I might as well offer my own two bits on that interview that Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins director McG did with The 213 recently; it’s been making the rounds today: (213): How will the TV show play into the film in terms of timelines? McG: It’s a little tricky, but I mean obviously there’s some liberties taken. What Cameron did with the second picture and what Mostow did with the third and certainly the TV show in the spirit... Read more

There is still no official word on whether or not New Line Cinema will go ahead with the sequels to The Golden Compass, but based on recent reports, I’m thinking … not. More specifically, I’m thinking that there might not even be a New Line Cinema any more that can make that decision. Yesterday, Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere passed on the news that, according to Colin Farrell, the release of the cop movie Pride and Glory has been delayed... Read more

Back in the ’90s, when I was first getting into life-of-Jesus movies in a big way, I made a point of tracking down every movie I could on the subject, no matter how obscure — and one of the films I found was The Star of Bethlehem (1912), a silent film produced by Edwin Thanhouser. Originally three reels long, all that survives of the film now is a single 15-minute reel, which Thanhouser’s grandson released on VHS over a decade... Read more

I tend not to get into politics all that much at this blog. But I couldn’t resist noting a certain recent item. Apparently Focus on the Family chairman James Dobson said today that he would not vote for John McCain if McCain were the Republican party’s candidate for the presidency. Among Dobson’s reasons? McCain “has a legendary temper and often uses foul and obscene language.” In response, Ross Douthat at TheAtlantic.com remarks: Finally, attacking McCain for his tendency to use... Read more

Last week, CT Movies posted its list of the ten “most redeeming” films of the past year. Today, we posted “The 2007 Critics’ Choice Awards” — and, as one of the participating critics, I am happy to say that I not only love some of the finalists myself, but I at least like all of them, to one degree or another. That isn’t always the case! (Though I would disagree with the claim that the musical remake of Hairspray “never... Read more

Warning: There be spoilers here — visual spoilers, even. In real life, crystal skulls are shaped like human skulls, and some people like to speculate that these skulls might be the product of alien civilizations. But that’s too indirect for George Lucas — who has already said that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be more like a “science-fiction movie” than any previous film in this series — so, to judge from a few photos that... Read more

Here are the figures for the past weekend, arranged from those that owe the highest percentage of their take to the Canadian box office to those that owe the lowest. Rambo — CDN $3,210,000 — N.AM $29,798,000 — 10.8%27 Dresses — CDN $5,610,000 — N.AM $57,115,000 — 9.8%Juno — CDN $9,780,000 — N.AM $110,263,000 — 8.9%Untraceable — CDN $1,700,000 — N.AM $19,451,000 — 8.7%The Bucket List — CDN $5,640,000 — N.AM $67,671,000 — 8.3%Cloverfield — CDN $5,840,000 — N.AM $71,974,000... Read more

I can remember going to McDonald’s with my dad after seeing Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) in the theatre and getting a movie-themed Happy Meal — the one with the transporters on the front, I think. (It’s the one on the top left in the video below.) I believe I might still have the Happy Meal box somewhere among my still-packed items here, and if I’m lucky, I might still have the plastic communicator with comic-strip roll that came... Read more

I have to review 10,000 B.C. next month, so I figured I might as well see the similarly-titled One Million Years B.C. (1966) last night — and I have to say, I kept staring at Raquel Welch’s eyebrows. Yes, her eyebrows. I know she has other assets, too, but they didn’t seem remotely as anachronistic or implausible to me as those perfectly manicured lines above her eyes. Of course, the two films presumably don’t have all that much in common,... Read more

I don’t think I have ever done anything quite like this before, but Carmen Andres at In the Open Space “tagged” me, so… Apparently there is a Book Meme making the rounds, and it works like so: Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages). Open the book to page 123. Find the fifth sentence. Post the next three sentences. Tag five people. The nearest book to me at this very moment in time happens to be the... Read more