Push sounds cumbersome

From slashfilm, Official Plot Synopsis: A riveting action-thriller, Push burrows deep into the deadly world of psychic espionage where artificially enhanced paranormal operatives have the ability to move objects with their minds, see the future, create new realities and kill without ever touching their victims. Against this setting, a young man and a teenage girl take on a clandestine agency in a race against time that will determine the future of civilization. The Division, a shadowy government agency, is genetically transforming citizens into an army of psychic warriors—and brutally disposing of those unwilling to participate. Nick Gant (Chris Evans), a second-generation telekinetic or “mover,” has been in hiding since the Division murdered his father more than a decade earlier. He has found sanctuary in densely populated Hong Kong—the last safe place on earth for fugitive psychics like him—but only if he can keep his gift a secret.

Dumb movie takes a somewhat timid box office weekend

From EW, Well, it seems like I was on the money...sort of. I'd predicted that Jim Carrey's Yes Man would, indeed, take the top slot on this weekend's box office derby, beating out Will Smith's Seven Pounds. But I figured that Yes Man would make twice the $18.2 million it did. And that Seven Pounds would take down $23 million, rather than $16 million. But there's no accounting for weather.

Because if you believe Al Roker, we had a mother of a storm system this weekend, blanketing much of the top half of the country in "no, we're not leaving the house today" snow/sleet/ice. So, while Yes Man and Seven Pounds were relatively strong openers in the grand scheme of things — especially Seven Pounds, which, again, doesn't have Big Willie blowing stuff up — it's entirely possible that they'd have performed better under sunny skies or starry nights.

Not sure much would've helped The Tale of Despereaux — while it fared much better than Delgo, its $10.5 million dollar opening doesn't bode well for a CG flick that cost a reported $60 million to make.

And the rest of the top 5 were holdovers — The Day the Earth Stood Still dropping an action-flick-standard 67 percent to sweep in another $10.1 million and Four Christmases sauntering over the $100 million mark.

Woolworths Stops Selling Lightsabers To Children Because They Look Like Guns

From slashfilm, The next battlefront in the war against guns won’t be in the nation’s law books, nor will it be done through community gatherings. It will be at your local Woolworths. According to the Metro (via The Daily What), Woolworths retail stores in the UK have decided to stop selling lightsabers because they resemble guns.

Last year, the UK made it illegal to sell imitation guns to kids. While lightsabers don’t fall into this category of toys, Woolworths appears to subscribe to the belief that it’s better to be safe than sorry. According to one industry insider quoted in the story, ” The act governing imitation firearms, says this would not be deemed to look like a gun, but Woolworths appears to not be taking any chances.”

No kidding.

Aging sucks

Ace Ventura Jr.

(2009) Zero stars

Yep, that's right, I'm giving it zero stars and I haven't seen the film yet. Hell, I haven't even seen the trailer. That picture is everything I need to know about Ace Ventura Jr.

Acid-Dropping Major League Pitcher Dies

Dock Ellis, who infamously claimed he pitched a no-hitter for Pittsburgh under the influence of LSD and later fiercely spoke out against drug and alcohol addiction, died Friday. He was 63.

His wife, Hjordis, said he died at the USC Medical Center in Los Angeles.

"It's a tremendous loss to the family," she said. "He's been struggling for about a year with the end stages of liver disease."

Read the rest of the LA Times Story Here.

The article doesn't mention my favorite part of the Dock Ellis no-hitter story, which is that throughout the game, the ball was talking to him and telling him what pitches to throw.

Burger King Makes Flame Broiled Cologne

From geekology, That's right folks, Burger King has come out with a cologne. Appropriately named Flame, 5ml bottles cost a staggering $4 and allegedly contain the intoxicating odor of flame-broiled burger. Mmmm.

On firemeetsdesire.com, Burger King takes pains make satire of the "sexy is serious" stylings of other fragrance campaigns, offering this description of the scent against a chic black background: "The WHOPPER sandwich is America's favorite burger. FLAME by BK captures the essence of that love and gives it to you. Behold the scent of seduction, with a hint of flame-broiled meat."

Alternatively, just rub yourself down with an actual burger. Hello ladies! What, you never seen a guy with a pickle on his neck?

Appetite for seduction: BK's new fragrance [msnbc]

Great New "My Bloody Valentine 3-D" Trailer

Today we have a new 30-second trailer for the upcoming "My Bloody Valentine" remake. I find it hard to believe that this movie will be anything special, but when you add White Zombie's "More Human Than Human" to a trailer, it instantly makes it seem better.

The new movie revolves around Tom Hanniger (Jensen Ackles), who returns to his hometown on the tenth anniversary of the Valentine's night massacre that claimed the lives of 22 people. Instead of a homecoming, however, Tom finds himself suspected of committing the murders, and it seems like his old flame (Jaime King) is the only one will believes he's innocent.

"My Bloody Valentine 3D" is directed by Patrick Lussier, the man behind "Dracula 2000" and "White Noise 2: The Light." His new movie is scheduled to hit theaters on January 16th, 2009.

See trailer here

Miller to direct Buck Rogers

From filmstalker, Frank Miller better find another directing style quickly or one of my favourite science fiction shows from my youth is going to end up looking like Sin City (Filmstalker review) - “no, The Spirit doesn't look like Sin City” - well it is panto season, you should now shout...

I'm not hearing good things about The Spirit so far, and even one comment that was simply “Frank Miller can't direct”, so I'm seriously concerned for this franchise and I'm wondering why they didn't try and go for someone with less comic book experience.

What I should have followed that with is “...and more directing experience”. Well hold up there, I have to interrupt myself and say that Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was originally a comic book serial, so perhaps this is a good choice.

Well the news from The Hollywood Reporter is that Frank Miller is to write and direct the Buck Rogers film, writing I can see, but directing I'm not so sure about. This could have the potential to be of Battlestar Galactica remake proportions but for the big screen, and I'm concerned that the director Frank Miller has only found one style so far, and Buck Rogers will end up being an experiment for him.

That said the article does state:

“...while the creator has only begun to sketch ideas, it's expected to be a darker take, with many of Miller's signature visual elements and themes, such as corruption and redemption.”
Now I do like the idea of Miller writing a darker version of the story and bringing his style to the script, but he's going to have to develop as a director to take this in a different direction than Spirit City.

At the moment though the news is that his company are still negotiating for the rights and the deal has yet to be secured, but should they get the deal it looks like Miller might be making the film version of Buck Rogers a priority, and that could mean before Sin City 2.

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry has Died

From slashfilm, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, died today of leukemia at her home in Bel-Air at the age of 76. She went peacefully and was surrounded by her son Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry Jr and family friends.

Majel Barrett has appeared in every incarnation of the popular science fiction series and is sometimes referred to as “the First Lady of Star Trek”. In addition to appearing on screen in various different capacities, Majel also provided the voice of starship onboard computers for The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, most of the Star Trek films and computer games. Majel recently completed voice work for JJ Abrams‘ Star Trek., reprising her role as the voice of the Starship Enterprise computer.

Totally Freaking COOL!

Bear with me as I set the story here...

Several months ago I was at a local nail salon with my sister getting our toes done. We were talking about kids and family, blah, blah, blah. There was a woman next to us who kind of got into the conversation, really friendly and all. As she is getting ready to leave she hands both Jules and I her business card: Manager, Creative Services Support at Hasbro. She says to us, "There is a store inside Hasbro where employees can go and they can take guests - you guys should call me."

Fast forward to this past Monday when I come across her card when cleaning out my purse. And I think to myself, "You know what - I am going to email this random chick and see what comes of it."
Well, ladies and gentlemen - what came of it was me standing third in line at the Hasbro "store" yesterday morning waiting to see all the bahgains! And I was standing next to a humongous Optimus Prime statue!

Picture me, like, 20 feet tall

Now the store itself is pretty small, and you're never really sure what is going to be there. Star Wars stuff was very limited, for example. But there were a lot of good games and some good Playskool stuff for the younger kiddos on my list. And it was all between 50-75% off from the store prices!!! Dudes, I cleaned UP!

And then, my new BFF took me on a tour of the entire place!! Toys everywhere! People's cubicles stuffed full of toys, racks of toys that they use for comparisons, toy prototypes halfway put together. The painting people, the future product packaging mock up people, the My Pretty Pony people! (Well, they weren't that cool.) AND, she took me up to see the TV studio they have and I got to watch a few minutes of a Wolverine commercial being filmed!

Holy shit, it was awesome!! And all I kept thinking was, I know some people who really wish they were with me right now!