In terms of location, not to many “whodunnits” are staged in Antarctica. Really the only other movie that even comes close in my mind is John Carpenter’s The Thing or maybe 30 Days of Night. So I’ll give Whiteout style points for the interesting location.

Still, when I read the plot synopsis, I couldn’t help but wonder about the title. True, blizzard conditions result in a blinding “whiteout” as Kate Beckinsale’s character attempts to solve a murder. But she’s also under the added pressure of finding a murderer in three days before the last plane leaves the continent and those who are left behind are plunged into six months of night.

It’s kind of like Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia, but in reverse. Or maybe like Pitch Black. But, y’know… without all the space monsters. But why so many “race-against-time” plot devices?

I realize that Whiteout is based on a comic mini-series of the same name released by Oni Press in 1998. So, for all intents and purposes, this is a “comic book movie” and perhaps such compounding dilemmas don’t have to make sense.

Still, I think you could do so much with the isolation and the paranoia of such a remote location that multiple “race-against-time” elements aren’t needed.

Certainly something that CAN’T be explained is casting Kate Beckinsale – arguably one of the most attractive women in film right now – in a role that requires her to wear bulky parkas and heavy boots all over the place. Next time, Kate, try to solve a murder on Bikini Island, or something.

SEXISM! WOO!

With that out of the way, I want to remind everyone that there is a fire sale in the store right now. All of the books are $9.99, all of the t-shirts are $7.99 and I’m also selling some remainder inventory for much, much less. Baby doll tees for $4.99, a poster and a sample booklet at reduced prices as well.

The sale runs through the weekend, but I encourage you to place your orders now. I got a bunch of orders of the weekend and I hope to have them sent out by tomorrow. So if you want your merchandise included in that mailing, place your order today.

In the meantime, I will be adding a special graphic to the top of the page to remind you of the sale. But if you guys can help me out by mentioning the sale through your Twitter or Facebook accounts, that would help me out a great deal.

I’m selling off this inventory at dramatically low prices to hopefully raise enough money to produce the third Theater Hopper book. Although yesterday, my good friend Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex launched Book 1 Club of Awesome and is giving rewards to people who contribute funding to the production of his first print collection. I’m thinking I might have to steal his idea.

I’m sure we’ll be talking about Gordon’s forthcoming book as well as catch up on other topics tonight on The Triple Feature at TalkShoe. Remember: We record live at 9:00 PM CST and would love it if you could join us.

See you then!