Film Review: The X-Files: I Want to Believe

In 1998, a hit television series called The X-Files made the leap to the big screen. The highly-anticipated film was supposed to have the answers for which the television series had only hinted. Unfortunately, The X-Files movie was something of a disappointment, for both the box office and its fans. Now, a decade later, series creator Chris Carter is attempting to resurrect the nearly forgotten series. But some things are best left to memory.

Read the full review of The X-Files: I Want to Believe.

Knight Rider Gets a Turbo Boost

NBC Unveils New "Attack KITT" at Comic-Con

The cast of NBC's rebooted '80s classic Knight Rider, appeared at Comic-Con International in San Diego last week to introduce their star automobile's new look. Dubbed the "Attack KITT," the 3.0 version of the artificially intelligent car has been given a serious upgrade.

For those who might not remember the original series, the first KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand) was a Pontiac Trans Am driven by Michael Knight (David Hasslehoff) on his never ending quest for justice and a clean roadside bathroom. When NBC premiered its two-hour telemovie/backdoor pilot in February, the familiar KITT had undergone a radical transformation: the new KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand) had become a Ford Mustang Shelby.

With the new show slated to premiere in September, the makers of Knight Rider decided to pull out all the stops for the Comic-Con crowd. Not only did they host a panel to discuss the series and show an amazing one-minute preview, they also brought out the big star.

NBC has re-engineered KITT once again. Part Transformer, the new KITT has been shown in previews morphing from one form to another. One of its new looks is the "Attack KITT." The supped-up "attack mode" unveiled at Comic-Con, was custom-built for the show by Smart Car designer Harald Belker.

Gary Scott Thompson, the new executive producer and show runner of Knight Rider, said in a recent interview that the main thing fans missed in the telemovie was the turbo boost. "No turbo boost," Thompson said immediately. "No turbo boost. That was a million times: No turbo boost."

But the new car is also influenced by cutting-edge, real-world technology. As cars become more heavily integrated with computer technology, it makes sense that KITT could be upgraded on a weekly basis. Need the car to do something for this week's episode? Upload a new program into the car's system.

Of course, it takes more than one good mechanic to keep the new KITT running. One of the changes in the show is the team of automotive technicians, headed by Sarah Graiman (Deanna Russo), that work to keep the car upgraded.

The new show has drawn me in with the same premise that engaged me in the first series. KITT is a cool car that can do cool things. I love the thought of a car that can talk, drive itself and (when necessary) hit turbo boost and fly through the air.

Oh yeah. Can't wait for the turbo boost.

Film Review: Hancock

This is a late post. I've been meaning to write a review for Hancock all month, but July has been filled with good movies and too much going on in my personal life. Anyway, I didn't want to rush this review, because I felt this was an astounding movie.

In the real world, even people with super powers would still have human failings. In the 2006 comedy My Super Ex-Girlfriend, the ideas of jealousy and bad relationships were played out in a superhero universe. Director Peter Berg gives the hero in Hancock similar human failings, as a loner, a drunk and a bully. What Berg also gives us is a world where one ordinary man can make a difference, even without super powers.

Read the full review of Hancock.

Universal "Nightmares" Short Film Competition

"Where Nightmares Come Alive" is the theme for Universal Studios Hollywood's first Halloween short film competition, a virtual film festival timed to coincide with the launch of the annual Halloween Horror Nights event that will invade the Entertainment Capital of L.A. for 13 nights this October.

Prospective filmmakers are invited to submit 90-second to three-minute film shorts on DVD that support the theme, "Where Nightmares Come Alive." Selected films will be judged by a panel of horror industry professionals including director Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) and actor Bill Moseley (Repo! The Genetic Opera, The Devil's Rejects) as well as Universal Studios Hollywood executives.

Criteria will be suspense, relevance to theme and overall "chill" factor. The top 10 shorts will be posted online from September 10 - 22 for public voting. Additional information on rules and regulations is available online at http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/Nightmares. All entries must be received by September 3, 2008.

The winning "Where Nightmares Come Alive" film will be announced on September 25th and the filmmaker(s) will enjoy a screening at Halloween Horror Nights "Eyegore Awards" ceremony in front of celebrities, studio executives and media, tickets to the event and a $1,000.00 cash prize.

Duchovny Chats with Fans

David Duchovny, star of the upcoming X-Files: I Want to Believe movie release, will be the featured guest on an episode of Hollywood Now, at 5:30pm ET tonight, July 24th.

Hollywood Now is an original, Paltalk show that connects the Paltalk community with their favorite celebrities. Duchovny will join host Diana Falzone and interact with the audience via voice and video, discussing his acting career and upcoming movie, The X-Files: I Want to Believe.

Paltalk is a real-time, video-based community bringing together traditional broadcasting media, social networking, user-generated content and video chat. With more than 4 million active users, Paltalk hosts the world's largest interactive video community, offering the ability to watch and interact with online video programming.

Chat with David Duchovny at Hollywood Now

Film Review: The Dark Knight

After the high-profile reboot of the Batman franchise in 2005, fans have waited breathlessly to see what director Christopher Nolan would do next. Now that Batman's universe and tone are set, Nolan shines the proverbial bat signal on Gotham. In The Dark Knight, he gives us a story of organized crime and the fight to keep a city from spiraling into darkness.

Read the full review of The Dark Knight.

Watchmen Trailer Online

The trailer for Watchmen is attached to copies of The Dark Knight in theaters, but you can see it online now.

For fans of the Watchmen graphic novel, your wait is nearly over. Director Zach Snyder (300) has been working to create a film version worthy of one of the most revered works of comic geekdom. The results are clear to see in this outstanding preview.

You will be amazed by how beautifully Snyder has translated its imagery to film. The characters seem to have jumped off the page. The art direction is astounding. The scope of the film is absolutely epic.

I want to weep, it’s so perfect. This is not just another comic book film. This is art. If the film lives up to the trailer, it may be Oscar-worthy. I'm serious. It's that good.

View the Watchmen trailer at Apple Trailers: http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/watchmen/

American Harmony Seeks Distribution

American Harmony, a documentary about barbershopping, had a very exciting and successful screening recently at the 2008 International Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. Now the producers want to take it beyond the barbershop devotees.

Their goal is to get the film into theaters across North America so that everyone will have the opportunity to see it on the big screen. They are asking everyone to go to their website
www.americanharmonythemovie.com and sign up for their mailing list (located on the "Contact" section of the website). This will be their best resource for proving to distributors that there is a strong demand for this movie.

If you're interested in barbershop, music, or just seeing this film, tell everyone you know to go to the website and join the mailing list.

Paramount Ditches Comic-Con

What's this? A major studio is avoiding the largest gathering of geeks in North America? According to director JJ Abrams, in an interview posted on SCI FI Wire, it appears to be true. Fanboys and girls at this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego will have to slake their thirst for geek film without Paramount.

Asked if he would sneak preview his upcoming Star Trek film at the convention, Abrams expressed disappointment that the studio had decided not to make an appearance.

"[T]hey're not going to take anything," Abrams said. "G.I. Joe's not going. Transformers 2's not going. ... I would have been psyched just to show some of the stuff that's about the people. Because it's not really about the visual effects. But with so little done ... And this was a big kind of strategic decision on [Paramount's] part. So I was disappointed."

In recent years, Comic-Con has become something of a cult phenomenon, attracting filmmakers and studios eager to show off their upcoming films to the built-in audience of comic book, science fiction and fantasy fans. The convention, to be held July 24-27, will include previews and panels on the films The Spirit, Watchmen, Twilight and The Day the Earth Stood Still and the TV series Fringe, Lost, Heroes and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Cowtown Ballroom Fundraiser

Producers of the documentary Cowtown Ballroom: Now That Was Special will be hosting a fundraiser this Friday, July 18th, at the Record Bar in Kansas City, Missouri. (1020 Westport Road -- Westport and Southwest Trafficway, by the covered wagon.) Admission is $10.

The festivities start at 6:30 p.m. with Howard Iceberg. Six bands, four auctions, plus a silent auction. And, for the first time ever, they are going to screen some clips from the movie. You can be one of the first to see it!

All money raised from the event will go to securing music rights for the documentary and making the film better. The complete schedule is on the website www.cowbr.com.

Film Review: Hellboy II

This has been a summer for comic book movies. Even though the Hellboy series owes its storyline to the Dark Horse comic of the same name, it might be unfair to call Hellboy II: The Golden Army a comic book movie. First and foremost, it's a fantasy – a dark fantasy where fairies have gnashing teeth and gods of the forest can destroy city blocks. With Hellboy II, director Guillermo del Toro gives us a fantasy that is newer, bigger and more beautiful than the first. But can he make us care about two-dimensional characters?

Read the full review of Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

Film Review: WALL•E

The magic of Disney/Pixar is never so grand as when it sees the world through the eyes of a child. Toys come to life in Toy Story. Monsters climb out of closets in Monster's, Inc. The innocence of childhood is the perfect inspiration for the computer animation of this studio. In the latest credit on the company's growing resume of sure-fire hits, the point of view shifts from the awe inspiring to the awe-inspired, a robot named WALL•E.

Read the full review of WALL•E.

Millar Wants to do Superman

Writer Mark Millar, who's comic book Wanted is currently on the big screen with James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie, told London's Daily Mail that he has hopes of doing a Superman film in the near future. From the interview:

But Mark's big dream is making a Superman movie.

He said: "Since I was a kid I've always wanted to reinvent Superman for the 21st century.

"I've been planning this my entire life. I've got my director and producer set up, and it'll be 2011. This is how far ahead you have to think.

"The Superman brand is toxic after that last movie lost $200 million, but in 2011 we're hoping to restart it.

"Sadly I can't say who the director is, but we may make it official by Christmas.

"But fingers crossed it could work out, that would be my lifetime's dream."

Millar also penned the DC Elseworlds saga Superman: Red Son. The three-issue mini series tells the story of a world where baby Kal-El's rocket from Krypton crashes in the Soviet Union instead of the American Heartland. Could this be the story Millar wants to bring to the big screen?

Missing Scenes Discovered From Fritz Lang's Metropolis

For 80 years, the original version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis has been considered lost. The German news magazine ZEITmagazin shows details from the missing scenes of the 1927 masterpiece for the first time in its Thursday edition, and reports exclusively on how the film was tracked down in the archive of the Museo del Cine (Cinema Museum) in Buenos Aires.

Through this new discovery, key scenes from the silent film become more intelligible, minor characters now have leading parts.

Rainer Rother, Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kinemathek Museum in Berlin and the series of "Retrospectives" at the Berlinale, examined the footage for ZEITmagazin and comes to the following conclusion: "Metropolis, Fritz Lang's most famous film, can be seen through new eyes."

For him the find represents a "sensational discovery."

Prof. Martin Koerber, the restorer of the most recent version of Metropolis, who also examined the footage, confirms like Rainer Rother the authenticity of the material. He adds: "No matter how bad the condition of the material may be, the original intention of the film, including all of its minor characters and subplots, is now once again tangible for the normal viewer. The rhythm of the film has been restored."

Enno Patalas, the film historian and former director of the Munich Film Museum, who has been working on the reconstruction of the film since the 1970s, and was responsible along with Martin Koerber for producing the 2001 version of Metropolis current until today, talks of the "most authentic material that we know" after viewing the scenes.

Helmut Possmann, director of the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation, the holder of the rights to Metropolis, said to ZEITmagazin: "The material believed to be lost leads to a new understanding of the Fritz Lang masterpiece." Following the discovery, the Murnau Foundation sees itself as "responsible, along with the archive in Buenos Aires and our partners for making the material available to the public."

Select screen images are available at: http://www.zeit.de/online/2008/27/bg-metropolis-en

When Animals Escape

I'm willing to bet $10 that this news story ends up as the basis for a new animated feature. I'm thinking Madagascar 3: Escape from the Circus!

Spielberg! Call me. We'll do lunch.

Moviegoer Mindset (or Statistical Mumbo Jumbo)

This week, Mindset Media (www.mindset-media.com) released a Mindset Profile(TM) of people who go to the movies regularly. The online ad network generated their statistics from a recent study conducted using Nielsen's Online panel.

The study defines people who go to the movies "regularly" as those who see three or more movies each month and plan what movie they are going to see in advance. The results of the study suggest that four Mindsets distinguished regular movie goers from the general population:

• 58 percent more likely to be an Assertiveness 5
• 99 percent more likely to be a Dynamism 5
• 38 percent more likely to be an Optimism 5
• 76 percent more likely to be a Creativity 5

The results are interesting, if dubious. In their press release, the company states:

"[I]f you see more than three movies a month, you are more likely to be highly optimistic, creative, or assertive."

It's the "or" that gets me. Pick any four personality traits and any group of people. I would be willing to bet that every person in that group falls into one of those categories. If I went to a football game, I'll bet I could find at good percentage of the people who were: alcoholic, greedy, driving a Ford, OR suffering from premature hair loss. So what?

I especially like the company's definition of Dynamism. From their press release:

"Dynamism 5's (highly dynamic people) thrive on being where the action is. They see and do more in a typical day than many would dream of doing in a week, or even a month. They believe the only place to be is in the thick of it; never on the sidelines."

I find it more than a little amusing that anyone would categorize moviegoers as wanting to be "where the action is." Movies are by their nature a passive form of entertainment. People who go out to movies are certainly more likely to be "dynamic" than people who stay home to watch DVDs, but I don't think the movie has anything to do with it. People who go to the mall are more dynamic than me.

Say what you want about moviegoers as a whole, I don't think it matters. We're all just people who (like every other group) are likely to have some things in common. I am reminded of those immortal words from John Hughes' The Breakfast Club:

"You see us as you want to see us. In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Does that answer your question?"