Scribblings

Review: Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

For some reason I missed this movie when it came out in the cinema, but now that I have seen it on DVD I can see that this was a mistake. Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit is one of the most fun movies I have seen in a long time. It has an original story, great characters and great settings, and if it walks away with the Oscar for Best Animated Movie this year, that would be well deserved.

Interview: Not just your average Bat-Fans

There are many different ways to be a fan of something. You've got fans, who collect all the DVD's of their favorite actors or actresses, are first to stand in line when their new movie comes out and who crowd the message boards to proclaim their love. But you also have fans who dress up like their favorite characters, go to conventions and other events and perform like their heroes. A very professional group of enthusiasts that falls squarely into that second group is Gotham Public Works, consisting of Batman-fans who take their fandom to a whole other level.

Who is new Bond Girl Eva Green?

Yep, there's a new Bond-girl in town, and the lucky girl to be signed for the role is Eva Green. Although Green has had roles in some high profile movies, her own profile is still relatively below the radar. She is not the type of actress that generates millions of hits on the Internet (although that might very well change after today), and it seems that Casino Royale, the new Bond movie, is the first flick to really propel the young actress into the spotlights.

Five Movies in Five Minutes: Jennifer Connelly

During the weekend, we saw the four hour director's cut version of Once upon a time in America. A great movie, to be sure, even when it's 2.30 AM and you can hardly keep your eyes open anymore, and a movie that is helped greatly by the acting of the kids portraying the main characters during their younger days. A quick run on the IMDB shows that most of these kids have more or less vanished from the big screen, and there is really only one that has the big career that her role in this movie foreshadows: Jennifer Connelly.

Top Ten Biggest Movie Flops

It's impossible to read a news item about the weekly box office results, without somebody mentioning the fact that this or that movie is a flop. It's a word that is used with ease, even in the case when a movie is not a flop at all. Of course, history has had it's fair share of flops, some losing enough money for you to buy your own football team that has enough expensive talent to win the Champions League. So, what are the ten biggest flops of all time? Read on and find out.

Bi-weekly poll: What is your favorite sports movie?

The Winter Olympics are running at full steam, which gives us a good reason to look at sports movies, and, more importantly, which ones are the best. Personally, I love sports movies. I know they are always full of cliches, but when well made, they can be emotional, fun and really rouse your spirits. So, which one is your favorite? You will find the list of choices on the right side of the page (might require a bit of scrolling up or down). If you have a suggestion that is not in the list, feel free to drop it in the comments section!

The Ultimate Car Chase, Part 1: Bullitt

When you mention that you are searching for the ultimate car chase in movie history, five out of ten people will probably mention the high speed chase in Steve McQueen's 1968 movie Bullitt. You could say that the chase that occurs at roughly two thirds of the movie is iconic in many different ways.

5 Movies in 5 Minutes: Saving Steve Martin's reputation

It will be hard to miss Steve Martin this weekend, since his new comedy The Pink Panther is being hyped through the roof. A good moment to look back at Martin's career, and looking at his filmopgraphy at IMDB made me realize that the man has been in a lot of really bad and (even worse) really average movies. Movies like Housesitter, Father of the Bride 2, Bringing Down the House, Sgt. Bilko and Mixed Nuts can all be buried in a deep pit somewhere in the desert (maybe somewhere close to those millions of copies of Atari's ET videogame), and nobody would miss them. Since the reviews of The Pink Panther are also rather negative, it would almost make you forget he actually used to make some really good movies. Time to dig out five of those up, then.

Scarlett Johansson Nude!

Yeah, I'll admit, that headline is more or less a shameless click grabber (and judging from you reading this: it worked!), but I'm not telling you anything that isn't true. The cover of the newest issue of American mag Vanity Fair has both Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley in the buff. And even though they the most private parts are covered up, it's still an interesting enough picture to waste a click on. There's a discussion going on about the cover, where opponents think it is just a sexist way of grabbing attention, but you can also say that Vanity Fair is doing nothing more serious than fulfilling one of the dreams of the heterosexual male part of the earth's populations. Apparently Rachel McAdams was also supposed to be on the cover, but while at the shoot she decided that maybe posing nude was not the thing for her after all, and she backed out. Before you become too sad about that bit of news, however, Angelina Jolie was also featured in this issue of Vanity Fair, lying naked in a bathtub (*wonders how many more clicks a headline that says 'Angelina Jolie nude in a bath' would attract*). You can look at that picture over here. Now all we have to wait for is the inevitable discussions about who has the better looking rear, Scarlett or Angelina...