Results tagged “scifi”

The city is experiencing a golden age of naughty puppet films. Hot on the trail of Black Devil Doll is Let My Puppets Come, a fuzzy-felt skeleton pulled from the closet of the late Gerard Damiano (Deep Throat, The Devil In Miss Jones) for The Not-So-Silent Theatre's "Mondo Sexo" this Saturday. If the thought of puppets feels a bit too soft, the very fleshy, very foxy Louise Brooks (Pandora's Box, Diary of a Lost Girl) appears alongside curmudgeonly comedian W.C. Fields (The Bank Dick, You Can't Cheat An Honest Man) next Wednesday at the same locale. And while you're in the neighborhood, swing by the New Beverly for a brand-spankin' new print of The Day The Earth Stood Still (the one with the robot, not Keanu; wait, that doesn't narrow it down!). Given the Bev's massive trailer collection, their accompanying "Sci-Fi and More Trailer Show" should be great fun too. You'll be frozen with terror by this 1950's extravaganz-o-rama, in earth-shattering black & white!

I'm a sucker for the general reappropriation of sci-fi narratives by the big screen, and Magnolia Pictures' Mutant Chronicles fits that bill. If you're not a purist, you can freely enjoy the costumes, overacting, and all around ass kicking that often hallmarks these larger-than-life endeavors without feeling disparaged by directorial liberties and script deviations. On the other hand, if you were the original owner of the 1993 role-playing game and gobbled up the subsequent franchise that spawned from its success, you might have to concede to some changes.

Tonight marks the end of "Battlestar Galactica", for about 20 years until the geeks of the future resurrect it like they did the now-campy 1970s version. Some have complained that this final season swung the show onto a science-fiction track that was too science-fiction-y but the show had to return to its roots, its core, before wandering off into the cosmos.

The TV highlight of the week occurred last night with the appearance of CNBC's Jim Cramer on "The Daily Show". Jon Stewart trotted out several video clips of Cramer pontificating about how to game and mislead the markets and how rewarding it is to do so. A lot of footage was cut in order to fit the show's 1/2-hour format so if you missed the airing and/or want to see the entire interview, you can get it all at "The Daily Show".

Tonight NBC is going to attempt to out-Gordon Ramsay FOX with Chef Marco Pierre White's new show, "Chopping Block". Our guess is that White will not have as foul a mouth as Ramsay but will have all his other TV-worthy qualities: intimidation, rage, and viciousness. May the most evil bastard chef win.

"American Idol" fans can now shell out $1.99 for an iPhone app that will provide them with a weekly update them on the vital statistics of the remaining contenders for the rest of this season. What isn't clear from the press release is if there will be geosynchronous Ryan Seacrest hair gel monitoring.

Critics are being rather forgiving of Jimmy Fallon's (only slightly shaky IMHO) "Late Night" debut: they brought out DeNiro who is always a tough interview and Fallon kind of made it work, and Timberlake kind of saved the first show - not sure why they had Van Morrison on, are they trying to reclaim the age 55-and-up demographic?

Yesterday's inauguration of President Barack Obama spiked traffic for all the venues that attempted to carry streaming video and audio of the proceedings. The NY Times has more details in this report which was made further enjoyable because they quote an analyst named "Woodcock".

A lot of programs return to or make their premiere on premium cable this Sunday including: "Big Love", "The L Word", "The United States of Tara", and "Secret Diary of a Call Girl". What we most eagerly anticipate is the season premiere of "Flight of the Conchords". The pair of musicians and their hapless manager, all hailing from New Zealand, might not have made a second season due to low viewership but their cult like following gave us one more. So enjoy every episode like a smooth New Zealand Merlot, savor it, because this might be their last run, on HBO at least.

HBO has acquired the exclusive rights to air Barack Obama's inauguration kick-off events on January 18th. The actual inauguration ceremony will be carried by several outlets but the 90+ minutes of live performances preceding the ceremony will exclusively belong to HBO. In 1993, paid $1.5 million to air the performances preceding Bill Clinton's inauguration but unlike that year, HBO says it will provide access to all viewers and not just HBO subscribers.

Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who was involved with Star Trek since the beginning died of leukemia early this morning in her Bel Air home. "Even before she married Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in 1969, she was integral to Star Trek," Marc Bernardin reminisced at EW's PopWatch blog. "She was the original first officer aboard the Enterprise—replaced after the pilot by Leonard Nimoy's Mr. Spock—and reappeared as the faithful Nurse Christine Chapel." The 76-year-old continued her Trek with the Sci-Fi brand until the very end, even recording voiceover as the ship's computer for J.J. Abrams movie "Star Trek" two weeks ago. It was one of roles she used to do through her more than four decades of work on the show. Rest in Peace.

Lately it's been all about the 3-D, and lately it's been all about anything Turner-flavored (they seem to be pumping out new shows on TNT and TBS every other day), so naturally the two must meet. On February 14th, because they love you, TNT will team up with Cinedigm to broadcast TNT's coverage of "NBA All-Star Saturday Night" in 3-D to 160+/- theaters in 35 states. If only they chose a real game, then we'd be a bit more interested.

Weeks ago, we warned that Forrest Ackerman, coiner of the phrase sci-fi, adventurer and keeper of the science-fiction flame, was ailing.

When the sign reads ‘Alt Cinema’, you have to step into the theatre knowing that whatever you’re about to see is gonna be a real crapshoot. Often times without the shooting. But every once in a while, mixed in with the kabuki juggling animated dragon silent films and anything by Uwe Bolle, you start to realize that Alternative Cinema doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

Forrest "Forrey" Ackerman, the nearly 92 year old coiner of the term "sci-fi" and honorary lesbian (for his work as "Laurajean Ermayne") is said to be ailing. "He wasn't sounding very strong," Harry Knowles said in an entry on Ain't It Cool News, "It hurt to hear his voice." Ackerman helped to bolster the burgeoning sci-fi community by publishing the inspirational journal, Famous Monsters of Filmland.

Be sure to "Hack the Debate" tonight (check out today's LAist interview with Current TV about this Twitter partnership) while watching McCain and Obama slug/slog it out (again).

Shark Week winds down - I'm almost all sharked out anyways, plus the TV Junkie will be heading for a week's vacation at the beach so he was getting a little freaked out.

We're well into Shark Week 2008! Last night was a lot of fun and there's more to come tonight, I've highlighted the "Greenland Shark Quest" below as the one to watch. If TV sharks aren't enough, of course Discovery Channel's Shark Week website has a bunch of news, scientific info, and games all tied into Shark Week - my fave is "Go Shark Yourself" which is creepy gross and fun at the same time. Once you've exhausted the resources of the Discovery Channel, don't forget the old standby (and incredible resource) called National Geographic, which also has a website dedicated to sharks: tons and tons of cool pics, a shark attack survival guide, and videos including this insane one of a giant octopus vs. a shark! I don't think I've written the word "shark" this many times in one sitting before.

- Unless you've got some specific sports events you want to watch this weekend, things are pretty slow on the tube - you'd better hope your Netflix came in.

If you thought Microsoft's foray into television had stopped with their relative failure in MSNBC, you were wrong - Microsoft acquired (for an undisclosed sum) interactive TV network Navic. Navic provides services to Comcast, Cox, Time Warner, and Charter Communications among others - so I guess what we're saying is, get ready for a blue screen of death when you try to watch TV.

Variety is reporting that the upcoming NBC "The Office" spinoff has made its first hire: Aziz Ansari from MTV's "Human Giant" whom LAist interviewed a couple months ago and whom the TV Junkie met at the Ashton Kutcher SNL post-party in April). While the show title, other cast members, and method of launch is unknown to the general public, it is known that the show will debut this winter in the 9:30pm timeslot, right after it's progenitor.

In contrast to the wildly cute meerkates to the right (yes, they're back), some seriously big numbers have been issued by the prestigious Milken Institute has put out an impressive study of the impact of the writer's strike. In summary:

Hey "Gossip Girl" fans, The CW is pulling the show off of its website because too many of you are choosing to watch it online vs. TV (where its ratings are slumping). So, I get it, restrict the viewing of the content and everything will get better. What do you want to bet that this won't fix the problem?

So can fans really make a difference? Word has it that enough fans got through to NBC for them to keep the high school football-romance-drama "Friday Night Lights" on the air through a partnership with DirecTV. This gives one hope that a group of people can make a difference but then disappointment that truly great shows like "Arrested Development" couldn't make the cut. Speaking of which, Will Arnett is on Jimmy Kimmel tonight - Arnett mentioned on Conan a couple weeks ago that perhaps there is an "Arrested Development" movie in the works, wouldn't that be something?

So I spent my Sunday sick as a dog on the couch watching, of all things, football, literally because I was too wiped to find the clicker and move on. I'd forgotten how obnoxious the graphics were and how pompous and full of itself football has become. Still, gotta watch the Super Bowl for the commercials so I still have some time to devote to that. Am dismayed that the talentless hack Ryan Seacrest is going to be entertainment host for the Super Bowl and even more dismayed that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are the featured band - can they not find an artist from the most current decade to perform at these effing things?

I vaguely remember the '80s so the return of American Gladiator to the screen presents me with a nauseating wave of nostalgia that I want to boogie board to the fullest. Then again, I vaguely remember the '70s and the relaunch of the Bionic Woman left a lot to be desired. But hey, we live in America, and with enough boobies and violence, American Gladiator could have the required recipe for success.

Have a taste for deliciously scary eye candy? Check out Christopher Ulrich's phantasmagorical paintings: Demoneater Series One in Santa Monica!

How can it be Christmas with out Rudolph or hotties in underwear strutting through snowflakes? The previews for this week's Nip/Tuck looked hilarious, I hope it delivers; gonna have to Tivo part three of Tin Man which has been pretty good so far despite certain shortcomings that are particular to the SciFi channel. As always, thanks for your comments. 7:15pm Becket TCM - (1964) Do you remember being forced to watch this in high school...