Entries tagged with “movies”
The house that inspired ‘The Amityville Horror’ is up for sale. 5 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, finished basement, and “interesting history”. $1.15 million.
Speaking of awesome baseball movies, the farmhouse where ‘Field of Dreams’ was filmed is for sale. It has 193 acres, 7 buildings, and the home is 2 bedroom/1.5 bath/2400 sq. ft. It comes complete with the baseball field, corn field, and approximately 65,000 visitors per year. It’s a steal at only $5.4 million.
The intangible assets of the property are simply not measurable. The Field of Dreams owners have been honored to be a part of sports history these past 20 years and have played host to a variety of sports celebrities along the way. Moments of peace and quiet, family togetherness and most of all, magic and wonder have been among their greatest and most cherished memories. It has been a destination for millions of visitors and may continue to be the place many find peace and quiet in our modern day existence.
Ken Burns’ awesome “Baseball” documentary will have a new four-hour installment come September. It will bring the 1994 series up to date with what’s gone on in the past 16 years. Of special note is the Red Sox’ 2004 World Series win:
A coda to Baseball held appeal because of recent events around the game — and, for a long-suffering Sox fan such as Burns, as a way to celebrate the team’s 2004 World Series win. “I admit we would not be doing this had they not won,” Burns says. “But this will sit well with all fans.”
Yeah, that should sit well with Yankees fans.
Netflix won’t offer new releases from Warner Brothers on DVD or Blu-ray until 28 days after they go on sale. In return, Netflix will get access to more of WB’s catalog for streaming over the Internet.
I’m not sure why people are upset over this. The only movies I buy are movies that I know I will watch over and over and over again—so-called “Josh’s classics”—and Hollywood produces maybe one of them a year. If there’s a movie that I want to see that I didn’t see in the theater, why would having to wait 28 additional days entice me to go purchase it? It took me 3+ years to get around to seeing “The Last King of Scotland”, and I really wanted to see that one.
The Hollywood Reporter lists the top 10 movie flops of the decade.
I’ve seen four of them and gave them an average rating of 1.875 stars out of five. I completely forgot that “Battlefield Earth” was part of this decade.
Vodkaster has produced the best movies of all time subway map. Each genre is a separate line, and I love how they were able to do a pretty good job of intersecting the lines with movies that straddle genres. Nicely done.
Rotten Tomatoes lists the 100 worst movies of the decade. “Gigli” comes in at 73; “Glitter” barely breaks into the list at 99. “Aeon Flux” not on the list? Hmmm…not sure I trust it.
‘Topless Robot’ posts ‘Transformers 2 FAQ’
Since I finally got around to seeing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, I’ve been able to scour the web for reviews, critiques, etc. Topless Robot’s FAQ sums up the movie better than most, and if you haven’t seen the movie and plan on it, be careful following the link (there be spoilers).
Some gems included are:
And why couldn’t an Autobot translate these symbols?
Because Bumblebee is mute and the Racist Twins are poor black robots from the slums of Cybertron who never learned how to read. It’s a sad commentary on Cybertronian society. Like The Wire, actually.
and
Can you explain Megan Fox’s appeal?
Yes. She looks like a porn star and has the same acting talent as one, yet for some reason she makes mainstream movies. This tonal disconnect is what’s so appealing about her.
Do people really watch movies on this channel? IMDB lists the movie at 112 minutes long, yet they take 4 hours to show it.
Once again, I’ll do the math:
- Movie length = 112 minutes
- Total length of showing = 240 minutes
- Total commercial time = 128 minutes (total length - movie length)
- Amount of commercial time for each minute of movie time = 1.1 minutes (total commercial time / movie length)
That means that if they display 10 minutes of movie, you have to sit through 11 minutes of commercials.
How do they get away with this?
P.S. At least I’m consistent. The photo from the last time something like this happened showed that I was tuned to SNY at 9:37 p.m. Clearly, I’m fond of watching SNY at night and cruising the guide for something else to watch.
Time lapse movie of the night sky
Must’ve watched this at least 20 times.
The commander of the Space Shuttle mission to upgrade Hubble was in “Top Gun”
You know that scene where Maverick flies upside down on top of an enemy plane and gives the other guy the finger? Yeah, that was this guy.
While growing up in Manhattan, I had always heard about this type of thing, but had never seen it in person. I had seen references to it in movies and on TV, and friends and acquaintances swear it’s happened to them, but I had always thought that they made it up as sort of practical joke on a city kid. I had dismissed it as a myth or an urban legend—like unicorns, alligators in the sewers, or that girl that had to go to the hospital because she got a frozen hot dog stuck somewhere.
The other day, when I got home and picked up my mail, I saw an odd looking envelope mixed in with a magazine and another envelope containing local coupons. This envelope caught my attention because it was a first-class letter sized envelope with both my address and the return address handwritten on the front. It looked like something that a friend would send me, except that I knew of no friends with the return name or at the return address. Additionally, it was addressed to “Joshua Madison”, and about the only people who use that form of my name are my parents and the I.R.S., neither of whom this envelope came from.
I was intrigued, but also weary. Visions of some long lost relative who left me a million dollars danced in my head; so did anthrax.
I slowly and carefully opened it. Inside was what appeared to be a pamphlet that had been folded to fit inside an envelope, and wrapped around it was a handwritten note. I was so focused on whether or not the note was really handwritten, or just printed to look handwritten, that I actually didn’t read it at first. I just felt it to see if I could feel the handwriting…and I could. It was a real handwritten note from a stranger, addressed to me.
I started to read a bit. The person who wrote it wanted to tell me that they were a volunteer in my area, that they were unable to reach me in person, and “was hoping to share some positive thoughts with you.”
Oh boy.
I could see where this was going, so I decided to finish the rest of it while sitting on the throne dropping some kids off at the pool.
I continued to read about how life may feel like a hamster wheel, and how you can be famous or wealthy one day and lose it all the next, but luckily, the enclosed magazine could make me feel truly successful, so successful that even if I were to lose everything I wouldn’t feel as though I’ve somehow failed.
I opened the little magazine and it was called “Awake!”. I looked at the table of contents and noticed a very slight religious tone to the articles, such as “How Does God View Aids to Worship?”, and “Was It Designed? The Navigational System of the Butterfly”, and “Young People Ask How Can I Improve in My Prayers?”
Oh, this is so not for me.
But before I threw it out, I was curious about who really sent it. I figured it would be the Mormons, or maybe that Scientology thing. I looked around the table of contents but couldn’t find anything that obviously spelled out who was responsible. I flipped the pages a bit and found the publishing information. It was published by some outfit called, “The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society”.
“Wait, that sounds familiar,” I thought. “Where do I know that name from?”
My mind started accessing information pathways that hadn’t been used in some time. For some reason, the Brooklyn Bridge popped into my head, followed by a building in Brooklyn, then…
“Oh my god! Could it be?! Is this them?!!” I ejaculated.
As quick as I could, I got to my computer and looked it up. It was.
IT WAS!!!
It was published by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and this letter and magazine must be the Manhattan equivalent of them knocking on doors. It’s really real. Perhaps everything everyone told me, and what I had seen in movies and on TV, were real as well? It took 35 years, but the Jehovah’s Witnesses finally made contact.
I just hope I don’t get more of this crap.
Update: Almost forgot…the return address from the envelope is about 12 blocks North from me, and I walk by it all the time, but I never knew there was a Jehovah’s Witness hall there.
What if “Watchmen” were a Saturday morning cartoon from the 80’s?
If you didn’t watch Saturday morning cartoons in that era, you have no idea how accurate this is.
Don LaFontaine died
In a world where he’s pretty much been the only voice of movie trailers you know, he’ll be missed.
His Geico commercial is the best. There’s also a mini biopic.
When a movie review is better and funnier than the movie it reviews
A. O. Scott on “The Love Guru”:
No, “The Love Guru” is downright antifunny, an experience that makes you wonder if you will ever laugh again.
‘Highlander’ being remade
“There can be only two”
Iron Man trailer to be adapted into feature-length film
Again, Hollywood is just out of fresh ideas.
Al Gore wins Nobel Peace Prize
I guess it’s time for me to see that movie of his. It’ll be on Showtime HD on 10/21 at 12:30pm.
Kenneth Branagh’s version of Hamlet is not only the complete, unabridged, long version that faithfully recreates Will’s vision that doesn’t cut out “unimportant” scenes for time, it’s also visually stunning, and very well acted. In short, it’s the best movie version of Hamlet.
It’s a shame that it’s taken Warner Brothers so long to bring this beautiful movie out on DVD. The only downside is that it’s only on DVD. This movie screams for High Definition. I don’t have HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, but if this movie were available in HD and with 300 and Planet Earth also in HD, it might be time to take the plunge. Here’s hoping that it doesn’t take Warner Brothers another 10+ years to get this out on HD.
Hollywood is officially out of fresh ideas
Does “Footloose” really need to be remade?
According to an analyst at Piper Jaffray, 500,000 iPhones were sold between 6pm Friday and 6pm Sunday. Furthermore, the report indicates that 95% of the iPhones sold were the 8GB ($600) model. With that info, let’s look at the numbers:
- Assuming the Piper Jaffray model ratio is correct, 475,000 8GB models were sold for a total of about $285 million, and 25,000 4GB models were sold for a total of about $12.5 million, bringing the combined total to $297.5 million.
- If we use the Piper Jaffray total of 500,000, but use the Josh Madison ratio of 60% 8GB to 40% 4GB, then 300,000 8GB models were sold for a total of $180 million, and 200,000 4GB models were sold for a total of $100 million, bringing the combined total to $280 million.
- Ratatouille, according to Box Office Mojo, brought in $47.2 million for the weekend.
Clearly, the iPhone won. Was there really any doubt?
Today is June 29th, and if you’ve been living under a rock for the last few days, today’s the day that Apple’s iPhone is unleashed upon the general public. It also happens to be the day that Disney/Pixar’s newest movie, “Ratatouille”, opens. Just to make sure that everyone understands the connection, Steve Jobs is the CEO of Apple, Inc., and he was the CEO of Pixar before Disney bought them not too long ago. Mr. Jobs is currently the largest shareholder of Disney stock.
This leads me to wonder…which of Mr. Jobs “babies” will have a bigger opening weekend in terms of dollars?
According to Box Office Mojo, the biggest opening weekend of all time is “Spider-Man 3” at just over $151 million. The biggest opening weekend for an animated movie is “Shrek the Third” at around $121.6 million. The biggest opening weekend for a Pixar animated movie is “The Incredibles” at $70.5 million.
Let’s assume that “Ratatouille” will beat “Spider-Man 3” as the largest opening weekend for a movie and will do so at $155 million (I don’t think it will, but we’re just going to use that as a round number). For the iPhone to beat $155 million, Apple/AT&T needs to sell 310,000 of the 4GB ($500) model, or 258,334 of the 8GB ($600) model. Since I suspect that the sales ratio of iPhone models will be 60% 8GB and 40% 4GB, Apple/AT&T needs to sell 155,000 of the 8GB model and 116,000 of the 4GB model, with a grand total of 271,000 combined.
Based on the line at the Apple Store on 5th Avenue, which I can now see from my office on Madison Avenue, I’d say that the iPhone will beat “Ratatouille” in the opening dollars game.
Update: Posted a wrap-up of the amount of money each made based on analysts reports.
On this date in 1977, Star Wars opened in theaters. I never got to see it in the theater until the Special Edition came out.
I have a very vivid memory of the first time I saw Star Wars, that I assume most men have. I don’t remember exactly how old I was, but I was pretty young. I was with my parents and we were visiting my father’s colleague’s country house. They had a new fangled contraption called a VCR which allowed you to watch a movie on a VHS tape, and my father told me to give Star Wars a chance. He sat me down in front of the TV and I never realized that he left the room.
I was totally lost by the story (I was pretty young), but I loved the Stormtroopers and Darth Vader. To this day, I can still recall the room, TV, and bed I was in at the time, and see the opening of the movie when the Stormtroopers break down the door of the Tantive IV.
Whenever I interview prospective employees these days, I always ask the question, “Star Wars or Star Trek?”
Here’s a photo from a convention (I’ve never been to one), and I’m almost ashamed to say that I find it totally hot:
T. rex is distant cousin of the chicken
They might need to revise “Jurassic Park” and change all that roaring to clucking.
U2 has a concert movie coming out in the fall of 2007. It’s in 3D, but you can catch the preview in plain old 2D. There used to be a time when if you wanted to see a band in 3D, you went to a concert.
From tonight’s episode of “The Simpsons”:
This episode is dedicated to all who died in the “Star Wars” films
Darth Vader
Darth Maul
Greedo
Uncle Owen
Storm Trooper #5
Jango Fett
General Grievous (Droid)
Storm Trooper #22
Dak
Obi Wan (Ben) Kenobi
Whoever Jimmy Smits Played
Hutt, Jabba The
Sy Snoodles
Unfortunately, Not Jar-Jar Binks
Everyone on both Death Stars when they blew up
I was especially saddened by Storm Trooper #22’s death.
Guy restores “Christmas Story” house
What do you do if you loved the movie “A Christmas Story” and have a spare $500,000? Well, if you’re Brian Jones, you buy the house used in the movie and restore it, complete with leg lamp. On the fact that “A Christmas Story” is shown 24 hours straight every Christmas, Jones, who’s married with an 8-month-old daughter, said:
It just kind of sets the mood. In the Jones household, it’s on all day once the marathon comes on.
I don’t know who I feel sorry for most, his wife or the daughter. I’m going with the daughter…she didn’t have a choice.
New Farrelly brothers movie in the works
Johnny Knoxville plays a guy who pretends to have a mental illness so he can win at the Special Olympics. Glad to see they are using a new idea that no one has used before. It’s not like South Park had a similar episode recently or anything.
Thanks to TheForce.Net I was able to view the dancing Yoda easter egg on the DVD.
I have a SONY DVD player and I had to enter the 1138 as
1 enter 1 enter 3 enter 8 enter
(took some trial and error) and then it started.
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