at the hands of crime lord Bison (Neil McDonough). While Interpol Agent Nash (Chris Klein) with help of Bangok detective Maya Sunee (Moon Bloodgood) try to take him down as well.

I spent more time thinking up that synopsis than Marks did writing the entire script. But I've harped on Marks long enough let's move on to some more awful things.

Kreuk as Chun Li is fine. Which is maybe the best thing I can say about the film. She is really pretty and as long as she's not emoting she is suitably athletic for the action scenes. I don't believe any of her strife at all but in the end it didn't hurt my soul when she was on screen.

McDonough plays a man from the slums of Bangkok who is white and has an Irish accent. I have nothing more to say. I just wish he was still young enough to play Captain America.

Chris Klein is epically bad here. He has always been the poor man's Keanu Reeves but here he becomes the homeless man's Keanu Reeves. He spends most of the film walking purposefully into rooms and screaming, "Get down!" And when he is not doing that he is hitting on and cracking (un) wise to his partner played by Moon Bloodgood who is hot and has a name that leads me to believe she is a vampire. However, she dresses less like a hardcore policewoman and more like a common whore.

In the last scene of the film Chun Li gets a flier for a street fighter tournament that takes place in China. She is told that a young man named Ryu shows real promise. It left me wondering why the movie didn't just start at this point. Because in a movie called "Street Fighter" I expected some actual street fighting. Call me crazy. I guess we will have to wait for the sequel. Fingers crossed.

If you want to feel like you've been skull fucked by a mentally deficient monkey "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li" is the movie for you.

Televison: DRADIS Contact: Battlestar 4.17

2009-02-28T22:09:00.006-05:00

"Listen. It may feel like hell, but sometimes lost is where you need to be. Just because you don't know your direction doesn't mean you don't have one."

Friends, Capricans, Cylons lend me your eyes. This is Bobby checking in with my weekly (for the next 4 weeks anyway) Battlestar Galactica postmortem. In the interest of full disclosure there are SPOILERS ahead.

Let's get one thing out of the way right now...Boomer is an evil bitch! The path of destruction she left if her wake was shattering. In this episode she manages to destroy the lives of Tyrol, Athena, Helo and cripple Galactica in the span of a few hours.

Grace Park has never been my favorite performer on the show but she is note perfect here. She manages to really make me believe Boomer and Athena are two completely different people. The scene in the flight briefing room where a bruised and beaten Athena screams for her kidnapped child shook me to my core. And the look on Tyrol's face when he is told Boomer stole Hera made that character as real and alive as its ever been.

There are few things that melt this reporters cold heart and a Kara Thrace episode is one of those things. I have been addicted ever Since the first moment her short blond hair and attitude problem graced the screen and in "Someone To Watch Over Me" Katie Sackoff is at her best.

The advertising for this weeks episode led us to believe we'd discover the mystery behind Starbuck's seeming resurrection. In fact the conclusion only aided in deepening that riddle. What we were treated to is a psychological examination of the woman herself.

Her voice over at the start did wonders for showing the rut she is in. How she keeps moving but not going anywhere. Every second she interacts with the piano player is emotionally subtle as it is powerful. The exchange where she tries to make nice by comparing the song to chasing a car is one of those times Sackhoff conveys this vulnerability that makes that character so wonderful to me.

I've heard the ending referred to as a "Sixth Sense" moment. That commentary makes me believe people don't understand that movie. Malcolm Crowe is a literal ghost while the piano player is a psychological projection that Kara uses to face her past. Leaving that behind though I love that we discover the source of Starbuck's distrust and treatment of men. Her playing "All Along The Watchtower" and that its a song from her childhood really got me excited.

So, we are now set up for a full on Cavil led attack on the human/Cylon fleet. Galactica is about to break into a million pieces and Gods help Tyrol when Athena and Helo discover his part in Hera's abduction. Oh and why does Roselyn know when Hera leaves the ship??

Were it not for Lost this would be the best show of its era. And right now its kicking on all cylinders. I don't mind that we didn't learn how Kara came back to life because we are only three weeks from knowing the end. I put my trust in Mr. Moore.

Can't Escape Those "Damn Yankees"

2009-02-27T16:43:00.006-05:00

Source: Variety.com

For a genre pronounced dead just ten years ago movie musicals sure are having a good run. There have been three 100 million dollar grossers (Dreamgirls, Hairspray, Mamma Mia) in the last three years and now New Line Cinema has picked up Jim Carrey and Jake Gyllenhaal to play the field in their new adaptation of the 1950's musical "Damn Yankees."

The film about a fan of a hapless baseball team (Gyllenhaal) who makes a deal with the devil (Carrey) to help change the fortunes of his beloved squad. "Damn Yankees" will mark the first musical for both leads.

I'm all for the movie musical but "Damn Yankees" is a piece of theater which belongs squarely to its era. Will this be a period piece ala "Chicago," "Hairspray," and "Dreamgirls"? Will the screenwriting duo of Ganz and Babaloo Mandel bring the plight of the Senators into modern times? Is a Babaloo a real name? Only time will tell.

The Lost Watch 5.07

2009-02-27T00:31:00.004-05:00

Ahoy-hoy, boys and girls out there in Interwebland. With the launch of this new website/blog factor, a grave and serious responsibility has been bestowed upon my humble shoulders. It has been left to me to discuss, dissect and discern all that my brain can process based on the greatest of all modern treasures.

I’m speaking, of course, about Lost.

Rather than prattle on forever about the goals of this blog, we’re gonna just jump off the desk and get to the Island.

Tonight’s episode, “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham,” was not the balls-craziest of Lost, considering how balls-crazy the show has been, not only forever, but especially this season. It was though, in my opinion, the most Lost-ish feeling episode of the season. It harkened back to other “different” episodes like “The Other 48 Days,” a listing journey following a certain person through a specific period in Lost-lore.

The good? Every second that Charles Widmore or Benjamin Linus stretch across the screen is visual crack-cocaine for me. Charles’s scene with Locke (suffering from yet another leg injury – maybe there’s something in this…) presented the greatest argument for Widmore’s case for the Island. True, Charles Widmore has never outright tried to murder John Locke. Have we ever caught him in an outright lie? Have we established that Widmore has anything personally against our castaways, other than Desmond and Ben, of course? Charles Widmore finally drew the line in the sand – who do you trust, him or Ben – and that line is one huge question mark.

Speaking of Ben: doesn’t it seem like the more genuine and sympathetic he appears, the more dangerous he really is? Almost every time Locke and Ben sit down for a chit-chat, Ben does something crazy to leave Locke for dead. And always, Locke escapes certain death through twists of fate/helping hand from the Island/Jacob. This time, Locke was not left for dead – he was plum murdered and then re-hanged – and we know that a few days later he rises from the waters of the Island like an AquaJesus; Jedi-robed, ironically smiling, breathing and generally living. I think there’s something to the fact that Ben can’t seem to completely kill Locke. The Island wouldn’t let Locke kill himself (it wouldn’t let Michael or Jack kill themselves in their post-Island lives either), but Ben could since we’ve already established that Locke has a penchant for bouncing back from bullets to the abdomen and time-travel-causing brain aneurisms.

Michael Emerson, by the way = fierce. Always.

This chapter in the Locke story keeps bringing me back to Christian Shephard. Did Jack’s dad know about the Island before he went to Australia, or did he really just go to see Claire? Did he maybe find out about it in Sydney? Was his landing on the Island as destined as Locke’s return, or was it accidental? Is Christian as alive now as Locke seems to be?! Before tonight’s episode, I would have argued that he was more akin to the Ghost of Christmas Past, stepping in to guide and teach, but not to interfere physically. One triumph of this season is the reconfiguration of Christian Shephard, and like every other time the powers-that-be at Lost turn the show on it’s ear, I’m left stunned and anxious for more answers.

I dug the scene with the younger Shephard, too. It was fierce. It was harsh. "Your father says hello," sent chills down my spine. Incidentally, some of my favorite moments are when our heroes (typically Jack) are finally let in on secrets we've (the audience) known all along. Sawyer met Christian in an Australian bar. Claire's his half-sister, so Aaron's really his half-nephew. I'm a fan of these moments of breaking what I always get to fearing will become an endless bit of dramatic irony. The meeting was exactly what I imagined a reunion between Jack and John on the mainland.

And that was overall, how I felt this episode ran; a little predictably.

I appreciated the more traditional “Lost” feel of the episode, but I didn’t think much was shocking. All of the performances were excellent, however, I think considering the momentum that every episode has built up through now, “Jeremy Bentham” spun in place.

Everything – and this seldom happens in my relationship with Lost – happened precisely as one would imagine it would. Of course Jack welcomed Locke the way he did. Kate's reunion with John happened exactly the way I would think. Hurley's hilarious reception of Locke was fantastic (and like most Hurley moments, stands out as my favorite of the episode), but not altogether surprising. I expected Abaddon to get blown up, decapitated and shot any second he was on screen (after all, he's pretty badass on Fringe...I love you, J.J.). Even Jeremy Bentham's death isn't half as shocking as the way John Locke ends up in a wheelchair (the first time).

Also, I’m ready to see the whole group back together and maybe I didn’t have as much patience for this back story as I generally would because it’s at least another week of waiting for that moment of Lost happiness. You know that the gang getting together again will be one of those rare Hurley-driving-the-Scooby-Mobile moments of utter, giggling joy, and I am so excited I can hardly move. This was a cool episode – inarguably an important episode – and had I been power-watching this season on DVD, it would be a jewel of an episode given the intensity of the early six episodes. But I'm watching it on TV, where I have an endless week to wind down from my Wednesday night Lost hangover, and come the following Wednesday, I'm ready again for more balls-craziness.

More than anything, I think this was the first episode where I noticed receiving more answers than asking more questions. I didn’t walk away from the TV with my head reeling from what I had just seen. I walked away ready for it to be next Wednesday already.

Maybe I’m just weird…

As usual, next week looks crazy, so hopefully installment dos of this blogging experiment can be equally, or at least as proportionately, crazy.

Until then, keep twiddling those dials,

~Romulus

PS -- Can you believe Hosea won Top Chef? HOSEA?!?

Television: "Idol" wins Wednesday Ratings

2009-02-26T19:49:00.003-05:00

Source: Variety.com

On the shocking scale "American Idol" coming in on top in the ratings is just slightly more predictable than "Slumdog Millionaire" taking home Best Picture. The ratings juggernaut continued its usual dominance with its two hour episode pulling in an 8.9 rating/23 share in adults 18-49 and 24.3 million viewers overall from 8 to 10 p.m. This was enough to beat out all other major networks combined share for that time period.

ABC's "Lost" continues to hold it's own against Idol scoring a 4.5 rating/11 share in adults 18-49 and about 10 million viewers. It was the number one scripted series in the key demos of 18-49, 25-54 and 18-34.

The other big winners were CBS's "Criminal Minds" (3.4/8 in 18-49, 14.0 million viewers overall) and NCIS (3.1/9 in 18-49, 12.7 million viewers overall).

And NBC managed to scrape out it's best 8 oclock numbers in 13 months with "The Biggest Loser" (3.3/9 in 18-49, 8.7)

New "UP" Poster

2009-02-25T23:51:00.002-05:00

Hey all...

Just thought I'd post the new "Up" poster courtesy of Ain't It Cool. Can't wait for this one. Click the poster for a bigger image.

Movies: Warner Bros. on "Suicide" mission.

2009-02-25T23:35:00.006-05:00

Warner Brothers has tapped Sherlock Holmes producer Dan Lin to produce a feature adaptation of the DC Comics property "Suicide Squad." The Suicide Squad is a group of super villains that the government hires to execute a mission that is too dangerous for superheros. "It" screenwriter Justin Marks (Street Fighter) will write the script.

DC villains aren't very well known to the main stream outside the Batman rogue's gallery and Lex Luthor so there is a chance for a freedom in this property that is not given to most franchises. However, with DC unable to launch anything in the movie department outside of Batman I don't know how much hope I hold out for this film.

I think the success of "Watchmen" will dictate Warners and DC's direction a great deal. "Suicide Squad" is inherently dark and that's the way the studio wants to go with their pictures. I'd rather them dig for properties like this than make Superman some sort of dark, brooding and disturbed hero.

Movies: It's S.H.E.I.L.D. time motha f@&ker

2009-02-25T23:08:00.004-05:00

Source: Variety.com

Emily Blunt is out, Mickey Rourke is being low balled and it seemed Samuel L. Jackson was going the way of Terrence Howard. But hold up. Marvel has done a complete 180 degree turn and tapped the man who was Mace Windu to reprise his role as S.H.E.I.L.D. commander Nick Fury. Marvel resigned Jackson to an astounding nine picture deal. The films will supposedly include Captain America, Thor, and The Avengers.

The Marvel movie universe was in danger of losing any of the continuity and good will it had gained in the last year. I don't mind the casting of Don Cheadle because he is excellent but losing more than one essential actor would be a drag on the next Iron Man film. So this is great news! Now let's get Rourke and Rockwell signed up.

WE ARE NOW ON iTUNES!

2009-02-24T23:53:00.004-05:00

Hey all,

Just letting you know we are now on the iTunes music store! Just search Fanboy Remix or just give the little icon a click! Please everyone subscribe and write reviews. We want to know how to be better.

Subscribe on iTunes

MiniCast 1: Chuck Review

2009-02-24T23:48:00.002-05:00

Bobby signs on for a quick review of this week's Chuck.

MiniCast 1: Chuck Review
Mac: Option click for direct download
PC: Right click and save as

TELEVISION: Heroes: Company Man to Cold Wars

2009-02-24T22:19:00.003-05:00

“People are fragile like teacups. All around them the world is changing but they simply don’t want to deal with it. “
Noah Bennett – “Heroes”

The Matrix Trilogy, M. Night Shyamalan’s career, and NBC’s Heroes.

What do these three things have in common?

They are all disappointments.

Heroes has been a series on the decline since the season one finale. It has gone from a smart and entertaining super hero yarn to a convoluted and incoherent soap opera. I thought now was a good time as any to look back on a show that started with a bang and is now gasping for a whimper.

To illustrate this sliding scale we must start at the top of the curve. Company Mai is in my opinion the best episode of Heroes. It premiered almost two years ago to the day on February 26th, 2007.

Company Man was the payoff of a season long mystery. Who is the man with horn-rimmed glasses? The mystery was unraveled through a series of flashbacks that told the history of the man who we’d come to know as Noah Bennett. The story was engaging; the structure tight, and most importantly there was something at stake.

Lets fast-forward two years to Cold Wars. Let’s forget the fact that there is an extra two years of baggage weighing the series down lets just look at the facts of the episode…

No new information. No interesting developments. No character development.

Speaking of character lets take a tour around our merry band of men:

Since when is Peter this skulking anger filled man? What happened to the days where he was the emotional core of the show? And why does he just go where Matt tells him?

Mohinder continues his course being a new character every episode. One day he is remorseless bad ass another he is a whimpering and meek sycophant.

Matt has turned into a man who has no motivation above the death of Daphne a character we don’t care about and who, in true Heroes fashion, is not really dead.

The Bennett flashbacks didn’t show us anything we didn’t know before. We knew Primatech had closed, that Claire was threatened and that Bennett and the hunter didn’t get along,

They had a real opportunity to enhance this plot. To really show Nathan’s motivation, the hunter’s past, or even some new levels to Noah’s character. Instead they just filled an episode with information we already knew.

I guess it’s better than the usual time travel, multiple reality and paradox filled stories we have been getting this year.

It’s all just a waiting game till Brian Fuller return for episode 3.19.

Fuller brought us Company Man. An episode that told us a wealth of information we didn’t know. One that enriched all the characters it dealt with. It reinforced Matt’s humanity, Sprague’s desperate need for absolution, Claire’s bravery and Noah’s developing love for his family.

Cold Wars did nothing but keep the story treading water.

UPDATE: Movies:Great Oscar Moments

2009-02-23T15:30:00.005-05:00

Well it seems today is the day of embedded video clips. We did a big Oscar wrap on the podcast but I just wanted include some clips from the show last night. But overall I loved Jackman and I thought the show was the best produced one I've ever seen. I think it managed to balance self aggrandizing and self deprecating very well and how about Anne Hathaway's voice? Digging it man. Without further ado here are some of my favorite moments from the show...

UPDATE:Well apparently two of the moments I selected were shedding the academy in too good a light. When will studios learn that any exposure is good exposure. There are still two that remain.

Bobby's Top Ten Movies of 2008

2009-02-23T14:55:00.014-05:00

Morning all!

What a great Oscar night! Even though I finished in 4th place for my Oscar pool I still had a blast.

Here is the list of my top ten films released in 2008. This list really came together in the last two weeks or so and while I don't think it is as strong as last year's crop it is certainly nothing to look down on.

Without further ado...

10. Iron Man

9. Doubt

8. Ghost Town

7. Rachel Getting Married

6 . Forgetting Sarah Marshall

5. In Bruges

4. Wall E

3. The Dark Knight

2. Slumdog Millionaire

1. Let the Right One In

Fanboy Remix Podcast 1.1 "The Oscars"

2009-02-23T14:15:00.003-05:00

It is finally here!! After several false starts and failed attempts the Fanboy Remix Podcast has gotten off the ground. This week we have Bobby, Brian and Rich all together in the same room.

In our first episode of Fanboy Remix we predict and wrap up the Oscars, gush about Hugh Jackman, talk about our favorite movies of the year and debate Monopoly strategy.

Episode 1.1 "The Oscars

Mac users: Option click for direct download.

PC: Right click and save as.

Film: 20 Movies in 20 Days: Doubt

2009-01-22T19:41:00.002-05:00

By Mr. Pink

John Patrick Shanley has directed one film prior to "Doubt" and that was the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan vehicle "Joe Vs. the Volcano." So, I don't know about you but I was predisposed to like Mr. Shanley's latest cinematic romp. You could imagine my surprise when Phillip Seymour Hoffman did not play a rich business man given a few weeks to live but a priest who is accused who molesting a 12 year old boy.

"Doubt,"based on Mr. Shanley's award winning play of the same name, is the story of Father Flynn (Hoffman) a progressive clergyman at a school principled by decidedly non progressive Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Streep). When Father Flynn holds a private meeting with twelve year old Donald Miller in the rectory and Sister Aloysius suspects the worst.

Let's get my bias right out of the way. I think Phillip Seymour Hoffman is our best working actor and my opinion is not changed here. His father Flynn is a mosaic of different character traits. A man who is simultaneously altruistic and possibly monstrous. Hoffman pulls both off with his usual deftness.

Streep is as solid as expected. Which is not to say she should be taken for granted. Her excellence is just so common that I can't bring myself to gush over her. She is fierce, funny, and as multi layered as you'd expect.

Amy Adams as Sister James brings her usual adorable nature but it is framed with a sadness and timidness that we don't usually see. She pulls off some of the most difficult moments in the film and she seems at home in both the comedic and dramatic elements she is asked to pull off.

But now we get to the last and possibly best performance in the entire film. Viola Davis as Mrs. Miller. She really only has one scene but in that one scene she does something that some might think impossible. She out acts Meryl Streep. I'm talking Joker in the interrogation room out acts her. Ms. Davis is the absolute best thing about "Doubt" and that is no small statement. Her time on screen is short but it is gut wrenching and is worth the price of admission alone.

All the ingredients are there for "Doubt" to be a great film. It has two of our best working actors, a powerful supporting performance by a relative unknown, a blooming star doing really solid work and wonderful source material. But the question is do these ingredients equal a great film. To be succinct, yes. "Doubt" is a movie that grows on you the farther you get away from it. I'm two days out and I like it more than I did yesterday.

If nothing else "Doubt" manages to capture the verbosity and literary panache that is so prevalent in the world of theater and so lacking in the land of cinema. It is nice to see great actors put opposite each other and let loose on a great script.

See This Movie.

Film: 81st Annual Oscar Nominations Announced

2009-01-22T15:56:00.012-05:00

The 81st Annual Oscar nominations were announced this morning in LA, here are just a few of the usual suspects, the upsets, and the most deserved.

Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionare is this year’s Cinderella story. With 10 nominations, it is the one to beat. Although not a major category, Best Cinematography is one that I hope it takes home. Many crowd shots were done with a Canon stills camera, which takes 12 frames per second. I just find that to be incredibly creative and ingenious. A bit of a disappointment was Dev Patel not getting a nomination. But in all seriousness, I think we know who is winning Best Supporting Actor this year.

It was refreshing to see Taraji P. Henson in the Best Supporting Actress category for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. She really lit up the screen, in what was a very long and sometimes boring film. Don’t get me wrong, it was epic and depressing as well. It also leads the pack with 13 nominations. However, Taraji’s co-star Cate Blanchett was not one of them. While I was a bit surprised because Blanchett has been the golden girl for a few years now, I have to say that I found her southern accent to be droning and almost like a bad impression of Blanche DuBois at times. And with Kate Winslet out of the picture, this category is a tough one to call:

Amy Adams: Doubt
Penelope Cruz: Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis: Doubt
Taraji P. Henson: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei: The Wrestler

Clint Eastwood and his film Gran Torino were left out in the cold. I was surprised that not even Clint’s music got recognition. Not like he has room for just any award. The man shells out two gems a year these days. His odds for winning again are very good.

Kate Winslet did get nominated for Best Actress however it was for The Reader. This is interesting because she was campaigning this role for Best Supporting Actress, and Revolutionary Road for Best Actress. The Reader also got nominated for several other top awards, including Best Picture. It seems that Winslet’s film sans husband got more Oscarly love.

THE READER 5
* Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
* Achievement in Cinematography
* Achievement in Directing
* Best Motion Picture of the Year
* Adapted Screenplay

REVOLUTIONARY ROAD 3
* Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
* Achievement in Art Direction
* Achievement in Costume

I’m enjoying the nominations for Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder this year. When it comes down to it, he was the only one for that job. He won’t win, but it’s nice to see him on top of the world. He deserves it.

The biggest and most horrific upset is the fact that Bruce Springsteen was NOT nominated for Best Song. The Boss clearly deserves a nod for his chilling title track for The Wrestler. Let's hope Mickey wins and lets the Academy have it for such an embarassing mistake!

2008 was a good year for movies. While some categories seem to have an obvious winner, others are harder to call and it is sure to be an exciting evening.

Go Slumdog Millionaire!

Film: 20 Movies in 20 Days: Doomsday

2009-01-21T20:27:00.004-05:00

By Mister Chapel

It's unfair to say that I am broken up that Neil Marshall's "Doomsday" isn't nearly as good as I would have liked, because I was the one who deemed it unimportant to see when it opened last March.

However, as the first of a twenty-movie-in-just-as-many-days binge, it does have enough redeeming characteristics to hold one's attention. It's just a pity they're all from other films.

I couldn't help but notice how every little bit seemed to recall a movie prior.

Its opening - a quarantine shutting down Scotland with giant gates ("28 Days Later").

Its setup - needing to go back in to retrieve something important ("Escape From New York")

Its first action sequence - introducing a gagggle of military characters whom we like and killing them off rapidly as the enemy they fight closes in ("Aliens")

Its splatterpunk three-ring circus with a carnivorous crowd eating up the words and actions of its ringleader ("Moulin Rouge")

Its journey to find the one they need, who lives in a Rohanian castle with townfolk who're dressed the part ("The Lord of the Rings")

Its one-on-one gladiatorial fight scene (Guess)

The list goes on, but the bottom line is that Marshall, whose m.o. is usually tight-knit groups working together against a common enemy ("Dog Soldiers," "The Descent") goes balls to the wall here with the budget and scope, but doesn't hit the right notes with his characters, namely our heroine Eden Sinclair. We feel for her, we do -- but not nearly enough. It's entertaining, it's big, it's loud -- but it's similarly disposable as well.

Film: 20 Movies in 20 Days (The List)

2009-01-21T20:03:00.004-05:00

Bobby and Mister Chapel

The Wrestler
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
RockNRolla
Man on Wire
Ghost Town
Rachel Getting Married
Pineapple Express
Vicky Christina Barcelona
Horton Hears a Who
Doomsday
The Visitor
Son of Rambow
RedBelt
Mamma Mia

Bobby's 5

Let the Right One In
The Happening
Charlie Bartlett
Shine a Light
Burn After Reading

Mister Chapel's 5

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Slumdog Millionare
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Wall E
In Bruges

Film: 20 Movies in 20 Days

2009-01-21T20:01:00.002-05:00

On a Long Island Railroad train bound for Manhattan fellow Fanboyer Mister Chapel and I discovered something disheartening.

We had seen a shockingly small amount of movies this year.

Now, in the in the interest of full disclosure I must say that Mister Chapel was the more prolific movie watcher. With my most prosperous year topping out at about 100 and his, well, I'll let him expand on his own record because I don't think I can do it justice.

But this year our lists were hovering at about half my best total. And with the Oscars fast approaching we felt as if our usual top ten lists would be meaningless with such a small pool to pick from.

To remedy that problem we created the 20 Movies in 20 Days challenge. Which is, not surprisingly, exactly what it sounds like. Our lists consist of movies that were released January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008.

We decided on 15 movies that we would both see and I chose 5 unique movies for Mister Chapel and he decided on 5 for me. Both lists will be posted shortly.

These are movies we meant to see and missed, movies the other insisted we see and some are movies we think might be awful but we just need an opinion on.

Our mission ends February 3rd

The plan is to post small reviews for each film and to give our overall impressions of the experience of this kamikaze movie watching experience. Stay tuned.

Bobby Shortle

AKA. Mister Pink