Films seen so far this year: 279
Films seen this week: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, CJ7, The Strangers, Taken, College Road Trip
Four Random Things I Found On The Internet This Week
Strictly speaking, Google Reader found them for me, but the end result is the same. I am completely obsessed with Google Reader. Anyway, here are this week's gems:
1. Animated Buffy Series Slayed
After the genius of Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, more Whedon goodness has escaped onto the web. Sadly though, this time it's more of a tantalising glimpse of what could have been – it's the first few minutes of the proposed animated series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a project that was sadly aborted - you can see it here. And no, that's not Sarah Michelle Gellar's voice, but all the other actors were indeed voicing their own characters.
2. Random Insights on George Sanders
Check out this interesting article on one of my all-time favourite actors, George Sanders. (I told you it was random).
3. The AV Club's list of 16 Manic Pixie Dream Girls.
It's worth noting that, with the exception of Shirley Maclaine in The Apartment (sigh), all these women would drive you insane in real life. Worth checking out here for the trailer for the upcoming Elisha Cuthbert movie at the end.
4. George Lucas As You've Never Seen Him Before!
And finally, have a look at this enormously satisfying photograph of George Lucas trapped in carbonite (courtesy of The Defamer).
Trailerwatch: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
I confess, I'm a lot less excited about the Harry Potter movies than I used to be, perhaps because now we know how the series ends, some of the mystery has gone out of it. Also, the only Harry Potter movie I've really liked so far was Prisoner of Azkaban (also my favourite of the books). That said, I thought Half Blood Prince was the best of the later books and the film has the potential to be the Empire Strikes Back of the Harry Potter series. The trailer doesn't give too much away, as it's mostly a flashback sequence (there's no Ron or Hermione and Harry's only seen very briefly), but it's worth watching for Dumbledore's younger look. Also, I've been a huge fan of Michael Gambon ever since I saw The Singing Detective and if Half Blood Prince is going to be Dumbledore-tastic, then that's fine by me.
Top 10 Films On Release This Week (as recommended by me):
Only one new entry this week - for Death Defying Acts. Sadly, In Search of a Midnight Kiss has disappeared from cinemas, as I predicted in last week's blog. However, it's worth keeping an eye on the listings for second-run cinemas, in case it pops up there.
1. The Visitor
2. The Dark Knight
3. WALL-E
4. Mamma Mia
5. Wanted
6. Man On Wire
7. Death Defying Acts
8. Baby Mama
9. The X-Files: I Want to Believe
10. Donkey Punch
DVD of the Week: Rec (Released August 11th, Two disc edition, £17.99)
This week's DVD of the Week is the Spanish zombie horror [REC], in which a TV presenter (perky Ferne Cotton-alike Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman get quarantined in an apartment building whilst a deadly virus turns all the residents into zombies. It's superbly acted, brilliantly directed and absolutely bloody terrifying. I genuinely think it's one of the best films of the year and I'm not just saying that because they put my quote on the poster. See the original version now before the (already completed) American remake Quarantine arrives in October. The 2-disc DVD is packed with extras, including interviews, a 40 minute Making Of documentary, trailers, several featurettes and seven deleted or extended scenes. No commentary though.