• 27Jul 08

  How to Commit Marriage - 1969

  What a title! And what a movie, yes this long forgotten schlocky film from 1969 How to Commit Marriage starred Jackie Gleason, Bob Hope, Jane Wyman, Maureen Arthur, Leslie Nielsen, Tim Matheson, JoAnna Cameron and several more familiar faces. Jackie plays a Clive Davis like character for a record studio finding new hip talent like The Fish Schticks, The Comfortable Chair, I guess you get the gist of things. So bad it's funny, the jokes are all predictable as these old foggies try to play younger, hipper, cooler people. Bob walks into a crowded bar and he comments, "The grass is pretty green in here", wow man Bob the hipster. I'm going to recommend it just because of the cast and the nostalgia. It was Jane Wyman's last motion picture. (poor thing) Jackie gives his usual drinking, below the belt insult performance and Bob well, Bob is Bob, he never seemed to change in all his movies, at least you know what you always got with him. Anyone else remember or have any old 60's schlocky movies to share? There seemed to be quite a few in the late sixties especially with comedy making a major change in the early 70's. This one just seemed silly which is.

  

  

  

  • Posted Jul 27, 2008 10:30 am PT
  • Category: Movies
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• 17Jun 08

  Fringe Benefits

  Stan Winston special effects creator passed away at the age of 62. If you haven't heard of him maybe his work might be familiar to you. He created the endoskeleton for The Terminator (1984). He worked on James Cameron's Aliens (1986) and won his first Oscar for Special Effects. Some of his work includes including Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands, John McTiernan's Predator, Alien Nation, The Monster Squad, and Predator 2. In 1989, Winston made his directorial debut with the horror movie Pumpkinhead. In 1990 James Cameron called upon Stan's expertize for T-2 Judgement Day, this would win Stan two more Oscars one for Best Makeup Effects and Best Visual Effects. In 1992 he teamed up with Tim Burton for Batman Returns with the marvelous Penguin and Catwoman characters he received his sixth Oscar nomination. In 1993 Steven Spielberg called up Stan for Jurassic Park winning another Oscar. The man was unstoppable. Nominated again in 1998 for The Lost World and finally in 2002 for A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. In 2001 Stan was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. He also worked on the Terminator 4 project. There will be a clip shown at the premiere of The Dark Knight. He did many more films from the 80's to 2000 I think alot of you will be surprised by this man's resume. Rest in Peace and thanks for the awesome legacy you leave behind.

  

  I just watched J.J. Abrams pilot of Fringe, and I can say without a doubt be prepared it's definitely going to be a huge success. That's if you love action/adventure/mystery/sci-fi/romance all wrapped into one amazing program. You can view the pilot online HERE.

  There are a few familiar faces and some interesting new casting. I'm not going into detail about the pilot you will have to find out yourself. All I can say is that I was blown away.

  

  Anna Torva plays FBI agent Olivia Dunham and Mark Valley (ex-Boston Legal) plays John Scott. Joshua Jackson is Peter Bishop.

  

  First up is Lance Reddick. The star of HBO's The Wire and of LOST he will take on the role of a Homeland Security special agent who specializes in paranormal events.

  Next is John Noble, who you should immediately recognize from his role as Denethor in Lord of the Rings. He will be taking on the role of one of the central characters, Walter Bishop father of Peter Bishop as the scientist whose crazy ideas have left him institutionalized, but which also may prove to be the answer to the sudden outbreak of paranormal events.

  So the season finale of Battlestar Galactica was on Friday and I was humbled beyond belief, when you see something so good and so brilliant it literally makes me feel small and insignificant, BSG truly had it's shining moment. Thanks Ronald Moore.

  Yes it seems it's been a Sci-fi couple of months for me. I really find it's getting deeper and more thoughtful not as ridiculous as the cornball shows from old. Not to say I don't love those too, but each merits their own fanship.

  • Posted Jun 17, 2008 6:07 am PT
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• 5Jun 08

  Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself

  Oh the horror, the horror. Yes it's time for the summer series' to begin. Tonight NBC brings to us a horror anthology titled Fear Itself.

  The Eater
  Directed by Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator)
  Written by Richard Chizmar (From a Buick and Johnathon Schaech (That Thing You Do!)
  Starring: Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Stephen R. Hart (Shoot 'Em Up), Russell Hornsby (Lincoln Heights), Pablo Schreiber (The Wire), Stephen Lee (Boston Legal)

  With 13 episodes in the can to frightened us into viewing (yeah I have a love for this kind of stuff too) they just might pull it off. Last summer ABC brought us Masters of Horror and then took it away as fast they could, it wasn't bad actually it was very good.

  So hopefully they will air the entire 13 episodes. This is the info I have of nine episodes so far.

  Spooked
  Directed by Brad Anderson (The Machinist)
  Written by Matt Venne (White Noise 2: The Light)
  Starring: Eric Roberts (Heroes), Jack Noseworthy (Judging Amy), Cynthia Watros (Lost), Larry Gilliard Jr. (The Wire)

  Community
  Directed by Mary Harron (American Psycho, The Notorious Betty Page)
  Written by Kelly Kennemer (The Music Within)
  Starring: Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), Shiri Appleby (Charlie Wilson's War), John Billingsley (Star Trek: Enterprise)

  Red Snow
  Directed by Breck Eisner (Creature from the Black Lagoon)
  Written by Mick Garris from a story by Del Howison (Dark Delicacies)

  New Year's Day
  Directed by Darren Bousman (Saw II, III and IV)
  Written by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) from a story by Paul Kane

  Family Man
  Directed by Ronny Yu (Freddy vs. Jason, Bride of Chucky)
  Written by Dan Knauf (Carnivale, Supernatural)

  Skin & Bones
  Written by Drew McWeeny & Scott Swan (Masters of Horror)

  Something With Bite
  Directed by Ernest Dickerson (Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight, Bones)
  Written by Max Landis (Masters of Horror), the son of John Landis

  Nightmare in Lace
  Directed by John Landis (An American Werewolf in London)
  Written by Victor Salva (Jeepers Creepers)

  

  The phrase "Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself" was used by President Roosevelt during his first Inaugural address. FEAR.

  CBS this fall has these new shows on their schedule. They are The Mentalist starring Simon Baker (formerly of The Guardian and Smith), Eleventh Hour and Harper's Island.

  You can view previews for CBS new series HERE.

  

  Continuing on the strange and unusual, they remade Sybil. Remember that 1976 EMMY winning tv movie starring Sally Field and Joanne Woodward, well this Sunday you can watch the Jessica Lange and Tammy Blanchard remake. I remember being very shook up when they original aired.

  • Posted Jun 5, 2008 1:53 pm PT
  • Category: TV
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