Time Warner cable to offer Web Television
May 31, 2008
Time Warner will soon be offering its users a way to stream Internet video to their television screens as part of an overall home networking system. In short, Time Warner is getting into the same business that Apple TV has already gotten into long ago.
“We’re actually going to have equipment we make available to subscribers,” stated Chief Executive Glenn Brit at the Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York this past Friday. “It’s actually going to be a new wireless cable modem that will allow you to network everything in your home.”
With Verizon FIOS soon to be potentially offered in New York City, it’s small wonder that Time Warner is trying to expand their offerings to the public. I guess that would beat doing something radical, like lowering their monthly fee or offering a greater selection of channels. At least this way they do not have to supply new content. Via[tvsquad]
Speak Talk: Al Pacino, Felicity Huffman, Anderson Cooper
May 31, 2008
Here’s who’s on the late night shows tonight.
- Charlie Rose: Philip Bobbitt and Tony Judt
- The Late Show with David Letterman: Al Pacino and David Wright (repeat)
- Jay Leno: Conan O’Brien, Anderson Cooper, and Allison Moorer (repeat)
- Jimmy Kimmel Live: John Cusack, Sofia Vergara, and The Jonas Brothers (repeat)
- Tavis Smiley: Phil Donahue (repeat)
- Late Night with Conan O’Brien: Christina Ricci, Jason Sudeikis, and Shooter Jennings (repeat)
- The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson: Felicity Huffman and Mike Doughty (repeat)
- Last Call with Carson Daly: Sheryl Crow and Romany Malco (repeat)
Out of the Blogosphere
May 31, 2008
What’s happening on other blogs via the interweb.
- You’ve read our discussion of the Lost finale, now read the Hollywood Reporter’s, James Poniewozik’s, and Alan Sepinwall’s. Also, here’s news about the ratings the finale got.
- Is the head of The CW, Dawn Ostroff, on her way out?
- Is ABC already ahead when it comes to this fall’s new shows?
- Another season of The Two Coreys starts on June 22. Oh, great.
- The Wall Street Journal weighs in on the American Office vs. British Office debate.
- Eddie Griffin is being sued over an incident on his new VH-1 show.
- The Sci-Fi Channel has launched a new gaming blog called Fidgit.
Frank Miller Promises ‘The Spirit’ Won’t Be a Return to ‘Sin City’
May 31, 2008
Frank Miller is just blogging like crazy these days. Which is great — I wish everybody I ever wrote about had a blog, because it would make everything ten times easier and more interesting. No conjecture. Straight from the horse’s mouth!
Today, Miller addressed the concerns and criticism directed at the first teaser for The Spirit, mainly centered on its resemblance to the eye-popping Sin City. “It only resembles Sin City in that I’m its director, and, well, yes, I’ve my ways and my proclivities …. No, Sin City, that one’s my own baby, folks, and it looks the way it does for its own reasons. The Spirit is, and will always be, Eisner’s Spirit …. To drive the point home, The Spirit , despite any accidental impression left by that kickass teaser-trailer, is a full-color movie. Sin City - and I hope to make of it a motion picture trilogy all its own, come Hell and high water - is, visually, a playhouse for black and white.”
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MTV Spoofs ‘Tropic Thunder’, ‘Spider-Man’, ‘The Matrix Reloaded’, ‘LOTR’ and ‘Titanic 2′
May 31, 2008
So since there’s a little something called The MTV Motion picture Awards tomorrow night, we thought it might be fun to take a look back at a few of their funnier spoof segments from over the years. Keep in mind there’s literally tons of spoofs from more films than you can count, but I’ve gone and plucked out four pretty funny ones. Well, I think they’re funny. But first, watch as Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. get together to brainstorm viral videos for this summer’s Tropic Thunder — then, after the jump, we head back in time for Jack Black as Spider-Man, Seann William Scott and Justin Timberlake in The Matrix Reloaded, Jack Black and Sarah Michelle Gellar in Lord of the Rings, and Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn attempting to convince James Cameron to do a Titanic 2. Fun stuff. Tell us your favorites.
‘An Inconvenient Truth’ Gets the Operatic Treatment
May 31, 2008
Just when it seemed like Al Gore couldn’t reassert his international stature any further comes word that An Inconvenient Truth is getting turned into an opera. Seriously. Currently in planning stages for the 2011 season at Italy’s Milan opera home, the new work will undoubtedly carry the same tone of global peril that the ersatz vice president enforces in the film, even though one imagines they’ll probably do away with some of the dry Power Point material. It’s not the most practical choice for an adaptation, that’s for sure: The way it’s assembled in the film, Gore’s lecture manages to engage a diverse audience, while the guy comes off as assertive and witty, which makes you wonder what sort of president he would have made — but that singular charm doesn’t necessarily translate into the sort of theatrics demanded by a big stage spectacle. Read more
‘Donnie Darko’ Sequel Adds Elizabeth Berkeley
May 31, 2008
So it looks like I have to disabuse myself of the notion that this story was some sort of fever dream or hallucination on my part. A Donnie Darko sequel, titled S. Darko, is happening, and Elizabeth Berkeley, that fearless queen of the C-list, has joined the cast. She will play “a speed freak-turned-Jesus freak whose sentiments about ridding the world of its exponential sin are rivaled only by her infatuation with her dreamy pastor.” No word on who plays the dreamy pastor, but Berkeley joins Justin Chatwin, Ed Westwick and the original film’s Daveigh Chase. Chase reprises her role as Donnie’s sister Samantha, who leaves Sparkle Motion to go on a road trip with her best friend (Brianna Evigan) only to be plagued by nightmarish visions.
What’s most curious about S. Darko is that while it has begun production, with TV veteran Chris Fisher at the helm, I can’t find word anywhere about who the screenwriter is. What gives? The stories about the film have given the impression that Fisher was hired by the producers to direct; if so, where did the project originate? It seemed to come out of nowhere earlier in the month. [cinematical]
Rainn Wilson: action star - VIDEO
May 30, 2008
It just has a ring to it, do not you think? I doubt that we will see Rainn bulking up Stallone-style to save the world with a knife and his guile, but he did just . It doesn’t really get more action movie than that. Wilson will play a college professor to Shia LaBeouf’s Sam. It will be interesting to see how much, if any, Schrute makes it into the character.
But wait, there’s more. Fans of the gone but not forgotten Las Vegas will be happy to learn that Josh Duhamel will be returning for the sequel. And fans of ridiculously hot girls will be happy to know that FHM’s Sexiest Woman In The World, Megan Fox, is also returning. A warning, that FHM link is safe for my workplace, but might not be for yours. If you can’t wait for Bay to complete all of those CGI sequences to get your Rainn fix, you can also catch him this summer in The Rocker as a failed drummer who gets a second chance at fame. That one also features Teddy Geiger (Love Monkey), and the trailer is : Read more
Tobey Maguire Still Top Pick for ‘Spider-Man 4′
May 30, 2008
A few days ago, Latino Review broke the news that Patrick Fugit was being considered as the heir to the Spider-Man throne. His suitability was hotly debated, but apparently all for nothing if the Internet is to be believed.
CHUD happened to be on set of Cirque du Freak, which Fugit has just completed filming, and one of the producers sent off an inquiry as to the truth of the casting rumor. The e-mail was the first Fugit had heard about it — which means little in the world of “insider scoops,” as Fugit could still quite possibly be on a “to be considered” list. Each 20-something male in the world could be on it. Maybe there is a Cinematical reader just waiting to be plucked from obscurity! Read more
Two Star Trek veterans died this month !
May 30, 2008
It’s not often that two people are so connected in these Television obituary roundup posts I do each week or so, but these two people are worth mentioning in the same post.
Alexander Courage, who composed the theme song for the original Star Trek series, died on Might 15 at age 88. He also did music for episodes of many other series, including Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Waltons, Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, The Loner, Eight is Enough, Daniel Boone, Riverboat, and many others. He was also an orchestrator on several movies, including L.A. Confidential, The Haunting, The Mummy, First Knight, The Shadow, Rudy, Malice, Hook, Sleeping with the Enemy, The Poseidon Adventure, Hello Dolly, My Fair Lady, Guys and Dolls, and a ton of others. But Courage wasn’t the only Star Trek figure to pass away that week. Via [tvsquad]
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