April 7, 2008 - At the recent Paley Festival X-Files reunion/tribute, I had the chance to speak one on one with both Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz about the upcoming new X-Files sequel. Carter, who wrote and directed the upcoming film, said that reuniting to make the film "was strange, but it was actually as natural as can be." Co-writer Spotnitz added, "It's amazing. I've just come off filming the movie for the last three months. To revisit characters who were gone is such a unique opportunity in Hollywood – to have a chance to come back to people like this."
It's known that the film is a stand-alone story, not tying into the overreaching mythology stories the series also did. Carter explained that with the new film "We knew we wanted to do something that wasn't a mythology episode. We'd kind of wrapped up the mythology, to a large extent, in the series. So I think, especially coming back a number of years later, the best thing to do would be to reintroduce The X-Files to its core audience, but also maybe introduce it to a lot of people who haven't had a chance to see it before, who were maybe too young to see it before. I talk to college kids now who were too young fifteen years ago [when the series began], and if you're 22 years old and in college, you were just a kid. So I think there are lots of kids who didn't see it. "
Of course, the big question is if the film isn't about the alien/government conspiracy plotline, what is it about? When I asked Carter if he could tell us about the plot, he replied "I can't, really, because nobody really wants to know. The truth is everybody wants to go and have a great experience. They want to be surprised and they want to be scared and if the cat gets out of the bag, there's no putting it back in."
While still not offering specifics, Spotnitz did tell us this about the film: "It's scary. It's about Mulder and Scully, very much. It's about them and their relationship and who they are and it's a personal and emotional movie too, in a way that the series rarely could be, because we're not doing 24 episodes - we're just doing this one standalone movie. And it's designed to reward fans. It certainly touches upon things that fans alone will appreciate. But [it's also designed] to work for people who never saw The X-Files - who were too young. That's what's most exciting, honestly, is the chance to introduce these characters to a new generation."
The show ended with Mulder and Scully's legal status in a highly problematic place, and Spotnitz promised that would not be ignored in the film. "We had to and we wanted to address everything that a fan would say 'Well, what about that?' I think we've done that without excluding anybody who never saw the show," Spotnitz explained, adding, "If you remember, in the first movie there was a scene in a bar where Mulder sort of drunkenly explains who he is. We've done it in a very different way this time around, but I think we've managed to make it work both for people who are familiar and who are unfamiliar."
There are three actors new to the X-Files franchise who are said to have notable roles in the film, including Amanda Peet, rapper Xzibit and Scottish comedian Billy Connolly. Spotnitz discussed each of these actors, explaining "Amanda Peet is an FBI agent, as is Xzibit. In Amanda Peet, we were looking for somebody who was Scully-like in a way – that intelligence, that intensity, that authority that Gillian Anderson naturally commands, so Amanda we thought, especially after seeing her in Studio 60 on television, we thought she was great for this role. Xzibit was just a discovery for us. We knew his music, but we didn't realize what a great actor he was. He's really fantastic. He's another FBI agent. I don't think you would picture him as an FBI agent normally. But he's really quite good."
Spotnitz continued, "Billy Connolly was the one person we had in mind before we wrote. We'd been fans of his… he's a very well known comedian in the UK, but we just love him as a dramatic actor. He'd done this movie Mrs. Brown, maybe ten years ago. This is not a funny role at all – I don't think there's a single laugh. It's a very dramatic, creepy role, central to the movie, and we wrote it for him and were able to get him. That was a dream come true for us."
So might this be the beginning of a new series of X-Files movies? When asked that question, Spotnitz replied "Hopefully! That would be nice. We had such a good time doing it, it would be nice to keep going."
(IGN.COM,7/4/2008,author:Eric Goldman)
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
X-Files Folks Offer Hints:Carter and Spotnitz on Mulder and Scully's return (IGN.com)
Monday, April 7, 2008
Tv series 7/4-13/4
-Tuesday,April 8:Boston Legal Season 4 Episode 15 "Tabloid Nation"
-Friday,April 11:Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Episode 2 "Six of One"
-Sunday,April 13:The Tudors Season 2 Episode 3
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Are curtains coming down on movie theaters?
Hollywood is able, at the end of most Decembers, to proclaim the previous year its most successful ever. While true, at least on the surface, it masks a long-term problem: People just aren’t going to movies much anymore.
Movie attendance levels occasionally rise from the previous year, but the general trend has been downward. The biggest movie-going year was way back in 1946, when enough tickets were sold for an astonishing 90 million people to go every week. Then television came in and stole the theater’s audience, followed by competition in the form of video games, computers and a general lessening of audience amazement. Total 2007 attendance was down 8% from the year earlier, and the current year’s box office looks unlikely to top last year.
The “most successful year ever” award is thanks to the ever-rising price of tickets, which averaged $6.88 in 2007, up 33 cents from 2006 and up more than $1 per ticket from 2002.
So it’s no surprise that film studios are struggling. Bernstein Research analysts said that most studio returns “have not meaningfully improved over the past decade” and that while revenue growth typically “has been matched or exceeded by expense growth, this hope of spending more to make more has generally not panned out.”
In a research note titled, “Isn’t It Time to Rethink the Film Studio Model?” Bernstein notes that while theater audiences are smaller, the home video market has exploded. The firm identified three potential growth opportunities:
- Blu-Ray DVDs. The firm estimates that Blu-Ray revenue will be $4.2 billion in 2011, up significantly from its 2009 estimate of $1.1 billion.
- Online distribution. While noting that the results for Apple’s online movie distribution hasn’t met expectations, Bernstein expects large growth in this area as more titles become available. Currently, only three of the top 10-selling DVDs are available online.
- Video on demand. Bernstein said that from a financial standpoint, “this represents the Holy Grail for studios,” as it provides better economics than physical rental. “In the rental market, the studio takes 30% of the retail revenue whereas in a video on demand purchase, the studio takes 70%.”
It’s almost guaranteed that studios will look to these areas to combat lagging audience rates, but don’t expect last picture show-type theater closures. Mega-theater IMAX has been gaining popularity as studios release their biggest titles on the biggest screen for the biggest possible revenue (average IMAX ticket is well above $10). If anything, expect the process of going to the movies to regain some of the “event” status it had back in the 1940s, and possibly for audience amazement levels to creep back up.
(market-hub.com,2/4/2008 Author:Ryan Vlastelica)
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Friday, April 4, 2008
Day of the Dead (2008 remake)
Plot (wikipedia.org):A government contained city is infected by zombies when people who are bitten by zombies are taken to the local hospital. Meanwhile, the remaining survivors take cover in an underground tunnel. Day of the Dead opens with a Military road block securing a small town Colorado highway. We quickly become acquainted with Captain Rhodes (Ving Rhames), Corporal Sarah Cross (Mena Suvari), Privates Bud Crain (Stark Sands) and Salazar (Nick Cannon); all of whom are preparing to surround and secure the infected city.
Last year,i saw the remake of Dawn of the Dead (2004),which was directed by Zack Snyder.It was a good film.Until recently,it was the only film that i've seen from the Dead series.Today i saw the remake of Day of the Dead,which was originally set for a theatrical release, but will now be a direct-to-video premiere.This film does not have any connection to the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead.I could write about the flaws of the film,but,in any case,the conclusion is one:this film is bad.Sometimes,it's not only bad,it's ridiculous.If you see it,you'll have the chance of seeing the spiderman-zombies!Day of the Dead is a film,that you should probably avoid watching.
Trailer
http://youtube.com/watch?v=axd1dC0DXig
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Smallville - Descent Season 7 Ep 16 Promo
New Smallville episode "Descent" airs April 17th on the CW.
Update:Smallville creators out!
http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/04/03/smallville-creators-out/
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Alias:Case closed & Five Years Bolero
One week has passed since i saw the series finale of Alias (which is one of my favorite series),almost two years since it was aired.Anyway,the first video is the full 37 minute documentary "Case Closed" from the Endgame bonus disc,which is included in the Alias complete collection box set.The second video is a tribute to Alias,called Five Years Bolero,made by YouTube member Chofi87.
http://www.dailymotion.com/scrambled/video/xp3la_alias-case-closed
More videos from the Endgame bonus disc
http://alias.wordpress.com/2006/11/24/streaming-endgame-bonus-disc/
Tv news:Knight Rider,Boston Legal
-After the TV-Movie pilot received strong ratings this February, NBC has greenlit the new Knight Rider as an ongoing series to debut this fall, says Variety. It's possible the show will be given a Friday night timeslot when NBC announces its fall schedule at their Upfront presentation this coming Wednesday.(IGN.com)
- Boston Legal is going to move to Wednesdays at 10pm starting the next day, April 30 (the show will run in its regular time slot when it returns from the strike hiatus on April 8 and then move to Wednesdays on the 30th).
This is only a temporary change though, for three weeks, until its season ends in late May. Then, Men In Trees takes over that Wednesday time slot. And because I know you probably have a headache from reading about this particular time shuffle, I won't go into what's going to happen with the regular Friday night slot that Men In Trees usually finds itself in."(Tv Squad)
Monday, March 31, 2008
Battlestar Galactica Season 4 - Extended Trailer
50th post
http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/03/31/battlestar-galactica-season-four-an-early-look/
(spoiler warning)
