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The Screen Life
Film, TV, and the Internet
Author Archives: Alftuba
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Returning to TV
Mystery Science Theater 3000, known by it’s adoring fans as MST3K, has been off the airwaves since the 90’s. Its cult following remains strong due to the format of lampooning cult classic films, but perhaps also due in part to the show’s cast’s work since on RiffTrax.
RiffTrax is an online venture in which MST3K stars Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett recorded downloadable audio files to be played alone with all kinds of different movies – from the classic B-movies that made their reputation to the biggest and most popular recent blockbusters.
Now according to Screen Rant, via Zap2It, it looks like the crew is making their way back to the small screen. The National Geographic Channel will be airing at least 3 episodes beginning April 1. They’ll be keeping the RiffTrax name, but it looks like the original characters of Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo will be there.
As for exactly what they’ll be riffing? Well, according to National Geographic:
On April 1st, the guys from “Mystery Science Theater 3000” and RiffTrax are adding their very own commentary to classic National Geographic Channel programs, featuring excerpts from “Honey Badgers,” “Unlikely Animal Friends,” “Man v. Monster,” “Swamp Men,” “Alpha Dogs,” and more!
Well, I can’t wait! I just really hopes it’s not a… well… I’ll just keep my thoughts to myself.
Brad Pitt in Season 2 of True Detective?
It’s far from a done deal, and may very well not happen, but it seems there’s real interest in casting Brad Pitt for True Detective’s second season.
The first season, which just wrapped up a few weeks ago, was a smash success in every instance of the word. That season’s stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson have already confirmed they will not be returning. That leave a vacuum that can only be filled with rampant speculation.
Still, if this happens, it would be excellent news. If nothing else, I believe Se7en proves he’s up to the challenge. It would also be just another sign that the film industry is recognizing the small screen’s recent knack for high quality filmmaking, as more and more big names in film are moving to TV.
Brad Pit in Se7en
GrabBag – The Positive Effect of YouTube; also… Game of Thrones Movies?
Yet another Friday, yet another GrabBag…
- …And yet another “Let It Go” cover, this one with impressions of various Disney and Pixar characters…
- The Battle of Helm’s Deep (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers) recreated with 150,000 Legos.
- Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin discussed possibilities for feature films in the epic’s future.
- Every now and again, it’s nice to be reminded that YouTube can be a very useful and valuable resource for people who actually really need it. This street musician was filmed by a YouTuber, who made ad revenue from the video. In return, he not only gave the revenue back to the musician, but helped him set up and use his own account so he can continue to make revenue.
- The Cleveland Cavaliers take some technology from the Sochi Olympics ceremony and turns their court into a screen with some pretty impressive graphics.
- Did you know: Tim Burton once joked about changing the name of Beetlejuice to “Scared Sheetless,” and was horrified to learn that the producers actually liked it. This and more trivia for the film’s 25th anniversary this week, from Indiewire.
- And finally, well… there’s really nothing that needs to be said about this one. Just bask in the glory…
Source: Imgur
That’s all for today. Have a great weekend!
(GrabBag is a weekly column published every Friday.)
2048: My Newest Puzzle Game Obsession
Well, my days of accomplishing anything at all have come to an end, thanks to a game called “2048.”
Actually, the thanks goes to yesterday’s xkcd (or more accurately, the Explain xkcd wiki) for introducing me to the most addictive puzzle since Sudoku.
2048 is a simple online game involving numbered tiles on a 4×4 grid. Use the arrow keys to shift the tiles as far as they can go in any direction. When two tiles with the same number meet, they merge into a new tile with the combined value. With every move a new tile will appear on a random empty cell. The goal is to get a tile with the number 2048, but you lose if you fill up the entire grid and have no more moves.
I’ve yet to win, but I’m getting better!
It’s actually far simpler than it sounds. You’ll get the hang of it in just a few moves, but the longer you play the more you’ll start to recognize patterns and strategies.
It’s insanely addictive, and best of all, totally free! But there is a link to donate, and I highly recommend that you do. Developers like this should be encouraged.
Play 2048 here, or visit http://git.io/2048 on your mobile browser.
The Giver Is Coming At Last (Trailer)
I have been waiting for this movie for far longer than it was even in development – over 2 decades, in fact. Lois Lowry’s The Giver was my absolute favorite book as a child. I probably read it 5-10 times between the ages of 8 and 18. There’s very little I can say without ruining the plot’s big reveals, but suffice to say it opened my eyes to a whole new level of storytelling that I had never encountered before. Getting pre-teens to think philosophically about the world they are growing up into? That’s impressive.
I knew Jeff Bridges had been sitting on the movie rights for a long time. Originally his father, the great Lloyd Bridges was going to play the titular Giver. But as Lloyd passed away, and the project got put on hold for several years, Jeff grew into the role, which calls for a village elder, of sorts.
What I didn’t know, was the Meryl Streep was also cast, nor that they landed fantastic director Phillip Noyce to helm the project. His work on Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Quiet American, and Salt are a good clue this is going to be handled expertly.
Still, for all who haven’t yet, I recommend reading the book first. It’s a quick read. There’s plenty of time to get it in – several times over – before the movie opens on August 15.
Superman with a GoPro
It looks like it’s going to be some pretty lo-fi special effects, but watch out. This little video is better than you expect!
Old vs. New in Latest Maleficent Trailer
The newest Maleficent trailer (we must be on #4 or 5 at this point) focuses on juxtaposing the original Disney animation from Sleeping Beauty against new footage from the upcoming live action update. Is it just me, or does Angelina Jolie look almost as CGI-enhanced as her character from the motion capture animated Beowulf (2007)?
…aaand I was just about to click “publish” on this post when, what do you know, another new trailer arrives. This one seems to give a better sense of the plot…
Cosmos’ Critics Can’t Compete With Science
Neil deGrasse Tyson’s reboot of Cosmos is fantastic. I’m a little late to the party, but I just caught up with the first 2 episodes last night. It’s exciting that at a time when science-denial is in such vogue in America, the willpower exists to produce this for primetime network TV – and on FOX, no less! Of course as crazy as that sounds, it just makes it that much more remarkable that Carl Sagan did the same almost 35 years ago.
Actually when I think about it, I’m not sure that science-denial is really all that “in vogue” anyway. Certainly the deniers are as vocal as ever, but I don’t think their demographic is as large as their volume would suggest. Even most members of the religious majority maintain moderate views on most scientific debates. The radicals scream because they’re being backed further and further in to the corner by new discoveries being made every day. Breakthroughs like yesterday’s announcement about cosmic inflation aren’t doing them any favors.
So it comes as absolutely no surprise to read Chris Mooney’s article in Mother Jones about all the complaints against Cosmos. Even only 2 episodes in, I honestly expected their outcry even as I watched.
I continue to hold out hope that such cries of ignorance are merely the death-rattle of the old ways of thinking. Sure, there will always be those few holdouts, but as they continue to marginalize themselves, their influence will continue to diminish, and scientific knowledge will continue to grow.
And that may be what I love most about Cosmos: the prevailing sense of hope that every day we will know more about the universe than we did the day before.
Juliette Binoche in A Thousand Times Goodnight (Trailer)
Juliette Binoche is a war photographer juggling family with an extremely dangerous profession. This promises to have some stunning camerawork. Also starring Game of Thrones’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister, in case you were wondering).
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