New Release

In case you don’t know, the best movie of ‘07 comes out on DVD today.

HOT FUZZ!!

Go buy it.

And I wasn’t planning on watching that.

Straight off of Ain’t It Cool: 

From the “Heroes” panel: Kevin Smith (“Clerks II”) will write and direct an episode of the spinoff miniseries “Heroes: Origins” airing in April or May.

Finding the Lost Room

As you know, I am a Netflix subscriber (see my queue to the left side). Occassionally, Netflix will recommend a movie/series based on how I have rated movies I’ve seen. Recently, Netflix recommended the Sci-Fi channel’s mini-series The Lost Room. Is Netflix really intuitive or is it full of crap?

I had never heard of The Lost Room when it was recommended to me. This is pretty astounishing because I spend all my time watching tv/movies/etc. So, I read the Netflix summary about it and was intrigued but I wasn’t sure how well the idea could be pulled off. Honestly, the summary on Netflix says that a man loses his daughter in a magic room and now needs to find his way back to the room to save his daughter, but there are a bunch of other people who also want to get to said room (except on Netflix they don’t use a run-on sentence). The concept sounds all right, but then do we trust the Sci-Fi channel with anything?

If you have ever seen any movie advertised for the Sci-Fi channel, you know they tend to be…well, shitty. They are usually about some stupid monster and have a predictable B movie plotline. The production usually looks very amatuer, especially the graphics. So, is The Lost Room just another in the long line of Sci-Fi failures?

In a simple answer, no. Hell no. The Lost Room is amazing. The plot does start a little odd. Kind of a surreal version of CSI. But, once the lost room is seen by the main character (Joe Miller), the story comes to life. We find out that an event distroyed the original room and created hundreds of “objects.” Joe Miller has come into possession of the Key (which allows access to the lost room). I don’t want to spoil too much, but along the way Joe meets other people with various objects. This is really were the show excels. It shows how different people react to the objects (some use them for evil, some have fun with them, others pray to them, etc.). Each object has it’s own special power (an example on The Lost Room’s website is of the razor. Looks like an ordinary straight edge razor. But, when you touch it to any glass, that glass instantly shatters). I could go on for days praising how great the characters and objects are, but let’s move on to the production value.

As I said before, Sci-Fi tends to have low production value. The Lost Room, looks beautiful and professionally done. There aren’t too many special effects, but the ones they have look good. The cinematography is excellent. Each area has there specific feel. It helps you get into the series even more.

The acting is also really well done. Peter Krause comes in does a superb job as Joe Miller. I can see good things in the future for him. Also in the series are such veterans as Julianne Margolis and Kevin Pollock. But even the lesser known/unknown actors do a really good job and sell us on their character (Wally is the best).

Overall, the show comes off as a great puzzle being solved in front of your eyes. Along the way, there are elements of action, sci-fi, horror, and even comedy thrown in. The Lost Room is necessary viewing for everyone.

The only real detraction from the movie is the terrible DVD menu design. First, it has the copyright screen and Lionsgate logo. The DVD won’t let you skip/fast forward through either. After you get through that, it goes into previews. Normally, you can hit the menu button and skip them, here you have to chapter forward through each one (there’s about 5 total). Then you get to the main menu. Here they list each episode and also a play all feature. When you click on the play all feature, it just sends you back to the beginning. The good news is that if you just play the first episode, it will actually go through two episodes at once (that’s how the miniseries was aired originally).

So, as far as DVD menus go, The Lost Room is terrible. But as far as quality of programming, The Lost Room is a must see. It is currently available for rental (Netflix is where I got it) or for purchase (only $15 at Best Buy, $12 at Amazon. That’s for 6 hours on 2 discs!).

Definitely check it out as soon as you get the chance.

Dinner for Two – Minus the Foood

Check out Amazon’s page for Dinner for Five.

They’ve got a cool 6 minute video of Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. talking Dinner for Five style (except it’s just the two of them and there’s no food).

It doesn’t cost anything to view the video, so there is no reason not to watch it.

Highly recommended for anyone who likes the Dinner for Five series, Jon Favreau, or Robert Downey Jr.

Best Online Gimmick Ever!

Burger King has put up a new website promoting it’s connection to the upcoming Simpsons Movie. On the website, you can up load a photo of yourself and “Simpsonize” it. The site takes your pic and creates an image of you as if you were in the cast of the Simpsons.

You can check out the website here.

-Thanks to USA Today’s Pop Candy for bringing the site to my attention. I’ll post my side by side pics once I get a chance.

UPDATE:

A’s and Cubs trade

As you know, I am an Oakland A’s fan. Also, I know that some Chicago Cubs fans read my site. So, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the recent trade between the A’s and the Cubs.

If you haven’t heard, the A’s traded catcher Jason Kendall to the Cubs for catcher Rob Bowen and minor league pitcher Jerry Blevins.

First, let’s look at this trade from the A’s position. The A’s season is over. Honestly, they aren’t going to make the playoffs. So, the logical thing would be to look forward to next season. Coming into this season any true A’s fan could tell you that A) Jason Kendall was in his last year of his contract B) Kurt Suzuki is the A’s catcher of the future C) The A’s offense sucks, especially with Kendall in the line-up. So, Kendall’s days were numbered from the beginning. So, the fact that the A’s get anything for him is good. Also, in this deal, it allows Kurt Suzuki to take over the starting catcher role sooner and get some on the job training at the Major league level (sorry for the run-on). So, overall, I like this trade from the A’s perspective.

Now let’s take a look at the Cubs perspective. Since dumping Michael Barrett (an All-Star caliber catcher), the Cubs catchers have been terrible. And by terrible, I mean batting less than .200, maybe even less than .100. Needless to say, they needed help. Jason Kendall is a former All-star who has a career batting average of .295. He is a guy who leaves it all out on the field for whatever team he’s playing for. Also, he is a good defensive catcher (earned praise for how well he handled the young A’s staff). So, the Cubs had problems at catcher and Jason Kendall is available for a relatively cheap price, the trade is a no-brainer. This deal sets up the Cubs for a big playoff push. They may or may not make it, but Jason Kendall will help them more than the pieces that they traded away. So, I like this trade from the Cubs perspective.

Looking at this trade in depth. It appears like a one of the few true win-win trades. The A’s get to start moving towards the future, the Cubs improve themselves for the now, Jason Kendall gets to make another playoff run, The younger kids get a shot with the young A’s. I guess that makes it win-win-win-win, but you get the picture; I like this trade.

All-Pro Football 2k8

You may or may not know that I’ve been following a game called All-pro football 2k8 for some time. It’s a video game coming out by the makers of the last great football series….NFL 2k. I mentioned a little while ago that the premise of this series is you can pit gridiron legends against each other.

Over the past few weeks I have actually been wavering back and forth on whether I wanted the game or not. One day 2k Sports would release some kickin’ screenshots and I would be hyped up. The next day they would release the worst video game trailer ever (Yes, I really mean ever. A complete foul up on the marketing team’s part). Then I would hear that late hits are back and I’m hyped again. Then I’d hear that there isn’t any kind of franchise mode and be disappointed.

That give and take has kept me on the fence until today.

Today, I found THIS ARTICLE on ESPN and was absolutely floored. I am so ready for this game now. I might actually get back into football…but most likely won’t (Damn you EA Sports!).

Read the article!!!

Dance Like Ronald McDonald!

A Long Klosterman/Simmons Interview

I was trolling around the Sports Guy’s archives over on ESPN’s Page 2 and came across a pretty interesting article. In the article, Bill Simmons talks with Chuck Klosterman about various topics ranging from the ‘86 Celts to Pearl Jam to Face/Off with lots in between. And when I say lots, I mean that this is a 2 part article that is about 8,000 words.

I highly recommend this to any fan of B.S. or C.K.

Part 1

Part 2

Just a quick note: This article is from 2005. So, if it seems a little out of date, that’s why.

Worst Online Vote Ever!

Have you seen this ESPN Who’s Now thing?

It is a voting contect set up like the oh-so-popular tournament style. That part of it I have no problem with…except the fact that you can only vote on one matchup per day.

No, the real problem with this tourney is the fact that ESPN never tells you what “Who’s Now” is supposed to mean. Are we to vote on who’s the best, who we like the most, who is the most cutting edge, or who is the best looking? There’s no real explaination to the voting except they have to be “Now.”

Really, isn’t everybody that is alive considered ”now.” How could one person be judged more now than the other? Am I less now than LeBron James because I can’t dunk? I’d like to think I’m still relevant.

I for one am not going to put up ESPN’s throw out a vote and it will generate repeat viewings style. Henceforth, I am not looking at anything to do with the Who’s Now tourney and I suggest you do the same… at least until they explain what it is and why it’s going on.