DeckMonster.com - Movies

Nerdvana!

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:54:29 -0700

News overload in the past day or two...

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog - Watch Joss Whedon's latest bout of brilliance while you still can.
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic MMO - Finally!
DC Universe Online - Sounds like its coming along nicely.
Champions Online - Lots of recent coverage of this superhero MMO too.
Watchmen - I'm watching the Watchmen.
The Dark Knight - It's been a loooong week so I'm passing on the midnight show, but I'll definitely be visiting Gotham this weekend.

It's a good time to be a geek!

Win a dinner with Kaylee!! (...and some dude)

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:19:33 -0700

Jewel Staite and a number of other actors are auctioning off dinner dates on eBay to fund cancer treatments for a fellow actor named Babz Chula (which explains the sign Jewel is holding in the photo above)...

The winning bidder will receive a free dinner with Paul McGillian and Jewel Staite at a pre-selected restaurant in Vancouver, BC at a mutually agreeable date to be determined by both parties in between May 1, 2008 and December 1, 2009.

As any red-blooded sci-fi geek is aware, Jewel played the role of the adorable Kaylee in the Firefly TV series and the follow-up movie Serenity. She is currently appearing in Stargate Atlantis on the Sci-Fi Channel.

The auction runs through April 12th and is currently at $1,500 (Canadian). Other dinner dates include David Duchovny and Chris Carter from the X-Files, as well as other actors that you might (or might not) recognize.

So, anyone have a couple grand and a ticket to Vancouver to spare?

50 Reasons Lord of the Rings Sucks

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:38:23 -0700

Cracked.com has a hilarious list of the 50 Reasons Lord of the Rings Sucks (referring to the movies).

A few selected favorites...

Speaking of Orcs... The Orcs were obviously stolen from PC game maker Blizzard and its Warcraft series. Too bad Blizzard is apparently too scared to sue New Line over it.
Homage or theft? The "happy village of little people" idea was stolen from Willow.
Homage or theft II? The wise old wizard character was stolen from Harry Potter.
What's that smell? As bad as the Lucasfilm internet leaks were with the last Star Wars trilogy, the filmmakers of Lord of the Rings allowed the paperback novelizations onto shelves years in advance. As if we needed any less of a reason to go see it.

However funny the list itself is, that's not really the point of this post. What's really interesting is the number of people who were moved to leave a comment ripping the article as if it were a serious criticism of the movies.

Now I'm sure that more than a few of the comments are from trolls just trying to stir things up, but I'm also sure that some ~~moron~~ well intentioned (but sarcastically challenged) individual somewhere feels that they struck a blow against the evil forces of sloppy journalism.

Things like this make me question whether there's any intelligent life on this planet.

They Don't Know Jack...

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:34:00 -0700

Moviehole is reporting that a new Jack Ryan movie is in the works... A completely new Jack Ryan movie based on original material not written by Tom Clancy. Starring Ryan Gosling, who would be brand new to the series and the fourth actor to portray Ryan in the movies.

I can't be the only one who thinks this sounds like a bad idea...

The Scariest Thing About Cloverfield...

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 19:06:13 -0700

I just uncovered an extremely disturbing fact while browsing for additional Cloverfield information on IMDB...

The gorgeous young actress pictured here is named Odette Yustman. She plays Beth, the love interest of the lead character in the movie, but she's definitely not a newcomer to show business. In fact, Odette got her start in movies as one of the kids in the class of Kindergarten Cop.

I am getting so old.

UPDATE: If you've arrived here via Google, don't miss my other Cloverfield entry, which discusses the secret message at the end of the movie.

Cloverfield

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:40:27 -0700

Saw Cloverfield last night... I liked it a lot, although I think lots of people probably won't.

It's like Godzilla + Alien + The Blair Witch Project. And it's that last part that's going to be a problem for a lot of people. The movie is about a giant monster attack on New York City, but it's shot entirely from the point of view of the people on the street via a hand-held video camera, with all the shakiness and lack of focus that entails.

** VERY MINOR SPOILER ALERT **

Knowledgeable fans might want to stay for one of those "You're still here?" moments at the end of the credits, when a garbled radio transmission can be heard. Unfortunately, it was so garbled that no one in the theater could understand it.

In this interview, director Matt Reeves discusses the movie including the secret message at the end, although he won't divulge what exactly it is.

** MAJOR SPOILER ALERT **

After a little Googling, I found someone who claims to have recorded the audio and reversed it, resulting in the following message...

boomp3.com

So, what do you think?

To Boldly Go...

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:36:01 -0700

AOL/Moviefone has an exclusive sneak peek of the all-new U.S.S. Enterprise from J.J. Abrams' hotly anticipated Star Trek film, due out in December...

Click the image to make biggerer...

MST3K: The Next Generation

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:35:20 -0700

The folks behind the classic Mystery Science Theater 3000 are back together working on a new project, called Cinematic Titanic...

Looks pretty damn funny. The DVD is for sale here.

Meet Wall-E, the Star of Pixar's Next Movie...

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 20:00:55 -0700

Yahoo Movies has the trailer for the next movie from Pixar, makers of such classics as Cars, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Toy Story, and my personal favorite Monsters, Inc.

WALL-E is the story about the last robot left behind after mankind has abandoned Earth. After 700 years of doing what he was built for - he'll discover what he's meant for.

Supposedly, the movie is going to have little to no spoken dialogue. Says director Andrew Stanton: "I'm basically making R2-D2: The Movie." That sounds a little dicey, but Pixar has definitely earned the benefit of the doubt from me.

Check out the new Wall-E trailer, as well as the official site. Also, check out the faux corporate site for Buy n Large, makers of the Wall-E robot line.

Wall-E is scheduled to hit theaters June 27th, 2008.

An Archive of Siskel and Ebert (and the other guy)

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:01:54 -0700

Ever wonder what Siskel and Ebert (or Ebert and Roeper) thought about Independence Day (2 thumbs down), That Thing You Do (2 thumbs up), or Serenity (2 thumbs up)?

Gene and I knew those old shows would be worth saving, but for a long time nobody agreed with us. In the years before home video, it seemed like a waste of expensive video tape to preserve hundreds of episodes of "Opening Soon at a Theater Near You," "Sneak Previews" or "At the Movies."

Fortunately, someone finally agreed with Ebert and started saving the old shows. Now, the past twenty-ish years of movie reviews are indexed and available for our (re)viewing pleasure at the Balcony Archive.

I Am Iron Man!

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 21:02:50 -0700

OK, I'm not really Iron Man. But I am totally digging the Iron Man trailer. Check it out...

I've Been Simpsonized!

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:28:18 -0700

Despite the fact that everyone should just know that Homer and Bart's hometown of Springfield, USA is nowhere near Vermont, I haven't forsaken The Simpsons completely.

So, here I am Simpsonized...

Not bad, although I must say that my cat Boo is better looking than Snowball (pictured).

You too can become a Simpsons character by visiting Simpsonize Me. Upload a headshot of yourself, and then tweak the available options in faces, hairstyles, body types, and accessories.

Don't know about you, but I'm digging the orange and purple cabinets. Maybe it's time for a kitchen makeover at Casa de DeckMonster.

Happy 30th Birthday Star Wars!

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Fri, 25 May 2007 22:00:00 -0700

Thirty years ago tonight, a little movie named Star Wars was released to an unsuspecting world.

And a generation of dreamers were inspired.

Thanks George.

His Date With Drew

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 21:32:11 -0700

I was feeling massively unproductive today, so I decided to take the afternoon off from work. I played LotRO and surfed the tube for something to watch. Nothing better was on, so I decided to give a movie on Showtime called My Date With Drew a try...

Turns out it's terrific! This is a documentary about a broke 27-year-old aspiring filmmaker from New Jersey who's had a crush on Drew Barrymore since the second grade. He takes the winnings from a TV game show (where the final answer was "Drew Barrymore") and sets a goal for himself...

30 days, $1,100 for an ordinary guy to get a date with Drew Barrymore. Highly recommended!

Springfield Showdown

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 13:54:02 -0700

The AP reports (via Yahoo) that the sixteen Springfields across the country are in competition to host the world premier of The Simpsons Movie this July.

How cool would that be?!?

Each Springfield is supposed to submit a short film "showcasing their community's positive aspects and links to the Simpsons." Fox will select the winner from these entries. I haven't seen anything locally yet, but I hope that Springfield, Illinois puts their best foot forward.

Maybe it'll turn out to be kinda yellowish-colored with four chubby toes.