The UBS Evening Movie News 01.01.09
Posted by George H. Sirois on 01.01.2009
The “Y2K9 Problem” Edition…
Welcome everyone to the latest edition of the UBS Evening Movie News. I'm George H. Sirois and Happy New Year! I'm writing this on Tuesday the 30th and Wednesday the 31st simply because I have plans on New Year's Eve, just like many of you do. However, by the time you read this, it's going to be January 1st, so however you spent New Year's, I hope you did it safely and that you kept warm.
By the time this is posted, I'm hoping that the problem I'll be ranting about this week will be fixed. But like I said, I got a lot on my plate for New Year's Eve and I didn't exactly need this last-day-of-the-year kick-to-the-groin on top of it all. So I got a bit to get off my chest.
But first, we got news!
SYBIL THE SOOTHSAYER
UPCOMING MOVIES
Defiance: Three Jewish brothers (Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell) escape from Nazi-occupied Poland into the Belarussian forest, where they join Russian resistance fighters and endeavor to build a village in order to protect themselves and others in danger.
Good: Viggo Mortensen plays a good German during the time where Germany sees a chaotic rise of national socialism.
This has to be a case of absolutely perfect timing with these two films being released at the same time. First, you have Defiance, which is getting some wonderful buzz right now and, since it's based on a true story, will cause another hero to re-surface in history. And then, you have Good, which shows the rise of Nazi Germany through the eyes of someone who chose not to follow along with it.
This is a very skilled one-two punch that should make for a very effective double-feature to not only show a heroic man fighting against the Nazis, but then to later show the world that not everyone bought into what Hitler was selling.
Credit: TheMovieBox.net
DVD NEWS
Who taught Anchor Bay math???!!! Next year, their Blu-Ray catalog will be getting a new addition: The 20th Anniversary edition of Hellraiser. That's all well and good; however the movie's 20th anniversary was 2007. So the 22nd anniversary will be celebrated with a 20th anniversary Blu-Ray.
Way to look smart, guys. That disc will hit shelves sometime in April.
If you're a Saturday Night Live fan like I am, then you're probably familiar with the name Michael O'Donoghue. He was one of the original writers on the show, and he was one of the three actors in the very first sketch ever, "The Wolverines." He also wrote one of the all-time greatest sketches in the show's history, "Star Trek: The Final Voyage of the Starship Enterprise."
Anyway, around the time when his run on the show was coming to an end, a television special called Mr. Mike's Mondo Video was going to be broadcast on NBC, but they rejected it since it was too outrageous for them. So it was given a release in theaters, and in mid-January, it will be on DVD shelves with plenty of extras.
In addition to the show, there will be a classic Mr. Bill short, some of "Mr. Mike's Least Loved Bedtime Tales" and an audio commentary with Mitch Glazer. Get ready for this one on January 13th; the retail price is $19.99.
You know those "4-Film Favorites" that Warner Home Video has released lately? Make sure you get the Sylvester Stallone set rather than the Blu-Ray release of Tango & Cash.
I know Blu-Ray's supposed to be a better purchase, but when it comes to this film, standard is the way to go. Not only will the Blu-Ray contain the same amount of features as the film on the 4-pack (zero), but with the 4-pack, you will also get The Specailist, Demolition Man and Over the Top.
The Blu-Ray comes out on April 7 for $28.99. The 4-Pack is out now for a little over $10. Standard scores the win here.
Credit: DVDReview.com
MOVIE TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Star Trek
CLASSIC MOVIE TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Here's a look back at the last time we all saw the complete crew of the Starship Enterprise on the big screen.
JIM WEBBING AND HIS IT'S-THE-HONEST-TRUTH-DEPARTMENT
The Terminator Will Live Forever!: "The Asphalt Jungle," "Sergeant York," "In Cold Blood," "Deliverance" and "The Terminator" are among the 25 film titles selected this year by the Library of Congress for inclusion in its National Film Registry.
The Registry is Library of Congress' film preservation initiative, designed to ensure that pics that are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant will be preserved for all time. As always, this year's selections range from classics to obscure gems such as "Disneyland Dream," a Connecticut family's 1956 home movie of their trip to Disneyland after winning a contest sponsored by Scotch Brand Cellophane Tape.
Also making the cut is a collection of rare color World War II battle footage shot by helmer George Stevens; MGM's 1929 musical "Hallelujah," featuring an all-black cast; and "Free Radicals," a 1979 four-minute experimental short by New Zealand filmmaker Len Lye.
Other famed pics include: "A Face in the Crowd" (1957); "Flower Drum Song" (1961); "Foolish Wives" (1922); "The Invisible Man" (1933); "Johnny Guitar" (1954); "The Killers" (1946); "The Pawnbroker" (1965); "The Perils of Pauline" (1914); and "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad" (1958).
Buster Keaton's first two-reeler, 1920's "One Week," is on the list, as is W.C. Fields' "So's Your Old Man" from 1926.
Other esoteric works include the landmark docu on Native Americans, 1910's "White Fawn's Devotion," and 1989's "Water and Power," the Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner from filmmaker Pat O'Neill that blends images of downtown L.A. with scenes of water flowing to the city from the Owens Valley.
The National Film Registry was established in 1989. This year's 25 selections bring the number of titles in the collection to 500.
"Both as a public-awareness tool and as an educational learning aid for students, the registry helps this nation understand the diversity of America's film heritage and, just as importantly, the need for its preservation," James Billington, Librarian of Congress, said in announcing the titles.
"The nation has lost about half of the films produced before 1950 and as much as 90% of those made before 1920. In addition, more and more nitrate-based and acetate-based films are deteriorating with the passage of time."
I always feel a bit of pride whenever I hear about a particular favorite film of mine getting an honor like this, and today's no exception. The Terminator's one of those franchises where the original was just so monumentally eclipsed by the state-of-the-art sequel, and while T2 has remained one of the greatest sci-fi / action films in genre history, the first film is right up there with it for what it was able to accomplish.
The main thing that really makes me proud is that the right people are remembering that science-fiction films are really the backbone of the film industry. While the good-to-bad ratio is kinda skewed, the good films have brought in a colossal amount of money that keeps each studio going. So to see a 1980s sci-fi movie being put in the same boat as Buster Keaton and George Stevens films is a great piece of news to read.
Credit: Variety
An interactive web series + Tom Arnold = Win-Kinda Win Situation: CBS Interactive is tipping off a scripted Web series timed to its coverage of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
"Heckle-U" is expected to roll out in February with Tom Arnold and Owen Benjamin ("Punk'd") in starring roles. The 10-episode shortform series, which will be distributed across the CBS Audience Network, will have product integration from Procter & Gamble.
"Heckle" is about a underachieving slacker (Benjamin) who excels at heckling during college basketball games with the help of his bartender uncle (Arnold).
"Heckle" is also expected to get some on-air exposure on CBS in the form of interstitials during March Madness.
CBS Interactive has been stepping up production efforts in recent months with original Webisodes including "Novel Adventures," from TV veteran Jonathan Prince, and "Stephen King's N," a motion-comic adaptation of a short story from the best-selling horror writer that CBS produced with publisher Simon & Schuster.
NuMedia Studios is producing "Heckler" with Michael Kernan and Huntley Ritter as executive producers and Jeff Lambert as writer. Benjamin is repped by CAA; Arnold is repped by ICM.
Well, this is definitely a step in the right direction when it comes to creating interactive webisodes. I'm really impressed by what CBS has been doing by not only doing the "Heckler" series – which I'll get to in a second – but also doing the "Novel Adventures" stories. It seems like they're really making an effort to create as many shows for different genres as possible. Well done, guys.
The main good thing I can say about "Heckler" is that it's a good fit for what it's going to be. It's a series of shorts and the series is only 10 episodes long. Based on the very limited concept, anything after 10 would start to get annoying very quickly. I like Tom Arnold (he was a blast in True Lies and I still think he got a raw deal with The Jackie Thomas Show), but is he supposed to be a mentor here? "You're an asshole, and I will teach you to be a bigger asshole." I'll give it a look, but I'm not expecting too many laughs. Hopefully I'll be wrong.
Credit: Hollywood Reporter
Speaking of being wrong…: Moviegoers gave fits to box-office prognosticators over the weekend, showing up in record numbers for a Christmas holiday and overturning analysts' predictions of which films would prove to be successful and which would fail.
While most had forecast that the Adam Sandler family comedy Bedtime Stories would come out on top, it was easily overtaken by Marley and Me. And while the Tom Cruise historical thriller Valkyrie was supposed to flop with less than $10 million in ticket sales, it actually wound up with three times that figure.
Even more impressive were the results for films in limited release that are contending for Oscar consideration, with Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino leading the field as it averaged $27,652 in each of 84 theaters in its third week. After two down weeks, the box office tallied $179.58 million for the top 12 films, 5.87 percent ahead of last year.
All I can say about this is what William Goldman once noted: "Titanic was a success because people wanted to see it. The Postman was a failure because people didn't want to see it. Everything else is mythology."
THE ANDY CRITCHELL INTERACTIVE BABE PHOTO NEWS BRIEF WITH ANDY CRITCHELL
So here we are kiddies, the end of 2008 and hurtling headfirst into 2009. Here's to a safe and happy New Year for everyone. As I have detailed over the past month, there is a Babes Tournament going on in the 411 Forums and we have finally reached the Second Round. In the first match-up, Megan Fox (one of my personal favorites) defeated former WWE Diva and current hot piece of Canadian ass Trish Stratus by the score of 11 to 6. The second match-up is underway and it pits Victoria's Secret model Adriana Lima against WWE Diva Maria Kanellis. Let's check these ladies out…
ADRIANA
MARIA
Well now…not too shabby! Right now the contest is tighter than you would expect and as I have said before, just sign up over at the 411 forum and make your voice heard. While you're there you can browse the other sections of the forum and chat with sophisticates such as myself. With the early round match-ups complete this tournament is shaping up to be very hotly contested all the way through. Don't miss out on your chance to follow the whole thing!
December 31st, 2008 started just like any other day. I got up at a good enough time to shower, freshen up, brush my teeth and start to get ready for work. As I was walking to the bathroom, however, I noticed that the loading screen on my Zune 30 GB was on. Naturally, I assumed that the player just needed to reboot and went about my business.
However, as I walked out of the bathroom, I noticed the loading screen was still on. When I unplugged the player from the charger, the screen wouldn't go away. I hit the buttons to reset the player, and still nothing. It was running just fine last night, and now all of a sudden, it had gone on strike? What the hell was going on?
Thankfully I had the computer on since I was burning a disc last night, so before going to work, I checked online to see what I could do about this situation. What did I find? Well… it's safe to say that I wasn't alone this morning. About 10 different users on a certain forum had all expressed the same anguish that I felt. Their poor Zune 30's had shut down on them as well, but here's the weird part. They all happened the same time!
Apparently, around 1:30am EST, every Generation 1 Zune 30 AROUND THE WORLD completely shut down and turned into multi-colored bricks. Once I got into work, I learned more about this epidemic that quickly became known as Y2K9 or Z2K. One person referred to it as the Great Zunicide. And the more I read about everyone else dealing with this, the better I felt. This had nothing to do with anything that I did wrong to the player; it was a screw-up at the source.
Thankfully Microsoft is already at work trying to come up with the proper solution, and I'm hoping that by the time you read this, a solution has been found and my player would be saved. However, after all of this, the one thing that I can't bring myself to do is abandon the Zune outright and go with an iPod. I just can't do it.
Sure, I bought an iPod Mini for Cheryl a few years ago, but that was because I knew that would be the right fit for her. I'm perfectly capable of using a Mac without any problems, but I'm a PC guy at heart. I was brought up on PCs, all the way back to the Texas Instruments computer that my dad brought home and connected to the television when I was 6. I look at Macs as perfect for people that didn't grow up with computers, or at least didn't want to deal with the bullshit that comes with them. That's all well and good, and I'm not knocking anyone who has a Mac or an iPod. It's just not for me.
I keep hearing about Macs are supposed to be infallible. Believe me when I tell you, nothing is infallible. I'd much rather deal with a bunch of little bugs that are going to require some rebooting here and there than hold out for one big bug that's going to completely knock my system to shit. (Of course, I'm speaking about computers, not MP3 players since my Zune did get hit with one big bug that knocked it to shit.) I consider my PC to be battle-tested. It's been through its share of viruses and spyware and malware and I've had to reboot the whole damn thing twice already. But it's still going strong and I expect whatever problem that screwed up my Zune to get fixed just the same.
In the meantime, thanks to one of the bulletin boards I kept refreshing on Wednesday to get any sort of news on an upcoming solution, I was able to get interviewed by a writer for USA Today about this mess.
target="new">Here, take a look.
Like I said before, I'm hoping that by the time you read this, everything will be fine. I'm still going to remain a PC guy, but that doesn't mean Microsoft's getting a free pass from me. You guys really need to do something about this and make sure bugs like this are taken care of before we upload them onto our players. With the sort of ups and downs 2008 had, I didn't need one last kick in the balls just because I was a loyal Microsoft customer.
And that's a wrap for Chapter 92 of The UBS Evening News. For Andy Critchell, I'm George H. Sirois and we'll see you next week! Happy New Year!
IF YOU HAVE FACEBOOK, JOIN MY GROUP FOR MY NOVEL HERE
around 1:30am EST, every Generation 1 Zune 30 AROUND THE WORLD became self aware, judgement day has begun.
Posted By: John Connor (Guest) on January 01, 2009 at 01:39 AM
UPDATE: Turns out the great Zune Shutdown happened because Microsoft didn't take the leap year into account. Now that it's officially January 1, 2009, the internal clock has been synched up and the Zune is running as if nothing happened...
Posted By: George H. Sirois (Registered) on January 01, 2009 at 10:23 AM
Okay... that explanation for Z2K still makes little to no sense in my brain, seeing as my Zune hasn't been sync'd in three months (after my PC was stolen I just never found the time to install the software on my new PC, so I've been merely charging it from an AC adapter ever since). Seriously, shouldn't the bloody thing think it's January 2nd or something? (And it's currently working as per the stated fix of "don't try to use it at all on the 31st or until noon on the 1st", with me charging on an AC adapter.)
Though I AM trying to make sense of a glitch in programming... this just seems so bloody random it's scary.
Posted By: MadmanJack (Registered) on January 01, 2009 at 01:13 PM
Adriana Lima is one of the hottest women on the planet....but Maria blows her away by a mile, that's how smoking hot she is!!! Maria!!!
Posted By: Butters4Prez (Guest) on January 01, 2009 at 03:46 PM
A cruel decision to choose between Adriana Lima and Maria Kanellis... either way is a win win situation... Maria is cute as hell, but Adriana's eyes are inescapable.
Posted By: G-Walla (Guest) on January 01, 2009 at 07:40 PM
Maria is one of my two favorite current Diva's, but there is no way she is beating the hotness of Adriane Lima. That chick is just jaw droppingly hot.
Posted By: Todd Vote (Registered) on January 02, 2009 at 09:23 AM
around 1:30am EST, every Generation 1 Zune 30 AROUND THE WORLD became self aware, judgement day has begun.
Posted By: John Connor (Guest) on January 01, 2009 at 01:39 AM
Awesome I laughed my ass off.
Posted By: Lucky (Guest) on January 02, 2009 at 10:57 AM
Maria ftw
Posted By: Guest#5322 (Guest) on January 02, 2009 at 02:19 PM
