Jolie Walks from Wanted 2

She will definitely be missed.

The Movie Blog is reporting that Angeline Jolie has walked from Wanted 2.  Apparently, Jolie was in talks to star in another film called Gravity, but Universal decided to pass on it, and so, Alfonso Cuaron, the film’s director, took Gravity to Warner Bros. who will develop the film with Legendary.  And thus Jolie walked.

Ever since the announcement that there would be a Wanted sequel and that Angelina Jolie would be returning to the film project.  Many people have wondered just how that would happen.  ****Spoiler:  (skip to the next paragraph if you still haven’t seen Wanted).  As Angelina Jolie’s character ‘Fox’ shot herself in the head at the end of the last film killing herself, at lest we think she killed herself.  But, there is now some speculation that Wanted 2 was going to be a prequel to the first film, which would have allowed Jolie and anyone else that wanted to, the opportunity to return for the sequel.

But with Jolie walking from Wanted, Universal has opted to cancel the film. (frown)   Which is kind of sad given how good the first film was. But then again, this could be a good thing. I really believe they should have been doing a real sequel to Wanted and not a prequel as some have speculated.  Find a new bad guy and have James McAvoy return to his role as Wesley Gibson, in order to take out this new bad guy. 

I would really like a sequel.  What do you think? Do you want a sequel to Wanted?

Shaw My New Best friend

Well, only if they give me Internet.

Last week, I put up a post discussing Google’s plans to provide 1 Gbps Internet to up to 500,000 homes for a test run in the US.  Well, it appears that a Canadian company has the same idea.

Ars Technica is reporting that Shaw is planning to roll out their own 1000 Mbps testbed up here in Canada.  Which is amazingly cool for for us Canadians.  But, the unfortunate thing about Shaw being the provided of this new 1 Gbps network is that Shaw currently doesn’t offer High Speed internet in my area, so I doubt I’ll be seeing a 1 Gbps connection any time soon. But if your luck enough to have Shaw in your community, you may be in luck. 

Shaw many not be a house hold name for many people that read this blog, so I'll tell you a little about them.  Shaw is one of the large telecommunication companies up here in Canada, which offers Telephone, Internet and TV services to many communities across Canada.  Shaw also owns several TV stations and must recently reached an agreement to buy CanWest.  But what makes this interesting is that by Shaw, a major high speed internet provider, stepping into the 1 Gbps space, I have to believe that the other high speed internet companies will feel pressured to follow suit.  The same way Google's announcement will put pressure on ISP's in the US to increase their speeds.

With the debate over net neutrality still hotly debated, I have to wonder if this new high speed internet race will lead to the end of this debate.  The chief argument that ISPs have used to argue against net neutrality is that they have to packet shape in order to allow us all to have Internet. Basically, the ISPs don't have the infrastructure to handle all of our Internet usage and so they need to curb certain types of traffic in order for all of us to be able to have Internet access.  But, as our Internet gets faster ISPs will be forced to upgrade their networks' to handle the new load, thus making their argument less relevant.  Which might be what Google was hoping for.

In any case, because of the efforts of Google and Shaw we can look forward to a faster Internet sometime in the future. And I really think these guys need to be applauded for it.

So what are your thoughts?  What would you do with a 1 Gbps Internet connection?

New A Nightmare on Elm Street Trailer

This looks awesome.  I have to admit I’m surprised.

Ever since it was announced that they would be rebooting the ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ Franchise I was a bit sceptical of just what we would be looking forward to. And as it was announced that Michael Bay would be producing this project my scepticism increased.  Not that Michael Bay was a bad producer.  I liked his Bad Boys franchise, etc.  Its just what he did with Transformers that got me a little concerned.

Well, and then they announced that Robert Englund wouldn’t be returning to play Freddie and I was a bit more concerned by that, since Robert Englund was amazing in the role as Freddie.  But I did understand them changing actors, given that this was a reboot and Robert Englund is now much older than when he was first playing Freddie. 

I guess that is were there really started to be a ray of hope for the ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ franchise, as they decided to cast Jackie Earle Haley, who was absolutely amazing as Rorschach in the Watchmen.  If Watchmen had more Rorshach it would have been a better film.  Well at lest that’s my opinion.

In any case, with Jackie Earle Haley as Freddie and trailers like the one above, I can’t help but feel very optimistic about this reboot.  Unlike the ‘Friday the 13th’ reboot which was done by Rob Zombie.  And lest face it, Michael Bay isn’t that horrible when it comes to films.  He probably has a lot of pressure from Hasbro to make a film that would help them sell toys and so his level of control on the Transformers project is probably quite limited. 

I hope ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ plays out as well as this trailer.  If it does we might be in for a treat when this film releases.  So what do you think?  Are you looking forward to ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’?

Via

Theatres Pass On Alice

A week ago, I put up a post discussion how many theatres were considering or threating to not carry Disney's Alice in Wonderland due to Disney's decision to short the theatrical run of the film.  Well it appears that the threats have turned to action.

The BBC is reporting that Odeon will not be carrying Alice in Wonderland in some of its theatres.  Odeon & UCI Group is currently the largest theatre chain in Britian and operates in several other countries.  Odeon's decision to not carry Alice in Wonderland will effect their theatres in the UK, The Irish Republic and Italy, where Disney has decided to shorten the theatrical run.  Odeon has stated that their decision not to carry 'Alice in Wonderland' was due to the fact that Disney's decision would work to undermine smaller theatre chains, as well as, undermine all the money the Odeon has invested to make their theatres 3D capable.

Disney however has argued that the reason for the shortened theatrical release period, is to help them combat piracy.  Apparently, Disney feels that by shortening the theatrical run of a film and then rushing out the DVD or Blu Ray of the film (in this case Alice in Wonderland), they can curb privacy. The basic logic behind this idea is that, theatres normally have a 17 week (in the UK) exclusivity agreement in which they are allowed to show a film and the distributor of the film is not allowed to release the DVD or Blu Ray of the film during that period.  But theatres always had the right to end their run of a particular film earlier than the 17 weeks, thus leaving no legitimate way for anyone to see the film during that period.  Thus by shorting the exclusivity agreement they are able to get the Blu-rays and DVDs out faster thus giving people a way to see the film and hopefully curbing piracy.

Although I can see Disney's basic logic in deciding to shorten the theatrical run of 'Alice in Wonderland' to help stop piracy,  I kind of doubt it will work.  Certainly, if someone wants to see the film and they have no legitimate way of doing so, I have to agree some people will be downloading it, rather than waiting for the DVD to rent it.  But I have to think that its not a large number of people that fit into that boat,  and so to shorten the theatrical release, which they know would effect the theatres, is kind of wrong. 

Lets face it Disney knows that a big movie like Alice in Wonderland will have a pretty good run at the theatres.  I can't say that Alice in Wonderland would make it in many theatres for 17 weeks, give the release of 'How to Train Your Dragon' in IMAX 3D  which releases on March 26th and Clash of the Titans, which will supposedly be converted to 3D for its April 2nd release date.   So Disney does have some legitimate concerns in terms of how long Alice in Wonderland will make it in theatres, but I still think they need to give the theatres their time.   Given that most theatres make their money not off the film but off the concession I have to side with the theatres here.  If Disney wants to shorten the theatrical run of a film, I think they really should make a deal with the theatres in order for it to be worth while for the theatres to want to go along with them.

Then again, that is probably what Odeon is hoping for.  Some kind of concession from the Disney.

Normally, for the release of a feature film, theatres are forced into a deal whereby the distributer will take up to 60-70% of the revenue generated from ticket sales (sometimes more) for the first 3 weeks of a films release.  Following the 3 week period, theatres get a bigger cut of the ticket revenue, but its usually within the first 3 weeks that a film will see the majority of its customers, thus limiting a theatres profitability from box office sales.  So if a theatre manages to keep a film longer it profits the theatre.  If Disney wants to shorten Alice in Wonderlands  run they will most likely have to give a larger portion of the box office revenue to the theatres.

In terms of other theatres  that may take a stand against Disney,  there are reports that AMC may be dropping Alice in Wonderland as well.   With 2 weeks to go for the release of Alice in Wonderland, AMC still hasn't made an agreement to screen it.  AMC not showing Alice in Wonderland would be a major blow to Disney since AMC is the second largest theatre chain in North America and has an estimated 4612 screens worldwide. 

In any case, I hope that this all gets worked out.  I would hate to see a film like Alice in Wonderland marred by something like this.  Disney just give the theatres their time.  Piracy will always be with us.

Die Hard 5 Coming

Yippie-Kay-Yay-m@#$@#ker.

AMC's Script to Screen blog is reporting that Bruce Willis in an interview has confirmed that Die Hard 5 is coming.  Bruce Willis in a recent interview stated that Die Hard 5 is may begin shooting sometime next year.  Also, Bruce stated that he would like for Len Wiseman, the director of Die Hard 4, to return to direct Die Hard 5 and he would also like to see a Worldwide disaster to take place instead of the local disaster that are the norm for Die Hard films.

No one can deny that Die Hard is one of the biggest action movie franchises to exist in our lifetime.  But the question that John at the Script to Screen blog poses, is should the Die Hard franchise continue?  I think so.  Let me explain.

Although its kind of weird for us to really be seeing sequels for a film series that started over 20 years ago,  I think Die Hard still has some strength left.  Two years ago, when 'Live Free or Die Hard' (Die Hard 4) released many of use asked the question of whether or not they should be making a sequel to a film that hadn't has a new film in the franchise since 1997.  But following on the heels of a very amazing sequel to the Rocky series in Rocky Balboa, many of us held out hope that Die Hard 4 would be a great sequel as well.  And, anyone that grow up watching the Die Hard franchise were very interested in seeing this film, whether it was good or bad.

But when it was announced that Die Hard 4 would be PG-13, it began to place doubts in the mind of many people about what kind of film we would be seeing.   The Die Hard series was know for being R rated and for good reason.  But now with Die Hard 4 having a PG-13 rating,  even the famous tag line that Detective McClane would use in every film was off limits given the PG-13 rating. 

As Die hard 4 released to theatres many of us were relieved to see that Die Hard 4 felt like a R rated film and even McClane's famous tag line was in the film, albeit it was carefully censored.  And the film was pretty good to, although I must say that it did have its weaknesses.  The villian wasn't the strong point of the film, as he was the worst villain of the franchise.  And the story wasn't the greatest of the franchises either.  But, Bruce Willis was good as John McClane and the other characters gave pretty good performance.  That's why I think this franchise still has legs, since Die Hard always has a different villian and story in each film.  What doesn't change is John McClane.  And if Bruce Willis can still be John McClane and do him well, I think that their is still hope for this franchise.  Die Hard is about John McClane trying to stop bad guys.  You can change the cast and the situation, just as long as you have John McClane.  If Bruce couldn't do it I think that it would be time to stop.

Then again,  I must say that I think Bruce Willis should probably consider passing on the a Die Hard 6.  Bruce is getting older and thus he can't play John McClane forever.  So he should try to finish off Die Hard on a high note and retire from the franchise.  As for who should take over or when a new Die Hard should come after Bruce Willis leaves, I'm not sure I can really answer that.  I definitely feel that  if Bruce Willis leaves, Die Hard should rest for at lest a few years, the longer the better.  Who will take over is anyones guess?  John McClane is very heavily tied to Bruce Willis and so it would be very hard to replace him. 

In any case, I wonder what they will call Die Hard 5?  Live Freer or Die Harder.  No that doesn't sound good.  I just hope they do something better with their naming scheme and get back to simply calling it Die Hard.  So what are your thoughts?

Wolfman a Twilight Ripoff?

Well its seems one person thinks so.

I don't know if this is a reflection of the absence of werewolves from the main stream or just the type of crowd that Twilight mainly attracts, but it seems that at lest one person thinks 'The Wolfman' is a rip off of Twilight.  That's right.  You aren't reading that wrong.  Someone out there thinks werewolves started with Twilight.

Twilight is by all rights is a huge phenomina, especially among the female audience which made up about 80% of the film going audience.   The tale of a vampire that falls in love with a human has made hundreds of millions at the box office and sold millions of books world wide.  Its no wonder that for many female readers, especially the much younger female audience,  their exposer to werewolves has probably been limited to just that of the Twilight saga.   Anyone that has seen last years film, knows that Jacob (Taylor Lautner) becomes a werewolf and a rival to Edward for Bella's love.  Combined with some hard abs many in the female audience have been very interested in werewolves lately.  But it appears that love don't make it to The Wolfman that released a couple of weeks ago.

The Latino Review has published an e-mail that it received from a fan that seems to be quite upset with Universal for "ripping" off Twilight's wolf pack.  Ya you read that right.  Even though the original 'The Wolfman' release back in 1941 and the Twilight series didn't hit the scene until 2005 Universal has clearly ripped off Twilight.  Its obvious isn't it.  In fact Stephanie Meyer the author of Twilight must have done some time traveling since she was only born in 1973,  a full 32 years after the release of 'The Wolfman'.  I wonder how she did it.

But in any case, I'll lay off of this poor girl.  She clearly got ahead of herself and wrote something that she probably greatly regrets right now,  especially since her e-mail is now posted on the Latino Review for all to see and call her funny names in the comments. I sincerely hope someone told her the truth of where werewolves came from.

My Friends Survivor Audition Video

I just thought I'd put another plug in for my friend Timmy over on the Inside Timmy's Mind blog.  Some of you may remember me plugging his "Dare to Dream" campaign sometime ago.  Well, he is still dreaming and one of his dreams is to make it on to Survivor. 

I think it would be pretty big if he made on the show. He is probably the only one I know that has watch every season of the show and I think his humor would be a great addition to the show.  Lets all hope he wins. 

And well, if he doesn't at lest you get to watch his video.  Enjoy!

Best Tech Guy Call

This supports my earlier point. We really need to get the message out for people to use better security online.

Beware of Chuck Norris

Have you ever known someone that would take a joke just a bit too far.  Well, I think its time that you add one more person to that list.

For years now, people have been telling Chuck Norris jokes about all sorts of things that Chuck Norris can or can not do  There has even been a book released of Chuck Norris jokes.   But for the rest of us who know better,  we know that the reason we still live is because Chuck Norris allows it.  And its with that fear  a bot net developer has decided to create probably the most feared bot of all.

PC World is reporting that an Italian bot net developer has created an unusual botnet that works to infect routers and modems.  This new botnet has been named the Chuck Norris botnet, which gets its name from a line in the bots source code which states "in nome di Chuck Norris,"  which means, in the name of Chuck Norris.  This new nasty virus, once it infects your router directs users to sites which attempt to install a virus on to your computer.

By the way, for those that don't know, a botnet is simply a group of computers that have been infected by some kind of virus or spyware, which allows the creator or owner of the bot net to control these infected computers to perform various tasks.  Usually these bot nets are used to send out spam, infect other computers and used in attacks on websites or servers. Also, these bot nets are controlled through an IRC channel, but they can also be controlled through other means, such as, twitter or other public sites.

That being said, you can stop it from infecting your machine.  The Chuck Norris botnet relies on people keeping the default password or creating bad passwords in order to gain access to users routers or modems. For those reading this post, it probably doesn't come as a huge surprise that you can protect yourself simply by changing your password.  But its just unfortunate that router manufactors don't take more time to make sure that out of the gate routers are not all using the same password, and to encourage users to change their password.

Currently when someone installs a new router its made to work pretty well out of the box.  So that our mothers and grand parents can use a router and the manufacturer can save on support calls.  It would be nice if manufactors felt some incentive to create better security for their devices and did something to encourage users to use better security.

Also, it would be nice if the laws allowed people to inform their neighbours that they are running an insecure network.  I know of someone in my neighbourhood that has the network name "Linksys",  aka, they haven't changed their router settings.  I know that if I was to connect to their network I would probably be violating some kind of law, and thus I haven't informed them.  It would be cool if I could inform them without fear of prosecution.  But I guess I'll just have to hope nothing bad happens to him.

Perhaps we should all hope that things change in the future, since this botnet could easily be avoided.  Well then again, it is Chuck Norris.

Alice in Wonderland may be Banned

By the theatres.

Cinema Blend is reporting that theatres my opt not to carry Disney’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’, due to Disney’s decision to shorten Alice’s run.  It was reported a while ago that Disney was planning to shorten the theatrical run of “Alice in Wonderland” to less than 90 days in an effort to boost DVD and Blu-Ray sales of the film.   But, by shorting the theatrical run of Alice in Wonderland it would also hurt the theatres.

According to Cinema Blend’s post, apparently 80-85% of Netherland theatres are planning to black ball the Alice in Wonderland film, as well as, chains in England and Italy.  Its just unfortunate that theatres over here haven’t made the same kind of stand against Disney as they also stand to lose money on the film. 

I’ve always thought that the whole theatre industry was a bit screwed up.  When we go to the theatre (at lest in Canada as I’m not sure about the US), we pay over 10 for popcorn and a drink, all because theatres typically don’t make money on running a film.  And so, theatres have become more of a snack bar business that shows movies rather than a theatre industry.  That is why, theatres don’t necessarily feel motivated to upgrade their equipment right away and will only do so if there is competition or if they feel they can attract more people to their theatre.

That’s probably why attendance has fallen off at the theatre.  Sure profits are up, but that’s on higher ticket prices.  And certainly there are tons of new options for people to occupy their time, but I think its simply too expensive for people to bring their families to the theatre and they aren’t getting the same experience watching a film like there was in the past. 

I can remember it being an event to go to the movies.  Its not an event anymore.  And that’s kind of sad.

In any case. I think I should stop my ranting.  What do you think?  Do you agree with the theatres?  Or is Disney right?

Avatar Sequel Talk

AMC’s Script to Screen Blog is reporting that the Sequel to Avatar will possible take place outside of Pandora.  If it will or it won’t no one is really sure. What seems to be certain is that space will somehow factor into the sequel.  This has been gathered from a comment that James Cameron recently made during a red carpet interview.  James Stated,

"I can't say anything about the other moons and the Polyphemus system because that's top secret because they are going to appear in the sequel."

What that exactly means is anyone’s guess. This could mean that the sequel picks up right were the last film left off, were we see the ship leave the planet to humans returning to Pandora. Your guess is as good as mine.  But with over $2 billion and counting revenue at the box office, we know we will definitely be getting a sequel. No studio in its right mind would forgo a sequel, if a sequel is possible.

But enough from me,  what do you think?  Where would you like to see the Avatar sequel take place? In Space?  Or on Pandora?

Cameron Moves On

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

This is sad news.

Ever since Terminator Salvation opened to somewhat poor results, their has been calls for the death of the franchise.  Everyone from Joss Whedon to other entities online have said that the Terminator franchise has run its course.  Although, I disagree.  I actually liked Terminator Salvation, but I know I’m probably in a minority.

But there was hope out there for the Terminator Franchise.  Many of us thought that James Cameron, the series creator, would return to the franchise that he helped to create and bring it back to where it once was as a franchise.  But alas, it appears that those hopes are now dashed.

From an interview with MTV, (posted above), its clear that James has moved on.  And I don’t necessarily blame him.  He is now about 20 years removed from the Terminator Franchise and for him to return, it would probably feel like something of a step backwards for him.   Albeit he would be making some fans very happy if he did. 

I wish James well in his decision not to return, and I hope the next guy that gets handed the series does a great job with it. We need a good Terminator film.

VIA

Riddick Returns to the Basics

That's right.

The Movie Blog is reporting that not only is Vin Diesel confirmed to reprize his role as Riddick in the upcoming Riddick film,  the film franchise will be attempting to go back to what made the series good in the first place.  This move follows Vin Diesels successful return to the Fast and the Furious franchise, in which they also took a back to the basics approach to that franchise.  And it worked. 'Fast and Furious' made over $155 million on a budget of about $85 million, while the previous film 'Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift' only pulled in over $62 million at the box office.

I really like the idea that Vin Diesel is back playing the Riddick character.  He fit the role perfectly and I really can't think of anyone else that could play the role as good as he did.

Also, its good to know that the Riddick franchise will continue.  I'm a big fan of the previous two films and I was a bit worried when the last film didn't do that well at the box office.  I loved it, but it was clear that a lot of people just didn't. But with Vin Diesel's star rising again, and them going back to what initially got the franchise started I think this could be a winner.

But enough about me, what do you think?  Are you a fan of Vin Diesel?

Microsoft's Privacy Breach

You might want to check your e-mail.

Ars Technica is reporting that Microsoft is investigating a bug that caused mobile users to see other peoples inboxes.   Apparently, when mobile phone users went to log into there account, Hotmail (or Windows Live Mail as its called now) would instead show someone else's account to the mobile user.

According to Wikipedia, Windows Live Mail, which is a online based e-mail service, hosts over 270 million users (as of 2008), making it one of the most popular services of its kind on the Internet.  Which also makes this breach of privacy very troubling.  I and many other users on the planet could have had our e-mail exposed for anyone to see. Although I usually don't do anything to important through my e-mail, I do have some confirmation e-mails for other services that I have signed up for in the past.  I thought that it would be a relatively safe way to have my information stored in a second location.  But I guess I was wrong.

Other people may have more personal information store in their accounts. Everthing from pictures of their families to banking information to provocative pictures of their girlfriends could have been in some of these exposed accounts. I guess it goes to show you that you really need to be the person in charge of your security and privacy online.  We depend greatly on services to protect our privacy, but they aren't perfect and they do make mistakes.

I just hope that the problem wasn't to wide spread.  And, to anyone that read my e-mail, please be nice to my accounts.

Your Community Needs You

Many of you may remember that last week Google announced a test for 1 Gbps internet to 50,000 homes, possible even up to 500,000 homes in the US.   But one thing that wasn’t really heavily stated in some of these posts is the fact that you can help to get your community nominated for this new Google network.

If you go to google.com/appserve/fiberrfi (or click the link) you can nominate your community for this new internet service.  Just make sure that you get your nominations in before March 26th.

Now, I think that I should point out here that I am just a bit envious of you Americans.  We don’t have anything even close to that up here in Canada.  And with those 1Gbps speeds, I’m about ready to beg Google to move north. 

In any case, if you want to get this internet make sure you get your community nominated.  And could you put in a word for us Canadians while your at it.

Apple offers $10,000

But you need to buy something first.

Business Journal is reporting that Apple will be offering the person that downloads the 10 billionth app from their app store, a $10,000 dollar gift certificate to the iTunes store.  Which should happen should be downloaded by the end of the month. 

Its kind of cool to think that just a little while ago Apple wasn’t even going to have a app store.  When the iPhone first released Steve Jobs said that we don’t need apps and wanted companies to create web applications for the device.  Now just a few years later,  Apple is closing in on their 10 billionth download from their store.

In any case, anyone that wants to win this contest should keep in mind that Apple is restricting you to only 25 entries per day.  I guess Apple is concerned with people simply downloading to win the $10,000 gift certificate.  Which I kind of thought was the point of this contest anyway. 

Then again, I guess we really shouldn’t reward those that game the system.

Chris Pine as Captain America?

The Movie Blog is reporting that Chris Pine maybe play Captain America in the upcoming film.  Well that’s what the leading rumours are saying.

Apparently, the reasoning behind the rumours seems to be the fact that Chris Pine is a recognizable enough of an actor, but is probably still working for pretty cheap.  He is also Athletic, charismatic and has a relationship with Paramount.  

Certainly, the above reasons make Chris Pine ideal, but they hardly position him in the lead.  Now, if there was rumours that Paramount had approached Chris to play Captain America or that he was being considered for the role, it would be a different story,  but right now I have to wonder if he will be connected with the film at a later date.  Although I must say that its great to speculate.

Chris could be a great Captain America.  He is probably around the same age as Captain America, we know he can take a punch.  Chris also is about the same size as Captain America.  According to IMDB Chris Pine is 6’1” and according to Marvel Captain America is 6’2”.  So physically he can do it.  Add to that Chris’ acting ability and I have to think that Chris Pine is a winner for the Captain America role.

So, what do you think?  Is Chris a good chose for Captain America?

Bitten By Genuine Advantage

I hate DRM.  This week I got a lesson in why DRM is bad. 

As many of you know, last week I experienced some computer problems which lead to me subsequently not posting anything on Friday of week.   On Thursday, morning when I turned on my computer I received the dreaded 3 beeps error message coming from my computer.  Regardless of what I tried, the computer would not boot up and I was left with only one option.  To go out and replace my computers hardware, which included my CPU, Motherboard and memory.

After work on Friday, I spent the better part of my afternoon trying again in vain to get my computer running. So, I ran out to a nearby computer store and bought a new motherboard, CPU and Memory and spent the remainder of the evening watching the opening ceremonies for the Olympics and removing the old motherboard and installing my new one.

As I started up my computer and managed to install all my new drivers, I noticed a new pop up in my right side tray.  Due to the fact that I had replaced my motherboard, my Microsoft Vista operating system (which I had bought by the way), was telling me that my copy Vista was already in use by someone else and that I would have to buy a new product key or call Microsoft.  And if I didn't resolve the problem in 3 days, my operating system was going to deactivate. This really wasn't news to me as I had heard about this on the Windows Weekly podcast on the Twit Network, but yet it was still very disappointing.

On Sunday, I decided to make the call to Microsoft, as I didn't want my computer that I had worked so hard to get running to be shut down on me, especially since I had paid for everything myself.  So, I called tech support,  which was probably my first mistake.  I think that I should add hear that I really feel sorry for anyone that has a lot of tech support issues, Microsoft's menuing system is very, very terrible.  To get to speak to a person, was a very painful process. 

When I finally was able to speak to someone I was told that I need to speak to the activation department and that he couldn't help me over on tech support.  The Tech support person than offered to transfer me over to the activation department, but I guess he must have made a mistake and I ended up waiting on a line to nowhere.  Luckily the person I had spoken to had given me the number to the Activation department.

Now this is were it got really painful.  The number I called offered me a automated voice system that wanted me to speak into the phone in order for me to navigate the menu.  The only problem was that it seemed to not be perfect at recognizing what I was saying and it would cut me off when I was speaking.  Its probably the worst voice recognition system I've ever dealt with.  I found that I had to yell into the phone for it to recognize what I was saying, and it never offered an option for me to use dialing to select the menu options. 

When I finally got to speak to a person in the Activation department.  The person started to give me the wrong instructions.  The person was asking me to click on Windows Activation when it was actually another option that I was supposed to click on, and thus was about to transfer me to tech support stating that I had a technical issue with my Windows and that I should speak to them.  (The only Technical issue I had was Genuine Advantage.)  To this I had to put my foot down, and insist on the person helping me, as I really wasn't up for playing tag with different Microsoft departments.

As I explained what was on the screen, sure enough I was able to activate my Windows, with no need of going to the Tech Support guys. 

During this whole ordeal that I went through, I had this thought running through my head the entire time.  If I had simply just pirated my Windows Vista (or Windows 7), I would have had no problems.   So here I am a paying customer, trying to do the right thing and I feel like I'm getting punished.  I didn't do anything wrong.  But yet I receive a worse experience to those that have pirated the software.  And sure there are issues with updating your Windows software if you pirate.  But at lest I know I should be having some issues due to the fact that I never paid for the software.

So really the Pirates do come out ahead of us honest people.  If Microsoft or any other company wants to place their DRM on our machines they really need to understand that its the honest people that are continuely the victums of their DRM schemes.   As the bad guys know how to break the DRM,  so it doesn't affect them nor does it stop them.

I do sympathize with Microsoft and others that are trying to protect their software, but I can't sympathize with companies that abuse their customers.  These guys really need a wake up call.  And I hope it comes soon.

Through Kevin Smith From the Plane

Sorry I couldn't help the obvious movie reference in my title.

CBS is reporting that Kevin Smith was thrown off of a South Western Airlines flight from Oakland due to his weight.  That's right they throw a famous director from a plane because of his weight.  Apparently, they considered Kevin Smiths weight to be some kind of safety hazard and ask for him to leave the flight.

I think its really unreasonable what Southwestern did to Kevin Smith (assuming the allegations are true). I have to wonder if they thought that some how it wouldn't get out what happened.  Its one thing to throw off us normal citizens, but in the Internet age its pretty well impossible for news like this not to get out.



Last year, many of you may remember the above video from a group of musicians who witnessed United Airlines break their guitars while they took a flight with them.  In this case, the group were a bunch of average guys,  they weren't really famous or anything,  but they were still able to get there message out about the way they were treated by United.  But with Kevin Smith, who is high profile enough to speak directly to the media, its kind of interesting to see him to opt for a different approach.

Kevin Smith for the last day, has been bashing Southwest Airlines through Twitter.  For those that are interested you can follow all of the Southwest Airlines bashing on his twitter page at @ThatKevinSmith.
From his tweets, its pretty clear that Kevin isn't very happy with the way that he was treated and apparently isn't to happy with the fact that Southwest still hasn't called him to investigate what happened.  Mashable published an article which stated that Southwest had attempted to call Kevin Smith, but Kevin Smith has refuted that, as he wrote,

Hey @mashable: Just cause @SouthwestAir BLOGS they tried to call, doesn't make it true: http://bit.ly/b9O0GO 24hrs AND STILL NO PHONE CALL.

So its kind of becoming he said she said kind of an affair, but its still interesting to watch.  But seriously, I hope that there is a good explanation for what happened.  Being a slightly larger person myself, I find it disappointing that someone could be thrown off of a plane so randomly like that.  I just hope it doesn't happen to anyone else.

Valentine’s Day Rules the Box Office

Well I guess its no surprise here.

AMC’s Script to Screen Blog is reporting that Valentine’s Day is #1 at the box office this weekend with $52.4 million dollars.   Valentine’s day was followed by Percy Jackson with $31.1 million and The Wolfman with #30.6 million. 

I guess the lesson here is that romance bets horror on Valentine’s Day weekend.  Unlike with my friend who took his girl to see ‘The Wolfman’, which was a great film for anyone interested.

Also, I thought I should point out that this marks the second week in a row now that a chick flick has managed to snag the top spot at the box office.  You may remember that Dear John topped the box office last weekend.

Women are really becoming an important part of the box office this year.  Which will continue with high profile films like Sex in the City and Twilight Eclipse.  Its good to finally see women finally served as an audience since they do pay their fair share towards the box office.

I just hope us guys can avoid getting dragged in to some of those flicks ourselves.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Hey guys.

I just thought I would drop in and wish all of you a wonderful Valentines day and a wonderful holiday tomorrow.  For us Canadians (Well Albertans and Ontarians)  its Family day and for you guys in the States its Presidents day.  I hope all of you have a wonderful time.  Have fun guys.

Computer Problems

Hey guys.

I just wanted to come on and tell you guys that I'm having a bit of computer problems today.  So I'll probably not be putting up more posts today so that I can try and address the problem.  I woke up today to an error message of "Memory Cap Failure", so its looking like I may need to be buying some replacement parts for my computer.

In anycase, I hope to put up some posts for tommorrow.

Christopher Nolan Takes on Superman

Well not exactly.

AMC's Script to Screen blog is reporting that Christopher Nolan will be taking on a "Mentorship" role on the forthcoming Superman Reboot.  Christopher Nolan is most remembered for his very successful reboot of the Batman franchise and its sequel The Dark Knight which is rank #3 on the all time Domestic boxoffice and #5 overall Worldwide.  It is no wonder why DC would appoach Nolan with this offer.  The only problem is, what does being a mentor on a film project really mean?

Will Christopher Nolan be on set every day?  Just in the planning phase?  How much say does he have?  In any case, I really respect Christopher Nolan as a director and I think that having him on Superman  is going to be a  good thing for us fans. 

Another benefit with having Nolan on Superman is the fact that we will prehaps be able to have more a connection between the two franchises.  Maybe even a crossover.  (Well we can hope.)  In any case, I have to agree with John from AMC,  this could be a way to help DC build towards a Justice league film.   Kind of similar to the way that Marvel is building toward their Avengers film.

But you know, a Batman and Superman film would be pretty sweet too, if that's all that occurs.  I hope to see one.

Google Told to Get Bent by Publishers.

While the world has been watching Apple and Amazon's book arrangements it appears that Google has been working on their own. Gizmodo is reporting that Google has plans to sell e-books to anyone with a screen. Which is good since competition is usually a good thing. The only problem is, the Publishers don't quite see it that way.

Apparently the book Publishers, strengthened by their new deal with Apple (and soon to be Amazon), decided to tell Google to take a hike with their offer. Apparently, Google was offering the Publishers a deal that would give the Publishers 63 percent of the revenue, which is a bit lower than the 70 percent they get from Apple. Also, apparently Google's idea to make the store search able wasn't cool with the Publishers either, as well as, Google's idea to allow customers to cut and paste portions of a book, and allow printing of segments of books.

Unfortunately, the Publishers have not only been able to raise their prices, they have also managed to force Google to cave into their demands. Google will no longer have the bookstore search able and the cut and paste and printing of books is out. Which sucks since everyone knows that when you buy a print book you are free to share the book with others. To photocopy sections for personal use. So it kind of terrible that Publishers would want to try to prevent people from having the same ability with the electronic version of their books.  Certainly, I can understand their decision given the fears over piracy, but its a bit of a fool hearty idea that by simply applying some kind of DRM a company will be able to protect their work.  Its only a matter of time that someone will crack the copy protection and the books will be available online.

I think companies need to start working on ways to monetize their work in other ways.  God bless them in the pursuit of protecting their work.  I just know its a futile attempt and its their customers that will suffer before these Publishers finally figure out what they are going to do with their books.

Mr. and Mrs Jones?

What the?

This morning as I went around looking some stories for my blog I came across this post over on The Movie Blog. 

Apparently, instead of doing a sequel to Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Fox has made the decision to do a reboot of sorts of the franchise.  The new film will be called Mr. and Mrs. Jones.  (See how clever Fox is.) And will follow a very similar story to that of Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith was released back in 2005 and starred Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as Mr. & Mrs. Smith,  who were both hitmen from rival companies. What made the movie interesting was that neither Smith knew that the other one was a hitman for a rival company.  Which all played out on screen when they both found out.

What surprises me here is why they aren’t simply just doing a sequel.  Anyone that I know that has seen Mr. & Mrs. Smith thinks it was an awesome movie.(Myself included.)  So to reboot it, (or rework it as The Movie Blog calls it), seems to be a bit strange.  Why destroy a franchise if there is nothing wrong with it?

I have to agree with Rodney from the Movie blog on this one.  This  sounds like a direct to DVD film. 

Tracking Your MP:Theirs an App For That

Do you ever feel disgruntled with the way in which your government seems to work?  Did you ever want to know just what your elected representative is up to?  Well there's and App for that.

Yahoo News is reporting that Labour MP Derek Wyatt is the first elected official in the world to use a new iPhone app called MyMP.  MyMp is an app which allows constituents to keep tabs on their elected official and even allows individuals to contact their elected official directly from the app. 

The hope for the MPs using the App is that they will be able to be more accountable to their constituents and be able to engage with a new generation of voters that may not normally be engaged in politics.  But is this app good for society?  I think that its kind of cool for MPs to use this app, but I have to wonder if apps like MyMP will lead employers to want to use simular applications with their employees.  Imagine a company using an applications like MyMP to help them better manage their employees.

If this App works to increase the accountability of elected officials with their constituents, I think its great and its a wonderful app for people to have.  Lets just hope it stays there.

Is The Last Airbender Racist?

That’s the question that I’ve been wrestling with this past weekend.

It all started on Friday, when I put up the post  The Last Airbender’s Superbowl ad.  I thought that it was a simple event, thing  and then I received a comment. The commenter point out that apparently Paramount had used some unusual (racist) practises by favouring Caucasian actors for the lead roles.   This was all news to me and I took it with a great deal of scepticism.  After all, many people in society seem to like to throw around the race card.  Just last month many people were accusing Avatar of racism, which I couldn’t understand given the story is about a group of fictional blue aliens, but some people could clearly see it.
So was there really racist practises being employed during the casting of ‘The Last Airbender’s casting call? I knew I had to investigate it, since well, this argument came to my doorstep and I’m not ignorant enough to just turn someone away without giving a proper answer.

So, I decided to do some reading this weekend and to have some conversations with my friends to talk about this.  I started by heading over to Racebender.com, which was provided in the comments for my post.  On Racebender.com, there were a number of videos and articles talking about how Paramount when casting for ‘The Last Airbender’ decided to favour Caucasian actors for the main hero roles and yet wanted minorities to fill the villain roles.  This kind of seemed strange to me, since I was under the impression that Aang (the main character) was in fact Asian.  We never really get to see a lot of Aang from the trailers, but he did look somewhat Asian from the small clips that we did get to see of him, so much so, that I actually didn’t notice that the actor playing Aang was Caucasian.  This is was very disappointing, given the fact that Aang in Avatar: The Last Airbender is very clearly Asian. Their decision to go with a Caucasian actor didn't really make it or break it for me, in terms of whether or not I would see the film.  But I’m not sure about the next main point of contention.

The big allegation against The Last Airbender was that they favoured Caucasians to play the lead hero roles, but wanted minorities for the villain roles.  On Racebender.com, they had a number of posts which included pictures of the actual casting call and even a quote from Roger Ebert, as he answered a question in response to this casting call debacle.  I was initially sceptical of any of these accusations, as well as, the authenticity  of the quote from Roger Ebert.  So I did some searching online to try and find out.  And sure enough they were right.

Which was surprising to me?  I hadn’t heard anything about any kind of controversy surrounding ‘The Last Airbender’ before and I would like to think that if it was true it would at lest make the news somewhere, but nothing.  But, as I went looking for information on ‘The Last Airbenders’ casting call I found that there were a lot of complaints online about the casting chose Paramount made.  The biggest sites that I found reporting on this issue was Slashfilm, who found their casting choice curious, and Film School Rejects who would have preferred to see Asian Actors.

So the big question is, “Is Paramount racist?”  The truth is I don’t think I can label Paramount as racist, at lest not yet.  Let me explain.

Paramount is a profit driven company, and we really aren’t sure why they decided to go with Caucasian actors in the hero roles, as none of us were in the room when the decision was made.  Paramount’s decision could have been made for a number of reasons.  Maybe, as one of my friends put it,  Paramount knew no one was interested to see a Asian lead.  Society could not be ready to see Asian people in lead roles.  The other reason that could exist is that Paramount is made up of a bunch of racist people.   And there could be still yet other reasons that could be thought of, but lets concentrate on the two above.

Is society ready for Asian in lead roles?  I think to a certain extent we are.  People like to see Asians in the lead role of martial arts films, but I must confess that I’m not sure we’ll see an Asian in the lead of a romantic comedy anytime soon.  Unless its a foreign film.  The point that I keep coming back to (in my mind) is that Paramount is a company that wants to make money and so if they felt that Avatar would be well served by having a Asian lead we would probably see one.  But then again, The Last Airbender is an Asian culture film and so to not have an Asian lead is a bit strange to say the lest.

Is Paramount racist?  I can’t say that either.  Paramount is the same company that brought us probably the first minority actor in a role that would normally be played by a Caucasian actor when they casted Nicelle Nicols as Uhura in Star Trek.  So I’m not ready to give them the racist label just yet.


So what can we say then about this casting situation?  I think that we may have a bit of both problems here.  Maybe society isn’t that open to Asian actos in lead roles, and maybe Paramount is still victim to old thinking in terms of what they feel the audience will accept.  Paramount probably believed that they couldn’t make as much money selling an Asian actor in the lead role.  Plain and simple.  It doesn’t mean necessarily that they don’t want to cast Asian actors in lead roles, its just they don’t believe that they could and still make money.  Which is a bit disappointing since films usually work to push against the barriers in society and so for them to be conservative in this area is a big disappointment.  ( I never thought I would be complaining about anyone being conservative.)

So, what do we do?   I’m certain that some people are planning to boycott ‘The Last Airbender’.  But I won’t advocate that.  As I said, I can’t say that Paramount is really being racist here.  And lets face it,  it probably a little late for them to Re-film the movie with Asian actors.  Also, its to soon to reboot The Last Airbender Franchise.  So what do we do?  I think that the best course of action is to express your disappointment to Paramount.  Make it known to them that you feel disappointed that Paramount decided to not cast Asian Actors and hope that Paramount makes better choices  in the future.

Sorry if I’m being a bit of an activist here.  Its Monday I needed to get this off my chest. 

Alice in Wonderland Superbowl Ads

More Movies Videos at IGN.com

For some people its about the game, for some its about the half time show performance and for some still its about the new commercials.  Whatever your reason for tuning into this years Superbowl we can all say that its a real event to watch.  No wonder millions from around the world tune in each year.

It probably with these great number of eye balls that advertisers go all out trying to create the greatest ads they can possibly muster.  What’s interesting to me is the number of films that have decided to advertise at the Superbowl this year.  

Alice in Wonderland, is one of the most anticipated films this year and its no wonder with just over a month to go, they decided to run an ad during the Superbowl.  Although this new Alice in Wonderland doesn’t give us  anything new about the film, its still interesting to watch.

So enjoy! 

Avatar Finally Toppled

Yep its finally happened.

AMC’s Script to Screen blog is reporting that Avatar after 8 weeks has finally been toppled from the number one spot by an unlikely film.  According to AMC, ‘Dear John’ has managed to take the number one spot from Avatar with $32.4 million.  While Avatar still managed to walk away with a tidy $23.6 millions.

But the big story is the fact that it was the female portion of the audience that  played a major role this weekend at the box office.  Women made up more that 84% of the audience for ‘Dear John’, showing us again the strength of the female audience.  I wonder if this will lead to more romantic comedies.

Maybe we may one day see a female focused block buster film.   Well then again, maybe not to soon.

MacGruber May Get Sued

AMC's Script to Screen blog is reporting that MacGruber may be getting sued. Now, if your like me you probably never even heard of MacGruber.  Which I didn't before seeing the above trailer a few weeks ago.  So just what is MacGruber?  Well,  its actually a parody of the 80s TV series MacGyver. 

MacGyver, for those that don’t know, was a very popular TV show in the 80s that followed the exploits of secret agent Angus MacGyver.  What made MacGyver cool was the fact that Angus was always able to build inventions out of common everyday items that he would find lying around.  Its probably due to this coolness factor, that the MacGyver character was chosen to be parodied on SNL in the first place.  Its just unfortunately that not everyone is laughing.

Apparently, the creator of MacGyver (Lee David Zlotoff) is looking to sue the guys behind the MacGruber film. Whether this lawsuit will be successful is uncertain.  As pointed out in the Script to Screen post,  copyright law does allow parody, but normally only in short snippets.  The fact that MacGruber is a feature film, could force the studio to seek a settlement with the Zlotoff, especially if the suit isn’t immediately dismissed.

Its kind of disappointing to see studios pull the lawsuit card especially when everyone in their right mind knows that this is not a MacGyver film.  But I do understand a business minded individual wanting an easy paycheque. 

In any case, lets just hope this all gets cleared up before the release of MacGruber.

The Last Airbender Superbowl Ad

Can’t wait to see this.

I’ve been a fan of the Nickelodeons' Avatar: The Last Airbender ever since it first aired back in 2005.  Its just a bit disappointing that they couldn’t use the Avatar name given the other big film that was released by the same name.

But I guess I can settle for ‘The Last Airbender’.  My other piece of disappointment is the fact that M.Night Shyamalan is the director of the film.  Don’t get me wrong.  M. Night has directed some pretty good films, especially as we talk about ‘The Sixth Sense’.  But M. Nights been a bit of hit or miss lately. 

Add to that, the fact that they used a 10 year old boy to play Aang.  In the American Anime series it was ok to have Aang as a young boy, but in a film I think that it may look a bit stupid.  I would have preferred to see a teen Aang, rather than a 10 year old Aang. 

In any case, I can’t wait to see what they have done to Avatar: The Last Airbender, even if its just bad. 

So are you excited for ‘The Last Airbender’? 

**** By the way, I saw this posted over on AMC’s Script to Screen blog.  Click here to see their post.

Why the iPad is Bad for Consumers

The iPad which was announced earlier this months, hasn’t even released yet and we are now seeing ways in which the iPad may be bad for consumers.

Apple Insider is reporting that book publishers are getting ready to renegotiate their prices with Amazon.  Apparently, Apple has negotiated for a higher price on books than Amazon has, and so book publishers are now turning to Amazon and pushing them for a higher price on their books as well.

The first publisher to push for higher prices was Macmillan who last week entered into a stand off with Amazon over pricing.  Macmillan ended up forcing Amazon to temporarily suspend sales of all of Macmillan’s books, until Amazon caved and gave in to Macmillan’s demand for higher prices.   Its just unfortunate that Macmillan will not be the last publisher to do renegotiate.

Rupert Murdoch, Chairman of News Corp., during an earnings call mentioned that his publisher HarperCollins was also planning to renegotiate their books pricing with Amazon. 

Currently Amazon is selling books on the Kindle book store for $9.99, but its rumoured that Apple has negotiated for prices on new hardcover bestsellers of $12.99 and $14.99.

Its really disappointing to see Apple doing something that would negatively impact their consumers.  But then again, I guess Apple needed to in order to get into the book reader market.  I just wished that Apple would have pushed a little harder for lower prices.

Shutter Island Superbowl Ad

I saw this posted over on The Movie Blog and I can't wait to see this film.  All of the films that Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio have teamed up to make have just been good. And so I'm really just looking forward to this one.

The one thing that I'm wondering about Shutter Island, is if the island is really haunted or if Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) is crazy.  I have a feeling there could be a twist ending here.  Also, this is really a different kind of movie for Scorsese.  Scorsese is better know for his gangster films and Shutter Island is a thriller, which I don't think Scorsese has done to often.  So it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

In any case, are you looking forward to Shutter Island?  Do you like the trailers?

New Judge Dredd Coming

The Movie Blog is reporting that a Judge Dredd remake is in the works.  Judge Jedd, for those that don't know, was a film based off of a comic strip named 2000 AD and featured a futuristic world were judges work as police officers and are able to try, sentence and punish criminals on the spot. 

Those that saw Judge Dredd will remember that the 1995 film stared Sylvester Stalone as Judge Dredd, and was actually a very cheesy and kind of bad film, holding only a 15% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Well, it appears that the guys behind the Judge Dredd remake have learned a thing or two from the first Judge Dredd film and have wisely decided to bring in the comicbooks creator (John Wagner) to give approval on the film-making process..  I think this is a really good idea.  Who knows Judge Dredd better than his creator.  By bringing in the comic book's creator it insures that the spirit of the comic will hopefully get captured on film.

The fact that the creator of Judge Dredd  is involved really does give me some hopes for the project.  I think Judge Dredd was a pretty interesting concept that didn't really pan out the first time around.  I just hope they get it right this time.

HD-720 Ships

Now the HD-720 probably doesn’t mean much to most people.  I know that I hadn’t heard of it before seeing on Engadget today, so I’ll explain what it is. 

The HD-720 is a product that was developed by Spawn Labs and essentially allows you to stream your videogames from your video game console across the net.  (Like a Slingbox for video games.)  Which you can then play from a laptop or computer remotely.

This could be a great device for those that travel, but don’t want to carry around their video game consoles.  Also, now with the new iPad and iPhones being able to run applications, this could be very good for those that wish to game on the go.  Who needs a PSP when you can play your PS3 on your iPhone or iPad.  

I have to imagine that a device like this could hurt portable gaming consoles if it really takes off.  And at the price tag of $199.99 it could be a great device for anyone to pick up.

Beckinsale Tries for Smaller role

This is bad news.

I’ll make it no secret that I’m a huge fan of Kate Beckinsale, at lest as it comes to her reprising her role in Underworld.  It was unfortunate that she wasn’t in the last Underworld.

When it was announced that Kate would be coming back to the Underworld franchise it was rather exciting news.  Well until today. The Movie Blog is reporting that Kate Beckinsale, who has signed on to star in the next instalment in the Underworld franchise, wants to reduce her role in order to ”pass the torch” so to speak to another person.

It hasn’t been stated exactly why Kate wants to leave, so your speculation is as good as mine.  Perhaps she is worried about getting type casted.  Kate hasn’t had a role that has taken off as well as her Selene role in Underworld.  Or perhaps Kate wants to concentrate on more dramatic roles. In any case, I hate to see her go, I really loved her in Underworld, but I wish her well.

But this does beg the question, who should take over?  Who would you like to see in the lead role for Underworld?

Clash of the Titans International Trailer

More Clash of the Titans (2010) Videos

I can't wait to see this film.

For those that don't know, 'Clash of the Titans' is a remake of the 1981 film by the same name, and follows the story of Perseus's rebellion against the Gods of Olympus after the lose of his family to the vengeful God of the Underworld, Hades. 

All of the trailers that I have seen for Clash of the Titans have been impressive.  Although, I am a bit worried.  Not that I'm worried about the film being good per se.  Its just that recently there has been some talk about the possibility of Clash of the Titans being converted to 3D.  I'm all for 3D, when 3D was what the director envisioned doing from the beginning of the filmmaking process.  In this case 3D is just gettting tacked on in a hope of making more money.

Clash of the Titans 3D could be a good experience to watch, but not a very exceptional one, like that in Avatar.  The only good thing about this conversion to 3D will be the fact that we will be spared the cheesy 3D devices, like having objects placed into the screen. (At lest I hope.)
 
But then again,  in some ways it might be good now that I think of it.  Unlike many 3D films that enphasize the 3D aspects of the film, because Clash of the Titans was designed without 3D in mind, it could be used to bring further immersion.  My biggest gripe with 3D is with the way that it sometimes can work to take you out of a film.  Also, 3D sometimes gets over emphasized in movies, at the expense of other components like the story and plot, and so a film becomes about showing you just how visually stunning the film is.

I sincerely hope that Clash of the Titans lives up to its trailer. And doesn't become a technical showcase film.

So are you looking forward to Clash of the Titans?  Are you going to see it in 3D?

Nominations Announced

Well this is a bit awkward.  Last night I put up a post about what films I thought would be nominated for best picture thinking that the nominations were still a little ways off.  Well, I was wrong.  So if you read my earlier post just pretend that I wrote it much earlier.

With the awkwardness aside, now we can talk about the nominations. 

This morning, the Oscars nominations were announced and they were pretty spot on with what people were predicting would make the list of nominations, but with some surprises. 

District 9 making the best picture list is really quite a surprise for me.   I felt that District 9 was a great film, but not best picture worthy.  I would have put a film like Star Trek in ahead of District 9, but I guess its to each his own here.  We are dealing with peoples opinions here and there is no real science involved in finding out what picture really is the best overall.

My money, by the way, is still on The Hurt Locker for Best Picture and Kathryn Bigelow for Best Director.  In the Supporting category I’m going with Christoph Waltz and Mo’Nique in there respective categories.

As for the Best Actor/Actress category, I’m not quite ready to put anything down yet.  Many people are looking towards Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges to take the Oscar, but I’m not quite ready to commit to these two.  Sandra was great in ‘The Blind Side’ and Jeff Bridges unfortunately I didn’t get to see yet in ‘Crazy Heart’, and both won at The Golden Globes, which puts them in the lead to win the Oscar. But, they could be upset by Robert Downey Jr. and Meryl Streep who also won big at The Golden Globes.

In any case, we will all find out in just over a month who will win. 

So what are your picks for best film?  And which actor do you feel is walking away with an Oscar?

What Film will Get Nominated?

John over on the Script to Screen blog put up an interesting post listing the films that he believes would receive a nomination.  (See video above.)

With 10 nominations now possible for the Oscar this year, it will be interesting to see just what films will make it into the top 10.  That's probably why everyone seems to be coming up with their own list of films they believe will get an Oscar nod. The list that the guys at AMC have come up with is pretty interesting, as they include Inglorious Bastards, Star Trek and ‘The Hangover’ on their list.  Could these films possible get a nomination?

Well it appears that John might be on to something.  This morning, I was reading through The Toronto Star’s Entertainment section where I saw an article listing out what films and actors they felt would be receiving a nomination for this years Oscars.  Their list is pretty similar to AMC’s list and although they don’t have The Hangover, and Star Trek in there list, they are still listed as possibilities.

Certainly, I don’t feel that either of these films have a possibility of winning the Oscar.  Its just interesting to see more mainstream films making the best picture list.

For those that were wondering what my pick for best picture is.  My money is on ‘The Hurt Locker’.  I would very much like to see ‘Up’ win the Oscar, but I still doubt that the Academy is ready to vote for an animated film to be best picture.


So what film do you think is the best picture?  Could Star Trek or The Hang Over be contenders for the Oscar?

Avatar Passes $2 billion

This film just keeps on going.

After just over a month at the box office Avatar has achieved the impossible.  Screen Rant is reporting that Avatar has officially crossed the $2 billion mark.  Its actually crazy to believe that a film could pass $2 billion at the box office.   Most big bugdet films only make it past the $1 billion mark.  But Avatar just keeps on going.  

I guess that its not too surprising, given the premium charged on tickets for the IMAX and 3D showings of the film.  But its still very surprising.  And it does beg the question, ‘Who is still seeing Avatar?’  I’ve seen it twice and I kind of think that might be enough for me.  But at this point some people have probably seen it 3 or more times. That’s the only way I can see Avatar still staying #1 at the boxoffice.

So are you one of those people?  How many Times have you seen Avatar?