For a lot of people out there, the idea of a comic book movie and the reality of one rarely meet in the middle in terms of financial (or fan) success much to the dismay of most audiences. Countless times, studios have tempted us with intriguing premises for film adaptations of beloved comic book stories but they unfortunately lead to absolutely dismal efforts. That said some film adaptations actually do well, other surprisingly beat the odds and, in rare cases, a precious few prove to become some of the finest cinema ever made. Well I wouldn’t put The Rocketeer in that last category, but it is still a damn fun movie and…
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Something, Something, Something Dark Meat?
Hello World, Marc Here: From all of us at G-S-T, we wanted to wish all our readers a very Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you all get to enjoy your holiday weekend…or at least one day off work. So to get everyone in the spirit, here’s the official and much longer (add funnier too) trailer for the upcoming Family Guy Star Wars Spoof, “Something Something Something Dark Side” (Our thanks to ScreenRant for posting it). May this video help in your decision to choose the ‘Light Side‘ or the ‘Dark Side‘…of the turkey!! OK, it’s not really in tune with or even related to Thanksgiving but it’s funny and just wanted to…
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Novel Adaptations: Or How I Stopped Worrying About Getting Everything On Screen…
I just picked up Angels & Demons on Blu Ray yesterday and reminded me of my experience reading this fascinating page turner and then seeing the movie some months later. The movie was a much better adaptation than The DaVinci Code, but it still left me wanting. This post goes out to all the fans of the “novel” out there – I sympathize with your plight. Just like both of Dan Brown’s brilliant novels, there are countless cases where, for instance, movies based on books suffer the unavoidable fate of having their source material, namely key elements, omitted or worse changed and in the end the fans can be pretty…
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Joseph Gordon-Levitt on SNL
Hello World, Marc Here: While I have been increasingly following the work of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I must say that guy really can do it all. A few days ago I wrote an Off the Shelf post about his turn in Brick (which was just sensational), he proved to be the sharpest knife in the drawer for G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra (not too hard in that one mind you) and his most recent 500 Days of Summer was his best to date. This weekend, he was on Saturday Night Live. I was a little skeptical considering SNL’s bumpy “hit and miss” episodes and not sure how he would fit…
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Sweet Pixar short…'George and AJ'
You know, some films just stick so deep with you that once the movie is over, you find yourself constantly thinking about it. I have that happen to me from time to time and wondering “what happens next?” and other times I wonder what is happening tandem with the story (but off screen) and how the side characters are affected or just what they’re doing. While I just adore Up (check out our review here), I never really thought beyond the story that much (save for what Russell’s mom thought of her son’s “new friends”) but those creative super geniuses at PIXAR sure did. To answer some questions and expand the story,…
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G-S-T Quick 5 – Culturally Loved Movies That We Just Hate
A few weeks ago, Cinematical ran a post entitled “Movies that everyone seems to love but you” and that got me thinking. For years, I’ve had a grocery list of films that I just can’t get into, just don’t understand, or outright dislike. I have been thinking of these films from time to time but thanks to the post, I (after talking with Rob and Pete) have a great reason to consolidate these films. There is one common element in each of the films listed below that is a prime contributor making these films “not our cup of tea”, and that’s probably hype. If people always say, “that film is awesome!!“, and have said…
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Random Film Thought of the Day…11.17.09
The Family Guy ‘Empire’ spoof I wrote a few days ago has got me thinking about something I’ve been pondering for years but just now felt like writing about it. I guess I just needed some inspiration…or a segue. Now, I don’t think there’s but a handful of people on the Earth that don’t know about Star Wars. It’s a cultural phenomenon and Mr. Lucas is the mad genius who started it all. Well, things have changed since old George began with Episode IV and as a fan, (and I know I’m not alone on this) I believe there’s a great number of us who find fault after fault with the…
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Off the Shelf…'Brick'
As a film fan I don’t think I have done enough research outside my comfort zone of movies to check out independent films, foreign films or films styles to really expand my repetior. That said, one film style or genre I am trying to get into are detective/noir films. Having seen films such classics as Chinatown, The Third Man, and recent noir films such as L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia, I’d say I’m getting there. Though I am missing a big chunk of the old 40’s and 50’s detective stories, I’d like to think I’m ever so slightly starting to appreciate noir detective film. That said, one film that I…
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Off the Netflix Queue…'INK'
I had heard about Ink for a long time now from our good friends over at FirstShowing.net. Ink is a wonderfully inventive & imaginative film that was made for surprisingly little money but to overwhelming positive praise. Now, I can’t say that I wasn’t a little skeptical after seeing the trailer, but as per my experience, a film with a low (or no) budget usually fails due to the financial limitations. That said, I don’t know how Double Edge Films was able to create something so grand out of something so seemingly diminutive….but they did, in spades.
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Sweet Trailer…'Clash of the Titans'
Below is the teaser trailer for next year’s remake of the classic Clash of the Titans. After watching it (and I know that it’s just a teaser) I don’t really know how to feel, so I’m not going to write up my opinion as one is decidedly lacking. For those of you interested, please have a look below… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_Q7NlAlZEA While I have never seen the original (well, I only caught parts while channel surfing) I can’t say as I am for or against this remake. However, the 3:10 to Yuma remake worked fantastic in my opinion and I never saw the original of that one either. I don’t know, it’s…