Trailerwatch: humans are no longer human in The Host

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Denise

The Host onesheet
Say what you will about the Twilight series (lord knows I have), but Stephanie Meyer knows how to create a compelling mythology.  In her first “grown up” book, The Host, the earth has been overtaken by aliens that reside within humans, taking the humans over completely.  But when young Melanie Stryder is infected, can she overcome — or even influence — her alien passenger? Naturally, a movie is headed our way soon, and the trailer has made it’s debut. See if you think this film will live up to it’s wildly successful predecessors!

The Host is slated for a March 29, 2013 release.

Check out images from the film after the jump!

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From Geek for e: McG’s new film and Beautiful Creatures

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Denise

A few new newsy updates for your reading pleasure. I’m a big fan of McG, so hopefully this new film will go well. And I’m a sucker for all things YA, so y’all know I’m dying for Beautiful Creatures to come out already.

As always, clicky the titles for the original piece!

McG gears up for a new comedy-thriller

Time to gear up for new films, y’all. McG (Supernatural, Terminator: Salvation) is gearing up as well, and casting for his newest film is wrapped up, with filming already going on in Paris.  Ahh, Paris.

Looks like this will be a fun thrill ride kinda film, with Kevin Costner playing a retired Secret Service agent that goes out for the ever-popular “one last mission”.  The twist?  The agent will get a drug that can save his life.  Naturally, the drug has side-effects…and I’m sure hilarity ensues.  Let’s hope Costner can play the funny fall guy.  Hey, he was great in Tin Cup, so fingers crossed.

IMDb has this film listed as being titled Three Days to Kill, but that’s always subject to tweaking.  The film is slated for release in 2013, but exactly when is still up in the air (which isn’t surprising, given the usual sturm und drang of production).

More info — including the full press release — after the jump!

Beautiful Creatures to open Valentines Day

Fans of the Caster Chronicles series will be in love this Valentine’s Day, as the film version of the first book, Beautiful Creatures, is moved to a Valentine’s Day opening.  The series (written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl) — about a young girl who must choose between good and evil, and the boy who has a haunting connection to her  — has been called “The Next Twilight”, but I’d rather just call it a great new series for fans of gothic/paranormal YA fiction.

There are high hopes for the film franchise, but with the final book of the series, Beautiful Redemption, recently published, I’ll bet there will be a stampede of fans to the theaters.  But with Beautiful Creatures and Safe Haven both coming out on the 14th of February, what’s a romance fan to do?  Maybe it’s double-feature time?  Because as pretty as Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough, I’m looking forward to seeing Emily Rossum, Emma Thompson and Jeremy Irons unleash some witchy whup-ass.

Read on for the full Beautiful Creatures press release!

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Is One Voice calling Spike Lee a hypocrite? Yep.

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Denise

miraclefinalonesheet

Yeah.  This won’t be the start of an online flame war.

Everyone knows that Spike Lee ain’t exactly the cuddliest director in the world.  But you have to give him this; he’s definitely not ashamed of losing his personal Edit button.  With the remarks he made about Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of many (myself included), I couldn’t help but wonder if he was campaigning for some sort of Ebeneezer Scrooge accolade or something.

Well Spike, your wish has been granted.  Hard on the heels of his latest transgression, the Italian-American group One Voice has “elected” Mr. Lee into their “Hall of Shame” for his portrayal of Italian-Americans, citing his “history of bigoted themes running through his films”.

Though I don’t agree with everything One Voice accuses him of — citing a “racist Italian-American cop” seems like a racist move in and of itself — the problems with the accuracy of his 2008 film Miracle at St. Anna, and Lee’s refusal to acknowledge grossly inaccurate representations of historical events, shows a definite problem.

One can only wonder what his response will be.  The Twitterverse is poised for an epic storm.

Read the full press release after the jump!

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Girls Against Boys artwork released!

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Denise

Girls Against Boys looks like a fun indie grindhouse-like flick, and it’s screening at SXSW last year seems to cement that.  Now here are two posters for the upcoming wide release of the film, and it looks like they’re definitely going with the splatter.

The description from IMDb: “Two bartenders get their revenge against men who have mistreated them.”

Girls vs. Boys is scheduled for a February 1, 2013 release.

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R.I.P. Jack Klugman and Charles Durning.

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Denise

Well, while I was kicking back on Christmas Eve with a Christmas Carol drinking game, two of my favorite actors from my childhood passed away.  I didn’t know that ’til this week, but I haven’t really processed it ’til now.

Jack Klugman is probably best known for The Odd Couple, but I remember my mom watching Quincy, M. E. when I was a kid.  So naturally, when cable started to replay the eps (which are now on Netflix and other streaming things, btw), I got sucked back in.  Thank you, Mr. Klugman, for feeding my addiction to procedurals long before Law & Order, Bones and Rizzoli and Isles were a glimmer in a produer’s eye.

As a theater nerd, I’m a big fan of musicals. So the first time I actually noticed Charles Durning was in one of my all-time favorite musicals, The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. For a big man, he’s damn light on his feet. And he plays the hell out of that character. Later on, I saw him in Tootsie and Mel Brooks’ To Be Or Not To Be. Charles Durning is one of the all-time great character actors. The world is a little less funny today.

 

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From Geek for e: Not Fade Away

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Denise

Yes yes, I know; the movie poster below says “December”. But like many other artsy-type (read: not blowing-up-stuff) movies around this time of year, Not Fade Away was released in limited areas so it could be considered for Oscar noms. It’s only just now going wide release.

As always, clicky the hypertext for the original article!

Movie Review: Not Fade Away

That ain’t workin’.  That’s the way you do it.  You play the guitar on the MTV.  But back in the 60s, long before music videos claimed the airwaves, Rock-n-Roll was claiming the hearts and minds of the Baby Boomers.  As the Beatles, The Rolling Stones and others climbed up the charts, countless teens decided they were going to try for a piece of stardom.  Not Fade Away looks at a group of teens and lets us follow them through their successes and failures.  It’s a moving look at how the 60s influenced not only the young, but the generation before them.  And it shows that David Chase (The Sopranos, Northern Exposure) can easily make the leap from TV to film.  Y’know, if there was ever any doubt.

Not Fade Away is an intriguing look at the changes that America went through in the 60s, from the vantage point of teenagers going through their own changes.  It reminds me of another well done film about that era, Tony Goldwyn’s A Walk On The Moon.  Except this time instead of a stir-crazy housewife, it’s stir-crazy teens that want to reach beyond their seemingly dead-end lives.  Both give a real-life vantage point look at the tumult and creativity that was going on at the time, and Not Fade Away manages to open itself up past the lead actors and take a peek at what that youthquake must have been like for the “other side”; their parents.

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From Geek for e: The Increcible Burt Wonderstone trailer!

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Denise

As I mention in the Gfe piece, I’m really psyched to see this. A story set in Vegas starring Carell and Carrey? You know that’s gonna be crazy. Here’s an embed of the trailer for folks (like me) that like to one-stop clicky for your trailers.

As always, clicky for the original article!

Abracadabra — it’s The Incredible Burt Wonderstone!

Who didn’t want to be a magician when they were a kid?  Oh come on; you know you wished you’d gotten a letter from Hogwarts, or at least received a magic tricks box for your birthday.  The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is a film about two kids that got that birthday present…and cranked it to 11.

What really makes me want to see this is the fact that they’ve cast Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi as the grown-up kids that find their Sigfried & Roy-like Vegas life in jeopardy when young upstart Steve Gray (played by Jim Carrey) comes to town.  So basically you know you’ll get to see all three of these guys off their leash.  Which should be awesome.

Take a peek at the trailer and tell me what you think.  The Incredible Burt Wonderstone opens March 15th, 2013.

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From Geek for e: Vote for 2012 Ghastly Award winners, nominate for 2013!

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Denise

As always, clicky on the hypertext to get to the full article!

The Ghastly Awards: vote for 2012 winners, nominate for 2013!

Hi all!  Okay, I promised more info on the Fan Favorite award and how you could vote.  Ready?  O-kay!

Fans can vote for ALL categories, and have the final say in who gets the award for Best New Series.  If you need a refresher, here are this year’s Best New Series nominees:

Remember, I’m a judge for the awards, so I can’t help but love the Ghastlies.  But I promise not to try to sway your opinion.  (Mostly because I’m such a fan of all the nominees….)

More info on voting for the 2012 Awards, and how to nominate for 2013 after the jump!

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Best & Worst celebrity baby names from 2012. Or, how to get kids beat up for their lunch money.

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Denise

Photo: Grand Haven Tribune

Photo: Grand Haven Tribune


Names. Gotta love ’em or hate ’em.  But we all have one.  Even though I tend to answer to Hey You more often than not.

What I do love is checking out the names stars come up with for their progeny.  Most of the time they’re lovely names (Violet Ann) but other times it just gives the public access to the fact that they’re not-so-secretly crazypants. (Kal-El).

So when this press release hit, you know I had to share.  And I have to agree; I think Blue Ivy sounds like a disease that my houseplants could get if I neglect them…but Ivy Blue is awesome.  And no, I don’t recognize many of the “celebrities” listed below.  Probably because I don’t watch enough reality tv.  Which is just fine by me.

Enjoy, and Happy 2013 y’all!

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — The results are in! Over two thousand BabyNames.com members weighed in on the best and worst celebrity baby names of 2012:

Worst Girl Name:
Blue Ivy (Beyonce, Jay Z) 47.1%
Runner up: Lukensia (Jillian Michaels, Heidi Rhoades) 29.1%

Worst Boy Name:
Lion (Alex O’Loughlin, Malia Jones 42.5%
Runner up: Kash Kade (Kim Zolciak, Kroy Bierman) 41.8%

Best Girl Name:
Charlotte Grace (Jenn Schefft, Joe Waterman) 24.1%
Runner up: Violet Isabel (Emily Robison, Martin Strayer) 15.5%

Best Boy Name:
Luca Cruz (Hilary Duff, Mike Comrie) 22.9%
Runner up: Finn Davey (Tori Spelling, Dean McDermott) 16.3%

According to BabyNames.com founder & CEO Jennifer Moss, celebrities were much more conservative with their baby naming this year.

“We’re not seeing crazy names like Pilot Inspektor or Moxie Crimefighter anymore,” says Moss. “I think celebrities are becoming a little more sensitive to the fact that the child has to live with his or her name.”

Moss said that the general public does not respond well to noun names like Lion or Apple, or worse: an adjective and a noun like Blue Ivy (Beyonce and Jay Z’s daughter). Many fans wrote that Ivy Blue would have been a better choice. “There was also a minor backlash to the two baby girls named Maxwell this year,” stated Moss. Songstress Jessica Simpson and husband Eric Johnson named their daughter Maxwell Drew while actress Lindsay Sloane and agent hubby Dar Rollins named their daughter Maxwell Lue. “It’s not unusual for male names to cross over onto the female list, but you’ll rarely see it go the other way.”

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From Geek for e: 2012 Ghastly Award noms announced!

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Denise

As always, clicky the hypertext for the full article…and for the full list of nominees. Congrats to all nominated!!!

2012 Ghastly Award nominees announced!

Hey everyone, and happy almost-2013!  You know what that means; tons of award-type thingies.  And so, without further ado, here’s the list of the nominees for this year’s Ghastly Awards (which I always want to call The Ghastlies, because I’m ever so hip.  Stop laughing.)

The Ghastly Awards celebrates achievements in horror comics, and they’re voted on by professionals in the biz.  This coming award season there will be a new Fan Favorite category, which should be a lot of fun to peek at.  (NOTE: Yours Truly is now a judge for these awards.  So yes, I “have to” read comics now.  Oh the horror.  The wonderful, awful horror!)

The full list of nominees after the jump!

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