Now this is a clever mash-up. I especially like the way the various glances around the table actually seem to make spatial sense.Click here if the video file above doesn’t play properly. Read more

I’m sure there are other bits of footage out there like this, but I was still tickled to see this ad, which I took from a VHS cassette released in 1999. It depicts a live-action, mid-air fight between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus — three years before the first Spider-Man movie, and five years before Tobey Maguire’s Spidey was pitted against Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2: Click here if the video file above doesn’t play properly. Read more

Regarding Children of Men, yesterday’s National Post reports: It’s no coincidence that Cuaron began the script in a post-9/11 world, having refused to read the pre-9/11 P.D. James novel that the movie is based on. “Because of those 9/11 events, it was important to set the film more in the 21st century, since the world has changed since then,” he says. So if Alfonso Cuarón didn’t read the book, how do we explain the various minor points where the film... Read more

Thanks to Queen Spoo for reminding me that The Resurrection — the upcoming film that is being developed by Screen Gems, Tim LaHaye and screenwriter Lionel Chetwynd — now has a tentative release date of February 22, 2008. I noticed this at BoxOfficeMojo.com a while back, but forgot to note it here. She also notes something that I had never heard before, which is that Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski recently announced that he is writing the script for... Read more

I’m a big fan of The Exorcist (1973; my review), but until recently I had avoided getting the film on DVD — mainly because, by the time I got my first player, there were already two different versions of the film out there, with two completely different sets of extras. I figured I might as well wait until they were packaged together. My wish finally came true a couple months ago, when Warner put out ‘The Complete Anthology‘, including not... Read more

Time to stop stockpiling these items. 1. John Granger has redesigned his Hogwarts Professor site, and he has already posted lots and lots (and lots and lots…) of thoughts on the possible meaning of the recently-announced title of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the last of the books. 2. If there is one thing I learned from my days as a video-store clerk, it is that horror movies get some of the most brilliant marketing gimmicks. Now comes this... Read more

Both times I have seen Dreamgirls, one name has leapt out at me — namely that of cinematographer Tobias A. Schliessler. And the reason his name jumps out at me is because I remember working on a set with a cinematographer named Tobias something-or- other many years ago, in my late teens or early 20s. A guy I knew at church named Don Knodel had been working in the local movie biz for a few years — going back to... Read more

Is there no end to what people can do with the Star Wars series? (Hat tip to The Screengrab at Nerve.com.) Read more

My review of Children of Men isn’t up yet, but suffice to say it’s mostly positive — more or less along the lines of the review written by my friend Jeffrey Overstreet. I do have some qualms about the film, though, and a couple of reviews that appeared on a couple of blogs today press those points especially hard. First, the so-called Luther at the Movies: Going to see a film based on a novel you’ve read and enjoyed is... Read more

Today I finally got around to checking out the Simpsons: Season 9 set that I bought last week, and lo and behold, I found that the animatic preview of The Simpsons Movie includes a bit of God-talk. To wit, Homer and Marge are standing in front of a giant silo bearing the label “PIG CRAP”, and Marge says to Homer: God spoke to us for a reason. I’m not quite sure what that reason is, but I’m asking you: Please,... Read more