Posts Tagged ‘test’
4 items.
Cami and I were actually excited to see Cold Creek Manor this weekend, but if its 5th place showing at the box office was any indication, the rest of the nation figured out its horrible secret just like we did.
The previews for this movie made it look like a classic haunted house story – which I’m always up for. Poltergeist, for example, is one of my favorite movies.
Instead, after reading several reviews, the plot was revealed to be some kind of country bumpkin vs. city slicker stalker fantasy in the vein of Cape Fear.
I’ll buy Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone as the beleaguered gothamites. But casting Stephen Dorff as the backwoods tormentor is laughable. That guy is L.A. to the bone. I guess they cast Juliette Lewis as his white trash girlfriend – but hasn’t she covered this territory before in movies like Natural Born Killers and, well Cape Fear?
I don’t know if there would have been as big a backlash if the producers of the film simply fessed up and cut the trailer that represented the movie they made. But I guess Hollywood thinks they can still pull the wool over our eyes.
What the hell happened to Mike Figgis? Back when he directed Leaving Las Vegas, people were holding him up as the next best thing. That was a great movie, and he comes back with this crap?
Dennis Quaid will survive. He still has momentum from The Rookie and an excellent turn in Far From Heaven.
Sharon Stone? Four years after The Muse and Gloria, she still can’t pick a lead role to save her life. Here’s hoping her supporting performance in the forthcoming Catwoman will treat us to the icy sex queen we come to know and love.
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I’ve pretty much abandoned movie commentary for the week. Hillbilly Jeff seems to have struck a nerve with the readership, so I’ve committed myself to telling his story. As to exactly why Tom needs someone to watch him while showering?… Well, the world may never know.
If you missed The Triple Feature talkcast on Monday night, you missed a doozie. If I were you, I would download it right away. We interviewed JoBlo from JoBlo.com and it went great! We got into a really good discussion about the nature of online journalism, objectivity, web site management and standards. Good stuff, really. My thanks once again to JoBlo for taking the time to speak with us. This was easily one of my favorite broadcasts.
Another reason you should download Monday’s show is because we’re giving away free copies of the Denzel Washington movie Deja Vu which is coming out on DVD next week, Tuesday, April 24. The first half of the two part clue was given at the end of Monday’s show. Now is the time in the blog where I give you the second half.
The second half of the clue is “OUT”.
So all you need to do is combine the two clues and send them to me at theaterhopper@hotmail.com along with your name, age and mailing address and you’ll be eligible for the random drawing!
I spent Tuesday home from work. I took a sick day, which is something I never do. Today we have a big meeting that I have to take photos for and if I was under the weather, it would have really put my department in a tight spot. So, instead of going to work sick like I usually do, I stayed home and recovered.
I felt totally useless, though because I couldn’t do anything to help Cami with Henry. I didn’t want to touch him and get him sick. Henry is actually going in for his first round of shots today at the pediatrician, so it would have been really lame if he had gotten sick the day before.
I rarely ever take sick days because I’m typically in denial about any illness I may succumb to. I don’t know why, but for the first part of the morning Tuesday, I had it in my head that I was doing the right thing by preventing those at work from getting sick and that I wasn’t sick myself. For some reason I thought I would be able to get a lot of work done while I was home. Maybe even get ahead on some of the comics!
Of course, I am a moron. Between slipping in and out of consciousness for most of the day, I was barely able to get this comic done. Oh, well.
I started feeling better around 6:00 or 7:00 last night, so Cami and I sat down to watch Smokin’ Aces, which had just come out on DVD and the good people at Universal decided to send me a copy of. I think when the movie first came out, I slagged it for trying to be a Pulp Fiction clone. In hindsight, I didn’t know what I was talking about. I was really attacking more how the film was being marketed and not the film itself.
While Smokin’ Aces certainly has it’s own kinetic style, it’s not a Pulp Fiction clone. It’s actually a little bit more comedic than I expected and there are a fistful of cameos in this thing.
I still think I made the right decision to skip it when it was in the theater, but this thing plays great on the small screen. The DVD extras were pretty cool, too. There’s a whole piece on the stunt work, which rarely is highlighted these days. So that was nice to see.
If you’re looking for a fun rental this weekend, I strongly suggest Smokin’ Aces. If you’re looking to kill a little time until then, check out this game – the Smokin Aces Card Killer Game. I found it an interesting diversion.
That about does it for me. I’ll talk to you guys soon!
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This is kind of a weird approach to a common problem I have this time of year. But I felt it was time to bring Victor out of hiding for a little bit.
Are you like me? Do you get stressed out by the sheer number of obvious awards contenders the studios pump into theaters over the holiday season. To me it’s an embarassment of riches that ultimately makes me feel stagnant. There are so many choices, I don’t know where to start!
Of course the issue is compounded by the fact that studios will “release” the movie in select cities first so they are eligible for awards contention before releasing the film wider several weeks later. I hate this because it makes me feel disconnected from the medium I love. I’ll see an ad for a movie that hasn’t made it to my town yet and they will wallpaper it with critical praise “ON OVER 100 TOP 10 LISTS!” It makes me feel like I’ve missed the boat.
Gran Torino is a good example. It was in limited release on December 12, but it goes wide this weekend. That’s almost a full month since critics first started talking about it. You and I both know how fast things move in the pop culture reference stream. The movie has slipped in and out of the current before it’s ever had a chance to be seen!
Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m too close to movies so I notice these things. It’s more than likely that John and Jane Q. Public aren’t bothered by the Hollywood award season marketing strategies. But for me, it makes me feel like I’m better off seeing Paul Blart: Mall Cop and then no one wins!
Is it just me? Am I being over-sensitive or are you guys noticing this shell game, too? Also, what do you think Victor is going to do with those pictures and how exactly did he coerse Jimmy into taking the shots? Leave your comments below.
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I’m trying something a little different for the new year and am testing out in-test ads on the site. You’ll notice them as double-underlined green links in the blog posts.
I’m trying to keep them very relative to the theme of the site. So you’ll see words like “film,” “movies” and whatnot highlighted.
I’m kind of on the fence about in-text ads in terms of how intrusive they are. Part of me doesn’t like that it randomly places emphasis on my words and I have concerns that it is deceptive in a way that traditional banner advertisements are not.
But, at the same time, I reduced the number of ads appearing on the site in the redesign in an effort to maximize space for content – and I need to make up the difference somewhere.
I’m not saying the in-text ads are the solution. They’re just something I’m trying. If you have thoughts you’d like to share, please feel free to do so in the comments.
Thanks.
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