Well, this looks promising…

     Technically not movie related, but oh well. “Terminator: The Sarah Connors Chronicles” premiers on Fox for two nights on Jan. 13th and 14th. From worstpreviews, the show focusses on Sarah; Tired of fleeing from both killers from the future and law officers in the present day, Sarah Connor resolves to go on the offensive against whatever new technological enemies may travel back in time trying to murder her 15-year-old son, John. who is destined to become the savior of mankind. Sarah and John find unexpected allies in Cameron, an enigmatic student at John’s school, and FBI agent James Ellison.

     Buffy started as a fairly campy, albeit loved, film of the early 90s starring Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry. I remember the movie being pretty bad, though I haven’t seen it in ages. When a television spin-off was announced, I thought to myself, “seriously!? There were enough people who cared about that movie and it had enough of a story to base an entire series on?” Of course, this was before I knew who Joss (NOT Josh) Whedon was and what his brilliance is capable of.

     I never checked out the show until about halfway through the second season. Then I caught another episode by chance. From there on out I was hooked. It’s campy, corny, bubblegummy and teenie bopper-ish… but it worked; and it worked well (nominated for Emmy’s and Golden Globes and countless other awards). The dialogue is just hip enough, the girls (mmm Charisma Carpenter) were hot enough, the characters were deep enough and the storyline was solid enough to get people really involved in the show and even become obsessive about it. Joss Whedon and Sarah Michelle Gellar breathed life into a character that I would’ve sworn would be unwatchable.

     So the show lasted for 7 terrific seasons with FANTASTIC characters coming and leaving throughout and ended when it needed to and on a high note. So now the question is, should there be a feature film? Bloody Disgusting caught up with SMG and asked her what her thoughts would be on reprising the role of Buffy Summers:

“I have to be honest. That thought really scares me. Buffy was a movie and it didn’t work because her story was longer than that.”, Gellar said. “This was about a girl that you had to get to know and it took so long to figure out how to crack the ending so that people weren’t upset. Of course I never say never, so I’m not saying no, but my fear would be to open something like that up again, to only end it again.

“Like Sex in the City is such a great ending, so I’m curious to see now how they’re going to open it up and how to shut it for us again. I feel like a show you love ends, you have like a mourning period, so do you open yourself up to that again, to wanting it but knowing it’s going to end? That whole thing worries me a little bit.”

     For me? YES! I don’t care if it’s going to end. I would love to see Buffy back for another round of slaying action. If there’s a thirst for something out there (which I’m sure there is where Buffy is concerned) and cast and crew are interested, I say bring it back. Why does it have to be “shut off” again? Her “Sex and the City” reference is a perfect example. I think “X-Files” or even “Star Trek” are two other examples of franchises that work; even if they are “opened and closed” several times.

     And I’m sorry, but you get Whedon behind this project as a writer and hire a good director, I’m sure Gellar’s fears would be put on the back burner in favor of some great exposure and a hefty paycheck. As would the rest of the cast I’m sure (Eliza Dushku, James Marsters, Allison Hannigan, Seth Green… the list is nearly endless). I just about guarantee a sell out at theaters across the country on opening night should this ever be brought to fruition. I know I’d be there.

    But related to the Writers strike…

     For those of you that are deeply into “LOST,” as I am, it doesn’t sound like the writers strike will directly affect the show… at least for now. ABC’s decision to hold off on the season 4 premire until January now looks like a good move. Besides season four, 6 more scripts for the next season have been finished with more on the way before the strike deadline. This is fairly good news, considering the circumstances, and film fans won’t have much to worry about for some time as the studios have been stock piling scripts forever. But as for the greatest one hour drama of all time… we can only keep our fingers crossed that the dispute is resolved so that we can see what happens!

     Put her in anything and I’m bound to watch; just for the sheer fact that she makes my heart race a little faster than normal. After Buffy and some other fair to mediocre films, Dushku has sort of fallen off the map. But it looks like Joss Whedon is going to help change all that.

     The newest idea out of the Whedon camp is for a television show called “Dollhouse,” in which a group of super agents go on special missions within each episode. Before their mission, their brains are programmed with special abilities, thought and memories that will aid them to accomplish whatever their goal might be. After completing their mission, they return to the Dollhouse where their memories are completely erased and new thoughts implanted.

     Sounds like a terrific idea to me; and with Whedon behind the scenes and helping to write scripts and what not, I’m sure it will be comletely fantastic. The wrinkle in the storyline comes with Ms. Dushku who through the course of the show, apparently begins to remember and have self-awareness.

from filmstalker, Whedon had this to say:

     “I sat down with [Eliza] to talk about her options, and acted all sage, saying things backwards like Yoda and laying out what I thought she should do. But in the course of doing it, I accidentally made one up. I told it to her, and she said, ‘That’s exactly what I want to do.’ ”

     I love sci-fi stuff like this when it is done well and I have no doubts about this being done well. the only question is will the sheep that watch TV be able to grasp and then embrace something like this.

     If you saw the Family Guy episode a month or two back in which they recreated the entire movie of Star Wars: Episode IV, you know it was one of the funniest moments on TV in the past few years (at least for me). So I found out today Seth MCfarlane and crew are definitely going to be doing the follow-up: The Empire Strikes Back. Oh Happy (Halloween) Day!

     According to Cinematical, the cast has already done the script read through and McFarlane says it is a go for sure. When IESB talked to McFarlane, they asked which Family Guy character would be playing Boba Fett, McFarlane noted that the “Giant Chicken would fill Fett’s boots.” Fans should know the Giant Chicken from its ridiculously long fight sequences with the character Peter Griffin.

Who knows, maybe they’ll do ROTJedi next? Sounds good to me:

     If you’ve never seen the Family Guy Star Wars episode, check out the full episode broken into YouTube length chunks by clicking and unwrapping the text below (it’s worth it)…

Read the rest of this entry »

     Probably my favorite mini-series of all time was “V”. For all you kids out there, a mini-series was a multi-evening movie that was usually a pretty special thing back when we only had 4 or 5 channels to choose from.

     Anyway, “V” was a 4 or 5 night event in which aliens show up over planet earth and look remarkably like us. They promise us technology and medicine and a better way of life. But we soon find out that they’re really carnivorous reptilians and their real goal is to enslave humans and steal all of the water from our planet. A small band of resistance fighters catch on to the aliens’ plan and decide to strike back. Marc Singer (i.e. The Beastmaster) leads the pack. Along with Robert Englund, Faye Grant and the full awesomeness of Michael Ironside. It’s very similar to 1996 Independence Day (ID4)… or more accurately ID4 is similar to V. Since “V” was so awesome and was such a phenomenon, this is maybe partly why I like ID4 so much.

     After the mini-series finale, there was a short lived TV series based on the same idea that totally reaked ass. The show was cancelled and the phenom died off. Over the years though, ideas and propositions for TV and films have bubbled up here and there, then die off just as quickly as they were conceived.

     So now, almost 25 years later, Vic over at ScreenRant is reporting that a book is due to hit shelves in a couple of months entitled “V:The Second Generation” and is based off the ideas and scripts that sprang up from the aforementioned spin-off.

from ScreenRant:

The most interesting part? It remains listed as “currently being developed for TV” and, after contacting Kenneth Johnson, it appears there’s some truth in this. When asked whether a big-screen production or perhaps a straight-to-DVD release may be on the cards, Johnson confirmed “all options are open and we are pursuing them” but that straight-to-DVD is “unlikely” due to “the high production cost”.

     Now first off, I am all about this. I’ve been waiting for V to return for many years and it sort of did in the way of ID4. But that was that. I have heard rumors of a sequel to ID4, but nothing has ever come to fruition. As much as I look foreward to this though, it won’t be as cool as it was when I was 8 and without badass Marc Singer and Michael Ironside, it just won’t be the same. Still, I’m itching to see how it works out. And on the other hand, who’s to say Singer and Ironside couldn’t return. They’re not that old. Of course, it will all depend on the substance and story arc of the novel I guess. I’ll be reading when this thing hits shelves on Nov. 7.

links:
Wikipedia article on V
IMDb profile for “V”
IMDb profile for “V: The Final Battle”
DVD available at Amazon
V: The Second Generation (novel)

     Every so often I like to bring up television shows. I generally prefer movies over TV although lately (the last few years) there has been a growing amount of good tv. I’m going to guess the following is not going to be good but maybe I’m wrong.

     The whole reason I am bringing up the new Flash Gordon series is that I was just trying to think of a good science fiction movie that a lot of people probably haven’t seen and I just kept coming up with the 1980 Flash Gordon. Is it good cinema? Nah, not really but it sure is fun in a campy way and the theme music from Queen still runs through my head every so often.

     Anyways, I thought I’d just mention that a new trailer for Sci Fi’s Flash Gordon is up. I’ll probably start watching the series when it comes out on the 10th but I’ll probably quit after two episodes or so when I realize just how cheesy it is. I think I’ll then go back and watch Brian Blessed as Prince Vultan, Timothy Dalton as Prince Barin, Max von Sydow as Ming and Sam J. Jones as Flash.

     Back in college, during my vampire obsessive stage, I started renting the video tapes for the 60s/70s soap opera series entitled “Dark Shadows.” It wasn’t quite what I thought it would be. Kind of slow and boring… with just a bit of camp and cheese mixed in. I think now, however, I would be able to get more into it.

     Anyway, I was reading over at worst previews that Johnny Depp plans to team up with Warner Brothers to develop a feature length movie version of the series. Apparently Depp has been “obsessed” with the show since it aired back in the day; especially with the vampire patriarch of the show, Barnabas Collins (pictured above).

from worstpreviews…

Over 1,225 episodes, “Dark Shadows” was a highly atmospheric, spooky soap that featured gothic horror staples like vampires, monsters, witches, werewolves, ghosts and zombies. The show has a continuing rabid fan base that populates Dark Shadows Festival conventions. Numerous TV revivals of the series and pic adaptations have been attempted over the years but none with as high-wattage a star as Depp.

     Yes, it wasa SOAP opera, but also had vampires and witches and the like. I’d now be interested in re-investing some time with the show if I can find it on DVD. This way, I’d have a much better frame of reference once the movie comes out (a deal was just recently struck with the show’s original creator - Dan Curtis - and WB).

     Anyone else watch this show?

.

     Yet this is my second television related post in as many days. Well, for anyone who cares and wants to comment, here are most of the nominees for the “best” television shows available now…

Outstanding Comedy Series
Entourage
The Office
30 Rock
Two And A Half Men
Ugly Betty

Outstanding Drama Series
Boston Legal
Grey’s Anatomy
Heroes
House
The Sopranos

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
Ricky Gervais, Extras
Tony Shalhoub, Monk
Steve Carell, The Office
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
James Spader, Boston Legal
Hugh Laurie, House
Denis Leary, Rescue Me
James Gandolfini, The Sopranos
Kiefer Sutherland, 24

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series
Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series:
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Patricia Arquette, Medium
Minnie Driver, The Riches
Edie Falco, The Sopranos

     Anyone who watches Battlestar Galactica knows her as Starbuck, but Katie Sachoff has apparently just signed a one year deal with NBC to play in the new show “The Bionic Woman.” Apparently the pilot aired last fall, but I never saw it. Sachoff plays the evil bionic woman and according to The Hollywood Reporter, via MovieWeb has agreed to appear on “future episodes.” Apparently she was just about prepared to walk out on the project but just today made a last minute deal and will stay with the show.

     I know this isn’t really movie related, but I’m a big fan of the “Battlestar” series and Sachoff is a big reason for that. I wonder how playing on another show simultaneously might affect the other show. Did anyone see the pilot and thinks this a good move or a bad move?

     I have just finished watching the first series of Twin Peaks. Man have I been missing something not seeing it until now. It’s an excellent, highly addictive show and I can’t wait to get my hands on series 2 (which unfortunately isn’t available in Region 2). I just wanted to do a post on Agent Cooper’s dream from episode 2. It is the scene where he see’s the strange little man dancing and speaking weirdly (backwards?). I just wanted to post that clip here to get all your impressions and what you thought of it when you first saw it. Now remember I haven’t seen any of season 2 so don’t give away any spoilers.

     Just a reminder, according to “The Week” magazine, a great documentary will be airing early next week regading Sir Spielberg. Steven doesn’t provide DVD commentary tracks for his films (God knows why), but he will help conduct this candid and comprehensive overview of his career, from such commercial blockbusters as Jaws to Schindler’s List and other socially conscious films. And he doesn’t forget to mention such rare flops like 1941, from which he says he “learned the greatest lesson of my career.” Critic Richard Schickel produced this 90-minute doc.

     The show will air on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) this Monday, July 9th, at 8pm eastern time. It will be followed by screenings of Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, then an encore at midnight.

     Anyone got cable and a VCR?

     Usually when a hit TV show or film that hails from the US comes onto DVD it is inevitable that it will be released there first. But that has changed, at least with the release of Lost Season 3 on DVD. According to Play.com and various other online DVD retailers the Season 3 Box Set of Lost gets released in the UK almost 2 months prior to it being released in the US. The official release date for the UK is 22/10/2007 (check it out here) where as the US release date says 11/12/2007 (check it out here).

     Now since I hail from the UK myself this is obviously great news for me (us). We usually have to wait months for the release of a DVD to make it’s way over here. Why do you think they have decided to release Season 3 of the show in the UK first this time round? Does numbers show that the show is more popular over here? Surely not…

     I was searching around the net for any interesting bits of news or information and I came across a rumour that apparently has been going around for quite a while. And that is that there may be a movie version of the hit TV show Lost (of which I am a massive, devoted fan of). Now take this, the same as with every other rumour, with a grain of salt. I am in no way confirming that there will in fact be a Lost movie.

  

     But this got me thinking. I know that plenty of TV shows from the past, namely from the 80’s, have been turned into semi-successful and often, but not always, half decent movies (such as Starsky & Hutch and The Dukes of Hazzard). But my question for you is this - which current or older TV shows would you like to see be made into a movie that hasn’t been already? Which ones would work and which ones just don’t translate? Lost? 24? The A-Team? What are your thoughts?

     I‘m not going to say Doctor Who is consistently the best show on Television but about once a season it is. This year’s episodes of Human Nature and Family of Blood, last year’s episode Love and Monsters or perhaps Girl In A Fireplace and the first season’s The Empty Child and Doctor Dances rival anything that any other show (sci-fi or anything else) has done in my mind. When the series is on it is just so on. If you are a science fiction fan and don’t watch it you just don’t know what you are missing.

“He’s fire. And ice. And rage.
He’s like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun.
He’s ancient and forever.
He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe.
And he is wonderful.”

- Tim Latimer about The Doctor

     While there are plenty of great and important awards ceremonies each year praising film, only one has the glitz, glamour and fun factor of The MTV Movie Awards without meaning jack shit. MTV is always fun (in a juvenile, teenie-bopper sort of way) and has unique award categories that are just… fun. Plain and simple. Fake trailers and parodies abound and everyone always has a good time with it; including myself. So here’s a list of the nominees and the winners (in red) from this year’s ceremony. I’m not going to make predictions or mark who I’d like to win, because honestly, I don’t really care.

     So for this year’s Golden Popcorn award ceremony, the hilariously offensive Sarah Silverman hosting the night’s show. It should prove to be a riot.

Best Movie

• “300″
• “Blades of Glory”
• “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
• “Little Miss Sunshine”
• “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”

Best Performance

• Gerard Butler, “300″
• Johnny Depp, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
• Keira Knightley, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
• Jennifer Hudson, “Dreamgirls”
• Beyoncé Knowles, “Dreamgirls”
• Will Smith, “The Pursuit of Happyness”

Breakthrough Performance

• Emily Blunt, “The Devil Wears Prada”
• Abigail Breslin, “Little Miss Sunshine”
• Lena Headey, “300″
• Columbus Short, “Stomp the Yard”
• Jaden Smith, “The Pursuit of Happyness”
• Justin Timberlake, “Alpha Dog”

Best Comedic Performance

• Emily Blunt, “The Devil Wears Prada”
• Sacha Baron Cohen, “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
• Will Ferrell, “Blades of Glory”
• Adam Sandler, “Click”
• Ben Stiller, “Night at the Museum”

Best Kiss

• Cameron Diaz & Jude Law, “The Holiday”
• Will Ferrell & Sacha Baron Cohen, “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby”
• Columbus Short & Meagan Good, “Stomp The Yard”
• Mark Wahlberg & Elizabeth Banks, “Invincible”
• Marlon Wayans & Brittany Daniel, “Little Man”

Best Villain

• Tobin Bell, “Saw III”
• Jack Nicholson, “The Departed”
• Bill Nighy, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
• Rodrigo Santoro, “300″
• Meryl Streep, “The Devil Wears Prada”

Best Fight

• Jack Black & Héctor Jiménez vs. Los Duendes (Wrestling Match), “Nacho Libre”
• Gerard Butler vs. “The Uber Immortal” (The Spartan/Persian Battle), “300″
• Sacha Baron Cohen vs. Ken Davitian (Naked Wrestle Fight), “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
• Will Ferrell vs. Jon Heder (Ice Rink Fight), “Blades of Glory”
• Uma Thurman vs. Anna Faris (Super Girl Fight), “My Super Ex-Girlfriend”

Best Summer Movie You Haven’t Seen Yet

• “Evan Almighty” (June 22)
• “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” (June 15)
• “Hairspray” (July 20)
• “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (July 13)
• “Rush Hour 3″ (August 10)
• “Transformers” (July 4)

mtvU Best Filmmaker On Campus

• Robert Dastoli, “Southwestern Orange County vs. The Flying Saucers”(University of Central Florida)
• Maria Gigante, “Girls Room” (Columbia College, Chicago)
• Josh Greenbaum, “Border Patrol” (University of Southern California)
• Alexander Poe, “Please Forget I Exist” (Columbia University)
• Andrew Shipsides, “Bottleneck” (Savannah College of Art & Design)

Best Spoof Movie - you can see these short films HERE, but I warn you, they are stupid and not very funny.

• United 300
• Texas Chainsaw Musical
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Rehab
• Casino Royale with Cheese
• Quentin Tarantino’s Little Miss Squirtgun

     Firefly was one of those shows that had a great deal of promise but was bungled by the Fox network so badly that it wasn’t even shown for the full season. I’m still not sure why Fox felt the need to show the series out of order and why it was such a big deal for it to not be shown in wide screen.

     Oh well, I could rant for a real long time about Firefly but I’d prefer to just provide you all with the following link.

We are looking to push the envelope of episodic television by offering Season Two of Firefly in a groundbreaking new format. Each episode (or the entire season) would be made available for purchase in Standard or Hi-Definition.

It’s possible that subscribers may choose one of three playback options; monthly DVD deliveries, TV On-Demand using your cable or satellite provider, or computer viewing via Streaming Download.

It’s also possible that a box set of DVD’s would be available at the end of the season.

In order for our plan to be successful, we need to take stock of the browncoat recruits that support our cause. It will only take a minute, is strictly confidential, and each profile will take us one step closer to victory!

     Personally I think it just looks like some fans are getting together and are trying to bring the show back. I can not see it happening. Fox is not going to sell the rights for cheap, Whedon has moved on to other stuff after the box office failure of Serenity (our review). If it were to happen I think the cost would be just too high for it to be worth while.