Posted Dec 2nd 2008 5:50PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Action, Fandom, Exhibition, Home Entertainment, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
A couple of months ago -- and after watching the film spit out monster box office totals -- there was word Warner Bros. would throw
The Dark Knight back onto IMAX screens (and possibly conventional theaters) for one last run. With the flick currently lingering around the $996 million mark, a re-release would all but guarantee it the much sought-after $1 billion. However, according to
Superhero Hype, it's not gonna happen. They don't give much of a reason or a statement, just that plans to re-release on IMAX screens have apparently been scrapped.
It's unfortunate, too, because the DVD (which we'll review tomorrow) includes a few great behind-the-scenes features on the film's IMAX sequences. And, as someone who did not have a chance to catch the flick on IMAX screens, I was kinda looking forward to taking in a screening this January during the re-release after watching how they went about shooting it. Considering Christopher Nolan and his crew made history by becoming the first major feature film to shoot partly using IMAX cameras, you'd think folks might want to stage an encore engagement. Oh well.
Also of note:
Variety reports that
The Dark Knight will arrive via video-on-demand in South Korea two weeks before the DVD hits shelves, making it the first Hollywood blockbuster release to go VOD before DVD.
Were you looking forward to watching
The Dark Knight again on IMAX screens?
UPDATE: BoF reports (via a Warner Bros. source) that this is not true, and that the film will indeed be released on IMAX screens in January. Superhero Hype has removed the original story from their website. We'll let you know when something a little more official hits, but it looks good for fans ...
Posted Dec 2nd 2008 12:15PM by Peter Martin
Filed under: Action, Animation, Classics, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, New on DVD, Family Films, Home Entertainment, Cinematical Indie
White Dog
Samuel Fuller's follow-up to The Big Red One was shelved by Paramount Pictures before its scheduled release in 1982 because of fears that its premise -- a white dog has been trained to attack black people -- would stir up more controversy than box office. Fuller was understandably outraged; in his autobiography, A Third Face, he wrote: "The studio has used me as a scapegoat for their lack of determination and courage." The film, co-written by Curtis Hanson (LA Confidential), with a score by the legendary Ennio Morricone, later received acclaim when it was released in Europe but never received a home video release in the US and has rarely been seen here. Kristy McNichol plays an actress who adopts the dog; Paul Winfield is as an anthropologist who tries to reverse the training. The Criterion Collection DVD includes a featurette with Hanson, producer Jon Davison, and Fuller's widow, plus a print interview with the dog trainer and essays by J. Hoberman and Armond White. I'm buying, but even if you're not a huge fan of Samuel Fuller, you'd want to check it out. Rent it.
Step Brothers
Combining Will Farrell, John C. Reilly, Richard Jenkins, and Mary Steenburgen under one roof, Step Brothers mines familiar territory with sharp timing and plenty of belly laughs. Mine is, admittedly, a distinctly minority opinion. Available on DVD (single-disc rated, single-disc unrated, two-disc unrated) and Blu-ray, with an audio commentary by Farrell, Reilly, director Adam McKay, and a score by Jon Brion. Other features include deleted scenes and alternate takes, a gag reel, 'making of,' and a couple of gag featurettes. Rent it.
Much more on Wanted, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian after the jump, plus Indies on DVD, Blu-ray Picks, and Collector's Corner.
Continue reading Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 12/02
Posted Dec 1st 2008 2:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Independent, Fandom, Home Entertainment, Trailers and Clips
Cinematical has received this exclusive clip from the film
Let Them Chirp Awhile, directed by Jonathan Blitstein, and starring a pretty impressive cast of indie talent like Justin Rice (
Mutual Appreciation), Brendan Sexton III (
Welcome to the Dollhouse), Zach Galligan (
Gremlins) and Anthony Rapp (
Dazed and Confused).
From the synopsis:
"Let Them Chirp Awhile follows three twentysomething artists as they juggle their careers, relationships and emotions in New York City. Bobby (Rice) is a struggling screenwriter who tries to get romantically involved with a woman by agreeing to take care of her dog. His friend Scott (Sexton III) is a depressed, womanizing musician with a sweet and innocent girlfriend while Hart, (Galligan) Bobby's nemesis, is a successful playwright whose campy play about 9/11 has won awards and a run at an off-Broadway theater. What begins as a quirky comedy about relationships and writer's block becomes a coming-of-age tale about competition and self-reliance among the "me-generation."
Let Them Chirp Awhile opens in New York on December 5 (Cinema Village), Chicago on December 12 (AMC Loews Pipers Alley) and Los Angeles on January 2 (Laemmle Sunset 5).
Posted Dec 1st 2008 12:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Fandom, Home Entertainment, Fan Rant
Look, this has nothing to do with films that air on cable television without commercial interruption. And it's even hard for me to rant against films that air on television
with commercial interruption because this is the way it's been done for many years now. I can deal with that. I have a DVR, I can record films that air on, say, NBC, and fast forward through the commercials. Sure, from time to time I'll stumble across a flick like
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King on TNT HD, become sucked in because Peter Jackson created three awesome movies, and have to deal with commercials since I never recorded it. This happened to me yesterday.
But what I didn't sign up for was to watch some stupid character from whatever random television show drop down the middle of my television screen and start waving at me during a key scene in the film. Oh yes, from out of nowhere this guy swings right down the middle of the screen where he meets some girl and -- whaddya know -- it's an advertisement for another TNT show airing later in the week. Thanks. Because it's bad enough they have to interrupt these films with five-or-so minutes of advertisements, but now they're advertising things DURING THE FREAKING MOVIE.
I got over the watermark in the lower corner because they've since made them a bit more translucent (though MTV is notorious for covering up dialogue on the bottom of the screen with their stupid watermark). But this ... I simply cannot get over. I've noticed these little miniature characters walk on the screen during films and TV shows on both TNT and TBS, and I'm not sure who else is at fault but it needs to stop now. It's literally so irritating that I've banned TNT and TBS in my apartment. Not watching either station until they lose the stupid ads. Please join me.
Posted Nov 26th 2008 10:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Fandom, Home Entertainment, Contests
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Above: This year's child costume winner, Mr. T. It took a little bit of time to get the votes sorted and contact the winners, but we can finally announce the two winners of
Cinematical's Fourth Annual Halloween Costume Contest! We had more entries this year than any year before, and it was absolutely painful to trim the group down to 10 finalists in each of our two categories (best adult costume and best child costume). Once we did settle on our finalists, though, we left it up to you fine folks to vote for the winners ... and that you did. After receiving roughly 13,000 votes, we'd like to congratulate our child winner, Mr. T (pictured above). Check out the other child finalists in the gallery below, and you can see the adult runner-ups -- as well as our winner, Optimus Prime -- after the jump. See ya next year folks!
Continue reading Halloween Costume Contest: The Winners!
Posted Nov 25th 2008 12:15PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: New Releases, DVD Reviews, New on DVD, Home Entertainment
HancockAs Thanksgiving approaches, we've got the wild superhero Hancock crashing into shelves. While it might have been led by mega-star Will Smith, it didn't get much love from critics and certainly bowed in the shadows of some old-school, established superheroes. That being said, it's still Will Smith and is said to have a powerful start that just falls flat. Teamed with a bunch of solid special features, it's worth a glimpse.
Rent it.
Meet Dave
And then there's Eddie Murphy. In his latest wacky film, Murphy gets to play a human spacecraft for a bunch of tiny aliens. The DVD holds the obligatory extras -- gag reel, deleted scenes, alternate ending -- but I'd still say Skip it, even if the box office still gives the dude love.
Freaks and Geeks Yearbook Edition
No, this isn't a film. But considering the fact that this is Judd Apatow's baby, and starred the likes of big-screen names Linda Cardellini, John Francis Daley, James Franco, Samm Levine, Seth Rogen, and Jason Segel, it's certainly a great addition to any DVD shelf. Tons of extras, tons of fun. Buy it.
Other mainstream releases: Superman Doomsday, Space Chimps, Fred Claus
Continue reading Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 11/25
Posted Nov 24th 2008 8:50AM by William Goss
Filed under: Comedy, Warner Brothers, Family Films, Home Entertainment, Remakes and Sequels, Trailers and Clips
If you weren't exactly sure what to give thanks for on Thursday, it could now be one of two options: You could either be thankful that there's finally a trailer for the likes of
Ace Ventura Jr., or you could be thankful that said spin-off is going the direct-to-video route (as well it should).
Starring as the bastard child of Jim Carrey's pet detective is
Josh Flitter, appearing in his first lead role after years of being the tubby sidekick to Emma Roberts in
Nancy Drew, Robin Williams in
License to Wed and Shia LaBeouf in
The Greatest Game Ever Played. It seems that he's inherited his father's hairdo and catchphrases, but no discernable comedic ability whatsoever (maybe that'll kick in with puberty, but I'm sure not sticking around to find out).
Ace Ventura Jr. will begin keeping dusty DVD copies of
Son of the Mask company when it hits shelves next March.
[Our thanks go out to Slim Pickins, who tried to warn us.]
Posted Nov 21st 2008 6:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Fandom, Home Entertainment
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This is a very cool little tool, especially for those of you movie nerds stuck in cubicles all day long with nothing but the latest hipster wannabee music to listen to. A good friend of mine just sent over a link to this site called
Listen To A Movie, which boasts right on its main page that it's "For The Cubicle Workers Of The World." Essentially, it's exactly as it sounds: There's literally hundreds of films that you can just listen to. Not only that, but some of them even give you the option to also listen to that film's commentary! Does it get any better?
Once you click on a movie title, it gives you the cast, the year it came out, its IMDB rating and its user rating. Additionally, the ratings, year and genre are also listed next to the title on the main page -- and you can search by any one of these categories as well. It doesn't look like they have any 2008 films yet, but a bunch of flicks from 2007 are on there, like
Knocked Up,
Transformers and
Wild Hogs. Pretty neat tool if you ask me,
so try it out and let us know what you think.
[Thanks Aaron and Dana!]
Posted Nov 21st 2008 1:45PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Fandom, Home Entertainment
No doubt this weekend will yank tons of girls (and some boys) away from their Facebook pages and into the sometimes comfortable surroundings of a darkened movie theater for a screening (or three) of the new film
Twilight. And because you parents out there would love to make this weekend a special one for your
Twilight-obsessed children,
Cinematical is here with some help (babysitting is extra -- talk to Weinberg and Snider after this post).
Cinematical reader Nicole sent us a note and a link to her tasty-looking Vampire Cookies recipe, which, according to her, started off as something to make for Halloween and then were a huge hit for a
Twilight-themed party she threw this week. (Okay, I just stopped typing in order to throw that picture into the post and now I can't stop staring at it. Damn those look pretty tasty.)
Yeah, so those are the cookies above, and I especially like how they have two tiny holes in each, with red jam (it's just jam!) leaking out. Very cool. Head on over to Nicole's site,
Baking Bites, for the recipe and additional photos, and let us know how they come out.
Posted Nov 20th 2008 5:03PM by Scott Weinberg
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Sony, Home Entertainment, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Fan Rant
...and yet still managed to be a damn good movie? Well I sure thought it was, anyway, even if
the Tomato-meter doesn't seem to agree with me. I said
lots of nice things about the flick back in my original review, but I also longed to see Peter Berg's original cut. The one that wasn't
sacrificed at the altar of the demigod known as PeeGee-Thirteen.
So hey!
Hancock comes out on DVD next week, and guess what? Two different versions! (Three if you count the Blu-Ray, which offers both versions in the same package.) OK, so according to
this DVD cover, the theatrical cut runs 92 minutes, while
this DVD cover clearly illustrates that the Unrated Cut goes about 102 minutes. And you don't need t snip a full ten minutes just to excise a few F-bombs. Needless to say, I'm very enthused about checking out the "unrated" cut -- but they don't actually call it a Director's Cut ... so could we be looking at another DVD somewhere down the line? (What a shocking assumption, I know.) For more on the
Hancock DVD, check out
this review that I'll read in about a week. But I trust the source.
Posted Nov 20th 2008 12:30PM by Scott Weinberg
Filed under: Home Entertainment
I've ranted
once or
twice about some of the geekier goodies I've found through
Netflix, but somehow this one got by me. It'd been a while since I'd visited
Hacking Netflix, which is an excellent blog by the way, and it was there that I read ... huh,
what's this? I can now view ALL* my "Watch Instantly" titles through my Xbox 360? Really? Well I just had to check that out.
My system needed to update to the jazzy new 360 dashboard, but introducing my Xbox to my Netflix queue was remarkably easy. Now, you can't exactly browse through the Netflix website -- in fact the 360 system only accesses your WI queue. But I watched two episodes of
Heroes (Season 3) and the whole of Sam Peckinpah's
The Killer Elite (starring James Caan AND Robert Duvall!) in one enjoyable sitting. (Yeah, I'm a good sitter.) Just another reason that Xbox is cooler than Playstation ... says the guy who plays games with his console maybe five times a year.
In other Netflix news, I've discovered a few more obscurities that might be worthy of note: In addition to the aforementioned Peckinpah film, I recently watched a few Gene Hackman ones from 1977:
March or Die and
The Domino Principle. Both uneven, but dang I love Gene Hackman. Other recent flicks include George C. Scott in
The Hindenburg (meh),
Marooned (more Hackman!), and
THX 1138 (more Duvall!) And I finally saw the mega-weird
Spider Baby. Sheesh. Frankly the Netflix Watch Insantly service has improved exponentially since they partnered up with Starz. Now there's NO excuse for me not to have a movie on at all times.
(* Nope, not all. Some of your queued titles will NOT be available via your 360. According to the HN blog, looks like it's all the Sony-owned titles.)
Posted Nov 18th 2008 10:15AM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Deals, Home Entertainment
This next bit slides into the realm of TV Squad, but has enough cine cred to make it worthy:
Variety reports that
Seth Rogen isn't done with the world of pornography yet. After shacking up with Kevin Smith for
Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Rogen got inspired -- he is cooking up a porno-based comedy for Showtime with production partner Evan Goldberg.
Rather than delving into the woes of making rent, Rogen and Goldberg are developing a story about "three twentysomethings who learn about life and love while running a pornography shop." Oh, the romance of pornography -- flower and handholding on the backdrop of blowup dolls and mastubatory aids.
There's no word on when this could possibly get made, or who would star. All we know is that Rogen and Goldberg will act as executive producers. Seeing that Showtime also has
Secret Diary of a Call Girl, I hope that the comedy will be balanced with smarts and modernity, rather than tired retreads of porn cliches, but we'll have to wait and see.
Are you ready for more widespread porno?
Posted Nov 13th 2008 9:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Animation, DVD Reviews, Fandom, Home Entertainment, Images
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There are DVDs you might want to rent on a rainy day, and then there are DVDs you absolutely must buy the day they arrive in stores. Already one of the best reviewed films of the year -- and a strong candidate for a Best Picture Oscar nod -- Pixar's
WALL-E finally arrives on DVD this Tuesday, November 18th in spectacular fashion. Folks, if you haven't converted to Blu-ray yet, I'd seriously recommend penning a letter to Santa real soon, because not only are
WALL-E and
The Dark Knight unveiling pretty ridiculous Blu-ray DVDs during the next month, but the format is really starting to produce some outstanding product.
That all being said, you've probably already realized that I'll be giving you a sneak peek at the 3-Disc Blu-ray DVD for
WALL-E, which is all sorts of awesome, but I'll also clue you in on what the regular DVD offers too. First off, feel free to check out the gallery below, which includes images from the brand new short film
BURN-E (featured on both Blu-ray and DVD), along with a few Fun Fact Sheets, like one called
Hidden Things (little Pixar Easter Eggs throughout the film) and one called
How Did They Make That Sound (pretty self-explanatory).
Now follow us after the jump for more ...
Continue reading Sneak Peek: 'WALL-E' on Blu-ray and DVD
Posted Nov 13th 2008 12:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Deals, Fandom, Home Entertainment, Comic/Superhero/Geek
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With Hollywood types running out of superhero ideas, it would appear the Showtime network has taken the next logical step: how about the gay superhero? And they're certainly not alone on this one;
Variety reports that the hourlong project comes from
Stan Lee and is based on the book
Hero by Perry Moore. The story is said to focus on an "up-and-coming superhero who struggles to hide his secret identities." If anything, it certainly ups the ante and raises the stakes, and, in my opinion, is a pretty interesting idea. Like any superhero, gay men and woman across the globe often hide who they really are for fear society will punish them in some way, shape or form for being different. With the recent
Prop. 8 debacle over in California, now is probably the perfect time to combine a popular mainstream genre with a topic more people need to not only come to terms with, but understand and support.
But is there room for a gay superhero amongst today's testosterone-fueled, run-and-gun box office blockbusters? Is this an idea that has potential, or do you see it slipping into territory that makes you feel too uncomfortable? Showtime
is a network that likes to take risks with their programming, and so are you afraid the show would spend more time in the bedroom than out fighting crime? And would it be a bad thing to focus more on living as an individual with many secrets versus living as a superhero who loves to kick ass and take names?
Sound off below ...
Next Page >
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If you haven't yet upgraded to some kind of Blu-ray player, and you've decided that this might be the year to do so, then it looks like you're getting up at the crack of dawn this Friday (aka Black Friday) because there are some pretty good deals to be found. Here are a few we uncovered:_thumbnail.jpg)
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