Speeding through space to catch up with all the yummy gooey goodness of Easter candy… errr I mean our episodes.
In this episode we discuss the movie that served to bridge the gap between Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Hang on kids, keep your hands in the space craft and beware of The Ribbon.
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Alright, so here is the scoop. We are just a few weeks away from recording episode #100. No, seriously… even though This episode is #88, there are currently 10 more episodes that we have recorded but not released.
We are going to make a push to get as many episodes as we can released as quickly as we can. In some cases this will mean an episode a day. We’re on the right track and hopefully after this weekend we’ll be a few closer to caught up.
Thanks for your patience and support.
In this episode we discuss Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ. This is a long, deep discussion that goes well beyond the bounds of just the movie and dips into some of our beliefs as well.
We also have a very special guest spot from our good friend, Aron Head.
Aron’s work can be found at:
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Carl Icahn has restarted takeover talks with Lions Gate. He has purchased 14.5 percent of the company’s stock and offered to buy up $325 million of the company’s outstanding debt. This comes on the heels of two failed takeover attempts, one for Yahoo and the other for Motorola and a failed previous attempt at Lions Gate in which the takeover king wanted two board seats. Top Lions executives have hired a phalanx of lawyers, investment bankers and publicists; they’ve cut overhead by 8% and cut 45 jobs from their workforce all in an effort to stave off the the hostile bid. Mark Rachesky, a former employee of the company and holder of a 20% share in the company, and a host of current investors and debt holders have come to the aid of of the embattled execs, all expressing their support and confidence. John Kornitzer, the company’s largest debt holder, has publicly stated that he will not sell to Icahn, stating that he wished the man would “go crawl under a rock.”
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group has picked up Edward Norton’s By the People: The Election of Barack Obama. The documentary, directed by Amy Rice and Alicia Sams, was produced by Norton’s Class 5 Films. It follows Obama from the announcement on Feb. 10, 2007, of his candidacy for President to his inauguration.
Overture Films has announced it will handle worldwide distribution and marketing for the romantic comedy Paper Heart, which debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and won the Waldo Salt Award for best screenplay. The film, directed by Nicholas Jasenovec and starring Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera, follows Yi as she embarks on a quest across America to make a documentary about the one subject she doesn’t fully understand: Love. Cera becomes the object of her affection. Overture will debut Paper Heart in theaters in Los Angeles and New York on August 7, and will expand it on August 14.
Warner Bros on Monday put its Bollywood counterparts on notice that they would sue for breach of copyright if the hit film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was remade in India. Advertisements were placed in the Times of India and trade magazines stating that Warner Bros is the joint author and co-owner of the copyright of the period drama, which earned 13 nominations at this year’s Oscars.
Fast & Furious went from zero to an estimated $72.5 million so fast this weekend that it crashed through box-office records and astounded naysayers who doubted the film would ever be produced. And with year-to-date box office about 5 percent ahead of last year at this time, with $2.39 billion, there are already predictions that 2009 could reach $10 billion. Not only has Universal’s $80 million car action feature claimed the biggest box-office debut of 2009 so far, outpacing last week’s Monsters vs. Aliens $58 million, the film marks the biggest April weekend in box-office history and the studio’s biggest three-day opening.
Kal Penn, (Harold and Kumar go to White Castle) a fervent campaigner for Obama during his Presidential campaign the actor ,who taught a class on Asian-American studies at the University of Pennsylvania last year, will join Obama’s team as an associate director in the Office Of Public Liaison.
Coming fast after the news that Gore Verbinski is quitting the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise to focus on his big screen adaptation of the game Bioshock comes the news that Sony Pictures is planning to adapt Shadow of the Colossus for the screen.The game focuses on a character called Wander who must wander through a cursed waste called the Forbidden Land and slay 16 enormous “colossi” in order to save the life of a girl, Mono. The game was much praised for its gorgeous art and high-quality score, and is sufficiently bare-bones of plot that there’s lots of wiggle room for screenwriters.
Sources:
TheWrap.com
IMDB
EmpireOnline
#1 Fast and Furious from Universal takes the #1 spot this weekend earning $72.5 million in 3461 theaters. Budget for Furious was $85 million.
#2 Monsters Vs. Aliens from DreamWorks drops to #2 this weekend earning $33.5 million in 4109 theaters. Budget for Monsters was $175 million.
#3 The Haunting in Connecticut from Lionsgate drops to #3 this weekend earning $9.5 million in 2732 theaters. Budget for Haunting is unknown.
#4 Knowing from Summit drops to #4 this weekend earning $8.1 million in 3323 theaters. Budget for Knowing is unknown.
#5 I Love You, Man from Paramount drops to #5 this weekend earning $7.8 million in 2829 theaters. Budget for I Love You, Man is unknown.
Rounding out the top 10 are:
#6 Adventureland Weekend Gross: $6,010,000 / Theaters: 1862 / Gross $6,010,000 / Budget: unknown
#7 Duplicity Weekend Gross: $4,300,000
down 44% / Theaters: 2522, down 57 / Gross $32,376,000 / Budget: $60 million
#8 The Race to Witch Mountain Weekend Gross: $3,351,000, down 42% / Theaters: 2825, down 443 / Gross $58,388,000 / Budget: unknown
#9 12 Rounds Weekend Gross: $2,300,000, down 56% / Theaters: 2331 / Gross $9,022,000 / Budget: unknown
#10 Sunshine Cleaning Weekend Gross: $1,879,000, up 47%% / Theaters: 479, up 312/ Gross $4,775,000 / Budget: unknown
A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.
Sources:
Box Office Mojo
Outlaw-with-a-code Dominic Toretto finds himself teamed up again with FBI Agent Brian O’Connor after someone close to both is struck down in a dangerous deal.
That’s it. Basically all you need to know going in to see Fast & Furious. But I figure those going to see this are probably those that are familiar with The Fast & The Furious franchise in the first place. This is the first movie since the first in the series to re-team stars Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in their respective parts, though both have appeared separately in the other movies (the second one teaming Walker with Tyrese Gibson and the third featuring Diesel in a cameo part at the movie’s end).
Let’s face it, this series is a B-movie series featuring A-list stunts and state of the art effects. I’ve said it before about the series, it doesn’t try to be high art by any means, but more high state-of-the-art. Director Justin Lin knows this, and did it very well with the third in the series, Tokyo Drift and now he gets to demonstrate that again with the original stars of the franchise.
This won’t “wow” anyone with it’s less-than-pithy dialogue or it’s somewhat simplistic characters, and that’s not really the point, it’s more to deliver some high-octane thrills, but to it’s credit, there are things that get you involved with it’s characters, and further, this movie does have continuity with the others, including Tokyo Drift with a stunning opening scene that sets up the relationship that was alluded to at the end of that movie, and almost indicating that this film could very well be taking place concurrently with that one.
If you enjoy the series, and I have a ball with it, then I truly think this is a good addition to it. As a fan of video games like the Need For Speed series and Rockstar’s excellent Midnight Club series (Midnight Club: Los Angeles is just about the closest thing out there to having a Fast & Furious game- despite there being a real Fast & Furious game), this series is made for that crowd, and for the car crowd and just for those that enjoy some pretty high testosterone fun. The only actual race in the movie, was especially fun for me being a fan of these games.
Anyway, it’s really well made, stars Diesel and Walker deliver the goods as far as this milieu is concerned and it’s just a lot of fun. It won’t change anyone’s world and it won’t go down as one of the best movies of the year, but it’s a great diversion for those that love this stuff, and I do and I can certainly recommend this to fans of the series.
#1 Monsters Vs. Aliens from DreamWorks takes the #1 spot this weekend earning $59.3 million in 4104 theaters. Budget for Monsters is unknown.
#2 The Haunting in Connecticut from Lionsgate debuts at #2 this weekend earning $23 million in 2732 theaters. Budget for Haunting is unknown.
#3 Knowing from Summit drops to #3 this weekend earning $14.7 million in 3337 theaters. Budget for Knowing is unknown.
#4 I Love You, Man from Paramount drops to #4 this weekend earning $12.6 million in 2717 theaters. Budget for I Love You, Man is unknown.
#5 Duplicity from Universal drops to #5 this weekend earning $7.6 million in 2579 theaters. Budget for Duplicity is unknown.
Rounding out the top 10 are:
#6 The Race to Witch Mountain Weekend Gross: $5,801,775, down 54% / Theaters: 3268, up 81 / Gross $53,459,752 / Budget: unknown
#7 12 Rounds Weekend Gross: $5,329,240 / Theaters: 2331 / Gross $5,329,240 / Budget: unknown
#8 The Watchmen Weekend Gross: $2,732,439, down 59% / Theaters: 2010, down 1500/ Gross $103,273,462 / Budget: $150 million
#9 Taken Weekend Gross: $2,695,342, down 33% / Theaters: 1961, down 700 / Gross $137,068,886 / Budget: unknown
#10 The Last House on the Left Weekend Gross: $2,644,295, down 54% / Theaters: 2251, down 151 / Gross $28,492,330 / Budget: unknown
A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.
Sources:
Box Office Mojo
In this episode, we discuss the film Boondock Saints.
Also included, a Promo for a very special promotion from J.C. Hutchins in support of his forthcoming book Personal Effects: Dark Art.
All the info can be found here: http://jchutchins.net/site/the-brink/
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#1 Knowing from Summit takes the #1 spot this weekend earning $24.8 million in 3332 theaters. Budget for Knowing is unknown.
#2 I Love You, Man from Paramount debuts at #2 this weekend earning $18 million in 2711 theaters. Budget for I Love You, Man is unknown.
#3 Duplicity from Universal debuts at #3 this weekend earning $14.4 million in 2574 theaters. Budget for Duplicity is unknown.
#4 Race to Witch Mountain from Buena Vista drops to #4 this weekend earning $13 million in 3187 theaters. Budget for Race is unknown.
#5 Watchmen from Warner Bros. drops to #5 this weekend earning $6.7 million in 3510 theaters, bringing total earnings to $98 million. Budget for Watchmen was $150 million.
Rounding out the top 10 are:
#6 The Last House on the Left Weekend Gross: $5,921,000, down 58% / Theaters: 2,402, up 1 / Gross $24,047,000 / Budget: unknown
#7 Taken Weekend Gross: $4,100,000, down 37% / Theaters: 2,661, down 197 / Gross $133,139,000 / Budget: unknown
#8 Slumdog Millionaire Weekend Gross: $5,025,000, down 46% / Theaters: 2067, down 511 / Gross $137,202,000 / Budget: $15 million
#9 Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail Weekend Gross: $2,510,000, down 50% / Theaters: 1835, down 398 / Gross $87,208,000 / Budget: unknown
#10 Coraline Weekend Gross: $2,143,000, down 21% / Theaters: 1431, down 337 / Gross $72,803,000 / Budget: unknown
A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.
Sources:
Box Office Mojo
In 1959, in a small New York school, a group of grade school children are preparing a time capsule to be buried, all with drawings of what they think the future will look like, except for one little girl, Lucinda Embry, who had the idea for the time capsule, instead of a drawing, she’s put in a sheet of numbers that on it’s surface seems incomprehensible. In 2009, Caleb Koestler, the son of an MIT Astrophysics professor, John Koestler, gets to be the lucky recipient of what Lucinda wrote down, and his father soon starts to see a pattern to the numbers, all displaying times of extreme disaster and indicating the number of lives lost to each disaster. John now seeks to stop the moments that he believes are yet to come, and all the while, some mysterious figures are keeping an eye on him and his son…
That’s the basic premise to Knowing the newest movie from director Alex Proyas and star Nicolas Cage. In the past, Alex Proyas has given us movies like The Crow, Dark City and I, Robot and has certainly demonstrated with the last two that he’s a big fan of an old school type of science fiction film but with some new twists to it, and that’s what Knowing is, most definitely. My expectations were relatively low on this, primarily for Cage more than anything else, as with him you just never know what you’re going to get, either something that seems more to concentrate on his penchant for quirkiness and to see what new hairstyle he’ll bring to a part, or something more serious… and thankfully, with Knowing it’s something more serious.
In some ways, I saw a lot of parallels to what’s happened over the last four seasons of Battlestar Galactica in this film, with the biggest difference in that Galactica had a long time to make sure that every “t” was crossed and every “i” was dotted. Knowing tries to do a lot of the same in two hours, and I can see why there are some critics out there that have huge problems with the film. But I gave into it’s premise, and really thought that Proyas delivered another old school sci-fi treat here (and at it’s core, there is an explanation as to why it all went the way it does).
The best thing that Proyas does though, is that when some of the upcoming disasters start to happen, he ramps up the visuals and the action some notches above what you expect, just as he did with the dazzling end of Dark City and those moments are real grabbers when they happen. The movie is a little slow-building getting to where it’s going, but when these moments happen, they’ll snag you, or at least they did me. The other thing he does here, is that he’s not afraid to have this go very dark, with no easy solutions at all to it’s ending.
Proyas is also really well aided with a great score from composer Macro Beltrami, who also really steps up to the plate when the big moments happen.
Cage is pretty good here, and with the exception of one scene that falls into a little bit of cliche, he’s pretty rock solid in the film delivering one of his better performances in a while. Rose Byrne heads up the mostly unknown supporting cast, and they’re all fine, but this is Cage’s movie no doubt about that and we’re (mostly) seeing this through his experiences more than anyone else’s.
In the end though, I think Alex Proyas has delivered another very cool old school science fiction film with a rock solid performance from it’s lead actor. To me, this is something like the recent remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still or M. Night Shymalan’s The Happening totally done right and of course, I’m giving this a solid recommendation for being this sort of film and not afraid to buck a few Hollywood conventions.
After news of a draft letter seeking a strike authorization vote emerged Tuesday, SAG’s David White and AFTRA issued a statement downplaying the importance of the document and asserting that they remain optimistic about reaching a deal as negotiations enter week three. “This is one of many contingency documents that we prepare in the course of any negotiations, particularly as we approach the expiration of a contract,” they added.
Reps for neither unions nor ad biz were available for further comment Tuesday, as both sides have agreed to a news blackout.
Unlike their dealings with Hollywood’s majors, in the commercials talks, the Screen Actors Guild has returned to joint bargaining with the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists. The unions’ unified front against Madison Avenue stands in sharp contrast to the public battle that erupted between them last summer, when AFTRA opted to negotiate its primetime TV pact separately from SAG for the first time in nearly 30 years.
The tense talks with advertisers and talk of a strike authorization vote raises the specter of the bitter six-month strike that SAG and AFTRA, who have about 150,00 members combined, staged over a commercials contract nine years ago.
Insiders close to the commercials talks said the unions and ad biz negotiators are tussling over three key points:
1) The industry’s proposal for a revamp to the compensation model based on gross rating points rather than the traditional pay-per-play method; the unions are asking for an “adjusted tier” model.
2) The industry’s proposed reductions of more than $20 million annually in contributions to pension and health plans.
3) Terms of a pilot study and whether it should be based only on the industry’s suggested compensation model without an equal study of the unions’ preferred compensation model.
“From the first day of the negotiations, it has been our intention to reach an agreement acceptable to both sides,” said the draft letter, penned by members of the joint negotiating committee. “The issues at stake in these negotiations are critically important and require that we bring our full bargaining power to the table by passing this referendum to authorize a strike in the field of television and radio commercials.”
All contract expire March 31.