There wasn’t much going on this Saturday, so I figured I might as well take the Brown Line up to the Western stop, then catch the 1:10 viewing at the Davis Theatre. I wasn’t much in the mood to head downtown to one of the AMCs, so I decided to venture uptown.

The Davis is one of those theaters that looks like it’s been around for years. It has the old-style theater sign with the letters descending in vertical order. I’d been there once before to see The King’s Speech with a friend who lives around the area, but I didn’t remember the distinct smell of urine that pervaded everywhere, from the box-office to the screening room itself.

Continue Reading →

There’s no denying that zombies are hot right now. Of course, with that kind of burning press, you’d expect to see the undead walk in just about every form of mass media. But would you expect to see an entire film about zombies as a 3D animated film?

That’s what Focus Features and Laika is hoping for, as the team that brought us Coraline is getting back together for their newest film, ParaNorman. Here’s the breakdown from a Focus press release.

Currently in production, ParaNorman is being directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler, from Mr. Butler’s original screenplay. Mr. Fell was director of The Tale of Despereaux and Flushed Away. Mr. Butler was storyboard supervisor on Coraline and storyboard artist on Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride. The voice cast includes Academy Award nominee Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), Tempestt Bledsoe (The Cosby Show), Jeff Garlin (Toy Story 3), John Goodman (Monsters, Inc.), Bernard Hill (Titanic), Academy Award nominee Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), Leslie Mann (Rio), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (How to Train Your Dragon), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In), and Tony and Emmy Award winner Elaine Stritch (30 Rock).

If that star-studded voice cast isn’t enough to whet your appetite, what if we told you it was about a young boy who could speak with the dead? Here’s the synopsis.

Continue Reading →

While it may not seem like it, MTV still appeals to kids. Though they aren’t the same cut of “kid” that was watching Twisted Sister music videos (or music videos in general), they’re still the #1 demographic for the network.

With that in mind, it was no surprise that Twilight: New Moon took home nearly half of the awards from last night’s MTV Movie Awards. A few other upsets included Ken Jeong winning for Best WTF Moment, and international superstar Rain being crowned Best Badass.

Aziz Ansari managed to hold together the night, bringing the same amount of energy and seniority that Andy Samburg brought to the awards show last year. A few fun surprises like Sandra Bullock and a drunk Peter Facinelli were entertaining. The newest go-to gag of Betty White and yesterday’s go-to gag Will Ferrell delivered, as usual.

Biggest surprise of the night has to go to Tom Cruise reprising his Les Grossman role from 2008′s Tropic Thunder. 2008! That would be two years ago. Long enough for it not to be relevant, but not far away enough for it to be retro. That would be like Owen Wilson doing a bit as Marmaduke 3 years from now. Not entirely necessary.

Check out the full list of broadcast winners from last night’s show, and be sure to catch the worthwhile clips of last night’s ceremony all over the web.

Continue Reading →

The whole geek world is still wiping the drool from their collective chins over the first trailer for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World last week. But don’t worry, there is still quite some time for us to be excited, as Universal is bringing us more and more Scott Pilgrim in the months leading up to the film’s August release.

We were lucky enough to get our hands on a few great new images from the film, showing off some intense action sequences, and most importantly, Michael Cera emoting for what could be the first time in his film career.

Check out all of the glorious images after the jump, and be sure to catch Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, starring Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Brandon Routh, and Jason Schwartzman in theaters on August 13th.

Continue Reading →

This week sees the release of a few Academy Award nominees and winners, some new tv shows and some movies coming to Blu-ray for the first time. Among the ones we’re most interested in this week are Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire, The Boondock Saints II, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, The Commish and Up in the Air (with George Clooney and Anna Kendrick, pictured above.)

Check them out:

Movies

Capitalism: A Love Story (Blu-ray and DVD)

Edgar Allan Poe’s The Pit And The Pendulum ~ Lorielle New, Stephen Hansen, Bart Voitila (Blu-ray and DVD)

Falling for Grace ~ Gale Harold, Fay Ann Lee, Billy Asher (Blu-ray and DVD)

Hachi: A Dog’s Tale ~ Richard Gere, Joan Allen, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Blu-ray and DVD)

Nine Dead ~ Melissa Joan Hart, John Terry, Lawrence Turner (Blu-ray and DVD)

Old Dogs ~ John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Robin Williams, Seth Green (Blu-ray and DVD)

Continue Reading →

In the utterly enjoyable Up in the Air, George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a corporate down-sizer.  Like a gun for hire, Ryan is kept on retainer to deliver pink slips instead of bullets; though some might argue there is little difference. Ryan has no personal relationships, rarely sleeps in the same city two days in a row, can fit everything important to him into a carry-on and he could not be happier.

Midway through the movie, Ryan explains that he is on the road traveling over 322 days of the year. That may sound awful to most of us, but to him “that means 43 miserable days at home.” That statement is perfectly indicative of how Ryan sees the world.

He doesn’t like attachments of any sort, human or material. He has a better relationship with the airline ticket agent than his own sisters, and prefers the tidiness and order he finds in all the rituals of traveling to anything authentic. He has the perfect job that by nature requires a skilled detachment.

Continue Reading →