White Collar is becoming a collecting pool -- it stars Bryce Larkin from Chuck, has Wendy Watson from the Middleman and Charlie from Fringe as FBI agents, with Kelly from Saved by the Bell in there for good measure.
It's a very watchable show, too, but it helps that its got a lot of very likable actors. #v
I don't understand why they keep re-airing Threshold. It's as if they enjoy making me sad. How about a 2 hour movie to tie everything up SyFy? Don't those things cost you like 5 dollars to make over there? #v
@disatess: I always get Threshold mixed up with that other show that had the water monsters taking over people's bodies. Threshold was pretty interesting thanks to the characters.
I sat through the entire V: The Final Battle marathon on the SyFy Channel yesterday . . . with my grandma, who quite enjoyed it. Last time I saw it I was like 12 or 13. It's amazing how much I'd forgotten. The scenes that had really stuck with me in childhood were mostly inconsequential, like Diana biting the head off the bird and Elizabeth spitting acid on another little girl. You know, the fun kids' stuff.
That said, the series really needed a remake. It could've been so much better with a larger budget and modern tech. Some of it is really dated, like the special effects during Julie's conversion, which were rather humorous in spots rather than being frightening (The giant iguana? Maybe if it had whipped out it's giant double penis . . .) Anyway, I assume this remake will be loosely based on the series, so I'm expecting lots of flash and a dumbed-down plot.
@Starwatcher: "...so I'm expecting lots of flash and a dumbed-down plot..." Yeah, the original V was so smart with its obvious symbolism, one dimensional villains, hokey sentimentality, and corny dialog. All that was missing was Marc Singer turning to the camera and saying, "This story is about fascism. The aliens are Nazis from outer space." #v
@disatess: I don't think the new series will be that great but the original was hardly high art. It starred Marc Singer for Pete's sake. The one truly alien quality they gave the Visitors besides the green skin was the habit of eating live meat. #v
@Bill-Lee: Well, it wasn't spectacular, but it could've been a lot worse. So, the symbolism was obvious. So what? Many of the best Twilight Zone eps had rather obvious symbolism too. I really don't have a big problem with polemical fiction, as long as it tries to be fair, and I think V did. Here you had humans siding with the aliens and some of the aliens siding with humans. And we are talking about alien lizards here--do you really think they would be anything other than predatory fascists? #v
@Starwatcher: It just shows that Johnson doesn't know much about reptile behavior, lizards aren't particularly social animals and fascism requires a large measure of social cooperation. Predatory? Yes. Nazis from space? No. The humans who sided with Visitors were the unwashed masses who were easily duped by the Visitor's empty promises, individuals brainwashed by the conversion process, or complete assholes to begin with -- like Donovan's mom. So that's hardly even handed. The Visitors who sided with humans were either dimwits like Robert Englund's character or using the human resistance for their own ends like Martin. I would have liked to know more about Martin's motivations but Johnson never bothers to show us. Johnson's script is so poorly written that he barely even gives Martin anything to do but be convinced by Donovan's arguments. I don't remember all of his lines but they were mostly amounted to "I want to help you but your plan seems dangerous. My people can't risk that much for you."
The Twilight Zone was written in the late 1950s and early 60s. TV was still a novelty and TV writers weren't sure how subtle they could be with it yet. And the audience was still getting a grasp of TV drama. By the time Johnson created V, TV had been around for 30 years, viewers were used to it, and TV writers were beginning to experiment with realistic dialog and subtle themes. Johnson wrote V as if he were writing it for a the original Twilight Zone. His Jewish character practically screams, "These aliens remind me of Poland in 1939, when the Nazis took over. Take special note of the parallels that Kenny Johnson has included such as their swastika style logo, uniforms, and rounding up of scientists. I am here as a Jewish character to remind you of the Holocaust. Remember the Holocaust?" It was dreck. Entertaining and high minded dreck but still dreck. The remake can't be lamer than the original. It can equal it but it can't be worse. #v
I'm on Central Time and I'm really concerned, because I have yet to see a listing for the new V on Tuesday night. Is it possible that we're just going to miss out entirely? #v
@TemporalSword: man i just come out of reign with dissapointment because it has a kick ass premise with poor execution and plot holes the size of well dragons. #v
@GreyHammer: I saw Reign as a drive-in double feature with Signs. Signs was first...so, Reign seemed pretty decent. (The sitting in lawnchairs and drinking probably helped, too..) #v
And the ultimate horror comedy, "Arsenic and Old Lace"! (Too bad they couldn't actually get Karloff for the film. They did get him for the audioplay. It rocked.) #ghostbusters
Oh, please don't forget "Frankenhooker." ... OK, it was completely forgettable except the VHS box* had a button which, when pushed, would have a screechy voice yell "Wanna Date!" I almost had to sleep on the couch once for pushing it once too often
* Yes, angels, movies used to come on cassettes full of tape - magnetic tape that encoded the image in electromagnetism. No, I'm not making this up. #ghostbusters
@Julius Seizure - Canuck: hey i got your back man, in fact my sister just gave me a new VCR for my birthday, and just today i dropped 20.00 on a huge bag of rockin VHS gems at the Goodwill. who wants to kick it 90's style!? #ghostbusters
My vote goes to Disney's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Hilarious animation and a savage social satire (which was Irving's intent), it preserves the feel and some of the language of the original short story and has a quite overpoweringly awful phantom.
The moment where the dunderhead Ichabod looks directly into the Headless Horseman's empty collar and is blasted with a round of wicked laughter hits funny and scary right on the dividing line. #ghostbusters
@RollsRoyceRevenge: Not to mention a soundtrack with a rockin' cover of The Legend of The Headless Horseman sung by Thurl Ravenscroft (the voice of "Tony the Tiger"). Much harder edged than the gussied-up Bing Crosby version in the film and absolutely my favorite Disney tune.
FOUND IT! Of course, the video is patched together, but the audio is the tune that haunted my childhood (and first got me interested in guitar).
One of the best horror comedies of all time was "The Old Dark House," starring Charles Laughton and Boris Karloff, directed by James "Frankenstein" Whale. Seriously, check it out, it's a hoot.
And I promise that at your next dinner, you'll be sneering "Have a potato" like Ernest Thesiger. Just watch the movie, you'll see. #ghostbusters
One of my favorite comedy scenes is from the original Dawn of the Dead.
Where upon refueling an idling helicopter, our hero searches for his gun to dispatch an approaching zombie. Said zombie steps up on a curb, lifting the top of his head within range of the rotating blades, cutting off the top of his head and saving our hero, who slowly looks upwards at the rotating blades.
-scene- #ghostbusters
11/03/09
11/02/09
It's a very watchable show, too, but it helps that its got a lot of very likable actors. #v
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11/02/09
More specifically, I remember Carla Gugino in "Threshold." #v
11/02/09
Yeah, she was really, really good in that. #v
11/02/09
hell... let`s just remake star wars and really make it a parasitic giant . #v
11/02/09
Beyond Carla Gugino being fairly hot, even. #v
11/03/09
11/02/09
That said, the series really needed a remake. It could've been so much better with a larger budget and modern tech. Some of it is really dated, like the special effects during Julie's conversion, which were rather humorous in spots rather than being frightening (The giant iguana? Maybe if it had whipped out it's giant double penis . . .) Anyway, I assume this remake will be loosely based on the series, so I'm expecting lots of flash and a dumbed-down plot.
11/02/09
11/02/09
what`s the fine line between remake and copying ? #v
11/03/09
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11/03/09
The Twilight Zone was written in the late 1950s and early 60s. TV was still a novelty and TV writers weren't sure how subtle they could be with it yet. And the audience was still getting a grasp of TV drama. By the time Johnson created V, TV had been around for 30 years, viewers were used to it, and TV writers were beginning to experiment with realistic dialog and subtle themes. Johnson wrote V as if he were writing it for a the original Twilight Zone. His Jewish character practically screams, "These aliens remind me of Poland in 1939, when the Nazis took over. Take special note of the parallels that Kenny Johnson has included such as their swastika style logo, uniforms, and rounding up of scientists. I am here as a Jewish character to remind you of the Holocaust. Remember the Holocaust?" It was dreck. Entertaining and high minded dreck but still dreck. The remake can't be lamer than the original. It can equal it but it can't be worse. #v
11/02/09
11/02/09
Also, I would have liked to see where Threshold was going. It was the best of the three sci-fi shows that premiered that year, and canceled too soon.
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* Yes, angels, movies used to come on cassettes full of tape - magnetic tape that encoded the image in electromagnetism. No, I'm not making this up. #ghostbusters
10/30/09
10/30/09
10/30/09
The moment where the dunderhead Ichabod looks directly into the Headless Horseman's empty collar and is blasted with a round of wicked laughter hits funny and scary right on the dividing line. #ghostbusters
10/30/09
FOUND IT! Of course, the video is patched together, but the audio is the tune that haunted my childhood (and first got me interested in guitar).
[www.youtube.com]
10/30/09
And I promise that at your next dinner, you'll be sneering "Have a potato" like Ernest Thesiger. Just watch the movie, you'll see. #ghostbusters
10/30/09
Where upon refueling an idling helicopter, our hero searches for his gun to dispatch an approaching zombie. Said zombie steps up on a curb, lifting the top of his head within range of the rotating blades, cutting off the top of his head and saving our hero, who slowly looks upwards at the rotating blades.
-scene- #ghostbusters
10/30/09
Shaun of the dead being a RomCom with zombies is hardly a stretch #ghostbusters
10/30/09