Christmas 2007: Hottest new sci – Part 2

This Christmas has seen the re-release of Blade Runner in a new format and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind 30th Anniversary edition.

Blade Runner: Final Cut comes as a 2 DVD set or a 5 disc ultimate collectors edition set. It is a must have for fans all Blade Runner, Ridley Scott, Harrison ford and the work of Philip K Dick.

In celebration of the films 25th anniversary, director Ridley Scott has gone back into post production and create this long-awaited definitive version. Blade Runner: The Final Cut is spectacularly restored and remastered and will contain never-before-seen extended scenes.

Quote from Ridley Scott

“The Final Cut is the product of a process that began in early 2000 and continued off and on through seven years of intense research and meticulous restoration, technical challenges, amazing discoveries and new possibilities. I can now wholeheartedly say that Blade Runner: The Final Cut is my definitive director’s cut of the film.”

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind 30th Anniversary edition is a 3 disc set containing all three versions of the film. These versions are: The Original Theatrical Cut, The Special Edition Cut and The Director’s Cut.

Other Sci-Fi movies to buy this Christmas

Transformers

Infestation

Transmorphers

 

Megan Fox – a Brief History and Her Career

Amazingly a big number of celebrities belong to very poor background with a very low income levels. Megan Fox has to go through the same but she is the famous artist and model of the new era. We have seen her in different roles. She is an actress and model who have fascinated the world with her amazing beauty and sizzling personality.

Early Age and Family

Rockwood, Tennessee is the birth place of Megan Fox and she was born on May 16, 1986. Unfortunately she doesn’t belong to a very rich family and has grown up in very poor atmosphere and livelihood. She has one elder sister. Megan Fox has Irish, French, and Native American ancestry.

In the year 2007 , that means that Megan Fox was still 20 years old and she got engages to Brian Austin Green, the previous actor in the hit series Beverly Hills 90210. She is known that she has a thing for tattoos and her body has five tattoos on it, also a fan of Shakespeare where she tattooed a quote from “King Lear”. The quote means “We will laugh at (Fake Individuals). The wedding between Green and Fox is still not yet determined

Career

She started training of drama and dancing at just age of 5. She continued her training after arriving at Port Saint Lucie. Florida. She finished her high school there as well. After her high school she went back to Tennessee. She lived in Oak Ridge for six month and then started her acting career.

At the age of 13, her talent for dance introduced her to great opportunities to modeling world. Fox made her film debut in the 2001 film Holiday in the Sun as the spoiled heiress Brianna Wallace and rival of Alex Stewart (Ashley Olsen). In “Ocean Ave”, “What I like about you”, “Two and a Half Men”, and “The Help” from 2003 to 2004 are programs in which she appeared as Guest Actress. She was subsequently cast in her first recurring role in a television series on Hope & Faith, in which she portrayed Sydney Shanowski from 2004 until 2006.

She get the biggest appreciation when she performed the leading female role “Mikaela Banes” in the movie “Transformer”. “Transformer was the live-action based movie and her performance was amazing. Fox was cast in How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, starring alongside Jeff Bridges and Kirsten Dunst. Coincidentally, the character Fox will portray is that of a young Hollywood starlet getting her first taste of fame. The film will be released in late 2008.

Fox has appeared in a five page spread for the November 2005 issue of the popular men’s magazine FHM. She also posed for the March 2007 issue of FHM, the June 2007 issue of GQ, the July 2007 issue of Maxim, and the September 2007 issue of Arena. For more news and latest pictures visit http://www.megan-fox.mobi

 

Movie reviews: Cloverfield

It all started with the big summer movie of 2007 was Transformers but unbeknown to anyone about to attend cinema screenings something bigger was on its way and that would be tested in the trailers that accompanied this blockbuster. Shot with video cameras Transformers audiences got to see a trailer showing a party in honor of someone called Rob, the party is interrupted by a noise that draws Rob and a great number of other revelers on the roof of their apartment. It’s here that they see in the distance a building destroyed, running from the roof to the streets they arrive just in time to be almost hit by the head of The Statue Of Liberty. The trailer ended with a date, that date was 18.01.08; no movie title no actors, nothing to help the audience figure out where to go from here in their quest for knowledge.

It is rumored that people attended multiple screenings of Transformers in order to see the trailer again; people recorded the trailer on mobile phones and posted it on youtube.com only to have it pulled down in minutes. And then still without a clue as to what was going on the news of the trailer made America’s main news programs. A month later a young couples wedding website was so overwhelmed with hits it caused the site to collapse, amateur sleuths had drawn them to a website that shared the character names of two of the characters from the movie (both revealed in the trailer). Then in late August somehow the name Cloverfield became attached to this trailer. Since then the movie’s producer J.J. Abrams and his team of media wizards have been playing games with the public and the media. But finally after what seems like an eternity Cloverfield is here.

Following in the footsteps of Cannibal Holocaust and more recently The Blair Witch project, Cloverfield is filmed on a personal camera, this camera being carried by one of the cast. The idea is to give you a feeling of the horror of the movie as a participant rather than a viewer. In short, expect a sequel and sooner rather than later.

Cloverfield starts pretty much with what we first saw in the movies first trailer, and I’m not going to float on the plot-line too much other than to say that New York is bought to its knees by something you’ll only clearly get to see in the movies final minutes. The basis of the story however is a quest for Rob and three fellow party revelers as they make their way across Manhattan to find Rob’s girlfriend Beth (whom Rob has an on and off relationship with),

 

New films in development to check out

Out of all the movies I saw from the “New films in development to check out” channel, I was most surprised to see “He-Man” on the list. According to IMDB.com it has only been announced that this movie is in production and there is no further information on it. That being said, this article’s purpose is to explore whether or not this movie should be scrapped from the reels before the first scene is filmed.

“He-Man” is one of those shows I was glued to as a child. In the series, He-Man and his friends defend the land of Eternia and the Castle Grayskull against Skeletor, He-Man’s arch nemesis. It’s vibrant colors and action-filled plots were enough to keep any child occupied for at least a couple of hours. So what do I think about this series becoming a major film production?

What child of the 80’s doesn’t dream about seeing “The Most Powerful Man in the Universe” on the big screen? I, for one. As much as I loved this series along with “She-Ra” aka “Princess of Power”, I just do not see this one doing good in the box office. I know I won’t waste my time and money unless the producers flip the show into a feature that a 20-something-year-old will want to watch. Something tells me that won’t happen, however.

“In 1987, Cannon Films produced a Live-action film Masters of the Universe which featured Dolph Lundgren in the role of He-Man. Although the film was not received well upon its release, it has developed a strong cult following over recent years” (wikidpedia). If someone attempted to bring this cartoon to the movies and more or less failed, why try it again? It will just be subject to ridicule once more. People may only watch it for a good laugh, as do the cult following of the original movie. The movie “Rocky Horror Picture Show” suddenly comes to mind.

Film-makers are presently obsessed with bringing back shows of the past. “Dukes of Hazzard”, “Miami Vice”, “Starsky and Hutch”, “Transformers”, etc. As you know, the list goes on for eternity, not to be confused with Eternia. How far is too far? Before you know it they will try to push “Punky Brewster” onto the big screen. Some things are better left undeveloped, and I think this action figure needs to be stepped on. Pronto.

 

Is Jamie Lynn Spears following in the footsteps of sister Britney Spears?

Last night I watched as Access Entertainment (entertainment tv show) compared the 16 year old Britney to her now 16 year old little sister. It definitely opened my eyes to see how so much has changed in 9 years. I am the same age as Britney, and saw her on stage at her first tour with NSYNC when we were both 16. I “grew” up with her in a way – although when she was making millions making albums, I was in college and dancing to her music at weekend parties. I remember her first vide “Baby One More Time” when everyone made such a big deal because she was in a school girl outfit – was it really that big of deal – no way, it was a costume and I’ve seen way less on other musicians…but it seems like now those musicians wearing the more revealing clothes are younger. She was 16 and wearing a short skirt and showed part of her belly…now that would be innocent compared to what you see on tv.

When I was 16 girls looked up to her, and also the more “innocent” stars such as Christina and Brandy. Not to mention “squeaky clean” Mandy Moore and Jessica Simpson. To raise their record sales they raised their skirts and tightened their jeans – don’t blame the girl so much as the industry for these things. Also, in the college years, girls that look sexy and work hard for those abs and thighs want to show them off – maybe it’s a bit risque, but when in their lives are they going to like that again? With agents, directors, and customers, wanting to see the sexy side of these musicians (male and female) how can we blame them for actually doing it to stay in the business?

However, when they go too far it becomes too much. Jessica Simpson was known as a smart, Christian girl who waited to have sex – then the industry made her lose weight to sell records, and she became this ditsy, sex symbol. The same happens for a lot of movie stars and actresses.

I don’t think the question is will Jamie become her sister, because really we don’t know who Britney really is, or who she could’ve been had Hollywood and the music industry transformed her into who THEY wanted her to be. She even said herself that she was naive when she came into the business and just did what they wanted her to do. We don’t know who she could’ve been if she would’ve been able to be her own person. We also don’t know the kind of person she really even is today. We see the pictures magazines and the media WANT us to see – but are they really her? It seems like she is an unfit mother, a partier, a selfish

 

Christmas movies: DreamWorks Animation vs. Pixar

Pixar have only release one film this year Ratatouille following the adventures of a rat called Remy, in Paris in search of Gourmet food. Was hugely popular with kids and is the highest earning film form pixar yet with $612,154,540 made at the box office. But they also have the old favorite of Toy Story which should also do quite well and Cars and Finding Nemo will probably still sell reasonably well

Dreamworks however have released a whole host of film this year including:

Bee Movie

Blades of Glory

Disturbia

Norbit

Shrek the Third

Sweeney Todd

The Heartbreak Kid

The Kite Runner

Things We Lost in the Fire

Transformers

And releases in 2006 include:

Dreamgirls

Flags of Our Fathers

Flushed Away

The Last Kiss

Over the Hedge

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

She’s the Man

Letters from Iwo Jima

Probably the most popular of these will be Shrek 3, Transformers The Movie, She’s The Man and Norbit. All appealing to the biggest group of gift receivers .. children (obviously). Transformers should prove very popular with Boys up to the age of around 20 because of the amazing technology used to create the amazing special effects.

Norbit is very funny, starring Eddie Murphy playing multiple parts this films got everything with comedy music and pimps in day glow purple suits ! bound to be popular with many.

Shrek the Third is also going to be hugely popular with kids and is one of the biggest animations of the year second only to The Simpson’s Movie.

So due to the huge range of choice i have to say Dreamworks is going to be far more successful than Pixar this Christmas.

 

Best comic books

Well into my thirties now, I still very much enjoy a great comic book from beginning to end. Although as I get older the humor, art and story lines have gotten more complex, deeper and sometimes darker. Comics aren’t just for kids anymore, sure some are but many comics currently available are aimed at adults. I thoroughly enjoy DC’s Vertigo Line and Marvels Max line aimed directly at adults over the age of 18 due to sexual situations, language and violence. But these are nothing most adults aren’t subjected to already, just turn on the television and watch the 6 o’ clock news in your area. Life imitates art and , art imitates life. I’m a big fan of great artwork, Mike Mignola, Jim Lee, Michael Turner, Dale Keown, Alex Ross, the Kuberts’, son and father. Artists old and new, Frank Frazetta, Boris and Julie Bell have been painting and drawing fantasy portraits for years. Many popular artists started drawing and illustrating for comic books and doing comic book covers.

If your into mythology, HellBoy’s Mike Mignola likes to incorporate many fore lore aspects to his story lines. If your looking for a gritty western Jonah Hex is a favorite of mine. Marvel’s Max Line’s Punisher is also gritty with very realistic story lines and exceptional artwork. Batman writers have delved deep into Bruce Waynes darker side the last few years, and have produced some exceptional works as well, an older storyline called Batman No Mans’ Land is a great storyline. Spiderman has always been a favorite of mine also, Peter Parkers’ one liners never cease to amuse me. If your looking a gritty vampire storyline I highly recommend Bite Club and Vamps both from Dc/ Vertigo. Both Dc and Marvel do a crisis type attraction across all their comic book story lines about once a year, DC’s Identity Crisis and 52 are well worth looking into and as well as Marvels’ Secret Wars is also worth a look.

I think people would be absolutely amazed at how many comics have been produced into box office hits, some many people know, Spiderman, The Avengers, Fantastic Four, Hulk, X Men,The Punisher, Electra, Daredevil,Ghost Rider, HellBoy,Superman, Batman, Blade ,Spawn, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Phantom,The Shadow , Predator, Aliens ( based on H.R. Giger artwork) and the list goes on and on…

Some comics sprouting daily TV shows, Superman, Blade, Batman,The Flash, Wonder Woman , Sabrina The Teenage Witch and made for TV movies like Captain America from the late 1970’s.

BUT I bet many people did not realize the realm of other movies based on comics, here are just a few, 300 and SinCity both from writer Frank Miller are now great movies, League of Extra Ordinary Gentleman with Sean Connery,Constantine with Keane Reeves is from a DC/ Vertigo comic, as well as Swamp Thing, also from DC/Vertigo. The Crow was based on a comic by James O’Barr, Howard The Duck was a goofy comic long before becoming the movie dud, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon were comics before hitting any sort of screen , V For Vendetta was a dark political comic book long before it ever hit any theater. And many western comics coincided with or preceded their TV counterparts, Roy Rogers, Gunsmoke,Bonanza. As well as popular shows such as Beverly Hillbillies, Get Smart and Lost In Space. Also look for upcoming movies Iron Man, Watchmen, Citizen Zane and Transformers to be released on DVD and hit the movie theaters in the near future!

 

Movie reviews: Premonition

Where does time travel cross with reality? “Premonition” allows us to see the possibility of souls living on past something that may be bigger than ourselves. In the opening of the film, Linda Hanson (Sandra Bullock) awake from a dream of her husband, and rolls over to find he’s gone. She starts her day without anything unusual gets the kids off to school and checks voice mails the doorbell rings.

On the other side of the door, a sheriff transforms Sandra’s character almost completely. Upon hearing the tragic news of her husband, her emotions landslide and hit rock bottom fast. The entire film she looks lonesome, ill, and lost. This sets the tone for a confusing film, but it can be understood if watched carefully. It took me awhile to understand this film, and the audience needs to watch it carefully.

Time travel plays a major role in the lives of these characters. After a long night of mourning, she awakes to find a briefcase and coat in the hallway. This confuses Bullock, because Jim is believed to be dead. In the kitchen, Jim ( Julian McMahon) is having breakfast. It’s too much to bear for Linda, for her husband is as real as life when she knows the truth. This periodically happens in the movie, where she’d fall asleep and awakening he’d be there. At first I didn’t understand, but as it got later in the movie I began to understand the theme.

After visiting a priest, she drives out to the highway and has more flashbacks. Brought back to reality by a car horn, she realizes she’s in the spot where he will die. A few days later, it’s a repeat of the film introduction, a blissful dream of Linda and Jim buying a 1920’s house. Linda chases after her husband on the highway. Her dream had become reality, and she was devastated to witness it.

One thing I did not like about this movie was that it was hard to follow at times. There’s a blonde woman Linda talks to in the middle of the film, but there’s no connection to her until her and Jim are seen in his office together. Could this be his mistress? His sister? It’s a film that needs the audience to pay attention to everything going on, or something will not make sense later. It was a very confusing film in spots, and I didn’t enjoy most of it. I’m not sure that I would watch it again. There was only music a few places, usually in the dream sequences. It could have done a better job with making Bullock’s character look more realistic. The film was not one of Sandra’s best movies.

 

Michael Bay: Destroying our childhoods? – Part 1

As near as I can tell, Michael Bay hates my generation and everything we stand for. I don’t know why. Did we wrong him in a previous life? Did he get beat up by the younger kids at school or something? To what do we owe this animosity, that he so suddenly desires to snap up films that he knows are going to be bringing my generation screaming into the theaters like lemmings to a cliff side, only to turn around and tell us that everything we loved in our youths is wrong and foul?

Case in point, in a recent news article in Wired Magazine (Issue 15.07, and posted on Wired.com on 06/27/07 “The Rebirth of Optimus Prime: Behind the scenes with Michael Bay” by Scott Brown) I must quote;

“I’ve heard so many people say, ‘Michael Bay, you’ve destroyed my childhood,’ ” says the man himself from the cathedra of his Santa Monica, California, editing bay. Appropriately, Bay is wearing a black Decepticons T-shirt. He’s aware of his image and, to some extent, relishes it. “I knew there were fans,” he sighs, shaking his shaggy blond power-mane. “I didn’t know there were people who’d hunt you down. I urge them to watch the 1986 animated movie, go watch the cartoon. You’ll want to shoot yourself.”

Well, now we all know what drove wrestler Chris Benoit to his tragic end; he must have been watching reruns of the Transformers cartoon! Thank goodness I haven’t had the chance to buy the DVD’s yet, as I wouldn’t want to suffer from any post-nostalgic suicidal tendencies.

Okay, yes, I’m taking what he said out of context, but obviously the sentiment is there. Clearly, Michael Bay feels that the shows that I watched when I was a child were garbage, even for their time.

Funny, I remember them being highly entertaining, fun, and if you owned the toys, even somewhat interactive. In fact, I did go back and watch my VHS copy of “Transformers: The Motion Picture” from 1986. And you know what? I STILL enjoy it, to this day. I’m not a father yet, but I can honestly say I watch in horror at some of the mindless drivel spouted out of today’s equivalent of cartoon entertainment. Frankly, I’d rather have my child watching the old Transformers cartoons than some of the more modern ones, like Spongebob Squarepants for example, which strikes me as the drug-induced rantings of a functionally-retarded insomniac poodle! It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if Michael Bay watches it religiously.

At least Transformers made SENSE! It had a plot, an engaging story arc, characters that you loved

 

ALIENS WITH NO BRAINS HAVE REPLACED THE MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!

FLASH! FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: The aliens look just like real people but they don’t act like real people. They don’t return phone calls – even if they’re in business to make money. Their leisure “activity” is watching TV and they play video games when they’re not watching TV. They can’t spell. They have major sexual problems. The best way to identify one of these aliens is by their complete failure to communicate properly.

In 1976, the movie “Network” foreshadowed the hollowness of television, the addictive nature of its effect on the human mind, and it predicted the development of a culture without culture that would pervade the United States in the 21st century. I believe there has been a massive deterioration of ethical humanness in our society and that the phenomenon of dehumanization can be attributed to the following social changes:

1. The baby boomer generation became yuppies* who abandoned their parents’ meaningful core values.
2. The yuppies are responsible for their children being egocentric and needing instant gratification.
3. The yuppie parents and their children have become addicted to television and other mindless entertainment.
4. While all this was happening, the school system was being decimated by politically conservative administrations in the name of “cost savings”.

The result of the four social processes interacting simultaneously over the last 40 years has been a transformation of our society from a vibrant and goal oriented energy dynamo to a self-centered and pleasure driven static state. During the first half of the 20th century, most people occupied their spare time with constructive and creative activities such as reading books, writing letters, socializing with other people in discussion groups, actively supporting political issues, and spending large amounts of quality time with their children – to name just a few examples. For a brief moment in time during the 1960’s, the hippies opened up human consciousness in a way that had never happened before and of course they were met with emotional resistance from the status quo. As the cost of living began to increase dramatically in the late 1970’s, people had to devote more time to their jobs and consequently reduce the amount of time they could spend with their children. In the 1980’s and 1990’s it became common for both parents to have to work in order to keep up with rising housing costs, and the yuppie disease became contagious. Economic forces eventually became stronger than other social forces and even the old hippies were compelled to focus their energy on making a living so that they could afford to live decently. As people spent more and more time working at their jobs, they experienced more and more work related stress and the easiest way to relax after a long hard day at work was to watch television.

The 20th century has included a larger number of scientific advances and significant inventions than any other century in all of human history. Television was an invention that had broad based appeal which gave it vast commercial potential. The first popular television programs were pure entertainment. Milton Berle’s Texaco Star Theater (1948), The Cisco Kid (1949), Amos and Andy (1951), and I Love Lucy (1951) kept America glued to their TV sets. Television is also capable of delivering news, intelligent commentary, and educational shows. The Public Broadcasting System has done an outstanding job of elevating the medium, bringing shows like Masterpiece Theater, Bradshaw On The Family, Great Chefs of Europe, and Sesame Street to the airwaves. Commercial television has also produced high quality entertainment such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, All in the Family, MASH, and Seinfeld. But unfortunately, commercial television has found its greatest popularity in short, silly sitcoms and if I were to list them all, this article would explode any conceivable definition of the word concise.

The Internet was the last great invention of the 20th century. The Internet had its roots in a partnership between the government and the universities and it was conceived as “the information super-highway” in order to store and archive data. People use the Internet as an immediately accessible library. Of course, they also use the Internet for mindless game entertainment and pornography. However, the big difference between television and the Internet is that television does not require or allow input from the viewer, while the Internet allows users to participate in many ways. An enormous number of web sites have been created by individuals, chat rooms offer places for people to interact with each other, blogging allows almost anybody to become a published writer, and email provides virtually instantaneous, low cost, world wide communication. The Internet is not only the world’s biggest library that cannot possibly be destroyed by a fire, but it also offers the promise of connecting all human minds together in a way that has not been imagined yet. However, a sinister potential exists in the combination of high speed Internet and cable TV service that is provided by the biggest corporations (who are not necessarily altruistic). Incorporating the trend towards increased government control and censorship within an understanding of how big corporations operate in America leads a thinking person to a frightening thought.

Another frightening thought concerns one of the most significant social trends that has been increasing dramatically during the second half of the 20th century – divorce. In the 19th century and in all preceding centuries, divorce was relatively rare (except for Henry VIII, of course). Recent research indicates that divorce rates in the United States have been rising since the beginning of the 20th century, with a short-term decline during the Great Depression and a spike just after World War II. In 2005, the New York Times reported that the percentage of all marriages which end in divorce peaked in the United States at about 41 percent around 1980 and was approximately 31 percent in 2002. One definition of the word “plague” is a widespread affliction or calamity. I believe that divorce is a plague on our society because if even 1/3 of all marriages end in divorce, that is a widespread affliction and a calamity. In all previous centuries, people did not conceive of divorce as a satisfactory answer to a marriage that has problems, but that kind of thinking has changed. I believe that the change in thinking can be related to a subliminal impact of television because television has conditioned people to accept and desire instant gratification. Television provides too many choices and it makes those choices too easy for everybody. Having a wide variety of choices can be good. But when it comes to the subject of marriage, having a wide variety of choices is not good. It seems like people are thinking, “If I’m not getting what I want, I’ll just change the channels. If I don’t like the food here, I’ll go next door and eat in a different restaurant.” So they are leaping out of marriages and into divorce court.

Finally, consider the concept of capitalism as an economic system that has pervasive effects on societal forces. Capitalism is based on the production of commodities for sale and profit, and it allows private ownership of the means of production. In the United States, capitalism exists in combination with democracy but capitalism does not necessarily imply democracy. It flourished quite well in England under the monarchist system during the 19th century and not quite so well under various dictatorships in the 20th century. Capitalism encourages the strongest, the most intelligent, the most aggressive, and the most competitive people to rise to the top and succeed. I believe that the combination of capitalism and democracy has been America’s great strength, and the power inherent in this combination was the key to becoming the greatest country the world has ever seen. Our success has allowed us to dominate the world economically as well as militarily.

But if I am correct about our society having been transformed from a vibrant and goal oriented energy dynamo to a self-centered and pleasure driven static state, then we may have already reached our peak of power. The United States has purposefully tried to spread capitalism and democracy all over the world, not only in an attempt to combat communism, but also because we sincerely believe that we have the best economic and political system and we have a desire to give to others who are less fortunate than we are. It is possible that our largess may backfire on us because many countries who are trying to follow our lead are not oriented around their television sets. If their cultures are strong enough to resist the addictive drug that television really is, and if they pursue capitalism and democracy to the same end that we did in the United States, then the strongest, most intelligent, and most aggressive countries will rise to the top and succeed. The United States can be out-competed and the Japanese have already risen to the top position in more than one field. Our infrastructure is so rich and so enormous that it would take a long time to tumble from the apex of power. But it is possible for that to happen.

This article should not be misinterpreted as doom and gloom philosophy. It is intended to be a wake-up call.

*Yuppy: A bastardized version of the word hippy. The word hippy refers to a person who rejected established institutions and values and sought spontaneity, direct personal relations expressing love, and expanded consciousness. The word yuppy refers to a young urban professional who has an affluent lifestyle.

 

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