• AWESOME! Dark City, one of my all-time favorite sci-fi films (or of any genre, frankly), is not only going high-def, but getting a new director’s cut treatment.
• Add to that rumors that there’s a new special edition release of the TV series Sports Night in the works. Sports Night is one of my favorite shows, and I’ll be thrilled to see it get some special treatment. I didn’t realize that the previous set (which I have, and have watched numerous times) was worth so much.
• Thank goodness I didn’t suffer any crisis as major as this today
• Windows XP Service Pack 3 has been officially released. After a poor experience with a beta build, I’m gonna wait and see what the general opinion of it is before putting it on my machines.
• Here’s the funniest story of irony for the year
• Check out this collection containing some pretty cool photos
• Whiners Metallica changes their tune, once it’s to their advantage. They ought to run for political office.
• Microsoft has launched a new “Office Labs” site to be used for experimental MS Office tools and techniques. Their new Search Commands tool is kinda neat (though if you play the video demo of the tool, make sure to mute the sound first, or be subject to some atrociously awful “music”).
• I hate The Sopranos

• I’d like to congratulate Robert Galle for his nice WhereIsIt? indexing software application. I’d also like to congratulate him for the single worst shareware ordering and registration process I’ve experienced, which ended with him simply refunding my money. So, as nice as the trial of the app may be, and how much it impresses you, do NOT go through the pains of attempting an online order. Perhaps he’s competent with a snail mail order, if you wanna chance that. I don’t have anything against shareware software apps/companies that are most likely based out of the single developers home (I’m a very happy customer of quite a few of them), but it’s not fun when dealing with them makes it so obviously just such an operation. When compared to some of my favorite shareware apps and developers out there like Easy CD-DA Extractor, NewsLeecher, etc (all of which I’m a happily paid customer), it’s disappointing to find one where the experience of dealing with the developer sucks.
• It would have been the 50th anniversary of the legendary, fantastic, amazing, wonderful BBC Radiophonic Workshop. When it comes to the ol’ Radiophonic Workshop, I’m a total fanboy. Delia Derbyshire, Paddy Kingsland, Peter Howell, Dick Mills - these and their many talented colleagues are music/sfx legends, as far as I’m concerned. Mark Ayres has made such amazing steps in preserving the history of the legendary department, and I look forward to buying the new box set they talk about in the article.
• Check out the awesome new poster for The Dark Knight. Very cool.
• Surprisingly, Wesley Snipes has been made an example of.
• So, Jimmy Fallon is taking over for Conan, huh? Hmmm.
• Sounds like the production on the newest Bond film isn’t having the best of luck.

• RIP: Tristram Cary (One of the earliest composers for Doctor Who, among other things)
• FINALLY! Michael Giacchino’s “Roar!” suite from the Cloverfield end titles is getting a release. iTunes has the exclusive on it, which sucks, but at least it’s getting released.
• Speaking of Giacchino, the complete score for Speed Racer was oddly posted as a flash component on a Road Runner Broadband promo site for Speed Racer earlier this week. It was only there for a day before it was replaced by just a few clips. This complete one clocked in at just under 2 hours. Users ripped it from the site while it was there, and you can find MP3 encodes of it around the web if you go looking. Anyway, I’ve listened through it a few times now. I think the album will probably make for a better listening experience. Even in the exhaustive 2 hour form, it’s a great score. Giacchino plays around with the Speed Racer theme tune in numerous, fantastic ways. But the real treat is the performance of the theme itself, which I’m assuming is an end title cue. It’s stupendous. I’ve listened to it dozens of times, particularly driving around in the car. Easily the best performance of that theme tune, ever.
• Meant to mention this a little while ago when it was first posted. Google’s official blog had a nice, random tribute to the absolutely fantastic Tom Lehrer.
• Whedon & Minear in 2008! I’d vote for that…
• Ever wonder just how crazy Gary Busey’s drug abusive years were?
• Short posting for today. Busy messing around with other fun stuff.

• Wow. Did you all enjoy this weekend’s bright, shiny, happy episode of Battlestar Galactica? Fantastic episode, but man the network must have hated this one. High praise goes out to four aspects of this one. First, Nicki Clyne. I won’t say why, cause many people probably haven’t watched the episode yet. You’ll know when you see it. Second, Gary Hutzel and his VFX team. Not only have they continued to refine their exterior ship effects, but they finally nailed the new centurion effects. This is the first episode where the Cylon centurions really felt like they were really in the room (though there were some nice shots down on Caprica when they were chasing Boomer and Helo in the first season). Third, Bear McCreary’s bleary, out-of-body music score. Which brings me to the fourth in the list, the combined and brilliantly odd cinematography and editing of the episode (particularly Cally’s material), which also plays perfectly into McCreary’s score. Overall, another great episode. One can feel the series hurtling through its final act at this point.
• Here’s a hilarious example of what happens when big corporations start throwing law suits out there for the heck of it, without thinking things through.
• Here’s another prime example of why DRM systems completely suck. It’s just one of a great many reasons why I don’t EVER touch any DRM protected media. Never. Ever.
• The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been picked up for a second season
• I ran into this exact same retarded captcha approach on the same site trying to download a shared file the other day. I tried a half dozen times to verify what they wanted, and just couldn’t get it right. I had to give up. It really is the worst captcha variety I’ve ever witnessed, so I’m in total agreement with that post.
• Here’s an amusing list of some of the dumbest business decisions in history
• Some more insane spam statistics
• Western Digital has launched the VelociRaptor
• Check out the unpacking of a second recreation of Babbage’s differene engine
• What happens when a goat is challenged by a golden eagle?
• This is just plain wrong
• Need some “professional” help installing that XBox game?
• And oh yeah, Dilbert.com has gotten a major overhaul
• Lastly, here’s a very cool shot of the ISS from above. I’ve also done a cropped version of that picture for use on 1920×1200 widescreen monitors, linked below.

• As you might have noticed, I’ve been posting more movie reviews. I’m still going to be playing catch-up on those for a little while. With the last batch, I started something different. I’m alternating between the newest ones and the oldest 2008 reviews I still have pending. So, today I posted reviews for Smart People and The Ruins, the two most recent movies I’ve seen, as well as The Spiderwick Chronicles and Be Kind Rewind, which were the oldest of the 2008 films I’ve seen that were pending reviews. I’ll continue alternative like this until that gap is closed. There are still 14 reviews left in that gap for me to get posted. As always, you can see my current log of movie going, and the list of 2008 films is typically up to date, or close to. (both of those are always available in the Movies menu up top)
• I’ve been loving the new seasons of Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who so far. Both have had two episodes so far (if you’re up to speed with the UK debut of Doctor Who, that is). It’s so great to have them both back on the air. I look forward to the upcoming episodes of the show.
• Speaking of great shows, I need to put in a plug for Eli Stone. It’s a delightfully off-beat series, from Greg Berlanti (the man behind shows like Everwood and Jack & Bobby). It has a flat-out wonderful cast. Jonny Lee Miller is great in the lead as Eli Stone. I’ve always considered him to be an underrated actor, and he gets to do both great comedic and dramatic acting in this role. The fantastic Victor Garber is, as expected, great. Natasha Henstridge pulls off a tricky “straight man” role very well (though like everyone else, she gets to cut loose in the musical moments of the show). The biggest highlight for me, though, is Julie Gonzalo. She’s pitch perfect in the series, and I was thrilled to see her get this role after taking a liking to her in the final season of Veronica Mars (she was a new supporting character in that third and last season of Veronica Mars, one of the greatest shows in TV history). Her performance in the role is truly perfect, and she plays off of Miller brilliantly. This show is second only to Pushing Daisies as best new show of the year (followed by Reaper, Carpoolers and Chuck).
• While we’re on the subject of new shows of the season, I’ve got to begrudgingly admit that I’ve been liking Moonlight quite a bit. Despite all the things stacked against it, like seeming to be a rip-off of Angel (and other shows of the genre that have come before it) and all the behind-the-scenes shake-ups that the show went though during the lead up to and first handful of episodes, I have to admit that I’ve really been liking it a lot. In particular, the cast is excellent (primarily when you consider that almost all of them were replaced before it went to series). Alex O’Loughlin is quite good in the lead. Sophia Myles (who us Doctor Who fans will be familiar with) is fantastic as the co-star. And hey, we get another of the Veronica Mars cast in this series, the great Jason Dohring in a smaller supporting role (incidentally, Moonlight is exec produced by Joel Silver, as was Veronica Mars).
• So it’s official, the new X-Files film is to be titled The X-Files: I Want To Believe. It’s a nice title for us fans of the show, and I happily approve. This is still #2 on my list of most anticipated movies of the year. Can’t wait for July 25.
• Check out this hilarious video: An Engineer’s Guide To Cats (the “corporal cuddling” bit alone is worth it)
• This is so cool: an Apple IIGS converted into a laptop (yes, I’m a nerd)
• Speaking of nerds, here’s a particularly dedicated one
• Google Earth 4.3 has been released, with some nice new features.
• An amusing new Numb3rs commercial
• Some lunatic has done a scale model of Scrooge McDuck’s money bin
• Ever wonder what salt & pepper really look like?
• Now here’s a cool pool shot
• How bout a man who survived a 1,500 foot drop into Mount St. Helens? I’m not sure if he’s lucky or unlucky.
• Welcome back, Demonoid
• And here’s some entertainment for you feminists out there: the 1943 Guide To Hiring Women
• He’s dead, Jim

While I’ve never read the book that this movie is based on, I’ve heard good things about it. I was looking forward to the movie more than I would be for the average horror movie, if for no other reason than the somewhat different look and feel of the story and the fact that it featured Jena Malone.

Writing: Like I said, I haven’t read the book that this is based on. I’ve got no idea how faithful it is to that story. Given that Scott Smith, the writer of the book, is the credited writer of the screenplay, I’d think it’s at least somewhat faithful. What’s up on screen works rather well. It’s a simple yet well structured story. It’s something that you’d hear as an urban legend or something. And it’s definitely creepy enough to work.

Production: Absolutely nothing to complain about here. From the nice location and set design to the simple yet dynamic cinematography, it all works very well. With the majority of the movie taking place on, in and around the ancient ruins, it was key that they get the logistics and gritty feel of that location right, which they did.

Cast: This movie doesn’t feature any big A-list kind of casting, but it does have some excellent actors at work. I’ve been a fan of Jena Malone since her excellent performance as a young Jodie Foster in Contact over ten years ago. She’s had a number of impressive performances since then, and this is yet another to add to the list. Shawn Ashmore actually has a pretty long credit list for his age, featuring a number of TV roles and some moderately high profile movie roles (such as the X-Men films, etc). He does a nice enough job in his role. I recognized Jonathan Tucker from the TV series The Black Donnellys (a series I definitely did not like), and was definitely impressed with his performance in this film. He gets the role of the med student who gets to practice said training much too soon. I had no familiarity with Laura Ramsey, who gets the toughest role of the girl that’s first infected, getting to go through a whole mental and physical breakdown as the story unfolds. It’s a raw, emotional performance, and she does an admirable job with it. Overall, it’s a good cast of young actors.

Music: Graeme Revell does a great job with the creepy and raw music score, which it a great fit for the film. It’s no big surprise that he could score a movie like this so well. His background and style makes him a perfect choice for this film, and he doesn’t dissappoint. It’s gritty and atmospheric with that excellent native instrument undertone. It’s as good a score as one would want for this kind of film. It’s draws little-to-no attention to itself, appropriately getting under the skin of the story and production (you’ll have to pardon that pun).

After the recent boom in fantasy adventure films, this one looked to be just another in a string of genre films. Thankfully, it’s a surprisingly entertaining fantasy film.

Writing: Like basically every other film ever made in the genre, this one is based on a series of books (seriously, are these movies every just written as a script first?). It has the requisite fantasy creatures, the alternate fantasty world, the family dynamics playing against the fantasy elements. In other words, your standard pieces to the puzzle. Yet thanks to some experienced screenwriting by the likes of Karey Kirkpatrick, David Berenbaum and John Sayles, it really works well.

Production: This is a state-of-the-art, fantastic production. Under the steady direction of Mark Waters (a director who can make most anything work well), this complicated production works brilliantly. This movie is filled with very complicated visual effects, utilizing many methods for interacting with live action filming. Creature design is equally genre-standard and inventive, as is the animation of said creatures. Cinematography is lush, ambitious and gorgeous. Set design is equally beautiful. You name it, it’s got it.

Cast: Freddie Highmore gets the highest praise here. He continues to impress, having had a number of high profile, excellent performances. He’s definitely one of the most talented child actors in the industry. For this movie, he gets special praise. He does something that’s not entirely easy for anyone, playing multiple roles. He plays a pair of twin brothers, who are pretty much only alike in looks. He does a perfect job at making the two feel like very distinct characters. In fact, I barely gave it any though while watching the movie, which is definitely an accomplishment. It is two very distinct performances. Mary-Louise Parker does a nice job as the mother who’s in over her head. Sarah Bolger does a pretty good job as the sister, who is into fencing (conveniently). Joan Plowright is a nice bit of casting as the aged great-aunt. And the excellent David Strathairn makes the eponymous role work easily. In terms of creature casting, Nick Nolte is a great choice for the main baddie. Seth Rogen is an amusing piece of casting for a fun, friendly creature. And Martin Short is a bleeding obvious bit of casting for the goofy, small and loyal creature friend.

Music: While this may not be James Horner’s greatest score, or particularly groundbreaking in any way, it’s still a great Horner adventure score. He’s got a talent for this kind of material, and his lush orchestration is a perfect match for the story and production. Definitely a nice addition to the production. Having slowed down a bit in recent years, it’s nice to have a fun, grand score in the more traditional style of Horner’s abilities.

An engaging movie that suffers just a little bit from the overly-indie nature of the story and production.

Writing: As Mark Poirier’s first writing credit, one can definitely see the potential of his writing. But I think this effort falls just short of the mark. When you compare this film to something like Wonder Boys, which has a certain amount of similarity, it would be hard to call Smart People a masterpiece (I’m a big fan of Wonder Boys). Then again, Wonder Boys is written by Michael Chabon, a fantastic author. What you get from Smart People is something more akin to The Savages - a smart and interesting character drama that wanders a little bit too much in narrative. In other words, an indie character dramedy.

Production: There’s nothing to single out as particularly impressive about the production, but there’s little to complain about either. It’s solid and gets the job. The editing is a little bit too loose for its own good, but it’s not terrible.

Cast: There’s no surprise in the fact that the acting is the true highlight of this film. Dennis Quaid is a hugely underutilized actor these days, and this movie proves that he should be getting more work. He really makes this imbalanced character work very well. Sarah Jessica Parker is a great foil for him. While they might not have a magical chemistry together on screen, they do in fact play well off each other. Thomas Haden Church is another vastly underrated actor, who needs to get more great roles. He works perfectly as the happy, slacker, adopted brother. And he plays off of the wonderful Ellen Page perfectly. Now, it’s hard to not judge or compare Ellen Page’s performance here with her spot-on perfect performance in Juno (my favorite movie of 2007). It’s a different character (quite different, in fact), and she nails it. Sure, there’s a couple comparable aspects, but for the most part, she’s hitting a different tone with the character of this daughter. It’s the relationship with “Uncle Chuck” that really sparkles, though. Page and Church get the best material, and they get a better chance to shine. Ashton Holmes does a nice job as the more incidental son character. And hey, it’s fun having somebody like Christine Lahti in a toss-away minor character role.

Music: Guitarist Nuno Bettencourt is responsible for one of the most stereotypically indie aspects of this film, the guitar-based music-score. Smacking of everything cheap and simple, I would much rather have seen this movie get a Thomas Newman or Rachel Portman score. Heck, drop in Christopher Young’s great score from Wonder Boys…

Director Michel Gondry’s film Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind is one of my favorite movies. He followed that up with The Science Of Sleep, a movie I completely hated. So, I was unsure of how much I’d like this latest of his directing efforts. While I didn’t hate it or anything, I give it a marginal thumb down.

Writing: Having been written by Gondry as well, it’s pretty much impossible to lay the blame for the failure of this film anywhere but him. The intentions of the story are charming enough, but the approach is too child like and naive for its own good. Add to that the fact that oversimplification of everything doesn’t feed into the fantasy aspects of the story all too well. If you’re going to play a substantial amount of fantasty into a plot like this, you need to try to ground things in reality as best as you can so that it doesn’t all feel strange. Despite some obvious attempts to do so, it just doesn’t work. And the narrative never flows smoothly enough. It all feels forced and disjointed.

Production: Despite a handful of clever shots (including the “camouflage” moment - easily the best single bit in the film), everything about this movie feels way too amateur. Yes, I know that amateur is the obvious intention of the film, both on screen and in the story, but it just FEELS too amateur to not be distracted by it. The Science Of Sleep suffered from the same problem (but it lacked any good performance, and had a story that was 100% nonsense). The production does a marginally adequate job at capturing the local community feel, at least. Otherwise, I found nothing particularly impressive about anything in the production. The more I consider it, the more I think Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind was a random fluke. Gondry seems to be entirely too earnest with his sincerity and strangeness, and the levels of amateur he brings to productions hurt things more often than help. He’s done some mind-blowingly cool things in a few music videos over the years, so he’s clearly capable of higher creative qualities. Somebody just needs to make him grow up a bit.

Cast: While the three leads are typically capable of good performances, their characters lack that extra spark to bring their performances out to their best potential. What you get is basically the actors doing what they do, as though they were only cast in the roles because the characters required what they were particularly good at. Jack Black plays the charming but clumsy goof, like he has in a great many movies. Mos Def is the also-charming but aloof character that’s slightly more grounded than Black, and his casting is equally obvious. Then you have the painfully obvious casting of Danny Glover as the patriarch to the two. It works well enough to keep the film from sucking. It’s probably the only move that managed to accomplish the film from completely failing. And hey, Sigourney Weaver gets to put in a brief appearance.

Music: Jean-Michel Bernard, the composer that Gondry used for The Science Of Sleep, turns in an equally obvious, indie-styled score. Yeah, it’s quaint and cute and earnest. And like much of the production, hits things too squarely on the head.

One of Will Ferrell’s funnier over-the-top comedies, with a great sense of 70’s fun.

Writing: How much does one really expect out of the writing for movies like this? As long as it can holds things together well enough to get the jokes across and give the actors some material to have fun with, it’ll do. Surprisingly, this script does sneak in some nice character material from time to time, mostly involving Woody Harrelson and Maura Tierney’s characters.

Production: There’s no shortage of great period design work on display. From the great sets and decor to the hilarious costumes, it all works splendidly. The production teams definitely take some creative license to take things just a bit farther than reality to give the period jokes that extra edge.

Cast: There’s no denying that movies like this only work when you can get the right cast in the mix. Will Ferrell’s role is nothing short of an obvious Will Ferrell role, so there’s no surprise in the fact that he works well in it. Woody Harrelson is a hoot as the washed up basketball star, and he plays very well off of Ferrell. The great Maura Tierney is well cast against Harrelson as a romantic foil. There’s some great little casting touches like Rob Corddry and Tim Meadows in fun roles. Other supporting roles go to a range of actors, who all have plenty of fun, including Will Arnett, David Koechner and Andy Richter.

Music: Theodore Shapiro probably scores more major studio comedies than most anyone else. And frankly, he does a better job at it than most, typically giving things a bigger, richer score than one would normally expect. In this case, he embraces the funkiness of the era while slipping into the ambitious sports scoring side of things nicely.

Every once in a while, a small, independent film will come along and redefine an over-saturated genre. Some of the best examples of such manage to both satirize the genre while at the same time excelling at what they are targeting. This is just such an example. It’s one of the great little indie surprise films of the year. I like movies that can find a way to make their low budget work for them.

Writing: Told in 3 loosely connected stories, written and directed by three different people, the film gets to shake things up with different styles and approaches to the material. The middle of the three acts plays at subversive humor, happilly undercutting the genre standards. And yet, in doing so, it gets an extra-creepy feel about it. Then the final act manages to interconnect things and bring the narrative back to its primary focus. For a film that could easily feel disjointed and messy, it works surprisingly well.

Production: While this may be a movie that has a somewhat amateur feel, there’s no denying the success of the creepiness of the style. And frankly, some of the amateur qualities lend to the telling of the story, giving it a raw feeling. It also helps sell some of the spectacularly dead-pan humor, which ranges from broad to extremely subtle. Likewise, the production quality and cinematography figure out how to get in some enthralling material.

Cast: With a roster of actors that were complete unknowns to me, it was a pleasant surprise to see some nice performances. Of particular note is Anessa Ramsey, who plays the female lead. The rest of the cast does an excellent job as well.

Music: Like the cast, composer Ben Lovett is a newcomer of which I had zero familiarity. His scoring is raw, nicely stylized and really hits its marks well. While it might not sound completely like a classic John Carpenter score, it certainly accomplishes many of the same goals.

This is definitely a movie that works better than it should, thanks to the wonderful casting.

Writing: The story is predictable in nearly every possible way. To make matters worse, it feels as if it were actually written as a period piece, and later somebody chose to transpose it to a contemporary setting. There’s a little bit of class rivalry, but then it randomly switches gears to a more modern approach, for seemingly little reason whatsoever.

Production: In keeping with the fairy tale aspects of the story, the production goes for a slightly exaggerated production style. But just like the script, it can’t decide if it wants to be a period piece or a contemporary story. It also can’t quite make up its mind on how in and out of common reality it wants to be. Still, things are designed and shot well enough to look good and get the job done.

Cast: Here’s the highlight of the movie, to be sure. It’s impossible to go wrong casting Christina Ricci, one of my favorite actresses. She plays the aponymous character with an atypical amount of bounce and optimism from the usual kind of role she takes (then again, it looks like we’ll be getting another upbeat performance from her in Speed Racer). The only danger is that even with the pig nose the character has in the movie, Ricci’s performance is so completely charming that it’s hard to buy into the instant fear and disgust that everybody has towards her. Catherine O’Hara is not just an obvious choice for the over-protective and over-ambitious mother, but also the perfect choice. James McAvoy seems to be turning up in just about everything these days, but I suppose this one was the result of the film sitting on a shelf for a couple years before being released, for whatever reason. Supporting characters are rounded out with great casting, including Richard E. Grant and Reese Witherspoon (who is also a producer for the film). Last but least not, there’s also Peter Dinklage, one of today’s most overlooked acting talents, rounding out the supporting cast.

Music: Joby Talbot turns in a score that’s pretty much what one would expect for the movie. That’s not particularly a bad thing. It works well, and has some fun in doing so.

• Another gap in posting due to me bogged down in other projects/problems…
• RIP: Charlton Heston
• Hurray! Firefly is coming to Blu-Ray! I’d assume they’ll make this a release to push for the holiday buying season.
• Speaking of Joss, there’s been some cool casting news for his new Dollhouse series. None-other-than Helo himself, Tahmoh Penikett as well as the excellent Olivia Williams (if you want to see a fantastic, completely overlooked movie, check out Below, which features Williams). Neato.
• Here’s some very impressive tornado footage from last year
• Rotten Tomatoes has posted a report of seeing the first 30 minutes of Wall-E (lucky weasels), as well as some Q&A with director Andrew Stanton.
• Here’s a petition actually worth signing
• What’s in a name?
• Check out this nifty hotel room finder
• That’s it for now. Hopefully more posts and reviews coming shortly.

• Ladies and germs, I present to you the greatest video. ever. 
• If that wasn’t fun enough, check out this amusing clip
• Did y’all enjoy your April Fools day? As usual, ThinkGeek had a fun assortment of April Fools Day products (by the time you read this, you might need to use the 2008 april fools product archive page). And Google had their usual fun. Let’s see, there’s G’Day, launched by their Australian division. Then there’s the new “custom time” feature. The coolest and most elaborate is “Virgle“
• NBC is doing an unusually early upfront presentation tomorrow (Wednesday the 2nd), with another follow-up one next month when the rest of the main networks do theirs. Most encouraging is word that they are doing more fantasy/action shows. One assumes Knight Rider will be in the line-up, but I’m wondering what other little gems will be found in there. I do hope to see Medium in the list, since that excellent show’s future is currently in doubt.
• Tiny Toons volume 1 and Freakazoid volume 1 have been announced for DVD (Hey Warners, where’s the fourth and final volume of Animaniacs?)
• Are you ready for the era of the micro-projector?
• More fun on that Creative Labs driver fiasco