House of Jorob

Blockbuster Goes to Auction April 4

The once-mighty franchise will likely go for just under $300 million dollars.

Details here.

Cowboys and Aliens

The cast is awesome.

Producer and director, killer pedigrees, both.

Imho, something like this has no middle ground. It's either blockbuster or dishrag.

Cowboys and Aliens.

It really, really won't end on December 21, 2012?

The approaching planet of Nibiru.

The end of the Mayan calendar.

Polar Shift Theory.

Planetary Alignment.

The Solar Storm.

Finally.

A succinct rebuttal to the end-of-the-world fear-mongering.

It's here: http://www.astrosociety.org/2012/ab2009-32.pdf

This is the work of David Morrison, Senior Scientist for NASA's Astrobiology Institute.

He's compiled a top-ten list of questions and answers in the pdf.

There's more--the top twenty--on his website: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/intro/nibiru-and-doomsday-2012-questions-and-answer

Enjoy the movie this coming November 13.

Even play with the website.

Just remember what's behind it.

And behind even the non-movie-tied sites that have sprung up around 2012 like a forest of mushrooms.

The power of viral marketing.

Lord of the Rings: The Viewer Puzzle

I don't get it.

TBS recently ran a Lord of the Rings marathon--all three movies in a row, same day.

And in my house, this was cause for celebration.

Sure enough, the set was tuned to the trilogy all day.

But here's the part I don't get:

We own the DVD set.

We can watch this any time we want.

And when do we watch it?

When the commercial-filled networks air it.

Unless I pull out the set myself, it never, ever comes out for play.

I'll be pondering this for a while.

The Mummy: Tomb of The Dragon Emperor

Ow.

Just.....Ow.

Paycheck: Worth the Viewing

Philip K Dick stories make the best movies.

A 2003 example: Paycheck.

A twisty little film starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman.

And a neat little supporting role by the guy who played John Adams in last year's HBO adaptation.

This one's no Blade Runner.

But it's a nice little popcorn flick.

Now playing via NetFlix, Blockbuster, and various download sites.

And the John Adams guy?

Paul Giamatti.

(C'mon. Did you really think I'd end this without listing the actor's name??)

Chuck Jones Biopic to Air on Turner Classic Movies

TCM is running a film entitiled Memories of Childhood this coming March 24 at 8pm.

The film, a short bio on Chuck Jones, one of the all time greatest animators on the planet (ever), combines interviews with the man taken shortly before his death with new animation created for the film.

Jones started sketching during the interviews--the producers of the film took those sketches and used them to create the new animation.

New Chuck Jones!

According to the TCM site, the network will run some classic pieces after the documentary.

Link is here.

Alternative bio material here.

 

Cartoons! No homework! Hooray!

I'm sorry.
I regressed.

About 35 years.

When I was a kid, there was a local television channel, Channel 17, that was the place to be every afternoon after school.

Speed Racer. Marine Boy. A whole string of Japanese imports aired every afteroon on Wee Willie Webber's afternoon kids' TV show.

We didn't have a UHF adapter on our television set the first year I learned about the show.

I spent a lot of afternoons over a buddy's house watching.

Enough so that Dad broke down and bought the UHF adapter--and suddenly our house had four more channels--really good ones, 'cause they had cartoons on them when all the yukky ones had like, Merv Griffin on them at the same time.

What triggered this was spotting my hometown's homegrown movie business.

Wee Willie's giving a couple of lectures about the cartoons from that era.

Right here in my home town!!

In October!!

Wow!!

 gotta make sure my chores are done so I can go!

A Film Guide Like No Other

Manly Lawmen Shooting Guns (1957)
Martians Make Me So Mad (1953)
Ow, That Shark Bites (1975)
Biggest Ass Monkey (2005)

Great films. Strong casts. Great directors. Read all about the stars and their films in The Parallel Universe Film Guide.

Spencer Green has written one of the finest--and perhaps the only--sendup of filmdom, film buffs, and critical film review guides on the planet. What's remarkable is the depth found here--there are plot summaries, star filmographies, quoteables--they cross-reference naturally and they're all faked beautifully. Linger for a while on the Famous Quotes section for Ow, That Shark Bites or The Journey To Mount Geek: The Brotherhood of  Geeks. Green has nailed the rhythm and meter of the originals on which these parodies are based.

Get lost in The PUFG. Completely worth every second wasted on it.