Dental Revenge

From Yahoo News: A Polish woman is facing three years in prison after she removed all of her ex-boyfriend's teeth during dental surgery just days after their breakup. "I tried to be professional and detach myself from my emotions," Anna Mackowiak, 34, told the Austrian Times. "But when I saw him lying there I just thought, 'What a bastard' and decided to take all his teeth out."

Marek Olszewski, 45, reportedly showed up at Mackowiak's dental office complaining of toothache just days after he broke up with her. She then allegedly gave him a "heavy dose" of anesthetic, locked the door and began removing all of his teeth one at a time.

"I knew something was wrong because when I woke up I couldn't feel any teeth and my jaw was strapped up with bandages," Olszewski said. "She told me my mouth was numb and I wouldn't be able to feel anything for a while and that the bandage was there to protect the gums, but that I would need to see a specialist," he said. "I didn't have any reason to doubt her, I mean I thought she was a professional."

Adding to his trauma, Olszewski said his new girlfriend has already left him over his now toothless appearance.
"And I'm going to have to pay a fortune on getting indents or something," he said.

Mackowiak is currently being investigated for medical malpractice.

NOT SO SURE ABOUT THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN? SONY’S WITH YOU — RUMOR IS THEY HATE IT

From gammasquad, So, The Amazing Spider-Man — I guess it’s looked okay in trailers so far. Spider-Man looks better whilst swinging around than in the Raimi movies, and I won’t argue with Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, but I pretty much tuned out for any parts that didn’t involve web-slinging or Emma Stone’s boobs. I dunno, the Lizard and Denis Leary just don’t set my world on fire as villains.

Well, it turns out my “eh, looks fine I suppose” assessment might be overly generous. According to rumors supposedly originating from “inside sources”, execs at Sony outright hate the movie.

Of course, regardless of what they think of Amazing Spider-Man, Sony is already moving ahead on a sequel, because come on, it’s Spider-Man, but tellingly the sequel will have an all-new writing team (Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, of Star Trek and the Transformers movies). I wouldn’t be surprised to see director Marc Webb also end up on the trash heap if Amazing isn’t received well.

Amazing Spider-Man is in a tough spot — it’s going up against The Avengers and Dark Knight Rises without any real hook aside from “here’s more Spider-Man, except now with younger actors”. It’ll make money because they love Spider-Man overseas, but the movie will be completely forgotten by the end of the year.

Peter Jackson Responds to Negative "The Hobbit" Criticism

From worstpreviews, During CinemaCon, Peter Jackson screened ten minutes from "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," which was shot and projected at 48 frames per second, rather that the industry standard speed of 24fps. The goal was to offer a clearer image and 3D experience.

But the plan backfired. Critics called the footage "strange" and "jarring," and some even compared it to a 70s soap opera. "It was too accurate - too clear. Higher frame rates are used for things like home video, soap operas, and reality TV," said Gizmodo.

Jackson has now responded to the criticism, stating: "Nobody is going to stop. This technology is going to keep evolving. At first it's unusual because you've never seen a movie like this before. It's literally a new experience, but that doesn't last the entire experience of the film. There can only ever be a real reaction, a truthful reaction when people actually have a chance to see a complete narrative on a particular film."

Leonard Nimoy May Return for "Star Trek 2"

From worstpreviews, Leonard Nimoy played a big part in JJ Abrams' "Star Trek" reboot, but it was revealed early on that none of the original cast members from the show, including Nimoy, would appear for the sequel. And now that filming of "Star Trek 2" is coming to an end, we have yet to hear anything to the contrary. Until now.

On Thursday, Nimoy gave a speech in New York Cty as NASA flew in their Enterprise space shuttle. CNN caught up with the actor and asked if he would return for another "Star Trek" movie. "We're talking. We're talking," he said.

I can only assume that he's talking about "Star Trek 2," since a cameo is still possible. We'll know for sure when the film hits theaters on May 17th, 2013.

Sam Raimi To Produce The Poltergeist Remake

From cinemablend, It would seem that Sam Raimi recently came to the conclusion that part of why he was put on this earth was to produce various horror remakes. In addition to serving as a behind-the-scenes mind on the upcoming Evil Dead remake, it was recently revealed that Luther creator Neil Cross would be writing the script for a new adaptation of The Day of the Triffids, on which, as you can probably guess by now, Raimi is serving as a producer. But two just isn't enough for the Spider-Man filmmaker, as he is now been brought aboard yet another horrific re-do.

Raimi, according to THR, has signed on to be a part of MGM's remake of the horror classic Poltergeist. A big part of the filmmaker's responsibility on the project will be to find a director. In addition to Raimi, Nathan Kahane, Roy Lee, and Robert Tapert are all on-board to produce as well. The idea behind the rehash has been floating around for years, but is now finally starting to make some real progress. David Lindsay-Abaire, who wrote the script for Raimi's upcoming Oz: The Great and Powerful, wrote the script. His other previous projects include the Oscar-nominated drama Rabbit Hole and the animated feature Robots. The story of Poltergeist follows a family living in a house built on an ancient burial ground who must rescue their daughter from vengeful spirits.

While I understand some remakes, this one makes absolutely no sense. The plot of Poltergiest is so simple that you could easily take it, give it a twist, and create a whole new kind of ghost story. What we have here is just MGM trying to come back from the dead by exploiting their best titles (see also: Robocop). Is it nice to have someone as respectable as Raimi on-board? Sure, but unless he actually decides to direct the movie himself it probably won't make much of a difference.

Box Office

From ew, Look guys, sometimes box office articles just need four headlines!
In this case, the under-performance of The Five-Year Engagement wasn’t the only big story this weekend. Think Like A Man notched a very strong sophomore frame, The Hunger Games reached a truly remarkable milestone, and The Avengers flexed their muscles internationally. Oh, and Safe and The Raven also entered theaters. We’ve got a lot to talk about! Here’s how the box office shook out:

Ensemble comedy Think Like A Man, an adaptation of Steve Harvey’s famous advice book, Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man, dropped by 46 percent to $18 million — enough to easily top the box office for a second frame in a row. Compared to other comedies with predominantly African-American casts, Think Like A Man‘s second weekend drop is quite strong. Recent titles like Jumping the Broom and Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds fell by 55 percent and 54 percent, respectively, in their sophomore frames.

Full article here

Three Minute ‘Prometheus’ International Launch Trailer Wows With New Footage

[via slashfilm]

3 years late to the party

Yes, Mr. AC and I just finished watching the rebooted Battlestar Gallactica tonight.  Several of you watched it back in the day but I can't find much discussion on the blog and am dying to process.  So... what did y'all think? 

Just.....Wow

Ringu Ghost Throws Out the First Pitch for Some Reason

From iwatchstuff, In keeping up with the newly-founded American tradition of inexplicably inviting the Three Stooges to professional wrestling matches, Japan too is finding ways to utterly confuse sports spectators with out-of-place, unfocused film tie-ins. In promotion of the upcoming Ringu sequel, Sadako 3D, one of Japan's baseball teams recently allowed Sadako--the Ringu series' famous, long-haired nightgown spectre--to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, much to the polite applause of the crowd. Why not, right, Japan? As you'll see below, the ghoul really hammed it up out there, then really threw like a girl even though I think Sadako is hermaphroditic.

M. Night Shyamalan movie

This is my new M. Night Shyamalan movie that I made up the other day:

M. Night Shyamalan movie

More behind-the-scenes Star Wars photos!

I know we've posted some of these before but there's a lot of images here I know I've never seen. Check them out.

This video game is ACTUALLY bad for you (if it exists)

This seems like BS but it's kind of fun anyway. Watch this Youtube report of an urban legend about a mysterious mind-controlling arcade game from the 80s. After the opening text, skip to the 4:00 minute mark so you can miss all the boring DOS commands loading. You'll then be treated to more (often misspelled) text outlining the various subliminal commands. Try not to blow your mind.

(This reminds me that we should track the subgenre of video game-related horror flicks. I can think of 1 and a quarter: Stay Alive and the Emilio Estevez sequence in Nightmares.)

This just in from the "Really?" department.

From worstpreviews: During a panel about industry issues at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas, Sony Pictures' Jeff Blake started off the discussion by stating that twenty years ago kids would go to movie theaters every week, but not anymore.

Amy Miles, CEO of Regal Cinemas, said that her company currently discourages cell phone use, but there have been internal discussions about removing the ban for some movies. "If we had a movie (like '21 Jump Street') that appealed to a younger demographic, we could test some of these concepts," she said. "You're trying to figure out if there's something you can offer in the theater that I would not find appealing but my 18-year-old son might."

IMAX's Greg Foster backed the idea, stating that his 17-year-old son "constantly has his phone with him. We want [kids/young adults] to pay $12 to $14 to come into an auditorium and watch a movie, [but banning cell phones may make them] feel a little handcuffed."

The only person who was completely against cell phone use in theaters was Tim League, CEO of Alamo Drafthouse, a small chain that throws out customers who talk or text during a film. "Over my dead body will I introduce texting into the movie theater," he said. "It's our job to understand that this is a sacred space and we have to teach manners."

‘The Hobbit’ might look a little too good

From WWTDD, As you may know, Peter Jackson is directing his two ‘Lord of the Rings’ prequels in 3D and at 48 frames per second, twice the old standard of 24 frames per second. ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ will be the first major movie filmed at this rate.

Well today he screened 10 minutes of footage at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, and according to some, it sorta sucked. Because now the images are actually too crisp and clear, and it doesn’t look like a movie any more.

Devin Faraci on Badass Digest says:

“…it has that soap opera look you get from badly calibrated TVs at Best Buy.
The footage I saw looked terrible … completely non-cinematic. The sets looked like sets … sets don’t even look like sets when you’re on them live, but these looked like sets. The magical illusion of cinema is stripped away completely.”

A reporter from Variety (via IndieWire) was slightly kinder:

“…a thing to behold. Totally different experience. Not all will like the change. 48 fps has an immediacy that is almost jarring … unfortunately, (it also) looks a bit like television.”

A Toy Love Story That Will Make You Cry

The Avengers '78 Movie Promo

JPX is having blog woes at work and asked me to post this awesome fan made 70's Avengers movie trailer. It makes me want to watch Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park for the 1,100th time.

New Dandy Warhols album out today!

Awesome: Watch Child's Adorable Crawl Towards the Inevitable: Time Lapse Short from Birth to 12 Years

From iwatchstuff, As you'll see all over the internet today, here's a short time-lapse made by a filmmaking father who filmed his daughter, Lotte, once a week from her birth until her twelfth birthday. It's an interesting study of the slow but steady changes the body makes as it progresses from babyhood to adolescence. Plus, if this adolescent girl ends up becoming future Earth's mortal enemy, this video is probably our best hope of finding her inherent weaknesses. Study it well, but please, not in a creepy way.

The Avengers review

From denofgeek, Whether you call it Avengers Assemble or The Avengers, one thing's certain: it’s the best Marvel superhero movie yet. James explains why in his spoiler-free review...

Well. Of all the things you can say about Avengers, it only takes one simple sentiment to do it justice: that was totally worth the wait.

Ever since a small but perfectly-formed teaser at the end of Iron Man heralded the coming of the Avengers, it’s been tough to keep expectations reasonable. For every good Marvel film, there was a bad one. For every reason to get excited, there was a reason to be cautious. A complete disaster seemed unlikely, but anything less than genre-defining brilliance was going to be a let-down.

And to Whedon’s credit, he pulled it off. He didn’t just make the best superhero action film that has ever been made, he somehow did it while making a Joss Whedon film – smart, funny and dramatic, but with all the trappings of a sci-fi action movie presented fully intact. Imagine if Transformers 3 had a plot, a script, actors you liked and comprehensible special effects: that’s what Avengers feels like. It’s all so very… big.

Of course, with seven lead characters, a villain backed by an army and a supporting cast pulled from multiple sources, it could never be anything but. Perhaps the hardest challenge Avengers faced was in maintaining its sense of scale: giving the street-level skills of characters like Captain America, Black Widow and Hawkeye’s a place where they could shine even against the larger-than-life exploits of Iron Man, Thor and The Hulk. And yet, somehow, everyone gets their moment. Most get four or five.

To quote Den of Geek’s own Mike Leader, Avengers was far better than it needed to be. The action beats are there. The character beats are there. But there’s so much more than that too. Whedon knows what the audience expects of an action film in this genre, and he uses that knowledge to pull the rug from under us again and again – sometimes for a joke, sometimes as a plot twist, but also without it ever getting old. It even looks fantastic, proving Whedon as not just a distinguished writer, but a distinguished action director. There’s no question that from now on, he’s going to be Hollywood A-list.

Full review here

Box Office

From worstpreviews, After four weeks in first place at the domestic box office, "The Hunger Games" lost the top spot to the ensemble comedy "Think Like a Man," which grossed $33 million, one of the best openings in recent history for a film with an almost all-black cast.

The new movie was made for only $12 million and will likely break the $100 million mark. Unfortunately, it will likely not have much of an international release. "Think Like a Man" has a 49% fresh rating on RottenTomatoes.

Coming in second place was "The Lucky One," which stars Zac Efron and is based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook). The new movie grossed $22.8 million, but couldn't match the results of other Sparks' films, like "Dear John" ($30.5 million) or "The Last Song ($25.3 million). It has a lousy 21% fresh rating.

"The Hunger Games" had to settle for third place with another $14.5 million, which brought its worldwide total to $572 million.

The other wide release of the weekend, was "Chimpanzee," Disney's latest nature documentary. It landed in fourth place with $10.2 million, a record for Disneynature.

25 Beautiful Public Libraries

[Flavorwire]

Rijksmuseum Research Library, Amsterdam

 (DCD) Who doesn't love a library?  Check out these images from all over the world of gorgeous, crazy public libraries.

Drive was just awful

It's Horrorthon, right, so everybody here's inured to the experience of watching a bad movie. But you know how every so often you get to one that's so terrible, so irredeemable, so unwatchably bad that you don't even finish getting thorough it it? It's usually not the straight-up trash; those are what they are, and one reacts accordingly. It's the high-profile, well-made, A/B-list productions that can really do damage to your soul. Drive (starring an unappealing actor I'd never seen before named Ryan Gosling, who's like a better-looking, less lovable Cameron from Ferris Buehler's Day off) is such a movie.

The opening titles (in pink "handwriting" font) and blaring synth soundtrack had me thinking that the whole thing had to be some kind of joke, from the very beginning. The opening sequence (in which the unnamed protagonist has to outwit a police dragnet including cars and a helicopter) was promising; I'd never seen anything like that before. But then the movie gets down to business, and the sheer ineptitude of the storytelling and production, combined with the overblown, pretentious "nihilism" of the plot and the character descriptions, created a thoroughly unpleasant atmosphere, oppressive and dull at the same time (with characters alternately behaving stoically and shouting at the top of their lungs) that finally beat me into submission and I gave up.

Not to mention the fact that the movie is needlessly, garishly violent, with slow-motion shotgun-to-the-head closeups, not in the good Eli-Roth way but in the childish, creepy "I'm so cool" fashion that makes you wonder what the filmmakers have going on in their subconscious. And Christina Hendricks (removed from her Mad Men persona and clothing for the first time in my experience) is totally miscast, her presence wasted.

Apparently a lot of people really dig this movie (which is why I rented it). But what a load of crap! I'm bringing it up here just to see if any other H'thonners shared my experience of this odious film.

"Hot Problems," worst video ever, by two girls complaining how hot they are

[JPX} This video has gone viral and is receiving much deserved derision. Be careful, you won't be able to un-hear it afterwards...

Men at Work musician Greg Ham found dead

[JPX] I love this damn song

SYDNEY – Greg Ham, a member of the Australian band Men at Work whose saxophone and flute punctuated its smash 1980s hits, was found dead in his Melbourne home on Thursday.

Where Archie Really Is

Found him in a graveyard in Bristol.

Mel Gibson continues to be a hateful asshole

From worstpreviews, Writer Joe Eszterhas (Basic Instinct) was working with Mel Gibson on a script for "The Maccabees." The project eventually fell apart, prompting Elszterhas to reveal some of the things Gibson has been saying while the two worked together.

According to the writer, Gibson said that he was making the movie in order to convert Jews to Christianity. He then called WME Chairman Ari Emanuel a "c*nt Jewboy," said that John Lennon deserved to be shot and that he wants to "f*ck [ex-wife Oksana Grigorieva] in the ass and stab her while I'm doing it."

Eszterhas has now released one of the tapes (listen below), which doesn't include any of the previously-mentioned comments, but Gibson can be heard screaming about lack of progress with "The Maccabees" script, stating: "what the f*ck have you been doing?" And then calling Grigorieva more names, like "f*cking c*nt" and "c*ck-sucking whore."

Gibson believes he has a "basic human right" not to be secretly recorded in his own home and is planning to sue Eszterhas.

Meanwhile, during a press conference for Gibson's "Get the Gringo," the actor's anti-Semitism came up again. The moderator asked if there were any issues on set since director Adrian Grunberg is Jewish. When co-screenwriter pointed out that he too is Jewish, Gibson attempted to make a joke, but ended up stating: "Funny, you don't look Jewish."

Holy crap, it's Christian Archie!

I totally had no idea this existed, or I just forgot because I've never seen pages from it. From that article that JPX linked to in the previous post:

"The franchise did take a big risk once, but not in the progressive direction. At Hartley’s request, Archie’s publisher allowed a conservative Christian publisher to use the characters in explicitly religious settings in the 1970s and ‘80s. The resulting line of comics found the characters becoming born-again Christians: praying in the cafeteria, touring the world as missionaries, renouncing evolution, and spouting cheery lines like 'When they took the Bible out of school—more and more PROBLEMS came IN!'”

The hyperlink brings you to a an extensive article about the array of Christain Archie publications, and features many more off-putting images. I can only process this by thinking about it as a parallel universe Riverdale. Nutty!

Occupy Riverdale

From slate, Gay marriage, Obama, and the Occupy movement come to Archie’s wholesome hometown.

Sorry, Elizabeth Warren. Valiant effort, Paul Krugman. Good night and good luck, Keith Olbermann. There’s a new progressive hero in town, and his name is Archie Andrews.

Yes, that Archie Andrews. The freckled all-American comic-book teen, his frenemy Reggie, love interests Betty and Veronica, and the rest of the gang who have been the embodiment of middle-American, midcentury values since they first appeared on comic book stands in 1941. Archie and friends celebrated their 70th anniversary in the fictional town of Riverdale last year, where they remain wholesome 17-year-olds frozen in time. But just because they haven’t aged doesn’t mean they’re not evolving. Within the last several years, Riverdale has quietly become a progressive paradise.

The comic’s most public step to the left was the introduction of a new gay character named Kevin Keller in 2010. The blond, blue-eyed Army brat—his look was inspired by Justin Timberlake—fits in so quickly at Riverdale High that popular brunette Veronica announces her intention to date him. Soon enough, however, Kevin bounds happily out of the closet and is again embraced by all. Kevin was conceived as a permanent character in Riverdale, and Archie Comics gave him his own standalone comic series in February.

Read the full article here

3-Minutes Of Reporters Saying Things They Shouldn't

[via geekology]

The world's oldest teenager dead at 82

From usatoday, Sad news: Dick Clark has died.

Clark's agent confirmed the news in a statement that the 82-year-old TV legend died of a "massive heart attack" this morning.

Clark, whose youthful appearance earned him the nickname of "America's Oldest Teenager," suffered a significant stroke in 2004. Ryan Seacrest took over his famous Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve show 2006. Dick has co-hosted it ever since. Clark is also known for hosting long-running television shows including American Bandstand and the game show Pyramid.

Clark has been married three times -- and has three children from his first two marriages. He is survived by his current wife Kari Wigton.

Wanna see what Anthony Hopkins looks like as Alfred Hitchcock? Sure ya' do!

From aintitcoolnews, Anthony Hopkins is playing Hitch in an upcoming movie about the making of Psycho. Fox has released a photo of Hopkins in the makeup.

Weird; second family guy pilot from 1996

This is the second family guy pilot from 1996..never picked up

Latest picture from JJ Abrams’ Star Trek sequel

From denofgeek, What’s Zachary Quinto up to in this new photo from the currently-filming Star Trek reboot sequel…?

Possible mild spoiler ahead

There’s been a tight cordon around the set of JJ Abrams’ Star Trek sequel, ever since a batch of set snaps appeared online earlier this year. As such, very little of the film’s shoot has made it onto the Internet.

But now a new image has. This one sees Zachary Quinto, playing Spock, in what’s being described as a ‘volcano suit’. The actor was being lowered down at speed in front of a green screen, holding an unknown object.

There’s not too much else to gleam from the picture, so we’ll leave you to, er, gaze longingly at it…

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, A 20th Anniversary Group Art Exhibition

From laughingsquid, CoproGallery in Santa Monica, California is hosting Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, a group exhibition featuring Twin Peaks-themed art for the television show’s 20th anniversary. CoproGallery has posted a preview gallery of the show which includes giclee art prints by Twin Peaks’ own David Lynch. The opening reception is April 21, 2012 from 8 PM to 11:30 PM and the show runs through May 12, 2012.

'Prometheus' Has Really Cool Product Video for Michael Fassbender the Robot

[via iwatchstuff]

And Speaking of Contests...

Heyyyy, April 15th went by, and you know what that means! No, not taxes, it means we've crossed the halfway mark between the last Horrorthon and the next one! Woo hoo!

I bring this up because Stan's recent spontaneous contest made me realize that I've been sitting on our last comic strip caption contest for half a year now, so here are those results!

Marvin

Winner here is JPX:

"When did you make business cards and how did you do it?"

Avoiding the whole cat/poop/sandbox thing and going for "prying off the absurdity" approach really worked for me.

Spider-Man

This one goes to Johnny Sweatpants, because that last panel just cracks me up every time:

“Hey Phantom, guess what? I had baked beans for lunch and now I have to fart!”

“Oh Christ, not again… Don’t you have anything more important to do than make my life miserable?”

Panel 2

“Sorry buddy but passing gas through you just plain cracks me the hell up!”

Panel 3

“HAHAHAHAHA-- oh shit!”

Family Bleahbleah

This one is all Johnny, as well:

“You see Billy, there’s no Santa Claus, God doesn’t exist, the Universe is cold and indifferent and we’re all going to die one day. Especially Grandma. I betcha she won’t make it till Thanksgiving."

Garfield

Johnny's meta approach won here, too, although his other two made me laugh more:

"I enjoy eating lasagna and I hate Mondays." 

"You don't fucking say."


Wonder Woman

And this one goes to Cat, with special claps for the dwarf:

Meet Natasha, she's a world class stripper. With each pass of her magic lasso, she leaves a little less to the imagination. Hubba hubba.



Thinking:

"I'm not sure my audience is what it used to be."



"Hmmm..I only count 13 men, well, 13 1/2 if you count the dwarf."



"These perverts better be throwing $20's tonight, that's all I'm saying."

Overall winner is Johnny Sweatpants! You now have six months to arrange another round of this, but I hope you move sooner.

And while we're at it, in addition to Stan's contest there was also Cat's very similar contest from last month. The win went to AC for that one, but I'm guessing AC has had some more important stuff going on to worry about the next round.

Well that's everything all neat and tidy. We've got one contest in play and theoretically two others that JSP and AC may spring on us at any second. Perhaps a merger is in order? You guys discuss, I'm going to wrap my head around some entries for Stan's battle.

Cheers!

Hey You Guys!

In case any of you missed it, Handsome Stan posted an awesome new contest on Wednesday. Scroll down and check it out. I know the beautiful spring weather is distracting, but there's always time for some Horrorthon fun too!

'The Amazing Spider-Man' international trailer

New Photo of Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Willis from "The Expendables 2"

[via worstpreviews]

Plot: Church reunites the Expendables for what should be an easy paycheck, but when one of their men is murdered on the job, their quest for revenge puts them deep in enemy territory and up against an unexpected threat.

The new movie is directed by Simon West (Con Air) and is set to hit theaters on August 17th.

Box Office

From cinemablend, One of the best films of the year so far opened in theaters this weekend, and yet, it's still a Hunger Games world that we're living in. The enormously successful film is on track to be #1 for a third weekend in a row, earning $6.5 million on Sunday on its way to a $20 million weekend. And though The Three Stooges and Cabin in the Woods were essentially tied on Friday, with around $5.5 million apiece, the power of family audiences at matinees will help Stooges pull ahead; according to the estimates at Deadline the Stooges should make $17.5 million, while Cabin in the Woods will come in well behind with $13 million. It's playing in about 500 fewer theaters than the Stooges, though, which makes up a good bit of that difference.

What might be most surprising about all this is how audiences are responding to the Joss Whedon/Drew Goddard horror film. Despite stellar reviews that earned them a 93% Rotten Tomatoes score (our own rave included), the CinemaScore rating from audiences has been a C on average, with a D+ rating from females. That's disappointing for those of us who really love the film, but not totally out of the ordinary-- movies with twist or that become something the audience wasn't quite expecting typically get lower CinemaScore ratings. As much as people might complain about movies being too predictable, they also typically don't respond well to being surprised.

The weekend's other major new release, Lockout, opened on significantly fewer screens that the top three, and with $6.5 million estimated for the entire weekend it will have to settle for sixth place behind Titanic 3D. Let us know in the comments what you're seeing this weekend, and we'll be back with a full box office report this Sunday.

The Avengers re-assembled and shot a secret scene last night

From aintitcoolnews, Robert Downey Jr. threw junketeers for a loop Thursday afternoon when he let slip that The Avengers would be convening later that very evening to shoot one last scene for the film. This, of course, was ludicrous. They'd just held the premiere the night before, and we all saw what we assumed to be the film's "stinger". Even though the quick turnaround is entirely possible in today's digital wonderland, surely this was just Downey being silly.

Nope. Though director Joss Whedon and Marvel Studios honcho Kevin Feige were quick to call bullshit on Downey's statement, multiple sources - including an unabashedly on-the-record Mark Ruffalo - quickly confirmed that the one-night shoot was scheduled, and that the scene in question would turn up at the very, very end of THE AVENGERS. As for what happens in said scene, I wouldn't expect it to be a major reveal. This will be more of a curtain call.

Unless Marvel is trying to break some kind of Guinness World Record, I doubt this scene will be seen at the fan screenings this weekend. Since I'm not allowed to officially review the movie yet, feel free to check out my tweets from Wednesday night. They're non-spoilery and quite positive.

Robert Rodriguez's Sin City Sequel To Start Production Soon

From cinemablend, It's been seven years since director Robert Rodriguez released his adaptation of Frank Miller's Sin City, and that happens to also be the same number of years that he's been promising a sequel. With plenty of stories to choose from it wasn't hard to imagine that Rodriguez could pull it off, yet here we are in 2012 and we've still never seen a Sin City 2. The director has used the time since to helm multiple projects, including Grindhouse, Shorts, Machete and Spy Kids: All The Time In The World, and has never stopped promising that a sequel would happen. Turns out he may have been telling the truth.

Dimension Films has announced that Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame To Kill For - the new official title - is now scheduled to start production shortly. The press release from the studio doesn't have any specific dates, but AR Films and Quick Draw Productions are on-board to produce. The story is being kept under wraps and it's unclear if the sequel will be taking on multiple stories like the first film, but the Miller story A Dame To Kill For centers on Dwight McCarthy (played by Clive Owen in the original) who finds himself in a serious amount of trouble when an ex-flame named Ava contacts him and says that someone is looking to kill her. Casting begins next week and it's expected that actors from the first film will return for their second tour of duty.

"The first question I am always asked is “When will you make another Sin City?," said Rodriquez in a statement. "I have wanted to re-team with Frank Miller and return to the world he created since the day we wrapped the original, but have felt a duty to the fans to wait until we had something truly exceptional that would meet and exceed what have become epic expectations. A Dame To Kill For will certainly be worth the wait."

Here's the real question, however: can we actually believe the story this time? As mentioned, this isn't the first time that Rodriguez has promised the sequel, so it will be interesting to see if actually sticks to his word this time. Personally, I won't believe this movie exists until I see a trailer.

Stan's New Mega Awesome Contest Idea!!!

I apologize in advance for stepping all over Julie's Taxes post, but I had this idea and had to get it out there.

In the vacuum of no Haiku Hump Day or Caption Contest, how about the following:

Three random pictures culled from the Internet (I recommend The Chive or Reddit for the freshest stuff), all with a random story to tell.

THE RULES:

1) Either a TV Guide review, consisting of NO MORE than three sentences, summing up the story, OR,

2) A movie preview voice-over, always beginning with the words, "In a world..."

Here's my first 3 offerings...


(shameless Stan-JSP self-promotion)



Yup. Have at it.



(It's a high school.)

I've been absent for too long. Hopefully this signals a return. I'll check as often as I can for updates, and maybe a winner for next week? (squinting in fear of rejection)

Taxes!

One my favorite podcasts--well, okay, my very favorite--is Planet Money from NPR. Just in time for tax day, they've been, of course, doing some stories on taxes. This one was full of new info for me, all about the history of taxes, which as it turns out, are kinda pretty new. Like our grandparents didn't have to pay them until WWII.

And Donald Duck popularized them. While in this first cartoon, Donald actually shows you how to fill out your return, this next one goes "all Pink Floyd on you," as Octo remarked.

If you have time to listen to the podcast or read the transcript, please discuss in the comments. I gotta give my kid a bath so I can't ramble on about my thoughts at the moment.

The Dandy Warhols are back! Who's in?

Hey gang, The Dandy Warhols have a new album and they will be touring shortly. They will be playing in Boston on Friday June 1st at the Royale. Who wants to go???

Press release, "They’re not quite as old as The Rolling Stones just yet, but Portland’s the Dandy Warhols have indeed been a band for 18 years, and they’ve got a new album to prove it. This Machine is their latest, 8th studio album, recorded in the band’s own complex, The Odditorium, with their trusted, longtime engineer/producer Jeremy Sherrer, and mixed by Tchad Blake. It will be released via The End Records, (once mainly known for its dark-leaning metal roster), on April 24th.

Though the album is described by Courtney Taylor-Taylor as “guitar-centric and woodsy”, there is one track, “Autumn Carnival”, which sounds harder to define since it was co-penned by Taylor-Taylor along with David J, of Bauhaus fame. I happen to know a few outdoorsy goth types in Portland and beyond so this one will definitely be the first track many want to hear.

Science Fiction author Richard Morgan was chosen to write the Dandy Warhols’ official bio for the album in short story form."

Tour dates:

05/16 – The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
05/17 – The Wiltern – Los Angeles, CA
05/19 – 4th & B – San Diego, CA
05/20 – Roxy Lounge – Scottsdale, AZ
05/22 – Emo’s East – Austin, TX
05/23 – House of Blues – Dallas, TX
05/25 – The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
05/26 – The Fillmore Charlotte – Charlotte, NC
05/27 – Orange Peel – Asheville, NC
05/29 – 9:30 Club – Washington, DC
05/30 – Trocadero – Philadelphia. PA
06/01 – Royale Nightclub – Boston, MA
06/02 – Corona Theatre – Montreal, QC
06/03 – Phoenix Concert Theatre – Toronto, ON
06/05 – Irving Plaza – New York, NY
06/06 – Bell House – Brooklyn, NY
06/08 – Royal Oak Music Theatre – Royal Oak, MI
06/09 – Grog Shop – Cleveland, OH
06/10 – Metro – Chicago, IL
06/12 – Gothic Theatre – Englewood, CO
06/13 – Belly Up Aspen – Aspen, CO
06/15 – Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC
06/16 – Doug FIr Lounge – Portland, OR
06/17 – Showbox at the Market – Seattle, WA

"Our cat Oscar is a super sneak!"

Watching Oscar open the freezer and eat the frozen fish sticks in there (more than once) is one of the more entertaining instances of cat voyeurism I've encountered. Extra points for 1) the way Oscar suddenly glares at the camera in his stilted intro shot; 2) the other cat who loiters around uselessly at the beginning; 3) Oscar's petulant meowing throughout and 4) the specific maneuver with his right back leg (which I appreciate after watching the video a certain number of times).

Clever 9-year old creates a cardboard arcade

From CNN, Somewhere in East L.A. is a small used auto parts shop, run by a kind man named George.

And somewhere in the cramped garage of this auto parts shop is an elaborate cardboard shrine to childhood imagination, created by George's son Caine.

It's an unlikely creation in an equally unlikely location -- and the magnificent result is one of the most heartwarming (and just plain awesome) videos you will ever find online. And now it's also helping send its star to college.

Nine-year-old Caine has built an entire arcade in his dad's shop. By hand. By himself. Using nothing more than cardboard boxes, masking tape, leftover parts and pieces you wouldn't pay more than a nickel to purchase, and that remarkable imagination of his.

Full article here

Movie trailers

Not "trailers" like Coming Attractions; "trailers" like trailers (Martin Riggs' doomed home above, for example). New blog post.

http://www.jordanorlando.com/ns/index.php/movie-trailers/

D'Oh! Springfield In 'Simpsons' Was In Creator's Home State All Along

From npr, Ay Caramba! Simpsons creator Matt Groening has revealed the location of the real Springfield: It's in Oregon.

In an interview with Smithsonian magazine, posted online Tuesday, Groening credits the name to the hit TV show Father Knows Best.

The show "took place in the town of Springfield, and I was thrilled because I imagined that it was the town next to Portland, my hometown," he says. "When I grew up, I realized it was just a fictitious name. I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the U.S. In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, 'This will be cool; everyone will think it's their Springfield.' And they do."

The topic of Springfield's real location has much discussion among fans of the show, which has been on the air for more than 20 years.

"I don't want to ruin it for people, you know?" Groening says. "Whenever people say it's Springfield, Ohio, or Springfield, Massachusetts, or Springfield, wherever, I always go, 'Yup, that's right.'"

But The Associated Press says Groening said he has long given fake answers about the Simpsons' hometown, leaving open the possibility the revelation to Smithsonian magazine itself is fake.

According to the AP:
The show has made a running joke of hiding the true Springfield's location. In one episode, daughter Lisa points to Springfield on a map, but the animated "camera view" is blocked by son Bart's head.

But there should have been plenty of clues that the characters on the Simpsons were drawn from Groening's own childhood. The names of many characters on the show — Flanders, Kearney, Lovejoy — correspond to street names in Portland, Ore. Indeed, Groening says his goal was to "name every character after streets in Portland, but we were in a hurry so I dropped the idea."

Another clue: The Simpsons live on Evergreen Terrace – also the name of the street the Groenings lived on. And, of course, Homer, Marge, Lisa and Maggie are named after Groening's parents and sisters, respectively.

The town of Springfield, Ore., had already claimed the show as its own. When Niel Laudati, the community relations manager for Springfield, Ore., was told about Groening's announcement, he told the AP: "Oh, OK, we knew that."

The town's Facebook page features a signed plaque from Groening when he visited the town before The Simpsons Movie was released in 2007. "Yo to Springfield Oregon – The Real Springfield!" the plaque reads. It's signed: "Your pal, Matt Groening Proud Oregonian! 2007."

No clues yet as to the location of Shelbyville.

Cool new images of the Titanic

See them all here

Where is everybody?

Maybe this is why Titanic didn't meet box office expectations this weekend?

Can't wait for The Avengers? Watch the opening scene right here!

James Bond Just Having Beer Tonight, If That's Cool

From iwatchstuff, When ordering a vodka martini in 2006's Casino Royale, then-new Bond Daniel Craig responded to the question of "shaken or stirred" with a curt, "Do I look like I give a damn?" It was the informal announcement of a new, harder-edged Bond, one who, now that he mentioned it, did have sort of a primitive look that one couldn't imagine discerns between shaken and stirred alcohol.

Well, this November, prepare for Bond to given even less of a damn about what he has to chug down to get wasted: Now he's willing to drink Heineken.

In the noble Bond tradition of the spy selling watches, cars, or whatever else an advertiser will pay him to strap himself into, 007 will, for his next adventure, play a shill for Heineken USA. According to AdAge, the producers of the next Bond film, Skyfall, have made a deal with the beer distributor to feature Daniel Craig as his famous character in a new international television spot to be overseen creatively by Skyfall director Sam Mendes.

But Bond's love of mediocre imported beer won't be limited to the realm of commercials. The article continues, "In the movie, Bond will swap his trademark martini for a sip of the brew -- at least in one scene." So that should be good.

"Vodka martini... shaken, not stirred. Actually, hold on, wait. Do you have, like, Heineken here? I'll have one of those. Little green bottle, not draught."

"Well, yeah, of course it will be in a bottle. Who has Heineken draught? What, you think we've got a minikeg back there for all the secret agents who are so particular abou--"

"ALRIGHT. Forget it, then. I'll just have an Amstel Light. Over ice."

"Ridiculously Photogenic Guy"

From firstcoastnews, A candid photo of a man in the middle of a 10k run with a seemingly carefree smile has gone viral after he was given the moniker, "Ridiculously Photogenic Guy."

And as with any good meme, the photo has quickly spawned a number of altered versions of the original photograph, with users adding their own text, such as, "Goes For Run: Inadvertently Teaches World How To Spell "Ridiculously," and "Photobombs Wedding Picture: Nobody Minds." And maybe the best one yet, "Picture Gets Put Up As Employee Of The Month: For A Company That He Doesn't Work For."

The Post and Courier reports that the man in the photo is New York's Zeddie Little, 25, who was taking part in the Cooper River Bridge 10k run, which was held on March 31, in Charleston, South Carolina.

Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) systems analyst Will King, who was just taking a seemingly random photograph of runners in the middle of the race, snapped the photo and uploaded it to his Flickr account.

"One of my friends commented on the picture and said something along the lines of 'I dub this guy Mr. Ridiculously Photogenic,'" King said. "I thought it was a pretty cool comment, so I posted it on Reddit. For some reason it just took off from there."

By Wednesday afternoon, the photo had received more than 1.25 million hits on Flickr alone, where King originally posted the image.

"Everybody was running and he was just smiling at the camera. He wasn't struggling or anything," Jessica Crouch, the friend who came up with the "Ridiculously Photogenic Guy" title, told the Post and Courier. "It's unusual. His hair was perfect and he had the perfect smile. It just struck me as being really out of place."

Schmaltzy artist Thomas Kinkade dies at 54

From cnn [excerpt], Kinkade, 54, died at his home in Los Gatos in the San Francisco Bay Area of what appeared to be natural causes, David Satterfield said.

Kinkade called himself the "Painter of Light," and his sentimental paintings, with their scenes of country gardens and churches in dewy morning light, were beloved by many but reviled by the art establishment.

He claimed to be the nation's most collected living artist, and his paintings and spin-off products were said to fetch some $100 million a year in sales, and to be in 10 million homes in the United States.

Weekend Box Office: Hunger Games Trifecta Crashes American Reunion And Re-Sinks Titanic

From cinemablend, For a third weekend in a row Hunger Games dominated the box office and at the same time cruised past the $300 million mark in domestic sales. While the movie's continued success isn't shocking, it was something of a surprise to see it do so well against the new competition in theaters.

James Cameron relaunched his 1997 epic box office success romance/disaster flick Titanic in 3D this week, but after five days in theaters it has only earned $25 million, $17 million of it this weekend. That was good enough for 3rd place, but possibly not as good as some expected. Bear in mind though, for many this weekend is the celebration of Easter and Cameron's movies have a tendency towards long, slow box office burns. But this time around it's a fair bet Titanic 3D will sink quietly into icy waters, making its return to theaters nicely timed with the actual sinking of the Titanic's 100th anniversary, but ill timed for box office success.

Slightly outperforming Titanic was another throw back to the 90s, sequel to 1999'sAmerican Pie, American Reunion. Banking $21 million for second place, it only outdid its predecessor's $18 million opening weekend thanks to inflation. In today's ticket prices American Pie would have almost $30 million.

While this wasn't the slowest weekend in box office history, it was certainly a quiet one for all but the highest earners. It's rare to have two or even one top ten movie bank less than a million dollars. This weekend there were three, the lowest being Safe House which, in its ninth week, cleared the number ten spot with little better than $500,000.

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