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This could turn out to be one of the most important movies of the year. Not because Trouble the Water [opens limited August 22] was winner of this year’s Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, though that’s damn impressive, but because it purports to offer an unvarnished view of what was going on in New … more…
The Nazi Channel When you think “early television,” you think Ernie Kovacs and The Twilight Zone and Edward R. Murrow and I Love Lucy and quiz scandals and Rockefeller Center and the NBC peacock and doctors endorsing cigarettes. Turns out, though, that the 1950s were not the beginning of TV as a mass medium: that … more…
Take a break from work: watch a movie trailer… If you really suspect you might find yourself in the throes of breathtaking suspense during Death Race, don’t watch the trailer, because it appears to give away the whole plot. Not that it reveals anything you wouldn’t have guessed anyway. And it does inadvertently reveal that … more…
Creator Andre Perkowski says this “new/old retro 1920s silent serial” is “The Darkest, Most Depressing Knight!”: The coolest thing about this is that it’s assembled from found footage. Perkowski says his sources include: The Penalty (1920) The Blackbird (1926) Nosferatu (1920) The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1920) The Golem (1920) Batman and Robin (1949 serial) … more…
The back of the Dark Knight is finally broken. Here’s what happened at North American multiplexes this weekend: 1. Tropic Thunder: $26 million 2. The Dark Knight: $16.8 million 3. Star Wars: The Clone Wars: $15.5 million 4. Mirrors: $11.1 million 5. Pineapple Express: $10 million (dropping 57% in its second week) Thunder earned a … more…
Set your TiVo! Really. (I’ve just watched it on an advanced screener, so you know I know what I’m talking about.) And then, the next time you can’t sleep, you can put this on, and you’ll be out like a light in two minutes. *snore* Remember how we talked about trailer, and how terrible it … more…
Not to be. I’m easing myself into my Hamlet marathoning since it’s such a downer of a story — sheesh, what was with this Shakespeare dude, anyway? — so I’m starting with the only version of the tale of the crazy Danish prince to be sent up by the Mystery Science Theater 3000 guys: a … more…
Oh man, do I love this movie. It’s so good, and so chock full of a slew of bright young British actors — Michael Sheen, Emily Mortimer, Stephen Campbell Moore, Fenella Woolgar, James McAvoy — that I always forget that David Tennant is in it until he suddenly shows up and starts behaving in a … more…
Just want to point out that, as I unequivocally predicted almost a year ago, the Doctor Who episode “Blink” just won this year’s Dramatic Presentation, Short Form Hugo. I watched the episode again last night, which was probably my tenth viewing (or more), and it just never gets old. I’ll make an unequivocal prediction for … more…
Jedi Mind Trick “You fought in the Clone Wars?” Oh man, do I remember hearing Luke Skywalker say that when I was eight years old and thinking, Wow, cool! Clone wars! What could that have been? Now, I’ll concede that what the Clone Wars actually turned out to have been, in that historical era a … more…
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