I Am Home Alone Legend

Excellent trailer mashup.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Top Ten Summer Movies - It's All Over But the Crying

So I saw Tropic Thunder today, bringing to a close the summer movie season for 2008.  On the whole, it was a'ight.  I'll finish filling in the remaining mini-reviews for the films I've seen and then at the end, I'll rank them in the order I felt they finished. Here's a refresher on what I was hoping for going into the summer.
 
1) The Dark Knight - 10/10.  Nothing more really needs be said.  By the time I finish typing this, it will have moved past Star Wars into second place on the all-time domestic box office chart, trailing only Titanic, which isn't in any danger of being overtaken, even by this juggernaut.  Dark Knight was built up with an almost unprecedented amount of hype, half of which was brought on by Heath Ledger's unfortunate demise.  But it managed to not only live up to that hype, but surpass it.  Adding to it's awesomeness, it was the only place (for a while) where you could see the equally amazing Watchmen trailer.

2) Iron Man - 9/10 This movie was lots of fun. Perfect sort of superhero movie. He's not as well-established as most other superheroes that have had movies made of them, so it was easier for them to play around with the history and not have it come across as false. For 99% of the world, this will be THE Iron Man. Sequels galore are already in the works.

3) Narnia: Prince Caspian - 6.5/10 This movie left me a bit whelmed. It was good, but nothing really memorable. However, that said, I wish the first film had had this look and tone to it. Narnia is more like a real place this go-round, whereas the first movie was more like a fairy land.

4) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 4/10 I was RIGHT to dread this film. What a mess. What a miscalculation. It reeks of George Lucas's myopic vision. For a really good list of what's wrong with this film, check this out.

5) Speed Racer - 0/10 Well, that's not a totally fair rating, because I didn't see it. But the closer it got, the less interested I was in seeing it. However, while waiting for Indy IV to restart (glitch in framing of the film), I wandered over to Speed Racer to catch a couple of minutes of it, just to see. The five minutes I watched were excruciating. I don't know who this film was made for. What a wreck...

6) The Happening - n/a This also looked more and more like a disaster the closer it got, and reviews have been universally bad. As I was only kinda interested in seeing it, this made my decision easier. I'll catch it on cable one day... maybe.

7) The Incredible Hulk - 7.5/10 The closer this one came to release, the more optimistic the reviews became. While the Hulk's CGI never got any better over the course of the previews, the reports were that the story and presentation were right in line with the precedent that Iron Man set earlier in the summer. And those reports were right. This was a mostly fun film, firmly set in the Iron Man version of the Marvel universe. I look forward to the next Marvel Studios film.

8) Hellboy II: The Golden Army - 6.5/10  This one had a chance to be really special, but somehow, Guellermo Del Toro opted to pull back and create a film that was ultimately pretty lazy.  The visuals of this film were second to none this summer, I'll grant it that.  I'm looking forward to watching this on DVD and freeze-framing some of the screens that were jam-packed with eye-candy.  But the story left a lot to be desired.  It just seemd to be more interested in trying to be a fun film rather than a logical one.  It missed the chance to be something really amazing. 

9) Wall*E - I still haven't seen this one.  I might try to check it out before school starts back up.  While everything about it sounds magical, I just haven't been inspired enough yet to drive down to the theater. 

10) Tropic Thunder - 5/10   Sigh...  I was really expecting this to be a minor masterpiece.  But... it really ended up missing the mark for me.  All of the best stuff was in the trailer.  Actually, if the film had been based on the trailer, it would have been an amazing film.  One thing the trailer seemed to imply was that there'd be a lot more amusing conflict surrounding Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of a black man.  But it seemed to just gloss over that for the most part.  Downey indeed plays the role of the black man for 99% of the film, and never goes out of character, but most of his lines are just regular things someone would say.  Likewise, the rest of the film was just too mainstream and by-the-numbers when it could have been really savage and insightful about Hollywood.  By the end of the film, it was just hitting all the same typical movie beats that any film that is either an action film or a comedy film is required by law to hit.     Could have been a classic...

And that's it.  For a brief period, it seemed like The Clone Wars might creep up into contention, but the reviews have been brutal.  And the ones I most respect, like Alexandra Dupont on Aint-it-Cool-News, sadly sum up for me my worst fears for the Star Wars franchise.  I'll likely see this at some point, but it pains me to not be seeing a Star Wars film on opening night... by choice. 

So, here's my final ranking of the Summer of 2008.

1) Dark Knight
2) Iron Man
3) Watchmen trailer
4) Incredible Hulk
5) Prince Caspian
6) Hellboy II
7) Wall•E (still unseen)
8) Everyting else

This fall looks to be interesting.  I'll post my preview sometime in the next few weeks.

Until then...

WATCHFRIENDS - Observations about The Dark Knight

More specifically, observations about Heath Ledger. I loved The Dark Knight and think it's an automatic nominee for Best Picture. I think one of the reasons this film has attained such lofty aspirations is the amazing performance of Heath Ledger. His amazing portrayal of the Joker has been well-documented far more eloquently than I could ever hope to match. If he doesn't got the posthumous Best Supporting Actor statue next year, it will be a crime.

THAT SAID...

I no longer buy the argument that he can't be replaced in any future Batman film.

Over the past week, I've seen a multitude of Dark Knight parody videos, all of them featuring the Joker. And what has stood out to me more than anything is that just about everyone is doing a pretty good Heath Ledger Joker. The nasally mumbling and lip-licking is apparently pretty easy to do. I like this one in particular. And I'd say more than half of them could even pass for the Ledger Joker (well... if you squint a bit, maybe).

With a bit of sloppy-applied white makeup, and smeared red lips, just about anyone can pull off a good Joker. I think it would be child's play for Hollywood, and for the production team behind what is soon to be the number two grossing film of all time (unadjusted) , to successfully install another actor into the role.

Out of respect for Ledger, no one else should ever play the role. But out of respect for the truckloads of money that a second Batman/Joker film could bring in, I think it's only a matter of time before a new Joker is cast. In fact, the controversy over such a casting would likely generate something of a similar buzz/curiosity that led to some of Dark Knight's record-setting haul.

For my money, I think there's one actor that is primed for the role, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He's a fantastic up-and-coming actor, known for taking serious roles. He's about the same age as Ledger, and most importantly, he already looks a lot like Ledger.

Take a look.


I rest my case.

WATCHFRIENDS - The Side by Side Comparison

So just for the fun of it, I placed both the original trailer and the WATCHFRIENDS trailer one on top of the other.  For me, this version of the video is the preferred version.  I find WATCHFRIENDS far more absurd (my original intent) when you can contrast it with the utter seriousness of Watchmen.  To see Gleek onscreen at the same moment as Rorschach, or Zan's ice cube disentregration synced up with Dr. Manhattan, it just makes me smile. Hopefully you'll have the same reaction.

Next time, for those of you into that sort of thing, I plan on breaking down the video, explaining what I had initially wanted to do and why I ultimately chose each of the final shots.

WATCHFRIENDS - Observations in my quest to make a video someone hadn't already done

Over the last year or two, I've lost count of the number of times my friend Corey and I have come across a brilliant little video on YouTube and smacked our heads at the obviousness of it. "Why didn't we think of that?" is a commonly heard utterance.

A few years ago, a friend of mine and I thought it would be funny if there was zombie porn, and speculated on how ridiculous that might be. A Google search later than night brought no fewer than 115,000 hits for "zombie porn".

A few months back, my brother came up with what I thought was a hilarious idea for a video spoof. "Jihad Joe!" Brilliant! Al Queda toys! Later that night, I googled "Jihad Joe" and found dozens, if not hundreds of references to it. There were at least five really well done toy commercial parodies for Jihad Joe. My spirit was crushed.


Were there NO good ideas that haven't been done yet?

So last week the idea for WATCHFRIENDS struck me, and I still don't remember what the inspiration was. Maybe it was having seen the official Watchmen trailer for the hundredth time. Maybe I'd seen a reference to Hanna-Barbera earlier in the day. Who knows? But somehow the vision of the Watchmen trailer replaced with Super-Friends footage bloomed fully-formed in my brain.

And for the first time, a Google search turned up ZERO hits. I knew I had to act quickly.

The video I actually ended up creating turned out better than the one I was amusing myself with in my brain.

So, for at least this one time, I managed to be the first one with whatever stupid idea I came up with. I can rest easy... well, at least until I finish creating the first-ever WATCHSMURFS* trailer!






* There's no way I'm subjecting myself to dozens of ours of sifting through Smurfs episodes... If anyone reading this wants to attempt to do a WATCHSMURFS video, I give you my blessing... and my sympathy.

WATCHFRIENDS

So I finally did one of those "Someone needs to make that" videos. About a week ago, I was blinded with the flash of an idea for what I thought would make a great parody video. Mashing together the Watchmen movie trailer and the Super-Friends. I could instantly see it in my mind's eye and for the next five days, it became a bit of an obsession for me.

I've always loved the Super-Friends videos that have popped up since the birth of the internet, the WASSUP?!? spot being an all-time classic, with the Office Space one coming in a close second. The first thing I did when I came up with my idea, I did a quick check to make sure no one else had already done it. Woo hoo! No matches anywhere for "Watchfriends".

I scoured dozens of hours of old Super-Friends videos and DVDs looking for imagery that could be used to recreate the amazing Watchmen trailer. It was a lot tougher than I imagined, because the Super-Friends was produced back in the dark ages of animation. There were very few shots that ventured beyond the typical sideways flying and walking. The Super-Friends sure did do a lot of walking and riding in vehicles! And it shouldn't have surprised me, but there were next to no shots of anyone punching someone else, which is a common image from the Watchmen trailer.

It took the better part of a full day to edit the video. I have to I put the finishing touches on it at 4:30AM this morning.
Be sure to check back, as I'll be posting a side-by-side comparison video that has both WATCHFRIENDS and the original Watchmen trailer lined up so you can see how closely (or not) the shots line up. In some cases, it's scary. I'll also post an annotated video that points out exactly what episodes each clip came from.

And now, I present to you my magnum opus parody trailer video. The WATCHFRIENDS.

Enjoy.

Battle of the Batmans

I hadn't checked out Black20.com in a while, but they've got a few new brilliant videos.

The Official WATCHMEN Trailer is Here

After more than twenty years, we finally have some real live moving images of The Watchmen, the pinnacle (thus far) of the comic book/graphic novel form. I've lost count of the number of false starts this project has teased us with over the years, with Terry Gilliam and Darren Aronofsky the two biggest name directors attached. But it wasn't until the massive success of "300", directed by Zach Snyder, that movie studios finally decided to pull the trigger on this one and give Snyder a chance.

Over the past few months, we've been teased with character images and set visits, but nothing showing any of the action on the screen... until today. It's set to premiere before "The Dark Knight" (which I will be attending tonight at midnight), but Empire Magazine was given the early exclusive. Click here to see it in beautiful full resolution, but here it is (until it gets yanked) in a reasonable YouTube version




First thoughts? Unexpected. Epic. Taking no prisoners.

It doesn't look like a superhero film, and yet, it has all the elements you'd typically expect from such a film.

I'm most curious as to how those unfamiliar with Watchmen will react. The trailer doesn't give ANY inkling as to what the story is about. If anything, they'll think it's about Dr. Manhattan (the big blue guy, for you Watchmen neophytes), as the trailer does kind of show his origin, and he's easily the most prominent figure in the trailer. All the images are amazing. But what will it mean to newbies?

Moreso than any other comic adaptation (except for maybe "300"), the images from the trailer are all immediately recognizable directly from the comic. 200-ft tall Dr. Manhattan blasting the Viet Cong soldier, Ozymandias smacking the assassin with the ashtray, Rorschach's hairspray blowtorch, the Owlship rising out of the water, Dr. Manhattan creating the crystal palace on Mars, and of course, the Comedian being launched through a plate glass window. All these images are totally familiar and yet completely unlike what I was expecting.

This trailer was a crucial step in winning over me (and all the other diehard Watchmen loyalists). We've been holding our breaths for months awaiting this. And now that it's here, I'm more eager than ever to see if they can bring this thing all the way home.

If you're a Watchmen rookie, what do YOU think of this trailer? What does it make you think the film is going to be about? How similar or different than other comic book adaptations does it seem?

If you want to follow this film more closely as it develops, or just want more Watchmen info than you can cram into your brain, I highly recommend WatchmenComicMovie.com

Groverfield

I know the whole Cloverfield craze has come and gone already and this is way late in arriving on my radar, but it's too funny and well-made to pass up. 


(mildly Not Safe For Work, as it uses one profanity from the original film)

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Top Ten Summer Movies - Summer Solstice Progress Report

Here we are, close to midway through the summer movie season. Time to check in on how the movies are doing.

It's just about time for the Summer Blockbuster Season to roll around, so I'm starting to plan what I actually want to see. Usually I INTEND to see most of them, but wind up only seeing half or less. Unlike many recent summers, I'm actually really looking forward to quite a few films.

So without further ado, here's the list (and not necessarily in order of looking-forward-to-ness)

1) The Dark Knight - Doesn't come out for another month or so. Getting more excited about it, though.

2) Iron Man - 9/10 This movie was lots of fun. Perfect sort of superhero movie. He's not as well-established as most other superheroes that have had movies made of them, so it was easier for them to play around with the history and not have it come across as false. For 99% of the world, this will be THE Iron Man. Sequels galore are already in the works.

3) Narnia: Prince Caspian - 6.5/10 This movie left me a bit whelmed. It was good, but nothing really memorable. However, that said, I wish the first film had had this look and tone to it. Narnia is more like a real place this go-round, whereas the first movie was more like a fairy land.

4) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 4/10 I was RIGHT to dread this film. What a mess. What a miscalculation. It reeks of George Lucas's myopic vision. For a really good list of what's wrong with this film, check this out.



5) Speed Racer - 0/10 Well, that's not a totally fair rating, because I didn't see it. But the closer it got, the less interested I was in seeing it. However, while waiting for Indy IV to restart (glitch in framing of the film), I wandered over to Speed Racer to catch a couple of minutes of it, just to see. The five minutes I watched were excruciating. I don't know who this film was made for. What a wreck...

6) The Happening - n/a This also looked more and more like a disaster the closer it got, and reviews have been universally bad. As I was only kinda interested in seeing it, this made my decision easier. I'll catch it on cable one day... maybe.

7) The Incredible Hulk - 7.5/10 The closer this one came to release, the more optimistic the reviews became. While the Hulk's CGI never got any better over the course of the previews, the reports were that the story and presentation were right in line with the precedent that Iron Man set earlier in the summer. And those reports were right. This was a mostly fun film, firmly set in the Iron Man version of the Marvel universe. I look forward to the next Marvel Studios film.

8) Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Still waiting for this one to come out. Recent previews make this look really epic.

9) Wall*E - This comes out next week. Latest previews are even stronger. Hard to imagine this not being a great Pixar film.

10) Tropic Thunder - Still the film I have the highest hopes for. Should be fun.



Update!

10.5) Hancock - I'm still on the fence about this one...

11) Honorable mentions - The rest of these films I'm going to keep my eye on, but they all seem like DVD rentals at best.

Get Smart - It opened this weekend, but I'm less than interested in seeing it...
Love Guru - It also opened this weekend, and it looks like total dreck.
Wanted - Growing more meh about this by the day.
Kung Fu Panda - This got great reviews and is a huge hit, but I just can't bring myself to see it yet. Looks like a DVD rental for sure.
Meet Dave - Whatever interest I had in seeing this has evaporated.


And as always, there's going to be at least one film that comes out of nowhere to become a surprise hit. What will be this year's Knocked Up?

Time will tell.

Land of the Lost - The Movie - First Images

Okay... I've been following this film's development with a bit of skepticism. It's one of the last bastions of cheesy childhood TV (of my favorites, that is) that hasn't yet been ironically deconstructed and regurgitated for today's audiences.

I know the Land of the Lost TV show was incredibly cheesy. I don't know if I will ever watch the original TV series again, preferring to allow my childhood memories of it remain pure. This opening title sequence is as much as I'll watch.




I loved that show. The evil Sleestaks scared the crap out of me. I know if I ever DID watch the show again, I'd discover all sorts of phobias and mindsets of mine that had their genesis here.

But I won't.

However, I WILL watch the movie when it comes out, thanks to this wonderful first image that has been released. (click to embiggen)This is beautiful. This one image sums up everything I loved about the original series.

The movie, starring Will Ferrell, promises to be faithful-ish to the original. Instead of a dad and two kids, it's three adults. But I'd be shocked if we don't see the same hole/cave that they hide in, the same dinos that attack them (and each other) that live on either side of a ravine, and I had BETTER see Enik, pylons, and the control tables that you put the multi-colored crystals in.

I'll be following this one with interest... Land of the Lost is currently set to premiere July 17, 2009. Click here to read USA Today's story.

Top Ten Movies I'm Looking Forward To This Summer

It's just about time for the Summer Blockbuster Season to roll around, so I'm starting to plan what I actually want to see. Usually I INTEND to see most of them, but wind up only seeing half or less. Unlike many recent summers, I'm actually really looking forward to quite a few films.

So without further ado, here's the list (and not necessarily in order of looking-forward-to-ness)

1) The Dark Knight - This actually IS the one I'm most anticipating. I love everything director Christopher Nolan has done so far, and conventional wisdom would indicate that the combination of this being Nolan's second go-round with Batman, and the acting chops of Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhal, et al, should mean that The Dark Knight is destined to be a classic. As it's one of the last movies of the summer, we have a ways to go to make that determination.

2) Iron Man - Usually a movie's ad campaign wears me out long before the movie actually debuts. But I really have to hand it to Iron Man. I have loved every last thing I've seen from this film so far. Brilliant job of marketing this. I just hope that the movie turns out as fun as all the trailers would lead us to believe.

3) Narnia: Prince Caspian - I was only so-so on the first Narnia movie, but as with Dark Knight, I'm expecting them to successfully tweak the franchise to where it's even better than the first one. All trailers and imagery I've seen so far indicate that this will be much darker, and more adult than The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I remember really liking Prince Caspian the second best among all the books, and can't wait to see Reepicheep brought to life.

4) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - I'm actually REALLY dreading this film. I can't imagine it's going to be any good. I really detested Last Crusade, and I fear that this film will travel further down the overly-jokey path that film started. The trailer made it look like it was one over-the-top action sequence after another. I've had my fill with the last two Pirates films, and King Kong. But... I'm going to have to see it anyway, on the off chance that it somehow proves me wrong. Of course, if critical consensus is overwhelmingly negative, I don't know if I'll be able to force myself into a theater to see it.

5) Speed Racer - Yet another movie that looks like it's wall-to-wall silly action. Again, I can't imagine I'll like this. But... it has such a unique visual style it might be worth seeing just on that basis. Every image I've seen from the film has been dazzling.

6) The Happening - I've been really harsh on M. Knight Shymalan the last few years, and have enjoyed riding on the backlash bandwagon (which has been well-deserved). But I'm hoping and expecting that he'll return to form one of these days and make a visionary movie similar to Sixth Sense or Signs (I really liked it, even though it caught some flak from some corners). This is some sort of alien invasion film, and I don't know a lot about it, and I hope to stay that way so that whatever surprises M. Knight has in store for us, that they STAY surprises for me.

7) The Incredible Hulk - I was meh on the first Hulk, and so far all the trailers and images for this (as well as the behind the scenes stories) make me worry that this will be a disaster. But... here's hoping that I'm wrong and this film somehow pulls it out and makes a fun film.

8) Hellboy II: The Golden Army - I liked the first one, and since that movie came out, Guillermo del Toro has become something of a visionary. Everything he touches turns to gold, not unlike Christopher Nolan. And similar to Dark Knight, this is a second go-round, so I expect a much more confident film from del Toro. Everything about it so far looks solid.

9) Wall*E - It's a Pixar film, so there's no reason NOT to see it. Trailers turned me from an early doubter to someone that's very much looking forward to this film.

10) Tropic Thunder - This one kind of came out of nowhere to land firmly on my radar. Trailer and other promotional items so far look hilarious. Robert Downey Jr. as an actor who underwent surgery to turn himself black is a brilliant idea (at least in the trailer).

Update!

10.5) Hancock - A new trailer for this came out right after I posted this (actually it debuted on American Idol last night, but I didn't see it until this morning), and it makes it at least SEEM like it might be a fun ride. The early reviews I've read of this haven't been overly positive. But... we'll see, I guess.

11) Honorable mentions - The rest of these films I'm going to keep my eye on, but they all seem like DVD rentals at best.

Get Smart
Love Guru
Wanted
Kung Fu Panda
Meet Dave


And as always, there's going to be at least one film that comes out of nowhere to become a surprise hit. What will be this year's Knocked Up?

Time will tell.

I Am Legend (Well, not ME, but, umm...well, just read it)

Finally got around to watching "I Am Legend".

I was aware of all the grumbling about the film going into watching it. Complaints about the ending and about the horrible CGI. But I was still giving this one a chance. I'd heard enough fair to good reviews by friends of mine that I figured this just might be one of those 'taste' movies.

Alas...

For starters, let me say that Will Smith was fantastic in this. He's one of our true A+ movie stars. He was given an impossibly difficult role to play, being the only actor in the film for 90% of its running time. I normally cringe when movies have characters talk to themselves or to animals or inanimate objects, as it usually comes across as very obvious that it's just a device so that there's not just 90 minutes of a guy walking around quietly by himself. But Will Smith pulled it off.

But...

But then we get to the "Darkseekers". Here lies the treacherous path the movie decides to take. I just did a bit of research on the original novel this movie is based on, and discovered that vampires/zombies were not only very much a part of the novel, but even more overt than they are in the movie. But they also make a lot more sense than in the movie. The movie tries to make the epidemic a reaction to a cancer vaccine. While this in itself isn't a bad idea, it's where it leads that winds up making no sense.

Now, instead of the more "plausible" reason of vampirism as to why everyone else has superpowers and can climb walls like Spider-man and can leap twenty feet through the air, and on and on, now we have to somehow imagine that these powers are the result of a vaccine gone bad. It doesn't work for me, sorry. It should have either just be straight up vampires, or else dropped the super-abilities of those suffering from this problem.

The ending, while nice and bleak, is pointless because it's just so silly. Just another typical action film ending where everything comes together at the final moment, including Will Smith's character remembering one key thing his son said to him that winds up being the key to everything. How convenient that he remembers that quote and finally puts meaning to it right at the last possible moment.

I then went and watched the alternate ending, where Will Smith's character lives, by making some sort of silly connection with the lead Darkseeker. An infected Darkseeker that Will Smith had been experimenting on just so happens to be the wife or girlfriend of the lead Darkseeker, who ends up carrying her out with him. It has gotten tons of praise for being so clearly the better ending, but I think it's actually sillier than the theatrical version. I think the studios made a wise choice, at least as far as these two endings are concerned.

As far as the book ending (spoiler alert!), he ends up being the last remaining human on an earth that is now overrun by vampires, so now HE is the mythical creature causing problems for the rest of (vampire) society. HE is the Legend. It's kind of a Planet of the Apes sort of ending (haven't read the book, just a brief synopsis), and it makes much more sense than either of the silly movie endings.

While the film is ultimately silly, I can honestly say I was never bored, and never less than riveted to what was going on. But...I can only give this film six and a half teeth out of ten. Will Smith gets 9.5 teeth out of ten. The Darkseekers get one tooth out of ten.

Hulu.com - The Answer? Or just the next step?

HULU... it might not be THE competition to watching TV on actual TV, but it's close.

I'd signed up for the beta preview a couple of months back, but after looking at it for a few minutes, some other shiny thing commanded my attention and I forgot about it. It kinda came back on my radar with the well-publicized official public release (it must have been well-publicized because my non-techie wife came into my office asking if I'd heard about this new thing called Hulu). But a seemingly innocuous link to a video of Steve Carrell and Stephen Colbert from 1996's Dana Carvey Show that made me a believer.

In watching that video clip, and then realizing that the ENTIRE season of episodes of this long-sought-after show (by me) was available in high quality, and for free, that showed me the depth and scale of this new service.

Arrested Development - The ENTIRE series available for free.
SNL - All the skits individually accessible (so you only have to watch the good ones)
Simpsons, Family Guy, Office, 30 Rock, and dozens of others are also offering a growing number of episodes (although no complete seasons yet, but I expect that to change).

There's DOZENS of shows, from almost all broadcast and cable networks (although I don't think ABC or CBS are on board yet, but I'm hearing rumors that that will change soon). Literally too many to list or count. I found a show I hadn't seen since I was five years old and watched a part of an episode (I'm nostalgic, but not THAT nostalgic to sit through a whole episode).

They have entire sporting events, like game 4 from the 1977 Stanley Cup Finals (that's hockey to you non-sports fans).

They even have dozens of movies available available for free, many of them relatively prominent titles. As you might surmise from the image at the top of this post, I chose to watch "Man on the Moon" with Jim Carrey. (for my review, click here).
(I'm going to embed the video of the entire film here, but I don't know if you have to registered for it to show up. Please let me know what your experience with this embedded video is)



The quality of the film was good with two options for commercials. One where you could watch a 2 minute movie trailer before the film and have no commercials during the film, or another option where you get normal commercial breaks throughout the film (but these are only single 15-second long breaks every fifteen minutes or so.)

After about 40 minutes, my office chair began to get less and less comfortable to watch a full length film in and my butt fell asleep a few times. While you CAN watch a full-length movie at your desk, you probably don't want to. But for TV show episodes? No problem. And if you're on the road and have your laptop and an internet connection, Hulu makes the perfect entertainment destination.

I know that if I miss an episode of my favorite TV shows that I'm not out of luck, or that I have to scramble to find it or hope that someone has uploaded it to bittorrent or youtube.

Hulu is a great step forward. Now we just need the nerds that are working on the box that allows internet videos to be played on our TVs to step up their game. Come on, nerds, let's GO.

First Watchmen Character Photos - Wow

As of now, we're one year away from what is probably my most anticipated movie of the next several years- Watchmen.

Watchmen is the "Citizen Kane" of comic book/superhero/graphic novel literature. It's a masterpiece, and as such, any attempts at filming it will obviously be met with much hand-wringing and skepticism and trepidation by those that hold it in such high esteem. How can they possibly squeeze this densely-packed story into a two-, or even three-hour film? Is it possible?

The film, being directed by Zach Snyder, of "300" fame, just finished shooting a couple of weeks ago, and until tonight, we hadn't seen anything except for a few set photos. But tonight, we're granted our first images of how the characters have been translated to screen. And I have to say, I absolutely love what I see so far. I especially love just how DARK everything is. Take a look at Ozymandias and Nite Owl.




In an early interview, Snyder was talking about how the costumes as portrayed in the comic book wouldn't work on screen, and I agreed. He made a great point that the costumes from the comic (which was released in the mid-80's) was a visual commentary/deconstruction of how superhero costumes had been portrayed in comics up to that point. But he said that because this is a movie, superhero costumes on screen have created an entirely new visual vocabulary that film-goers have gotten used to after fifteen-plus years. Specifically, Batman, Spider-man and the X-men. Gone is the baggy Spandex and cotton underwear worn on the outside; prominent are the sleek leather and mesh fiber materials. The photos we were gifted with tonight perfectly shows that design sensibility brought to life.

Exactly one year from this moment (midnight), I'll be seeing the opening moments of this film playing out on screen (because I WILL be there for the midnight showing). I'm 90% more confident in this film than I was just twenty minutes ago. Should be a fun year until then as the fun stuff continues to be leaked out to us.

Academy Awards 2008: The Picks (Updated with Results!)

Honestly, this year's Oscars are the ones I've least been anticipating in a long time. Maybe ever. I guess it's because it's been a really blah year for movies. And for the first time in a few years, I've actually seen all the Best Picture nominees prior to the awards. Also, I guess I have no rooting interest this year, except maybe "Juno", but even that has me a bit burned out with all the Diablo Cody hype (and due to the fact that I've read her next script and found it to be pretty bad and that she's likely to become the female Quentin Tarrantino, and I don't mean that in a good way).

So here are the nominees and my predictions, along with any alternate choices I would have made.

Performance by an actor in a leading role
George Clooney in "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.)
Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Johnny Depp in "Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Tommy Lee Jones in "In the Valley of Elah" (Warner Independent)
Viggo Mortensen in "Eastern Promises" (Focus Features)

DDL will win because his performance was very showy. I thought it was a bit over-the-top.

Ding! ding! ding! We have a winner! (1 for 1)


Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Casey Affleck in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (Warner Bros.)
Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War" (Universal)
Hal Holbrook in "Into the Wild" (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment)
Tom Wilkinson in "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.)

Of these, Bardem stands out. The film itself had lots of problems at the end, but he wasn't one of them.

(2 for 2)


Performance by an actress in a leading role
Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (Universal)
Julie Christie in "Away from Her" (Lionsgate)
Marion Cotillard in "La Vie en Rose" (Picturehouse)
Laura Linney in "The Savages" (Fox Searchlight)
Ellen Page in "Juno" (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production)

I haven't seen this film, but all indications point to her winning. I thought Cate Blanchett was too over-the-top as Elizabeth, and while Ellen Page gave the most enjoyable performance of this group, I think it's too early in her career to win.

Whaa???? Marion Cotillard? Well, that only shows how weak a year this was.

(2 for 3)



Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett in "I'm Not There" (The Weinstein Company)
Ruby Dee in "American Gangster" (Universal)
Saoirse Ronan in "Atonement" (Focus Features)
Amy Ryan in "Gone Baby Gone" (Miramax)
Tilda Swinton in "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.)

This one is easy. Amy Ryan was as authentic and disturbing as any of the real-life Bostonians that were used in this film.

This was the shocker of the night. Tilda Swinton?????? Whatever...

(2 for 4)


Best animated feature film of the year
"Persepolis" (Sony Pictures Classics): Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney): Brad Bird
"Surf's Up" (Sony Pictures Releasing): Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

Haven't seen the other two yet, but Ratatouille was too solid of a film to not win this year.

All too easy...

(3 for 5)


Achievement in art direction
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"

Haven't seen it, but it sure does look nice.

(4 for 6)

Achievement in cinematography
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (Warner Bros.): Roger Deakins
"Atonement" (Focus Features): Seamus McGarvey
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn): Janusz Kaminski
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Roger Deakins
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Robert Elswit

This one's a real toughie, but I think this one will take it.

Baamp! Wrong answer. There Will Be Blood looked pretty, I guess. Until Daniel Day Lewis started chewing the scenery...

(4 for 7)


Achievement in costume design
"Atonement" (Focus Features) Jacqueline Durran

This film looked really good.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age looked pretty good... I'll give it that.

(4 for 8)


Achievement in directing
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Julian Schnabel
"Juno" (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production), Jason Reitman
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.), Tony Gilroy
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Paul Thomas Anderson

Despite it's head-scratching ending, this was still the best film of this bunch. Personally, I enjoyed "3:10 to Yuma" more than just about any other film this year. "Gone Baby Gone" was a close second. And I'm surprised that "Zodiac" didn't get more play.

Out of this Group, No Country was the best directed, so this was no surprise.

(5 for 9)


Best documentary feature
"No End in Sight" (Magnolia Pictures) A Representational Pictures Production: Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience" (The Documentary Group) A Documentary Group Production: Richard E. Robbins
"Sicko" (Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company) A Dog Eat Dog Films Production: Michael Moore and Meghan O'Hara
"Taxi to the Dark Side" (THINKFilm) An X-Ray Production: Alex Gibney and Eva Orner
"War/Dance" (THINKFilm) A Shine Global and Fine Films Production: Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine

Haven't seen any of these, but "No End in Sight seems to have lots of buzz. The one I WANT to see is "King of Kong".

Guessed wrong. Taxi to the Dark Side?

(5 for 10)

Best documentary short subject
"Freeheld" A Lieutenant Films Production: Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth
"La Corona (The Crown)" A Runaway Films and Vega Films Production: Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
"Salim Baba" A Ropa Vieja Films and Paradox Smoke Production: Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello
"Sari's Mother" (Cinema Guild) A Daylight Factory Production: James Longley

Purely a guess.

And purely a wrong guess. Freeheld was the winner.

(5 for 11)


Achievement in film editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal): Christopher Rouse
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn): Juliette Welfling
"Into the Wild" (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment): Jay Cassidy
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Roderick Jaynes
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Dylan Tichenor

Didn't see it, but from all indications, Bourne Ultimatum set the bar for 21st century action films.

Woo hoo! Back on the horse!

(6 for 12)


Best foreign language film of the year
"Beaufort" Israel
"The Counterfeiters" Austria
"Katyn" Poland
"Mongol" Kazakhstan
"12" Russia

A pure guess, but from all I've heard about it, I'm interested in seeing "Mongol"

Another good guess.

(7 for 13)


Achievement in makeup
"La Vie en Rose" (Picturehouse) Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald
"Norbit" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount): Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (Walt Disney): Ve Neill and Martin Samuel

Just because I despise the other two films in this category.

My bias paid off.

(8 for 14)


Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
"Atonement" (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli
"The Kite Runner" (DreamWorks, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Participant Productions, Distributed by Paramount Classics): Alberto Iglesias
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.) James Newton Howard
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino
"3:10 to Yuma" (Lionsgate) Marco Beltrami

Fantastic score and one of our rising film composer talents.

But not this year... Atonement won.

(8 for 15)


Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"Falling Slowly" from "Once" (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and: Marketa Irglova
"Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"Raise It Up" from "August Rush" (Warner Bros.): Music and Lyric by Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack and Tevin Thomas
"So Close" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"That's How You Know" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

One of my favorite films of the year, and a great song from that film. I downloaded it from Itunes right after I finished watching the film. My only real rooting interest among all the films this year.

Yay! And they let Marketa come back out and give her acceptance speech after they cut her off before the commercial break. Classy, whoever's decision that was.

(9 for 16)



Best motion picture of the year
"Atonement" (Focus Features) A Working Title Production: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers
"Juno" (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production) A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production: Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.) A Clayton Productions, LLC Production: Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production: Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production: JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers

A bunch of really flawed films to choose from. I enjoyed "Juno" the most out of all these films, but I think it's ultimately too lightweight to win. I still don't see what all the fuss is about "There Will Be Blood". It was ultimately just a character study of a very bad man, and we got to see him do bad things. Whoopee... "Michael Clayton" was okay, but it felt like a warmed-over episode of a TV show. Nothing groundbreaking in this, but good acting all around. When I finished watching "Atonement", I said to myself "Is that all there is?" It was pretty and well-acted, but just barely okay. So by default, it goes to "No Country For Old Men". It had a really damaged ending, but it was pretty enjoyable up until that point.

See above

(10 for 17)


Best animated short film
"I Met the Walrus" A Kids & Explosions Production: Josh Raskin
"Madame Tutli-Putli" (National Film Board of Canada) A National Film Board of Canada Production Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
"Même les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)" (Premium Films) A BUF Compagnie Production Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse
"My Love (Moya Lyubov)" (Channel One Russia) A Dago-Film Studio, Channel One Russia and Dentsu Tec Production Alexander Petrov
"Peter & the Wolf" (BreakThru Films) A BreakThru Films/Se-ma-for Studios Production Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman

Pure guess.

Wrong guess. I almost went for Peter and the Wolf, but changed my mind. Oh well.

(10 for 18)

Best live action short film
"At Night" A Zentropa Entertainments 10 Production: Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth
"Il Supplente (The Substitute)" (Sky Cinema Italia) A Frame by Frame Italia Production: Andrea Jublin
"Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)" (Premium Films) A Karé Production: Philippe Pollet-Villard
"Tanghi Argentini" (Premium Films) An Another Dimension of an Idea Production: Guido Thys and Anja Daelemans
"The Tonto Woman" A Knucklehead, Little Mo and Rose Hackney Barber Production: Daniel Barber and Matthew Brown

More guesswork

And wrong yet again. Pickpocket thing won.

(10 of 19)

Achievement in sound editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal): Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Skip Lievsay
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney): Randy Thom and Michael Silvers
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Christopher Scarabosio and Matthew Wood
"Transformers" (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins

Just a guess. But I figure they'll honor this film with technical awards since it didn't earn any other type of nomination.

My assumption about Bourne Ultimatum was, ehem, Bourne out.

(11 for 20)


Achievement in sound mixing
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal) Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney): Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane
"3:10 to Yuma" (Lionsgate): Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe
"Transformers" (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin

Just a guess. But with an animated film, sound is half the battle in making it seem real, and this film felt more alive than any other film this year.

Rats! Should have stuck with my Bourne Assumption.

(11 for 21)


Achievement in visual effects
"The Golden Compass" (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners): Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (Walt Disney): John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier
"Transformers" (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier

Hated these films. But "Pirates" sure did have a LOT of effects.

Enh... Golden Compass won, but I think they gave it to that as a backlash against the other guys. Oh well.

(11 for 22)

Adapted screenplay
"Atonement" (Focus Features), Screenplay by Christopher Hampton
"Away from Her" (Lionsgate), Written by Sarah Polley
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Screenplay by Ronald Harwood
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

Tough category. But I think this film pulled it off the best of all these contenders.

Wasn't worried..

(12 for 23)

Original screenplay
"Juno" (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production), Written by Diablo Cody
"Lars and the Real Girl" (MGM), Written by Nancy Oliver
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.), Written by Tony Gilroy
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Brad Bird; Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird
"The Savages" (Fox Searchlight), Written by Tamara Jenkins

"Juno" will win just because it's easily gotten the most hype this year.

No brainer...

(13 for 24)

And that wraps it up! I'll come back tomorrow night and update this post with a tally of how many I got right.

Not bad... 13 right. Especially for a year where there were no clear front-runners across the board. I can't imagine anyone got the actress categories right, except maybe the mothers of both of those actresses...