Friday, February 28, 2014

Can you Guess These Oscar Winning Pictures?


http://latino-review.com/2014/02/cool-infographic-shows-best-picture-oscar-winners-since-1927/

Mini graphic posters with no titles. How many can you guess? The first couple of decades had me a quite a bit but when it got to color they reminded me how some of these Did Not deserve Best Picture.
Year 1952 and 1956 are 2 of the earlier movies that I can't believe won. They didn't even deserve to be nominated. More on that topic will be posted after the Oscars.
Note: Answers at the bottom of the posters.

I'll be posting his past weeks blogs through out the weekend.
Then I'll have a big Post Oscar Show on BTR next week.
Having a tech problem with BTR now so no show for now.




Thursday, February 27, 2014

Oscar Predictions Part 2

The rest of my predictions for the Oscars. As I mentioned before there will be hardly any upset in the major catagories. All that is going to happen with this list below featuring mostly the technical awards. Gravity should win all those but with some other award shows the Editing and Cinematography catagories have gone to others. Now talking about upsets:

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/pictures/turning-oscar-2014-upside-down-six-upsets-to-watch-out-for-20140226?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
This article is a joke except for No. 4 of course. How is Nyong-0 winning be an upset when she has the stronger performance but JLaw will win cause she's everyone's favorite cutey pie.

Song: Let it Go, Frozen
Happy is the better song but everyone loves that other stupid song. U2 might be the upset over here.

The following is redundent but I did put my prefences as to why these others might win:

Music Score: Gravity            ----Saving Mr. Banks had the more memorable melody throughout
Editing: Gravity                    ----Captain Phillips had more cameras per scene for a Doc style.
Cinematography: Gravity       ----Prisoners for Roger Deakins nominated 10 times and never won.
Production Design: Gravity    ----12 Years a Slave had practical locations, less green screen.
Sound Editing: Gravity          ----There's no sound in space. DOH! Lone Survivor. Gun fire is hard.
Sound Mixing: Gravity          ----Lone Survivor, Machine gun fire is the hardest to mix with editing.

Costumes: Great Gatsby
Makeup: Dallas Buyers Club

My Favorite Award:
Visual Effects: Gravity
Yes I know they were all Green Screen. But at least Sandra Bullock looks like she was floating in Zero Gravity and not standing in front of a blue/green screen while everything else moved around THEM!

Foreign, short film, doucmentary: Your guess is as good as mine. I never get these right.
So why start now. lol...

Well that's it. Let's see how we do. In the past I'm usually 50%.
The big awards are pretty obvious this year and the tech awards? Crap Shoot.
Enjoy the awards everyone.






Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Oscar Predictions Part 1

This list I will cover the main awards and the second list will be the technical awards. That list will be posted before the Oscars this Sunday.
Note: My choices on this list is not influenced by any past award shows as everyone can tell that JLAW has one most of the awards for Best Supporting Actress and I still chose Nyong-O. So There.

Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave. Oscar being old fashion they are going to play it safe. I have no problem with this but only its a remake, just more graphic. Will there be an upset? Nah. I still pick Hustle tho.
But wouldn't it be funny if Gravity got it. I did pick that and got it right for the Bafta's.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/videoland-express/2014/02/13/season-3-premiere-1
My guest host David Skolnick and I talk Oscar Predictions in this episode.
This is actually Part 2. Due to a tech problem Pt. 1 was only 15 minutes. That episode we predict Best Picture. There will be a follow up to this just before the Oscars this Sunday.

Director: Cuaron for Gravity. No brainer.

Actor: Alright, alright, alright. Alright enough already! Matthew got this one. And He deserves it.

Actress: Cate Blanche: She got all the majors but Streep had the edgy performance. My favorite was Emma Thompson but man did everyone forget already Mr. Banks.

Spt. Actor: Jared Leto: He deserves it. (he's a musician? really?)

Spt. Actress: MY GIRL: Lupita Nyong'o She got it at the Bafta's. She should get it here. I don't are if Jennifer Lawrence has won a whole bunch, it was an okay performance. Give it a break!

Screenplay: American Hustle, love the dialog. Love when the character talks to the audience.

Adapted Screenplay: Wolf of Wall Street. Like Hustle I like when the story has a narrator having a telling insight of what's going on. It's not a cheat some say. It's talking to the audience and getting them involved.

Animated Film: Frozen. FK This Film! Tie: Despicable Me 2 and The Croods. But Frozen's got it.


Song, music and all the rest of the awards will be post before Friday along with a new Episode of Blog Talk Radio for the final predictions along with talk of Godzilla and other news.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Tuesday Movie Reviews

Today includes a whopping 8 reviews with both movie and DVD/BR releases and a Redbox who are great for Direct to Video selections. Translation: There's a reason why they went here for future reference. See the reviews at the bottom of this blog.
Ratings: 0 to 5, Worst to Great. This wasn't a bad week, thank goodness.

Movies:
3 Days To Kill: 3 - Whats up with Luc Beeson and Father & Daughter strain relationships. That thread follows a lot of his movies especially Taken. And hate to say that what drags this movie down for its 2 hour running time. They spend to much time on that aspect and not on him being a Expert Killer. But when they do this film rocks. Kevin Costner brings his own charm back to the screen and given everyone hates McG, God I hate that moniker, he does a good job with the action even sometimes the editing goes way of Micheal Bay. Great supporting cast and the villains are cool. Wait for home release where this would play much better.

Pompeii: 2 - Gladiator Lite Soap Opera. Only the last 25 minutes when the volcano blows its top is where all the action is. There is some arena gladiator fights scenes but those are so choppy and heavily edited, to keep it PG13, that it's not even worth seeing. At the end two gladiators decide to fight to the death. Don't you think running away from an exploding volcano is the better course of action? Guess it didn't matter after all. The giant Tsunami with the boat going through the city is the highlight. Spoiler: Volcano blows up, everyone dies. Then on to the History Channel for the facts.

Here is a clip from one of our You Tube accounts (feel free to look at out other vids) about a real life event of a volcano blowing it's top: Krakatoa, East of Java. 1969 with Maximilian Schell.
http://youtu.be/NJLou10rQBk

DVD/BR:
Blue is the Warmest Color: 1- Ok you horn dogs lets get this over with. Fast Forward to 1 hour and 15 minutes for the big 6 minute Lesbian sex scene. You're Welcome.There is a previous scene where Adele is in bed with a some guy and she looks bored. I know I was bored so that scene doesn't count.And that's it! It's a story about a girl searching for love and herself. I was searching to see what else was on Netflix for the night.  Boring Chick?! flick that runs way too long and she winds up with no one at the end and you couldn't care less. Criterion Edition just comes with a book and over charges for this. Really? For a six minute scene? At lease the character Adele was cute.

Thor: 4 - After seeing this 2 times I realized this story is a lame excuse for a sequel. And one of my fav Dr. Who Chris Eccleston is wasted and unrecognizable as the villain. Which brings me to Loki who doesn't do anything for the first hour. But the action does kick ass and there's enough to make up for the rest of the story and who doesn't go FLASH! AH- AH when they attack Asgard. This BR will be part of the collection cause this is still plain dumb fun. Commentary and 1 hour of features that needs to reviewed down the road.

Gravity: 5 - Some call it science, some Sci-Fi but actually this is a story of survival and Bullock does a great job especially when there's no dialogue going on.  This would make a great double feature with All Is Lost with Robert Redford as that's also a story of survial but on water.Technically Cauron will get his Oscar. Lot of features behind the scenes which were already shown on a lot of movie sights will make this part of the collection. Shame no commentary since English is not the main language of the director. Subtitles damn it! Subtitles!

Nebraska: 3 - Bruce Dern is great and I love the Black & White cinematography look of the film.
But highly overrated when it comes to the Oscars. Director Payne did Descendants with Clooney which I hated but he did Sideways which was funny as shit. On this one he should have written a shorter script as you lose attention to what is going on. But Dern makes it worth it.

Ice Soldiers: 2 (Redbox)- Actor Dominic Purcell is the new Direct to Video Action Star. Shame there's hardly any action until the second half of the movie. Last half does kick ass and ends with a surprise twist. But that time I just gave up. Kind of a retro 1980's action hero but fails short. And that Russian sure does look like Dolph. LOL.

Previous reviews:
Dark Vengeance: 3: (RB)Typical Seagal. He shows up at the beginning, kicks ass, rest of the cast takes over, then he shows up at the end and kills the villian. But thats ok, lots of action and if you love Seagal who doesn't do that much nowadays, its a good 2 for Tuesday.

Haunter: 1(RB) - A boring ghost story with a twist at the end. Soem decent acting by the posessed parents but there's nothing here to recommend this. Poor actors.


Monday, February 24, 2014

Monday Movie News Links

As usual I post a link and put my 2 cents in aka opinion. With tongue in cheek of course. So please don't take this to seriously as I do. Sometimes some in Hollywood deserve the bashing they deserve in some of thier thinking.

Updated: 2/25/2014
By request:
http://www.movieweb.com/news/second-godzilla-trailer
This has a snapshot of GZ on how he looks before you play the trailer. Still a tease.

http://www.movieweb.com/news/benedict-cumberbatch-and-gary-oldman-close-to-signing-for-star-wars-episode-vii
http://www.movieweb.com/news/harrison-ford-may-be-signed-for-two-more-indiana-jones-movies
First Star Wars is turning into an all str cast. Doesn't Disney have faith in the original cast and the franchise itself? How many more "Star" names does this film need. And Ford for 2 Indy's?

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Caddyshack-Groundhog-Day-Director-Harold-Ramis-Dead-69-41811.htm
Even though Ghostbusters is Dan Aykroyd's baby, Ramis had a lot to do with the script. Shame he didn't see Ghostbusters 3 come alive. Guess Bill Murry is still chasing his Oscar by playing 3rd banana in Monuments Men. It would be nice to see GB3 still be done and dedicted to Ramis.

Note: Godzilla 1985 Review coming later this week.
http://www.movieweb.com/news/godzilla-conquers-empire-magazines-latest-cover
http://www.movieweb.com/news/godzilla-roar-revealed - (Chk out Soundcloud comments)
Magazine cover and his roar. Empire is a great movie magazine from England. You can find this at Barnes & Noble and while more expensive than American magazine you get a lot more pages and articles. Definitely worth it. The other magazine to look for as an import is Total Film. They should The Big G on its cover soon. Right now its Capt. America on the cover:
http://www.totalfilm.com/magazine

http://latino-review.com/2014/02/guardians-galaxy-talks-thanos-rocket-groot/
This is not great marketing. This is brain washing! Enough! I'll looking forward to this because of James Gunn who is a Troma graduate so good for him. But all you heard was this all last week. Next!

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/5-Unusual-Facts-We-Learned-From-Liam-Neeson-Cast-Non-Stop-41803.html
Great article, 5 pages, on the making of with no spoilers. This looks like fun. Now where's Taken 3?

http://www.movieweb.com/news/sharknado-2-mark-mcgrath-reveals-story-and-character-details-exclusive
Story? Plot? Character developement? STOP! You're killing me! This is hyterical. This will be the funniest comedy of the year. This time in NYC. Gotta love it. "In Coming!"
Check out the video. Now this is marketing!

Niote: Godzilla 1985 review later this week along with my Oscar Predictions. I'm tying both
to coincide with a new Blog Talk Radiio show later this week. Something going to play for sure!
Announcement by Wednesday. Tuesday Movie reviews including 3 Days to Kill: Meh...






Sunday, February 23, 2014

"For Your Consideration" NOT! "Before Midnight" Review

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2209418/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

The Midnight Trilogy: 1 - As I like to call it. The Ultimate Chick Flick. Not even the Twilight Franchise
can come close to this drek. Hence no fault of the actors who stuck to the damn script.
These include:
Before Sunrise: yak yak yak
Before Sunset: ZZzzzzzzzzz
Before Midnight: Nag Nag Nag. Nominated for Best Screenplay is beyond me.

I decided to post this today instead of my precious Friday Post since everyone tonight is watching Animation Domination or the Olympics and nobody was going to read a long post. So this will be real quick. This has to be the worst franchise. Kudos for getting the 2 leads together after 18 years from the first film but these are 2 characters you couldn't care less about only to end up with them married and she bitching about everything for the last film. If you're really curious check out the link for IMDB which explains the trilogy. I'm going to channel surf between Animation and the Olympics then the Waling Dead repeat. Man, what a great Sunday.


Saturday, February 22, 2014

Reposting This Weeks Blogs

Still tying to get through the original version of Godzilla 1985 known as The Return of Godzilla and taking editing notes to compare with the American Release. Talk about a lot of cuts!

In the meantime I'm going to repost this past weeks blogs so people can catch up on them.
Hopefully Monday I will have a complete review on Godzilla.
Sunday I will continue with more post repeats.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Godzilla 1985 (The Return of GZ) Preview

This weekend I'll be doing a review comparison between the original Japanese cut and the American release back from 1985.
The above picture is from a bootleg I found that includes the original Japanese version while
dub in Spanish. You'll never see that release on Blu-ray. But this was the version that was shown
in latin countries back in the day. Howthis copy survied is beyond me. Don't know much on the history of this copy.

But for now neither version is available so hopefully both the JP and the American version will be release this year. 
In the meantime you can check out the American version here:


Note: This link also leads to other Godzilla films.


Thursday, February 20, 2014

"For Your Consideration" - The Film That Wasn't

I'll be posting a review of "The Return of Godzilla" best known as Godzilla 1985 with reposts of this past weeks blogs for the weekend. Along with an announcement on Blog Talk Radio.

Monument Man: 3 - Remember all the hype that this film was getting for Oscar consideration and as soon as the previews were seen many at the top sure changed their minds big time. Can't blame them.
The main problem with this film was that it was too laid back. No energy what so ever. Not that Clooney did a bad job and the actors did the best they could. But what failed them was the script which in part is Clooneys fault as he had some hand in the writing. It plays episodic and when the emotional turns happen it falls flat to really care what happens next. One of the cast dies and I was looking at the clock. This wasn't a clear cut mission which is based on real events. But the film deals with a lot of these details as a matter of fact and not on a dangerous mission like it should have played out.
This would play better on Netflix or Redbox rental.

Guess with Clooney being nominated in the past for Best Director and winning for Producer on Argo, there myust have been some expectations on this getting the nod for Best Picture.
And of course the film wasn't considered after the mix reviews. I would still check this out again on Blu-ray for the features and of course the Commentary to give the filmmakers a chance to explain what they were trying to achieve.

http://americanfilm.afi.com/
A compliment that the film made the cover. Somebody over there loves Clooney.

http://americanfilm.afi.com/issue/2014/2/cover-story
The highlighted article on the making of.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Wednesday's Mini Movie Reviews and Links

Slow week so here is a few reviews until next week where there will be a lot. And a few links that didn't make yesterdays news.

Robocop: 2 - Trying to reinvent a franchise and adapt it for todays point of view just doesn't work.
I'm a huge fan of the first one mainly because it was politically incorrect or was it?
It's not so much for the PG-13 rating (probably unrated for the BR release), but the film is just so lame and while having some good action comes out really bland. I would see this again only for the commentary as it's well known the director wetn though hell putting this together. No commentary?
Oh well, I'll save my money for the Lego Movie Collector's set.

Android Cop: 1 - Almost Human meets Robocop ripoff. Recycled plot, recycled everything. Shame, a lot of good actors in here. Man, unemployment is really bad out there. So can't blame them tho.

Battle of the Damn: 2 - Dolph kicking lots of Zombie ass. Yep, zombies. And a Robot to boot! Even he had to get in the mix. This wasn't too bad if for the fact its just jumping on the zombie band wagon. But it dfoes have a lot of action, no matter how silly it is and you have Dolph who's always fun to watch.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/30946/trailer-godzilla-60th-anniversary
The Big GZ being released back in theatres. The original without American Actor Raymond Burr.
The same thing happen with the 1985 release which was internationally known as "The Return of Godzilla" which was cut for american release to include an older Raymond Burr and portions of the Japanese print was cut out to make room for the american scenes. They should release this both on the big screen and a new Blu-ray release. I have the import which has the original cut, No Raymond Burr, and a spanish language track instead of Japanese. A review of that disc will be posted here this weekend.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Hobbit-Desolation-Smaug-Adventure-Blu-ray-April-41751.html
I posted a link yesterday for the Oscars'; "For Your Consideration" which had an intensive look on the making of the picture. While I was disappointed in the film, not bad, just why make a trilogy on a very small book?, I will buy this collection as I did with the original LOTR Spec. Ed. with the bookends.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Marvel-Stan-Lee-Media-Continue-Battle-Court-Over-Spider-Man-41743.html
I can't believe what a mess this is for a really bad broadway play. My problem was the music was horrible by Bono & Co. Hopefully they stay away from Broadway and this will never see the light of day as far as a film version. Les Mez it is not!








Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Congrats to Jimmy & The Tonight Show

Movie reviews coming tomorrow. But being a New Yawker I had to put my 2 cents in.
Great show Jimmy! And thanks for bringing back the Tonight Show back to New York City where it belongs. Loved the show and looking forward when Seth Meyers premeires. Great back to back.
Poor Kimmel. Well at least he's got the LA Hollywood phonies.
And for Letterman? Hopes he milks Ed Sullivan Beatles connection for the rest of the year. Just saying.

http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/episodes/1
Whole show presented.

http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/
Hihglights of the show. Love that 100 doller bet skit. Beware not even the monologue is complete.
Better off with the whole show above.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/02/18/tonight-show-fallon-review/
Everyone with opinions but this one was a cool review. I agree Jimmy is not the most natural
interviewer bu then again maybe if the damn guests would come alive this will help. Some just sit there and have that look "look at me I'm so cool" they turn out to be the most boring.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/first-night-hit-tonight-host-123904404.html
Another review. Some interesting tidbits. Joan Rivers Cameo was 49 years ago to this day when she first appeared. How wonder she was there. Cool.
Talk about cool. U2 looked great with NYC in the background. Shame the CD is going to suck.

Will Smith, well he's not doing ID4 Sequel and without that some don't care. At least he's not doing the I Am Legend prequel-sequel. That would no have made sense what so ever.
Wait to Bruce comes on again. That's going to rock. Well Jimmy great first show.

 Tomorrow the reviews as promised. Didn't see Robocop? Good.





Monday, February 17, 2014

Monday Links and Bafta Winners

While I took the Bafta Awards in stride (as some said I take this too seriously) I did have fun with the guess work. And got the main ones right. Not that I'm blowing my horn. But after a while you get the drift how these things go. Don't to go in detail as I will save this for our up and coming Live Show on BTR. On that show I will compare the Bafta with the Oscars for the final wrap up on the Awards.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/02/16/bafta-gravity-12-years-a-slave/
So how were my guesses? Well,,,
The 2 big ones, Best Picture and Best British went to 12 years and Gravity accordingly.
Director: Alfonso Guaron
Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Actress: Cate Blancett  (I picked Dench when we all knew Cate would get it.)
Adaped Screenplay: Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope for Philomena
Cinematography, etc. Gravity. But Editing got me with Rush? That made no sense. Oscars will fix that.

Ok now the big flops:
Visual Effects: Gravity instead of Pacific Rim. No problem any other film I would of flipped!
Supp Actor: Barkhad Abdi. Well no Jared Leno nod, again no problem. He made Hanks cry. Cool.
Supp Actress: Jennifer Lawrence! WTF enough already. My girl Nongy-o Lost and I'm Pissed.
Animation: Again with this Frozen crap which we knew but still pisses me off. No DM2, FU!
Rising Star: Will Pouter. I didn't know he was the kid from We Are the Millers and British! Very cool surprise and he was pretty damn funny in The Millers. Especially the spider bit.
Then again I didn't anyone besides Ms. Nyong'o. This girl can't get a break!

http://www.imdb.com/oscars/?ref_=hm_ad_t10
Road to the Oscars Article. At this point we know who's going to win. Any upset has already happen
at the Baftas, as I mentioned above. Oscar blog and predictions coming next week.

http://www.warnerbros2013.com/TheHobbitAwardsBook2013/
Here is a great promo "For You Consideration" that they put in magazines like Vareity and Hollywood Reporter for The Oscars. But this version many pics and videos included. Very cool package.

Ok here are the Monday Links:
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/You-Going-Believe-Why-James-Cameron-Getting-Sued-Again-41699.html
Are you serious? 18 years later? As a working part time background actor (extra) this should be thrown out of court.  Read the last comment on the bottom by "FARCE", good explanation.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Watch-Truck-Smashed-By-Hulk-Avengers-2-Set-41707.html
3 mini vids included just to wet your appetite. 2 behind the scenes and then trailer.

http://latino-review.com/2014/02/new-lucasfilm-website-includes-star-wars-episode-vii-concept-art/
Start of a great thing but how come Disney name was not mentioned anywhere in this article?


Movie reviews tomorrow and new Blog Talk Radio later this week.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Bafta Award Predictions



http://boxofficemojo.com/
Robocop at #3 after 5 days? Ouch. But it's doing decent business overseas and breaking even of its $100M budget but Japan and China will have final call since they love their robots. Could that be enough for a sequel? Who cares. Mini Review:
This was so lame. Good cast, new suit, cool SFX, and it did have it's share of action it didn't add up to the original. Still curious?, Wait for Netflix/Redbox. I give this 2 out of 5.

Bafta Predictions: The British version of the American Academy Awards.
Pacific Rim for Visual Effects. I know, I won't let it go. But look at the Oscars: The Lone Ranger?
Now that I got that out of the way, lets look at the rest.
Please note: This is ALL Tongue in cheek of course. Cause nobody knows what the hell the British are thinking. But they do chose Pacific Rim (here I go again) Cherrio and enjoy the show.

Picture: 12 Years a Slave. "American Hustle" has American in it and the British don't like that.
Best British Film: Gravity
Actor: Chiwetel Ejifore. He's British. But wait, so is Christian Bale. But in a film with a American title.
Actress: Judi Dench, She's British but ill. Blanchett doesn't have a chance.
Spt Actor: Daniel Bruhl (Rush), He's French and are neighbors of the British.
Spt. Actress: Lupita Nyong'o. Don't care what side of the ocean she's on. She wins!!!
Animation: DM2 but that damn Frozen is winning everything. It's got that Disney push. Bully.
All others including Editing, Cinematography, Production Design, sound etc goes to Gravity.
Best Foreign: Blue is the Warmest Color: French and a hot 6 min Lesbian scene. That's all you need.
Outstanding Debut: Kelly Marcel for Savings Mr. Banks. Only movie I saw in this catagory.
EE Rising Star Award: Lupita Nyong'o. That and the only name I know.

Update by request:
Screenplay: Gravity by Cuarons. They are not British but they are also not American.
Adapted Screenplay: Philomena by Steve Coogan, very British.
Make Up: Behind the Candelabra, those wigs! On My....
Costume Design: Candelabra,those outfits, Oh My!
Music: 12 Yrs Slave, Hans Zimmer. Very European.


Here is the list for tonights show.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/08/baftas-2014-nominations-list



H

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Video on Making of the Criterion Collection

Here is a link for you purists of cinema. Very interesting Video on the process of the restoration process that goes into the Criterion collection. How wonder those things are damn expensive.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/15/5413974/criterion-film-restoration-process-video-hitchcock

Tomorrow I will have some predictions for the Bafta's but most of these are going to be predictable by now but with the English there's always one that the Oscar's would be give.
But for me I just want to se Pacific Rim get for Best Visaul Effects since the Oscars completely ignored this film.

Bafta Predictions posted tomorrow.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Season 3 Premiere Pt. 1 & 2 Now Playing on BTR

For Season 3 Premiere we talk about The Oscars and give our predictions.
With a quick mention of the Bafta Awards this coming Sunday.

Due to a tech problem Part 1 is 15 minutes where we talk about the top nominated pictures and
Part 2 we cover the rest of the nominations which is one hour.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/videoland-express

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Season 3 Premiere Now Playing

Season 3 Premiere now playing. Oscar talk and predictions. This weekend we are going to repost this past weeks blogs as we have more links and movies to review for next week.
Note: There will be a follow up to this show after the Bafta Awards this coming Sunday plus some new announcements for the coming months.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/videoland-express

Due to a technical problem first part is 15 minutes while the second is one hour.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Season 3 Premiere on Blog Talk Radio

Not much today as we are doing our Season Premiere on Blog Talk Radio.
If we have a problem then we will finish the test and do the show tomorrow.
But had to post an interesting link, couldn't wait for this one, and 2 warnings on Redbox.

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/watch-out-007-john-travolta-says-hes-probably-the-next-bond-villain-20140211?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
Really? Or is Travolta blowing his horn.I always thought he plays a great villian so I have no problem with that but it seems like he's trying to complete with against Javier Bardem with a large over the top presence. But it would be fun to see him go against a very solemn Craig's Bond. Then again it just could be the start of hype for the Bond Franchise. I'm good with that.

Devil's Due: 0 - Shaky cam lost footage crap. Hope they lose the negative. Dad records eveything including baby devil birth and both mom and dad deaths. Evil doers grab devil baby. End of movie.

Seal Patrol: 1 - (also known as BlackJacks, known as a Navy Seal kind of Mercenaries. Warning:
Eric Roberts is in this. Ok, now that we got that out of the way, this is just a supersize SyFy flick
where Roberts sends in a team to blah blah blah and instead the team confronts a big giant creature who's pissed off because blah blah blah. The best part of the team going against the creature after it picks off its members one by one doesn't happen until the last 20 minutes. Up until then the team just blows up things and shoots everything in sight. Generic to say the least and the poor creature was a bad CGI effect. No respect for the poor thing.

Follow up tomorrow with BTR and other announcements for the rest of the month.
Note: Bafta's are coming this Sunday and I will have some predictions posted this weekend.
Bafta's are the British version of The Oscars.




Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Tuesday Mini Reviews

Season 3 Premiere on Blog Talk Radio tomorrow, Wednesday at 8 pm EST. 2 Hour special on the Oscars, predictions and the year in movies for 2014.
Today and tommorrow will be a mishmash of Links, Movie, Blu-ray and Redbox reviews.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Calm-Down-Internet-CNN-Did-Spoil-Best-Actor-Oscar-Race-41586.html
Sorry Leo fans, this is not going tohappen at Matthew's got this one in the bag. Interesting behind the scenes bit that I didn't know about. But damn what a tease that is and not winning.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Monsters-University-Short-Film-Party-Central-Debuts-Its-First-Clip-41583.html
Cute little video that I had to post that's coming along the with new Muppet movie.

Movies:
Lego Movie: 5 - Bring on the Sequel! Starts off with a great song "Everything is Awesome" on how to start the day including buying over price coffee, "That'll be 37 dollars" Funny jokes, great animation and inside jokes and that's just the first 5 minutes of the movie! Non-stop laugh fest from beginning to end. And yes Batman does have most of the jokes. But what a great cast. And lots of cameos of different characters, nonstop. Minor Spoiler: At the very beginning the main character tries on different outfits in very quick cuts. Did anyone notice the Godzilla costume or did I imagine that?...
That's it, no more. No major release down the pike? I'm going back. Sorry George, I'll catch up.

Blu-rays
All is Lost: 4 - Redford owns this. Shame he didn't get the nod as he does carry the film. Way better than Castaway. At least Redford doesn't talk to a friggin volleyball. 45 minutes of features and a commentary that serves filmmaking 101 to it's fullest. Still in the middle the commentary but it does have surprises. I thought this was all filmed at Fox Baja Studios where they built the Titanic set in Mexico. All various points including Bahama and California were also filmed. Got me on that one.

Ender's Game: 3 - Another version of Starfleet Academy and Starship Troopers but all this leads to an unpredictable ending which was a nice surprise. Very smartly done. 1 hour of features and 2 commentaries. I haven't caught up to this but looking forward to it as this film got mixed reviews but Ford and the kid really good together and Director Gavin made a solid movie compare to Wolverine.

Blue is the Warmest Color: 1 - It's also the most boring color if you have 2 and half hours to waste. Take out the 6 minute sex scene (about 1 hour into the movie if you want to fast forward) and there's nothing here to care about especially the charcters. This film just drags. At least she's cute, that's it.

Death Wish: - 4 - Released last week. A blast from the past if you want to see NYC early 1970's.
Charles Bronson big breakout role as the vigilante who had enough. Look for Jeff Goldblum as one of the bad thugs at the beginning of the movie. No bonuses but the movie stands on its own.

Local Duplex showing The Lego Movie

Monday, February 10, 2014

Monday Links

Wow, What a great night for a Sunday. Beatles tribute and Michonne goes Zombie crazy.
Note: We did some tests run on BTR and Season 3 premiere this Wednesday. But I'll still be doing some more test runs on the Fuankisan page. You listen to it via the Widget. Also another picture from my theatre hideout from last week and more this week with new banners.

http://theweek.com/article/index/256216/watch-the-best-and-worst-of-the-grammys-salute-to-the-beatles
Mixed bag if anything else but my favorite parts where when Grohl, Jeff Lynne and Joe Walsh took over. They put things in high gear. Nice to see Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart back together but they deserved a better song to play. BUT...didn't anyone notice 1970's Superstar Peter Frampton as one of the backup musicians? So ar no article has mentioned this. Man, that is a shame.

http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/fred-armisen-to-lead-seth-meyers-late-night-band-1201096334/
Talking about Music, I didn't see this coming. Armisen started as a musician but why go back when you have a hit show with Portlandia, unless it pays more then what the hell. Max Weinberg did it with Conan after playing with Bruce in stadiums.And Fallon playing drums with the Muppets. Cool.

http://www.joblo.com/horror-movies/news/tv-review-the-walking-dead-season-4-episode-9-february-9-2014
So they just concentrated on some main characters and the trailer shows it will concentrate on the others next week. Special thanks to AMC for Talking Dead then the repeat. Great way to cach up.
My favorite scene alone for those who haven't seen it yet (Hulu), Michonne gts her freak on. Heads up!

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/30827/silver-talks-escape-from-new-york-remake
Another trilogy? When they can't even get their act together in bringing this to the screen to begin with.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Find-Out-You-Can-Watch-Paul-Walker-Final-Full-Performance-Brick-Mansions-41537.html
 Of course the main story is how they are going to approach his exit from FF franchise. Same
with Phillip symour Hoffman. He still had somemajor scenes to do for Hunger Games. Remember with The Crowe and Gladiator when they had to cut & paste the actors final performances. TEchnically they can do this with ease nowadays. So that is not the problem. The problem we the audience can tell where the stitches are once the wound is healed.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Exclusive-All-Lost-Blu-ray-Clip-Takes-Film-From-Storyboard-Screen-41527.html
Interesting filmmaking 101 video with behind the scenes. Going to check out this movie again on Blu-ray. Redford really manages to hold this film together all by himself. Shame no Oscar nod.

My hideout for the weekends. This theate usually plays american films but it being a slow week they decided to add a spanish flix and doubled up on Nut Job with Hercules for afternoon showing. Sold out on the weekends but sometimes it can be a ghost town aka Devils Due. Talk about empty.




Sunday, February 09, 2014

New Beatles Links with Videos

Looking forward to tonights celebration. But damn did it have to be the same night as
Walking Dead? Good going with AMC for the repeats.


http://tv.yahoo.com/news/paul-mccartney-ed-sullivan-theater-return-going-back-235705709.html
Oh the memories, if some of us can go that far back. Nope, not me, I was still crawling.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/5900931/the-beatles-us-invasion-28-stars-discuss-the-fab-fours-50th-anniversary-video
Quick video buyt interesting. See the list below the video to see who's on the video.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/5901118/the-beatles-celebrated-in-the-night-that-changed-america-review
Like this really matters to any music fan. Regardless of the musicians and the songs the play which I will admit don't quite fit but in the end it's a celebration. The writer must be a Beiber fan. Loser.

PS what happened to the music thingy? Well got caught up with this Beatles thing but will post
this week including the 3rd season premiere for Blog Talk Radio.

Saturday, February 08, 2014

The Beatles! ....New Links

Question: What is my favorite band of all time. DUH! The Beatles! With that here is some links that got posted on the internet within the past 24 hours.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12315704/1/science-has-determined-the-best-beatle.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO
Cool video on the history of The Beatles money wise. Also includes stats including Ringo Starr as the richest drummer in the world. Man, that cracks me up. And no 20 minute drum solo. LOL.

http://entertainment.time.com/2014/02/08/the-beatles-invasion-50-years-ago-saturday-february-8-1964/
A day in the life of The Beatles in NYC, including stopping by The Apollo Theatre.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/02/07/five-common-myths-about-the-beatles-u-s-invasion-50-years-ago/
Good trivia, some of which I didn't know myself. Like they say, always believe in the legend.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/5901089/the-beatles-american-chart-invasion-12-record-breaking-hot-100
They were the first in breaking major records. Nowadays you hear people being the first at....
blah blah blah, it really doesn't matter in this digital age. The old days was the hard way...
by earning it.

By the way: Who is my favorite solo artist? Sir Elton John.
And One of my all time favorite all time singles. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.
Sir Elton with John Lennon on vocals and guitar. Can't get much better than that.



Friday, February 07, 2014

Jay Leno Goodbye and Beatles Celebrations

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/blogs/2014/02/jimmy-and-the-muppets-say-goodbye-to-late-night-with-the-weight-from-the-last-waltz/
Guess everyone heard about this ending which was pretty cool. By the way, highly recommended "The Last Waltz" directed by Martin Scorsese. Great music, played and sung by great musicians.

http://www.hitfix.com/news/oprah-winfrey-billy-crystal-chris-paul-jack-black-and-more-say-goodbye-to-jay-leno
I love that little speech at the end but for the guests it was kind of lame. All those years and you get Sheryl Crow and Jack Black. How soon they forget.

http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/thursday-february-6-2014/n45954#i140996,p1
Yeah I stayed up to see history in the making then the repeat it seemed something was missing. But Billy Crystal made a nice speech and Garth always delivers.


http://www.cnbc.com/id/101358435?__source=yahoo|finance|headline|headline|story&par=yahoo&doc=101358435|Beatles%20business:%20Still%20m
The very few who can make that claim along with Zep, Floyd, fill in the blanks.


http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2013/12/beatles-to-release-all-us-box-set-59-rarities-rele.html
And there is so much material from the White Album to Let It Be. Enough outtakes for a few box sets.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/listen-to-never-before-heard-john-lennon-interviews-from-1968-20140207?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
And it never ends. We all know there's a lot of material laying around out there. Not that is a bad thing.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/flaming-lips-and-sean-lennon-visit-lucy-in-the-sky-with-diamonds-20140207?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
Sorry but Sir Elton nailed it. End of story.


Thursday, February 06, 2014

Thursday Leftover's Including Links and Reviews.

Some links and 2 movie reviews from Redbox that you need to avoid at all costs.

http://www.hitfix.com/news/axl-rose-weighs-in-on-red-hot-chili-peppers-karaoke-super-bowl-performance
Boys and Girls, can we spell asshole? Billy Bailey should keep quiet. The Axl Rose band is nowhere kick ass as The RHCP. And Flea (one of the nicest guys according to friends who met him) fess up big time. And besides this is not Carnegie Hall where real musicians matter, its a frigging football game!
Nope, no apologies to GnR as they don't exist (no Slash no band) and what happenned to the Broncos?

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/15-most-outrageous-faked-musical-performances-20140206?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
Ok everyone pick your favorite bullshit performance. Hate to admit but most of them are good.

http://www.movieweb.com/news/marvels-agents-of-s-h-i-e-l-d-tv-spot-introduces-bill-paxton-as-agent-john-garret
"Game Over Man!" Does this sound desperate or what. Anything to save this boring show right?

http://www.movieweb.com/news/the-fantastic-four-may-cast-a-female-doctor-doom
What the hell are they thinking. Is there a fever going round about miscasting these roles?

http://www.movieweb.com/news/batman-vs-superman-why-did-they-cast-a-young-lex-luthor
Excuses, excuses, excuses. Nothing worse than not backing up your decision and start with all these explanations on why the mistake in the first place. This is such a joke. But it's going to be one hell of a comedy when all said and done. I can't wait.

Movies:
Field of the Dead: 1 (RB) - Awful and boring. College kids hang out at a farm when one gets possessed and kills everyone off one by one. All because of ghosts told the female to do so. One interesting kill, well sort of, at the end. Again filmmaking 101, rent a barn, make a film.

The Apartment 1303: 0 (RB) - ZERO! Haunted apartment with cams set up all over aka Paranormal.
There is nothing here what so ever. How not to make a cheap film.
PS. This is suppose to be a remake of a Japanese Horror film with the same title which has no resemblence to it besides people committing suicide again because of the ghost.
The Japanese version would get a 2 as that has an actual story.


Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Wednesday Mini-Reviews

Note: I'm trying my best to review movies from Redbox but the pattern is too obvious that these direct to DVD/BR releases really suck. Some have been on the shelf for years and others suppose to have major releases at the movie house just to be dumped at the last minute to disc. With that being said I will be cutting back on these as they are too many to review in a week and are just plain awful to begin with. I will try to reference this with IMDB as many of the people on that sight know their movies, are fans of that particular genre and are not critics. But first the movies.

Movies:
August: Osage County: 3 - Streep is excellent and so is Julia Roberts in this Dramedy about a dysfunctional family. But it's rough viewing for the regular movie goer. This was nominated for Best Assemble cast at the SAG awards and this cast deserves the nod. Both Sherlock and Obi Wan have american accents (Benedict who sings!, Ewan) Juliette Lewis comes out of hiding (where's she been?) an all star cast but a hard watch. Based on a broadway show (which I didn't know) this plays best for a netflix specia on a Wednesdaynight. Beware it ends on a flat note as there is no resolve. "Here we are, a really fucked family, and one that you don't get to know and root for". But check out the family dinner scene at 45 minutes. This is why this got the nod for Best Ensemble. Cast got its game.

Escape Plan: 3 (BR) - Stallone gets serous and Arnuld has a blast. Shame these 2 waited so long to get together and the material kinds of fails them but both actors make the best of it and do have a lot of scenes together compare to some other films. You know which ones. For fans of Expandables and old style 80's flicks. Note: Script takes a nod from a John Woo movie for the big reveal. A little to obvious but doesn't take away from the film. When you see this,can you name that other film? 45 minutes of features which is beginning to be the norm nowadays and commentary which I didn't get to yet.

Ganzfeld Haunting: 1(RB) - Filmmaking 101. How to film in one apartment with no budget and stretch it into 2 dreadful hours. Besides the 2 females leads in underwear and well known actor Dominc Purcell who probably stopped byfor free pizza one afternoon and did his lines there is nothing of ghost story here to watch. Films like this is what is pushing me away from Redbox. At least there's major releases.

Dirty Teacher: 1(RB) - From the Lifetime Channel. Dull movie where it starts with the teacher getting arrested for the crime then it goes into flashback. You can end right there as the rest of the film is a total yack fest soap opera. Been there done that.

I'm saving the test beds for the weekend with that music trivia so I don't have to do a rush job.

Tuesday, February 04, 2014

Tuesday Mini Reviews

Today I'm combining both recent movies and Blu-ray as they are many reviews to cover. But first..

http://www.fearnet.com/news/news-article/radioshack-wins-super-bowl-80s-icons-chucky-jason-slimer-teen-wolf-and-more
The one link that not posted but if there's one that tops that Horse Doggy friendship it's this one.
Wow, the good old days from my genenration. And man it was fun. And no Bieber!

Movies:
Lone Survivor: 5 - Excellent movie with a strong cast. What surprise me was the director Peter Berg finally got a good picture under his belt. I hated Hancock and Battleship was a frigging board game. The other surprise was Taylor Kitsch, after 3 major bombs he's finally has something good on his resume. Very tough film to see which is why I waited so long to see this after told how sad it was.
Special credit on how the movie ends posted below. This is already on my top 10 for the year 2014.
None Spoiler: End credits show pictures of the real Navy Seals while Peter Gabriel sings a Bowie song.

Blu-ray:
Justice League: War: 4 - A reboot of sorts as how the JL got together. Based on the new 52 DC,
Shazam replaces Aquaman. Not have read the 52 Shazam to me just didn't fit but for the rest, I had a blast. Sane team that did Flashpoint, this is a very mature PG-13 with the cursing and Sups is an asshole. Generic story about Aliens trying to take over Earth but whocares. Its about the team and their powers and the action. Can't help to compare to The Avengers as a team whodon't get along this did have the humour, contrast and a big battle at the end. This what the future should be. But it won't.
Didn't see the bonus features but as with the past releases Warners do a great job as always.

Justice League Adventures: Trapped in Time: 3 - I love time travel and this story covers it with Lex Luthor from the future going back in time thanks to Karate Kid. The JL team gets together to fight Lex team that includes Bizarro out of all things. This would have gotten 4 but the animation does not compare to JL War as this looks like something leftover from the 80's with it's animation. What a shame. But again it's still a lot of fun with lots of action but short which was fine with me. And sorry to repeat myself. Warner does great with these animations (regradless of quality) but the live action, last 2 Sups, suck. On the other hand Marvel animation sucks (Anime Iron Man was horrible) but the movies are great. Can somebody back at the office get it together please.

Mischief Nite: 1(RB) - Blind girl fights off thugs in a house. Been there done that. Micheal Keaton did a better movie called : Penthouse North. But see the original which was made 1967 as Wait Until Dark.

Haunting of the Innocent: 1(RB) 1 is for 2 booby shots. That's it. Total FK bore of a movie. Avoid!

More reviews tomorrow plus more Test Beds this week on the Blog Talk Radio Widgets.
Thanks for stopping by and taking a quick listen. Keyboard tomorrow on Furankisan and
name that tune!

Monday, February 03, 2014

Monday Links

Well how about those to big upsets this weekend? Seahawks beating Broncos and
the new Lex Luthor. People are just going Batshit over this. But first......

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-ride-along-frozen-676396
No problem with Ride Along almost breaking $100m. Film is not a big deal but Kevin Hart deserves it.
Lone Survivor, finally saw it and this deserves its $100m. First Top 10 for 2014. BUT...
What the hell is with this "Frozen". The most over rated Disney movie ever. Hulk Mad!

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Why-Jesse-Eisenberg-Perfect-Choice-Lex-Luthor-Batman-Superman-41432.html
This movie couldn't get any better publicity but by timne this comes out, nobody isgoing to care.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/30697/singer-on-superman-returns-regrets-sequels
The worst superhero movie of all time as far as I'm concern but...he did mentioned Darkseid.
New Justice League coming out tomorrow on BR. Review coming on Wednesday. Solid 4 of 5.

http://www.movieweb.com/news/new-the-lego-movie-tv-spot-with-superman-and-green-lantern
It's fun being a superhero fan this week. Lex news, JL Blu-ray and Lego this weekend. All good.

http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-news/philip-seymour-hoffman-celebrity-reactions-191111677.html
Posted this during the weekend and again here for the celebrity comments. Very nice.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Star-Wars-Episode-VII-Characters-Rumored-Inspired-By-Expanded-Star-Wars-Universe-41433.html
Sorry but it seems a little close to the books as far as the themes go. Just make the damn thing already.

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/5-movie-franchises-that-gambled-with-a-reboot-and-won-2.html/
Anbd some franchises just won'tgo away. Speaking of which.....below...

http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/2/5372280/the-first-trailer-for-transformers-age-of-extinction-stars-the
I mentioned this at a previous job and people look at me "yeah right, who made you an expert".
Well flash forward and here are the dino's. It's going to suck and we are all going to see it. Right?

http://www.movieweb.com/news/the-amazing-spider-man-2-4-minute-enemies-unite-sizzle-trailer
And we are all going to see this, right. Well besides some people questioning Foxx being cast this mostly had no drama not like that other superhero *sups cough* movie *bats cough*. But this one looks like it's got that multi villains in one movie right with the start of Sinister 6 as rumoured.

Update: Yep we are now testing Blog Talk Radio and Furankisan. You can see this at the widgets
on the right. We are going for a Feb. 11-12 Premiere date. More testing this week.

Saturday, February 01, 2014

Watch Super Bowl Commercials Now

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/pictures/watch-22-leaked-super-bowl-xlviii-commercials-before-sundays-game-20140130

Warning: These are 22 commercials now available for view. This is complete list according to the article. So Beware for the spoilers.
But everyone knows by now the doggy with the horse about friendship is the worst kept secret on the nternet and the big winner of all of these.For me I don't have a team to root for, music is blah even though Bruno Mars is an excellent singer but not Superbowl material. Then again who would be Superbowl Material?
Either the great ones performed already, othes are too old or not around anymore...
oh yeah..the 4 lads from England. No, not those four cause two are not around anymore.
The other 4: Jimmy, Robert, John Paul, Jason...
umm..that's a thought, lol.

ps dont mind the mini tests on Blog Talk Radio this weekend, trying some new headphones.

pss reposting this past weeks blogs with pictures for those who missed it.