The Flickcast – Page 136 of 1030 – Stuff Nerds Love

Movie Review: ‘Jurassic Park 3D’

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It’s Jurassic Park.

I still have my toy T-Rex from 1993 — and it still roars! I know pretty much all of Jeff Goldblum’s lines by heart and am working my way through memorizing Wayne Knight’s. I, like many others, am still pissed that Muldoon gets treated the way he does.

Jurassic Park was the first “big” movie (well, outside of Tim Burton’s Batman) that I saw in theaters. I was too young for Return of the Jedi and Indiana Jones, and I remember being at summer camp, talking to my parents on the one phone in the whole place, outside the administration center, hearing my mom and dad describe how amazing it was. Those damn three weeks couldn’t be over soon enough for me to get to the theater.

So it’s a personal, nostalgic favorite.

Unless you’ve been living in a bathtub eating spaghetti for the last 20 years, you already know the plot: eccentric billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) has discovered a way to clone dinosaurs. There’s an accident, and his investors are concerned about the safety of the park, so Hammond invites paleontologists Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Satler (Laura Dern), as well as even-more eccentric chaotician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) for a weekend stay. They discuss the philosophy of creating such a place, some kids show up, the dinos get loose and so does all hell.

Now it’s been converted to 3D, and pretty damn well.

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Roger Ebert (1942-2013)

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The first time I met Roger was in the Lake Screening Room. I had just moved to Chicago and done a few reviews at the AMC East and on Michigan and the old Kerasote. This was a guy I’d been reading all my life, writing down notes about which “Great Movies” to see, which overlooked gems I should seek out (like The Late Show and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia), and even, occasionally, the odd book recommendation.

Anyway, I entered the small waiting room at Lake. No one else was there save for the projectionist, whose door was open and you could see him preparing the machine for the 12:15 show. I grabbed a quick sip from the drinking fountain and then took a few steps toward the men’s restroom. Just as I did, the door opened, and there emerged Roger. The guy I’d idolized for as long as I can remember, and he nodded to me, indicating that he was finished in there.

Another time, at the AMC East, we were screening Unstoppable to a packed house. Roger was sitting front row, on the aisle, as always, with his wife Chaz next to him. A handful of frat boys behind me realized whom he was and got excited, murmuring a flurry of questions and reassurances, “Is that Ebert?” “I think that’s Ebert.” “That’s gotta be him!” One of the braver ones got up from his seat, ambled down, and said, graciously to Roger, “Mr. Ebert, I’m a big fan of yours, and I just wanted to say thanks for your great reviews, and you’re really [inaudible].” Roger made a small motion with his hand that I couldn’t see. The frat boy came back to his seat and, giggled, said, “He gave me a thumbs up!”

Of course I didn’t really know Roger, not much outside of his writing anyway. I’d see him often, always sitting on the backmost aisle at the Lake room, glaring at you as you entered, but we didn’t talk much outside of some greetings. The most contact I had was when he rewteeted something from me, about Ernest Hemingway’s six-word story, “For sale: Baby shoes. Never used.” Roger misread what I had sent, saying that Hemingway felt it was the best thing he’d ever read instead of wrote. But no grudge held.

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RIP Roger Ebert

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One of the great film critics of our times has passed away. Roger Ebert died today of complications due to cancer. He was 70 years old.

For one of the best articles about the man, his talent and his legacy, read this one by Rick Kogan from The Chicago Tribune. For Ebert’s feelings on his own death, a piece he did for Salon in 2011 shows his attitude and his courage.

Rest in piece Roger. The balcony is, indeed, closed for good.

You will be missed.

Speaking of Trailers, Here’s the Latest One for Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The Great Gatsby’

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As with many things these days, this movie is either going to be the greatest thing ever, or an unmitigated disaster. I don’t believe there’s going to be any middle ground this time.

To what movie am I referring? Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. As a director, he’s been kinda hit or miss. However, he’s really stacked the deck this time with Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire and many other major players. Plus, the movie is chock full of contemporary music, much as Baz likes to do, which may appeal to many.

However, Gatsby is as much a movie about its times as it is a tale of forbidden love, jealousy, class struggles music and murder. So you have to wonder if the contempory music and 3D will hurt what Fitzgerald inteneded as his message in the novel.

Or maybe that doesn’t matter ’cause it sure does look pretty. Check out the new trailer after the break.

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Facebook Announces ‘Facebook Home’ for Android

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Oh Facebook, as if we didn’t already waste enough time on you, now you want to be an even larger part of our mobile lives? Oh boy. That’s right folks, Facebook today unveiled it’s new “Facebook Home” for Android smartphones designed to integrate with Android and become a larger part of your user experience.

The new software takes over several core functions of Android and replaces them with features that tie into various Facebook services. This, in effect, turns you smartphone into the much-touted “Facebook Phone.”

According to Facebook frontman Mark Zukerberg:

“You’re going to be able to transform your phone into a great social device.” Facebook Home makes it so that “phones are designed around people first,” rather than apps, as is the case with most modern smartphones. Instead of burying content that users want to see inside apps, Facebook Home makes it available at all times.

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‘Arrested Development’ Gets Official Premiere Data on Netflix, Adds to Number of Episodes

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Many TV series deserve to be canceled. Some don’t resonate with audiences or have unappealing characters or a ridiculous premise. Or, they just plain suck. Arrested Development is not one of those series.

Fortunately, even though it was initially canceled by Fox, the series has found a new lease on life at Netflix. And now, that lease is about to pay off for fans as Netflix has official announced the premiere date of Sunday, May 26th for all-new episodes of the show.

But wait, there’s more. Not only has the official premiere date been announced, Netflix has also decided to increase the number of episodes (which had started at 10 and was raised to 14 in January) to a new number: 15. All episodes of the new season will be available simultaneously on launch day, which is the same thing Netflix did with House of Cards.

“Arrested Development is now widely viewed as one of the top TV comedies of all time and Mitch Hurwitz is bringing it to Netflix in a brand new way, crafted for the on-demand generation that has come to discover the show in the years since it last appeared on TV,” said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer for Netflix. “The highly anticipated return of this show is sure to make history all over again.”

Said Hurwitz, “Ted said that? Wow. Well don’t print this obviously, but he’s going to be immensely disappointed”. He then added that “in truth we are doing something very ambitious that can only be done with Netflix as partners and on their platform. Finally my simple wish for the show is coming true: that it be broadcast every second around the clock to every television, computer or mobile device in existence.”

I sense an Arrested Development binge session coming soon. Can’t Wait.

Check This Out: A Whole Bunch of Previews for Tonight’s Premiere of ‘Hannibal’

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Even though it’s hard to imagine another actor besides Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter (although Brian Cox wasn’t so bad either), we’re going to be getting a new Hannibal anyway. This time, he’s on TV.

Who is this new evil mastermind? None other than one of our favorite, underappreciated actors: Mads Mikkelsen. With that in mind, and pretty much only that, we’ve decided to give NBC’s new series Hannibal a chance.

In case you’re not famiiar, the show follows the adventures of a younger Will Graham (played by William Petersen in Michael Mann’s Manhunter and Hugh Dancy in this version) as he works to solve serial murders for the FBI’s behavioral sciences unit. Of course, he can’t do it alone, so he enlists the help of famed psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter.

Obviously, things don’t go as planned. Which is, of course, to be expected. To get you interested in the show and ready for the premiere, we’ve got a ton of previews for it after the break. Check ’em out.

Hannibal premieres tonight at 10/9C on NBC.

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Disney Closes LucasArts

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Yesterday morning, the news broke the news that Disney would be shutting down LucasArts, which they got as a part of their acquisition of the Star Wars purchase last October for $4.05 Billion dollars. Back when the sale took place, LucasArts immediately put a freeze on all hiring and announcements.

There were also reports that both Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313 would be canceled with the closure of the studio. It is estimated that about 150 people would be affected by the layoffs.

Later in the day, gaming magazine Game Informer got the following statement from Disney regarding LucasArts:

“After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games.

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