Where the Wild Things Are Trailer

Well, here it is, the one trailer that everyone's geeking out over today.

The live action movie version of Where the Wild Things Are has been a long and trouble production...over 6 years in the making. People where taken aback when Spike Jonze was hired to bring it to the big screen. After all, Jonze brought us such quirky, existential dramas like Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. How the heck would he adapt one of the most beloved children's books of all time?

And that's why it was more than six years in the making. The studio wanted a fun, bouncy kids film. Jonze wanted something that was a more realistic depiction of how children imagine thing...and something just a little bit on the dark side. It was supposed to come out last year, but rumor has it a disastrous test screening led into massive re-shoots.

And now, it looks like it's ready for release this October.

So, here it is, the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are:



See, right away it doesn't look like a kids film. It does, however, look like a Spike Jonze film.

And as I'm sure you could figure out, the Wild Things were animatronic creations from Jim Henson's Creature Shop, and they tell us that they're enhanced with computer animation to make their faces more expressive.

October 2009!

New Astro Boy Trailer! Ponyo Release Date!

For the most part, I love my living situation, but minor inconveniences can turn into big ones quite quickly.

My Internet is down. But, because my landlord won't be home until 6, I can't call anyone to complain about it, or get it fixed. So, no Internet. Causing me to go batty because I couldn't check my e-mail.

Oh, well. It's a nice day for a walk. May as well walk on down to the library and use one of their free Internet terminals. Lace up my boots, strap on the MP3 player, cue up Lily Allen's new album, and hit the road! I get to the library and...all the Internet terminals are full. Darn kids and their spring break....

Luckily, the office is just down the street from the library, so may as well pop in at the office and get my Internet fix.

Now, what's so important that it couldn't wait until 6PM for me to call and complain to my landlord?

New Astro Boy trailer!

Anyone who's watched a lot of Japanese cartoons -- or just really liked The Incredibles -- can tell you that superheroes and animation are tailor-made for each other. None of this worry over getting the right actor...just draw them however you like. And things that seem impossible in live action just become possible when they're lines on a piece of paper...or vectors in a computer.

So that brings us to the new, computer animated movie version of Astro Boy. The classic Japanese cartoon character is being brought to the big screen by Imagi Entertainment, the same studio that brought us that computer animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a couple years back.

It's due out this October, and while the animation doesn't look to be groundbreaking, it definitly looks fun.



October 26 is when it hits theatres.

And speaking of classic Japanese cartoons, we have the North American release date for Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea, the latest animated epic from Hayao Miyazaki, generally regarded as the world's greatest animator.

The story is about a goldfish princess named Ponyo who longs to be human, and befriends a 5-year old boy.

The English language dub includes the voices of Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, Tina Fey, and Cate Blanchett. Frankie Jonas -- the littlest Jonas Brother -- voices the 5-year old boy, and Noah Cyrus -- the littlest sister of Miley Cyrus -- voices Ponyo.

As with the last two Hayao Miyazaki films (Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle), the English dub is being supervised by Toy Story director John Lasseter. Lasseter teamed up with Hollywood super-producers Frank Marshal and Kathlleen Kennedy to dub Ponyo, with the goal of making it Miyazaki's biggest hit in North America.

Anyway, what's the release date?

August 14.

Latest Targ's Up!

Friday was the first day of spring, making this the first podcast of spring! Does U62: The Targ usher in the new season with great aplomb, or just the usual?

Well...the usual stuff.

Today, it's Episode 2.26: Finite Storytelling, in which I urge Hollywood to keep TV shows short, discuss celebrities following me on Twitter, and even talk a little bit about the Edmonton Capitals.

Click here to go listen to it!

Click here to find it in iTunes!

Cracker-Cats No More

Granted, I'm not much of a sports guy, but I wanted to take a minute to talk about the demise of one of the stupidist sports names in Edmonton sports.

Yesterday, it was announce that Edmonton's Golden League baseball team, the Cracker Cats, would be renamed the Edmonton Capitals.

I'll never forget when Edmonton was granted a Golden League Baseball franchise four years ago. How the name Cracker-Cats came about is...well, foolish. According to urban legend, which was widely reported at the time, the name Cracker-Cats came about like this. The owners of the team spent millions of dollars on a marketing study to choose a name for the team. When the marketing wizards came back to the owners to present the team name, the owners said, "That's a stoopid name! We're not using that."

Because Edmonton has always been a centre of oilfield activity, they wanted a name that reflected the oil industry. So the owners grabbed the Big Book of Oilfield Terms, randomly flipped through the pages, and their finger landed on the term "catalytic cracking," which is a chemical process in the early stages of oil refinement. They flipped it around, and got "Cracker Cats."

Needless to say, lots of people thought it was a stupid name. Some baseball historians even went so far as to call the name racist, as "the Crackers" was the name of Atlanta's old Negro League team.

There were lots of problems with the Crakcer Cats, which have been widely reported in the Edmonton media. The owners lived in Florida, and never, ever set foot in Edmonton. It almost seemed as though the owners were dedicated to driving away fans, with a series of meaningless and almost random front office changes. There were reportes of game attendance dwindling at around 150.

But all that seems to have changed. At the close of the 2008 season, the Cracker Cats were bought by...the Edmonton Oilers! And the Oilers seem dedicated to turning the team around and making it viable. They've even announced that they're moving some of their offices out of Rexall Place and down to Telus Field as a show of support.

And yesterday, they announced that the name is being changed from the Cracker Cats to the Capitals...which was the winner in a city-wide "name the team" contest. Says Capitals governor Patrick LaForge, "Alberta's Capital City. Oil Capital of Canada. It just makes sense."

Along with yesterday announcement, they also unveiled the team's new colours - which is the Oiler's copper and blue - and the launch of a "design a logo" contest.

I want baseball to work in Edmonton. My mother was the baseball nut in the family, and I've got many fond memories of going to Edmonton Trappers games when I was a kid. Baseball does work in Edmonton. It can work again.

Here's the story announcing the new name.

Here's the Edmonton Capitals' new website

See? I Remembered!

I remembered the rest of my brilliant thoughts from yesterday!

Yes, the rest of my thought had to do with Hot Wheels and other tiny toy cars of that type. This is predominant on my mind because down at the Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy, the aisles are currently glutted with Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and all other manner of toy cars. That, and I have a renewed interest in them, having gotten some as a gag for Christmas.

I guess the source of my obsession is how come the toy car collectors never receive much press? Here I am, an action figure collector, and I'm a social pariah, frequently the butt of jokes on sitcoms the world over. Every couple of years, usually around the anniversary of Barbie, you hear of Barbie collectors and their conventions. But the toy car collectors? They get to exist in anonymity.

How come they get off easy?

Granted, I do boast a couple of toy cars in my collection. Given my love for all things Batman, of course I have a couple of Batmobiles. Because of my love for Speed Racer, I've got a couple of Mach 5's. And, I even have a soft spot for Herbie the Love Bug from my youth, so I snapped up a Herbie when I had the chance. My holy grail is still a DeLorean Time Machine, from Back to the Future.

It seems that every little boy goes through a phase where they're all about the toy cars. And wow, did Pixar find a way to tap into that. For the Pixar junkies like me, Cars is generally regarded as the lesser of their films to date. However, in terms of merchandise sales, Cars is the most successful film Pixar has made to date.

So, yeah. Cars. That was my brilliant thought. Not as brilliant as I thought, but there it is.

Show Prep

I hoped to post this on Tuesday afternoon, but Internet problems prevented me from getting through to Blogger. If you’re reading this, either the Internet is working again, or I put it on a flash drive and went for a walk to the library.

I was out for a constitutional yesterday, and I had several brilliant thoughts occur to me. I was going to save them for my next podcast, but feared that I would forget them, so figured it was best that I jot them down.

So the other day, I was blogging about the new Law & Order: UK. Now, a British television series usually has a very small number of episodes in a season. Law & Order: UK got an order of 13 episodes for its first season...a number that is incredibly high for a one-hour British drama in its first season. However, Law & Order creator Dick Wolf laments that the season is so short, and is hoping that he’ll be able to convince the British producers to eventually do an American-style season of 22 episodes.

Now this got me thinking about a discussion I was having once with my best friend. He’s become quite a fan of Japanese anime and OVA and how an anime series might only run 26 episodes or so. “Can you imagine that?” he said to me. “That’s such a finite space to tell a story! What kind of story could you tell on TV in just 26 episodes?”

“You think that’s a short space?” I replied. “What about this British dramas, where a season is just 6 episodes! What kind of story would you tell in 6 episodes?”

There really is something to be said for finite storytelling...a TV series of limited length that has a set beginning, middle, and end. The way American television has set things up, it is designed to never end. That’s how we get The Simpsons and the original Law & Order running for more than 20 years. Some would say that that is a more realistic way of storytelling, because just like real life, there is no end. It just keeps going on.

But therein lies the rub. It’s more realistic in the never-ending sense, but in real life, characters are allowed to grow, change, and evolve. Not so on a TV series. Characters are expected to remain relatively consistent during the 10 years or so that a TV series is on. Fry said it best on an episode of Futurama: “People don’t like clever and unexpected. Clever makes them feel stupid, and unexpected scares them.”

But thanks to finite storytelling, because you know that end is coming, you can feel free to take the characters on an arc that will change them forever. Just when the characters have evolved to a point where your audience won’t love them anymore, well, that’s it. That’s the end of the series.

I wonder why North American television hasn’t embraced the concept of finite storytelling more. I can only think of a few examples. Babylon 5 was only designed to run for 5 years, and 5 years was for how long it ran. I believe there’s a similar plan in place for Lost. Listening to the running commentaries for the short-lived sitcom That’s My Bush!, either Matt Stone or Trey Parker (I forget which one) says, “Ya know, in a way, I’m glad this show lasted only 8 episodes. Because by around episode 7, we were starting to feel like the premise was wearing out.”

I hope finite storytelling is embraced. We shouldn’t fear the end when it comes to TV shows.

---

So I’ve been on Twitter for a couple of weeks now, and I’m starting to learn the ropes. I’m searching around, following more people, and picking up more followers, but still, its surprises me who chooses to follow me.

As part of all forms of media embracing Twitter these days, I’ve found a few of my favourite Edmonton Journal columnists, and started following them. But the weird thing is...they then turned around and started following me.

What’s going on here? Now, I don’t think it’s the “follow me and I’ll automatically follow you” system that celebrities like Britney Spears have set up. When they follow you back, it’s pretty much instantaneous. But with these Edmonton Journal columnists, it took hours – days in one case – for them to start following me back. So I’m assuming from this that it must have been on a conscious decision on the part of the columnist.

Why did they choose to follow me? Was it because I’ve tweeted during my morning show enough that they went, “Oh, fellow media guy. We media folk must stick together!” On my Twitter page, I’ve linked to enough of my other projects, like the podcast and the YouTube videos and even this blog. Have they perused these projects and went, “Wow, a kindred spirit!”

It boggles my feeble mind, and I have yet to work up the courage to go, “@columnist Hey! Why are you following me?”

But in the off chance that they’re reading this blog, I’d like to say, “Hello, Edmonton Journal columnists! I’ve always believe that deep inside every blogger beats the heart of a frustrated writer, and I know that’s true in my case. Reading your stuff inspires me to get more good.”

---

I had more brilliant thoughts as I was on my walk, but alas, they have escaped me. I had the thoughts on the walk up the hill, and it was on the walk back down the hill that I forgot them. I could sit here and try futilely to remember them, but I find that thoughts are like cats. The harder you hunt for them, the harder they hide. Best to just put your feet up and wait for them to come to you.

Law and Order International

Just doing some random googling, and I discovered that this much-hyped TV series has now started airing!

Ladies and gentlemen, it's the official British re-make of Law & Order, which is now a proud member of the franchise under the title Law & Order: UK:



Of course, right away for me, it earns its nerd cred for its casting of Freema Agyeman as the character of court prosecutor Alesha Philips, who fills that Law & Order stock role of "feisty young female ADA."

It's first season consists of 13 episodes...over in the UK, they're about 4 episodes in right now. For the first season, each episode is a flat-out re-make of an episode of the original American version, only with the appropriate changes made to make it work in British culture and the British legal system. Oh, and of course the setting was changed from New York to London.

Apparently, Law & Order creator Dick Wolf was quite involved with this British re-make, and is quite impressed with how it's turned out. According to Wikipedia, he's even lobbying NBC to pick it up for American re-broadcast.

And you know, that's why this first made headlines when it was announced around a year ago. With British television gaining ever more outlets in the USA, what with them winding up on various cable channels, there does exist a very real possibility that this'll be coming to North America.

But you know, discovering this got me digging around YouTube. This isn't the only international re-make of a Law & Order series. Before this one came along, the best-known Law & Order re-make out there was the French version of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Or, as the French re-make is known as, Paris enquetes criminelles.



The setting has been moved to Paris, and every episode is a flat-out re-make of a Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode, with the appropriate changes made to make it fit into French culture and the French legal system. Apparently, this is a condition on all these international Law & Order remakes.

But apparently the most popular of all these international Law & Order remakes is the Russian version of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. When this first premiered in Russia, apparently it was a full-on pop culture phenomenon. Same rules apply...setting changed to Moscow, and each episode is a flat-out remake of an SVU episode, with all the appropriated changes made for the Russian culture and legal system:



Here's an actual clip from the Russian Law & Order: SVU. I chose this because you get to hear the opening narration in Russian, plus you can see that it boasts what my best friend once dubbed the "low budget made in Canada" look. Seriously. It's got the look and feel of an episode of The Littlest Hobo:



The Russian re-make was so popular that it also led to a Russian remake of Criminal Intent. I could find only one clip online, and it's in good ol', super-poor "video camera filming the TV" vision:



But still, out of all these remakes, I think the best one still has to be...the Sesame Street remake of Law & Order:

Latest Targ's Up!

It's time for that Sunday morning ritual of mine...posting a new episode of U62: The Targ, my podcast!

This week, Episode 2.25: Comic Toast. In this one, we're talking Watchmen, Wonder Woman, and Pokemon. Just a typical show, really.

Click here to go listen to it!

Click here to find it in iTunes!

My latest YouTube vid!

So, here's my newest YouTube epic.

The Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta recently had a fundraiser in Athabasca, with a portion of the proceeds going towards the Athabasca Good Samaratin Mission. (That's our local food bank).

The fundraiser was a hockey game. Some of your favourite PC MLA's and cabinet ministers vs. municipal politicians and local celebrities.

Filmed it. YouTubed it.

Here's The PC Hockey Game.

Think of the Children: New Movie Laws in Alberta

So I just saw on the 6 o'clock news that here in Alberta they're bringing in some changes to the movie rating system. Well, not so much changing the ratings, but changing the way they're enforcing them.

Here's the original news story. You can read the text, or even watch the video!

For those too lazy to click, it pretty much boils down to this. All children aged 14 and under would be banned from movies rated 18A.

(For those not familiar with the Canadian movie rating system, 18A is pretty much the same as the American rating of R.)

It used to be that if kids 14 and under were accompanied by a parent or someone of legal age, they'd be OK to see an 18A movie. But nope! Not anymore! If you're 14 or under, you're not going to see Watchmen, you're off to see The Jonas Brothers 3D Concert Movie next door.

Also as part of this new law will be hiring narks to enforce it.

Of course, the complaint about this is that the government is overreaching their bounds and not letting parents be parents.

That's got to be the biggest argument against it: government, stay out of our homes and let the parents be parents.

The biggest argument FOR it would have to be this posting at one of my favourite websites, Not Always Right.com. For those too lazy to follow the link, let me skip straight to the punchline:

"With all due respect, ma'am, the movie is rated 18A, the movie poster is a picture of a stripper, and the film is called Sin City. What on earth made you think it was appropriate for your 8 year old child?"

Granted, I don't have kids, so this new law isn't going to affect me. However, you just know it came about because some overreacting parents lobbied the government, and now a different set of parents are overreacting to the law. Heck, in the news story, Minister of Culture Lindsay Blackett pretty much says as much.

On the plus side, this probably means no more crying babies when I go to see something like 300.

Also as part of this law, video rental stores will be unable to rent videos unless they're rated. Now that one does seem unfair. As they point in the news story, consenting adults like myself will be unable to rent award winning documentaries and foreign films simply because they couldn't afford to be submitted for a rating.

All in all, I think this new law is a bit of an overreacting.

And while I'm at it, I'd like to criticize how the news story was put together. For an example of an 18A movie, they used a clip from Watchmen. Fair enough...it's #1 at the box office right now and it's rated 18A, it's a prefect example. But....

...they used a clip featuring all the characters standing around in their bright, colourful superhero costumes. That, alone, helps skew the news story towards the fact that it's an overreaction.

Had they used one of the full frontal nude shots of Dr. Manhattan, or when Nite Owl is having sex with Silk Spectre, or when Rorschach hacks the guy's head in two, that probably would have been a little more accurate to the spirit of the law, and probably have a lot more people agreeing with it.

Watchmen Review is Up!

My review of Watchmen is now online!

Actually, it's been online since Monday, but because I adopted the policy of "one blog entry per day," I'm only blogging about it now.

So, if you're not my friend on Facebook, or if you're not following me on Twitter, or if you don't check out my official site twice daily, this is the first you're hearing about it.

So go read it!

Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder Review

You know, DTV movies don't have to suck. And I'm starting to learn that with all the ones I'm starting to amass in my collection. Let's get to my latest addition...

Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder

Directed by Peter Avanzio

Starring the voices of Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, Tress MacNeile, Maurice LaMarche, Phil LaMarr, Lauren Tom, and special guest voices Phil Hendrie, Penn and Teller, Snoop Dogg and Seth MacFarlane.

Backstory: Well, I am a Futurama geek, and I reveled in the news that the series was being resurrected in a series of 4 DTV films. But, all good things must come to an end, and the fourth and final film was finally released. The track record for me goes like this: #1 was awesome, #2 was kind of weak, #3 was good, but still not as good as #1. Where will #4 lie in spectrum?

Plot: After the construction of a newer and bigger Mars Vegas, Leo Wong (Amy's father) reveals his latest plot: to build the universe's biggest mini-golf course. To do so would require the destruction of 12% of the galaxy. Key to this construction is the destruction of a violet dwarf star, around which orbits an asteroid teaming with life. But little do they know that the destruction of this star would play into the hands of the Dark Ones, the culmination of evolution of the galaxy's fiercest predators. The only one who can stop the Dark Ones is our hero, Fry, who has been rendered telepathic thanks to a chunk of metal embedded in his skull. Can Fry stop the Dark Ones and save the universe? In other subplots, Bender starts dating the wife of the Robot Don of the Robot Mafia, and Leela joins an outlaw band of eco-feminists, and Zapp Brannigan is ordered to bring her in.

What I Liked: Well, there's definitly more laughs in this one than in the last two films. The first one was good because of all of its "WE'RE BACK!" vibes...this one is good because of all of its "SOB! IT'S OVER...AGAIN!" vibes. But still, the melancholy attitude keeps them from knocking it out of the park.

What I Didn't Like: OK, the whole plot with the Dark Ones does get a little confusing. And, as I said, it's good because of it's "IT'S OVER!" vibes, but they really don't kick in until the final 10 minutes.

Final Verdict: Bender's Big Score is still the best one, but this one is now a solid second. Good-bye, Futurama! This was an OK finale.

3 Nibs

Bonus Materials: For bonus features, you get a running commentary with the voice cast and directors, deleted scenes, featurettes, and a couple of nifty little comedy bits. I'm getting to lazy to type out the complete list.

Wonder Woman Review

Alright, I spent my Sunday afternoon watching those direct-to-video (DTV) movies I picked up in the city yesterday, so let's get to it! Let's share my opinions with the world on....

Wonder Woman

Directed by Lauren Montgomery

Starring the voices of Keri Russel, Nathon Fillion, Alfred Molina, Rosario Dawson, Marg Helgenberger, Oliver Platt, and Virginia Madsen.

Backstory: So, the DC/WB has had a pretty good streak so far with the DTV animated films. For their latest one, they finally get around to the third part of the DC trinity, the Amazon Princess herself, Wonder Woman. Producer Bruce Timm himself admitted that they were never able to give Wonder Woman her due. Would they finally be able to do it by making her the star of her own DTV film?

Plot: For centuries, the Amazon warriors of legend have live in peace and solitude on the hidden island of Themyscira. Their only duty: to stand guard over Ares, god of war, rendered powerless by Zeus. But, their existence is shattered one day when American Air Force pilot Steve Trevor crashes his plane on their island. Ares takes advantage of the commotion to escape. So then, the Amazons choose a champion to go on a mission to Man's World. The mission is twofold: return Trevor to his home, and apprehend Ares. The champion chosen: their own princess, Diana. Will Diana be able to navigate the hazards of Man's World and re-capture Ares?

What I Liked: The one thing I wasn't expecting about this film was how funny it is. It's just funny as hell to watch Diana arrive in Man's World, and then spend a great deal of time bitch-slapping every piece of crap that women are expected to deal with in today's world. The voice acting is top notch, too. I'll admit, when it was announced that Keri Russel would be voicing Wonder Woman, I didn't think she had enough..bad-ass-itude to pull it off. But she does so wonderfully. And also, Nathan Fillion as Steve Trevor...again, funny as hell. But it's not all giggles. There's also some pretty hardcore action scenes with lots of blood and be-headings.

What I Didn't Like: Sadly, I found Rosario Dawson's voice acting to be a little flat. And it was so darn short. I don't know who decided that these WB/DC DTV films have to be 75 minutes, but that person must be punished. With so little time, there's so many supporting characters that I feel got short shrift.

Final Assessment: This is the best DC Universe DTV animated film to date. Keep 'em coming!

4 Nibs

Bonus Material: The film is out in both single-disc and 2-disc special editions. Of course, I got the 2-disc special ed. For bonus materials, you get a running commentary with the director and producers, three featuretts (the first one about making the film, the second about the history of Wonder Woman, and the third about Wonder Woman's ties to Greek mythology), a couple of Wonder Woman-centric episodes of Justice League, and a sneak peak at the next DC Universe DTV film, Green Lantern: First Flight, due out this summer.

Latest Targ's Up!

Ah, a new week, means a new episode of my podcast, U62: The Targ!

On this week's episode, it's Episode 2.24: More Music of the Bat. You might remember, a few weeks ago, I special-ordered an ultra-rare copy of the soundtrack to Batman: The Animated Series.

Well, I finally went through all 2.5 hours of music on the 2-disc set, and I play my favourite clips for you!

Click here to give it a listen!

Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

My Day in the City and Some Comments on Watchmen

It's almost a monthly ritual for me, heading into the city, spending too much money on DVDs, and then heading to see a movie.

For those curious, the DVDs I spent too much money on this month are a couple of straight-to-DVD movies. First up, I had to get the latest DC Universe animated film, Wonder Woman. It's been getting some fantastic reviews, so I'm looking forward to watching it soon. And, I also got the fourth and final Futurama DTV film, Into the Wild Green Yonder. I love the first Futurama DTV film, felt the next two kind of wavered, but the reviews for the fourth one is that it's almost as good as the first one.

As with all DTV films of mine, look for reviews in this here blog in the days ahead.

But that's not all! I also had to pick up some new CDs to rip and load into my MP3 player. Snapped up Lily Allen's new one, It's Not Me, It's You. I do so love Lily Allen. She's got the kind of voice that haunts me.

I also had to pick up the debut album from The Lonely Island, Indredibad. For those too lazy to click the link to Wikipedia, The Lonely Island is a comedy troupe that includes Saturday Night Live cast member Andy Samberg and SNL writers Akiva Shaffer and Jorma Taccone. They are the trio responsible for most of the SNL digital shorts. If it's a rap video, it's these guys, so this album is made up of pretty much all the comedic rap songs they've done for SNL. There's some funny stuff here, so once I heard it was out, I knew I had to snatch it up.

To get all this new media, I wound up spending a lot more money than I intended to. I tend to feel less guilty about spending a lot if I buy at least one thing that I really need. Good thing I needed socks.

---

So...Watchmen.

Needless to say, Watchmen has been quite the experience these past few years. Not gonna lie...I'd never heard of Watchmen until I met my best friend in college and he started re-introducing me to comics. Even then, I never went down to the library and checked out a copy. Instead, I turned to the Internet (which I was just discovering at the time) and started reading about Watchmen. Armed with plot synopses and critical analysis, I was able to keep up a conversation with my best friend.

(In an amusing side-note, by best friend's girlfriend at the time was a great follower of the works Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Again, I did a lot of extensive research on their projects so I'd be able to maintain a conversation with her. One night, after an extensive debate about the merits of Cannibal!: The Musical, I shattered her world when I revealed that I had never actually seen the film...just read a lot about it. Finally got around to seeing it last year...it was pretty good.)

Anyway, as this decade went on, I still never got around to reading Watchmen, but still I read just about every article and synopsis and guide that could I find. That's right, rather than immerse myself in the book itself, I immersed myself in the Coles notes. When the release date of the film was announced, that became my ticking clock to finally read the book.

Signed it out of the library a month ago. Finished reading it three days ago.

Needless to say, it was an interesting reading experience, too. I'd read a few chapters, then go online and watch the film's trailer again, or some of the viral videos that were released to promote the film, and everything started falling into context. "Oh, that's what that scene is...I still don't understand that. Maybe it'll be explained in the next chapter."

I can honestly say that I've never walked into a film knowing more about it beforehand that I ever have before.

I found the film to be really, really good. It was as faithful as it could possibly be.

However....

I had the same problem with it that I had with that other Alan Moore adaptation, V for Vendetta. In order to get it down to a marketable running length, they had to cut out so many subplots and character moments and universe developing bits of coolness. It's almost like, well, reading a synopses.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a fantastic film, but the book just has the opportunity to flesh things out a little more.

I'm feeling generous today, so I'll go ahead and give it my highest rating of four nibs. A complete review will be coming in the next couple of days.

---

Oh, and just a little observation about my favourite fast food place, Wendy's. They've finally started doing something that I've wanted fast food places to do for a long time.

And that is, you can now choose the size of your fries and drink with a combo meal.

A "small combo" comes with small drink and fries, a "medium combo" comes with...well, you get it.

However, I would recommend ordering the small, as I went with the medium, and discovered that what they now call medium was once called large.

---

Oh, and one last thing. When watching Watchmen today, I tried something new.

I now have my Twitter account set up so I can tweet using text messaging from my cellphone. I was posting my off-the-cuff comments while I was watching the end credits!

So, follow me on Twitter for the next time I see a movie!

Third and Final Star Trek trailer!

The thrid and final trailer for Star Trek is in theatres this weekend in front of Watchmen.

But it's online now!



Wow. This is looking big and epic...something that a Star Trek movie hasn't looked like in a long time.

This one hasn't given me goosebumps like that last two. This one ramps up the explosions and the action.

But still, I think this is going to be a good one.

Here's where you can watch it in all kinds of high quality versions.

And my online empire grows....

WOO WOO! Everyone on the bandwagon!

I just signed up for Twitter.

Follow me, and I'll follow you

Man, I need to get out of the house more.

The Latest from Kevin Smith is....

Well, me and my fellow Kevin Smith geeks are dumbfounded by the announcement of what Smith's next film is. It's not his horror film Red State, which he was so hellbent on making. No, his next film is....

A Couple of Cops, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan!

The plot is being described as about a couple of veteran LAPD detectives who set out to track down a stolen, rare, mint condition 1952 baseball card.

Quite a few things make this notable. First up, this is the first film where Smith will be the director only. That's right, Smith didn't write this. It was written by Rob and Marc Cullen, who wrote for the TV shows Las Vegas and Heist. They also wrote and produced the unsold pilot Manchild, which starred...Kevin Smith!

Also, this is Smith's first film for a major studio. It's being made by Warner Brothers. All his other films to date were made by smaller, indie studios.

A release date of January 2010 is already locked in.

This is quite a surprise, but as I am still a massive Kevin Smith fanboy, I'll still be there opening weekend.

The Winter Festival of Speed!

It's been a while since I've had a new YouTube epic to share! Here's my newest one.

Here's the deal. Out in Lac La Biche, they recently had the Winter Festival of Speed. All kinds of motorsports out on the frozen lake. Our sister station in Lac La Biche, Big Dog 103.5 issued a media challenge. All the surrounding radio stations were invited out to race on the ice for charity.

And of course, we here at 850 the Fox picked up the gauntlet that they threw down.

They only wanted one volunteer from the station, and my colleague/news guy Chris Byrne raised his hand first.

Which left me free to make a movie about it!

So, here we go, with the Winter Festival of Speed Media Challenge

Latest Targ's Up!

Another week, another episode of U62: The Targ!

This week, it's Episode 2.23: Gilgamesh. We're talking remakes, DVD discount bins, my history of blogging, and Conan O'Brien.

All in all, a fairly by-the-numbers affair. I'll try to have something more exciting next week. Captain Excitement, that's me!

Click here to go to The Targ

Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

The Athabasca Community Centre

I was out for a walk the other day, when I saw the demolition notice on the Athabasca Community Centre, so I thought I should grab some pictures while I had the chance.



The Athabasca Community Centre was Athabasca's community hall, event-holding-place, and town gathering point for God knows how long. And, it's because of that age why it's about to go.



The Athabasca Regional Multiplex was built to be its replacement. The Multiplex opened one year ago, and the Community Centre has sat empty ever since.



With historical preservation being such a large part of Athabasca's identity, I'm surprised there was no movement afoot to preserve it...turn it into an interpretive centre or something like that. I remember one town councillor informally suggested retrofitting it into an office building and donating it to the overcrowded Athabasca University, but that idea never got off the ground.



Just yesterday I discovered that it was sold to Buy Low Foods -- the town's independent grocery store -- and that Buy Low intends to build a new store on this spot.



The Community Centre had two levels. Each one was fully outfitted with kitchen and saw many banquets, dances, and ceremonies in its day.



I covered a lot of events there in my two years of reporting. It's going to leave quite an empty hole in Athabasca's downtown landscape.

More pictures on Facebook

Nick Fury Forever / More Remake BS

Good news for all those who think Samuel L. Jackson was born to play Nick Fury!

Jackson just signed a deal with Marvel Studios to play Fury in NINE films!

Of course, those nine films include Marvel's next four films (Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, The Avengers), sequels to those films, and a possible Nick Fury solo film.

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In recent article about the Oscars, my hero, Kevin Smith, said that by 2019, Hollywood will have remade everything.

Here's the latest remake BS.

Today, it was announced that they're doing a remake of the Arnold Schwarznegger classic Total Recall!

They tell us the remake is going to be more contemporary, with state-of-the-art CGI effects.

This...is not needed. I have fond memories of Total Recall. It's one of the most over-the-top, ridiculous action films ever made. Much like when I blogged about Adventures in Babysitting a few days ago, I always see it in the discount bin, but I never have the $5 to buy it.

But that's not all! Remakes are the big thing right now...so are fantasy films, thanks to Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. So it was just a matter of time until they started remaking fantasy films.

They're also remaking The NeverEnding Story.

They promise us that the new movie version will be much more faithful to the original novel.

But still. ENOUGH WITH THE REMAKES!

More Board Game Movies / Family Guy Star Trek

Wow. I can't believe how this is moving forward.

Around a year ago, it was announced that Hasbro signed a massive deal with Universal Pictures. The deal? Universal was going to produce movies based on Hasbro's extensive library of board games.

Right away, it was announced that Ridley Scott, he who gave us Alien, Blade Runner and Gladiator would be doing the movie verion of Monopoly. Michael Bay, of the Transformers films, expressed an interest in doing a film based on the Ouiji Board. A month ago, it was announced that Kevin Lima, who gave us the hit Disney comedy Enchanted would be doing Candy Land.

And today, it was announced that Gore Verebinski, who gave us the Pirates of the Carribean trilogy and the American remake of The Ring, is going to be doing the movie version of...Clue.

The crazy thing is this is the second time Clue has been turned into a movie. The first movie version came out in 1985, and was presented as a screwball comedy. It's gimmick was it had three different endings, and when you went to see it, you had no idea what ending you were going to see. This gimmick has been replicated on the DVD, where the DVD always randomly picks which ending you're going to see.

No word yet on whether this new movie version will draw anything from the original movie version. There's also no word yet on when it might be coming out.

Verebinski's next project is alledged to be a movie version of the video game BioShock.

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And now, an episode of Family Guy that I've been waiting for for a long time.

March 29 will see the release of the episode Not All Dogs go to Heaven. The plot is this: Stewie gets upset when he goes to a Star Trek convention and is unable to ask his questions. His solution? He abducts the entire cast of Star Trek: the Next Generation so he can spend a day hanging out with them.

Featuring special guest voices the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation...even Wil Wheaton and Denise Crosby!

Wheaton briefly talked about recording his lines a year ago on his blog. Wheaton described the episode as "a love letter to The Next Generation."

March 29...set you DVRs.

Conan and Andy: Together Again

Geeks the world over cheered today when NBC announced that Conan O'Brien will have a sidekick when he takes over on The Tonight Show in a few months, and that sidekick will be...Andy Richter.

Actually, according to the official announcement, Richter will be The Tonight Show's announcer, but many are assuming that Richter will be an announcer/sidekick, much like Ed McMahon was to Johnny Carson.

For those not in the know, Andy Richter was Conan O'Brien's sidekick on Late Night with Conan O'Brien when the show premiered back in 1993. As the urban legend goes, Richter was originally hired just to be a writer, but when head writer Robert Smigel noticed that Conan and Andy had a natural chemistry, and that Conan was still nervous about being on the air solo, he proposed that Andy should be Conan's sidekick, and history was made.

Andy left Late Night in 2000 to pursue an acting career. I remember an interview at the time that he said it was his goal to become "a comedic character actor...the next Ned Beatty." Andy then went on to a wide variety of supporting roles in films, critically acclaimed guest appearances on sitcoms, and star in three failed sitcoms -- two of which qualify as "brilliant but canceled."

However, Andy always returned to Late Night every May, and was always greeted with a standing ovation from the crowd. And, on the final episode of Late Night back on Friday, Andy was officially Conan's last guest.

As I'm sure you can tell by this bio, I'm a fan, and I think this is a great, great thing.

Here's the official story.

Futurama 4 is Out!

The fourth and final Futurama DTV movie, Into the Wild Green Yonder comes out on DVD today.

In this final epic installment, the overdevelopment of Mars could lead to the end of all life in the universe, leading Fry, Leela, Bender and the gang on a quest to save all of existence.

Celebrity guest voices include Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller), Snoop Dog, and Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane.

And this might not be the end of Futurama. In a recent interview, Billy West, the voice of Fry, Zoidberg, Professor Farnsworth, and dozens more, said that sales of the DVD movies have been so good, that Fox is seriously considering bringing the series back!

I'll probably pick this up next week, when I can get that other DTV epic I want to pick up, Wonder Woman.

Green Lantern Movies!

So, let's see how well this new blog template handles multiple posts in one day! I'm outta control!

So, DC Comics' latest direct-to-video (DTV) animated film, Wonder Woman, comes out next week, and along with it comes the announcement of what their next DTV gem will be. And it will be....

Green Lantern!

The plot of the film will largely be an origin story, with the best known Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, receiving his power ring, receiving his training, and then ultimately having to bring in his power-mad mentor, Sinestro.

As is the usual case with these DC Comics DTV films, we have a star-studded voice cast. The celebrities are:

Christopher Meloni as Hal Jordan. Meloni, of course, is still best known as Detective Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Sinestro will be voiced by veteran Canadian character actor Victor Garber. Garber is still best-known to geeks the world over for playing Jennifer Garner's dad on Alias.

Kilowog, Hal Jordan's friend and fellow Green Lantern, will be voiced by veteran movie tough guy (and Quentin Tarintino regular) Michael Madsen.

And warrior woman Green Lantern Boodikka will be voiced by the pride of Donalda, Alberta, and the villanious Cylon Number Six, Tricia Helfer.

The director is Lauren Montgomery, who is quickly becoming one of the top creative forces on these DC Universe DTV films. She co-directed Superman: Doomsday, and is the director of Wonder Woman. Bruce Timm, who has overseen most DC comics animation for almost 20 years now, still holds authority as producer.

The Green Lantern DTV film is due out this summer.

Now this post is called Green Lantern movies for a good reason. It looks like Hal Jordan will also be coming to the big screen really soon.

A week or so ago, it was announced that Martin Campbell has been signed on to direct the live-action Green Lantern movie. Campbell is kind of like the franchise starter for the James Bond movies, having directed Pierce Brosnan's first film (GoldenEye) and Daniel Craig's first film (Casino Roayle). He also earned his superhero cred by directed the surprisingly good The Mask of Zorro and it's nowhere-near-as-good sequel The Legend of Zorro.

Called It!

Watching the Oscars right now...one of these years, I'll have to liveblog it.

They just gave out the award for Best Animated Film. It went to WALL-E. My streak continues! I've called it ever since the award was created. Jack Black kicked off the intro to this award with what will probably be the funniest joke of the night.

"I take all the money they pay me to do a voice in a Dreamworks film, come to the Oscars, and bet it all on Pixar." -- Black explaining to Jennifer Aniston how he gets rich doing voices in animated fims.

Latest Targ's Up!

Well, let's start putting this new blog template through its paces by making my weekly announcement that I've got a new episode of my podcast up, U62: The Targ!

This week, it's Episode 2.22: A Whole Lotta 2's. I offer up my Oscar pics, talk about digging for gold in the discount bin, and offer up a new movie rating system!

In case you haven't figured it out yet, 9 times out of 10, all I do in the podcast is just read a week's worth of entries from this blog. So, go download it, then read along in the blog!

Click here to visit the Targ's website!

Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Something Old, Something New

Blogs are for people with little to do, and even less to say - Author Unknown.

Back in 2001, I was reading this advice columnist in the Edmonton Journal by the name of Caroline Hax. The letter she received was from a young woman who went on a couple of dates with a guy, he mentioned he had a blog, she read that blog, and was now totally creeped out by that guy. Hax's advice? "Dump him immediatly. Anyone who keeps a blog is an attention-starved loser." Those are words that have haunted me in everything I do online.

I started this blog back in 2003. I was in Japan at the time, and my laptop crapped out on me. I no longer had a way to update my website. I desired a quick and easy way to maintain my online presence at public terminals, such as the Internet cafes. Back them, maintaining an online presence was very important to me.

Other friends at the time were running blogs on Blogger, so that seemed like the thing to do. And, on a warm April day at Manga Hiroba in the Kumagaya train station, I started Midnight Ramblings.

And my blog has remained largely unchanged...until today. Blogger itself has undergone several changes in the past six years, and my blog template was no longer compatible with the newest and greatest and idiot-proof features at Blogger.

So after mulling it over for a few months, today I bit the bullet and upgraded my template. Of course, I then heavily modified it to resemble the old template as much as possible.

And he we are! A new blog layout, as I'm about to start my seventh year of blogging.

Floating to the Top

This might sound weird, but I'm not a big fan of DVD discount bins.

If there's one thing I don't like about DVDs, it's how movies have been turned into a commodity. They're no longer a very complicated art form. They're just another product to be pumped out to fill store shelves. And the discount bin seems to epitomize that to a T.

However, that doesn't stop me from trolling the discount bins, in the odd chance that some super-special edition I missed out on a few years back found its way into the discount bin. In between Straight-to-DVD Comedy Part 3 and Public Domain Cartoon Collection Vol. 4, there is the odd gem that floats to the top.

And that's how I've been feeling the past few days. Ever since I moved to Athabasca, there's been this one film floating in the discount bin down at the wretched hive of scum and villainy. And recently, I started thinking, "If I see that film float to the top again, I think I'll snap it up." Today, it was at the top, and I snapped it up.

And that film is Startup.com, a critically acclaimed 2001 documentary. It chronicles the rise of a dot-com-startup called govWorks.com. We watched them rise to the top of their game, become billionaires overnight, and then, happy ending, right? Nope. Because in the middle of the filming was when the dot-com-bubble burst, and the documentarians kept their cameras rolling as we watched govWorks.com fall apart.

It became the defining film of the dot-com-boom, and for only $3 in the discount bin, I was like, "Why not?"

Don't think I'll be able to watch it until the weekend though, and I'm still plowing my way through Space: Above and Beyond -- The Complete Series. Great show.

I've got so many DVDs I need a schedule to figure out when I'm going to watch them all.

And speaking of DVDs, I've been thinking about the movie rating system I use on my website. I use the patented Nib system, where I rate films on a scale of 1 to 4 nibs. I'm thinking of overhauling it. Instead of Nibs, I think I should rate them on how much money I'm willing to pay for the DVD. The scale would look like this:

Top Dollar: This is when the DVD has been out of print for a couple years, and you can only find used copies on eBay for upwards of $100. Needless to say, this is the top of the scale.

Suggested Retail Price (SRP): Kind of middle of the road. When you go into your favourite DVD emporium and pull it off the shelf, this is what you pay. Between $20 and $30 is typical.

Discount Bin: Good, but not great. $10 or less.

Tape it off TV: So bad, the only way you'll get a copy is if you get it for free. Maybe you spend 25 cents for the blank DVD.

What do you think? How's that for a movie rating scale?

Movie Bit-Lits

Lots of little movie bits I feel like sharing. First up, if you're like me, then the genre of the teen comedy is probably one that makes you run screaming. But I feel like sharing the trailer for this upcoming teen comedy called I Love You Beth Cooper:





Now, why does this particular teen comedy pique my interest? That would be this:

From the director of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

That's right, Chris Columbus returned to his teen comedy roots. I say "returned" because his very first film was the 1980s teen comedy Adventures in Babysitting.

Ah, Adventures in Babysitting. For some reason, I saw that one a lot when I was a kid. I keep seeing it in the DVD discount bin, but I never have the money to pick it up....

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Next up, I think this is the best idea for a movie ever.

So we've got your typical Jane Austen comedy of errors...18th Century upper class British women trying to land an upper class husband.

And in the middle of all this, drop a bloodthirsty alien who starts picking them off one by one.

The title? Pride and Predator.

They start filming this summer.

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And finally, I was telling a friend about how movies can evolve over time.

A few years back, a movie was in development called Nottingham. It was a revionist take on the tale of Robin Hood, portraying the Sherriff of Nottingham as a fairly decent guy who was just following orders and Robin Hood as a little more villanous. Ridley Scott signed on to direct, and his old friend Russel Crowe signed on to play the Shrriff.

Anyway, not to long ago, it was reported that Crowe would be playing both the Sheriff and Robin Hood. People went "WTF?" and Scott explained. In the new twist on the tale, Robin Hood kills the Sherrif in one of their early encounters. Thinking he might be able to change things from the inside, Robin Hood then adopts the Sherriff's identity.

Now, Scott is saying that all that stuff is out the window, and it's going to be a straight-up retelling of Robin Hood. Crowe is now playing Robin Hood, and the film is called...Robin Hood.

They begin filming in two months.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Trailer

Well, here it is gang, the first full, official trailer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.






So, let's see here. My thoughts:

• Looks like the Autobots decided to take Optimus Prime up on his invitation in droves. And, Michael Bay thought it would a good way to re-make Armageddon.
• Apparently that big beast thing is how they've reimaged Ravage.
• All the trailers for the first film ended with the Autobot logo. Looks like all these trailers are going to end with the Decepticon logo. Cool.

And we've had absolutely no clue as to what the plot is yet! I guess we'll find out when this comes out at the end of June.

The Story of Family Day

Well, Family Day has come once again to the province of Alberta. And, as I like to do on every Family Day, I like to take moment to remind myself of why we celebrate this day. So please, sit back, as I tell the story of Family Day.

It has long been argued that Canada needs a holiday in February. The break between New Years and Easter is too long, and a long weekend in February would be good for morale as it provides people with a much needed break, and much needed hope. However, our federal leaders have never been able to decide what this holiday should celebrate. So, in the grand Alberta tradition of, "Screw Ottawa! We'll do it ourselves," the Progressive Conservative Government under Premier Don Getty set out to create a February holiday.

The third Monday in February was chosen, as it matched up with the American holiday of Presidents Day. And finally, all those American oil company executives in Calgary who donate a lot of money to the Progressive Conservative Party would stop complaining about how they had to work on Presidents Day.

But once again, the Conservatives ran into the problem of what to call this holiday. What should they celebrate? Well, it was around this time that scandal broke out in the Alberta government. Premier Getty's son was arrested on charges of dealing cocaine. Premier Getty reflected on this, and blamed himself. If he wasn't such a workaholic...if he spent more time with his family. Getty stood before the people of Alberta and said that if everybody took a day off once in a while to spend time with their families, then perhaps tragedies like these would be less likely.

And so, the holiday was called...Family Day.

The first Family Day was celebrated on February 19, 1990. But sadly, this holiday was not greeted with open arms. It met with considerable criticism from the Alberta business community. They argued that holidays are expensive things, what with the overtime pay that have to give to their employees, or lost revenue if they decide to close that day. So, to appease these special interests, the provincial government decided to downgrade Heritage Day (aka the August long weekend) to a civic holiday. This means that your company can make up for its lost Family Day revenues by making you work on the August long weekend.

In fact, there was so much opposition to Family Day in the beginning that one of Premier Ralph Klein's first election promises was to abolish Family Day. But by the time Klein finally came to power in 1992, Family Day has become firmly entrenched in the Alberta psyche, and people liked having that day off in February. Besides, which politician really wants their legacy to be the guy who cancels holidays? And now, as Family Day approaches its 20th anniversary, the idea has caught on so much that a great deal of Alberta businesses recognize both Family Day and Heritage Day.

Well, it still hasn't caught on with the federal government, which is why you'll still find the post office open today.

But Family Day is starting to grow in popularity. In 2006, Saskatchewan adopted Family Day as a holiday, and started celebrating in 2007. And then in 2007, Ontario adopted Family Day as a holiday, and began celebrating in 2008.

So, no matter where you find yourself today, be you at the Family Day pancake breakfast at your Legion hall, or building snowmen at your town's Family Day Winter Carnival, or just curled up on the couch watching a Family Day marathon on TV, I hope you'll take moment to raise your glass and drink to Premier Don Getty and his drug dealing son. For if it weren't for them, we would not be celebrating Family Day.

Well, we would probably still be celebrating a February holiday, it just wouldn't be called Family Day. Look at Manitoba. When they started celebrating a February holiday last year, they ditched the Family Day moniker and opted to call it Louis Riel Day.

So Alberta gets a day off because our premier felt guilty about his coke dealing son. Manitoba gets a day off to honour the founder of their province.

That's what we like to call the Alberta Advantage.

Latest Targ's Up!

Ah, it's funny how you think something that's NOT going to affect your life affects your life greatly. Take my upstairs neighbours for instance. When they first announced that the Mrs. was pregnant, they told me that I was to lead my life as normal, that I could be as loud and as noisy as I usually am. "We're not going to get used to the baby, the baby's going to get used to US!" they proudly told me.

The baby's around six months old now, and the baby's bedtime is 7PM. I know this, because every Saturday night at around 7:01PM, I get this phone call from upstairs:

"Yeah, we're having trouble getting the baby to sleep. Could you turn down your home theatre sound system, please?"

I tell ya, it's a real buzzkill to Movie Night.

So, on this particular movie night, I decided to shut things down and go ahead and post this week's episode of U62: The Targ a little early.

This week, it's Episode 2.21: Nuts in a Grocery Store. I give you an update on the new Batman movie, I offer my thoughts on the Olympic torch, and, as I like to do every year at this time, I tell the story of why we celebrate Family Day.

So, go give it a listen! And be sure to keep it turned down, so as not to wake the baby.

Click here to go download it!

Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Flame On!

Let's hear it for Olympic symbols!

Today, there's just one year to go until the Winter Olympics come to Vancouver. So today, the unveiled what I'll be carrying when I'm selected to run in the Torch Relay. Yup, that sleek piece of silver in the picture is the Olympic torch.

It was designed and built by the great Canadian aeronautics firm Bombardier. The design was meant to be evocative of "the cool, crisp lines left in snow and ice from winter sports." It weighs in at 3.5 pounds, and was designed to be easy to carry, easy to hand off from one person to the next, and able to keep the Olympic flame burning in all kinds of weather.

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Also unveiled was the uniform that all the torchbearers get to wear in the torch relay. Like all the clothes for Team Canada in the Winter Olympics, it was designed and manufactured by the Hudson's Bay Company. And after looking it up online, yes, the torchbearers get to keep them. And they don't have to buy them.

I've got my name in to be a torchbearer! I'm going to look snazzy wearing that track suit and carrying the torch.

Here's the complete story.

Nolan's and Tarintino's Next

The good news: Christopher Nolan has decided what his next film will be!

The bad news: It's not a third Batman movie.

Nolan's next film is Inception. It's being described as "a contemporary sci-fi actioner based in the architecture of the mind." Nolan himself wrote the screenplay.

Now, does this mean that the third Batman movie won't be coming out in 2011 as planned? Well, let's not forget that there were just three years between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, yet Nolan managed to squeeze The Prestige in between, so, there's always hope.

This'll be the first film that Nolan wrote and directed himself since his very first film, Knowing, which came out in 1998.

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For movie geeks of my generation, there's once sentence that stirs the blood: "Quentin Tarintino is making a new movie."

Tarintino's next is his long in development World War II epic Inglorious Basterds. It's due out in August, but Tarintino is rushing to finish it in time for the Cannes Film Festival in May.

The first trailer went online today. You'll be able to see it in theatres this Friday in front of the reboot of Friday the 13th.

TMNT DVD

FINALLY!

Ever since I first switched to DVD eight years ago, this is one film I've been praying to the DVD gods to get released as a super-mega-ultimate special edition. Granted, it's been out on a movie-only disc for a few years, but I want my super-mega-ultimate-special editions. That film is a true classic from my childhood. That film is....

the live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

In fact, all four Ninja Turtle films (the three live action ones from the early 1990s and the computer animated one from two years ago) are gettting brand new, fully loaded 25th Anniversary Editions. They hit stores on August 2, and will be available on both DVD and Blu-Ray, if you've made the Great Upgrade.

25th Anniversary Editions? Yeah...the original Eastman and Laird indie comic that spawned the franchise first hit shelves in 1984. 2009 is the 25th anniversary of the Turtles.

Man, I suddenly feel old.

Movie Reviews: Coraline and Hulk vs.

First and foremost, I've got my complete review of Coraline posted. You can head on over to my main page to read it. Hell, you can even click here to go right to it.

Now, as might be a bit of a double-standard with me, while big-time theatrical films get posted in my movie reviews section, the straight-to-DVD films get reviewed just right here in the blog. So, then, let's get right down to a review of the latest straight-to-DVD film I picked up....

Hulk vs

Directed by Frank Paur and Sam Liu

Starring the voices of Fred Tatasciore, Bryce Johnson, Steve Blum, Matthew Wolf, Nolan North, March Acheson, Janyse Jaud, Colin Murdock, Tom Kane, Graham McTavish, Grey DeLisle and Kari Wahlgren.

Backstory: As I blogged when this first came out a few weeks ago, while the straight-to-DVD films of DC/Warner Brothers have been met with excitement, the straight-to-DVD films of Lionsgate/Marvel seem to be met with an indifferent shrug. I remember watching their first film, Ultimate Avengers, and being largely unimpressed. But that seems to be turning around with Hulk Vs. A bigger marketing push and some positive reviews piqued my interest. And then, when I saw it quite reasonably priced at Best Buy ($10 for the single-disc movie only version, $15 for the 2-disc special edition), I decided to succumb to my curiosity.

Plot: Again, as previously blogged, this film is made of 2 short films. The first one is Hulk vs. Wolverine. When the Hulk is spotted going on a destructive rampage along the US/Canadian border, the Canadian government dispatches Wolverine to investigate and neutralize the threat "with extreme prejudice." But it's not long before Wolverine's old Weapon X projects show up, wanting to capture the Hulk and make him the next Weapon X project. The second short is Hulk vs. Thor. In the mystical land of Asgard, the god Odin hibernates for a week once a year to replenish his energy. During this Odinsleep, Asgard is vulnerable, and the forces of darkness seek to overthrow the throne. And, the forces of evil are always defeated by the forces of good, led by Thor. However, the evil Loki has a dirty trick up his sleeve this time. Out of all the 9 worlds, there is one being who has ever been able to match Thor in battle: the Hulk. Loki transports Bruce Banner to Asgard, and uses magic to separate Bruce Banner and the Hulk into two separate beings. With a mindless Hulk let loose in Asgard, Thor and Loki are soon forced to join forces to defeat the mindless Hulk, lest this new threat bring about Ragnarok.

What I Liked: As I'm sure you've figured out, this pair of films holds a lot of "Hulk smash!" action. It gets violent, it gets bloody, it's all in there. Hulk vs. Thor is definitely the more plotty of the two, as the world of Asgard really gets top-notch treatment. And Deadpool is just plain funny. Oh, and the production values have really, really increased since Ultimate Avengers.

What I Didn't Like: Even though production values have increased, the animation is still nothing to write home about. And, almost like Godzilla movies, things seem to get really slow when there's no fighting going on.

Final Verdict: A fun little romp, if you like your Saturday morning cartoons with more blood and swears.

3 Nibs

Bonus Features: I got the 2-disc special edition, of course. Each short film gets its own "making of" featurette and a pair of running commentaries (commentary #1 with the writers, commentary #2 with the directors and animators). Exclusive to Hulk vs. Wolverine is a featurette about the screen of Hulk vs. Wolverine at last years San Diego Comic Con, and a featurette about the new cartoon Wolverine and the X-Men. Exclusive to Hulk vs. Thor is a featurette on the creation of Thor, and the trailer for Marvel/Lionsgate's next OVA, Thor: Tales of Asgard.

Latest Targ's Up!

Ah, Sunday Sunday!

As we do every Sunday, I've got a new episode of my podcast, U62: The Targ!

This week, Episode 2.20: The Other Half of the Battle. We're talking more Olympic merchandise, we recap my favourite Superbowl spots, and I begin my quest to get Watchmen read before the movie comes out!




Click here to find me on iTunes!

Click here to download it at Chaos in a Box.com!

Coraline off the cuff

Just got home from Coraline. Coraline was an odd bird for me...I've been tracing its development online since it was first announced 6 years ago. In that six years, I read the book a couple times. It was a good book.

And, it is a good movie. I always like it when my animated films throw something unexpected at me. In my favourite film, The Iron Giant, it's when our hero has to unzip his pants to let out a squirrel. In Ratatouille, it's when we get a quick glimpse of two lovers pointing guns at each, a shot goes off, they throw the guns aside, and being passionately kissing itself.

And in Coraline...it's naked, morbidly obese burlesque dancers.

It is a great film, if a tad predictable, but I chalk that up to having read the book a couple times.

And the soundtrack...my God. That's music that's going to haunt me for a while.

Fantastic film, check it out, I keep reading that it's better in 3D. I saw it in 2D myself, but if you have 3D theatre in your neighbourhood, 3D might be the way to go.

As always, a complete review at the main site in the next couple of days or so.

Hmmm...I never got around to writing that complete review of The Spirit, and that might be a good thing.

Something for adults, something for kids

Two stories in my wacky news that I feel like commenting on today....

First up, something for adults. Presenting the tale of Ms Sheyla Hershey. Hershey is on a quest to set a new world record. That record: the world's biggest breasts.

Back in May, she finished her 8th breast enhancement surgery. She has a gallon of silicone in each boob. Her bust size was a bra-busting 34FFF. But, that wasn't big enough. She wanted bigger. But, no plastic surgeon in the USA would go bigger, for fear of breaking the law. After her research, she found that there were no restrictions on how big you could go in Brazil.

She just got back from Brazil, where she got her 9th breast enhancement surgery, and now tips the scales with a 38KKK bra size.

Ya know, I'm a red blooded male and all that, but this...this just ain't right. One pundit said it best: those like beach balls that are about to pop.

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And now, for the kids.

Controversy out of Disneyland! The Disney folks have decided to refurbish their classic ride, It's a Small World. And, like all refurbishments to Disneyland rides, it's meeting with some resistance.

How have they changed it? Well, in addition to the animatronic children from all over the world, they've added some animatronic Disney characters! The classic song has not been spruced up to be included in a medley of Disney hits, plus they've added a farm scene, and a complete section dedicated to Toy Story.

The hardcore Disney fans are pissed about this...they say their messing with a classic. The Disney folks, however, insist that Walt Disney's vision was always one of growth and modification for the times.

Here's the original article, where you can read all about it!

Digital comes to Edmonton

Yay! Edmonton movie theatres are getting their first digital projector!

It was announced today that the Scotiabank Theatre in West Edmonton Mall (formerly known as Silver City, still best known as the one with the dragon in it) is installing a digital movie projector. The projector will also be capable of projecting films in Real D, which is the most popular 3D format going right now.

The digital projector will first be unleashed on Edmontonians with the released of the 3D Jonas Brothers concert film, coming out on February 27.

Here's hoping this October they get the 3D version of The Nightmare Before Christmas!

Here's the article!

Superbowl Spots!

Well, the Superbowl is always good for a movie geek like me, because so many summer blockbusters give us commercials in the Superbowl and kick off their advertising campaigns. And, based on the crop of commercials in this year's Superbowl, I think 2009 is going to be a great year for that genre known as "the event picture."

First up, one that I'm really looking forward to, one of my favourites from my childhood is on the big screen. It's the Real American Heroes themselves, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.






Speaking of childhood favourites, coming out just in time for my brithday this July, it's the Transformers sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.






Big fat Trekkie that I am, perhaps the one that I'm most looking forward to is the re-boot of Star Trek.






I'm one of those guys who believes that Pixar can do no wrong, so I'm also counting down the days to Up:






And lastly, I was originally indifferent towards this one, but this spot has me hooked. Will Ferrel brings us the new movie version of the beloved 1970s adventure show, Land of the Lost:

Latest Targ's Up!

If y'all can tear yourselves away from today's big Superbowl extravaganza, how about you give a listen to this week's podcast, U62: The Targ?

This week, it's Episode 2.19: Beatles & Sunshine. I threw my name into the hat to be in the Olympic torch relay, so I'll tell you all about that. I rant about the upcoming scents of Star Trek cologne, and I even get into some subject matter that's NSFW. (I'll give you a hint: it involves Star Wars pron.)

So, please! Go check out this week's episode of U62: The Targ.

Click here to download it from my website!

Click here to subscribe in iTunes!