Jon Stewart is going to be on Larry King Live tonight at 9pm eastern time.
Tune in if you want to hear them talking about Stewart’s upcoming appearance as host of the Oscars on Sunday night. Or if you want to hear Stewart make Bush jokes; which we never get to hear, so that should be something new eh?

-Drewbacca
MoviePatron.com

     Flixster - Stop watching bad movies.

     Flixster is a great new service I’ve been working with and hope to integrate into MoviePatron in the very near future. It’s only been around for about 8 weeks, so it’s still got some room for improvement, but so far I’m loving it.

     Flixster is an online community, much like Friendster or Myspace, but instead of seeking out singles or talking about bullshit, Flixster is all about movies. Just create a profile and start rating movies. You can even add commentary to any of your ratings (based on a four star system). Once you’ve created a profile, you can see how you “stack up” with other people on your friends list; either on a movie-by-movie basis, or based on an average of all your reviews.

     For example, my friend joebobbriggs069 rated the film “Wonderland” at 4 stars, I rated it a 1. That brings down our overall average score of movie compatibility; which is actually pretty high since, aside from “Wonderland,” we generally agree on most films.

     If you’re into movies and kind of bored, sign on to Flixster and start an account today. It’s totally free and there is no annoying spam or pop-ups. Once you get started, send me an invite. Maybe we’ll be good “friends.”

Start a profile now, by clicking here.
OR
take a gander at my profile first.

-Drewbacca
moviepatron.com

     The new promo poster for Spiderman 3 has been released. I’ve never been a fan of the new Spiderman films, but this actually looks pretty cool. The buzz around the net is that this is NOT a black and white photo or any filtering system. Spiderman is indeed wearing a black suit. Also, there is something in the reflection in Spidey’s eye. Lots of speculation going around as to what it is. I think it’s the devious sinister new villain called hype, but you decide.

Click the image for a hi-res, larger scale image.

-Drewbacca
MoviePatron.com

     I actually have never found Sharon Stone to be all that attractive or all that great of an actress for that matter. However, “Basic Instinct” was a great movie when it came out and still holds it’s own I think. In fact, it just squeaked in at number 100 on my favorite films of all time list. So when I found out there was a sequel coming, I was a little disturbed as to how they were going to ruin a good movie by creating more. However, after seeing the trailer today, I am interested in seeing what Catherine Tramell has up her sleeve this time around. I think the trailer is worth a look-see if you were a fan of the original. Alas, no Michael Douglas, but Stone’s character is so interesting and has enough potential that I think this film just might actually be good. We’ll see. Here are a couple of links to follow for the trailer and official site:

Official Site
Yahoo trailer - in Quicktime or WMV
IMDb.com

-Drewbacca
moviepatron.com

     I recently watched John Carpenter’s “Vampires” again. Barely squeaking into my top ten guilty pleasures list, part of the reason it made it was because of how much I enjoy James Woods’ character. This is a guy I used to loathe as a kid, but I’ve really grown to enjoy his very blatant sarcasm and humor. He can play anything from a tough guy vampire killer to a slick senator to a hippie journalist. I just really enjoy him in everything he portrays; even if I don’t like the movie, I’ll still enjoy his role.

So when I read the following story in “The Week” magazine, my day was ruined…

     James Woods now has a single obsession, says Tal Pinchevsky in “Poker Life.”

     “I have ice water in my veins,” he says, smirking….If all works out, he plans to quit acting; he’s tired of making “douche bag, feminist movies” in which he plays a bad guy in a suit. “I’m going to win the World Series of Poker and retire and spend a weekend in bed with four Rockettes.”

More power to him, but if he wins, I’m gonna miss him in films.

-Drewbacca
moviepatron.com

If you’re a Will Farrell fan, and I know you are, you need to get a load of his new film, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. If you liked Anchorman or Old School, this is the film for you. All I can say is, check out the trailer and decide for yourself. I’m sure I’ll be at this film opening night:


Talladega Nights’ main site

-Drewbacca
moviepatron.com

Only from California can something like this come:

     According to Robin Roth, of arkonline.com, here are a few quotes from his article about the books, only brought up because of the recent release of the film of the same name.

     “Not only does the story reveal the sinister side of a corrupt wildlife trade with perilous roots in Western imperialism, but recent ethical, legal and scientific considerations on the personhood of primates makes a traditional reading of Curious George both impossible and irresponsible.”

     “‘What a nice little monkey,’ he [the man] thought. ‘I would like to take him home with me’. A couple of pages later, the monkey’s curiosity gets the best of him. Like an African tribal member centuries earlier, the monkey is deceived by the trader, bagged, and sold. George’s happy face turns to fear.”

     “George is constantly unsupervised, gets in trouble with the police, and is even sent to jail. The picture of the forlorn little primate alone in his cell conjures haunting images of countless monkeys lingering in laboratories, suffering silently and alone, or the millions of primates hunted into extinction or forced to live unnatural lives dedicated to human pleasure.”

     “A modern, socially responsible reading of the book must focus on a socially just solution to the problems presented by the monkey’s capture.”

     So the moral is, when seeing Curious George at the theater, or reading the story to your 5 year old about the curious little monkey who learns lessons about getting in trouble, make sure you inform the child of the cruelties of animal trading and medical research. It is important for your child to know that most monkeys aren’t lucky enough to have a man in a yellow hat. Most naughty little monkeys are slaughtered by the thousands and enslaved in medical facilities where they are tortured endlessly for no reason other than to make sure shampoo companies can make millions of dollars. Also of importance, is to make sure that they understand what allegory and metaphor means; that the author of Curious George, H.A. Rey, is really writing a story regarding slavery of African Americans hundreds of years ago.

     Now I don’t wish to make light of an important issue, that of animal cruelty or slavery, for that matter. But to put it in the context of Curious George and saying that a reading of a story like this to children is irresponsible, is ludicrous and makes me laugh. If this is the kind of person teaching our children today (that George represents African slavery and animal cruelty), I will be homeschooling my children.

-Drewbacca
moviepatron.com

     Everyone who reads this blog or the main site regularly knows I’m a huge William Shatner fan. Here is one more reason why the man is a god.

from the Feb. 3, 2006 issue of “The Week” magazine:

     “William Shatner’s kidney stone is going where no bodily accretion has gone before. The Star Trek star last week sold the stone for $25,000 to the gambling Web site Goldenpalace.com, and will donate the money to Habitat for Humanity. Shatner said he turned down the Web site’s first offer of $15,000 since ‘my tunics from Star Trek have commanded more than $100,000.’”

     He should’ve won the SAG award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a comedy series (Boston Legal). But at least the nomination was nice.

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