I was a huge fan of Greek myths when I was a wee lad. I used to tell the stories of Perseus and the others to my friends when we had sleepovers, and when Clash of the Titans — the last movie to feature Ray Harryhausen‘s classic stop-motion animation — came out in 1981, my friends told me all about the film and asked me how it squared with the original myths. Despite the film’s revisionism, I actually rather enjoyed... Read more

My review of Pathfinder is now up at CT Movies. 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. Shooter — CDN $5,307,909 — N.AM $42,102,000 — 12.6%300 — CDN $21,764,853 — N.AM $200,826,000 — 10.8%Grindhouse — CDN $2,108,836 — N.AM $19,700,000 — 10.7%Perfect Stranger — CDN $1,083,311 — N.AM $11,500,000 — 9.4%Blades of Glory — CDN $7,870,739 — N.AM $90,195,000 — 8.7%Wild Hogs — CDN $12,807,204 — N.AM... Read more

Kids. Work. Church. The first stages of house-hunting. Life is busy. Hopefully not so busy in the near future, though. Read more

Or rather, he is the next Bruce Banner, according to Variety. Can the Hulk / Fight Club mash-ups be far behind? Read more

Remember how Shia LaBeouf denied the rumour that he would be starring in Indiana Jones IV? Looks like he can un-deny the rumours now. Check IndianaJones.com for details. No word yet on who he will be playing, though. Indy’s son? Indy’s nephew? Short Round’s adopted cousin? Who knows. Or maybe, since they’ve been having trouble getting Sean Connery to come back, LaBeouf could play Indy’s dad! Tee hee. And, hmmmm, is it just a coincidence that they’re announcing this on... Read more

49th Parallel (1941) is simply one of the best wartime propaganda movies ever made, and I’m not just saying that because it takes place in my native Canada. The film — produced by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger before they went on to do The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), I Know Where I’m Going! (1945), Black Narcissus (1947), The Red Shoes (1948) and other classics — is a little more self-critical than you might expect, and it... Read more

Rumour has it that at least two movies opening later this month will not be screened for critics, said movies being The Invisible, which opens April 27, and Pathfinder, which opens this Friday. In fact, the press screenings for one of these films were cancelled in multiple cities across North America. Incidentally, both films just happen to be American remakes of Scandinavian movies, though both of the American films were shot in the Vancouver area. BTW, does anyone know if... Read more

Hollywood North Report reported today that Scott Derrickson is preparing to shoot a remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951; my comments) here in Vancouver. HNR is calling their item a “scoop” — but rumours of Derrickson’s involvement in this film have been around since at least 34 days ago. Hmmm, maybe it’s just the Vancouver angle that makes this item a “scoop”. Anyway, here are the important bits: According to our sources, Scott Derrickson – last here... Read more

Back in September, I noted that CleanFlicks and similar companies that edited DVDs to make them more “family friendly” had been shut down entirely, following a court decision in July that ordered those companies to turn their inventories over to the Hollywood studios whose works they had been editing illegally. But now the website for CleanFlicks is up and running again, and the Associated Press tells us why: Thanks to what they say is a loophole in copyright law that... Read more