You can find this on Madagascar and Bolt prints, or head over to Apple to watch in glorious Quicktime!

Up is Pixar’s latest, and their 10th feature length release, which means, you should already be in line!

Like all Pixar films, I am sure this will be great.

Just passing along more greatness, hopefully each character gets one of these.

117 days to go!

See you 03.06.09!

So a blockbuster teaming of the ages, Spielberg and Will Smith, on a remake of one of the best films of this decade, ‘Oldboy’, and it leaves some wondering, is this the right fit?   Well, I think it can be, but this thing needs to be a hard R, pull no punches, and be just as twisted as the original Korean film was.  

Variety breaks the story, Harry Knowles chimes in at aintitcool, and I agree with his sentiments, though I am a bit more hopeful then he is.   Spielberg can do grim and unsettling if he wants too, i.e. ‘Munich’ and ‘Schindler’s List’, Smith hasn’t really gone all the way to the dark side ever, though; though he has surely dabbled in dark material.   Either way, it’s a great star, a great director, and a great potential budget to take this amazing story and try to top it in any way it can, i.e. lets see an even more amazing hallway fight scene!

‘Oldboy’ follows a man who has been imprisoned for 15 years, only to be released and set with the mission to find his persecutor in 3 days; to seek out and claim revenge.

Go rent the original while you wait for The Bearded One’s version.

Only Four Months To Go!!!   This one focuses on the ladies of the movie!

Watchmen Exclusive: Girls Kick Ass

Rookies is the first episode in The Clone Wars to be almost exclusively focused on the clones without any Jedi help or support, and the results are very good.

The episode unfolds on a tracking station that protects the space route to Kamino, which is the birth place and factory of the clone army of the Republic.   The group of troopers manning the track station are fairly “green” and are bored with their post and want to be out on the fighting front; little do they know that it is about to come to them.   Commander Cody and Captain Rex, two of the main clone fighters in the Star Wars universe, on currently in route as well to inspect the station as well, since it needs to be in top form due to its great importance.

When a routine meteor shower falls on the planet, with it comes a surprise in a droid drop pods housing droid commando’s a cool and new droid fighter to the SW universe.   The droid commando’s overtake the base and claim a couple of the Clones lives before the remaining were able to escape through the ventilation systems.   With the base under their control, the droids can keep the all clear signal to the Republic fleet while Grievous and his fleet attempt to sneak through the system and attack the droid factories on Kamino.   Cody and Rex arrive shortly after the commandos have over taken the base and the fight to re-take the base begins.

The episode takes on plenty of action and kind of silly hi-jinks from here, but the biggest standout of the episode is the portrayal of death and battle among these men.   This is the first episode since the Clone Wars movie to really get back to the brutality of that piece.   There is no mercy with these clones being killed and with the added character interacting that we see and experience they aren’t just faceless sheep for the slaughter.   I am not saying I frown upon this though, as it brings stakes to the proceedings, and it brings some emotional gravitas to show and that is very good.

The animation in this episode also seemed to really stand out and had some fantastic work in it, and I just wanted to send snaps to everyone involved as this episode really stood out.

Overall, Rookies, is another solid entry into The Clone Wars and is further cementing this film as the real deal for some time to come.   This is a good first step for the Jedi less episodes as well, but I think we need to focus on a squad that gets lost in battle at some point to really hit the best story you can with the clones.   If they even killed off the entire squad, it would make a hell of episode, but for now, there is already plenty of death and loss for these clones.   Check this one out online, and I can’t wait to see what they do with an R2 centric episode tonight.

This is the third entry into the Evening with Kevin Smith entry, and while it is filled with some funny stories, I can’t help but say it feels a bit light compared to the rest of releases in this series.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of laughs to be had here, and some of them are pretty damn good, but there isn’t a variety and wealth of stories that have been in previous releases.   To be quite honest, there are about 4 major stories that take up most of the time on the discs with only a couple other stories sprinkled throughout.   Instead, they threw a lot of tidbits in the special features sections broken up by story and all of them are worthy of being included as the main piece.

As to give you a little taste of the stories, his Dogs get about a 1/4 of the proceedings, and there are plenty of fun antidotes, but those looking for celebrity dirt will be disappointed.   Though, you will get some graphic dog vaginal humor (and dog poop humor on the extra features).   The next big piece is Mewes’s experiences on the Clerks II set and is very funny throughout as are most Mewes stories, with another nice little companion piece in special features.   Next is Kevin’s Die Hard story, which is probably my favorite bit from the main feature, with some great Bruce Willis tidbits, (again see more in special features).   And he wraps it up with his Anal Fissure/Jury Duty ordeals.

All in all, with the special features, it is a great show and very funny, and with a little research, it seems nothing was really cut that much from the actual show, so what do I know.   Compared to previous releases there are definitely less stories this time around, but the quality is still extremely high and any Kevin Smith fan will want to most definitely add this to their View Askew collections, and I assume you already own it anyways.   Regardless, if you have never seen any of his shows in person or on DVD see just one, and you will be hooked for more in a heartbeat, just don’t skip over the special features!

Buy It Here!

‘Jersey Girl’, to many View Askew fans, is the red headed stepchild of Kevin Smith’s films, but not due to the content. Content wise, the material is far more tame, his only non-R rated film, but where this viewer thinks that the material is on par with the rest of his work, most View Askew fans hold this movie as a piece of shit, and Kevin Smith seems to embrace that idea himself, to a certain extent, by constantly poking fun at it ever since its release to much delight of his following. And to be quite honest, I don’t get it.

Well, that is a stretch, I do get it, people aren’t spouting the word fuck every other sentence and a lot of the Kevin Smith crowd sadly comes across as people who need that to enjoy a movie, which is fine, but we shouldn’t let that discrimination of a great product like ‘Jersey Girl’ sully what is actually a very affective and funny family comedy.

Ollie (Ben Affleck) is a PR rep in the early 90’s and is on the fast track for success. His wife Gertrude (Jenifer Lopez) and him are incredibly happy and are wondrously looking towards their future family with the expecting of their first child, Gertie (Raquel Castro) but Ollie’s world is shattered with this loss of his wife during child birth. Struggling to keep up with work and his child, Ollie turns to his dad Bart (George Carlin) to take care of most of the duties of the baby. Well, Bart puts the weight back on Ollie, telling him he needs to be her father, and unfortunate circumstances of having his baby at the Fresh Prince’s record release conference cause him to fall from grace in the PR world and forced to work public service, moving in with his father back in Jersey and out of NYC.

Ollie raises Gertie, being a loving father and forming an incredible bond with her, never dating since the loss of his wife, when Maya (Liv Tyler) enters his life and shakes things up for the first time in Gertie’s life.

Now, if you read this short synopsis of the film, you would never think it is a Kevin Smith film, but the film really is a Smith film at heart. Sure it surrounds a kid and her dad, but there are plenty of taboos and sexuality explored here. He has a couple stellar cameos, there are plenty of pop culture references, and there is a real heart to this film about the bond between two people that is a part of every Kevin Smith film ever released. If you think the stuff in this film is too sweet, you must have not grasped a lot of the filmmaker’s films in the past to their full effect. Whether it is the bond between friends or lovers, Smith is great at showing a real bond between to people that care about each other, and the sentiment he is able to bring to his films is really one of the most capturing things about his work. There are plenty of people that can create crude and funny jokes, but Smith’s ability to give it heart and build characters and connections that we care about is why we re-visit his films so much and not some of that other stuff that slowly fades out of focus. And this film holds true to that formula, Smith created a pretty edgy and boundary pushing family film here, with a great set of relationships and characters for us to connect to it.

Which brings me to the point I mentioned early, in that I can’t stand that this film is the butt of so many jokes. If this film was released today, it would be to much warmer and larger reception. It was released in a time when Ben Affleck was loathed by critics, and anything that he and J-Lo did together was painted a disaster before anyone saw a frame of the picture. ‘Gigli’ ruined this film before it had a chance to shine, and Smith was put in a very tough position. Pre-release and pre-Jo-Lo/Affleck backlash, Smith spoke profusely positive about this film. Said it was his most personal and proudest thing he has been a part of truly came across as it was his favorite film he had done to date. I even had the opportunity to ask him about his feelings on the film during an Evening With Kevin Smith session I attended, and he couldn’t have came across as more positive and sincere with his answer reflecting on the positive experience he took from making that film. After the fallout of Affleck and J-Lo in ‘Gigli’, Smith cut out a lot of their material, taking J-Lo’s part to a minimum and Smith’s original cut was long gone. He has since screened the original cut of the film to much praise, and many people prefer and enjoy this cut for sure. Personally, as some one who enjoys this film, I can’t wait till he releases it on DVD and see his true vision of this film that he and Affleck were both very vocally proud of before it became the butt of many jokes in the view askew world.

‘Jersey Girl’ is a great and different kind of family film that feels very real and avoids much of the sap, while giving us some great characters with amazing connections and relationships with one another that we can really get behind. So if you never gave this film a chance, I think you should reconsider, and if you still can only get off on dick and fart jokes, well ‘Zack and Miri’ has plenty of those for you. ‘Jersey Girl’ is full of laughs and heart and while Smith is one of the best at crude humor, as ‘Zack and Miri’ continues to show, he shows that he can be more than that with this film and remains a vastly underappreciated work from his catalog.

Zac:

Jonathan Demme’s latest is a wonderful look at the reunion and attempted mending of semi-dysfunctional family that harbors lots of hidden grief and angst, and is overbear one another with their coping of a tragedy.

Kym (Anne Hathaway) sits on a bench, awaiting her pick up from rehab, so she can go to the festivities leading up to and finally attend her sister Rachel’s (Rosemarie DeWitt) wedding at the family home. Before Kym leaves we find out she killed someone with her car, which is probably a reason for being in rehabilitation, when she is “rescued” by her father, Paul (Bill Irwin), who is happy to see his daughter, but is almost immediately overbearing her, trying to care of her a bit too much. They arrive to the house with Kym’s step-mom Carol warning her in the car that it might be a bit crazy and crowded around the house while things are being set up and arranged. Luckily, only Rachel and her friend Emma are staying at the house, where Kym hopes to be able to get away from judgmental eyes once everyone is gone.

First things first though, Rachel and Kym have a sweet reunion, incredibly happy to see one another, before Kym heads off to her 12 Steps meeting and is left to ride a bike after her father refuses to let her drive. At the meeting she storms in on a green shirted man telling his story and giving hope to those in the room to keep going strong through his personal struggle. Upon returning to the house, Kym meets Rachel’s fiancà © Sidney and his Best Man, Kieran (Mather Zickel), who happens to be the green shirted man from 12 Steps, after a “bonding” moment between Kym and Kieran, she discovers that she is not the Maid of Honor to her sister, and the wheels slowly being to rattle off.

The film from her on out is a character study of these three main family members as they deal with their reunion and resurfacing memories from their pasts in the mist of a grand, beautiful, musically and culturally enlightened wedding. And speaking of the wedding, which is practically a fourth character of its own in this film, it has to be one of the most creative and fun weddings ever put on screen, the music, the dancing the culture, it is a beautiful thing to watch come together and is a joy to go through with these characters. The film’s first third has a long portion of the film where we simply are a fly on the wall in the proceedings, watching musical well wishes and toasts at the dinner rehearsal dinner straight up for about 10-15 minutes, and while it is a bit odd at first, it allows us to get to know all these characters as they share their stories and connects us closer and closer to them as we learn more about them. It also houses one of the most painfully awkward scenes in a film in a while when Kym gets up to make her toast and tries to cut through the tension that comes with her doing anything.

The acting is top notch across the board here as well and there are plenty of great moments to reference as well its all a bit much to do here. Anne Hathaway deserves every bit of Oscar buzz as she is getting as she is fantastic in this film. She walks a fine line of being overly self absorbed, while just trying to be herself, but constantly having to be on the defensive to someone at almost any moment. She has to take berating over and over again as she is blamed for a lot of pain from the closet people to her and Hathaway carries Kym through the pain and struggle with amazing talent and defiance, perfectly hitting the notes she needs to make her sympathetic and frustrating all at the same time.

Rosemarie DeWitt also does a very fine job of evolving Rachel throughout the picture, and creating someone who covers this grand arc but you never lose respect for, even with the way she treats her family at points. She plays a hypocrite with a point, but remains blind to that she is acting out just as much as she might thing Kym is at certain points. And she also totally sells her relationship with Sidney as you really feel there passion for one another, with Tunde Adebimpe quietly playing Sidney with class and sanity as he is the only person that is all the way there emotionally out of the leads.

Bill Irwin also does some fantastic work as the father of these girls as he barrels down and emotional roller coaster trying to cope with his past as he prepares for his daughters’ futures. His compassion for his daughters is completely genuine while still showing us his overburden’s with Kym where we never feel like he is on her too much. Mather Zickel also does a great job at lightening up the proceeding when they tend to get a bit heavy and offers a positive outlook and supporter for Kym with her family when she needs some defensive help, without taking the traditional route a film maker might take in making the opposite ends overly combative, and instead subtly (well mostly) have them discuss their problems with one another. Debra Winger also pops up and makes the most of her screen time as the mother of these two girls and quietly lets on something more happened among these people, that we never find out what, but that while they love her, something about their Mom holds them back from accepting what she has become that leaves us the viewer to figure out what that might be.

And that is where Jonathan Demme excels here as he is able to convey all of these true human emotions in this film without coming across as melodramatic. We just simply feel like we are getting to experience this moment in these people’s lives and it feels incredibly real and natural from everyone involved.

In the end, Rachel Getting Married is one of the finest independent and overall films of the year. The emotional, funny, touching, sad story of this family is a wonderful experience and one that I beg you to seek out and experience. The film moves from serious to light with ease and is filled with great performances throughout and is one that you shouldn’t miss.

[rating: 4.5/5]

It’s International and has a lot more footage, it makes me so sad we don’t get to see this in less than a month anymore, grrr!!!!

Check it out here, at Trailer Addict

Enjoy, and can’t wait ’till next summer.

1994 brought us many, many, many, great movies, Forest Gump, Quiz Show, True Lies, Bullets Over Broadway, Ed Wood, Star Gate, Wyatt Earp, Hoop Dreams, Killing Zoe, The Hudsucker Proxy, Là ©on, The Lion King, Natural Born Killers, Speed, Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, and Street Fighter…wait?   I mean, look at that list, and when it comes to comedy, ’94 was the year of Jim Carrey.   Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dumb and Dumber, and The Mask all came out in the same calendar year, if you wanted comedy, you wanted Jim Carrey.   Well who would have thought the funniest film of the year and one of the most memorable out of all those classics to be released would be a self funded title made for $25,757 called Clerks.

Kevin Smith’s feature debut was filmed over the course of 21 days in the after hours of a Jersey Quick Stop that he worked in during the day.   The plot was simple, followed the exploits of two friends for one day at the shop when a whole lot of shit goes down when the lead Dante wasn’t even supposed to be there that day.   Dante’s partner in crime is Randall, a crude talking employee of the video shop next door that spends most of his time in the fore mentioned Quick Shop shooting the shit with his friend Dante.   Conversation ranges from relationships, blasting the local patrons, pornography, Star Wars and everything in-between.

Dante was supposed to have the day off, but gets strung in on the promise that he will only have to hold down the shop for half the day.   The women in Dante’s life guaranteed that his day will only get worse.   A dead ex-girlfriend, an engaged ex-girlfriend, and an orally fixated current girlfriend all make the fact that Dante is stuck at work on this day of all days even worse.   Add in Randall’s ‘wise‘ advice on all wakes of life, both real and factious, and Dante is bound to get into trouble much sooner rather than later.   If you have seen Clerks you are already smirking with memories, but if for some reason you haven’t seen this great piece of cinema I will spoil no more because you have no idea what you are missing.

Sure it is black and white, sure there is no action, sure there are no stars, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give this honest and unashamed look at society, pop culture, and relationships a chance.   The actors that are here are all pretty great actually.   Dante is played by Brian O’Halloran, who was a local actor who tried out for the part and was able to create very real and believable guy, who is smarter then his lot in life, but is content with keeping life in cruise control.   His banter with Randal is pitch perfect and astonishing that it works so well with so few takes taken by Smith of each scene.   Speaking of Randal, he is played by Jeff Anderson, and steals every scene he is in.   This happens to be so because Smith wrote the part for himself and gave himself all the best lines, but he eventually decided it would be too much work to both star, direct, and do everything else, so Anderson was given the part.   And to be quite honest, I can’t see anyone else in the part now anyways, as Anderson just nails it and owns the character now.   Anderson perfectly creates a character that is a great friend and someone you would love to hang out with, but also is one of those people that you know is just a real asshole to other people, but you let it slide because you like him so much.   His smug demeanor and I don’t give a shit attitude works so well, it’s a shame he hasn’t got to do much more acting since this film.   On the female side of things, the main star her Marilyn Ghigliotti as Veronica and she does a fine job, naturally bouncing off both O’Halloran and Anderson, while keeping us respecting here even with that magic number, 37.   Lisa Spoonhauer shows up in the later part of the film as Catlin, and does a nice job as well at immediately creating chemistry with Dante, which sells us how Dante acts once she is back around.   Rounding out the cast is Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith as Jay and Silent Bob, and while they have no lines really, they provide plenty of good laughs throughout, but Clerks best serves as a testament to how far Mewes has come as an actor.   Watching him in Dogma or Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, after seeing him work through that monologue towards the end, it is amazing to see how far he has come as an actor.

Now, I must digress a bit, but if you are a fan of Clerks, then there is one last piece of film you need to see about this film to fully appreciate what an amazing achievement it is.   The Snowball Effect is a documentary retrospective on the Clerks X DVD that is essential viewing for anyone that is a fan of this film, the filmmaking process, or is an aspiring filmmaker.   This documentary takes you back to Jersey, with Smith as your guide, and he takes you back through where he came from and what it took for him to get this picture made.   It really is an amazing achievement to see what he did and how he did it and The Snowball Effect is one of the best DVD features I have ever seen; please find a way to see it.

So what Smith created here was a true indie film that has had mass appeal to audiences over the year while showing that, if you really want to strive to do something with yourself you can.   Smith has gone from some 20 something that ran up some credit cards to make his first film, to a multi-millionaire with legions of fans following him and everything he does.   Smith has transcended becoming just a filmmaker and has become a sort of Geek diplomat, getting his hands into a lot of different baskets constantly “whoring himself out” as he would put it, when he is truly just taking full advantage to his access to the entertainment world due the substantial impact he can have on the influence of a large community of filmgoers.   And to think, it all started with a twenty-five thousand dollar, black and white filmed comedy that many considered just a bunch of dick and fart jokes.

Not much to say but, Whoo!!!, let the hype train begin!   For those not familiar with the novel, this is The Comedian taking quite a fall the sets this whole mess into motion.   If you are crying spoiler, this is the first few minutes of the film.   This poster came from yahoo.

Below is some more ‘Watchmen’ for you, it is the footage from the Scream Awards that serves as an extended teaser.   This I will throw a spoiler warning up for though, so avoid if you want to stay fresh and haven’t read the novel.

‘Watchmen’ SCREAM footage

I think Zack Snyder is crafting a masterpiece.   Maybe the Movie Geeks can convince him to screen it in St. Louis early!!! Probably not, one can dream though.   Come on Zack, you can test screen Middle America!

Episode 104, Destroy Malevolence, is the conclusion to the Malevolence arc in these beginnings of The Clone Wars and it is a good conclusion to the end of this thrilling battle.

Grievous’ war ship the Malevolence is critically damaged do the attack run by Anakin and his squadron of fighters destroying the ships ion cannon. Now in full retreat from Obi-Wan Kenobi and his fleet of Republic battle ships, Grievous is contacted by Count Dooku who informs him that a bargaining chip is about to fall into his hands. Padme happens to be that chip and was sent by Palpatine to negotiate a treaty with the Banking Clan, a huge separatist ally, and she falls under capture of the Malevolence forcing the Republic to halt their attack while they mull what to do to rescue her. Anakin and Obi-Wan end up infiltrating the Separatist battle ship and begin their way to hopefully sabotage the ship while rescuing Padme, all without being captured.

The episode begins by cutting between Padme trying to hide on the ship while she tries to reach Anakin and Obi-Wan and then separates the lovers from Obi-Wan as they try to take out the ships hyper drive and Shields respectively.

Anakin reaches the bridge and makes certain “modifications” and reactivates the hyper drive of the Malevolence, while Obi-Wan is confronted by a few squads of battle droids and General Grievous that halts his plans and sends him on the run, dispatching droids as he goes.

This episode is action packed again and remains very engaging from start to finish. The lightsaber action is a bit short, but very sweet of what we get to see. It would have nice to see Obi-Wan and Grievous battle it out a bit harder and longer as well, but maybe next time right? The episode has a couple of good laughs in it as well and shows off just how bad ass Obi-Wan can be as he dices up all comers. Padme proves to be much more effective and necessary in this episode as well, as compared to The Clone Wars film, and shows promise that the show creators can introduce her and use her effectively in the series in future installments.

In the end, Destroying Malevolence is another solid entry into The Clone Wars series, though not as good as its prequel episode or the opening Yoda episode. But still, an entertaining 22 minutes that continues to keep me coming back for more.

P.S. next week’s episode looks to be our first all clones episode which is very intriguing.

‘Choke’, the latest adaptation from the fore mentioned man was a big hit around here and the authors Haunted is a great novel that blends short stories, narrative, and poetry into an crazy and insane story about a group of writers on retreat that begin trying to make their story here (both there personal and fictional) the best it could possibly be.  

This is one of his least adaptable books in my opinion, but it will be interesting to see what they do with it.   It will be directed by Koen Mortier and is currently in the process of being adapted, thought you can see what it’s like for yourself by going out and reading it now!   In fact, go read all of his books, they are quite fantastic!  

Check out all the details at Variety.

Aintitcool.com has the first official shot of the Vulcan, and news is that Entertainment Weekly will have more to follow this week.

I think Zachary Quinto is great in Heroes, and I hope he is a huge success after this comes out. Can’t wait to see more.

Update: Ain’t it Cool News wasn’t the only one, Joblo has a pic of Eric Bana as the Baddie, Ugo has a crew shot, Trek Movie has a shot of a ship in trouble, IGN has Kirk climbing some ice, and MTV has Kirk in his Captain pose. Check them all out below!

Zac:

Richard Jenkins stars in this touching drama about a man finding himself in the midst of an immigration mess with his unexpected roommates upon his return to NYC.
Walter (Richard Jenkins) is a lonely professor in Connecticut; he lives the day paint by numbers and carries on getting from one day to another.   Struggling to attempt to learn the Piano, Walter has a love for music, but no way to play it, a role his wife once held, and his failure the art only adds to his sadness in life.   When his writing partner has to pull out of a conference, he is sent in her stead as he “co-authored” the book, but has hesitation to go due to his lack of really being prepared for the conference.   The faculty insists and basically forces him into going to New York City, where he used to live with his wife and family before his child grew old and his wife passed away, and he returns to stay in his apartment he still owns that he uses while he is in the city.   Upon entering his home, he finds things to be a bit out of sorts and walks in on a woman taking a bath in the bathtub.   Her male companion quickly closes in on Walter and pins him to the wall, demanding what he is doing here; to which Walter asks the same.   They come to find that someone had been renting the apartment under false pretenses to the couple and they kindly and quickly decide to leave.   Walter, feeling bad for the couple, invites them back to stay with them until they can get their feet settled and the three of them begin to bond.
Tarek, the boyfriend of Zainab who was in the bath, plays the Djembe, and it instantly captures the attention of Walter.   Tarek and Walter begin to form a friendship and bond over the drum, Walter learning from Tarek, as Zainab remains weary of getting too close to Walter, and is more interested in moving out.   One day Tarek and Walter go out to play the drums in the park and upon their rush to get back and meet Zainab, Tarek accidentally runs into some trouble and the film takes a turn from the sweet and funny bonding of Walter and the couple he is keeping a roof above.   Zainab and Tarek are from Senegal and Syria respectively and Walter is put into the position to help the two out and to keep them together.
The film is a fairly straight drama from start to finish, though has some great bits of comedy throughout the opening half of the film.   Thomas McCarthy does a fine job of convincingly bringing these people together and creating a powerful and effective story that sends a message to this country and the way it treats the people in it.   He does this by getting some great and subtle work out of his actors.   Richard Jenkins is great as usual here and he carries the picture as the sad and lonely Walter, who is grasping on to this couple as they are bringing something new and breathing a new life into him.   Jenkins captures what the power of music can do to one, and the effect in can have on bringing people up and together even in their times of sadness and need.   Jenkins works incredibly well with his unlikely roommate Tarek played by Haaz Sleiman.   Sleiman creates this wonderful, friendly, and endlessly likeable companion and friend out Tarek that he is impossible not to like.   The charm and charisma he brings to himself and gives to Jenkins’ Walter is both pure and sincere. Sleiman is also very capable in the more dramatic scenes in the later half of the film, while maintaining the selflessness of Tarek.   Danai Jekesai Gurira plays Zainab and she does a great job of bringing the guarded, hesitant, and a tad untrusting feel most people in Zainab’s position would have to her character.   She is always kind and respectful, but her face and eyes carry this uneasiness with those that are trying to help as she struggles to make it through her current adversity.   Also showing up later in the game is Hiam Abbass as Tarek’s mother and a possible flame for Walter.   The two bond over the connection to her son and become close as they share the same roof while she is in town.   Jenkins and Abbass click and their moments together are sweet and tender as they bond over an unfortunate situation.
In the end, The Visitor sends an important message to this country and the way that our government is mishandling the immigration in this country post 9/11.   As for our story of Walter, Jenkins does a fine job, and the story is very sweet, interesting, and compelling, it never really sucks you all the way in.   It doesn’t help that the drama has no consequence on Walter other than loosing a friend, and maybe the one thing that might allow him to break out of his shell; so I guess there is a bit of consequence.   Though the film doesn’t pull you in as much as it could it remains a solid film, but there is something keeping it from being great; even with all the good work from the actors involved.   The film is definitely worth watching though, and is a nice little story that will get you thinking about a political topic that sadly gets avoided more than it should.

[rating: 3.5/5]

Episode 103, Shadow of the Malevolence, is part II of the Malevolence arc of the Clone Wars series and it is builds greatly upon a solid opening.

Anakin, having just rescued Master Plo Koon from the Malevolence’s clutches, has built an offensive task force to pull a surprise attack on the Malevolence, hoping to take out both the ship and General Grievous in one fell swoop. The first act builds emphasis on a few of Anakin’s Clone Troopers and their willingness to fight for their commander and the will that Anakin brings to his men; even in this potentially fatal assault they are about to endure. The Republic discovers that Grievous plans to attack a Clone Medical Station outside the Naboo system and Anakin must lead his squadron through a nebula shortcut called the Balmorra Run. Unknown to Anakin, the Run is full of giant nebula eating creatures called neebray’s that make the trip far more perilous. They break through the clouds, squadron intact, and begin their assault on the Malevolence just as the Medical Station fall in its sights.

The action is fast and exciting in this episode and is probably the biggest action set piece yet of the series. The race to the medical bay is executed very well with the cutting between both the good and bad parties as they both try to get to their destinations the fastest. This episode also cements my faith that the clones will be great characters throughout the series as well, and I can’t wait till they get their own episode arc sooner or later in the series, without Jedi. The episode moves along non-stop and keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

Ahsoka proves to be a bit less annoying in each episode she appears, and Plo Koon is a bad ass that I can’t wait to see go nuts with a light saber. The series so far is also making the fall of Anakin even more tragic, he was so great at his role as a Jedi and General; it makes it so much harder to see him fall as he was such a vital piece to the Republic.

In the end, this makes The Clone Wars 2 for 3 with home run episodes and is building a very promises base for this series that is looking to become a great new piece to the Star Wars Universe.

Get caught up on the week’s news in one fell swoop.

Here is a Watchmen Q&A with Dave Gibbons and Zack Snyder, as well as the new production video, which has some new and extended Manhattan footage, and is probably the best one they have unleashed yet.

-Interesting story on Ghostbusters II, and Bill Murray’s issues with the franchise.

-Here is an article on the awesome Guillermo del Toro!

-A Roger Ebert blog about a screening with the Wachowski bros., and the first post-op pic I have seen of Larry.

-Blade Runner sequel?   Uh………..

-Here are a bunch of Potter pics from The Half Blood Prince.

-Shyamalan is keen to do Unbreakable 2?

-Bull Durham sequel? What….Nuke and Annie end up together???

-David Cronenberg will helm a Robert Ludlum adaptation staring Denzel, called The Matarese Circle.   Lets hope Viggo becomes a part of this some how!

-Once again, believe no Batman rumors!

-Forrest Whitaker does Louis Armstrong, he will star and direct.

-Cool EW poll about which Best Picture Oscars you would take back and give to someone else.

-Jamie Foxx is hooking up with Frank Darabont and Gerard Butler for Law Abiding Citizen.

-Take with a grain of salt, but Burton could bring a great shot in the arm to the Pirates franchise.

-Eric Bana steals stuff, I’m there.

-Here is a new Twilight trailer.

-And David Goyer’s latest, The Unborn‘s first look.

-Another Neil Gaiman might be getting pushed through at Marvel.

-Eastwood finally sheds some light on Torino.

-The director of the creepy Orphanage will helm Hater.

See how they make Dr. Manhattan come to life in this excellent, and best, entry into the monthly Watchmen production blog series.   See the awesome suit Billy Crudup had to where, as well as some new footage from the flick as well.   Here that is over at scifi.com.   Also, here is a Q&A with Dave Gibbons and Zack Snyder about the film as well from comingsoon.net.

Only 5 more months!

So EXCITED!

So the new Star Wars cartoon has made its small screen debut and it is definitely a good start for the future of the franchise.

Episode 101, Ambush, follows the exploits of Yoda and three Clone Troopers that are trying to negotiate an agreement with the planet Rugosa to open trade routes and secure the system from Separatist hands. Unknown to Yoda until his arrival is that Asajj Ventress has beaten him to the planet to try and sway the King of Rugosa, Katuunko, that the Separatist droid armies are a better security option over the Jedi.

After escaping a space battle with his mini squad, Yoda accepts Ventress’ challenge to prove the Jedi’s worth. The episode then involves a lot of fighting and a couple of good Yoda teaching moments with his classic theme and all and the episode felt really good and right at home with the Star Wars universe. The animation is the same as the recently released feature length version of and the fight scenes have plenty of fun and ingenuity pumped into it as the previous Clone Wars series. The show also does a good job of making the Clones more then drones for the slaughter, and gives them good personalities. The show also holds the bit over PG brutality that the movie did, and will shock you from time to time with some of the things they get away with.

The show is off to a good start with this episode and I can’t wait to see more Yoda action in later episodes.

Episode 102, Rising Malevolence, revolves around the Jedi’s search for a Separatist secret weapon that is destroying fleets and leaving now one behind. Master Plo Koon is sent with a fleet of two Republic Battleships to the system of Abregado to investigate when his fleet is decimated by the secret weapon in question, an Ion cannon on-board the Separatist ship the Malevolence commanded by General Grievous. Dooku is also on board to inspect the new weapon and is pleased with what he has seen so far. Master Plo Koon was able to escape with a Clone Commander and two Clone Troopers in an escape pod but not before Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka, Anakin’s Padawan, receive a message from Plo Koon reporting their position. Anakin is instructed to take his fleet to a rendezvous, which he obliges to, but not without bending the truth a bit as he and Ahsoka head off to find hopeful survivors in Plo Koon’s fleet.

The episode then cuts between Anakin teaching Ahsoka how she should be handling herself with the Council and Plo Koon and company trying to find ways to survive as Grievous has dispatched a pod-hunter to destroy any remaining survivors. The action doesn’t pick up towards the end, and when paired after Ambush, it might seem a little slow, but the story does a good job of blending a few story lines into a 22 min episode. The wisdom of the Jedi is on display here again as well, and Anakin’s attitude rings true to the films as well.
While this episode falls short of the excellent Ambush episode, it’s still a solid entry and shows of the variety that we can expect in this series that is going to last for hopefully the fully planned 100 episodes.

So, this sounds like it could be a winner!   Short Pornos, without the sex, and all the hilarity.   James Gunn and his brothers(Local St Louis kids) are writing a web series of shorts with Hollywood and Adult Film stars coming on to act out some porn episodes except they don’t do it.   This could be brilliant!   Nathan Fillion stars in the first episode, and you can check out Gunn’s shows official site for the show and read his letter to the viewers setting up what they are going for.   I can’t wait!