Hey, That’s My Name

The uncut and uncensored version of the first episode of the Battlestar Galactica spin-off series Caprica is available today on DVD and via digital download. Want to read my thoughts on this incredibly soapy rendition of BSG‘s past? Hop on over to the TOC blog to read my review.

The nickel version: It was kind of interesting, but not wildly compelling and left a lot to be desired.

I’ve been browsing several reviews of State of Play over the past few days and have noticed several writers noting that the film takes the position that newspapers need to save the world from the big bad blogging. This has bothered me because I think the film’s position is much more nuanced than that. It’s without a doubt, a love not to journalism. You only need to stay through the end credits, which a run over a Mr. Rogers-style reel of the newspapers being printed and carried off in a truck, to feel the sentiment that the filmmakers have for the medium. Still, I think the film contained jibes for what for newspaper journalism has become, as well, as was evidenced in a scene where a character holds up a trashy and gossipy front page and demands to know why their paper didn’t have this story. And it is with that, that I share this interview Ben Affleck had with Rachel Maddow last night in which he notes some of the mistakes that newspapers have made over the years and why the public might not only be turning to blogs because they’re free:

I’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of State of Play since I took a peek at the flick’s IMDB page several month’s back. The film is packed with talent. I’m not just talking about the star power of  Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck. The film is directed by Kevin Macdonald (Touching the Void, The Last King of Scotland) and boasts the talents of skilled suspense scribes Tony Gilroy (The Bourne movies, Michael Clayton) and Billy Ray (Shattered Glass, Breach). Even the smaller acting roles in the film are filled by engaging actors like Dollhouse‘s Harry Lenix, Forgetting Sarah Marshall‘s Maria Thayer and Doubt‘s Oscar-nominated Viola Davis. To top it all off, the film is based on a very good BBC miniseries. I think it should go without saying that I had pretty high expectations going into this film. I’m happy to report that I was not let down.

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President Obama Reads “Where The Wild Things Are” (via brothafer) He growls and roars. It’s pretty fantastic. :)

I’m a big Kate Winslet fan. I’ll see pretty much anything she’s in, secure in the truth that even if the movie is total crap (which, thankfully, it usually isn’t), I’ll have seen a stellar performance. And thus, I ended up in a theater in December to see The Reader, a film I was not terribly excited about, but I was at least ready to give it a sporting shot. I’m sorry to report that my instincts were accurate.

This movie is not good. And it’s not only not good in that it’s-so-obvious-they’re-just-courting-Oscar kind of way. It’s just NOT GOOD. In fact, I’m struggling to recall the last film I saw that was as devoid of emotion as this one. I mean, it’s a really dramatic concept, but the narrative surrounds two characters that are cagey and unemotional through most of the movie. It’s a total waste of the phenomenal talents of Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. Instead, the emotional weight of the film rests on the shoulders of young David Kross, who was 17 when they began filming the movie, and it proves too great of a burden for him to carry.

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