We’re emerging from the Great Recession? Who knew? Hoorah!

I’ve always got piles of books around me: books to read, books I’ve read and mean to write about at MaryAnnJohanson.com (and never seem to find the time to do so), books I feel like I should read but keep getting shifted to the bottom of the pile.

I’ve also sometimes got more than one book in progress. I started reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies [Amazon U.S.] [Amazon U.K.], but it’s actually kind of dull, not terribly well written, and nowhere near as clever as it could be, so I sorta gave up on it, though it’s still sitting splayed open nearby, and every once in a while I pick it up and read a few more pages before I remember why I didn’t read it all right through in one rush; I’ll probably finish it eventually.

continue reading "question of the weekend: What book are you reading right now, and what’s up next?" »

We know how it is: You’d like to go to the movies this weekend, but there’s all that sighing and sulking and brooding over your immortal undead lover to do, and that’s just exhausting. But you can have a multiplex-like experience at home with a collection of the right DVDs. And when someone asks you on Monday, “Hey, did you see New Moon this weekend?” you can reply, “No, I watched some vampire and werewolf movies that don’t suck instead.”

continue reading "November 20: DVD alternatives to this weekend’s multiplex offerings" »

Dogs and cats living together -- mass hysteria!

But Christmas Carol is the real winner:

1. 2012: £6.5 million (NEW)
2. A Christmas Carol: £2.5 million (2nd week; up 31%)
3. Harry Brown: £1.3 million (NEW)
4. Up: £.99 million
5. The Men Who Stare at Goats: £.8 million (2nd week; drops 34%)

(actual numbers, not estimates)

continue reading "U.K. box office: ‘2012’ opens big" »

Friday fun! Here’s a screen capture from one of the DVDs in my collection (and it’s definitely from a movie, not a TV show). Guess the movie for fun and, well, fun. No prizes, just bragging rights. But hey: one guess per comment -- no fair hogging all the guesses.

Take a break from work: watch a trailer...

continue reading "trailer break: ‘Red Cliff’" »

Planetary Misalignment

We have no idea why it’s called Planet 51, or why the pleasantly blobby green humanoid aliens wear no trousers -- jackets and ties or T-shirts for the males, and of course the ladies wear skirts (and have feet shaped like high heels, like Barbie!). We have no idea how cultural convergence allows them to speak English -- except for the proper names, which all sound like “Vernkot” and “Glipforg” -- or to be having their 1950s, complete with malt shops and alien invasion movies, just as a human from Earth arrives among them to terrorize them.

continue reading "Planet 51 (review)" »

The beginning of the beginning of the end for Lost, um, began yesterday with the announcement of the debut date for the final season: February 2, 2010. As Michael Ausiello at EW’s The Ausiello Files notes, 02022010 does sound like another puzzle number the show’s gonna throw at us.

He goes on to name those characters who will get top billing in the final season, according to ABC:

Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Nestor Carbonell (Richard), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Michael Emerson (Ben), Jeff Fahey (Frank) Matthew Fox (Jack), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Ken Leung (Miles), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Terry O’Quinn (Locke), and Zuleikha Robinson (Ilana)

continue reading "question of the day: Will you watch ‘Lost’ when it returns in February?" »

From the era when children were forced to sing for their sugary nonnutritive refreshing beverages:

WIN: Farscape: The Complete Series, a 26-disc box set containing all 88 episodes from all four seasons, plus 15 hours of bonus features

HOW: write a funny caption for an image from the show

THE RULES: If you have a United States mailing address, you’re eligible to win. (Yes, even if you’ve already won something else from me in 2009.) If you’re outside the U.S. but you’re moved by the muse of comedy, feel free to send me a caption anyway -- you might get an honorable mention... but let me know you're entering only for fun.

Oh, two more simple rules: 1) Be clever, be original, make me giggle. 2) One entry per person.

continue reading "win ‘Farscape: The Complete Series’ Region 1 DVD box set" »

RULES: You’re eligible to win if 1) You have not won anything from me in 2009; 2) You have a U.S. mailing address; 3) You enter once and only once.

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the very silly comic troupe, Monty Python: The Other British Invasion was recently released on Region 1 DVD -- it’s two discs of rare vintage footage and new interviews celebrating the wit and legacy of Python. The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset -- 16 discs containing every single moment of the classic sketch comedy show -- has been available on Region 1 DVD for a while, but is worth another look on this big anniversary. I’ve got Region 1 DVD copies of both of them to give away, courtesy of A&E Home Entertainment.

Enter by using this link to send your name and U.S. mailing address.

(Check out the Silly Walks Generator.) (Check out the Silly Walks flash mob taking place today, November 19.) (For another chance to win, head over to A&E Home Entertainment’s Twitter page for more info -- that contest is taking place only on November 19.)

ENTER BY: 11:59pm Eastern time, Monday, November 30.

Winners are chosen at random from all eligible entries received.

NOTE: Your email address and mailing address will be used ONLY for contest purposes. You will not be added to any mailing lists; you will not be spammed as a result of entering. All contest entries are discarded at the end of the contest period.

Let’s Do This!

Bella Cullen. Mrs. Edward Cullen. Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cullen. Ms. Bella Cullen.

Mrs. Bella Swan Cullen.

continue reading "The Twilight Saga: New Moon (review)" »

Take a break from work: watch a trailer...

continue reading "trailer break: ‘Me and Orson Welles’" »

The Center for Science in the Public Interest released a new study yesterday on the calorie and fat content of popular movie snacks. The upshot:

It's hard to picture someone mindlessly ingesting three McDonald's Quarter Pounders with 12 pats of butter while watching a movie. But according to new laboratory analyses commissioned by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, that food is nutritionally comparable to what you’d find in a medium popcorn and soda combo at Regal, the country’s biggest movie theater chain: 1,610 calories and three days’ worth -- 60 grams -- of saturated fat. (Nutrition aside, that combo costs $12 for raw ingredients that must cost Regal pennies.)

It’s too bad that CSPI put that last bit in parenthesis, because that’s the real story: these snacks are chemically designed to be irresistible (to some) and sold at huge markups because that’s how the multiplexes stay in business. (Most of the ticket revenue goes back to the studios.) It answers the question asked later on by CSPI senior nutritionist Jayne Hurley:

continue reading "question of the day: Does knowledge about the nutritional content of movie snacks impact your snacking?" »

This is not embeddable, but I couldn’t not feature it, so please go check it out at YouTube, and then come back.

...

Okay, you watched it? Did you watch Part 2? You’re back?

Good.

Now, I was so excited to come across these videos, because I was all ready to rip them to shreds. And I was astonished to find that I couldn’t do that.

continue reading "watch it: “7 Lessons Guys Can Learn From Edward Cullen (Part 1 of 2)”" »

And arthouse flicks are setting off shockwaves, too:

1. 2012: $65.2 million (NEW)
2. A Christmas Carol: $22.3 million (2nd week; drops 26%)
3. Precious: $5.87 million (2nd week in limited release; up 214%)
4. The Men Who Stare at Goats: $5.86 million (2nd week; drops 54%)
5. Michael Jackson’s This Is It: $5.1 million (3rd week; drops 61%)

actual numbers, not estimates

continue reading "North American box office: not the end of the world for ‘2012’" »

Fun for Wednesdays! We look at an image from an upcoming movie or TV show and write snarky, witty, or otherwise entertaining captions for it. No prizes, it’s just for fun.

Makes me want to sing, “There must be more than this pro-vin-CIAL frog!”:

continue reading "caption this! image from ‘The Princess and the Frog’" »

Trip the Dark Fantastic

So I did something with Fantastic Mr. Fox that I’ve never done before in my 12-plus years reviewing movies. I wasn’t concerned that I hadn’t read the book before I saw the film, as I never am, because movies based on books have to stand on their own. And while it’s probably inevitable that I will see a film differently depending on whether I have read the book beforehand, I certainly don’t feel an obligation to read the book first because I don’t believe I must be able to compare and contrast. (Not that I particularly avoid a book, either, before seeing a movie: I read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road immediately before seeing it, and now I’m reading Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones in preparation for Peter Jackson’s movie. But only because I want to, not because I think I have to.)

continue reading "Fantastic Mr. Fox (review)" »

Take a break from work: watch a trailer...

continue reading "trailer break: ‘Brothers’" »

Cinematical yesterday posted “The Top Five Reasons to See Twilight: New Moon,” which includes:

Michael Sheen.

Speaking of the Volturi, Michael Sheen plays their leader. Sheen's been around for years, and is certainly no stranger to performing in broad-appeal films, but his recent starring roles in Frost/Nixon and The Queen have made him one of my favorite character actors, making it a comfort to know that he's in the cast. Sometimes a great actor in a small, but good role can go a long way.

continue reading "question of the day: What is your best reason to see ‘Twilight: New Moon’ (or not to see it)?" »

It’s not The Box -- this came first:

continue reading "watch it: “Black Button”" »

Take a break from work: watch a TV trailer...

continue reading "trailer break: David Tennant’s ‘Hamlet’ on the BBC" »

Finally! Somone made the Thanksgiving horror film we’ve all been waiting for...

An evil turkey is unleashed…and he’s one “fowl” mouthed bastard! Five college kids heading home for Thanksgiving break cross paths with the turkey, who’s possessed by an ancient Indian curse. In this hilariously gory spoof, the teens must stop the maniac bird before he kills them all!

That’s from the official Web site. At the flick’s Amazon page, one of the producers writes:

continue reading "the oh-no! DVD of the week: ‘ThanksKilling’" »

The 20 pictures in contention for five nominee slots -- up from three in recent years -- for the upcoming Academy Awards in the Best Animated Feature Film category have been announced. They are:

continue reading "question of the day: What will the five nominees for Best Animated Feature Film be?" »

Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god! The Twilight Saga: New Moon (opens in the U.S. and the U.K. on November 20). Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god! *sigh*

I had thought I was going to see Serious Moonlight (now available on demand in the U.S.; opens theatrically in the U.S. on December 4; no U.K. release date has been announced) last week, but a mismatch of the day and date on the invite I received meant I had the screening time wrong. And I wasn’t free to attend the screening on the day it actually was. But I’ll catch up with it this week.

continue reading "my week at the movies: ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon,’ ‘Serious Moonlight,’ ‘Planet 51,’ ‘Brothers,’ ‘The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond’" »

John Barrowman dances!

(via Sci Fi Wire)

There’s box sets, and then there’s this 70th anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition Gone With the Wind set, which is just insane. In a good way, of course. If you’re looking for an impressive Christmas gift for a lover of this movie, this could be pretty sweet. And if he or she is one of those people who shakes prezzies before opening and tries to guess what’s inside, there’s no way in hell your giftee will guess “DVD.”

continue reading "‘Gone With the Wind’ 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition: wow" »

Take a break from work: watch a trailer...

continue reading "trailer break: ‘Serious Moonlight’" »

(tons of spoilers! don’t read till you’ve seen the episode! and no comments from party poopers -- this is a love fest only / previous: Season 5 Episode 2: “Planet of the Dead”)

No, not “The Water of Mars” yet, but that’s coming as soon as possible...

continue reading "‘Doctor Who’ blogging: ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’: “The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith”" »