Bloody Disgusting has posted the first few stills from George Romero's upcoming Diary of the Dead movie. From Bloody Disgusting:

By Bert Ehrmann
11/7/2006

This has to be either the best idea to come along in some time, or the worst – Evil Dead: The Musical. From the official site:

By Bert Ehrmann
11/7/2006

Christopher McQuarrie, writer of The Usual Suspects and writer/director of The Way of the Gun, is set to write and direct The Stanford Prison Experiment. From Dark Horizons:

By Bert Ehrmann
11/6/2006

Season one of the Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant series Extras is (finally) due in stores January 9. DVD extras include over 20 minutes of deleted scenes and outtakes and two featurettes.

By Bert Ehrmann
11/5/2006

The week the A.V. Club listed "15 Lamentably Lost One-Season TV Wonders." Their list includes, Harsh Realm, Now and Again, Freaks & Geeks, Undeclared, Firefly and Action.

I'd add to this list Space: Above and Beyond, Greg the Bunny, Tenacious D (the HBO show) K Street and The Tick (live action).

By Bert Ehrmann
11/5/2006

Over the years a sort of sub film genera has emerged — the faux documentary. These films aren't quite fiction nor docudrama, they're something else altogether. Blending fictional elements with a documentary style, these films can best be described as the "fauxcumentary."

Writer/director Peter Watkins practically invented the fauxcumentary in 1965 with his film The War Game. In Watkins' film, tensions between the U.S. and Soviet Union spill over to nuclear war, and an unprepared people of Great Britain must deal with the fallout of this shattering event.

Continue reading this article on the fauxcumentary.

By Bert Ehrmann
11/3/2006

JoBlo.com has the poster from the upcoming Smokin' Aces movie by director Joe Carnahan.



Larger view here.

By Bert Ehrmann
11/2/2006

Could it be!? Could Joe Carnahan (director of the extremely good Narc) be in the process of starting to direct a James Ellroy novel!? From IGN:

By Bert Ehrmann
11/2/2006

Fox Atomic has released a glimpse into the 28 Weeks Later… movie. It looks interesting, but I'm still not buying the whole plot behind the movie.

By Bert Ehrmann
11/1/2006

solice in cinema has posted the first official image from the upcoming 28 Weeks Later… movie, due in theaters next Spring.



Larger view here.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/31/2006

The end is nigh. From the New York Times:

By Bert Ehrmann
10/30/2006

The New York Times has a story about the sorry state of serialized dramas on television. More specifically, a "gun shy" audience afraid to commit to a show that could be canceled at any moment. From the article:

By Bert Ehrmann
10/28/2006

Reuters is reporting that Mitchell Hurwitz, the creator of Arrested Development, is working on an American version of the British comedy Thick of It. From Reuters:

I called the British version of Thick of It and Arrested Development as two of the best television shows of '05. I can't wait to see what Hurwitz does with the material.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/27/2006

The book James Bama: American Realist is available from Flesk Publications:

By Bert Ehrmann
10/26/2006

SCI FI Wire is reporting that the series Lost will go on hiatus for 13 weeks starting November 8. This translates to something like a 90 day break, just a bit less than the 133 day break between the second and third seasons of the show.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/25/2006

The trailer for the upcoming remake of the Day of the Dead (1985) movie is out, and looks really baaaaaad. This new Day of the Dead doesn't bear even a passing resemblance to the original, nor does it seem to be a follow-up to the Dawn of the Dead remake of 2004.

Why even remake a movie IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO USE THE ORIGINAL AS A GUIDE!?

By Bert Ehrmann
10/24/2006

The New York Times has an article on the CBS canceled series Smith, and the state of dramas on television today. From the article:

By Bert Ehrmann
10/23/2006

The new David Milch (Deadwood) series John From Cincinnati is a go. From Variety:

By Bert Ehrmann
10/23/2006

The great thing about Halloween is that it's the one time of year that lots of good sci-fi/horror films turn up on television — and I'm not talking about any of the recent Saw movies. I'm talking about classic sci-fi/horror, where the men are real-men who use large caliber weapons and flame throwers to send the beasts of hell back from where they came. My absolute favorite sci-fi/horror movie from this period has always been The Thing From Another World (1951).

Continue reading this article on The Thing From Another World.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/20/2006

Continuing the "Attack!" theme of a few weeks back, I present to you the late 1980s early 1990s magazine Monsters Attack!



These magazines were incredibly difficult to find back in the day. I managed to complete my collection only by scouring local grocery stores and drug stores in search of the latest issue. Each issue of Monsters Attack! featured fully drawn stories of terror as well as written features on horror movies.

Stories in Monsters Attack! ranged from the mysterious like the unforgettable "Weirdbeard" (the Blob meets Strange Brew) to the apocalyptic – a man escapes nuclear doom in a shelter full of bodacious bimbos only to suffer a crippling heart attack and become totally paralyzed. Eat your heart out Rod Serling!

You never knew what was going to happen next in Monsters Attack!



Best of all Monsters Attack! would introduce me to John Severin, one of the best artists who ever worked in the comic book industry. Severin illustrated several covers to Monsters Attack! as well as drawing stories within. I'm still trying to get over his "A Boy's Life" story, about a predatory juvenile vampire stalking the youth of 1950's America. Yikes!

Sadly, Monsters Attack! didn't last too long before the magazine folded. Issues of the magazine turn up for sale on eBay occasionally and a few are available for sale here.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/19/2006

These two Snake Eyes statues are extremely cool. The wall statue is out now, and the bust is due out next January. Click on the photos below for more information on the statues.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/19/2006

Check out the trailer for the upcoming The Good German movie, starring George Clooney, Cate Blanchett and Tobey Maguire, directed by Steven Soderbergh.













The Good German is due in theaters Christmas Day.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/19/2006

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the low ratings of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip are hurting Monday night ratings overall for NBC. From the article:

By Bert Ehrmann
10/18/2006

The Battlestar Galactica webisodes are causing quite a stir according to Newsweek.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/18/2006

A book on the television series Deadwood entitled Deadwood: Stories of the Black Hills has been released. From Amazon:

By Bert Ehrmann
10/17/2006

Check out two teaser trailers for the upcoming Hot Fuzz movie.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/16/2006

The Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood is set to premiere on BBC Three next Sunday (10/22).



From the official site:

By Bert Ehrmann
10/15/2006

JoBlo has released what looks like the cover art for the upcoming DVD release of Miami Vice.



What an AWFUL LOOKING OBVIOUSLLY RETOUCHED cover for such a good movie! There's always a chance that this isn't finished-art and that a new cover will grace the DVD upon release. Miami Vice is due out on DVD December 5.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/13/2006

A video for the upcoming Grind House movie that aired during the Scream Awards on SpikeTV has appeared over on TheMovieBox.Net. Grind House is really two movies sandwiched together as a sort-of "double-feature." One half of Grind House is entitled Planet Terror and is directed by Robert Rodriguez. The other movie, entitled Death Proof is directed by Quentin Tarantino and is (apparently) about a serial killer who uses a car as his weapon.














Grind House is due in theaters next spring.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/12/2006

JoBlo has posted an exclusive first look at the poster for the upcoming Zodiac movie, directed by David Fincher. Zodiac is due in theaters this January.



Larger view here.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/12/2006

The trailer for the upcoming Flags of Our Fathers movie has FINALLY been released in Quicktime.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/10/2006

I remember getting into Dinosaurs Attack! in (I'm guessing) 1989 when I spotted a box of these cards at a local drug store. If I remember correctly, the cards were marked down to just $.10 a pack from the usual $.25. That night, me and my brother bought a few packs and a few weeks later went back and bought-out the rest.



Sometime later I purchased an entire box of the cards and was able to get two sets out of it – though one set was accidentally covered in fake vampire blood a few months after purchase. (How appropriate?)

It's hard to describe how brutally amazing this card set was to me, a 14 year old punk-kid with a penchant for drawing. The art was rendered with such clarity, brilliant colors and gore it only made my desire to learn how to draw and paint much more desperate.



For more information on Dinosaurs Attack! visit:
Bob Heffner's Dinosaurs Attack! Homepage.
I-Mockery.com's Dinosaurs Attack! page.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/10/2006

The SCI FI Wire is reporting that David Eick, executive producer of the new Battlestar Galactica, is planning on resurrecting another 1970s show – The Bionic Woman. From SCI FI Wire:

By Bert Ehrmann
10/10/2006

Yahoo is reporting that Google is planning to purchase YouTube for $1.65 billion. YouTube was founded, according to Wikipedia, in February 2005. 20 or so months later the company was sold for $1.65 billion to Google. If you do the math with this number, the company "earned" $82.5 million a month, $2.75 million a day, $115,000 an hour, $1,900 a minute and $32 every second. Impressive numbers indeed.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/9/2006

Zap2It is reporting that the CBS series Smith has been canceled after three episodes. From Zap2It:

By Bert Ehrmann
10/8/2006

The official trailer for the upcoming 300 movie has been released. I like that the movie is billed as "Based on the Graphic Novel by Frank Miller." Looking at the trailer, I'm not sure that "based on" are strong enough words.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/5/2006

When Battlestar Galactica returned to the airwaves this fall, it marked the end of a 210-day absence of new episodes. Somehow, the wait seemed longer.

What began as a limited mini-series in 2003, morphed into a full-fledged weekly-series in 2004 that has cumulated as one of the SCI-FI Channels top rated shows since. Battlestar Galactica proves on a weekly basis that the genre doesn't have to consist of colorful lasers-beams and aliens with funky foreheads to be considered sci-fi.

Continue reading this article on the third season of Battlestar Galactica.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/4/2006

You can now download the Battlestar Galactica "catch up" episode "The Story So Far" free from iTunes.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/3/2006

Season three of Lost premiers this Wednesday (10/4) on ABC. From ABC:

By Bert Ehrmann
10/3/2006

Season three of Veronica Mars premiers this Tuesday (10/3) on The CW. From IMDB:

By Bert Ehrmann
10/2/2006

arglebargle! has a nice post up on the horror art of Bruce Timm.

By Bert Ehrmann
10/2/2006

The Monsters HD channel launched today on the Dish Network. The channel is billed as "TV's first horror channel uncut in Hi-Definition…"

By Bert Ehrmann
10/1/2006

Another week and another zombie book. This one's entitled Gospel of the Living Dead George Romero's Visions of Hell on Earth. From the publisher:

By Bert Ehrmann
9/29/2006

JoBlo has posted a photo of Will Smith filming the upcoming movie I Am Legend. I'm getting to get the feeling that this adaptation of I Am Legend is more The Omega Man (1971) than the original book in story.

By Bert Ehrmann
9/28/2006

Random thoughts on the second episode of Jericho…

I think Jericho is quickly proving itself to be even more lame than I originally suspected. I mean, c'mon, Jericho has a population of just 3,000 yet all of the residents within don't know each and every member of the Jericho police force!? (I grew up in a town more than three times the size of Jericho, and we all knew each and every officer in town.)

I like that the Jericho townsfolk know how long it takes for a storm to travel from Denver to their city. Like all storms travel the same speed and/or direction.

So, the world's ended and yet the criminals are still acting like criminals!? Shouldn't they be looking for leather chaps and super-modified cars that go REALLY fast?

Is it a rule that on Jericho all the characters must proclaim at least once an episode "Oh my god!" or "You're crazy!" to accentuate the tension? (Maybe this is a rule of CBS shows in general?)

The creators of Jericho so badly want their series to be Lost they even copy the opening credits of Lost with the logo of the series shown over a black screen with a simple piece of music playing.

The after effects of the nuclear bomb remind me a lot of the series Harsh Realm (1999).

Speaking of radiation, if Jericho's about to be covered with fallout, wouldn't this contaminate everything from the food to the drinking supply to the dust the residents breathe in?

I like all the main characters of Jericho are experts at everything and perfect shots – except for the criminals. They can't shoot worth squat.

Jericho's a lot like the series 24, every place is exactly ten minutes away from every other place in the town of Jericho.

By Bert Ehrmann
9/27/2006

The HBO series Six Feet Under begins airing on the basic cable channel Bravo next Monday (10/2) – which means all the "good parts" will probably be cut out. From Bravo:

By Bert Ehrmann
9/25/2006

Season two of the series Doctor Who begins airing this Friday (9/29) at 8:00 P.M. (EST) on the SCI FI Channel. The first episode is entitled "New Earth":

By Bert Ehrmann
9/25/2006

Next week is the last premier week for new television shows this Fall. In an interesting twist of fate, Veronica Mars, Lost and Battlestar Galactica all are entering their third seasons this year. Read more about The Nine here. I will be posting a review of the first three episodes of Battlestar Galactica sometime before the show premiers next week.

The week of October 2 — 6 (All Times EST)

By Bert Ehrmann
9/25/2006

Check out the trailer for the upcoming The Good Shepherd movie, starring Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie and starring/directed by Robert De Niro.

By Bert Ehrmann
9/25/2006

Slate Magazine has an interesting article on all the different varieties of the television series The Office around the world. From Slate:

By Bert Ehrmann
9/22/2006

The official Battlestar Galactica web-site has been redesigned with easier to use navigation as well as a smattering of new desktop backgrounds.

By Bert Ehrmann
9/21/2006

The New York Times has an article on the upcoming Flags of Our Fathers movie. From the article:

By Bert Ehrmann
9/20/2006

This might be the most interesting book I've heard about in a long while, a historical account of a future conflict between humanity and the living dead. From Amazon:

By Bert Ehrmann
9/20/2006

I couldn’t wait to see the pilot episode to the series Heroes, set to premiere this fall on NBC. Unfortunately, Heroes wasn’t worth the wait.

In Heroes, people all over the world (which means mostly in the United States) are slowly discovering that they have special abilities far beyond that of mortal men. An office worker in Japan teaches himself to bend-time and teleport, an artist in America learns of his ability to paint things that have yet to happen, an Unbreakable teen in Texas discovers that she’s practically indestructible while a mother in Las Vegas sees an evil version of herself in a mirror.

Continue reading this column up over at the Fort Wayne Reader.

By Bert Ehrmann
9/19/2006

Next week is a light one premiere-wise, with just the NBC series Heroes premiering on Monday. The week after next picks up a bit, though, with the return of the powerhouse series Veronica Mars, Lost and Battlestar Galactica.

The week of September 25 — 29 (All times EST)

By Bert Ehrmann
9/18/2006

The New York Times has a bit about the upcoming The Departed movie, as well as the premiere tonight of the Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip show. The Departed:

By Bert Ehrmann
9/18/2006

Fangoria has posted some images from the upcoming remake of the Day of the Dead movie. Apparently, the Dawn of the Dead remake did enough business to justify a one more remake from the Romero archives.



It was almost exactly three years ago today that Dangerous Universe began covering the Dawn of the Dead remake.

By Bert Ehrmann
9/15/2006

ABC and Apple iTunes are giving away one million downloads to the season finales of ABC's most popular shows – Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and Lost. Get 'em before they're gone!

Thanks to Duke for the heads up!

By Bert Ehrmann
9/14/2006

The second season of Extras begins airing on BBC Two Thursday night (9/14) at 9:00 P.M. in the UK.

By Bert Ehrmann
9/13/2006

The Wire has been renewed for a fifth, and final, season. From HBO :

By Bert Ehrmann
9/13/2006

Out on DVD next week (9/19) are the first seasons of the television series The Unit, My Name is Earl and season "2.5" of Battlestar Galactica. The Unit retails for around $50 and contains 13 episodes. My Name is Earl retails for around $50 and contains 24 episodes. Battlestar Galactica retails for around $50 an contains 10 episodes. The real kicker on the Battlestar Galactica DVD is that the first episode entitled "Pegasus" will be extended from the version originally aired on television.

By Bert Ehrmann
9/13/2006

After the announcement last Friday Amazon was selling movies online, Apple has followed suit and will also be selling movies online. The only movies being sold at this time on iTunes are ones from Disney Studios priced from $9.99 to $12.99. Unlike the Amazon model, movies purchased on iTunes will play on both Mac and PC platforms and will work with the iPod. Like the Amazon model, these movies will only play in their respective players (Unbox and iTunes) and cannot be burned to play in a DVD player.

Apple also has new iPods and is selling games for the them priced at around $5.00 a piece.

By Bert Ehrmann
9/12/2006

The New York Times has an interview with Aaron Sorkin, creator of the upcoming Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip series:

By Bert Ehrmann
9/11/2006

Here are some dates to remember next week. It looks like most of the interesting shows are premiering on CBS and NBC the next two weeks. It isn't until the first week of October that interesting series (namely Lost, Veronica Mars, The Nine and Battlestar Galactica) on other channels begins premiering.

The week of September 18 — 22

By Bert Ehrmann
9/11/2006

Things from Another World is selling a very cool Serenity ornament just in time for Christmas.

By Bert Ehrmann
9/10/2006

Starting today, feature films are finally available for legal purchase online via Amazon. Movies look to be priced anywhere between $10.00 and $15.00 depending on their popularity/release date. You can also rent movies for around $2.00 each. It was around this time last year that television shows were first available for purchase online via iTunes for around $2.00 an episode.

Unfortunately, the Amazon movies can only be played in the Amazon Unbox™ program and only on a PC – there is no Mac or Linux support. That's not the only drawback for this service, movies can't be burned to a DVD that's readable by a DVD player and the files can ONLY be viewed on the PC via the Unbox program.

Weirdest of all is their renting program. Here, once you start viewing the video you've rented you have 24 hours to complete viewing it before the video is (sic) "automatically deleted from your computer." You got'ta love that.

By Bert Ehrmann
9/8/2006

Check out the full trailer for the upcoming James Bond movie entitled Casino Royale here.

By Bert Ehrmann
9/8/2006

Out on DVD next week (9/12), the ORIGINAL THEATRICAL RELEASE versions of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. These DVDs will be available for a limited time only, which probably means that Lucas is hard at work on some 30th anniversary special edition DVD for Star Wars next year. From Amazon:

By Bert Ehrmann
9/7/2006

Ten years ago today, Superman: The Animated series premiered on Kid's WB. The first storyline entitled "The Last Son of Krypton" played out over three episodes told the origin story of Superman. From TV.com:

The Superman series would last for four seasons and 54 episodes. The Superman character would then go to play a major role in the Justice League cartoon series which ran for five seasons and 91 episodes before ending earlier this year.

By Bert Ehrmann
9/6/2006

The remake to 28 Days Later… entitled 28 Weeks Later is proceeding ahead as planned. From Dark Horizons:

By Bert Ehrmann
9/5/2006

The first "webisode" of Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance has launched. SCIFI.COM describes these mini-shows as:

By Bert Ehrmann
9/5/2006

Just when you thought the threat of nuclear war on television screens had evaporated in the mushroom clouds of The Day After (1983) comes the “post-apocalyptic drama” series Jericho on CBS.

In Jericho, Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich) returns home so his father and Jericho town mayor (Gerald McRaney) can sign Jake’s inheritance over to him. But before any signing can take place, all the televisions and radios turn to static and a large mushroom cloud appears outside of town.

Continue reading this column over at the Fort Wayne Reader.

By Bert Ehrmann
9/4/2006

Season four of The Wire premiers on HBO this Sunday (9/10). For a show that's faced cancelation since its premiere back in 2002, four seasons is pretty good. From tvguide.com:

By Bert Ehrmann
9/4/2006

Coming in early 2007 are several statues based on the comic book series The Walking Dead from CS Moore Studio. These will retail for about $25 each and there's a larger The Walking Dead statue on the way later in '07.

By Bert Ehrmann
9/2/2006

Season two of Lost is due out on DVD this Tuesday (9/5). The set will retail for around $60.

By Bert Ehrmann
9/1/2006

It's been rumored to happen for years at this point, but Paramount Domestic Television has finally decided to pull a George Lucas and "upgrade" the sound and effects of the original Star Trek series just in time for the 40th anniversary of the show. From Star Trek.com:

By Bert Ehrmann
9/1/2006

Yahoo has posted some information on David Milch's new HBO series entitled John From Cincinnati.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/31/2006

Zap2It has a bit of information on the upcoming season of Extras, which starts airing this September in the UK.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/30/2006

Ronald D. Moore, executive producer of Battlestar Galactica has said that there will be some character deaths in the upcoming season of the show. From SCI FI Wire:

By Bert Ehrmann
8/29/2006

The New York Times is reporting that since many of HBO's high profile shows have already gone or are going away over the next year or so their series Entourage has become a more important show in the HBO line-up. From the Times:

By Bert Ehrmann
8/28/2006

Below are renderings of both Megatron and Optimus Prime from the upcoming Transformers movie. Although Optimus is still a semi, Megatron is presented as an "alien jet." Hopefully, this "alien jet" version of Megatron is the version BEFORE he gets to Earth to become something more Earth-like. Remember, he's supposed to be a "robot in disguise," not something that's completely alien to our environment.



More Megatron images here.



Larger view here.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/27/2006

Below is a cool looking poster for last years War of the Worlds movie. I never was a fan of the regular War of the Worlds poster and wonder why this one wasn't used more?



Larger view here.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/26/2006

The last (and perhaps best?) season of Arrested Development is set to be released on DVD this Tuesday (8/29).

By Bert Ehrmann
8/25/2006

Check out the poster for the upcoming Children of Men movie. The copy reads, "In 20 years, women are infertile. No Children. No Future. No Hope. But all that can change in a heartbeat."



Larger view here.


JoBlo.com also has other Children of Men teaser posters as well.



Larger view here.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/24/2006

The poster for season three of Lost has been released. It an interesting character montage poster, obviously playing off how well known the cast of Lost has gotten over the last two seasons.

It's an interesting shift, where in previous seasons before the cast were as well known as they are today, they was secondary to the overall mystery/creepiness of the show. The first season had the cast on the poster, but all their faces were obscured/blacked out, and the season two poster had a bottle floating on the sea with not a member of the cast in sight.



Larger view here.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/23/2006

Season three of The Ricky Gervais Show has premiered online over at iTunes. From Ricky Gervais.com:

By Bert Ehrmann
8/22/2006

Check out the trailer for the upcoming Bug movie, directed by William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection.) From IMDB:

By Bert Ehrmann
8/22/2006

One down and one to go: the STARGATE Channel, err… I mean, the SCI FI Channel has decided not to renew their perennial favorite Stargate SG-1 series after a ten year run. From SCI FI Wire:

By Bert Ehrmann
8/22/2006

On Saturday August 5, I once again had the opportunity to attend the Wizard World Convention held annually in Chicago. What used to be known simply as a “Comic Book Convention” has recently morphed into the “Comics, Cards, Games, Toys, Anime, Manga, Gaming, TV and Movies!” convention. (Now that’s a mouthful.)

But no matter what the convention owners choose to call this mass of humanity that sweats together for three days every summer off of the shores of Lake Michigan near the in-bound runways of the O’Hare Airport, the geeks always seem to find the place.

Continue reading this column over at the Fort Wayne Reader.



Check out some photos from the convention here.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/21/2006

What's David Brent aka Ricky Gervais been doing since we last saw him on The Office? Apparently, he's now a management consultant for Microsoft. Hilarious isn't strong enough a word for what this is.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/18/2006

The Other Side looks to be an interesting, well drawn comic book about the Vietnam War. From DC Comics:

By Bert Ehrmann
8/17/2006

Season two of Veronica Mars is set to be released on DVD next Tuesday (8/22). According to Amazon, extras include:

By Bert Ehrmann
8/16/2006

JoBlo.com has posted the poster for the upcoming The Departed movie. It's interesting, but still – does the poster really need to have the copy "The Departed" on the poster twice?



Click for a larger view.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/16/2006

Check out the Japanese trailer for the upcoming Flags of Our Fathers movie here.



More information on the Flags of Our Fathers/Letters From Iwo Jima movies here.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/15/2006

This Shaun of the Dead resin mini bust is quite cool. It's due out in October and will retail for around $45.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/14/2006

It’s a bit hard to describe what the movie World Trade Center is. What World Trade Center is NOT is an in depth political study of the workings of the terrorist attacks of 9|11. This is not another JFK (1991). World Trade Center is a film about men and their families trapped alone together in the aftermath of 9|11.

Simply put, World Trade Center is amazing – it’s the second great film of the year.



World Trade Center follows the events of 9|11 from the viewpoint of a group of Port Authority Police Department officers who find themselves at the towers during the attacks after being bussed in from their regular duty locations. On that fateful morning, John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) leads a team of men into the melee to try and help, but before they can do any good, the building above them comes crashing down trapping the police officers in the wreckage. At home, the surviving men’s wives and families, including Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal, can only wait for word on the fate of their husbands.

Director Oliver Stone takes a unique angle depicting the events of that day from within the disaster. The viewer is with the officers inside the building as the ceiling begins to buckle when the only determination of who lives and who dies is which way the officers choose to run.

Stone resists the urge of painting the trapped men and rescuers, including officer Will Jimeno (Michael Pena), as saints.  They’re depicted as average men trapped in a horrendous situation who want little else than to see their families one more time or, barring that, to let their families know that they love them.

Director Oliver Stone, coming off the disappointing Alexander (2004), has made perhaps the best film of his career. It’s not a movie about the causes of 9|11 but the initial after effects, where the best in humanity came together to rescue those trapped by the worst in humanity.  (9/10)

By Bert Ehrmann
8/14/2006

Photos of the entire assortment of the Lost character figures have been released – there's figures of Jack, Kate, Locke, Hurley, Charlie, Shannon and The Hatch Boxed Set. These figures are due on store shelves this November, just in time for Christmas.

The Locke and Charlie figure looks great, Jack and Hurley looks good but I don't think the Kate or Shannon figures look all that much like actresses who play the parts.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/12/2006

Season two of Doctor Who begins airing on the SCI FI Channel September 29. From the SCI FI Wire:

By Bert Ehrmann
8/11/2006

The SCI-FI Channel and NBC will air a special Battlestar Galactica "catch-up" episode entitled "Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far" in August and September. From The SCI FI Wire:

By Bert Ehrmann
8/10/2006

The long delayed Feast movie, originally part of Project Greenlight back in 2005, has finally gotten a release date. Unfortunately, Feast will only be shown in Las Vegas in late September with the DVD due on store shelves October 17. From Zap2It:

By Bert Ehrmann
8/10/2006

The poster for the upcoming The Black Dahlia movie bears a passing resemblance to the poster for L.A. Confidential (1997). Somehow, I don't think the resemblance is a mistake.


Larger view


Larger view

By Bert Ehrmann
8/8/2006

Here are some photos that were taken on our trip to the Wizard World Convention in Chicago, Illinois last Saturday (8/5). The trip was a blast with the surprise being that GI Joe toys from the 1980s have become extremely expensive – nearly $1,000 for a mint in box Zartan on his Swamp Skier!

Expect a full write-up on the trip in the next few weeks.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/7/2006

This summer’s most anticipated movie doesn’t star Johnny Depp or feature the world’s most famous superhero. It features snakes. Poisonous snakes. Lots of poisonous snakes. Let loose on a plane.

Generating “buzz” from the title alone, the upcoming movie Snakes on a Plane has garnered the kind of rabid publicity that movie producers dream about – the FREE kind. Even before there was a Snakes on a Plane movie trailer, before anyone outside of Hollywood had even seen megastar Samuel L. Jackson battling the serpents on the big-screen, thousands of “netizens” had already seized on the movie, creating blogs, websites, fake trailers and made up dialogue for the flick.

Continue Reading this column over at the Fort Wayne Reader.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/7/2006

Dark Horizons is reporting that the movie I Am Legend has a release date:

announced back in 2002 (along with the long delayed The Fountain movie then called Last Man.)

More on I Am Legend, as well as a history of the I Am Legend movies over the years here.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/4/2006

You can watch the pilot episode of the upcoming Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip television series on YouTube (below) – that is until NBC's lawyers have it removed! And guess what, the pilot episode is BLOODY BRILLIANT! Studio 60 features snappy dialogue, witty writing and characters with depth. The pilot episode reminds me a lot of the Sport's Night series, which was an hour long drama masquerading as an half-hour long sitcom.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is set to air Mondays at 10:00 P.M. (EST) this fall on NBC.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/2/2006

Apple has posted several featurettes for the Miami Vice movie on their site. The first one is about the locations of the movie entitled "Scouting" while the second is about the fight moves used in Miami Vice called "Arts."

By Bert Ehrmann
8/2/2006

The poster for the upcoming Clint Eastwood directed Flags of Our Fathers movie has been released. IMDB describes the movie as:

By Bert Ehrmann
8/2/2006

IGN is reporting that the sequel to Batman Begins will be entitled The Dark Knight and will star Heath Ledger in the role of the Joker. I'm not completely sold on the whole Ledger as Joker thing – I'm having problems imagining him in the role that was defined by Jack Nicholson in Batman (1989). Nicholson was in his 50s when he starred as the Joker, Ledger will still be in his 20s when The Dark Knight is released the Summer of 2008.

By Bert Ehrmann
8/1/2006

Jeers to the SCI FI Channel for editing out several minutes of the premiere episode of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace last Thursday night. When Darkplace originally aired in the U.K., it ran something like 24 minutes in length. Here in the U.S. it was cut down to something like 21 minutes. Why? More room for commercials, I suspect.

By Bert Ehrmann
7/31/2006

In Miami Vice (2006), an FBI lead drug sting against a Columbian drug cartel in Miami has gone bad and ended bloody. To add insult to injury, every government agency involved has been exposed to the cartel via a mole in one of the organizations. The only Florida law enforcement agency not exposed is the Miami-Dade Police – enter Det. Sonny Crockett (Colin Farell) and Det. Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx).



What follows is Crockett and Tubbs going deep undercover to unravel the drug conspiracy, and Crockett getting a bit too involved with one member of the drug cartel – Isabella (Li Gong).

Written and directed by Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral), Miami Vice serves up a hyper-realistic vision of undercover narcotics detective work in America – much like the original Miami Vice television series did over 20 years ago. Crockett and Tubbs drive fast and expensive cars and fly into Columbia via multi-million dollar jets. Just as hyper-realistic is the violence, which occurs at a deafening and break-neck brutal pace. In Miami Vice, bullets are a dangerous thing and not just for the bad guys.

Mann is adept at showing professional men, who are extremely good at, and inseparable from, their jobs. The women in their lives come second and almost all of the men's resources are directed towards their work.

What I found impressive is that Miami Vice isn't just all Crocket and Tubbs – partners like Trudy Joplin (Naomie Harris), Larry Zito (Justin Theroux) and Stan Switek (Domenick Lombardozzi) all have their own roles to play in the story of the movie.

Especially stunning is the end of Miami Vice. All too often movie endings have an unrealistic sense of closure, and though the end of Miami Vice certainly ends the story told in the movie, there is very little sense of closure – to the benefit of Miami Vice.

I was a little upset that several scenes at the start of the movie (the dance-club scene) and several lines of dialogue (red-light, green-light) that seem to be lifted from the movie Collateral (2004). Though I guess it's too much to expect that any writer or director keep clear of borrowing from their previous work(s).

If the original Miami Vice (1984) was a stylistic milestone of the 1980s, it now seems quaint and a bit dated. (If you don't believe me, watch an episode of The Sopranos before taking in an episode of Miami Vice.) This new version of Miami Vice does a good job of updating the story without loosing much of what made Miami Vice Miami Vice.

I'm not sure that writer/director Michael Mann is capable of creating a bad movie. And though Miami Vice might not be a classic like Heat, what is? (8/10)

By Bert Ehrmann
7/30/2006

The AMAZING trailer for director Martin Scorsese's next movie, The Departed, has been released. The movie stars an all-star cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg and Jack Nicholson, Yahoo describes The Departed as:

By Bert Ehrmann
7/28/2006

I was actually really into the trailer for the upcoming Babel movie, which looks a bit like what happens if you'd cross Crash and Syriana, until I saw that the writer and director for Babel were the same guys who wrote and directed 21 Grams. And since I had a strong dislike for 21 Grams I'm not sure what to think of Babel.

By Bert Ehrmann
7/28/2006

Check out the trailer for director Brian De Palma's adaptation of the James Ellroy novel The Black Dahlia. From Yahoo:

By Bert Ehrmann
7/28/2006

Don't forget – the first episode of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace airs this Thursday (7/27) night at 10:00 P.M. (EST) followed by the one and only episode of The Amazing Screw-On Head on the SCI FI Channel.



More on Darkplace and The Amazing Screw-On Head here.

By Bert Ehrmann
7/26/2006

Action Figure Xpress has the limited edition Cylon bust, previously only available at the San Diego Comic Con, on sale for the list price of $50. I've seen these for sale as high as $200 on eBay.



You can also find the Battle Damaged Cylon, another Battlestar Galactica San Diego exclusive, on sale over at eBay. Bids on this go anywhere from $80 to $150.

By Bert Ehrmann
7/26/2006

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2004) is an extremely funny movie centered on the attempt at turning the “unfilmable” book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman into a feature film.  



Starring Steve Coogan (24 Hour Party People) as Shandy, Coogan breaks the fourth wall as he addresses the audience on all manner of subjects like the moment of his conception to why his nose is crooked. At other times, Coogan plays himself as an actor starring in the Shandy movie within a movie.

I’ve been following Coogan for some time now, abet admittedly late in the game. Coogan is relatively unknown here stateside, having only starred in a handful of movies and television programs that have ever aired in the U.S. Audiences may remember him from the 24 Hour Party People movie or the series I’m Alan Partridge that occasionally airs on BBC America from time to time.

Regardless, Coogan is a very funny person and is very funny in Tristram Shandy. He’s a sort of world-weary actor, all too focused on his height among other actors or how many lines of script he has than of the relative art in the movie.

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story is not a perfect movie, but certainly a fun movie to watch for those interested in the dry British humor. (8/10)

Steve Coogan: "This is a postmodern novel before there was any modernism to be post about."

By Bert Ehrmann
7/26/2006

The failed pilot to The WB's proposed live-action Aquaman series as well as the first season of Babylon 5 are now available for purchase via iTunes. I wonder if this will become the norm – that failed pilots turn up for sale online, generating some income for the studio? I hope so.

By Bert Ehrmann
7/25/2006

My latest column up over at the Fort Wayne Reader is online – "Jim Cameron's Guide to Being Silent."

By Bert Ehrmann
7/25/2006

It's official, Venom will be one of the villains in the upcoming Spider-Man 3 movie. From JoBlo's San Diego Comic Con reports:

By Bert Ehrmann
7/24/2006

Check out the trailer for the upcoming The Fountain movie here. I believe that here, The Fountain refers to the mythic Fountain of Youth. From IMDB:

By Bert Ehrmann
7/23/2006

Lady in the Water is writer/director M. Night Shyamalan's follow-up to his disappointing The Village (2004) film.



In Lady in the Water, a water nymph (Bryce Dallas Howard) appears to an apartment complex pool to maintenance technician Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti). Her kind is on Earth to bring hope to the human race and she finds her life in peril when evil forces conspire, trapping her in our world.

Unfortunately, not much of the story in Lady in the Water ever gels (the characters just accept as fact that she really is a nymph) and most of the jokes in the movie (Lady in the Water plays like a dramety) fall flat. Still, there were a few interesting twists and turns in the story and Shyamalan is adept at showing just enough of the unknown to pique interest.

In a "what was he thinking" moment, Shymalan casts himself in the movie as a writer who's work will change the course of future mankind for the better. Ugh. I just wish that Shymalan would return to the days of old, when he brought us films like The Sixth Sense (1999), the underrated Unbreakable (2000) and eerie Signs (2002). (7/10)

By Bert Ehrmann
7/23/2006

Check out the trailer for the dystopian thriller Children of Men, where mankind stands on the edge of extinction unless the last child bearing woman on the planet can be taken to safety. Children of Men is due in theaters September 29.





Also released today is the trailer for the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. The animation on this LOOKS very good. The TMNT movie is due in theaters March 2007.

By Bert Ehrmann
7/21/2006

Check out the cool as hell looking commercial for the upcoming third season of Battlestar Galactica below. The theme of this season seems to be "It's time to decide who you are." Season three begins airing this October on the SCI FI Channel.

By Bert Ehrmann
7/20/2006

37 years ago today mankind did the unthinkable – we landed on the Moon. From Nasa:

By Bert Ehrmann
7/20/2006

This fall ABC is going to air six new episodes of Lost starting October 4 before the series goes on a 13 week haitus. And what will fill those 13 weeks Lost is gone? A new series entitled Day Break. From Yahoo:

By Bert Ehrmann
7/19/2006

arglebargle! has an interesting post on movie poster illustrator Reynold Brown:

By Bert Ehrmann
7/18/2006

Check out the international trailer for the upcoming Miami Vice movie here.

By Bert Ehrmann
7/17/2006

Check out the trailer for the upcoming The Science of Sleep movie (OR) it had me at (sic) "by the director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

By Bert Ehrmann
7/16/2006

Head over to the SCI-FI Channel and click on their link to check out the pilot episode to The Amazing Screw-On Head and the first episode to Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. Be sure to fill out the survey to The Amazing Screw-On Head to tell SCI-FI that you WANT MORE!

By Bert Ehrmann
7/14/2006

Check out the trailer for the upcoming The Prestige movie, about battling magicians. The trailer makes the movie seem like one magician might be using real magic to perform his tricks, but IMDB describes the movie as (sic):

By Bert Ehrmann
7/14/2006

(OR – I wonder why I haven't watched this series yet?) iTunes has a free download to the FX series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia called "Best of Sunny Funnies." It's a five minute long clip episode of (what I'm assuming) are the best bits from the first season of the show. Download the clip here.

By Bert Ehrmann
7/13/2006

The pilot episode to the new series Brotherhood that airs Sunday nights at 10:00 P.M. (EST) on Showtime will be shown on CBS this Saturday (7/15) also at 10:00 P.M. This version of the pilot will be (I'm guessing) "edited for network television." If you can't wait until Saturday, you can also watch the entire first episode online for free over at Showtime.

By Bert Ehrmann
7/12/2006

Syd Barrett, one of the founding members of Pink Floyd has died at age 60. From NPR:

By Bert Ehrmann
7/11/2006

The New York Times has an article on the proposed remake of Battle Royale – which has NEVER been officially released here in the U.S. in any form. From the NY Times:

By Bert Ehrmann
7/9/2006

On Thursday, July 13 SCIFI.COM's broadband channel "Pulse" will premiere two shows not scheduled to air on SCI FI Channel until July 27.

The first show "Pulse" is premiering is the Mike Mignola (Hellboy) animated pilot episode to the series Amazing Screw-On Head. In this series, robot Screw-On Head (Paul Giamatti) fights against the diabolical Emperor Zombie (David Hyde Pierce) who's trying to unleash a demon for control of the world. The animation here is top-notch and the story is Buffy the Vampire Slayer in tone – dramatically funny.



I couldn't quite believe that a series like this was being produced. Amazing Screw-On Head is not a kid's show and is aimed squarely at adults. Then I saw the caveat that came along with the promotional DVD from SCI FI Channel. So far, they've only produced ONE episode of Amazing Screw-On Head, and once that episode airs on "Pulse," SCI FI Channel is going to poll the viewers to see if they should green-light the series for more episodes.



C'Mon SCI FI Channel, Amazing Screw-On Head marks a return to the animation form not seen since those original 1960s Johnny Quest episodes. Green-light this series! (9/10)

Also premiering on "Pulse" is the hilarious British series Garth Merenghi's Darkplace. In the entirely fictional Garth Merenghi's Darkplace, horror writer Garth Merenghi (Matthew Holness – the tech guy from The Office, UK) presents a television show he developed in the 1980's that never aired; Garth Merenghi's Darkplace. Merenghi is a sort of Stephen King like writer who turned his questionable "talents" towards writing, producing and starring in this television show.



This "show within a show" is one part The Ray Bradbury Theater (if Bradbury would have also starred in the episodes), one part St. Elsewhere and one part The A-Team. Think Heat Vision and Jack and you're getting close to what Garth Merenghi's Darkplace is.

Merenghi "stars" in Darkplace as one of the doctors working the wards at Darkplace Hospital. But these are no ordinary doctors; they fight evil within the hospital and carry handguns. At one point, Merenghi's boss Thornton Reed (Richard Ayoade) pulls a shotgun out of nowhere to blast some baddies.



And that's the appeal of Garth Merenghi's Darkplace, this fictional show is so bad, it's good. It's the height of 1980s kitsch and aesthetics, featuring those awful television "special effects" that kids who grew up in the 1980s have come to love and hate – at the same time. In typical British fashion, only six episodes of Garth Merenghi's Darkplace were ever produced back in 2004. (10/10)

By Bert Ehrmann
7/9/2006

Check out my latest article up over at The Fort Wayne Reader, "Taking down the story behind Heat." It's about the backstory on how a proposed television series entitled L.A. Takedown would one day become the movie Heat.

By Bert Ehrmann
7/7/2006

This morning the Emmy awards were announced, and boy was it an odd looking list. Missing from the major nominations were the series Lost (which won last year for best drama) Desperate Housewives, Deadwood, Battlestar Galactica and Veronica Mars. WTF? Both Battlestar Galactica and Lost were two of the most talked-about shows last season. Practically everyone I know watches Lost and all the cool people I know watch Galactica. But The West Wing!? What gives?

Is this yet another sign that AWARDS LIKE THESE MEAN NOTHING?

By Bert Ehrmann
7/6/2006

Check out the trailer for the upcoming Hollywoodland movie. From Yahoo:

By Bert Ehrmann
7/6/2006

I'm digging the whole poster campaign for the movie The Proposition.







Larger views and more posters here.

By Bert Ehrmann
7/5/2006

In The Proposition (2005), the brother's Burns are some of the most wanted criminals on the Australian Outback. When Charlie (Guy Pearce) and Mikey (Richard Wilson) are captured after a shootout, they're presented with a ghoulish “proposition” by their captor Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone). If Charlie goes out into the wild and kills their older and more vicious brother Arthur (Danny Huston), both he and Mikey will be released. If he refuses or cannot carryout his task, Mikey will be hung on Christmas day.



The Proposition has great cinematography, good acting and a good story. But what hurts the film is a second act that drags on a bit too long. I'm not sure if it's the script or editing, but The Proposition almost comes to a complete stop during that second act and doesn't start back up again until the near the end of the movie.

The Australia in The Proposition is something I'm not sure has ever been seen before on film. The stagecoaches are lead by camels and Aborigines have replaced the Indians. And though the brother's Burns look and act much like outlaws we've seen before in other westerns, they speak with Irish accents and follow Irish traditions.

At once this Australia is one of the most violent places on Earth (people die in some of the most inhumane ways) while at the same time people like Captain Stanley are doing their bit for “Queen and Country” to bring a bit of “civilization” to the place. (Even if while at the same time he murders Aborigines while flying the British flag.)

It's a familiar and alien world at the same time.

The Proposition is worth seeing. It seems to me that writer Nick Cave and director John Hillcoat tried to push the bounds of the western to the next level. And for the most part that's exactly what they've done, though just be prepared for the movie to drag a bit. (8/10)

By Bert Ehrmann
7/4/2006

It's been nearly twenty years since the last Superman movie flew into theaters. Back then, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was a disappointment at best and a health hazard at worst. Thankfully, Superman Returns does a good job of washing away the memories of both the third and fourth Superman films, while at the same time establishing a beachhead for a future Superman franchise.



In Superman Returns, the "Man of Steel" (Brandon Routh) returns from a five-year absence to find that his once girlfriend Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has moved on and that his arch-nemesis Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) has been released from jail when Superman failed to materialize at court hearing.

Following a unique angle that I'm not sure has been used by any other movie franchises; Superman Returns takes place after the first and second Superman movies, ignoring the third and fourth and negating the need for much backstory in Superman Returns entirely.

Here, Luthor is still bent on world domination, Lane is still chasing the big stories and Superman still disguises himself as bumbling reporter Clark Kent. What's changed is much of the character dynamics.

When Gene Hackman played Luthor in the original Superman series, it was with a comic twist. In Superman Returns, Spacey plays it with a deadly elegance – scary and sublime at the same time. And this time, Lane represents a sort of modern-day "everywoman," trying to balance her career with a child and a fiancé.

Superman is still the ultimate outsider, alien to the Earth with superpowers at his fingertips yet unable to have the one thing he truly desires – a relationship with Lois Lane. The audience roots for him, whether he is Clark Kent or Superman. (Routh does a good job as Superman, a welcome addition to the line of the dozen or so actors who have so far worn the Superman "crown.")

A few things did bug me about Superman Returns, namely the use of a computer generated Superman for many of the flying shots. This 3D Superman looks good, but not great. Even my untrained eye could pick out the fake Superman from the real. Still, the effects of the movie are VERY good if it seems that director Bryan Singer might have been pushing the technology bounds a bit too far.

Still, I was surprised as to just how good Superman Returns was. From the first shot of the doomed Krypton to the last of Superman in flight over the Earth I was hooked. Singer has added another notch on his movie belt, going from The Usual Suspects, X-Men 1 and 2, the television series House, MD and now Superman Returns.

I am excited and cannot wait to see what the future holds for the Superman series. (8/10)

By Bert Ehrmann
7/2/2006

The teaser trailer for the upcoming Transformers movie has been released. It's an interesting trailer, though factually incorrect. The Beagle 2 was a lander, not a rover. Does this trailer remind anyone else of the original Armageddon (1998) teaser trailer like it does me?

I'm still waiting for some semblance of the classic Transformers cartoon to emerge in the new Transformers.

By Bert Ehrmann
6/30/2006

The full trailer for the upcoming M. Night Shyamalan movie Lady in the Water was released today over at Apple. The teaser trailer for the movie was released back in November of last year.

By Bert Ehrmann
6/28/2006

In the television series Eureka, set to premiere Tuesday July 18 at 9:00 P.M. (EST) on the SCI FI Channel, the town of the same name plays host to the greatest minds of America. Established at the behest of scientist Albert Einstein at the end of WWII, these “great minds” spend their days working on government projects while their nights are spent at home in their garage building tinkering with the secrets of the universe.



Colin Ferguson (the US version of Coupling) stars as US Marshal Jack Carter, who ends up in the town of Eureka with his daughter after a car accident. In Eureka, Carter finds himself at the center of a mystery when a boy goes missing and strange electrical disturbances begin to affect the town after one of these “garage experiments” goes awry.

A dramety (think Men in Black), Eureka follows wisecracking Jack as he makes the transformation from US Marshal to Eureka town Sheriff solving and uncovering mysteries along the way. One question, though – if the smartest people in the country all live in the same town, how can an outside US Marshal show up and outsmart the lot?

Unfortunately, Eureka is average at best. The pilot episode had several glaring plot-holes and relies on a multitude of dramatic series conventions that turn up on television time and time again – a 13 going on 30 daughter, an “evil” boss, gruff soldiers, slightly crazed sidekicks… And that’s not to mention the “borrowing” of elements from other sci fi shows and movies. Remember the artificial black hole in Event Horizon, that crazy Australian big-game hunter in Jurassic Park or the house sealed in plastic in E.T.? Well, they all turn up in Eureka.

But what really struck me was the weird, out-of-place ending that didn’t fit with the overall tone of the show. I had high hopes for Eureka, but it turns out the series is little more than standard sci fi fare. (6/10)

By Bert Ehrmann
6/28/2006

Check out the teaser trailer for the upcoming Spider-Man 3 movie, due in theaters May of 2007.

By Bert Ehrmann
6/27/2006

The Colin Farell Fansite has posted several production photos from the upcoming Miami Vice movie.

By Bert Ehrmann
6/27/2006

In The Quiet Earth (1985), New Zealander Zac Hobson (Bruno Lawrence) awakens one morning to find himself alone and apparently the last person on the Earth. The antithesis of movies like The Road Warrior (1981) and The Omega Man (1971), much of The Quiet Earth focuses on Zac and Zac alone as he explores his surroundings.



There are no mutants, racing cars or zombies to interact with Zac. And that’s a big problem in that a large portion of the movie centers on Zac trying to come to terms with this situation he finds himself in. Much of The Quiet Earth is a one-man show as Zac lives out his fantasies before sliding down the mental abyss towards suicide.

Eventually, Zac does find other survivors and the reason behind why they are left behind on a “quiet earth” is very interesting. But still, The Quiet Earth clocks in at just over an hour and a half in length yet feels much longer.

Still, I must say, though, the open-ended “what in the hell just happened?” ending is appealing. (7/10)

By Bert Ehrmann
6/25/2006

The iTunes Music Store has an amazing clip from the upcoming Superman Returns movie, due in theaters this Wednesday (6/28).

By Bert Ehrmann
6/22/2006

The series Spaced, only aired once here in the US a few years back and starring Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead), begins airing this Friday (6/23) on BBC America. The one problem though, the earliest Spaced airs is 11:00 P.M. (EST).

By Bert Ehrmann
6/21/2006

I believe the first time I saw 84 Charlie MoPic (aka 84C MoPic) was when it aired on PBS in the early 1990s. Though I've seen it several times since, most of these viewings have come from a worn VHS tape.



In 84 Charlie MoPic , a "Lessons Learned" camera team (Motion Picture – MoPic) follows a long range Army patrol into the jungle during the war in Vietnam. The goal of the cameraman (Byron Thames) and Lieutenant LT (Jonathan Emerson) following the soldiers is to film this patrol for training purposes, to take some of the hard "lessons learned" by the troops in the field back to those training in the states.

Told in the first person perspective later popularized by The Blair Witch Project, the viewer becomes the camera on MoPic's shoulder. We see what he films.

The patrol, lead by OD (Richard Brooks) hasn't suffered as much as a scratch on any of their previous patrols. They're good and the know it. Staying alive is hard business in the Vietnamese jungle and these men are experts. But even experts can make mistakes – even experts can push their luck too far.



Sometime in 1993 I managed to record 84 Charlie MoPic on VHS from another airing on PBS. And though the movie is available on DVD overseas, it is so far unavailable here in any form other than a VHS release some years ago. And that's a shame. If anything, 84 Charlie MoPic is part of the collection of movies and television shows released in the 1980s that focused on the war in Vietnam. What started with Platoon in 1986, continued with Full Metal Jacket, Gardens of Stone and Hamburger Hill in 1987 and Born on the Fourth of July in 1989. On television there was Tour of Duty in 1987 and China Beach in 1988.

But this set cannot be complete without 84 Charlie MoPic , the last of the bunch released at the close of the decade in 1989 and acting as the bookend for this "micro-genera."



Though I wouldn't argue that 84 Charlie MoPic was the BEST of the Vietnam War movie bunch, I would argue that it contains the most tension. There's something to be said for the feeling of "being there" that 84 Charlie MoPic manages throughout its hour and a half runtime.

During the movie, the MoPic character (no one in the movie has real names, everyone exists through acronyms) remarks that sometimes, the cameraman filming the soldiers is killed and all that returns to the lab is his film. Little does the MoPic character know but he's writing his own epitaph and, in fact, the epitaph for the entire movie. 84 Charlie MoPic might be gone, but the film recording it remains.

84 Charlie MoPic an important movie that deserves to be remembered/released.

By Bert Ehrmann
6/21/2006

Check out my latest column up over at the Fort Wayne Reader – "Spring: The Season of Finales" with a review of the Lost, The Unit, Veronica Mars and The Sopranos season finales.

By Bert Ehrmann
6/20/2006

The main problem with Nacho Libre is that although the movie is a comedy, there are very few "laugh out loud" moments. In fact, it's more of a "chuckle" movie than a full-fledged laugh one.



In Nacho Libre, Jack Black stars as the title character, a monk by day professional wrestler by night. Nacho wrestles in order to feed the orphans back at the church even though what he does is seen as a sin. There's also a whole sub-plot about Nacho falling for one of the nuns at the church, which was a bit odd since Nacho Libre is brimming with religous undertones.

I think that Nacho Libre is an attempt ro bring some of the unconventional humor contained in co-writer/director Jared Hess' last project Napoleon Dynamite to a larger, non-stoned male college audience. But I'm afraid Nacho Libre isn't able to effectively do this. (7/10)

By Bert Ehrmann
6/20/2006

The week just before the July 4th holiday is widely considered to be one of the most important dates for movies at the box office. Over that week and weekend, Hollywood usually releases their biggest, most action-packed movies guaranteed to lure the movie going public into theaters. Last year War of the Worlds opened that weekend and this year Superman Returns.

Which got me thinking about another July 4th movie that's a decade old this year, Independence Day (ID4).



In ID4, the world is brought to the brink of destruction when an alien armada comes to the Earth and begins destroying cities. It's up to a shattered government lead by President Whitmore (Bill Pullman), Air Force Captain Hiller (Will Smith) and scientist turned cable television technician David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) to fight back.

It's a bit hard to describe the nationwide excitement that preceded ID4. There were toys, video games, magazines, books and a whole slew of other merchandise all tied to the movie – some of which I still own. Before opening day, I found myself in the throws of a somewhat misguided ID4 fever, standing in a local video store watching the movie trailer to ID4 on loop over and over again not being able to contain my own excitement for the movie.

Seeing ID4 opening day, I remember how good I thought the movie was, being consistently entertained and amazed at the spectacle of it all. It wasn't until later that year when I purchased ID4 on VHS that I realized just how thin the plot to ID4 was. (Why use of fighter UFOs when you have the ability to wipe cities off the map?)

Still, ID4 had a $50 million opening weekend ($5 of that is from me) generating a total box office revenue of over $300 million by the end of the year. ID4 was, in fact, the highest grossing movie of 1996 and still the 20th top grossing film of all time.

In many ways, ID4 marked a return to the disaster movie genera as a whole slew of disaster themed movies followed in the coming years. Movies like Armageddon, Deep Impact, Volcano, Dantes Peak, and Outbreak would all follow in ID4s wake with varying degrees of success.

ID4 would also mark the start of actor Will Smith being crowned the "King of July 4" helming ID4 in 1996, Men in Black in 1997 and Wild, Wild West in 1999 – all number one movies.

ID4 creators Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich would try to parlay their success with ID4 into their own production studio/special FX studio, sci-fi web site and search engine – Centropolis Entertainment. But after the critical panning their next venture Godzilla (1998) would take (and more importantly earning less than half that ID4 made at the box office), their partnership would dissolve and their company stagnate.



Emmerich would go onto write and direct The Day After Tomorrow (2004) while Devlin would go onto produce Cellular that same year.

As for the actors, Bill Pullman was last seen in an installment of Scary Movie, Will Smith is still an actor and now a producer as well and Jeff Goldblum hasn't done much in the last few years other than have a guest starring role in the television series Will and Grace.

Funnily enough Mary McDonnell has "moved up" as it were. In ID4 she starred as First Lady Whitmore and on the television series Battlestar Galactica she portrayed President Laura Roslin. From First Lady to President in seven short years – that has to be a record or something. Right?

By Bert Ehrmann
6/19/2006

Here is the first look at the upcoming season of The Wire, premiering on HBO this September.

By Bert Ehrmann
6/19/2006

While perusing a local "Boxmart" the other day, I noticed yet another version of the DVD to the Black Hawk Down movie, this one advertised as being an "extended cut" with eight minutes of additional footage added into the movie. This version of the DVD also has all-new cover art, which is quite possibly some of the worst use of Photoshop I've ever seen on a DVD cover. "Fake" doesn't quite cover how badly this cover was rendered. What were they thinking?

What's worse is that the other two DVD covers for Black Hawk Down are actually quite good. The "3-Disc Deluxe Edition" features new art and the original DVD has artwork used on the movie poster.

2006 Cover	3-Disc Deluxe Edition
Regular DVD Cover

BHD Teaser Poster	Over There DVD

By Bert Ehrmann
6/17/2006

The trailer for the upcoming movie The Descent has been released over at Apple. Keep in mind that this movie IS NOT a rip-off of last year's failed The Cave movie as The Descent hit theaters in the UK last July while The Cave was released here last August. The Descent was directed by fan favorite Neil Marshall, who also directed the surprise hit Dog Soldiers (2002).

By Bert Ehrmann
6/16/2006

Day late – yesterday was Flag Day.

By Bert Ehrmann
6/15/2006

I used to wonder whatever happened to the original paintings for all those cool Aurora Model kits painted by James Bama. Now I know – they were painted over and reused! From arglebargle!:

By Bert Ehrmann
6/14/2006

Check out the trailer for the upcoming Casino Royale movie, due in theaters this November at the Apple trailer site.

By Bert Ehrmann
6/14/2006

Out on DVD next (6/20) week – Syriana. From Amazon:

Tim Hildebrandt, half of the twin-brother "Brothers Hildebrandt" illustration duo who were the driving force behind the look of Lord of the Rings in the 1970s and 80s, painted the original Star Wars poster as well as being part of the Star Wars revival of the 1990s has passed away. From his official site:

By Bert Ehrmann
6/13/2006

Even more of the hilarious "Get a Mac" commercials have been released on the Apple site.

By Bert Ehrmann
6/12/2006

In The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972), young Ben Mockeridge (Gary Grimes) wants to leave the family farm to become a cowboy. Ben thinks that being a cowboy will be an exciting adventure, full of shootouts and pretty girls. Instead, he finds reality much different that what he expected.



Boss Frank Culpepper (Billy Green Bush) is a gruff cowboy who literally shoots first and asks questions later. Co-hand Russ (Geoffrey Lewis) is so mean he scares other cowboys out of the camp and the cook (Raymond Guth) tells Ben that, "…cowboying is something you do when you can't do nothing else." The world of Culpepper is unforgiving and dangerous, with death coming as easily as can be imagined.

At one point Culpepper sacrifices the lives of some of his men to rescue 200 head of cattle and another two trappers are shot for fun after they robbed Ben of his horse and belongings.

Which brings up the first theme of the movie: the war in Vietnam. Substituting soldiers for cowboys, Culpepper shows that the realities of men under constant danger isn't a pretty thing. Men are valued almost as much for their ruthlessness than their ability to get along with one and other. A man who can keep his cool under fire can be more valuable than one who can tell jokes and get along with the rest.

Riding the western revival of The Wild Bunch, Culpepper borrows some of the same themes as The Wild Bunch (big-ending shootout, protecting villagers, etc.), the same DayGlo blood and even characters sharing the same name and spins all this into something different. If The Wild Bunch is about possible redemption, Culpepper is about the differences between reality and fiction. 

In an ending as stunning and unexpected as just about anything I've ever come across, The Culpepper Cattle Co. saves it's most devastating punch for last. (8/10) 

Ben: "That's a mighty fine horse you have. What's his name?"
Luke: "You don't put a name to something you might have to eat."

By Bert Ehrmann
6/12/2006

The New York Times has ran several interesting articles over the last few days, including…

Info on the new series Saved, premiering tonight (6/12) on TNT:

By Bert Ehrmann
6/12/2006

Premiering this Monday (6/12) night on A&E at 8:00 P.M. (EST) is Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman. From A&E:

By Bert Ehrmann
6/11/2006

The teaser poster for the upcoming Transformers movie has been released. The new tag line for Transformers is apparently, "Their War. Our World." Whatever happened to "More than meets the eye?"



Larger view here.

By Bert Ehrmann
6/9/2006

Art Asylum is releasing a really cool Battlestar Galactica Cylon mini bust statue for $50.00. The one catch – it's only available for purchase for those attending the Comic-Con International in San Diego. I suppose this means these will quickly start turning up on eBay for $400 or $500.00 soon after the convention ends. Ugh. I really want one of these.

By Bert Ehrmann
6/8/2006

Out on DVD next week (6/13) is the best movie of 2005 (according to Dangerous Universe that is): Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. From Amazon:

Sundays are looking great for HBO. At 8:00 P.M. there's a season three repeat of The Wire, at 9:00 the return on Deadwood and at 10:00 the return of Entourage.

Deadwood
"Tell Your God to Ready for Blood:" Deadwood's first true elections are approaching, with the offices of sheriff and mayor to be contested. Tonight, the candidates are expected to state their case to the townspeople--protocol that unnerves one taciturn incumbent while exciting a more glib one. At the Gem, one of Hearst's Cornish workers is killed, raising Swearengen's suspicions that the incident was a staged Hearst power play. Complications involving Alma's pregnancy alarm Ellsworth and Doc Cochran. Adams' orchestrated foreclosure gives Star a new home, with discreet access next door for Trixie. Jane prepares to share with the camp's children her experiences scouting for General Custer. Dismayed by her inability to make a clean break from the gut-stabbed Tolliver, Joanie contemplates the easy way out. Hearst offers Bullock his political backing in exchange for Bullock's promise to exert influence over certain areas of the camp.

Entourage
"Aquamom:" When Vince's plan to bring a "premiere worthy" date to the Aquaman premiere fails, Eric bails him out with a Plan B. Turtle and Drama's attempt to get two extra tickets for a couple of "Video Ho's" incites the ire of Vince's co-star. And, with money tight, Ari adjusts to his new digs.

By Bert Ehrmann
6/7/2006

In anticipation of the release of the Miami Vice feature film next month, here are several videos featuring work from Vice director Michael Mann.

Michael Mann Production logo clip
(As a child of the 1980s, this really brings back the memories.)


Heat (1995) shoot-out


Miami Vice (1984) "In the Air Tonight"


Collateral (2004) shoot-out

By Bert Ehrmann
6/6/2006

Ricky Gervais is reporting that filming has begun on season two of Extras via a newsletter from his site:

By Bert Ehrmann
6/6/2006

Check out my latest article up over at the Fort Wayne Reader entitled "Deadwood. A nice place to visit…"

By Bert Ehrmann
6/5/2006

Dark Horizons is reporting that though there won't be a fourth season to Deadwood, two two-hour episodes will be produced that will wrap up the ongoing stories. From Dark Horizons:

By Bert Ehrmann
6/5/2006

The Sleuth Channel is airing Homicide: Life on the Streets weeknights at 7:00 P.M. Starting Monday (6/5), Sleuth begins airing Homicide: Life on the Streets from the beginning . Homicide: Life on the Streets comes highly recommended from Dangerous Universe.

By Bert Ehrmann
6/4/2006

Out on DVD next week is season two of the HBO series Entourage. From Amazon:

By Bert Ehrmann
6/2/2006

Deadwood creator David Milch has told TV Guide that Deadwood's officially dead after the third season which starts next Sunday (6/11) on HBO. (No doubt season three will end with a cliffhanger.) Milch via TV Guide:

By Bert Ehrmann
6/1/2006

Check out one more trailer for the upcoming Superman Returns movie at Yahoo.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/31/2006

I rented John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness(1987) a few weeks back, and though I had already seen the movie on cable some years ago, I had yet to see the R-rated cut. Though Prince of Darkness is a good movie, it is none-the-less a flawed one. The story wanders a bit and the tension falters throughout.



Still, one thing I noticed was how much an homage Prince of Darkness was to the Quatermass and the Pit (1967) movie. Heck, Carpenter's writing credit on Prince of Darkness is even listed as “Martin Quatermass.”

Major plot spoilers follow for both movies.

In each movie, the main plot is driven by an alien artifact that seems to be either the source of, or confused with, the devil. Each movie also features a professor investigating this artifact, the artifact possessing people in order to fulfill its will, these possessed people turning on anyone not also under the “spell” and at least one character's skin being removed while under the influence! Ewww!

Though Carpenter isn't really stealing from Quatermass and the Pitt, it's almost certain that with Prince of Darkness he's written/directed a love-letter to that movie.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/30/2006

Since it's been just over a year since Star Wars, Episode III: Then Revenge of the Sith was released in theaters, I've decided to re-publish here my review of the movie here, which was originally posted on another site's forums which are no longer online.

Now that the (supposedly) last Star Wars movie Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith has been released, reviewers (and fans) are split over the movie. Some claim that this is the Star Wars movie they've been waiting nearly 30 years for, that it's as good as movies in the first trilogy and "light years" better than the previous two movies.

Don't believe the hype.



Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith is no better nor no worse than the previous two movies and is no where near as good as the first trilogy of Star Wars movies.

Revenge of the Sith suffers from the same flaws as the previous two movies: bad acting, bad story and questions on how this movie relates to the next three? Technology shown in this movie is clearly superior to that of the next three, supposedly twenty years in the future, yet none of that technology makes it into the future. Characters make odd choices, contradict themselves, or act in unbelievable ways. Here's a list of problems I had with the movie, in no order and by no means complete. Read no further if you don't want large parts of the movie spoiled for you:

I didn't buy Anakin's whole reasoning behind turning to the darkside. I mean, c'mon! There's no way that the idea that he can keep people from dying would cause him to kill a bunch of people and turn evil. It doesn't make sense. (It's like a pacifist picking up a gun killing a room of people in order to further their pacifist ways.) I think a better solution would have been if Anakin truly believed that by turning to the darkside he would somehow be protecting the Republic.

Was there any reasoning behind Sidious turning ugly because of the lightning?

Why wouldn't Darth Vader have spent all his time hunting down Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda after what they did to him?

Why didn't the other Jedi sense that the clones were turning against them?

Why didn't the Jedi use their force powers against Anakin when he was decimating their ranks?

I remember Lucas said during Episode I that we'd all realize why an army or droids wasn't a good idea and why they don't appear in the future. Where was that idea in this movie? I know the droids were deactivated, but why? Who would deactivate (apparently) the second most powerful army in the galaxy when it could be combined with, and strengthened with their own army?

And why do the droid army have emotions whereas the clones don't? If you could have a soldier that would not run in the face of battle, wouldn't that be preferred?

It seems apparent that Lucas should have spent as much time concentrating on his screenplay than on the special effects of a movie. Special effects a movie does not make.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (7/10)
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (7/10)
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (7/10)
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (10/10)
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (10/10)
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (9/10)

By Bert Ehrmann
5/29/2006

Check out one more short commercial for Deadwood.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/29/2006

Comic book and animation legend Alex Toth is dead at 78. Toth is best known for designing characters for Super Friends, Space Ghost, having a hand in Johnny Quest and working on a multitude of Hanna-Barbera cartoons during the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Toth is known as being cantankerous, opinionated and an all-around supremely talented illustrator/designer. According to a posting on Toth's official site, he died working away at his drawing table.

Toth was one hell of a designer and an inspiration to all.



Check out Alex Toth's official site.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/29/2006

In yet another case of a movie not quite living up to the hype, X-Men: The Last Stand (aka X-Men 3) mostly delivers on the visuals but underperforms on the story.



In X-Men 3, a "cure" has been found for the "mutant gene" dividing the mutants into two camps. One camp, lead by Magneto (Ian McKellen), wants the cure destroyed and the mutants left as-is. The other, lead by Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), wants to take a "live and let live" approach, allowing the mutants themselves decide their own fates.

Whereas the fight scenes between the mutants are awe inspiring, the story is paper thin with major holes and dialogue shoddy/cliché. Characters motivations/actions seem to be driven by moving the plot forward rather than how those characters would normally act.

One would suspect that when a movie costs a reported $200 million to make at least some of that money would be spent on developing an excellent script, but apparently not.

Most frustrating of all, many of the major twists and turns in the movie seem to be driven more by contract negotiations with the actors than by servicing the plot.

Back in 2002 I called X-Men 2: X-Men United one of the best movies of the year and lamented that I couldn't wait for X-Men 3. Unfortunately, X-Men 3 wasn't worth the wait. (7/10)

By Bert Ehrmann
5/27/2006

Out on DVD this Tuesday (5/30) is the hilarious animated series The Venture Bros. From Amazon:

By Bert Ehrmann
5/26/2006

Was I the only one who caught (thought) there was an homage to the movie series Planet of the Apes in last night's episode of Lost? When Desmond is following Kelvin to the boat, I really got the sense that the sense that someone involved with Lost was channeling the "look" of the beginning bits of Planet of the Apes when the astronauts are walking across the baron landscape.

Planet of the Apes




Lost

By Bert Ehrmann
5/25/2006

Shot in 1965 yet not shown on television screens for another 20 years, The War Game plays out a nuclear war centering on England in docudrama style. Things start out bad enough with rising tensions among the super-powers and mass evacuations of English cities but quickly deteriorate when nuclear missiles start flying.



Things turn horrible as firestorms consume cities, radiation sickness culls the population and food riots claim the rest.

The documentary style lends credibility to the drama, causing the viewer to be drawn into the story, to become yet another participant. The style of The War Game would be used to great effect in another Brit nuclear war drama – Threads (1984).

It is a little odd to watch this movie, shot just twenty years after the bombings of WWII and seemingly preparing the population for the bombings of the next world war. (8/10)

By Bert Ehrmann
5/24/2006

If history serves any purpose at all, it is to remind us that the recent remake of The Poseidon Adventure does not need a sequel as the original had entitled Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) . IMDB describes the movie following additional survivors on the upturned boat, stuck between two salvage crews looking to loot the ship's plunder.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/24/2006

Here's a first look at the tie-in toys for the television series Lost. The toys are due on store shelves this November. Figures will include Jack, Kate, Locke, Hurley, Charlie and Shannon.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/24/2006

Out I believe sometime next week is a book on Michael Mann from Taschen. From Amazon:

By Bert Ehrmann
5/23/2006

The two hour season two of Lost airs Wednesday (5/24) night starting at 9:00 P.M. (EST) on ABC. From the official site:

By Bert Ehrmann
5/23/2006

Check out my latest column up over at the Fort Wayne Reader, "Spin-offs, the redheaded stepchild of the TV industry."

By Bert Ehrmann
5/23/2006

Everyday it seems more and more certain that Deadwood, at least in its current incarnation, is dead after the new third season. From Los Angeles Times:

By Bert Ehrmann
5/22/2006

Check out the international version of the Superman Returns trailer, featuring a few new shots (including the bullet to the eye) and a few longer bits of scenes we've seen before.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/22/2006

Baghdad ER is an extremely powerful documentary on the 86th Combat Support Hospital –  a M.A.S.H. like hospital that receives casualties (both American and Iraqi) from the frontlines. I think all too often that we measure the cost of the war in Iraq in terms of dollars spent and numbers of lives lost. But I think Baghdad ER brings the war home that the true cost of the war is on the ground, in the ER and one soldier at a time. (10/10)

By Bert Ehrmann
5/21/2006

Out on DVD next week is season two of the HBO series Deadwood. Extras include episode commentaries and several "making of" featurettes.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/19/2006

Fox seems to not be taking any risks with their upcoming fall season, relying on some pretty dry ideas with their new series. There are a few interesting looking shows next season, but, for the most part, their upcoming schedule looks* pretty dull. One show which looks to have a bit of promise is Vanished.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/18/2006

Check out the deeply moving trailer for the upcoming Oliver Stone movie World Trade Center here.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/17/2006

CBS has released their fall schedule, what I'm most interested in here is Jericho.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/17/2006

Here's a preview on ABC's schedule next fall, including shows like The Nine.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/17/2006

Check out a preview of NBC's next season schedule, including new dramas Heros and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/17/2006

JoBlo.com has posted a cool-@ss looking poster for the upcoming Superman Returns movie. Click for a larger view.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/16/2006

Deadwood might be canceled after the upcoming season three, might continue on with new cast members or might be just fine according to which news report you chose to believe. From the L.A. Times:

By Bert Ehrmann
5/15/2006

Season one of The Unit wraps up this Tuesday (5/16) on CBS with two episodes beginning at 9:00 P.M. (EST). From CBS:

By Bert Ehrmann
5/14/2006

With little fanfare and even less notice, it was with disbelief that I learned that this season of Justice League Unlimited, season 5, would be its last with the final episode airing Saturday May, 13. Not only was Justice League a good television show (animated or otherwise), it is part of one of the best and longest running animation spin-offs in television history.



Back in 1992 the series Batman: The Animated Series (TAS) was "born" as an attempt to capitalize on the then gigantic cash cow of the Tim Burton Batman movies. What could have been yet another lame attempt at turning a movie into an animated television series like The Real Ghostbusters (1986), Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures (1990) or Back to the Future (1991) instead was a piece of groundbreaking art lead by Batman: TAS series creator Bruce Timm.

Timm came up through the animation ranks working on projects like the 1980s cartoon version of G.I. Joe and the 1990s series Tiny Toon Adventures. But it wasn't until Timm showed an animation executive at Warner Brothers some drawings he had done of Batman while in his spare time that Timm was pegged to head that new series.

Relying on dark looks, gritty action and Art Deco styling, Batman: TAS broke new ground into a genera which at that time was seen as little more than 20 minute toy commercials. Part of the "cartoon renaissance" of the early 1990s, and arguably the grandparent of every animated action show on television today, Batman: TAS shattered cartoon stereotypes in terms of both story and substance, never playing to the lowest common denominator. Episodes dealt with (at times) very adult subjects, while also having a heavy action element appealing to the younger set tuning in after schools for their weekday cartoon "fix."  

Based on the success of Batman: TAS, what followed were a set of spin-off series that would make the creator of the CSI franchise head spin.

In 1996 a series based on the character Superman was launched, again with Timm at the helm, which would last four years. In the late 1990s the Batman series was given a new look and new storylines with the launch of Batman: Gotham Knights, bringing the original Batman series to a seven year run ending in 1999. A feature film version of Batman entitled Batman: Mask of the Phantasm premiered in theaters Christmas 1993.

After that, the character of Batman was transported into the future in the series Batman Beyond in 1999, lasting three seasons.



Then, in 2001, Justice League premiered on Cartoon Network with Timm acting as one of the series producers, writers and storyboard artists. The Justice League were a group of characters consisting of Batman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, The Martian Manhunter, Superman and The Flash acting as a team as they take on threats that no one character can handle themselves. Season three of the series expanded on the original line-up adding literally dozens, if not hundreds, of characters to the roster, shifting the focus a bit from the Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman dynamic of old.

Actors like Michael Ironside, Ron Perlman, Clancy Brown, George Eads, Eric Roberts and Dakota Fanning (to name a few) would all lend their skills acting as voices for characters throughout the series.

Somewhere in the fourth season of Justice League, by then re-titled Justice League: Unlimited, the series went from simply "good" to "great." In season four, a season arching story was introduced where a gun-shy government (rightly so) began questioning the need for super-hero overseers, and began to make contingency plans for their elimination if need-be.



Justice League: Unlimited lasted one more season before the rug was unceremoniously pulled out from under. I can accept that Justice League had to end; all shows end, even the great ones. It's just a bit hard to stomach that it had to end like this, with no notice from any official sources. After 14 years of continuous series by Bruce Timm and crew, there were no retrospective, no interviews with those involved on their thoughts to the future, nothing…

How hard would it have been for the Cartoon Network to acknowledge that a major ground-breaking series was coming to an end? Too hard, apparently. Tsk, tsk Cartoon Network.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/14/2006

Check out the cool-looking second trailer for the upcoming Miami Vice movie here.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/12/2006

Ain't it Cool News has links to a commercial for the upcoming Superman Returns movie.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/12/2006

IGN has posted four new posters for the upcoming Miami Vice movie.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/11/2006

Thursday night (5/11) marks the season finales of both My Name is Earl and The Office on NBC. In an odd bit of "WTF is NBC thinking?", the My Name is Earl finale begins at 8:40 P.M. and The Office at 9:20 P.M. (EST). Apparently, NBC wants to upset millions of Americans who are used to turning over at 9:00 for Earl and 9:30 for The Office. From NBC:

By Bert Ehrmann
5/10/2006

Check out my latest column up over at the Fort Wayne Reader, "Spielberg's WWII Obsession." From the column:

By Bert Ehrmann
5/9/2006

There have been a bunch of new shows released onto the iTunes Music Store including; 24, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Prison Break, The Shield, 30 Days, Firefly (where the one and half hour pilot episode "Serenity" is still just $1.99) and the original Lost in Space to name a few.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/9/2006

This Tuesday (5/9) night, CBS will be airing two episodes of their series The Unit, one at 9:00 P.M. and the other at 10:00 P.M. (EST). From CBS:

By Bert Ehrmann
5/8/2006

Don't forget, the season two finale of Veronica Mars airs this Tuesday (5/9) at 9:00 P.M. (EST). From UPN:

By Bert Ehrmann
5/8/2006

One more teaser commercial for the upcoming season of Deadwood, this one features a bit more than the previous ones and actual scenes from the episodes.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/7/2006

I went into seeing Mission Impossible: III with lower than usual expectations. Though I am a big fan of the original Mission: Impossible (1996), I didn't much care for the sequel Mission Impossible II (2000) and couldn't imagine that part III would be any better than part II. Though I can't say I was much surprised as to how MI:3 turned out, it's not as bad a movie as I had originally thought.  



In MI:3, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is called out of semi-retirement and back into the fold when one of the agents he trained (Keri Russell) is kidnapped by Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), an arms dealer wanted by the "Impossible Mission Force."

After a botched rescue, Hunt's team goes after Davian and the mysterious "Rabbit's Foot," a device so secret no one's quite sure what it does, but must be dangerous when Davian's offered $800 million for it.

MI:3 suffers from TYSS; Typical Hollywood Summer Syndrome. Most of the characters are stock and the stoyline is nearly non-existent. Still, the action scenes were captivating and the last third of the movie was interesting. But what really saves the movie is Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman does a good job of injecting some sense of deadly realism into a movie full of clichés. (8/10)

Ethan Hunt, "If you don't kill me I'll die."

By Bert Ehrmann
5/7/2006

The New York Times has an article on the BBC series The Thick of It, which is set to premiere here in the U.S. on Friday May, 12 on BBC America. Dangerous Universe declared The Thick of It one of the best television series of 2005. From The New York Times:

By Bert Ehrmann
5/7/2006

A remake of the cult-classic series The Prisoner is in the works over at the BBC and Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who, 28 Days Later) might be set to star as the lead "Number 6." From Zap2It:

By Bert Ehrmann
5/5/2006

Check out the trailer for the upcoming movie The Proposition:

By Bert Ehrmann
5/4/2006

A year and a half after the "enhanced" Star Wars trilogy was released onto DVD amid some fan protests, the ORIGINAL uncut versions of the movies are set to be released this fall. From USA Today:

By Bert Ehrmann
5/4/2006

Out on DVD next week (5/9) is the two-disk collector's edition to the extremely underrated Ronin (1998). This "collector's edition" includes seven featurettes not included on the original DVD release a few years back.



Also out next week is (so-far) the best movie of 2006 even if it was technically released in 2005, Munich. The "2-Disc Limited Edition" features six featurettes not included on the standard edition.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/3/2006

I cannot believe how cool the full trailer is for the upcoming Superman Returns movie is. While watching the trailer, I caught myself literally going "woah" at the spectacle of it all. I only pray that the full movie is this cool.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/2/2006

Check out these extremely clever commercials from Apple, "Get a Mac."



(I can only assume that the PC fan base is working on a response ad, invariably copying this format of the "square" looking PC guy and "hip" looking Mac guy.)

By Bert Ehrmann
5/2/2006

Check out this second teaser trailer for the upcoming third season of Deadwood.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/1/2006

Starting today and lasting until the end of June at the earliest, you can now watch Desperate Housewives, Lost, Alias and Commander in Chief on ABC.com for free. The one catch though is that the shows "feature" commercial interruptions. Still, the quality is good and the price is hard to beat.

By Bert Ehrmann
5/1/2006

BrandonRouth.com has some video from an Australian Coke commercial. From the site:

By Bert Ehrmann
5/1/2006

Mark your calendars, the 2006 summer movie season starts this Friday (5/5) with the release of Mission Impossible III.

Still, (IMHO) there isn't much to look forward to this summer when compared to years past. Sure, Superman Returns looks like a winner and I can't wait for Miami Vice, but what else? The more clips I see the more X-Men 3 looks like a movie I should skip and I'm not exactly sold on a sequel to the original Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

I just wish there was something to be really excited about. A movie I could mark on my calendar and look forward to.

By Bert Ehrmann
4/30/2006

Check out this cool looking teaser trailer for the upcoming The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford movie due in theaters this fall and starring Brad Pitt.

By Bert Ehrmann
4/27/2006

This might be interesting, from Sci Fi Wire:

By Bert Ehrmann
4/27/2006

Check out my latest article up over at the Fort Wayne Reader – This summer, Superman Returns.

By Bert Ehrmann
4/25/2006

Check out a commercial for season three of Deadwood, premiering this June on HBO. The basic concept of the commercial – Deadwood is a community that dies or survives on the backs of each and every citizen of that community.

By Bert Ehrmann
4/24/2006

Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to have set foot on the Moon, has received a piece of rock from the Moon's surface. From Yahoo:

By Bert Ehrmann
4/19/2006

Before Jonas Blane (Dennis Haysbert) battled terrorists and bureaucratic red-tape in The Unit, Neil Burnside (Roy Marsden) did the same to the Soviet sphere of influence in The Sandbaggers. From Screenonline:

By Bert Ehrmann
4/18/2006

Season two of Doctor Who began airing on BBC last Saturday night and this first episode was okay. Entitled "New Earth," The Doctor (David Tennant) and Rose (Billie Piper) travel five billion years into the future where they visit a new Earth located in a distant galaxy. There, the two discover evil forces at work in a hospital run by a race of cat-like nuns.

Though much of the episode was very good, some of it was downright hokey, relying on overused sci-fi concepts. (Elements that might have turned up in the original Star Trek.)

It's not that "New Earth" is bad, it's just that it doesn't measure up to the majority of the shows in the first season. (8/10)

Listen to the official commentary of the episode here.

By Bert Ehrmann
4/17/2006

Check out my latest article up over at The Fort Wayne Reader entitled, "Lost" on "Gilligan's Island":

By Bert Ehrmann
4/12/2006

Out on DVD next week is the "Widescreen Special Edition" version of the Peckinpah classic Cross of Iron.



Read my article on Peckinpah entitled, "Sam Peckinpah – “…it’ll do.”"

By Bert Ehrmann
4/11/2006

Don't forget, Veronica Mars switches nights from Wednesdays at 9:00 P.M. (EST) to Tuesdays at that same time. This Tuesday:

By Bert Ehrmann
4/10/2006

I've seen the first two episodes of FX's new drama Thief. Overall the story is an interesting concept, yet I don't buy the “clean” look of the series criminals.



Thief tells the story of Nick Atwater (Andre Braugher), the head of a criminal crew that steals things for a living – expensive things. Life is good for them until one day when they steal a large sum of money belonging to as Asian organized crime family who, even after Nick's front woman (Linda Hamilton) gives the money back, is out for blood.

Things go from bad to worse for Nick when his wife is killed in a car crash leaving him responsible for his stepdaughter (Mae Whitman) who saw Nick shoot a member of his crew the night of her mother's death. Things get even more complicated when Nick's daughter hints that she's told people about what she saw leading to Nick's crew talking of murdering her to keep themselves out of jail.

Nick is forced to take on a risky job breaking many of his self-imposed rules for stealing in order to satisfy his remaining men, who didn't get as much as expected from the diamond robbery, and to keep himself in house and home.

But it's all a bit too clean for my taste, too “made for TV.” Am I expected to believe that a crew as successful as Nick's makes so many amateurish mistakes? From joking around on the radio while stealing millions to talking on cell phones about past and future crimes, I found myself wondering how no one's caught Nick yet?

Reportedly an "adaptation" of Michael Mann's Thief (1981), Thief (2006) cleans up the real-life risky nature of this sort of robbery and puts a shine to it. Though the original Thief was far from a perfect movie, the original version of Thief at least had a bit more realistic grit of criminal enterprise which the new replaces with glam. (8/10)

By Bert Ehrmann
4/6/2006

News came out yesterday that proclaimed CSI: Miami the "most-watched U.S. series around the world." Which I thought was a good thing until I realized a previous most-watched U.S. series around the world was Baywatch. I've never seen CSI: Miami and only ever watched a smattering of Baywatch, but somehow I doubt the producers of CSI: Miami wish comparisons between the two shows to be made.

Which begs the question, is CSI: Miami star David Caruso the next David Hasselhoff? Hasselhoff is huge in Germany and CSI: Miami "is now the No. 1 series in Germany." Can a singing career for Caruso be far behind?

By Bert Ehrmann
4/5/2006

I'm not sure why, but Tuesday night's at 9:00 P.M. (EST) has the most television shows on at once that I'm interested in seeing. NBC has Scrubs, CBS has The Unit, UPN has Veronica Mars, Fox has House, Discovery has Deadliest Catch and Sundance has (the new) City of Men. Thank God for Tivo and cable networks airing shows in the middle of the night.

By Bert Ehrmann
4/4/2006

The latest issue of Cinefex features a section on the special effects (SFX) of television, including articles on both Lost and Battlestar Galactica.

By Bert Ehrmann
4/3/2006

Please note, this week's episode of Lost (April 5) will run five minutes long, so set your Tivos accordingly! Via the futon critic:

By Bert Ehrmann
4/2/2006

Is it just me, or does the prospect of a The Simpsons movie in 2007 sound about a decade too late? From BBC:

By Bert Ehrmann
4/2/2006

Series two of Doctor Who is set to begin airing Saturday, April 15 on BBC. The first of thirteen episodes is entitled "New Earth," and is described as:

By Bert Ehrmann
3/30/2006

JoBlo has several neat photos from the upcoming new James Bond movie entitled Casino Royale.

By Bert Ehrmann
3/28/2006

The New York Times has reviewed the upcoming series Thief, which airs Tuesdays at 10:00 P.M. (EST) on FX. From the article:

FX was promoting the show back in March of 2005. Perhaps Thief was originally set in New Orleans and the series had to be adjusted to fit this new reality?

By Bert Ehrmann
3/27/2006

Is this cool or what –  Planet of the Apes - The Ultimate DVD Collection - With Ape Head Packaging. Too bad the price is a bit on the high side for my taste, retailing for around $180.00. I can't stop saying "With Ape Head Packaging."

By Bert Ehrmann
3/27/2006

Latino Review has a new poster for the upcoming Miami Vice movie.



Larger view here.

By Bert Ehrmann
3/21/2006

Check out my latest column up over at the Fort Wayne Reader, "The Sopranos – 'Oh, poor you!'"

By Bert Ehrmann
3/21/2006

The poster for the upcoming Mission: Impossible III movie has been released. Check it out below.



Larger view here.

By Bert Ehrmann
3/20/2006

V for Vendetta is a good movie trapped in a terrible ending riddled with numerous plot and story holes. 

In V for Vendetta, it's the future and a neo-fascist party has been elected to power in Great Britain. Sometime after the election, a terrorist attack sends the populous reeling, entrenching this "party" in almost total power. With no regard for the citizens of the U.K., the “party” goes about dismantling freedoms and replacing them with control of the media, abuse and curfews. (Think 1984 but not as dark.)

Evey (Natalie Portman) is a single woman living and working under this rule when she’s out on the streets alone on night after curfew, is arrested and threatened with rape by the fascist police "Fingermen." She's only saved when a Guy Fawkes mask wearing psychotic vigilante known only as "V" (Hugo Weaving) swoops in and saves her. 

"V" is a revolutionary, seeking to bring down the fascist government by any means necessary and he's not about to let Evey go after she learns the location of his hideout. Can Evey trust “V,” or should she try to strike a deal with the government trading his life for hers?

What hurts the movie greatly is far too many plot and story holes which detracts from the overall movie. It's a case of the writers (Andy and Larry Wachowski) establishing one idea early on (like that the fascists being able to identify people on the street via retinal scans) yet ignoring this point when it suits the story (like Evey being the second most wanted person in London yet never being caught on the streets by these scans). 

And the ending… I won't give it away, but calling it lame does not do justice as to how bad it was. Before the seeing ending I would have given V for Vendetta a higher rating, but after I felt dirty for even being in the theater. (7/10) 

By Bert Ehrmann
3/20/2006

Last night HBO aired a television commercial for the upcoming third season of Entourage. Check out the commercial below.

By Bert Ehrmann
3/19/2006

Check out the trailer for the upcoming Poseidon movie. (One thing, actress Emmy Rossum must be making a career of "disaster movies" after having a role in both The Day After Tomorrow and Poseidon.)

By Bert Ehrmann
3/17/2006

I'm happy to report that the new CBS series The Unit is surprisingly good. I wasn't expecting much, and suspected the worst, but (so far at least) I've found the series quite enjoyable. Now that's not to say that the series won't come crashing down in an episode or two, but for now things are going good.

By Bert Ehrmann
3/14/2006

Don't forget, the 2005 revival of Doctor Who begins airing on the Sci Fi Channel here in the States this Friday. Two episodes will air back to back starting at 9:00 P.M. (EST), "Rose" and "The End of the World."

The series has already ran in the U.K. to rave reviews and I've already seen the series. I called Doctor Who a "top television show of 2005." Read my review of "Rose" and if you're unfarmiliar with Doctor Who you can read an article I've written called, "Doctor Who, an Introduction."

Doctor Who is almost as good as Battlestar Galactica.

By Bert Ehrmann
3/14/2006

Check out this television commercial for the upcoming series Thief, starring Andre Braugher and set to priemere Tuesday, March 28 at 10:00 P.M. (EST) on FX.

By Bert Ehrmann
3/12/2006

Writer of the original comic book V for Vendetta, the source for the upcoming movie V for Vendetta, Alan Moore has been interviewed by the New York Times. From the article:

By Bert Ehrmann
3/12/2006

The Unit co-producer, and real-life ex-Delta Force member, Eric Hanley has a blog up on the official The Unit web site. From the blog:

By Bert Ehrmann
3/9/2006

In honor of Deadwood, which season three originally set to premiere this Sunday after The Sopranos on HBO before the slot was taken by the new series Big Love, I present the very first teaser commercial for the series.

By Bert Ehrmann
3/9/2006

Check out my latest column up over at the Fort Wayne Reader on television pilots in the works for next fall, "When in doubt - copy, steal, adapt."

By Bert Ehrmann
3/8/2006

Check out the "not all that horrible looking" trailer for the upcoming X-Men: The Last Stand movie, aka X-Men 3.

By Bert Ehrmann
3/7/2006

Check out this television commercial for the CBS series The Unit:



Also, the New York Times has an article on the series:

By Bert Ehrmann
3/6/2006

Alright, for all you sick, demented, twisted people out there, I've got the medicine just for you all.

He goes by the name of Stephen Lynch, and man is this guy funny. Doing stand-up with his guitar and his backup vocal crew, Stephen belts out such great tunes like "Baby", "Craig", and "SuperHero".

You can catch him out on Itunes.com, or head on over to his web site for some samples of his , ahem, work. You wont be disappointed.

Stephen Lynch

By Mo Alexander
3/6/2006

Yeah yeah, so I know I haven't posted in quite a while. Getting geared up for a wedding is taking up a lot on the schedule lately.

Anyhow, Kristin and I recently got hooked up with Tivo, and I finally got the stupid thing configured to use the Broadband connection vs. the "Im going to tie up the phoneline" telephone connection.

In short, Tivo is where its at. From recording various TV shows, fast fowarding through commercials, and catching those all-too important soccer/hockey games that are on while we are at work, Tivo has got my vote for the DVR recorder of the decade. Sad thing is, this thing has been out for like 6 years now. Go figure it took me that long to get one.

If you wanna know more, head on over to Tivo.com and see what all they have in-store. Word to the wise though, if you are waiting for a HD version, hold off for the Series 3, coming soon!

TIVO!

By Mo Alexander
3/6/2006

This is pretty darn funny…On the last episode of Justice League, The Flash and Lex Luthor switched personalities. In the episode, The Flash spent most of his time trying to convince all the bad guys that he was really Lex. Hilarity ensues.

By Bert Ehrmann
3/5/2006

Don't forget, the David Mamet (Spartan)/Shawn Ryan (The Shield) series The Unit begins airing this Tuesday (3/7) at 9:00 P.M. (EST) 10:00 P.M. (EST) on CBS. Which, unfortunately, means that The Unit will be going head to head against The Shield. There's still not that much information on the official site for The Unit, which is a bit of a disappointment since the series premiers in just a few days and finding any real information on it, from CBS at least, has been difficult.

By Bert Ehrmann
3/5/2006

Cool looking Starship Troopers game, which I apparently missed altogether when it first came out.

By Bert Ehrmann
3/3/2006

Season two of the Ricky Gervais show has been released on iTunes. This new series costs $1.95 per episode. From Ricky's official site: