I’ve been taking full advantage of the DVD mail service at Videomatica.ca lately.  If you’re not familiar with them then you’re missing out big time.  All you do is pay a monthly fee, choose a bunch of DVDs you want to watch, they will be sent to your house and the best part is- when you’re done just pop them in a mailbox!

I watched the cult classic Dark Star last night from 1974.  It’s John Carpenter’s first feature film and is so low budget it’s hilarious.  Sci-fi buffs should watch for Dan O’Bannon playing “Pinback” (he also edited the movie, did the story with Carpenter & co-wrote to original Alien- among others).  As I watched the film I was struck how much of an inspiration it was for Ridley Scott’s Alien and the whole idea of “truckers in space”.

-Thor

A brand new poll claims The Joker is the best on-screen villain of all time.  Read the deets here.

Today’s Blog Blip question is simple- Who is the best movie villain of all time?

I have many favourites- one classic is Tim Curry as The Darkness in Ridley Scott’s Legend- so freaky!

-Thor

Paris Hilton is in Cannes and spouting off that she wants to show off her “real” acting talents and collaborate with director Quentin Tarantino.  I pray to God he would never seriously consider this.  It got me thinking about today’s question.  Who would be your dream Hollywood director to work under?  I would choose David Fincher- he can be tempermental to work with but he’s a visionary.  I would also go with Ridley Scott, though I fear he’s past his prime.  Terry Gilliam would be cool too because he’s such a mad genius!  Let me know your thoughts.  Also, Curtis Hanson is brilliant- LA Confidential is one of the best movies of all time.

Great weekend- checked out Eat Vancouver on Saturday after I saw Star Trek for a third time- that flick is amazing!  Spent yesterday cleaning up the aparment and reading Stephen King’s “It”.

-Thor

Director Steven Spielberg is set to produce a big screen adaptation of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life story.  Read the details here.  WOW, this is huge news on the biopic front.  The question remains- Who could play Martin Luther King Jr.?  I was thinkin’ someone like Terrence Howard, Riaz suggested Will Smith.  I also had a comment on a previous post from a faithful blog follower that Forest Whitaker could take the reins- good call, that guy can certainly command a crowd!  I think it would be best served if they went with a no-namer.  I think Denzel Washington is too stereotypical & Will Smith is too much of a caricature.  Send me your thoughts.

Also on the movie front- you’ve heard of cartoons & toys getting made into movies and now board games are the next big thing.  Universal Pictures has inked a 6-year deal with Hasbro games to develop the Ouija Board, Candy Land & Monopoly (being developed by Ridley Scott) into movies.  But, that’s not the real news- director Peter Berg is working on a Battleship movie!  Read about that here.   Why are they bothering with this nonsense?  Everyone knows you can’t top The Hunt For Red October & Das Boot for naval movies!

Latter Bloggers,

-Thor

Today’s Blog Talk link from BT- When film franchises should quit.  Word coming in today Ridley Scott is working on another Hannibal Lecter movie with Anthony Hopkins returning & Cate Blanchett taking over the role of Clarice Starling.  Read the details here.  I think this could actually work- Hopkins is still creepy, Ridley Scott is a visionary & if Cate Blanchett takes this project on it’s sure be be solid acting.  It should be more psychological like Silence of the Lambs then action-driven, like Scott’s sequel Hannibal.  Interesting that it will NOT be based on a novel, it’s an original screenplay.  Do you think we need another Hannibal movie?  Honestly, the best Hannibal Lecter film is 1986’s Manhunter by Michael Mann.  It stars William Petersen, Joan Allen & Brian Cox as Dr. Lecter.  Red Dragon was a remake of this one- a poor remake at that!

Sometimes this works in a franchise and sometimes it does not.  I thought the fourth Die Hard was actually better than the third one.  Yet, they didn’t really need to make a third Back To The Future.

Have a great weekend peeps,

-Thor

The man pictured above is the inspiration for my first tattoo.  I had it done yesterday in beautiful Mission from the lovely and talented Bonnie Dobbin.  H.R. Giger is a Swiss painter & sculptor who designed the Alien in Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi classic.  I’ve had this image in my mind for so long but it was only a matter of finding the right artist.  Here are the results…

It took about an hour and 45 minutes and felt like sustained bee stings.  The conversation takes your mind off the pain and we were cranking the Jimi Hendrix.  I love how it turned out and will probably get another one day- the floodgates have opened!

What d’ya think?

-Thor