Don't Forget to set your clocks back tonight!!

Transformers Halloween costume!

You've got to wait till towards the end to see the full effect.

Human Keyboard Cat

LOL! Nice Halloween Costume!

Robert Pattinson is Bothered by Halloween

I have to agree with "Robert" about candy corn. I can't stand it!

Tickle Me Jake, er, Elmo

Here's Jake Gyllenhaal in a promo shot fo the 40th season of Sesame Street.  Hard to say who's cuter.

For their upcoming 40th season, "Sesame Street" welcomes a whole host of famous faces -- Cameron Diaz, Adam Sandler, Eva Longoria, Ricky Gervais, Paul Rudd, Christina Applegate, Hugh Jackman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Matthew Fox and Michelle Obama.

Zombeyonce

Part of the Denver Zombie Crawl. How fun does that party look?!

Creepy Pumpkin Dance

Happy Halloween! Pretty much the creepiest thing you might see today.

Jack Chop! (NSFW!!)

 This is extremely sick, and extremely funny.  Totally NSFW!  As you can tell from the picture, lots of blood, too.  Paul Soulet is the infomercial actor, and is also the director of Grace which premiered at Sundance.  Adam Green is the director of this short.

Hugh Jackman won't be hosting the Oscars

I started wailing, "Noooooooo!" when I read this on Variety.com. My son came in and asked me who died! Hugh Jackman won't be back to host the Oscars, and I am very disappointed. At least he left the door open for another year.

The thesp, who's starring on Broadway with Daniel Craig in the drama "A Steady Rain," quietly turned down the job within the past few weeks, sources said.
Jackman drew praise for his first Oscar hosting gig in February under producer Laurence Mark and exec producer Bill Condon. He may take on hosting duties again in the future, but it's understood that he didn't want to do the show two years in a row.

Well, with Adam Shankman producing, there's still hope for a song and dance man. Maybe Neil Patrick Harris is ready? Or even bring back Billy Crystal who can do funny and killer opening numbers.

Michael Fassbender's Blood Creek coming to DVD

Joel Schumacher's Blood Creek (used to be just Creek and before that Town Creek) came out in a few theaters for a very limited release a few weeks ago.  Unfortunately, it's basically being dumped straight to DVD.  But, the good news is that we have a DVD release date of Jan. 19th, so not too long to wait to see this interesting looking horror film.

Dominic Purcell, Henry Cavill star with Michael Fassbender (above).  Man, I like that shot of Fassie against the wall!

In 1936, the Wollners - a German family living in rural Town Creek, Maryland - are contacted by the Third Reich to host a visiting scholar, Professor Richard Wirth. In need of money, they accept Wirth into their home. Wirth's grand occult project seals the Wollners off from the rest of the world and makes them players in a horrifying game of survival. After 71 years, in 2007, Evan Marshall's life has stalled at twenty-five years old. Left without answers after his older brother Victor's disappearance from a camping trip near Town Creek, he has tried to move on. But when Victor returns one night, very much alive and having escaped his captors, Evan asks no questions - at his brother's request, he loads their rifles, packs up their boat and follows him back to Town Creek on a mission of revenge that will test them in every possible way... 

 Watch a clip from the film after the jump.

Nowhere Boy Movie Trailer 2009

Nowhere Boy, the story of John Lennon from about age 15, is coming out from Weinstein Company sometime next year here. It releases Christmas Day in the UK.

The pic stars Aaron Johnson (The Illusionist) as Lennon and tells the never before seen story of the famed musician's childhood beginning at the age of 15 on the streets of Liverpool. Kristin Scott Thomas plays Mimi Smith, Lennon's maternal aunt and parental guardian. Thomas Sangster, who most people know as Liam Neeson's son in Love Actually, plays Paul McCartney and Anne-Marie Duff plays Lennon's mother Julia.

I always wondered what happened to that adorable kid from Love Actually!

Avatar International Trailer

The Thai version of the international trailer for Avatar. We get quite a bit more of an idea of the story from this trailer.

Twilight : New Moon - MUSIC VIDEO SPOOF

Bon Jovi mixed with New Moon, and a little Buffy thrown in for good measure! LOL!

Star Trek Deleted Nero Prison Break Scene

I found Nero to be the weak link in the Star Trek movie, and I do love Eric Bana. It never made sense that he just waited all that time to take his revenge. Well, it seems he was in a Klingon prison, and the line from the trailer "The wait is over." refers to his breaking out after being tortured. J. J., I think you should have kept this short clip in the original movie. It would have helped me get the Nero character, who needed a bit more depth and explanation.


Star Trek - DVD Bonus Footage

Hat tip: /Film

James Franco Gucci outtakes

James Franco: Gucci Commercial Outtakes from James Franco

The original Gucci ad:

Invictus Trailer

From director Clint Eastwood, 'Invictus' tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africas rugby team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africas underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.

Invictus is due out December 11, in time for Oscar consideration.

The poem 'INVICTUS', quoted in the trailer, is by William Ernest Henley, from which Nelson Mandela drew strength while in prison.

"Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul."

Alice in Wonderland Trailer!

Craig Ferguson Power Failure 10-27-09

This is a clip of the Craig Ferguson show on 10-27-09. They had a power failure while he was talking with Alicia Silverstone, so they went to commercial. The power came back on, they came out of commercial, he interviewed Salman Rushdie, they went to commercial, and the power failed again. After the commercial, he used a flashlight to light himself!

How to Find a Masculine Halloween Costume for Your Effeminate Son

How To Find A Masculine Halloween Costume For Your Effeminate Son

Green Zone Trailer

We finally get our first look at Matt Damon in Paul Greengrass's Green Zone. The movie is due out in March of next year.

But are audiences ready yet to see a movie about the Iraq war?

Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon teamed up for all of the Bourne films, and this has a similar look. The action thriller stars Matt Damon as a CIA operative trying to on the trail of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. Jason Isaacs, Brendan Gleeson, Greg Kinnear and Amy Ryan also star.

Imogen Heap - Thriller

Imogen Heap is one of my favorite artists. She was on the Dermot O’Leary radio show on BBC Radio 2 this past weekend and performed a live piano version of Michael Jackson’s hit song Thriller. It's absolutely amazing to hear her version of this very familiar song! No picture to the video -- just the music.

Imogen just released a new album, Ellipse.

Ricky Gervais to host Golden Globes

Ricky Gervais is going to host the Golden Globes this year.  Well, I guess that means he won't be doing the Oscars!   He can be very funny and blunt, so this will be a must see.  Plus, they let all the stars drink, so it's always a fun time!  Here he is presenting at the Emmy's.  Are we having a laugh?

2009 Best Apple iPhone Costume ever!

Happy Birthday John Cleese!

My sons and I have also been enjoying the Sirius XM Monty Python channel the last couple weeks while they're celebrating the 40th anniversary.

Berlin Block Tetris

Berlin Block Tetris from Sergej Hein on Vimeo.

Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan

New Moon - Volturi Fight Clip

Mine is probably not the typical reaction, but my favorite part of seeing this sneak peak clip is finally hearing Michael Sheen's take on Aro. Awesome!

They Grow Up So Fast!

Kristin Davis in a recent interview talks about how weird it is to see the newly very muscular Taylor Lautner ("the youngster"!, who she knew as a kid actor on Shark Boy and Lava Girl:

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Just a reminder of how cute Taylor was as Shark Boy!

BAT

Lol!

Law Abiding Citizen - Mini-Review

I finally saw Law Abiding Citizen this weekend and it was the popcorn movie I needed  I'd had a horrible day.  I woke up to a flat tire and of course the husband was away, etc.  I needed a popcorn movie once I got my car back from the shop, and that's just what I got for my $9.50 ticket.  Plus we see this shot of a naked Gerard Butler, which was a nice bonus.

It's never really explained why Gerard gets naked just before he is arrested in the film for the only murder he commits while outside of jail.  I guess it was very obvious he was unarmed!!

We are sympathetic to Gerard's Clyde character from the very beginning of the film when we see two burglers rape and murder his daughter and wife.  Jamie Foxx's prosecutor doesn't want to spoil his 96% successful conviction stats, so he makes a deal which allows one of the murderers to go free.  Clyde just can't understand this, and plots 10 long years for his vengeance, on all of them, and the broken system to boot.  Jamie Foxx and the DA are attending the death row execution of one of the murderers when it goes horribly wrong.  How did Clyde get into that prison?  Then Darby, the other murderer is found dead and chopped up, Saw style.  Clyde has gone from mild mannered tinker, to psychotic killer.  There's a very nice prison confrontation scene between Foxx and Butler here:

Once Clyde has been arrested, more murders keep happening -- everyone who had anything to do with that plea deal murder case.  Your mind keeps wondering who might be his accomplice, and trying to figure out how he can carry out all his nefarious plans.  More and more murders happen in very surprising ways.  Maybe I'm just biased from following Gerry's career for so many years, but while there was suspense, I wasn't frightened of him anything like Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter behind those prison bars.  But there were scenes that surprised me, like the steak scene.  He turns from jovial and pleasant to murderous on a dime.

Yes, the plot becomes somewhat ridiculous, but then Liam Neeson's recent Taken was another popcorn vengeance movie that I enjoyed.  I can tell you that the setup of the film is not so far off.  Having been unfortunately involved in a family tragedy that's stalled in the courts, I find the deal making of Jamie Foxx's lawyer and his protection of his conviction rate all too real.

It's an enjoyable hour and a half at the movies, and has a nice little twist at the end.  Butler has the more showy role as the villain, but Jamie Foxx plays arrogant assitant DA very well.  It was nice seeing Colm Meany as a police detective and Violet Davis as the tough Philly mayor.

This was a passion project for Gerard Butler as it was his first film under his new production company with his manager, Evil Twins.  Despite being savaged by several critics, it's done decently in box office over the last two weekends.  F. Gary Gray had previously directed The Italian Job, another popcorn flick that I really enjoyed.  I give Law Abiding Citizen three stars.

6 Clips from The Last Station

ScreenDaily reports that Helen Mirren won best actress for The Last Station at the Rome Film Festival:

Helen Mirren won Rome’s Silver Marc’Aurelio award for best actress for her performance as Leo Tolstoy’s devoted wife in Michael Hoffman’s The Last Station. Gabriele Muccino presented the honour to Mirren, who brought the house down with an acceptance speech in Italian in which she cited the inspiration of Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura and that of the iconic actresses Monica Vitti, Claudia Cardinale, Stefania Sandrelli, Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren.

Then there's this gorgeous new still of James McAvoy's character in bed with Masha, played by Kerry Condon


5 more clips from The Last Station have surfaced and you can view them after the jump.

Zombie Wedding Cake

The attendants are even modeled after real people.  To see why a Zombie cake, watch the proposal video.

Cell Phone 1812 Overture

This Vodafone ad, from New Zealand, uses 1000 cell phones and 2000 text messages to reconstruct Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture. Awesome.

It's Decorative Gourd Season MotherF*&^ers!

Oh. My. God. I about died laughing at this at McSweeney's.

It's Decorative Gourd Season, motherf&$%ckers!

Hat tip: GoFugYourself

First Look at A-Team

A-Team doesn't come out till June 2011, but we have our first official cast photo today. Bradley Cooper looks awesome as Faceman (Dirk Benedict's role on the TV show). Liam Neeson is Col John ‘Hannibal’ Smith, Sharlto Copley is Capt. ‘Howling Mad’ Murdock, and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson is Sgt Bosco ‘B.A.’ Baracus.

Do you have the same reaction I did seeing the below photo? Start with Bradley, looking good, scanning right, scanning right (Sharlto looks good), WTF??!!! That's Liam Neeson?! Click on the picture to enlarge it.



Via /Film

Is Keanu Reeves Immortal?

I knew it.

Shawty its ur Booty

So Andrew Sullivan posted this today as an example of the "end of gay culture" because these guys are all straight in the video.

Whatever. They're shirtless, hot, and it's Friday! Hilarious! I was about on the floor with the one guy in bed with the thong!!

RIP SOUPY SALES: Green Pieces of Paper

We saw Soupy on a cruise ship I think for our honeymoon. What a blue show that was!!

The Twilight Saga:New Moon The Break Up Scene!

From the Rome film festival, the complete breakup scene!

Hat tip: Christine (Thanks!)

Ghost Busters Themesong

One man, 14 tracks -- plus a monkey puppet! (I find it disturbing that he's shirtless with the monkey.) Those zany New Zealanders!

Ghostbusters was on AMC yesterday afternoon, and I watched part of it with my youngest son. Bill Murray opening the door with Sigourney Weaver as Zuul - "That's a new look for you." LOL!

New Trailer For The Prisoner (2009)

Ian McKellan is the main reason I am so excited about this. Just a few more weeks till Nov. 15th.

Eoin Colfer Talks about Airman Movie and Whether Artemis Fowl will ever make it to the Screen

Last night, I took two of my sons to hear Eoin Colfer talk about his new book, And Another Thing, a sequel to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  My sons are huge fans of both his Artemis Fowl series and Hitchhiker's, and were thrilled that they got a "Don't Panic!" towel along with the new book.  Douglas Adams' widow asked that Colfer write this sixth book in the trilogy in honor of the 30th anniversary of the release of the first Hitchhiker's which was just a few weeks ago.  There's much trepidation amongst Hitchhiker's fans about another author taking on Douglas Adams' series, but Time gave it a rave review.  All I can tell you is that Eoin Colfer was hilarious in person.  There's nothing like listening to an Irishman tell funny stories!  I was frequently laughing so hard I was crying.

During the Q&A, Eoin (it's pronounced Owen) Colfer was asked if Artemis Fowl will ever be made into a movie.  Colfer told us that Artemis Fowl is a victim of the Mirimax Disney divorce.  Disney really wants the rights, but Harvey Weinstein won't let it go, at least for now.  The project is ready to go with Jimmy Sheridan (In America, My Left Foot) set to direct.  And with the success of Inglourious Basterds, Weinstein has less reason to let the property go back to Disney.

Disney is moving forward with Colfer's book Airman.  Just this week, it was announced that Robert Zemeckis (Polar Express, A Christmas Carol) would produce the project, which will also be in that distinctive motion-capture animation style.  Gil Keenan, who directed Monster House, will direct Airman, and Anne Peacock is writing the screenplay.

Conor, a 14 year-old boy and the son of a King's bodyguard on the island of Great Saltee,  is framed for the King's murder and thrown into prison by the dastardly Hugo Bonvilain. Conor must escape back to his family (and the princess he fancies) by building a flying machine to escape the prison. 

 And just for the record, Eoin Colfer agrees with the rest of us that the Hitchhiker's movie was hugely disappointing.  It just wasn't funny enough!

Pencil Face

To get you in a Halloween mood, here's this creepy short film, "Pencil Face", that was first shown at Sundance last January.

Hat tip: Popwatch

Riann Wilson gives tips on Halloween Pranks

LOL!! The bologna on the house had me really giggling.

Gerard Butler announces he will be in Ralph Fiennes' Coriolanus

In an interview with the Baltimore CBS station, Gerard Butler discussed his very first acting job, which was in the play Coriolanus. He then announced that he was "coming full circle" as he was going to be in Ralph Fiennes movie of Shakespeare's Coriolanus. Coriolanus, a contemporary version of Shakespeare's dangerous political thriller, will be Ralph Fiennes directorial debut, and he will also play the Roman general Coriolanus. Vanessa Redgrave and William Hurt are also rumored to be attached to the project, due to start filming in Siberia in early 2010.

Fiennes will direct from the script by John Logan (”Gladiator,” “The Aviator,” “The Last Samurai,” “Sweeney Todd“).
“People who have read it think it’s a page-turner,” said Fiennes. “I want it to be an edge-of-the-seat film.”
Fiennes, who was Oscar-nominated for his roles in “The English Patient” and “Schindler’s List,” said he wanted to make Shakespeare accessible, citing Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet as an influence.
“I don’t want it to be in that Shakespeare voice that puts you off,” he told trade paper Screen International at the Cannes Films Festival

. “Audiences want to hear Shakespeare and they understand more than they think they are going to. The second film I ever saw was Olivier’s Henry V when I was nine years old and I loved it.”

Well, people have been saying Gerard needed to get better roles, or go on movie star probation. Will Shakespeare satisfy those harsh critics?

Bloodybelly Comb Jelly

As my husband said, this looks like an alien spaceship from Babylon 5. It is so creepy when it opens up. It looks like it has two glowing red eyes inside it.

The bloodybelly comb jellys sparkling display is from light diffracting from tiny transparent, hair-like cilia. These beat continuously as a form of propulsion. In the deep sea, the jelly is nearly invisible; animals that are red appear black and blend into the dark background.

This species has only recently come to the attention of scientists, thanks to images like this, supplied by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s remotely operated vehicles.

New Moon Werewolf Clip

This new picture from New Moon and a clip of Bella confronting Paul and the wolf pack just came out. It's short, but shows a bit more of the scene than what we saw in the trailer. It was released for download exclusively on iTunes.

'The Wolfman' New Trailer

Wolfman comes out February 12.

Looks good, but our hearts are gone for another werewolf named Jacob!

New Producers for the Oscars

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences announced yesterday that there will be two new producers for the Oscars, director Adam Shankman and former 20th Century Fox Studio Head Bill Mechanic.

The producers of the last Oscars, Bill Condon and Laurence Mark were busy with other projects.  They brought back some showbiz pizazz to the show with host Hugh Jackman.  This year's host has not yet been announced, but you know that I'm praying they can get Hugh back.  He was amazing!!

Adam Shankman, who directed Hairspray, I think will bring that same kind of energy to the show.  In the official press release, Adam Shankman noted, "The last time I was on the show was as a dancer, and to come back as a producer is such an unbelievable honor."  Shankman was a dancer for the 1989 Little Mermaid Best Song number:

"I was one of Paula Abdul's 'Under the Sea' pirates," Shankman said. "The last time I was at the Oscars, I was in Lycra, with a pirate hat on." 

I first heard about Adam Shankman as his work as a choreographer, back in my days of obsession over Brendan Frasier.  He was the choreographer of  the movie Mrs. Winterbourne, with his kitchen tango scene that I love, love, love.  He went on to direct The Wedding Planner, and finally his big success was Hairspray.  He also directed the very funny Prop 8 Musical.

So, I have high hopes for this years Oscars.  With choosing Adam Shankman, I'm betting we don't just get a stand up comedian doing a monologue, and if not Hugh, someone else will be doing a song and dance opener!

Shankman told Canoe:

"I personally want to kick up the funny a little bit. Movies are an invaluable source of entertainment during a very tough time in our country's history. Since entertainment is what we're selling, we want to celebrate that aspect and not just have it be that we're sitting around congratulating ourselves and patting ourselves on the back."

Google Wave Cinema: Pulp Fiction (NSFW!)

Google Wave is "a personal communication and collaboration tool" announced by Google earlier this year.  The name was inspired by the Firefly television series in which a Wave is an electronic communication (often consisting of a video call or video message).

 There's also an example using a scene from Good Will Hunting.

First Look at Robert Redford's The Conspirator

Robert Redford has started filming his new movie The Conspirator in Savannah, Georgia.

 In the wake of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, Vice-President, and Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt, 42, owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks. Against the ominous back-drop of post-Civil War Washington, newly-minted lawyer, Frederick Aiken, a 28-year-old Union war-hero, reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal.

Mary Surratt, who was eventually executed, is being played by Robin Wright Penn, and James McAvoy plays Aiken, her laywer.  Justin Long was just added to the cast, as Aiken's one-armed fellow war veteran best friend.   The film has a very impressive cast, including Tom Wilkinson, Evan Rachel Wood (who plays Surratt's daughter) and Kevin Kline.

The Playlist has a few set pics and this video that shows some of the filming.

Vampires as Gay Men?

Esquire has published a provocative article stating the reason that the current Vampire craze is not like the scary vampires of yesteryear:

Vampires have overwhelmed pop culture because young straight women want to have sex with gay men. Not all young straight women, of course, but many, if not most, of them.

The author cites not only Twilight, but the new CW TV series Vampire Diaries and even Bill from True Blood. These new vampires are much more normal and non-threatening than anything Bram Stoker dreamed up.

Edward, the romantic hero of the Twilight series, is a sweet, screwed-up high school kid, and at the beginning of his relationship with Bella, she is attracted to him because he is strange, beautiful, and seemingly repulsed by her. This exact scenario happened several times in my high school between straight girls and gay guys who either hadn't figured out they were gay or were still in the closet. Twilight's fantasy is that the gorgeous gay guy can be your boyfriend, and for the slightly awkward teenage girls who consume the books and movies, that's the clincher. Vampire fiction for young women is the equivalent of lesbian porn for men: Both create an atmosphere of sexual abandon that is nonthreatening.

So, what do you think?  Does Stephen Marche have a point?  I suppose there could be something to it, but I think young preteen and early teen girls just find sex in general scary.  Vampires have always had to do with sex, the transfer of blood (eek!  bodily fluids!) and the puncture of the teeth has obvious connotations.  But gay sex?  I think girls that age have been attracted to androgynous non-threatening males for a long time, because they can be romantically dreamed about but they aren't dripping with sexual power and machismo.  Orlando Bloom, anyone? 

His theory, however, falls apart for all us Twilight Moms, because it wasn't all 12 year olds who read those books and went to the movie.  We aren't in it for the gay sex, I don't think, all though I can't speak for everyone.  ;)  It's the unabashed romanticism that appeals.  In this day and age, what the hell can keep lovers apart and keep the sexual suspense going?  Historic Romance novels are huge because there were different rules then, and the lovers are not going to fall into bed on page one (or at least mostly).  Paranormal Romance is also a huge genre, and it isn't all vampires.  There are werewolves, witches, fey creatures and shapeshifters of all kinds.   We may not want a macho alpha male in our real life, but it's fun to read about them and vampires and werewolves tend to take what they want, and (maybe) apologize later.  I'd bet Stephen Marche hasn't read much adult Paranormal Romance, and I can assure him that most of those adult vampires are anything but gay (J. R. Ward novels excepted.)

I'm not saying vampires have nothing to do with gays.  The Anne Rice novels surely held allegories to gays and AIDS, and Allen Ball is pretty explicit in True Blood with drawing parallels to vampire persecution and gays.  The GOD HATES FANGS sign is right in the opening credits, and the Church of the Light campaigns against the "vampire lifestyle" in the show.  It's there, but it's not the only thing that's there.  Vampires are simply about sex, both gay and straight.

Tell me what you think!

Let the Wild Rumpus Begin

Awards Daily clued me in to this music video for Fatboy Slim's Praise You back from 1999 that I had never seen. Spike Jonze both directed and danced in this as his alter ego Richard Koufey, head of the Torrance Community Dance Group. They took a boom box and performed dances in public spaces.

This video won breakthrough video, and best director in the MTV Video Music Awards. I saw Where the Wild Things Are this weekend and my review of it is coming soon.

Happy Birthday Viggo Mortensen

Of course Viggo Mortensen (51 today) is best known for playing Aragon in the LOTR films, but my favorites are his roles in David Cronenberg films, both A History of Violence and Eastern Promises.  He finally earned an Oscar nomination for Eastern Promises, where he plays a Russian Mobster in London.  He did a lot of preparation for the role, going to Moscow to talk to underworld figures there, and learn about the significance of the prison tattoos they wear.

Mortensen became acutely aware of the effect his tattoos had while on location, noting he "had scared the shit unwittingly" out of some Russian immigrants in London restaurants. "I had to remove the visible ones when I went out anywhere, they really did scare some people."

 Eastern Promises is probably my favorite, and no it's not just the nude fight scene.  "I am just a driver," Viggo's character says.  "I go left, I go right, I go straight ahead."  Viggo just so nailed this Russian mobster in all his scariness and complexity.  Here's a little taste in the Youtube clip below.  If you've never seen Eastern Promises, you have to go rent it as it's some of his best work ever.  Viggo's latest film, The Road, has been pushed to a Thanksgiving release date.

Black Lightning Trailer - translated

Timur Bekmembetov is the producer of the upcoming Russian film, Black Lightning about a magical flying Volga car. The film is directed by Alexandr Voitinsky, but you can see Timur's hand all over this. Wanted crossed with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!

This is a story of Moscow University's student who becomes the owner of ordinary from the first sight, been-used, but... able to fly "Volga" car. With this car he will be able to not only avoid Moscow traffic jams, but unexpectedly for himself turn to city's defender, mysterious fighter against Evil.

Looks very cool!!

Pixar Intro Parody

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

There are consequences when you smash an "I"!  Very creative.

Happy Birthday John Lithgow!

My favorite role that John Lithgow ever did was Roberta Muldoon, the transsexual in The World According to Garp:

Adventureland - Mini-Film Review

I finally rented Adventureland last week.  We couldn't get tickets for its premiere at Sundance last January, and somehow missed it this summer.  Greg Mottola, the writer/director, is the same one who made Superbad.  The trailer made it seems like it is a similar madcap raunchy comedy.  It's actually a much sweeter film than you would expect.

Jesse Eisenberg plays James, a recent college graduate with an English degree.  He's not qualified for many jobs, and with his family's changed financial circumstances he has to find a summer job.  The only thing left is working at the local amusement park Adventureland.  Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig play the hilarious owners.  Ryan Reynolds is the maintenance guy with the rep that he once jammed with Lou Reed.  James is immediately attracted to his fellow co-worker played by Kristen Stewart.  I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how well she acted in this film.  She had much more range to show in this role, as she has a secret affair with the married Ryan Reynolds character.  It was interesting that Ryan Reynolds was playing kind of a sleazeball, too, as he has been so squeaky good guy in his recent Rom Coms.

Jesse Eisenberg's character is similar to every one that Michael Cera has ever played.  He's nerdy and a little naive, but somehow I found Jesse Eisenberg much more annoying to me than Michael Cera ever is.  He's supposed to still be a virgin after graduating college.  I suppose that's realistic, but I just found it difficult to swallow.

The plot is not completely predictable, and even the "sexpot" supporting character was allowed a little depth.  It's a lot of 80's nostalgia, too, especially with the music (a Foreigner cover band makes a funny appearance at one point).  I give it three stars for a surprisingly sweet story, and not just being a formula picture.  I won't, however, be going out of my way to see the next Jesse Eisenberg film.  Worth a rental.

Highlights from Gerard Butler Hosting SNL

Gerard Butler hosted SNL this weekend, and did quite well, considering the uneven material.  The show opened with a surprise appearance of Dwayne "Rock" Johnson as Rock Obama, throwing senators out the window over healthcare.  It didn't have the same punch as the first time he did it.

For Gerard's opening monologue, he hit the Phantom vs. Action hero thing head on.  He told the audience he has two types of movies, softer sensitive roles, and action movies where he takes his shirt off.  He said he wanted to show the more sensitive side and began singing Music of the Night (surprising himself that he could still do it well!).  He was then attacked by ninjas, Vikings and so on, fending them off while still singing.  Finally Kristen Wiig came out to join the duet and went after him with a knife, shouting, "Take off your shirt!!"  I about died laughing.  They sang again together in this hilarious Beauty and the Beast sketch:

He had a personal message to his mom in Paisley, translated by Seth Meyer.


Don't Ask, Don't Tell via 300:


The DaveHeart sketch near the end of the show may be one of my favorites!


You can watch nearly the whole episode here on Hulu. It seems the song from the monologue may be under copyright dispute with Andrew Lloyd Webber, because I can't find it anywhere, even in the "full" episode view on Hulu.

See more of the break photos of Gerard and a few other clips at Just Jared. I thought it was interesting that he didn't even mention his new movie Law Abiding Citizen once. It came in second for the weekend in box office, but I haven't had a chance to see it yet. Sick kid, darn the luck!