 When we American fans of British comedy fell in love with “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz,” there was little question that the folks at the BBC would eventually take advantage of the growing cult surrounding the work of Simon Pegg and release his early series, “Spaced,” on DVD. And, really, how could they not? After all, look at these raves from famous people who are, by virtue of their fame, better than you:
* “Watching ‘Spaced’ is kinda like watching a Kevin Smith film if Kevin Smith had any real talent.” - Kevin Smith * “I watch and re-watch ‘Spaced’ from time to time to remind myself how good television comedy can be.” - Matt Stone “The best thing out of England since Winston Churchill.” - Seth Rogen “I laughed hard, and I hate comedy.” - Judd Apatow “Annoyingly good.” - Eddie Izzard “‘Spaced’ is a to-be-envied, to-be-cherished blend of pop culture heartbreak and genuine human hilarity. It’s also a foolproof Idiot Test. Here’s how it works: if someone ever tries to duplicate, replicate, or otherwise re-do this one-of-a-kind show, they’re an Idiot! Aren’t we all lucky to have such a thing in our world?” - Patton Oswalt “Innovative. Witty. Hilarious. ‘Spaced’ is the show we American comedians watch and say, ‘How the hell did they get away with this?!’ Buy this and you can officially be cool.” - Bill Hader Of course, some of us couldn’t wait for the domestic release - cough-cough Jason Zingale cough-cough - and had to buy a British copy of the set to watch on their region-free DVD player, but we’re guessing those people will still be ordering this set - due for release on June 17 - if only because of the special features. All two seasons and 14 episodes of “Spaced” will be packaged within the set, of course, but there’ll also be new exclusive commentary with director Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes (nee Stevenson), and guests Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Bill Hader, Matt Stone, Patton Oswalt and Diablo Cody, an exclusive Spaced On Stage reunion Q&A recorded at the National Film Theatre, London in October 2007, and “Skip to the End,” an exclusive feature length documentary. There’ll also be outtakes, deleted scenes, raw footage, a photo gallery, newly updated cast and crew biographies, but something particularly eyecatching is a feature that the “Gilmore Girls” sets could’ve used: an Homage-O-Meter, an onscreen feature that tracks each pop-culture reference. “Spaced.” You know you want to buy it. Too bad it’s not on Amazon for pre-order yet…but it will be. Oh, yes: it will be. Filed under: TV and TV DVDs and Actors and TV Comedies and External Entertainment and External TV Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
 While I got really nervous just before election day — you never really know what those crazy voters are thinking, even if we have polls coming out of every orifice — but I have no compunction whatever in predicting, along with the people who (think they) know, that the #1 movie this week will not be a new release, but last week’s expectations beating megachamp, “Iron Man.” But while Marvel stockholders are counting their money and the rest of us are wondering when Hillary’s going to drop out, there is a race for second place this week, though it’s also pretty easy to call….
*How long has it been since I was puzzling over the identity of “Racer X”? Well, let’s just say it was slightly longer ago than 135 minute runtime for the Wachowski Brothers version of “Speed Racer,” a movie that’s been gestating since I had a full head of hair. 135 minutes is a long sit for most members of the pre-13 set (and many in the post-13 set), and with the Wachowski’s erratic storytelling skills apparently confirmed by a lackluster 34% Tomatometer score, this one might drive some to distraction and have weaker than usual legs for a family friendly film with considerable adult nostalgia/geek appeal.
In the “ouch” department, the follow-up to Henry Bean’s outstanding 2002 indie, “The Believer,” “Noise,” a comedy of sorts, is opening in two theaters and no one seems to care much, despite starring a couple of our best, Tim Robbins and William Hurt. Shame. And considering we are aligned with an online men’s mag, I should make mention of the opening of “The Babysitters” in very limited release. The premise of this black comedy is pretty much the premise of the similarly titled film you’re likely to find in the blocked off section in the back of the vid store. The reviews are about what you’d expect, and then some. Take the semi-literate, quasi-grammatical critique by Prairie Miller:
By God, Prairie is right. One needs no excuses, pathetic or otherwise, to show graphic simulated sex acts — they are there own justification. As for “hot, soapy showers” following a viewing, well it’s kind of a waste of water compared to baby oil, but sure. Filed under: Actors and Actresses and Reviews and Movie Comedies and Movie Dramas and Action Movies Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
Also, the would be blockbuster’s trailers look less like anime and more like a particularly gaudy video game, and that might not help with the grown-up side of the equation, though 
*Since we’ve been basing movies on video games and theme park rides, why not movies drawn from tourism board ad campaigns? That’s the question asked by the makers of “
And, in other news…. After opening in just a couple of theaters last week, writer-director David Mamet’s
 Shed a tear for this split, won’t you?
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I’m actually not one bit surprised that the film has apparently very wide appeal despite not being as action-packed as some others because my personal gauge of today’s mass audience, my Adam Sandler worshipping, “Saw” adoring, thoughtful-movie-disdaining nephew was wowed by it, even noting the smaller amount of action but finding it, mysteriously enough, really entertaining in any case. (Stories? Characters? Could they sometimes mean money? I think that the real secret weapon of “Spiderman” was its heart, but then I’m a dreamy idealist with absolutely no connection to reality. Can you guess which candidate I’m supporting?) By the way, it also wasn’t a bad 48 hours or so for two debuting indie-sized films with more mainstream appeal than usual. In six and five theater’s respectively, David Mamet’s “Redbelt” managed a healthy per screen average of $11,433 and the Sundance-fave kid-comedy of cinematic recklessness, “Son of Rambow” did nearly as well with $10,500 per theater.
That’s it for this week. I’m off to go make pre-Indiana/North Carolina calls for someone David Mamet probably won’t be voting for. (Yeah, I know, I found a way to link to my old blog post twice in two posts. I live for web-hits, baby.) Filed under: Movies and Actors and Actresses and Movie Comedies and Movie Dramas and Action Movies Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
Forget what I said 
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Show: “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.”
Role: Opie Taylor. (As if the title of the episode didn’t completely give it away.) You might be surprised to discover that, despite being a spin-off from “The Andy Griffith Show,” there were precious few occasions when Gomer Pyle received visits from his friends and family from Mayberry, NC. In fact, of the 150 episodes of the series that were produced, only three - count ‘em - three episodes featured folks from back home stopping by. We saw Goober pop up once (”A Visit from Cousin Goober”), and Aunt Bee found time in her busy schedule to bless Gomer with her presence (”A Visit from Aunt Bee”), but this time we’re giving props to Opie’s unexpected appearance, which came about through one of the all-time classic sitcom plot lines: a kid running away from home. Why the props for such a predictable premise? Because Opie lives in North Carolina, and “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” took place in California. We have to give Opie credit: when he decides to run away, the kid doesn’t take the half-assed way out. In fact, the idea that a 12-year-old boy could’ve managed to make it across country by himself is something that Gomer can’t even wrap his head around. Now, granted, the man’s not Einstein, but, still, we were kind of wondering about how he managed it ourselves. Opie: I hitched a ride on a plane. You didn’t realize Jim Nabors had that kind of range, did you? Well, he moves back into his dumbfounded expression when Opie explains that he’s traveled cross-country to join the Marines. Why? Because he wasn’t doing so well in school, and to keep from having to deal with a pissed-off Andy Taylor, he figured maybe he’d better go away for awhile…’til, say, adulthood. Filed under: TV and TV DVDs and Actors and Reviews and TV Comedies and External Entertainment and External TV and And Our Very Special Guest Star... Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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Even with my lousy record, I feel no compunction in calling the winner of this week. For once, we’ve got a sure thing. *If “Iron Man” is not the #1 movie at the U.S. boxoffice this weekend, then there’s also an excellent chance that Mike Gravel and Ron Paul will be duking it out for the Presidency this fall as the Republican and Democratic nominees. With solid buzz, astonishingly good reviews, and little or no real competition for the young to middle-aged male movie dollar there is no bigger sure thing. The only question now is how much of a blockbuster we’re talking about. Both Carl DiOrio and Nikki Finke are talking about figures of $75, $80, $85 million or more, apparently based on “Iron Man” “tracking” better than the “The Hulk” back in ‘03, which made $62 million its own opening weekend, and, well, lots of people actually seem to like this movie. Also, there is some concern about women given that it’s a superhero/action flick and that there’s lots of estrogen-fare on tap at the nation’s theaters, last last week’s winner, “Baby Mama.” On the other hand, as with the “Spider-Man” franchise, this film has more female appeal than usual with a stronger than usual character orientation and a bit of romance courtesy of well cast stars Robert Downey, Jr., playing a more troubled than usual superguy, and the lovely Gwyneth Paltrow as his woman Friday. Also, the light touch of director Jon Favreau (”Elf“) reminds us that once young writer-star of “Swingers” has shown some real chops when it comes to fashioning solid, mainstream entertainment. Frankly, if this movie doesn’t pack ‘em in, I’m not sure there’s hope for any of us. Meanwhile, in Indiewood.…They’re just starting to be rolled out in a very small number of theaters, but this week has two fairly major, nominally indie, films with some actual potential for mass appeal. Specifically, we’re talking about the latest from supermacho playwright-turned writer-director David Mamet, “Redbelt.” Though I’ve blogged about my issues with Mr. Mamet’s announced political conversion, I’m still looking forward to this one. On the other hand, the reviews are consistently kind, if muted, for the festival hit, “Son of Rambow,” reportedly inspired by the now legendary case of three middle-school boys making a homemade shot-by-shot remake of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but switching locales to England and the source flick to a much darker action movie. This PG-13 entry one also has my favorite MPAA rating explanation in a while. “For some violence and reckless behavior.” Could be fun. Filed under: Actors and Actresses and News and Movie Comedies and Movie Dramas and Action Movies Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
 And we’re not at all surprised. What, you didn’t know Gary had tied the knot? Well he did, and along with losing his wife now, he at least finally got to lose his oft-discussed virginity as well (yay). Anyway, Coleman is 40…his soon to be ex Shannon Price, 22. And like any good celeb still needing to get whatever amount of publicity they can long, long after anyone’s cared about them, Coleman’s taking the divorce to TV on May 1 and 2 on “Divorce Court.” So why the split? Let’s lisen to Shannon’s side of the story. “If he doesn’t get his way, he throws a temper tantrum like a five-year-old does,” Price says, according to a transcript of the show provided to The Associated Press. “He like stomps the floor and yells, ‘Meehhhh,’ and starts throwing stuff around. He bashes his head in the wall, too.” “Bashes his head in the wall, too.” Simply awesome, Gary. Yet Coleman doesn’t completely fault his wife. “It’s not her fault,” he says. “I always feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders every day I get up. … There are days I don’t even want to get up.” And now Gary has finally learned that the world truly don’t move to the beat of just one drum. Or Drummond. |
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It was a good weekend for the power of the PG-13 rating and the eternal drawing power of the promise of belly laughs. * A true photo-finish in third place between last week’s two top grosser, with the martial arts fantasy, “The Forbidden Kingdom” netting $11,230,00 and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” netting $11,014,000. What makes it so close is that “Sarah Marshall” actually beat the wirefu/chop socky summit meeting in terms of per screen numbers, with an average of $3,934.00. Once again, a Judd Apatow comedy is showing some real staying power. Amazing what non-braindead laughs, and an attention to story and characterization, can do.
* The weekend’s other major opener, “Deception” did a predictably rotten $2,225,000. (According to entertainment news gadfly Nikki Finke, the film was only released in theatres as a favor to Hugh Jackman. She also has “Sarah Marshall” coming in at #3.) And the barely released 0% RT rater, “Deal” got a $31,000 in 50 theaters, with a per screen average of $620.00 in its first week. Meanwhile in Indiewood….Errol Morris’s “war on terror” documentary, “Standard Operating Procedure,” which I discussed on Friday a bit, opened strongly in its two theaters with a per screen of $7,450 — beating out the per-screen of “Baby Mama” by $266. However, the real per-screen winner this week was a film I failed to mention. “Roman de Gare” is the latest from 71-year-old French hitmaker Claude Lelouch. For an internationally renowned French auteur, Lelouch’s slick style is not quite the catnip the film critics that some of his contemporaries can claim, but this one got mostly good-to-okay reviews and such is the appetite out there among older and more educated filmgoers for a decent, diverting thriller with actual characters and a story, that it’s spectacular $12,750 per screen should be no surprise at all. Filed under: Actors and Actresses and Movie Comedies and Movie Dramas and Action Movies and Documentaries Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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Show: “Happy Days” Roles: You will be unsurprised to learn that the most famous puppet of the 1950s and his cowboy-attired “handler” play themselves, if only because, really, who the hell else are they going to play? “Happy Days” enjoyed taking the opportunity to provide a rose-colored look at life in the 1950s, but rarely were they presented with the opportunity to incorporate actual television icons from the era into the fun. Fortunately, wooden puppets don’t age, and people were willing to let it slide that “Buffalo” Bob Smith was sporting a few more wrinkles in 1975 than could be found on his famous visage two decades prior.
The episode revolves around Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard) trying to impress his editor at the high school newspaper by scoring a scoop, and his first idea is to interview Mr. Doody, whose show was - rather conveniently, it must be said - to be filming in Milwaukee. The Fonz (Henry Winkler) shoots down this idea, suggesting a more controversial alternative: to wrangle a backstage invite and sneak a shot of Clarabell the Clown without his make-up. So how does he get backstage? By entering a Howdy Doody lookalike contest. It’s ludicrous, of course, but seeing Ron Howard dressed in the standard HD attire is almost as funny as experiencing his disgruntlement after losing to a 9-year-old. While backstage with his right-hand man, Potsie (Anson Williams), Richie does indeed score the picture he’s sought, but after that, things immediately snowball at a ridiculous rate. Within hours of snapping the picture, word has already made it from Milwaukee all the way to the offices of Life Magazine, with the publication immediately getting Richie on the phone and making an offer for the photo. Visions of a journalism school scholarship are floating before Richie’s eyes…until the doorbell rings, and Buffalo Bob and Clarabell stand on the stoop. Mr. C: Well, what brings you to our humble house, huh? Hey, nice, Richie. Way to be a complete dick. What’s next, blackmail? (”You know, Clarabell, for a little bit of dough-re-mi, I could make this photo just, y’know, go away.”) Fortunately, Buffalo Bob decides to take a tactic that only works in sitcoms set in the 1950s: heartfelt honesty. “Richie, there’s a reason why nobody has ever seen Clarabell without makeup. Y’see, behind that make-up, he’s Clarabell the Clown, and there’s sort of a mystique about him. It’s like the Lone Ranger without a mask: he’s a nobody. Y’see, millions of kids watch television every day to see their favorite clown, and to them, this is Clarabell. Now, if they were to see him as an ordinary man, Clarabell lives no more.” (Mrs. C attempts to liken the situation to “Tarzan without his loincloth,” but Mr. C assures her, “No, that’s a little different, Marion.”) Richie is notably unmoved by this plea, trying to play the journalism-school card again, but while Bob makes it clear that it could well be a case of Richie’s future versus Clarabell’s career, he concedes that “you worked hard to get that picture, and I guess you’re entitled to sell it.” And then, with a facer arguably even sadder than the one painted on Clarabell, Bob plays the Ace of Guilt: “Rich, it’s up to you.” You guessed it: Richie tears up the picture. Cue one very excited clown…and one pissed-off, whiny Cunningham. After Bob and Clarabell leave, Richie doesn’t take the schmaltzy way out by saying, “Wow, it sure feels good to do the right thing.” Instead, he reacts exactly how a normal teenager would: he pouts and moans, “What about my scoop?”, providing yet another reason why the first few seasons of “Happy Days” are remembered as some of the best television the 1970s had to offer. Filed under: TV and TV DVDs and Actors and TV Comedies and External Entertainment and External TV and And Our Very Special Guest Star... Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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Despite appearing in court with three checks cut for a cool 5 million bucks, actor Wesley Snipes has been charged with tax evasion and will be serving three years in jail as punishment. So from big screen blockbusters…to infomercials…to this. Ah well, any press is good press as they say. |
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As if the gender battles of the current Democratic primaries weren’t enough, this weekend seems to be promising a bit of defacto sexual segregation in our nation’s theaters, with two separate films featuring strong not-quite-superstar comedy duos, one male and R-rated and one female and PG-13, and both getting mixed reviews. Now, the old me might think this weekend would be a close call. Indeed, Variety failed to even hazard a guess this week. However, Carl DiOrio of the Hollywood Reporter did, and I have learned to respect the might of PG-13 girl power, and so this weekend’s probable winner (though probably not by very much) is….. * “Baby Mama.” This high-concept comedy features Tina Fey, carrying over some of her romantically frustrated, tightly wound career woman shtick from “30 Rock” and SNL’s Amy Poehler as a trailer park refugee surrogate who is bearing her child, with Oscar and Felix style hijinks ensuing. There’s really no doubt about this one, as it appears to be “tracking” well with teenage girls. Also, with Tina Fey’s well deserved television fame, expect some crossover business from adult women and from the large secret society of men who find Tina Fey ridiculously attractive, which includes me. (It’s the glasses!) Moreover, though it gets a fairly ho-hum 58% on ye old Tomatometer, even at our very male-oriented site, this estrogen-heavy farce got a significantly better review than this week’s more manly-skewing comedy team entry…. *Still, no new studio film will do worse this weekend than the poker drama “Deal.” It has done the near impossible for a professional film production with a reasonably strong cast (Burt Reynolds, “Reaper” boy Bret Harrison, Shannon Elizabeth, Jennifer Tilly, and character actor par excellance Charles Durning) Meanwhile in Indiewood…. Fans of ultra-extreme horror might be dissapointed to find that “Rogue,” the new horror opus from the Australian creators of “Wolf Creek” (which deeply appalled and depressed the usually horror-friendly Roger Ebert) is, from the few reviews available, apparently an enjoyable, old fashioned creature flick without excess gore or sadism, and with a solid lead performer in Radha Mitchell. This one really looks like just my horror speed and a good time at the movies…so, of course, it’s only going to ten theaters. Can non-PTSD-inducing thrills-and-chills really be dead? Of course not, but some would disagree. And, though it’s only showing up on two screens, by far the most important film to open this week has to be “Standard Operating Procedure,” a documentary exploring the court martials resulting from the Abu Ghraib torture/murder/photography scandals. It’s from Errol Morris (”The Fog of War,” “The Thin Blue Line,” etc.), who many (myself included) believe is by far the best living American documentarian, and one of the most thoughtful people to ever pick up a motion picture camera. All of his films are notable, but this one might be even more so, as the predictably strong reviews indicate (though 78% percent seems almost low, considering). We’ll be keeping tabs. Filed under: Actors and Actresses and Movie Comedies and Movie Dramas and External Movies Comments: 2 Comments Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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With the premiere of “Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” looming on the horizon (it arrives in theaters on April 25th), we here at Bullz-Eye found ourselves considering some of our other favorites who’ve fired up on film over the years. Originally, we were going to have 15 entries, but after we hit 13 we just didn’t have the energy to do much of anything except lie on the couch and scarf some munchies. Go figure. In the end, though, we realized that all we had to do was slap a “G” in front of the number, and we had ourselves an instant tribute to the most legendary strain of cannabis in history. (It’s killer stuff, man. Not that we’ve had it ourselves, y’know, but Lester Burnham swears by it, and that’s good enough for us.) Just click on the graphic to take a trip over to the piece, man…
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Oof! Once again, my sorry prognostication skills are naked before the world. Fortunately for me, it’s not like anyone really expects me to eat William Shatner’s toupee. I mean, it’s not like I could actually obtain the thing — he still needs it for “Boston Legal.” (I’m damn glad I didn’t suggest Tony Curtis’s apparently retired piece.) So, quickly forgetting my ignoble defeat, let us move to the cold, hard numbers from the number crunchers of Box Office Mojo…. * “The Forbidden Kingdom” earned a healthy $20,870,000 at some 3,151 cinema dojos, more than doubling both Jet Li and Jackie Chan’s most recent vehicles, with the exception of the still powerful (for some reason) “Rush Hour” franchise. Considering the international appeal of the its stars and subject matter, this one seems on-track to make a healthy profit for its relatively modest rumored budget of $55 million. (Considering Chan and Li’s fame, one has to imagine they’re taking a lot of their compensation on “the back end.” $55 million would barely pay for the vegan lunch of two similarly powerful Hollywood heavyweights.) * “88 Minutes,” this weekend’s critically reviled, geriatricly pitched, Al Pacino starrer, did badly and failed to make it into third place. (That honor went to last weekend’s top film, the PG-13 slasher remake “Prom Night“). Still, it did better than you might think, netting some $6,800,000 from unsuspecting adults easily lulled by a familiar name and a premise that dates back to 1950. Whoo-ha. * “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” was booked into 1,052 theaters — as far as I know, a post-”Fahrenheit 9/11″ record for any documentary. Despite some controversy, the buzz on this doc — which only got two Tomatometer-adjudged “fresh” reviews, including a mild endorsement from Mark Moring of Christianity Today — was basically non-existent, though it was able get positive blurbs from Christian far-right heavyweights James Dobson and Pat Robertson, as well as lousy film critic turned annoying rightwing radio host Michael Medved. Presumably a mostly conservative evangelical audience was able to put $3,153,000 in the collection plate, and a not horrible per screen average of just under $3,000. Nevertheless, it looks like the Beast (aka Michael Moore) remains by far the king of the documentary box-office. Filed under: Actors and Actresses and News and Movie Comedies and Movie Dramas and Action Movies and Documentaries and External Movies Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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I know I may live to regret this, but….
Even if its star and screenwriter, Jason Segel, isn’t the most well known or charismatic member of the Apatow clan, he’s a familiar face from his popular sitcom, “How I Met Your Mother.” It’s also got “Superbad” boy Jonah Hill, “That 70’s Show” star and frequent “Robot Chicken” voice Mila Kunis, and, most of all, Kristin Bell, of “Heroes” and “Veronica Mars.” Bell is both enormously versatile, extremely funny, and one of the most talented young actresses working. She is also enormously hot in a bikini. Having her in the title role can’t be a bad thing. Maybe straight males are scared of having to look out at Jason Segel’s genitalia for an entire scene. It’s funny how guys who don’t mind watching people being hideously tortured for an hour at a time run screaming from the thought of looking at a penis, but there you go. Also, of course, the fact that this film is ranking as the most well-reviewed Apatow flick since “Superbad” means absolutely nothing because, you know, quality means absolutely nothing. And, of course, the R-rated comedy will have some strong, PG-13 competition from our next intriguing entry. I’m starting to worry. Meanwhile in Indiewood….Several pictures that almost define the term “off kilter” open in limited release this weekend, including two poorly reviewed comedy docs coming from different ends of the political spectrum. “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” featuring conservative op-ed writer turned dead-pan movie comic Ben Stein making an argument that there is an academic conspiracy against so-called intelligent design, has so far scored only scored one positive review on the RT Meter. Where are those titans of right-leaning movie criticism, Michael Medved, Kyle Smith, and Box-Office MoJo’s egregious Scott Holleran, when you need them? No doubt hoping to get at least some of the dollars that fundies have been holding back since the release of “The Passion of the Christ,” this comedy documentary is opening in over a thousand theaters, apparently hoping for Michael Moore numbers on its first weekend. Stein can be funny, but I don’t see this making “Sicko” money.
Meanwhile, Morgan “Super Size Me” Spurlock’s new film made a thud on the festival circuit and with most critics. There’s no reason to expect much at the 102 theaters it’s opening in, but the title “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?” has some innate interest and our own Jason Zingale had a few nice things to say about it. Filed under: Actors and Actresses and Movie Comedies and Movie Dramas and Action Movies and Documentaries Comments: 3 Comments Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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It’s old news to you blokes in the UK, but here in the States, we “Doctor Who” fans are positively chomping at the bit to check out Season Four of the series. The fact that the first episode of the season, “Voyage of the Damned,” is premiering tomorrow on the SciFi Channel is therefore like getting a Christmas present in April…though, mind you, it also doesn’t hurt that the episode in question actually has a Christmas-oriented plot. (It’s become an annual tradition for the series to produce a 90-minute holiday special to precede the actual season premiere.) The real “Who” geeks in America have probably managed to view the episode via the ‘net, since I know that it’s been broken up into chunks and posted in its entirety on YouTube by some industrious fans, but even those who’ve seen in such a fashion will still no doubt enjoy being able to watch it on a decent-sized screen in top-notch quality.
When we last left The Doctor, he’d crashed the TARDIS into…the Titanic? Well, yes and no. Seems it’s actually a starship bearing that famous name that he’s collided with, and he’s arrived just in time for a lovely shindig. The best bit about the function: one of the waitresses looks suspiciously like Kylie Minogue. As “Who” casting goes, this one’s clearly strictly for the novelty, but Ms. Minogue holds her own admirably as she and The Doctor pop down to Earth for the holiday (the ship’s in orbit around our big blue marble), only to find that London’s all but evacuated due to fears of yet another alien invasion…and, y’know, it’s a fair cop, what with how many times it’s happened in the past. The two find themselves abruptly returned to Titanic, however, just in time for - you guessed it - a collision. I won’t be spoiling the fun for those of you who haven’t seen the episode yet, but I will say that my favorite character was a short and spiky red alien called Bannakaffalatta, and I, like the Queen herself, must give The Doctor props for his steering ability. All in all, it’s not one of the best “Who” episodes, but it’s always good to see David Tennant step back into his familiar shoes, and the finales on both the Titanic and on Earth were each sweet enough to get me at least mildly choked up. (I’m an old softie, though, so your own mileage may vary.) Not only is The Doctor back on SciFi, but also on the Channel is a new show featuring one of his former compatriots, Miss Sarah Jane Smith. “The Sarah Jane Adventures” came about when the BBC asked “Who” executive producer Russell T. Davies to consider working up a spin-off for the kids’ market; rather than take their initial suggestion of a teenage version of The Doctor, he pulled together a series which focused on Sarah Jane, since the actress who played her - Elisabeth Sladen - had recently revisited the “Who” universe, anyway, in “School Reunion.” The resulting series, which teams Sarah Jane with her 13-year-old neighbor, Maria (Yasmin Paige), still feels very “Who”-like, but, as anticipated, is a bit less intense, so as to keep from scaring the younger viewers.
The hour-long premiere episode - it’s regularly a 30-minute show - premiered on SciFi last week and set the stage for the series by showing Maria and her dad moving into their new neighborhood. (Maria’s mom’s still in the picture, but after sleeping around, she and Dad aren’t exactly a couple any more.) The two quickly begin to meet their neighbors, including a rather obnoxious little girl named Kelsey (Porsha Lawrence Mavour) and, more importantly, Sarah Jane. On the first night in the new house, Maria spots Sarah Jane communing with an alien; as you’d expect, she’s pretty freaked out, but she’s also fascinated. It’s a fascinating area all around, this new neighborhood, as the soft drink called Bubble Shock! is manufactured nearby…by aliens! Long story short, Sarah Jane gets involved, teams up with Maria and her pal, takes down the aliens, and ends up with an adopted, alien-bred wonder child in the process. “Invasion of the Bane” was initially aired as a one-off special rather than the first episode, which turned up 9 months later, but I’ve seen the first proper episode as well - the two-part “Revenge of the Slitheen” - and it’s just as much fun. Even better, Kelsey’s abruptly vanished from the proceedings, replaced by Maria’s new and far less annoying school friend, Clyde Langer (Daniel Anthony). As you’d expect from a Slitheen-themed episode that’s been adapted for a younger audience, the fart jokes are legion, but, really, who doesn’t enjoy a good laugh at a bit of gas, eh? If you’ve got a kid who’s into sci-fi, you’d do well to steer them toward “The Sarah Jane Adventures,” and if you’re already a “Who” fan, you won’t want to miss it, either. It’s quite like something you’d expect to have originated from ABC Family these days; it’s well-written, it’s both funny and dramatic, the special effects are on par with “Doctor Who,” and despite technically being for teens, it’s in no way dumbed down for a younger audience. Catch “The Sarah Jane Adventures” tomorrow at 8 PM EST, with “Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned” premiering immediately thereafter, at 8:30 PM EST. Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and Reviews and TV Dramas and External Entertainment and External TV and TV Sci-Fi Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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I was wrong, oh, so wrong. As the good folks at Box Office Mojo demonstrate, “Prom Night” seriously outperformed the last non-pre-screened horror film, “The Ruins” and grabbed up some $22.7 million over the weekend, perhaps partially aided by the unseasonably hot weather out here on the west to some degree. In any case, audiences didn’t seem to hold a spate of recent PG-13 horror remakes against “Prom Night” — presumably because it wasn’t based on a Japanese ghost story from the last few years, but an R-rated American slasher film from when Jamie Lee Curtis was playing teenagers. “Street Kings,” on the other hand, soaked up an anemic $12 million, just barely edging out “21,” which continues to perform so well at a healthy $11 million that I feel not quite insane in my suggestion that it actually had a shot at winning this rather lame weekend. At least “21″ appears to have an interesting story, so the world might not be ending, even if the weather makes it feel as if it is. As for the indies, the drama “The Visitor” opened strong with a $22,000 per screen average in four theaters. The senior-centric comedic documentary “Young@Heart” opened with a reasonably spry, if not quite exuberant, $13,000 average in the same number of theaters. Kind of an uninspiring week all around, but next week promises to be a bit more fun, with a buzzworthy new release from the Judd Apatow gag-factory and with a cinematic summit meeting of martial arts titans Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Let’s hope there’s not a whole lot of CGI action. I don’t think martial arts fans are wanting another “Bullet Proof Monk.” Filed under: Actors and Actresses and News and Movie Comedies and Movie Dramas and Horror Movies Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
So, once again, my optimistic world view is crushed. 
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A sorry weekend seems to be in store at America’s mainstream mansions of mass entertainment this week. So sorry, in fact, that a movie nobody seems to particularly care for, the youth-oriented gambling drama, “21,” has a chance of staying at the #1 spot for a third week, but more likely not. Also, an unusually strong supporting cast would seem to help, including a couple of personal favorites — Oscar winner (and fellow Daniel Webster Junior High alum) Forrest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie (”House” to most, charming twit Bertie Wooster and ultra-twit Prince Regent from “Blackadder” to BBC America fans and me), plus Jay Mohr and Cedric the Entertainer, who just seem to make sense in this context…I’d love to hear those guys enunciating some of Ellroy’s poetic, blood-spattered profanity. But, with his original screenplay rewritten by two other credited writers, the reviews are not |
