Popcorn 'N Roses

TV To The Big Screen - WAKE UP, HOLLYWOOD!!!

Why does Hollywood insist on pissing on my memories?

I don't generally have a problem with TV series becoming movies later, for new generations of audiences. I especially don't have a problem when they do it well.

What I DO have a problem with is when Hollywood seems to completely miss the point.

Take Will Farrell, for example. Please.

Everytime Farrell gets involved with a TV remake, it's a complete disaster. Usually because they take the name and basic premise from a series, and then proceed to try and "update" the characters and storyline.

Two examples - "Land Of The Lost" and "Bewitched".

The underlined fact here should probably be "if it ain't broke, then don't fix it!"

Of course, not fixing it sometimes creates problems too. Take "The Avengers" for example. This is one KICK ASS Movie - a true tribute to the spirit of the original series. I will NEVER understand why original series fans had a conipition fit about this movie, as it was a storyline that could have come right out of the Peel/King years on the original series. Ralph Fiennes was outstanding as John Steed, and Uma Thurman was ok as Emma Peel. The one minor thing wrong with this movie was the level of sexual tension between Steed and Peel - it kept fluxuating between too little and too much. But overall, the visual style, the storyline, and everything else - to me it really WAS a perfect tribute to the original series.

I'm in the minority on that - a lot of fans of the series HATED the movie. It bombed at the boxoffice.

But again, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it..."

Why do movie producers think that taking a hit drama or action series, and then turning it into a comedy for the big screen will work? Time and time again, it HASN'T.

Apparently the producers don't remember the old adage "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it."

Just because "The Brady Bunch Movie" and "A Very Brady Sequel" worked, and worked WELL, doesn't mean ANY show can do that - hey, dunderheads..."The Brady Bunch" was a comedy TO BEGIN WITH. And only one drama-to-comedy transition has worked that I can remember - Dragnet, and that's because it had the impeccable talent of Dan Ackroyd as it's driving force, and the immeasurably talented Tom Hanks as a co-star. Remember - "Starsky And Hutch" sucked, Ben Stiller or not...

I keep hearing that the producers of various TV to Movie projects are aiming for comedy. Why? 

Why does Jim Carrey want to be The Six Million Dollar Man if he's going to destroy the original and not pay homage to it? There's no point.

Or Dallas. What genius thought it would be fun to play a super-serious soap as a broad camp comedy? Um, count ME out, that's for sure...

We won't even go there on The Hardy Men, another Ben Stiller project that thankfully appears to be dead in the water...it was a BIG mistake to try this with such a revered property as the Hardy Boys. An HONEST Hardy Boys attempt would be appreciated, but not a comic knock off.

Now comes word that T.J. Hooker is on the way to the big screen. OH, IN GOD'S NAME, WHY? I have fond but ridiculous memories of the William Shatner/Adrian Zmed original - yes it was campy, but it fit the 80s perfectly. DO we really have to take this fun drama and turn it into a no doubt unfunny comic mess? Can't we just leave well enough alone? Isn't the original funny enough when viewed today?

You want inspiration on how to do things RIGHT? Look to JJ Abrams and his wonderful reimagining of Star Trek. Now THAT'S how to do it RIGHT...

It's time for Tinseltown to take a long, HARD look at the track record...and the bottom line...on these kinds of movies. Maybe it's time to do them RIGHT...or not do any more of them at all...

Just ask the horrified fans of "Land Of The Lost"...

Subject:CINEMA #146 - "Catch Up Time!"

This week, we play catch up!

It's time to get reviews of several movies we've seen this year online. Included in this catch up show, reviews for "Crazy Love", "In Bruges", "Wendy & Lucy", and "Man In The Chair", plus two Resolution reviews, for "The Great Dictator" and "Wild At Heart". We close things up with reviews for the short film "Eat The Mayor" and the last of the National Amusements' "Attack Of The B Movies" series, "Werewolf In A Girls Dormitory"! Plus, the latest news in Cinema Subjects, a look at the ALL NEW PNR, and our official announcement of the Top 10 Movies of 2008!

ARTIST OF THE WEEK

We have decided to discontinue our Artist Of The Week feature. We have recieved little feedback from either prospective artists or our listeners, and so this feature has been discontinued effective with today's show.

THE BRAND NEW POPCORN N ROSES...
Is on the air! Well, more specifically, it's online. The new site still has a few bugs here and there, and the subsites aren't completely finished yet, but over the next 30 days, things will fall into place. Don't forget to come back for the latest in entertainment news, reviews, and pop culture observations every DAY!

ODDZ AND ENDZ

We're now just 3 days away from The Fourth Annual Poppies And Rosies Awards, being given away in a special three-hour edition of Subject:CINEMA on Wednesday, December 31, at 6 PM ET!  Don't cha dare miss it!

E-mail us at subjectcinema@popcornnroses.com

We hope you'll spread the word about Subject:CINEMA to your friends - we love having all the listeners we can get!

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31 6 PM ET - Subject:CINEMA #147 -"The Fourth Annual Poppies And Rosies Awards"

SUNDAY, JANUARY 4 2009, 12 Noon ET - Subject:CINEMA #148 - "The 2009 Resolution Revolution!"

A complete calendar of upcoming shows can be found on our websites!

Subject:CINEMA #140 - "Directors' Chair: Master Of The Turkey - The Films of Ed Wood"

This week, in honor of Thanksgiving this coming Thursday, Kim and TC take on the films of the director most noted for making turkeys - the legendary Ed Wood!

Also on today's show: The week's news in Cinema Subjects, our take on Entertainment Weekly's 50 Sexiest Movies list, the latest developments on Dancing With The Stars, your E-mail, we address a spoiler controversy,  and a complete review of the highly anticipated film version of Stephanie Meyer's blockbuster novel TWILIGHT.

ARTIST OF THE WEEK

Our Artist Of The Week this week is Kevin Reeves, a fantastic singer I discovered on Adam Curry's Daily Source Code show a few years back. His songs are fantastic, and Kevin is easily one of my favorite podsafe artists. I think you're gonna love his stuff! Music provided courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.

Featured Songs:

"Throw Me A Line"
"Afraid And Alone"
"Shine"
"Wasted"

Check him out today!  http://www.myspace.com/kevinreevesmusic.  And be sure to tell him you heard his music on Subject:CINEMA! If you're a musician and would like to be Subject:CINEMA's Artist Of The Week, contact us!

RICK ROLL UPDATE

Last week, we are (not) ashamed to admit we RickRolled everyone thanks to a news story about singer Rick Astley. I was VERY disappointed we didn't get more mail about it (pout, pout), but regular listener Rob Collier did send us a link to a hilarious take off on Rick's hit that is most commonly used for the RickRoll phenonemon...check it out...if you dare...:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8tXjJL3xcM

MERRY TOSSMAS

Regular listener R Chris Fagnan brought up an excellent campaign sponsored by Focus On The Family that concentrates on making people aware of retailers who either embrace, sort-of embrace, and blow off the word "Christmas" in their holiday advertising. We read Chris' mail this week in our e-mail segment, and if you want to know more about it, check out the list on the Focus On The Family Action list of retailers at http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000008670.cfm
and check out the "Merry Tossmas" video at http://www.citizenlink.org/videofeatures/A000008654.cfm

ODDZ AND ENDZ

We hope you like our slightly retooled format - more tweaks are on the way, and they're all designed to hopefully continue to make Subject:CINEMA an enjoyable, must-listen podcast for you!  Please take the time to drop us a line and let us know what you think of the changes - we'd love to hear from you - subjectcinema@popcornnroses.com

We hope you'll spread the word about Subject:CINEMA to your friends - we love having all the listeners we can get!

Keep an eye out for more exciting changes and improvements on Subject:CINEMA and Popcorn N Roses between now and the end of the year - we're on the verge of a major facelift, and if you've got any ideas on what you'd like to see, let us know at subjectcinema@popcornnroses.com!

Next Week: Subject:CINEMA #141 - "Scenes That Sizzle's Second Cousin, Twice Removed" 

A S:C #118 Followup - You can now find elusive Sunn Classics flix ONLINE!

A few weeks ago, we presented Subject:CINEMA #118, focusing on the Sunn Classic Pictures studio, and the films they produced, in all their goofy glory.

Now I've discovered that you can actually SEE some of these films!  The great website Subterranean Cinema (http://subcin.com) has a fantastic library of Sunn films availble for viewing online...and ALSO has the Warner Bros film that is so BAD it SEEMS like A Sunn Classic -  The Man Who Saw Tomorrow, the Nostradamus film narrated and hosted by Orson Welles in 1981, and oft mentioned by TC.

Now is your chance to take in some of these ghastly 70s psuedo-documentaries. See them in all their 70s glory while you can! We'll discuss them soon on another episode of Subject:CINEMA! And thank you Subterranean Cinema for bringing back the memories...:-)

Subject:CINEMA #118 - "Into The Sunn....Classic Pictures!"

TC and Kim take on the schlocky, take-themselves-too-seriously films of the studio which brought you "The Life And Times Of Grizzly Adams" and "Hangar 18" and more!

Plus, this week's HUGE E-mail segment, the latest news on the Callback, a great Bonehead Of the Week, coverage of the opener in 2008's edition of the AST Dew Action Sports Tour, and a look at this year's AFI list, the Ten Top Ten!

Next Week - it's the list that a ton of movie fandom sites around the world have been keeping an eye on, because our track record has been pretty damn good, and we're out to do it again...it's the third annual edition of "To Rise And Fall In L.A.", as PNR names it's Top 20 Rising Stars for 2008!  DON'TCHA DARE MISS IT!!!

OTHER NOTES:

I searched and searched but could not find clips of the 70s TV commercials for the games mentioned in segment three, "The Sinking Of The Titanic" and "The Bermuda Triangle". However, I DID find links to information on both games, courtesy of BoardGameGeek and the excellent site over there!

The Bermuda Triangle
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2296

The Sinking Of The Titanic
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2249

I was mostly correct in thinking they were both Milton-Bradley games. MB distributed "Titanic" after Ideal was bought out by MB in the late 70s. Neither game is still on the market (duh!) and they fetch average prices on EBay - "Bermuda Triangle" runs anywhere from $15-$30 depending on the condition, while "Sinking Of The Titanic" nets considerably more, running $25 to $100 depending on the seller. Wow!

If anyone can find clips of the commericals from these games, let me know, and i'll post them later!

Next week, as I said above, it's the third annual "To Rise And Fall In L.A." Rising Stars list, all new for 2008! DONT'CHA DARE MISS IT!

Subject:CINEMA #115 - "S:C's Second Anniversary - The Top 20 Best/Worst Films!"

On our second anniversary, TC and Kim each countdown their top 20 "Best/Worst Films". For a full explanation of what THAT entails, you'll have to listen to the show...

Plus, the Callback, this week's E-Mail, and some odds and ends about the Yahoo Animated List and AFI's upcoming Ten Top Tens...

Join us next week for a special 2-part S:C devoted to independent films, with tons of special guests and some great surprises!

See you then!

Subject:CINEMA #74 - "Underrated Incorporated"

This week, by request from listeners, we name another dozen movies we thought were underrated - movies that didn't really get a fair shake, from the critics, the public, or both!

THE SHOW: Kim and TC reveal their dozen Underrated picks for this installment of underated movies, and try to give you reasons why you should check them out. Also, TC reviews Julie Taymor's "Across The Universe", the usual stuff - Email, Bonehead Of The Week, poll results - and coverage of this past week's National Amusements "Attack Of the B-Movies" series.

THIS WEEK'S NOTES:

I'll have some more notes, and the video clip mentioned in the e-mail, up later this evening. Of course I always say that and sometimes it's a week or two later, but I PROMISE they'll be up by early Monday Morning at the latest this time!

Boston Popcorn: Showcase offering up an Attack Of the B's in new summer series

Last night, Kim and I willingly got attacked by killer B's. B-Movies, that is.

Showcase Cinemas in Revere (and in several other locales in the Boston area, and possibly throughout the country) has turned over one of it's smaller theaters to a new program running every Wednesday night for the next 6 weeks. "Attack Of The B Movies" is a great program where the cinema is running a double feature of bad B movies.

Last night, they kicked off the series with "The Wasp Woman" and "Monster From Green Hell".  I had not seen either of these movies before, but Kim had seen "Wasp Woman" before and she was right - it was as bad as any movie Roger Corman directed and produced before or after it (and Corman even appears briefly as a doctor in the film).

The second flick, "Monster From Green Hell" was one neither of us had heard of before, but we were prepared for all kinds of Dallas jokes, since Jim "Jock Ewing" Davis" was the star. This one concerned a colony of giant wasps (see a pattern forming here?) who landed in the african outback after spending 44 days in space as part of an experiment run by Davis and his co-workers.

We had to come straight from work, and we were worried that the theater would be full before we got there, because who doesn't love bad b-movies?

When we entered the theater, there were...four other people there. We were surprised by the low number (but then again  not really), and as a few more patrons and b-movie lovers trickled in, we began chatting with them about the movies and the idea. One lady who was there with three kids (the aforementioned four people who were there before us) who looked just shy of teens to mid-pre-teens, was worried they'd be too scary for her kids. We assured her there was nothing to be worried about, and when they left during intermission for a while, they were laughing. By the end of the evening there were between 12 and 20 in attendance. And everyone there had exactly the kind of goofy, silly fun we all expected...

This is an absolutely wonderful idea, but Showcase could have done a better job of publicizing it. A few quick tips, if I might:

1) Hire a host. Spend a few bucks by hiring a local film fan in each local market to provide some hosted entertainment before the first movie and during intermission.  (um, Kim and I are free....heh heh heh...)

2) Speaking of intermission, have one - We were rather hoping they'd take a cue from the recent film Grindhouse and schedule some classic b-movie trailers between the films. Instead, we got a blue screen with "Sony DVD Player" on it for almost 45 minutes...because they completely forgot to start the second movie...until someone reminded them...several times...

3) Offer passes for the entire series - it's much easier to pop for a pass than to remember to buy tickets every week.

4) Offer some inexpensive specialty merchandise - tee shirts or buttons that said "I Survived The Attack Of The B's" with the Showcase logo or something like that would be cool and add to the whole community experience.

All in all,  if you're a B movie fan, you should check out the Attack of The B's series at your local Showcase Cinema this summer. Here's the remaining schedule for the Revere shows (and they're the same at the other Showcase locations):

Attack of the B Movies is playing at Showcase Cinemas Lowell, Randolph, Revere, West Springfield and Warwick. Check your local listings for other areas around the country.

July 25
Giant Gila Monster - 1959 and Gamera, The Invincible - 1966

August 1
Brain That Wouldn't Die - 1963 and Screaming Skull - 1958 

August 8
Attack Of The Giant Leeches - 1959 and Monster From A Prehistoric Planet - 1960 

August 15
The Terror - 1963 (Jack Nicholson/Boris Karloff) and House On Haunted Hill - 1959

August 22
Last Man On Earth - 1964 and Devil Girl From Mars - 1954

So if you live in the Revere MA area, and would like to say "hi', we'll be attending every week EXCEPT the July 25 double feature (we have tickets to see Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova from Once in concert at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge that evening) and we love to meet PNR and Subject:CINEMA fans! Just look for the couple in the "Subject:CINEMA" tee shirts...we usually sit on the aisle near the main floor...

And "B" sure to tell your Boston-based friends about "Attack Of The B Movies" because we want to see that theater filled to capacity by the final week!  We hope to see you all there!

On The Web: http://www.nationalamusements.com/programs/specialprograms.asp?page=10

Subject:CINEMA #48 - Wrestling With Acting Skills - Pro Wrestling In The Movies!

This week we're covering the world of professional wrestling and how it has had an impact on the big screen. The show ran a little longer than we anticipated - even editing it down, it still comes in at a whopping 1:45! But if you're a wrestling fan, like us, you will love it, and we hope even those S:C Fans who aren't into wrestling will appreciate our look at wrestling in popular culture!

THE SHOW (times may be off slightly due to Podshow insertions):

Segment 1 (1:44)- Pro wrestling in general; how we got into wrestling; why wrestlers sometimes have an easier transition into acting than stars of other sports

Segment 2 (19:38) - Wrestlers who have been actors on film or TV - Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant, Kevin Nash, Roddy Piper, Jesse Ventura; brief mention of Rollerjam

Segment 3 (35:35) - Wrestling and Kids TV; Shannon "SnowPea" Moore; More acting wrestlers - The Rock, Sean Waltman, Jerry Lynn, Christopher Daniels, Terry Funk, Shawn Michaels, Joanie "Chyna" Laurer; Movies about wrestling - No Holds Barred, Over The Top (well, not really), Ready To Rumble, Beyond The Mat; The career of El Santo; more recent efforts from John Cena and Kane; George "The Animal" Steele

Segment 4 (55:40) - Marquee Mix revamp; Swag Shop; Podlinez; Bloglet; Yahoo Groups; Dancing With The Stars; Sanjaya; E-Mail; Trivia Challenge; Bonehead Of The Week (listen up, TNA!)

Segment 5 (1:18:16) - THE LIST - those wrestlers in today's shows that we think could have a shot at film stardom in the not-too-distant future, if they play their cards right...

THIS WEEKS NOTES:

Obviously there are a LOT of wrestlers who have acted that we didn't get a chance to mention on the show, and we certainly mean them no slight....

Also, thanks to all the wrestling fans who might have dropped by this week because of the subject matter; we hope you stick around a long time!

The length of the show this week was incredible, and shows how much we like wrestling as a form of entertainment, and that it often provokes debate between the two of us. It may be a while to commit to, but listen in segments and you'll get through the whole thing!

NEXT WEEK:

Wednesday - Art House Confidential

Saturday - Summer Blockbuster Preview

Subject:CINEMA #25 - When Good Ideas Go BAD...When BAD Ideas Get WORSE!

Hollywood is FULL of bad ideas...but sometimes they don't start out that way. On this week's show, TC and Kim explain their thoughts on this...and on how La La Land just can't keep their hands off of a good idea...and end up causing disaster in the process...

The Show
Segment 1 (:30) Coming Soon
Segment 2 (TBD) Coming Soon
Segment 3 (TBD) Coming Soon
Segment 4 (TBD) Coming Soon
Segment 5 (TBD) Coming Soon