MGM is officially for sale. They’re going to divide up their assets and sell them. They owe 3.7 billion in debts. They said they are “beginning a process to explore various strategic alternatives including operating as a standalone entity, forming strategic partnerships and evaluating a potential sale of the company.” That’s really too bad. They’ve made some of the great classic films like Gone With The Wind and Ben-Hur.

But let’s take a look at what they’ve done lately…Fame, The Taking of Pelham 123, The Pink Panther 2, Valkyrie, Soul Men, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. The only hit lately was Quantum of Solace and even that cost $200 mil to make and only made $168 mil in the US. I’m sure they made up the difference over seas and on the DVD, but still it’s not impressive.  I guess with flops like Valkyrie, it’s not much of a wonder that they are going under. They do own The Hobbit, so hopefully they can sell it and it can actually get made someday.

Here’s some other film news from Variety:

by Michael Fleming.

 Disney has put “Captain Nemo: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” in dry dock.

The picture, tentatively scheduled to begin production in February, has been halted indefinitely, and McG is no longer steering the ship.

The studio confirmed that it won’t proceed with the film for now, and reps for the director confirmed he has withdrawn. While names like Will Smith were rumored as possible stars, no cast was ever set. The project had been on a fast track under the Dick Cook regime. Studio sez event pics like “20,000 Leagues,” “John Carter of Mars” and “Tron” are still priority under new chief Rich Ross.

Disney’s next big water-based shoot will likely be the fourth installment of “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Pic is expected to set sail in May, with Rob Marshall in talks to direct.

McG will concentrate on other projects that include “Dead Spy Running,” a Warner Bros. drama that Stephen Gaghan is writing. McG is also attached to “Terminator 5,” though that movie is on hold indefinitely as the Terminator franchise works its way through bankruptcy court. McG also just teamed with “Borat” helmer Larry Charles on a new NBC comedy (Daily Variety, Nov. 16).

Disney está parando la producción del “Capitán Nemo: 20,000 leguas de viaje submarino” la cual se supone que iba a comenzar a filmarse en febrero con el director McG, el cual ya no está a cargo de la cinta.

Según el Variety, el estudio ya confirmó de que no va a filmar esta película por ahora; también dice lo que el director se ha retirado. Aunque se habían dicho nombres como Will Smith para protagonizarla, el cast ni siquiera se ha realizado. Cuando Dick Cook era el jefe, esta cinta estaba por la vía rápida pero desde que Rich Ross se ha hecho cargo de Disney, la producción se ha detenido, claro que la versión oficial dice que la cinta sigue siendo prioridad para Disney.

En lo que son peras o manzanas, la cinta sigue en una pausa indefinida.

Did everyone have a horrifantastic Halloween? Ready to get down to business now? Let’s do it!

As you have likely heard, Halcyon is putting the rights to Terminator up for sale, hoping to get around $70 mil despite McG’s best efforts to render the franchise worthless.

Joss throws his hat in the ring.

I’m sure you’re all shocked as shit to hear that Paramount’s giving the sequel treatment to surprise hit Paranormal Activity. To those of you who very understandably ask, “How is that gonna work?”, fear not, says Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman: “Our team will come up with the right creative and marketing approach.” Relief!

More awesome news! Minus the awesome! Film started rolling on the Let the Right One In remake. Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) continues to desperately cling to the illusion that he is not a soulless piece of suit: “This project is very personal to Matt as it is to the many passionate fans of the original story,” says Simon Oakes, President and CEO of Hammer Films. “The brilliance of that story deserves to be seen by audiences on a wide scale and we are excited that the pieces are in place to make that a reality.” Hey, you know what’s on a wide scale? NETFLIX. WHERE I RENTED THE ORIGINAL FILM AND ENJOYED IT VERY MUCH. Ass.

So, so cool. Anthony Hopkins is looking to bring his pedigree to Thor as the title character’s father, Odin. That is some BRILLIANT casting.

Check out the intriguing new trailer for YellowBrickRoad starring Cassidy Freeman of Smallville.

Here’s a list of this week’s tremendously blah DVD releases, courtesy of me via 29-95.

Review Preview:

They’re coming soon! I promise!

TERMINATOR franchise rights up for auction

No word on how this might effect Christian Bale’s already reported 3 movie deal for the new Terminator trilogy they had been working on. Seems unlikely he would return but that doesn’t mean his contract couldn’t be included in the purchase (or does it?).

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By ASHLEY BROWNE

A few thoughts about what we like, and what we don’t like, about the just-released 2010 AFL fixture.

What we like

- The floating final round. Fox Sports won’t like closing out the season with Port Adelaide v Richmond, but it makes sense in every other respect. The shame is that TV deals prevent all eight games being played at the same time, as they do on the final weekend of the Premier League.

- Carlton and St Kilda on a Monday night. Will prove very popular with Melbourne’s Jewish community.

- Essendon and Hawthorn twice, and both in prime-time and both at the MCG.

- The Friday night schedule. Melbourne and Richmond make one token appearance each, but otherwise it is laden with big-name match-ups.

- Bye-bye to the themed rounds. A great idea idea at the time, but we agree that it is the match-ups that need to be hyped, not an entire round. And besides, which club really has a heated rivalry with the Western Bulldogs?

- Collingwood’s draw. At the risk of being accused of having a foot in both camps, we hate the Pies having 18 games at the MCG but at least they play five of this year’s top eight twice – Geelong, St Kilda, the Western Bulldogs, Carlton and Essendon – as well as perennial nemesis Hawthorn.

What we don’t like

- We’re happy to join in the chorus of complaints that we have to wait until round 13 for the grand final rematch between Geelong and St Kilda. We don’t necessarily believe they have to play in the season opener, but there are plenty of opportunities early in the season for such a highly-anticipated match. By round 13, one or both clubs could be racked by injury and poor form, meaning the match could become a damp fizzer. Why is it more important for Collingwood, Essendon and Carlton to play each other twice than for St Kilda and Geelong?

- By the same token, if the Saints and Cats were the two best sides in ‘09, then the Western Bulldogs weren’t far behind. The Bulldogs and the Cats don’t meet until round 20.

- Fremantle not playing at the MCG all year. Granted, the Dockers are nobody’s idea of a marquee attraction and we can’t imagine too many MCC members have declared Freo as their team of choice, but every club should play at least once at the home of football.

- Collingwood’s dream run. We understand that everyone wants to draw the Pies as a home game because of the significant coin they generate, but seven straight MCG games in the run home to the finals is just a bit soft. The AFL could have thrown in an interstate game somewhere over the final month of the season.

- Carlton on free to air TV 19 times. They’d want to keep on coming to justify such exposure, although as one wag has already suggested on SEN, that means 19 games on delay. By contrast, North Melbourne has 13 games on Foxtel.

- One game in Canberra. Once an AFL haven, it is now an AFL ghost town. A rare defeat for the AFL in a developing market.

- The Cats only get seven games at Skilled Stadium. They’re building yet another new stand down at the Cattery, but won’t get that many chances to fill it.

I found this book very helpful in the battle with yeast. The recipes are healthy, made from common ingredients, and quick and easy to prepare. They are also very flavorful. By avoiding the foods which promote the growth ofCandida Albicans yeast, your body’s natural immune defense can re-establisha healthy balance of micro-organisms for optimum health. Following thediets in this book, I noticed a difference immediatley, and was completleyfree of symptoms in two weeks. (I also used herbs to help fight thecandida)

Product Description
This is the complete, authoritative guide that shows how nutrition can fight the epidemic of yeast- and fungus-related diseases and disorders including asthma, bronchitis, depression, fatigue, and memory loss. Fully updated, this second edition includes dozens of new recipes utilizing 12 foods that contain the antiseptic enzymes researchers have discovered will eradicate yeast and fungus.

About the Author

Pat Connolly, a nutritionist, has developed these recipes with Associates of the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to research and education.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Candida Albican Yeast-Free Cookbook, The : How Good Nutrition Can Help Fight the Epidemic of Yeast-Related Diseases (Paperback)

A new video project sees Kirsten Dunst dressed up as a Japanese princess running through the streets of akihabara singing a cover of “turning Japanese” by the Vapours. Takashi murikami & McG are involved with this project… No intro needed for Takashi, but if ya don’t know McG, he directed the new terminator. Weird?!

SOURCE:

Hollywood as we are all aware, has strong liberal sentiments. We watch the armies of Prius scurrying round the globe; vocally promoting the most progressive of causes. An endangered lab rat in Dubai, a boycott of a well known chocolate vendor or political conflict in a far far away land. But when it comes to progression within their own industry, Hollywood is the perfect example of cultural conservatism. Any person who has scouted the papers or dubya’s over the past year would be hard pressed not feel a strange sense of deja-vu. Film and Television it seems, has become obsessed with the past, redressing themes from the old to the damn near pre-pubescent.

Now you can forgive me if some of what I say appears just as unoriginal as the summer Blockbuster offerings. But the trend of remakes, re-drafts and reboots is becoming more and more frequent. The list of upcoming recycled properties is pretty staggering, especially when you look at the great filmmakers behind the texts. Filmmakers who have proven they have the artistic ambition to do something more original – have begun embracing nostalgic, more familiar material.

Step forward Steven Spielberg, the most successful filmmaker of all time announced that he will be ‘reimagining’ Harvey, the 1950 comedy starring Jimmy Stewart. Next we have Robert Zemeckis, another filmmaker with near-perfect credentials. He will be breathing new life into the iconic Yellow Submarine animation. Looking further, we have Bryan Singer’s upcoming remakes of Excalibur and Battlestar Galactica; while rocker turned auteur, Mr. Rob Zombie; still bloodied from the second Halloween set, is trying his hands at the tongue-in-cheek horror The Blob, the films third offering to an ever forgetful public.

Shoot ‘Em Up director Michael Davis is trying on Outland for size. Screen Gems is moving ahead with a new take on Peckinpah’s classic Straw Dogs. Believe me when I say, I wish I was finished – damn you hyperlink! Studio wise, were getting a Columbia Pictures remake of the 1990 sci-fi film Total Recall. Hancock director Peter Berg will have a look at Lynch’s Dune, Brett Eisner will reinvent Flash Gordon and Danny ‘Bhangra’ Boyle’s DNA Films is planning a new Judge Dredd movie. Terminator Salvation director McG will plummet 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, while Twilight filmmakers Summit Entertainment are having a ganders at the Highlander franchise.

There are countless remakes already on the studio release slates. MGM has a new version of Fame sitting atop mount box-office; with a remake of Red Dawn in the works. Sony, which gave us a remake of The Taking of Pelham 123 this summer, has a vehicle for Will Smith Jr in Karate Kid; coupled with our chubby cherub Seth Rogen as the Green Hornet next summer. Mr Murdoch will also be throwing a few flicks in the mix. New versions of Gulliver’s Travels, The A-Team, and yet another Predator offering. Universal has updates of both The Wolfman and Robin Hood, the latter with Russell ‘fighting round the world’ Crowe taking lead and Ridley Scott behind the camera.

No, still not finished. Paramount will have us tapping our feet to Footloose next year and begging Murphy to call it a day in Beverly Hills Cop. Warner brings up the rear with Sherlock Holmes, Clash of the Titans and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Sadly, the only thing new and exciting audiences will get from Hollywood over the next few years are creative justifications for what is essentially – money for old rope. In an attempt to distance himself from the original Blob, Rob Zombie insisted, ‘My intention is not to have a big red blobby thing – that’s the first thing I want to change,”. Thank you Rob, very nicely put. The only thing I would question is why you would want to call it The Blob then. Just a thought.

So, why are there all these bloody remakes? Apathy? maybe. Economic woes? quite possibly. Is it familiarity? That detective, is the right question.

The figures speak for themselves sadly. Since January 2007, the ten highest grossing films at the box office have all been sequels, reimaginings of established franchises or action movies based on comic book characters. The marketers would suggest that we live in an environment so full of Jeremy Kyle and clutter that having a picture with a little spice of nostalgia is a crucial selling point. If you can sell a film around some form of familiarity, something the audience can latch onto, then you might just hit the jackpot.

We live in a world where the whole concept of originality is being reinvented. Artists are simply hitting the replay button, spending more time re-imagining, rather than rethinking, redefining and re-re-re-re…

If you would like to read this again please press PLAY.

Dré

Si vous me suivez sur Twitter, vous n’avez pas pu échapper au topic Super Groupes Francais que nous avons lancé l’équipe et moi, où le jeu consistait à imaginer des collaborations improbables entre artistes français, réunis au sein d’un même groupe au nom évocateur (ex: Aketo + Sat l’Artificier + Akhenaton = MSN, pour Make Some Nose).

Mais pourquoi est ce que je vous parle de ça, vous qui êtes encore réfractaire au fabuleux TwitterWorld? Tout simplement parce que lorsque je vois les photos des coulisses de la vidéo “Akihabara Majokko Princess” réalisée par McG (réalisateur de Terminator: Salvation et Charlie’s Angels 2 entre autre) avec Kirsten Dunst (MJ dans Spiderman) et Takashi Murakami, je trouve que ça sonne comme une mauvaise blague.

Et quand je pense que Kirsten se transforme en princesse kawaii japonaise dans les rues d’Akihabara au fil de la vidéo, je me dis que même notre imagination débordante n’aurait pu imaginer un truc aussi ridicule.

Si vous voulez voir plus d’images de Kirsten Dunst déguisée en Sailor Moon, vous pouvez cliquer pour

The curator of the National Sports Museum at the MCG is planning to have a photographic exhibition next May and June to coincide with the Socceroos involvement in the World Cup.

One theme of the exhibition which is being considered is some strong, evocative and some quirky pictures of Socceroos fans in Germany in 2006 or what was happening in Australia during the last campaign.

If anyone has any photographs from the 1974 campaign, these too would be most welcome.

If anyone has any good quality photographs that they would like to have considered for the exhibition they can email Roy Hay at haysoc@bigpond.com

This could be a brilliant exhibition and promotion for the game. You may view some of Roy’s pictures at  www.sesasport.com.au then go to Archives and 6 Photographs and scroll down to the last four or five.

Lets us take every opportunity to promote football.

1. Obiecujesz, że twój film opowie o czymś co poprzednie części ledwie liznęły w temacie. To nic, że w żadnej sekundzie nie sięgniesz klimatu poprzedników. Masz przecież na usprawiedliwienie kilkadziesiąt minut, które musisz jakoś wypełnić.

2. Obiecujesz, że zrobisz kontynuację w duchu poprzedników. Dlatego 90% akcji kręcisz zza dnia.

3. Skoro w poprzednich częściach pierwsze skrzypce grała ikona kina akcji Ty także musisz o to zadbać. Dlatego zatrudniasz aktora, na którego widok większość widzów zaczyna spawać. Poza tym dajesz mu najnudniejszą rolę w jego dotychczasowej karierze i każesz chrząkać, bo w sumie wszyscy polubili Batmana.

4. Idziesz do pomysłodawcy serii z prośbą o “błogosławieństwo”. Dostajesz odmowę, ale nie robisz z tego tragedii. W końcu rozmawiałeś z guru.

5. Ciągle tłumaczysz się jak to wytwórnia chce niższej kategorii wiekowej, a ty chcesz wyższą. Dlatego wycinasz z filmu całe dwie sceny odpowiedzialne za niespokojny sen dzieci  i przystajesz na propozycję włodarzy.

6. Jedziesz na konwent fanów i pytasz się czy chcą zobaczyć na ekranie cycki, jakby ich odpowiedź miała jakiekolwiek znaczenie…

7. W zwiastunie umieszczasz dobrze znaną muzę, tylko po to, aby ludzie poszli do kina myśląc, że usłyszą ją w filmie.

8. Budujesz napięcie informacją o problemach technicznych przy doklejaniu głowy Gubernatora Kalifornii. Jeszcze 2 tygodnie przed premierą filmu nie jesteś pewien czy wszystko zapięte jest na ostatni guzik. Dlatego umieszczasz w kinowej wersji niedopracowanego emo-kulturystę, który chcąc zabić Jedynego Przywódcę Ludzkości targa nim o ścianę zamiast przebić na wylot jak to robił 25 lat temu.

9. Włączasz do filmu kilkanaście głupich nawiązań do poprzednich części i kopiujesz całe dialogi, tylko po to aby podkreślić, iż zrobiłeś coś w zgodzie z uniwersum.

10. Obiecujesz 30 minut wyciętych scen na DVD i Blu-ray aby udowodnić, że w reżyserskiej wersji całość będzie bardziej spójna. Po namyśle decydujesz się jednak na 3 dodatkowe minuty i tylko na “niebieskim” krążku.

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Powyższy poradnik powstał w oparciu o dogłębne śledztwo produkcji nowego Terminatora, a także informację o bankructwie dwóch kretynów, którzy dopuścili się zbrodni i wypuścili te gówno do kin. Nie ma to jak strzelić sobie w stopę i narzekać, że Cię boli.

This video is pretty silly, but I can totally see Michael Bay or McG getting really into the idea and having a whole movie involving floating eyebrows. That thought just made me a little depressed. via

Is one of the fastest growing educational issues that Australia has been contending with over the past ten years and will be struggling to contend with over the next five years. With the growth of internet access across the Australia, cyber bullying which has expanded across the US and UK will almost certainly be a significant inhibitor of the future education of Australian students. In order to stay ahead of the game the Australian Government is taking steps to plan for the future including a Student Summit to be held at the MCG on October 12th. The Summit aims to obtain the opinions, suggestions and strategies of Australian youth on an issue that is difficult to tackle.

For more information on the Summit – See Below

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DEECD – Student Summit

The Age – Students to advise on tackling cyber-bullying

WA – 10 per cent of kids cyber-bullied: WA survey

Record freeze for grand final

The Herald Sun
September 26, 2009

WEATHER forecasters are predicting temperatures to drop below 10 degrees during today’s Grand Final at the MCG.

The freezing Antarctic blast is set to make this the coldest premiership decider in history.

As the crowd builds at the MCG, forecasters are predicting a freezing blast during this afternoon’s game.

Hail, as well as heavy rain and thunder, are expected to lash St Kilda and Geelong players, and close to 100,000 spectators, at the MCG from early in the second quarter.

And the temperature is not expected to get above 14C.

“At the moment most of the heavy activity is around the Airies Inlet region in the southwest but that will make its way to the MCG region by mid afternoon,” Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Rod Dickson said.

The bad weather may cause ticketless Geelong fans further heartache as they brave the elements out in the open at Skilled Stadium to watch the game on a big screen.

It last rained at a Grand Final in 2002, but the last real drenching was in 1979, and there hasn’t been hail at a premiership decider in living memory.

Latest odds had Geelong as a firm $1.58 favourite, while the Saints had drifted to $2.40.

Brownlow medallist Gary Ablett is a $5 favourite to complete a magical week and win the Norm Smith Medal.

Geelong is out to make it two premierships in three years, while the Saints’ lone flag was in 1966.

Geelong coach Mark Thompson has declared his side primed and ready after a stop-start season marred by injuries to key players Steve Johnson, Brad Ottens and Paul Chapman.

“It’s all come together at the right time,” Thompson said.

“This is the moment, isn’t it? Two hours of footy to determine the premier.”

Saints coach Ross Lyon said: “This is the ultimate. It’s what makes our game so great.”

Cats superstar Gary Ablett said that his side had no fear of the wet.

“Hopefully it keeps raining because I think we’re the best team in the rain,” Ablett said.

“The boys are quietly confident. We know if we play well we’ve got the team to do it.”

The weather forecast forced the AFL to move the two national Under-16 Championship curtain-raiser matches to Visy Park.

AFL spokesman Patrick Keane said apart from some small contingencies, it would be business as usual.

“Obviously it’ll be disappointing for some supporters if they get rained on, but it doesn’t change anything about the game, we simply play it,” Mr Keane said.

Before the bounce, fans will be treated to a stirring tribute to this year’s Black Saturday bushfires and performances by rock legends Jimmy Barnes and Mark Seymour.

Source

Yes, I’ve been MIA again. There was a good reason – SO and I were in Victoria.  We spent three days in Ballarat, and three in Melbourne. 

We were in Ballarat to catch up with my lovely friend M, the single mum of three kids under five.  (Just pause and think about that for a moment.)  She recently turned 30 and had a bash to celebrate.  We normally wouldn’t travel for something like that, but with the divorce over the last year or so, she’s had a hell of a time and we wanted to see her.  Anyhow, it was wonderful catching up with her and the offspring, all of whom are completely adorable.  She was so happy that we came over, too.  She told me that after she dropped us off at the train station to go to Melbourne, she had what she called ‘a sook’.  Poor darling, it would be so good if she were closer to us, but Ballarat is where her family is, and they help her out with the kids more than we would.

So yes, after Ballarat we went on to Melbourne.  While we were knackered after running around with M and the kids for three solid days, we rallied and managed to see a few things.  We did a tour of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), one of the most historical sporting grounds in Australia, which was interesting.  We also managed to get in to the National Gallery of Victoria to see the Salvador Dali exhibition, Liquid Desire.  That was fascinating - we spent over two hours in it.  SO was very sweet and bought me the book that was produced for the exhibition, which is absolutely gorgeous.  We had lunch in the NGV cafe afterwards, exhausted but with our minds full of what we’d just seen.

We managed to get around Melbourne okay, considering neither of us had never been there before.  It took probably about a day and a half, then the whole tram system seemed to click in my brain.  After that we were fine.  We managed to get out to Bridge Road, the factory outlet section of town, and did a bit of shopping, primarily for SO.  I did pick up some gorgeous eclectic stuff for myself, though, which was great.  We also had a wander along Chapel St, the couture part of Melbourne, when we caught up with my friend K for dinner one night.  All I can say is SO is very lucky there wasn’t late night trading that night.

Apart from a delayed flight (only for two hours) the trip home was uneventful.  We got in around 10pm, which for us was around midnight, as we’d acclimatised to Victorian time by that stage.  I got a phone call the next day very early, asking about one of our units which was advertised - was it still available?  Why yes, it was.  The lease ended while we were away, so I got myself organised and went down there to turn it over ready to rent out again.

Well, what a mess.  It took me about eight hours to get the whole place clean again.  Marks on every wall, spills on carpets, dirty dishes, filthy oven, fridge and microwave…. and don’t even ask about the bathroom.  I’ve never scrubbed dried spew off a toilet bowl that wasn’t mine before.  Still, the good news is it came up fine, and it’ll be rented from tomorrow, so that’s great news for us.  My back, knees and shoulders are all sore, but it was a worthwhile effort.  And after all, that’s what the bond is for.

I came across an article tonight MSN.com about America’s Strongest Building Markets to find that the Augusta, GA and North Augusta, SC home building market ranks #6 in new building permits issued this year.  This is exciting news for buyers and real estate agents! The article cites that the large military influence is one of the key factors in helping drive the surge in new home construction.  These permits are not limited to single family housing because there was an almost 30% increase in multi-family housing permits issued to builders.  The military post of Fort Gordon, our diversified manufacturing base and the Medical College of Georgia help keep our housing market stronger than most areas even in tough times.

Being in the UK, deciding what actually constitutes summer in our increasingly muddled weather environment is pretty darn difficult. Should we start with May? Well, if summer is the period of the year in which things were sunny and bright and lovely, then May, June and July are all out for us UK folks. Our summer never really arrived, overshadowed as it was by the constant humidity and rain. Instead of going with weather calculations, our summer will start in May, or the end of April to be precise, when the blockbuster season kicked-off in multiplexes, and plexes, across the land. Begin post-jump…

It all began, back at the very end of April, with X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It couldn’t have started much worse, to be honest. We panned the film pretty comprehensively on the podcast for that show, but not enough can really be spewed forth about the laziness, the poor filmmaking, the comatose acting, the confusing origin story and the general let-down weakness of the film. I suppose we couldn’t really have expected much in the way of quality, this was, after all, the continuation of what was started well by Bryan Singer, peaked by the same man, and then royally shat upon by Brett Ratner. As a sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand, Wolverine is a fittingly shit-tabulous slice of idiocy.

All that, however, only served to heighten the unrelenting love and affection we were able to muster for Star Trek, JJ Abrams’ take on the, and I mean THE, cult phenomena of movie and television land. The only negative to take away from Star Trek, was its coining of the now ubiquitous ‘reboot’, a term to signify when a film is seeking to forge its own patch within a franchise series. Reboots of everything from Fantastic Four to Cliffhanger are now being speculated upon. The film itself deserves the term entirely, Abrams taking a franchise bathed in exclusivity and geek love and transforming it into an accessible, hugely entertaining sci-fi blockbuster without losing the essence of the source material. I am some distance from a Trekky, but this is the first film I’ve come out of in a long time with a strong, unquenchable desire to see a sequel.

We had to wait a couple more weeks for another dive into the blockbuster pond, but we were treated in the interim to a film which will likely enter all of our top tens at the close of the year, Charlie Kaufman’s meta miracle Synecdoche, New York. Whether or not you bought into the introspection of Kaufman’s directorial debut, you could do nothing but admire the commitment he felt to try and provide something far beyond the traditional fare. Wonderful as Star Trek is, the depth on show here means Synecdoche will be one we talk about for some time to come, likely outlasting the rest of the year’s fare.

After our break from the popcorn season, we dived straight back in again with Sam Raimi’s return to horror, Drag Me to Hell. Though not remotely close to his genre-topping brilliance in the Evil Dead films, it acted as a showcase for Raimi’s talent in manipulating and poking fun at his audience, all in the best of spirits. I had a few issues with the CGI gore on show, though I would concede it adds a little to the schlockiness of the movie. I was also a major supporter of Alison Lohman’s performance in the lead role, though I was at odds with many over that choice.

If Raimi didn’t haul us back into the popcorn summer, McG would hardly let us escape. His Terminator: Salvation, itself a kind of reboot, wasn’t quite able to match the level of shit reached with Wolverine, but it was a joyless and workaday experience. An inability to understand the interesting parts of the Terminator mythology, the painful casting of the meatheaded Sam Worthington (seemingly unable to decide which accent his character should have) and the wasting of all characters, literally all characters, at the throne of boring, add up to easily the most disappointed effort of the summer thus far. At least, given X-Men’s third incarnation, we had a feeling that would suck. Terminator’s third wasn’t good either, but the trailers promised so much more. Shame on you, McG, for letting us down so hard.

For many, the summer really kicked back into gear again with The Hangover, Todd Phillips’ super-successful comedy which sought to capture the magic of Old School. For us, it was a thoroughly enjoyable movie and contained what deserves to be a star-making performance from Zack Galifianakis. But this is not comedy gold. There are very few, if any, truly memorable single scenes, it’s a distance from quotable (which all great R-comedies should be) and the remainder of the central cast, outside of Galifianakis, are really not funny at all. To compare it to Old School, you have two other funny performances outside of Will Ferrell to latch onto and, I’m afraid, Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper (who really looks like an eagle) are just not up to the standards of Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson. Decent, but only decent.

This first part could only, ever finish with one movie. The biggest of the summer, both in terms of scale and level of crapicity, was Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. I’ve said it before, I’ll keep saying it, this film is Michael Bay knocking  three or four per day out over the course of around a year, all onto film stock, before obnoxiously shoving it in the faces of all who would fall under its spell. In our defense, no podcast and we would likely have given this a miss. But we have a podcast, and we didn’t give it a miss. Beyond the incomprehensible yet still boneheaded story, you are treated to exactly the kind of ‘CRASH SMASH BASH BOOM!!’ filmmaking that Bay has begun to take an auteurist approach to. The action scenes, though an improvement on those in the first film, are housed inside a movie which has no regard whatsoever for intelligence or humility, for a good spirit or any sense of fun. Two-and-a-half hours of watching Shia LeBoeuf try his darnedest to prevent you from wanting to gouge out your eyes out with spoons, Megan Fox being filmed in a way that would make most porn stars and glamour models blush and John Turturro reduced to showing his arse purely for giggles. Part 2 will hopefully see some improvement, but we end part one at a low point, both for this summer and, looking at the box-office and listening to the audience which joined us, humanity.

Esta encuesta ha llegado a su fin. Después de unas cuantas semanas los votantes han reflejado cual es la entrega que más les ha gustado de la saga Terminator. Y evidentemente no ha sido ninguna de las partes en las cuales no ha intervenido James Cameron. Y es que “Terminator 2: El Juicio Final” siempre se ha considerado como una de las secuelas que ha conseguido eclipsar en cierta medida a la película de origen. Y no es para menos. Aunque a mí siempre me ha costado poner a una por encima de la otra. En la primera entrega los humanos tenían que arreglarselas como podían, sin ayuda externa. Pero en la segunda tambien pudimos ver a un Terminator enfrentándose a uno de sus congéneres, lo cual sorprendió a propios y extraños.

Los resultados han arrojado el dominio absoluto de la segunda entrega de Terminator, consiguiendo más de la mitad de los votos. La primera entrega sólo superó por nueve a la dirigida por McG. Y Terminator 3 se ha tenido que contentar con un mísero seis por ciento de los votos (16 en total).

Bueno, en breves incluiré una interesante encuesta, ya que con lo que llevamos de año no faltan muchos blockbusters por estrenarse. ¿Os oleis de qué va verdad ?

As a self-proclaimed prankster, I have to admit I love it when musicians release their crossover tunes onto easy-listening stations, knowing full well that their CD is nothing like that one song.  Unwitting grandmothers and soccer moms hear it and think, “What a pleasant melody,” so they head to Target to pick it up, and image their shock at the remainder of the album.  (I wanted to go into a whole thing about grandmothers looking for LP’s and cassette tapes, but I thought it was mean and stopped myself.)

So what better way to express the level of shock value than by rating them with surprised grandmothers?

The latest culprit: Shinedown, with their album The Sound of Madness

• The Crossover: Second Chance
• The Reality: The Sound of Madness
• Surprised Grandmother:
  

  "Well I never..."

A few other groups have done it in the past, like Rise Against and their album Siren Song of the Counter Culture.

• The Crossover: Swing Life Away
• The Reality: To Them These Streets Belong
• Surprised Grandmother:
  

  "That's music?"

Green Day committed the act late in the game, on their CD Nimrod.

• The Crossover: Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
• The Reality: King for a Day
• Surprised Grandmother:
  

  "What silly boys..."

Oh, and what can I say about Extra co-host, Mark McGrath’s, “humble” beginnings in Sugar Ray.  For the record (clever pun!), their first CD, Lemonade and Brownies (juvenile pun!) looked like this:

Nicole Eggert of "Charles In Charge" and something called... "Baywatch"?

It was their second album, Floored, that pulled the bait-and-switch.

• The Crossover: Fly
• The Reality: RPM
• Surprised Grandmother:
  

  "Turn that racket off!"

(SIDENOTE: Both of the above videos were integral to launching McG’s future career as a feature film director.  So every time you see Mark McGrath mugging on Extra, you can thank him for making Lemonade=Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle and Brownies=Terminator Salavation possible.  And McGrath <> McG?  Do I smell a conspiracy?  Nope.  Just turds.)