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obsession  | boyfriend  | i'm psyched  | i'm dreading  | enemy  | |
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giveaway: 'Happy-Go-Lucky' poster
RULES: You're eligible to win if 1) You have not won anything from me in 2008; 2) You have a U.S. mailing address; 3) You enter once and only once.
British director Mike Leigh's new movie, Happy-Go-Lucky -- starring Sally Hawkins as Poppy, an irrepressibly free-spirited school teacher who brings an infectious laugh and an unsinkable sense of optimism to every situation she encounters -- opens today in limited release and wide on October 24. To celebrate, I'm giving away two posters from the film, courtesy of Miramax Films.
Enter by using this link to send your name and U.S. mailing address.
(Visit the movie's official site.) (Watch the film's trailer.)
ENTER BY: 11:59pm Eastern time, Sunday, October 19.
Winners are chosen at random from all eligible entries received.
NOTE: Your email address and mailing address will be used ONLY for contest purposes. You will not be added to any mailing lists; you will not be spammed as a result of entering. All contest entries are discarded at the end of the contest period.
what I'm watching
| region 1 | region 1 | region 1 | region 2 |
  |   |   |   |
recent comments
Susan wrote: "Carey, I'd love to knit an adipose,..." [more]
• In Bruges (review) (15)
MaryAnn wrote: " I think you misinterpr..." [more]
• screencap Friday: what the flick? #40 (5)
MaryAnn wrote: "All wrong...." [more]
• watch it: "Eddie Izzard - Stonehenge" (3)
MaryAnn wrote: "Seconded and passed: Eddie Izzard i..." [more]
• British box office: 'How to Lose Friends...' wins friends (3)
MaryAnn wrote: "Yeah, the trailer is terrible. Pres..." [more]
• prepare yourself: the American 'Life on Mars' is landing (and so is 'Eleventh Hour') (18)
MaryAnn wrote: " MaryAnn, Your premise,..." [more]
• trailer break: 'Quarantine' (10)
MaryAnn wrote: "We've already got a Mary Poppins mu..." [more]
• oh my god oh my god oh my god 'Doctor Who' is back (32)
MaryAnn wrote: "It wasn't my clip -- I didn't uploa..." [more]
• me on Christopher Eccleston's 'Doctor Who' (5)
blake wrote: "I sent a E-mail to you, spelt your ..." [more]
• as predicted, the American 'Life on Mars' made me cry (13)
blake wrote: "So what are you saying, MaryAnn? I..." [more]
• Body of Lies (review) (2)
MaryAnn wrote: "Fixed...." [more]
• first pix of David Tennant in 'Love's Labour's Lost' (9)
bronxbee wrote: "" I mean the doublet and hose look ..." [more]
• dream cast: hypothetical 'WarGames' remake (3)
MaryAnn wrote: " We've had other teen-t..." [more]
• trailer break: 'Happy-Go-Lucky' (2)
MaryAnn wrote: "It's not a rehash of *Amelie.*..." [more]
• Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (review) (8)
Drave wrote: "Good call on this movie, MaryAnn. I..." [more]
• watch it: "Building Stonehenge - This Man can Move Anything" (3)
Michael wrote: "I saw this a while back and sent it..." [more]
• eating more chips.... (3)
bronxbee wrote: "it's obvious that my brain is still..." [more]
• a few random thoughts from England (8)
bronxbee wrote: ""I wonder if it's just me, or wheth..." [more]
• the oh-no! DVD of the week: 'Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1976-1979' (3)
Tonio Kruger wrote: "You think that's odd, MaryAnn? Try..." [more]
• watch it: "Kid Rock Warrior Video" (25)
Tonio Kruger wrote: "Well, it is a Kid Rock song. What d..." [more]
giveaway: 'What Just Happened' autographed book
RULES: You're eligible to win if 1) You have not won anything from me in 2008; 2) You have a U.S. mailing address; 3) You enter once and only once.
The Hollywood satire What Just Happened -- starring Robert DeNiro, Bruce Willis, Stanly Tucci, Catherine Keener, Sean Penn, Robin Wright Penn, and directed by Barry Levinson -- opens October 17. To celebrate, I'm giving away two copies of the novel What Just Happened, upon which the movie is based, autographed by author Art Linson, who drew on his real experience as a movie producer. The books come courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
Enter by using this link to send your name and U.S. mailing address.
(Visit the movie's official site.)
ENTER BY: 11:59pm Eastern time, Sunday, October 19.
Winners are chosen at random from all eligible entries received.
NOTE: Your email address and mailing address will be used ONLY for contest purposes. You will not be added to any mailing lists; you will not be spammed as a result of entering. All contest entries are discarded at the end of the contest period.
[buy at Amazon (Region 1)] [buy at Amazon (Region 2)]trailer break: 'Quarantine'
Take a break from work: watch a movie trailer...
It's the Rage virus meets the housing crisis. I hear there are some apartments going cheap in Los Angeles...
Quarantine opens today, without benefit of press screenings.
screencap Friday: what the flick? #40
Friday fun! Here's a screen capture from one of the DVDs in my collection (and it's definitely from a movie, not a TV show). Guess the movie for fun and, well, fun. No prizes, just bragging rights. But hey: one guess per comment -- no fair hogging all the guesses.
watch it: "Eddie Izzard - Stonehenge"
as predicted, the American 'Life on Mars' made me cry
I rewatched the first episode of the British Life on Mars [Amazon U.K.], which I hadn't seen in a couple of months at least, before I tuned into last night's debut of the American remake, and I'm both sorry and glad that I did. Glad because it reminded me that I'll always have the British series, which -- as I've said more than once before -- is probably the single greatest television show ever, in the history of TV. And sorry because it only highlighted how embarrassingly poor an imitation this new series is.
continue reading "as predicted, the American 'Life on Mars' made me cry" »
Body of Lies (review)
Matters of Trust
How do you win a war you can't win? The long answer is part of what Body of Lies explores: the machinations and motivations of the warriors fighting that unwinnable war, how they throw away their seeming advantages that are actually disadvantages (and how tough that can be), how they attempt to get into the heads of their enemies, the hell they put themselves through in the process. But the short answer is probably: You don't. You don't win it. You just go on losing it for a long, long time.
continue reading "Body of Lies (review)" »
trailer break: 'Happy-Go-Lucky'
Take a break from work: watch a movie trailer...
Mark my words: Sally Hawkins is going to be a huge star.
Happy-Go-Lucky opens in limited release October 10.
watch it: "Building Stonehenge - This Man can Move Anything"
Gravity is his favorite tool:
me on Christopher Eccleston's 'Doctor Who'
I've gotten a few emails and comments recently bemoaning the "fact" that I haven't written about Christopher Eccleston's episodes of Doctor Who the way I did about David Tennant's. The truth is, actually, that I did... sorta. I started, anyway, though not with quite the same depth or approach, back when my blog Geek Philosophy was extant. That blog got swallowed up by MaryAnnJohanson.com, and I still haven't fixed all the linkage, and it's a bit of a mess trying to find those posts there. So here are the direct links to what exists of my blogging on Eccleston's Doctor:
"Rose"/"The End of the World"
"The Unquiet Dead"/"Aliens of London"
"World War Three"/"Dalek"
"The Long Game"/"Father's Day"
And that's as far as I got. I'll probably just start over again here at FlickFilosopher.com looking at each episode in depth, as preparation for the book I'm planning on Eccleston's Doctor (and yes, a book on Tennant's will follow as well). For now, though, you can enjoy these.
British box office: 'How to Lose Friends...' wins friends
My experiment with exploring global box office numbers continues. I think I'll eventually start looking at numbers beyond North America and the U.K., but I'm trying to get a hold on what the U.K. numbers mean first.
British box office numbers are not as readily available as North American ones, but it seems that the previous weekend's figures are available by midweek. So here's how this past weekend shaped up:
1. How to Lose Friends & Alienate People: $2 million (NEW)
2. Taken: $1.9 million (2nd week)
3. Tropic Thunder: $1.7 million (3rd week)
4. Mamma Mia!: $1.3 million
5. Death Race: $.8 million (2nd week)
continue reading "British box office: 'How to Lose Friends...' wins friends" »
dream cast: hypothetical 'WarGames' remake
It's Thursday, so it's time to remake an 80s classic TV show or movie with an all-new cast. This week: WarGames, the 1983 thriller that taught America to be terrified of smart but slackerish Xers who like to goof around with computers.
(If you have a suggestion for an 80s TV show or movie we should play with, feel free to email me.)
continue reading "dream cast: hypothetical 'WarGames' remake" »
first pix of David Tennant in 'Love's Labour's Lost'
trailer break: 'The Elephant King'
Take a break from work: watch a movie trailer...
Lessons from the indie world: Don't have any family and don't travel to Thailand.
The Elephant King opens in limited release October 17.
more reasons why U.S. geeks need region-free DVD players
If you don't already own a region-free DVD player, American geeks, here's all the incentive you should need to get one: Now available for sale via Amazon U.K. is the Region 2 box set of Season 4 of Battlestar Galactica. You can't get it yet in the U.S. In fact, Amazon U.S. won't even tell you when Season 4 might be available here. The best it can do is let you sign up to be notified when the release date is announced.
This is only slightly better: new box sets of the Star Wars Original and Prequel trilogies were just released in the U.K. Region-free-free Americans have to wait only another month of so for our editions of the flicks.
Mobile (review)
This British miniseries is a wild, outrageous ride through the conspiracy theories of the moment, wrapped in a paranoid, blow-'em-up, all-stops-out thriller. Take your pick: Cell phones give you brain cancer. The Iraq war was a plot to make rich industrialists even richer (did you know that before the 2004 war, Iraq was one of the very few nations left on Earth without cell-phone coverage?). Corporations are run by evil men. Modern life is killing us all, either metaphorically or actually. It's all here. Across four 50-minute episodes that look at events from four different perspectives, we see cell-phone towers across England get blown up, scary drive-by motorcyclists taking out drivers talking on their mobiles in heavy traffic, yakkers on trains getting bullets through the head... Is it someone -- or more than one someone -- with an axe to grind against obnoxious cell-phone users, or is something even more insidious going on? (Hint: It's something even more insidious.) By the end of episode one, which focuses on a former engineer for a cell-phone company (Neil Fitzmaurice) who is dying of brain tumor and has a huge grudge against his former employer, I was groaning at how ridiculous the whole thing was. But I was too intrigued to stop watching. Episode two is all about an army sharpshooter (Jamie Draven) who misses going into Iraq with his buddies and is pretty pissed off at that, so he gets himself into some bad trouble with cell phones. (Yes, it makes sense, actually.) Episode three is about a telecom exec (Michael Kitchen: Proof of Life) with, yes, a grudge regarding cell phones. Connecting them all, in one way or another, is another telecom exec played by Keith Allen, who plays the Sheriff of Nottingham on the new Robin Hood, and is just as evil. Did I mention the ending, which is so preposterous that I almost threw something at the TV, and yet I loved it anyway? It's kind of awesome that TV can be so silly as this, and still so satisfying.
[buy at Amazon (Region 1)] [buy at Amazon (Region 2)]viewed at home on a small screen
not rated
IMDB
watch it: "Could Stonehenge Be About To Give Up Some Of Its Secrets?"
From Britain's Sky News, a bit of history:
'The Princess Bride' on the big screen
And me in person to talk about it.
Next Wednesday, October 15, I'll be up in Gloucester, Massachusetts, at the new Cape Ann Community Cinema, hosting a free showing of The Princess Bride and selling and signing copies of my book, The Totally Geeky Guide to The Princess Bride [Amazon U.S.] [Amazon U.K.].
The show starts at 7:15pm, at The Gloucester Stage Company at 267 East Main St. in East Gloucester. For more info, go to Mass Bay Film Project.
prepare yourself: the American 'Life on Mars' is landing (and so is 'Eleventh Hour')
The American Life on Mars debuts tomorrow night at 10pm Eastern on ABC. I'm all stocked up on the liquor I'll need to get through it. This "sneak preview" makes me cringe:
Patrick Stewart as a Time Lord?
The Sun says it's so, with quotes from Stewart and everything, so it's probably not total bullshit:
ACTING legend Patrick Stewart is to make a giant leap across space — from Star Trek to Doctor Who.He has agreed to a major role in the Time Lord's next series after teaming up with the Doctor (David Tennant) on stage.
continue reading "Patrick Stewart as a Time Lord?" »
a film and TV critic notes the details of the economic collapse
I traveled into Manhattan today for the first time since I returned home from England on Saturday. I was only away for 10 days, fer pete's sake, and yet evidence of economic terror was suddenly everywhere. For one, two delis I visited in the theater district, hoping to pick up a soda to sneak into my screening of Body of Lies this afternoon, had the gall to be asking, at one, $2.25, and at the other, $2.50 for a 20-ounce Diet Dr Pepper. The going rate had previously been $1.50, $1.75, maybe at an extreme $1.90. I refused to give in to such extortion, and went sans soda to my screening. Fortunately, another retailer I frequent -- a newsstand in a subway station on my way home -- was still charging his usual $1.75, so I satisfied my artificially-sweetened-water jones later. Still... $2.50 for a soda not purchased at a multiplex concession stand? Outrageous!
continue reading "a film and TV critic notes the details of the economic collapse" »
trailer break: 'The End of America'
Take a break from work: watch a movie trailer...
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
The End of America is screening at the Hamptons Film Festival later this month, and coming to DVD soon.
watch it: "Spinal Tap - Stonehenge"
Stonehenge-themed videos all this week...
the oh-no! DVD of the week: 'Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1976-1979'
Now, I love Johnny Cash, but something about this terrifies me. Perhaps one Christmas special on its own would be fine, but the piling on of them just feels wrong. Did we learn nothing from the plague of 70s celebrity variety shows?
[buy at Amazon (Region 1)]my week at the movies: 'The Secret Life of Bees,' 'Body of Lies,' 'Good Dick,' 'Eagle Eye,' 'RocknRolla,' 'Religulous'
The jetlag is lingering -- I'm wide awake at 3am, and ready to collapse by 5pm -- but I'm forcing myself back into the swing of things with a full slate of movies.
It's South Carolina, 1964, and all cannot be well, can it? The Secret Life of Bees (opens wide October 17) is a young girl's coming-of-age story, featuring interracial friendship and beekeeping. I predict a few stings will be in the offing along the way. Should be worth the time, though, with a cast including the likes of Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, and Sophie Okonedo.
The cast is the big draw for me when it comes to Body of Lies (opens October 10), too, which I mentioned earlier. Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio will surely be explosive together. I just hope the movie beyond them doesn't end up feeling like we've seen it all before.
'Heroes' blogging: "I Am Become Death"
(previous: Chapters One and Two: "One of Us, One of Them")
I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naive
I'm just out to find
The better part of meI'm more than a bird...i'm more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside a train
It's not easy to be me
Everyone thinks superheroes got it made. Not so.
[spoiler-laden commentary on tonight's Heroes after the jump!]
continue reading "'Heroes' blogging: "I Am Become Death"" »
'Sarah Connor Chronicles' blogging: "Goodbye to All That"
(previous: Episode 4: "Allison from Palmdale")
I find myself moved to snark on the robots from the future and the impending doom of the human race. Hey, it's the way I roll. Feel free to discuss more in-depth in comments, should you be moved to do so.
[spoilers after the jump!]
continue reading "'Sarah Connor Chronicles' blogging: "Goodbye to All That"" »
'Heroes' blogging: "One of Us, One of Them"
(previous: Chapters One and Two: "The Second Coming"/"The Butterfly Effect")
I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naive
I'm just out to find
The better part of meI'm more than a bird...i'm more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside a train
It's not easy to be me
Everyone thinks superheroes got it made. Not so.
[spoiler-laden commentary on last week's Heroes after the jump!]
continue reading "'Heroes' blogging: "One of Us, One of Them"" »
'Sarah Connor Chronicles' blogging: "Allison from Palmdale"
(previous: Episode 3: "The Mousetrap")
I find myself moved to snark on the robots from the future and the impending doom of the human race. Hey, it's the way I roll. Feel free to discuss more in-depth in comments, should you be moved to do so.
[spoilers after the jump!]
continue reading "'Sarah Connor Chronicles' blogging: "Allison from Palmdale"" »
glorious 'Doctor Who' crap I picked up in Britain
who I am
I'm MaryAnn Johanson: writer and ponderer in New York City who drinks too much wine and thinks way too much about such inconsequences as movies, TV, books, and the meaning of life.
[email me]
• contributor, Film.com
• member, Online Film Critics Society
• member, Alliance of Women Film Journalists
• member, International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
• visit my scratchpad blog, MaryAnnJohanson.com
photo by David Speranza
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monthly archives
recent screenings and hot movies
just opened (U.S.) | |
 | Body of Lies |
| RocknRolla |
| Good Dick |
| Happy-Go-Lucky |
just opened (U.K.) | |
 | The House Bunny |
box office top 5 (U.S.) | |
 | Beverly Hills Chihuahua |
| Eagle Eye |
| Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist |
| Nights in Rodanthe |
 | Appaloosa |
top limited releases (U.S.) | |
| Religulous |
| The Duchess |
| Choke |
| Vicky Cristina Barcelona |
| Rachel Getting Married |
box office top 5 (U.K.) | |
| How to Lose Friends & Alienate People |
| Taken |
| Tropic Thunder |
| Mamma Mia! |
| Death Race |
coming soon (U.S.) | |
| The Secret Life of Bees |
now playing (U.S.) | |
| Blindness |
| Lakeview Terrace |
| Burn After Reading |
| Miracle at St. Anna |
| Igor |
| Righteous Kill |
| Fly Me to the Moon |
| Ghost Town |
| Hounddog |
| Battle in Seattle |
| The Women |
| Tropic Thunder |
| Traitor |
| I.O.U.S.A. |
| Trouble the Water |
2008 screening log
new on dvd
10.07 (Region 1) | |
| The Visitor [buy] |
| Boy A [buy] |
| Four Minutes (Vier Minuten) [buy] |
| You Don't Mess With the Zohan [buy] |
| Paranoid Park [buy] |
| Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer [buy] |
| The Happening [buy] |
| Mobile [buy] |
| Robot Chicken: Season Three [buy] |
| The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete 1st Season [buy] |
| Doctor Who: A Trial of the Time Lord [buy] |
| Doctor Who: The Brain of Morbius [buy] |
| You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown [buy] |
| A Charlie Brown Christmas [buy] |
| A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving [buy] |
| Mission Impossible: Five TV Season Pack [buy] |
10.06 (Region 2) | |
| Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [buy] |
| War Dance [buy] |
| Lake of Fire [buy] |
| Felon [buy] |
| Battlestar Galactica: Season 4 [buy] |
| Battlestar Galactica - Series 1-4 - Complete [buy] |
| Star Wars - Prequel Trilogy [buy] |
| Star Wars - The Original Trilogy [buy] |
| Moonlighting - Complete Seasons 1 and 2 [buy] |
| The Nightmare Before Christmas - 2 Disc Super Premium Edition [buy] |
09.30 (Region 1) | |
| Iron Man [buy] |
| Taxi to the Dark Side [buy] |
| Chapter 27 [buy] |
| Forgetting Sarah Marshall [buy] |
| Trial & Retribution: Set 1 [buy] |
| Beauty and the Beast: The Complete Series [buy] |
| Broken Trail [buy] |
09.29 (Region 2) | |
| Mongol [buy] |
| Zodiac: Director's Cut [buy] |
| The Tracey Fragments [buy] |
| Snow Cake [buy] |
| The Dead Girl [buy] |
| Cassandra's Dream [buy] |
| Made of Honor [buy] |
| Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer [buy] |
| Smiley Face [buy] |
| Jericho: Series 2 [buy] |
| Doctor Who: The Trial of a Time Lord [buy] |
09.23 (Region 1) | |
| Run, Fat Boy, Run [buy] |
| Sex and the City: The Movie [buy] |
| Peanuts Holiday Collection (It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown / A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving / A Charlie Brown Christmas) [buy] |
| Schoolhouse Rock: The Election Collection [buy] |
| The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration [buy] |
| Horatio Hornblower: Collector's Edition [buy] |
| The Transporter (Two-Disc Special Delivery Edition) [buy] |
| Office Space (Two-Disc Special Edition) [buy] |
09.22 (Region 2) | |
| Gone Baby Gone [buy] |
| Honeydripper [buy] |
| Manufactured Landscapes [buy] |
| Sex and the City: The Movie [buy] |
| Heartbeat Detector [buy] |
| Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins [buy] |
| Law and Order - Special Victims Unit - Series 6 [buy] |
| CHiPs - Complete Season 2 [buy] |
| The Breakfast Club - 2 Disc Special Edition [buy] |
| John Hughes High School Year Book - Weird Science / Sixteen Candles / The Breakfast Club [buy] |
my book (Amazon U.S.)
my book (Amazon U.K.)
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FlickFilosopher.com
Copyright (c) 1997-2008 MaryAnn Johanson. All rights reserved. No content appearing on this site may be reproduced, reposted, or reused in any manner without express written permission. [email]
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