This week’s pick is from the forgotten pages of colonial history which deals with the Italian colonization of Libya before WWII. Anthony Quinn stars as famed guerrilla leader Omar Mukhtar in Moustapha Akkad’s Lion of the Desert (1981) which was shot on location in Libya and was actually funded by Muammar-al-Gaddafi’s government. Other actors include Rod Steiger as Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini, Oliver Reed as Governor Gen. Rodolfo Graziani, Raf Vallone (Col. Diodiece), and John Gielgud (Sharif El Gariani).

Lion of the Desert shows the audience the twenty year long war that had begun when Italy was trying to rebuild an empire across the shores of the Mediterranean ‘The Fourth Shore.’ Beginning in 1911, Italy poured men and materials into Libya in order to establish a colony in North Africa just as other European nations like the French in Algeria and the British in Egypt had. The local populations which was comprised of mostly desert tribesmen fought against the Italian invaders and conflict soon escalated.

Hoping that rebellion would be put down swiftly, the fighting in Libya proved disastrous for an army that was not prepared to fight a guerrilla war. When Mussolini and his Fascists came to power in 1922, the triumphant Caesar god proclaimed that Libya would belong to the Italians and that the glory of a new Roman Empire would be recognized in the world.

The film opens up with an old fashion news reel which shows the chaotic situations which were occurring in 1929. Rod Steiger (Mussolini) appoints a six Governor Gen. (Graziani) to Libya in hopes that his reputation for ruthless tactics will put an end to this costly war for the Italian nation. Once in a power of authority, Graziani implements plans for concentration camps, the killing of livestock, burning of crops, and other brutal tactics in order to break Mukhtar’s will and to cut off aid which was given to him by many Bedouin tribes across Libya.

Continue Reading →

The episode begins with Merle losing his marbles on the rooftop.  He’s incoherently recounting a nasty story one minute, and cackling like a madman the next. Seems the seriousness of  his situation has started to take a toll on his (questionable) psyche.

He nods off for a bit, and when he awakes, his plight has become exponentially more dire.  A wall of zombies are clawing at the rooftop exit, and there is precious little holding them back.  Merle has a quick come to Jesus moment as he begs for mercy and frantically tries to escape his confines.

I have a feeling that this is probably the first time that Merle has ever bothered to talk to God, here in the moments right before his impending death. He certainly hasn’t been acting very Christ-like up until now.

But wait, was he actually praying to his dead Pop?  I couldn’t really understand what he was saying, even after listening several times, but it sounded like he kept mentioning Poppy?

Back at base camp, Shane is buddying up to young Carl, acting all fatherly while Lori gives her son a haircut. Shane promises to take Carl frog hunting, and tries to persuade the boy that frog legs are a delicacy.  To the casual observer, they look like the perfect little family.

Continue Reading →

What ever happened to simple numeric suffixes to titles like Jaws 2 or Friday the 13th Part 4: The Dream Master? In the past decade, films have gotten more ridiculous with titles of sequels like Step Up 2 The Streets or Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Now, Darren Aronofsky’s sequel to 2009′s X-Men Origins: Wolverine is taking another route by going by the name The Wolverine.

In an interview with HitFix, Aronofsky explained that his film isn’t a traditional sequel.

The film that he’s directing is officially called “The Wolverine,” and there won’t be a number attached to it.  In our interview, he referred to the movie as a “one-off,” and he emphasized that the film isn’t a sequel in any conventional sense.

In 2009, Origins was said to be the beginning of a film series based around the backstories of specific characters. For a while, Fox was toying with the idea of doing an X-Men Origins: Magneto with Ian McKellan attached. That idea was more than likely put on the shelf due to a certain Hobbit.

We already know that Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is heading to Japan in the upcoming film, in which we expect to see run ins with the Yakuza-like gang The Hand and possibly even the classic villain Silver Samurai.

The Wolverine begins shooting in March for a possible release in the summer of 2012.

Today, Apple posted a mysterious message at its website teasing an event for tomorrow involving iTunes. The message also features a clock which, presumably, is counting down until the event happens.

What could this announcement be? Could it be that a certain band is going to finally have their music for sale in iTunes? Or, could it mean the beginning of cloud storage where Apple can finally use that big data center they’ve built?

Obviously, speculation among the Apple interested press has started in earnest. Our friends at TUAW (Where I’m also a contributor, btw) have put up an impressive list of possibilities. Fortunately, we only have to wait until 7AM Pacific tomorrow to actually find out what all the fuss is about.

Until then, let the speculation continue. What do you guys think Apple will announce?

Todd Philips’ Hangover 2 had better be the funniest movie in decades. In the midst of all the drama on the set between Galifiniakis, Gibson, and now Liam Neeson, this film is coming across as more dramatic than comedic.

About a month ago, it was announced that after putting his foot down, the film’s star Zach Galifiniakis won the battle to have Mel Gibson written out of the film. He was initially supposed to have a cameo in the film, much like the controversial Mike Tyson did in the first film. Zach wanted none of that, so Gibson had to go.

Later, he was replaced by the ubiquitous Liam Neeson, who filled Gibson’s shoes with his particular set of skills. Things seemed to quiet down, but now it looks like Giamatti is joining in all the fun with a cameo, according to Deadline.

It’s very difficult for this film to remain a secret, given it’s public shooting locations in Thailand. Some very spoiler-happy images have already gone up online, which may just ruin the film for you, so don’t click if you can’t handle it.

Hangover 2 is set to hit theaters May 26th, 2011.

It was  surprising to find out that Unstoppable was indeed stoppable at the box office over the weekend.  The movie did extraordinarily well with critics and audiences alike, so its modest (but solid) take of $23.5 Million was a bit of a head scratcher. The Denzel Washington/Chris Pine action thriller is the fifth collaboration between director Tony Scott and actor Denzel Washington.

Megamind was the big winner of the weekend once again, adding another $30 Million to its two week total for a cumulative take of $89.8 M.  It dropped about 35% from its opening weekend, which is typical.  Megamind and Unstoppable both had per screen averages of around $7,000, which were the best of the top five this weekend.

The road comedy Due Date came in at third place with $15 Million.  Despite taking a 52% tumble from last weekend, the film is poised to break even with its budget. It has made $59 Million in two weeks, and its budget was $65 Million.

Skyline wasn’t screened for critics, and it has received some of the most scathing reviews of the year, but it still was able to scrape up $11.6 Million, good enough to place in fourth.

Continue Reading →

We’ve seen photos. We’ve seen the corpse of Abin Surr. We’ve heard Ryan Reynolds utter the oath. But this past weekend, all that paled in comparison to the very first video footage of next year’s Green Lantern film hitting the web. It may be pretty short, but it’s only a taste of what we’ll be getting this Tuesday night, thanks to (the incredibly cocky) Entertainment Tonight.

The footage shows the film off as being pretty epic, with a nice blend of comedy mixed in, much like Marvel’s highly successful Iron Man franchise. It’s been speculated, and this proves, that DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. are looking to compete with that franchise with their own Robert Downey Jr. in Reynolds.

If you are hoping to skip out on any potentially spoilery images, you may want to go late to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 this Friday, because a full trailer for Green Lantern will be attached to that film.

In the meantime, catch the brief footage after the jump, and see the full report this Tuesday night on Entertainment Tonight.

Continue Reading →

Welcome to this week’s On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage this week. Let is know if we missed something interesting. Otherwise, on to the links!

• A comprehensive breakdown of what Republicans and Democrats watch has hit the web. Wait, democrats watch 30 Rock and Republicans watch Dancing With The Stars? Who Knew?!

• In case you missed it, and aren’t a big fan of sleep, here’s the Planters commercial starring Robert Downey Jr.

• Arnold Schwarzenegger in Phantom Menace? According to this list of bootleg DVD box art, that’s just the least amazing of the bunch.

• Love The Walking Dead? Then you’ll definitely love this new weekly recap show all about the show.

• Thanksgiving may be just around the corner, but it’s time to start picking out some great gifts, with a little help from the coolest gadget holiday gift guide we’ve seen yet.

• If you’re one of the few that weren’t blown away by Cameron’s Avatar, maybe you should try it drunk. Here’s an Avatar drinking game to help you get there.

• Why not some tunes for your weekly list fix? Here’s a list of 10 kick-ass cover songs. Sadly, Foo Fighter’s “Darling Nikki” didn’t make it on the list.

Continue Reading →

Have no fear fans of HBO’s vampire drama True Blood, the network won’t make you wait for a new season of the show without giving you something to occupy your time. In fact, HBO and our friends at IDW are going to be releasing a True Blood graphic novel to do just that.

The graphic novel, called True Blood, Vol.1: All Together Now, is a hard cover compilation of all six issues from the first comic book series. The graphic novel will feature a new cover and bonus content including sketches and a cover gallery.

In case you’re not familiar with the current comic, it debuted in July and was an instant hit, selling out the first two issues and going into multiple printings. With four issues released (and two more to go)…it has become the best selling title for IDW Publishing in their history. Nice.

The book will be released on February 8, 2011 and retail for $24.99. Be sure to check it out as its a great way to experience the comic without having to try and follow individual issues.

The amazing thing is that the further anyone distances themselves from The Gang, the more like an actual human being they appear. Dee seems to be, sort of, doing pretty well as a substitute drama teacher, despite her own glaring lack of talent, and Charlie, well, was born to be a janitor, and, with his eidetic memory, ingratiates himself to the students. He even takes a young Juggalo (leave it to Sunny to make an ICP reference—is this 1998?) under his wing to teach him…uh…whatever it is he has to teach.

And Dee is showing a surprising amount of commitment to her duties as teacher, even though there is a distinct lack of understanding the allowances granted to a substitute and, indeed, the art budget, neither of which permit a field trip to New York.

And the rest of The Gang (Frank, Mac, and Dennis) is discussing their fan film of Lethal Weapon 5, specifically whether going in blackface to portray Danny Glover is morally superior to playing him as a white guy. Frank stubbornly insists on blackface, noting that Laurence Olivier played Othello, and, you can guess where it goes from there.

Continue Reading →

While Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are off discovering aliens named Paul in the desert, and Edgar Wright allegedly helps the Marvel Universe get an Ant Man, fans of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead everywhere are pacing back and forth for the next time the three will do another film together. Well, you may not have to wait forever, just until the end of the world.

In a recent chat with io9, Wright explained that he’s taking some time off from the easy genre-spoofing and work on a really meaty project. One about the end of the world.

“You start to think that people assume you have a blindfold and a dart board, and oh, okay, kung fu, let’s do that. I think what I would like to do now is to make stories that appeal to me.”

“Maybe [the title is The World’s End]. I don’t know. I think so. We liked that idea. It had a sort of resonance in a different way. It might be that we continue with that idea, or it might be that we start all over again. […] We never said it was post-apocalyptic movie, though. To be honest, in a weird way, I regret saying anything at all because then people start speculating. It’s more we probably shouldn’t have said anything at all. I’ve found that I regret speaking too soon about stuff. Because you end up sounding like the boy who cried wolf.”

Pegg and Frost’s Paul can be seen in theaters on March 18th and Wright’s Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is currently available on Blu-Ray and DVD everywhere.

I’m somewhat at a loss to explain how good a film Unstoppable is. Once it starts, you think you know everything that’s going to happen—a train gets out of control, and two guys need to stop it. Along the way they’ll encounter some human obstacles and gain a few allies, and, oh yeah, the stakes have to be really high, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Denzel Washington is the old hand working for the railroad company who knows all the tricks that those fancy, rich-and-inexperienced college kids (Chris Pine), with their degrees in Physics, Metallurgy, and What-Have-You think they do. Rosario Dawson plays the station controller racing-against-time and being the mediator who’s trying to juggle both Washington, trying to stop the train, and the head of her company, who’s trying to minimize the casualties and maintain the bottom line.

The situation itself begins harmlessly enough: Ethan Suplee is a dim-witted railroad worker who’s switching trains at the station and leaves his cab to manually change a switch. He fails to catch up to the train, and the situation escalates from there due to a series of train mechanics I won’t even attempt to describe. But the point is things get out of hand, and soon a half-mile freight train filled with combustibles and toxic gas is barreling at 70 miles per hour down the tracks and hell-bent on taking out a nearby city.

Continue Reading →