Internet dwelling movie and TV nerds have long lauded the genius of TVTropes.org, a massive, usually hilarious database of nearly every recurring cliche found in fiction. The site has all the old school Greek, Shakespearean, and Biblical archetypes, but where TV Tropes really shines is in its multitude of nuanced, previously nameless ideas that you’ve seen a million variations on, most of which have hysterically appropriate names like Shut Up, Hannibal and Beard of Sorrow.
It’s truly a rabbit hole of delightful time-suck, especially when you’re exhaustively searching for one terribly specific trope. Case in point, as I set to work on my review for the Dakota Fanning sci-fi action thriller Push, my first order of business was to summarize the totally effing exhausted cliche that the whole story’s built around.
Dazed Digital premiered a new short film directed by Roman Polanski as part of a spoof on marketing campaigns for high-end goods. The Oscar-winning director’s faux perfume ad stars Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams - and it also happens to be, with apologies to Adrien Brody, the sexiest film Polanski has made since Bitter Moon.
Thanks to the keen-eyed folks at TwitchFilm for spotting this one.
While he may not be a familiar face to the average American moviegoer, Riki Takeuchi is still a hero to Japanese cult film enthusiasts everywhere. As an actor he’s always willing to go the distance in order to make an impression, his dedication to the craft unforgettably evidenced in such outrageous cult favorites as Fudoh: The New Generation, the Dead or Alive trilogy, and Deadly Outlaw: Rekka.
I haven’t a clue what the song is about… all I know is that the video made my day, and I want the song on my iPod so I can encourage my daughter to dance around the house maniacally to it.
Hitting the Internet this week only is a new miniseries from Joss Whedon, the multi-talented creator of such beloved television series as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and the criminally short-lived Firefly. If the combo of Neil Patrick Harris, musicals, superheroes vs. villains, Nathan Fillion, and Joss Whedon co-writing and directing sounds good to you, rejoice! Thanks to the writer’s strike, he and several of his compatriots got frustrated, bored, and inspired, and rather than let their creative juices fester under the burden of not being able to write for film or TV, they came up with a plan for an Internet-distributed production, the “supervillain musical” Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.
The men and women of Pixar have not only come up with arguably the best film of the summer, but they’ve also cooked up the best viral marketing site as well.
The only thing that could make it better: More Fred Willard.
Snacking on some lunch and checking out the latest links over at Neatorama, I stumbled across a curious little short film by the mute illusionist most folks know as the shorter half of long-time comedy/magic duo Penn and Teller. Of course anyone familiar with their cable television series Bullshit or their popular Las Vegas act knows that the man they call Teller isn’t exactly the outspoken type, so it’s just about as disconcerting to hear him talk as it is to see him taunting the living dead.
At a time when the zombie trend once again seems to have run its course (Day of the Dead remake, anyone?), perhaps this melancholy little short is a fitting epitaph for the lurching sub-genre.
The line between your computer and TV gets a whole lot blurrier today with the public launch of Hulu.com. It’s hard not to be impressed by the joint NBC/Fox venture. Full episodes of TV shows from 30 Rock to House and full-length feature films like The Usual Suspects and Ice Age are all available at no charge, streaming in high-quality. Many are even available in HD.
It’s ad-supported, and playing around a little, I saw a few different advertising models. Some movies give you the option of watching one trailer before your selection or a few commercials throughout. Others don’t give you the option and you either just watch a trailer and the movie plays without interruption or a handful of commercials play at random intervals. I also saw one not-too-intrusive overlay add at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds during one of my selections.
Internet dwelling movie and TV nerds have long lauded the genius of TVTropes.org, a massive, usually hilarious database of nearly every recurring cliche found in fiction. The site has all the old school Greek, Shakespearean, and Biblical archetypes, but where TV Tropes really shines is in its multitude of nuanced, previously nameless ideas that you’ve seen a million variations on, most of which have hysterically appropriate names like Shut Up, Hannibal and Beard of Sorrow. 
Hitting the Internet this week only is a new miniseries from 
The men and women of Pixar have not only come up with arguably the best film of the summer, but they’ve also cooked up 
The line between your computer and TV gets a whole lot blurrier today with the public launch of 
In addition to 
