Owner: Gormanfilms URL:http://www.gormanfilms.com Join Date: Sat, 11 Nov 2006 12:32:08 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Gormanfilms- The Official Blog of Mike Gorman. Find reviews for TV (Lost, 24, Heroes, and Battlestar Galactica) and film along with a dash of his so called humor. Also find info on screenwriting and directing. Its life with the dull parts left out. Site statistics:Click here
Jack Palance: A Movie Legend RIP: February 18th 1919 - November 10th 2006 2006-11-11 07:10:55
JACK PALANCE
Rest in Peace
February
18th 1919 - November
10th 2006
Jack Palance, a movie legend with over fifty years in the movies, passed away today from natural causes at the age of 87. I have to say Palance had a heck of a life. He was a professional boxer in the 1940s before ending his career against heavyweight belt contender Joe Baksi. World War II might have had some affect on his boxing career. Wounded in combat, Palance returned from the war with a Purple heart, and the World War II victory medal. Palance was first an understudy to Marlon Brando in Tennessee Williams’ play A Street Car Named Desire. Then began his long and illustrious film in 1950 with Panic in the Streets.
Palance is mostly recognizable for his performances in westerns like the classic Shane in which he received an Oscar nomination, but he received his first Oscar nom for best supporting actor in Sudden Fear. In 1991, the third time proved a charm when he received the Oscar for best supporting actor i Read more:Legend
LOST: Season 3 Episode 6 - I Do 2006-11-09 17:18:08
This comes as a sort of bittersweet post. Sure it’s Lost but it’s also the last Lost until good old February 2007. That’s not a long wait. Oh pardon me I meant that is just damned ridiculous. That’s only three months until we get some closure on last night’s episode entitled “I do”. Written by Cuse and Lindeloff I Do gives a guest-starring role to none other than Nathan Fillion. I will say I was sort of disappointed with his character in the episode. It just seemed to me like his character lacked some complexity other than token husband to Kate. Of course this is probably just another setup for him in a later episode. Some really good moments happen with Jack as he prepares for Benjamin’s surgery. Also one of the others drops a huge bombshell of a clue with regards to the list.
Namely that the person who made the list goes by the name of “Jacob”. That’s right. Not Benjamin or Juliet. Meanwhile on the big bad island Lo Read more:Season
, Episode
Heroes: Season 3 Episode 7 - Nothing to Hide 2006-11-09 05:46:01
A little late I know with this post but since after this evening there are no more posts for Lost till February. Excluding my spec script I am working on. A few things happen this episode but nothing revelatory. Simone’s father dies but that comes as no surprise. Nathan has brunch with some press and we get to see his wife for the first time. Matt is still having marital issues when it comes to trust and he is working with FBI to find Cylar and it leads to … Radiation Man. I’m sure the Simpsons crew got a chuckle out of this one. Hiro and Niki’s husband have an unexpected encounter on a highway as the show starts really pulling the theme of heroism. We’re getting a really heavy handed ‘with great power comes great responsibility’. We also find out to my personal disappointment that Niki is not dead. Oh well maybe next time.
The biggest story this episode probably goes to Claire who’s little brother gets hold of her video tape. We don&# Read more:Season
, Episode
, Nothing
So Say We All: Season 3 Episode 6 Torn 2006-11-07 23:45:58
So here we are on to episode six of Battlestar Galactica’s third season it’s like the good old days of Season
1 with Starbuck and Tigh fighting it out in the barracks while Adama and crew start finding a new course to earth. Meanwhile in Torn we are now getting looks into the daily lives of Cylons and in particular Gaius Baltar’s Basestar. Baltar is still begging, lying, and pleading for his life and even risks it by going onto a virus infected basestar. Did I mention Mrs. Agathon gets her own callsign? Here’s a hint. It is the name of Adama’s daughter in the original series.
This is just the kind of episode I expect from the BSG writers. Good solid writing and phenominal pacing with a strong theme of family. I keep really hoping for Tigh to become some mega bad ass on deck, but this episode takes him to some very dark places. Starbuck on the other hand has a really great character arc this episode and I’m sure you can expect her to be kicking ass Read more:Episode
It seems everyone is caught up in mid-term elections. 2006-11-07 20:30:14 Now I personally haven’t been keeping up on US politics like I used to. Sadly I’ve been busy with trying to get my own screenplay onto paper and I no longer get to watch the news… aka Daily Show and Colbert Report as much as I’d like. However that hasn’t kept me from being bombarded with US political advertisement at seemingly every commercial. Speaking of these political ads has anyone seen Hilary Clinton’s 30 second spots? I was impressed that she takes credit for protecting Americans from violent video games. After all you would not want Grand Theft Auto on the market when gems like this are being made…
Now I’m no expert but the last time I saw a male cow… it was a bull, and it didn’t milk itself….. maybe that was too much info. Do cows need cellphones? And is it just me or does a ‘male’ cow squirt a white liquid in order to vanquish baddies?
DON’T FORGET TO VOTE FOR JIMMY JONES
Technor Read more:everyone
Awww Yeah…. 2006-11-07 20:08:24 Another great bit on Sunday was Family Guy’s army recruitment sketch. For some reason it reminds me of a time when I was in a movie theatre with a friend and they had an advert for the Canadian Forces. Said friend was currently in the military and quite bitter that the equipment shown on screen he has never seen or had access to. Guess you had to be there. *hic* Anyway here is the video for the Army recruitment sketch on sunday’s Family Guy.
Army Recruitment Video
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Speaking of Orson Welles….. 2006-11-07 19:51:15 In case you didn’t have a chance to check out the latest Simpsons Treehouse of Horrors on Sunday. The best of tales is The Day the Earth looked Stupid with a hilarious homage to War of the Worlds and Orson
Welles’ radio broadcast that fooled America. The rest of the episode was disappointing sadly. For your enjoyment….
The Day the Earth looked Stupid
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And now for something completely different… 2006-11-05 19:29:20 I got to hand hand it to Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat as expected is a huge hit making nearly 10 million on its opening night. If you take into account that it was only shown on 800 screens it becomes quite a feat. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to check out Borat in the next week or so. Lately I’ve been seeing Borat cameos anywhere from Conan O’Brien and SNL to earlier this week with The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
I’ll let the video speak for itself…
Technorati : Borat, Jon, Sacha Baron Cohen, Stewart, comedy network, daily show, funny, interview Del.icio.us : Borat, Jon, Sacha Baron Cohen, Stewart, comedy network, daily show, funny, interview Ice Rocket : Borat, Jon, Sacha Baron Cohen, Stewart, comedy network, daily show, funny, interview Flickr : Borat, Jon, Sacha Baron Cohen, Stewart, comedy network, daily show, funny, interview Zooomr : Borat, Jon, Sacha Baron Cohen, Stewart, comedy network, daily show, funny, interview Buzznet : B Read more:something
, completely
, different
, something completely different
Orson Welles really did go downhill…. 2006-11-03 20:36:52 This is both one of the most funny and depressing things I have ever witnessed. It is possible I may have seen this on a bloopers show when I was like eight years old. Like a fine wine it gets funnier and more depressing with age. To think the director of Citizen Kane and Touch of Evil, not to mention the voice of the radio broadcast for War of the Worlds fell this far in his latter years.
Technorati : Comedy, Orson
, Welles, advertisement, commercial, director, funny, humour, video, wine Del.icio.us : Comedy, Orson, Welles, advertisement, commercial, director, funny, humour, video, wine Ice Rocket : Comedy, Orson, Welles, advertisement, commercial, director, funny, humour, video, wine Flickr : Comedy, Orson, Welles, advertisement, commercial, director, funny, humour, video, wine Zooomr : Comedy, Orson, Welles, advertisement, commercial, director, funny, humour, video, wine Buzznet : Comedy, Orson, Welles, advertisement, commercial, director, funny, humour, video, wine Riya : Co
Lost Season 3 Episode 5 - The Cost of Living 2006-11-02 19:05:00
I just started doing this weekly post for Lost and now I realize that after next week we have nothing to look forward to on Wednesdays until January. That’s just sad(on my part mostly). So last night we got an episode where they really tried to get Nikki and Paulo in on the show. Right now I am just seeing them as a quick fix to help viewers catch up. Right now like everyone else was in the pilot they are coming off as mere plot devices and not interesting characters. Like seriously who here does not have the intense desire to kick Paulo’s ass if not only for his bad soap opera acting. And Nikki ? When did Lost become Smallville? These gripes aside The Cost of Living
was a solid Eko-centric episode.
Here is the promo for it:
In The Cost of Living we learn:
We learn that the tumour definately belongs to Benjamin. (I thought there was a Locke possibilty. It is on the spine after all and Locke did like to drag race in a wheel chair.)
Eko on a crazy spirit quest of his ow Read more:Season
, Episode
Casino Royale Review 2006-11-18 09:07:32 Today I made an attempt to catch a matinee of CasinoRoyale
so as to avoid all those teenage idiots who laugh when a woman is being given CPR. Just my luck of course that it seemed like every damned kid who hasn’t yet grown their big boy hair felt obliged to skip school and show up at the same screening as me. Luckily those peabrains could’nt stop this movie.
For all of you neysayers out there get ready to swallow your hatred for Daniel Craig. This man is Bond. I don’t mean Sean Connery’s Bond, or Pierce Brosnan’s Bond but the none other than the Bond of Ian Fleming’s book. It’s ironic that Casino Royale
is a journey back to Bond’s roots with relaunch of the iconic because it reminds me of all the things that Batman Begins did right. First off they took Bond to a much darker place and I’d say it’s back to the good old bloody days with Connery.
You might recognize Martin Campbell attached as a director on a previous Bond film,
A Special Message from Jack Black 2006-11-18 08:36:55 I figure there is no point in appologizing for the lack of updates in the past week. I have been living with the frustrations of bad karma mixed with computing so as you can guess I was spending most of this week recovering from a shoot I worked too hard on last weekend and trying to fix my computer so that I could finally stop procrastinating and work on the site and my screenplay.
I found this little nugget on youtube with Jack Black
providing a very important PSA about Piracy. Don’t let them steal our internets!
Remember No inspiration = no rocket sauce.
This bit of Tenacious D is for the ladies…
Don’t forget to check out Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny out next week. Sadly I’m going to be breaking my butt on set so I won’t be seeing it till December when I have no life.
Technorati : Black, Gass, Jack, Kyle, Piracy, Tenacious D, comedy, pick of destiny, youtube
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, Message
New Spiderman 3 Trailer 2006-11-18 20:10:50 This is yet another of my late post for the week. I also had the good fortune to see this baby on the big screen preceding Casino Royale. If Spiderman
2 was any indicator Spiderman 3 looks to be the best film of the three. My only worry after watching this is that maybe there is too much to tell. You have this plot about Peter’s uncle and his real killer plus the subplot between Peter and Harry plus the rocky relationship with Peter and Mary Jane plus Gwen Stacey plus Eddie Brock as Venom. See where I am going with this ? Of all people I have faith that these guys will pull it off. The casting of Church as Sandman was just pure genius and the choice to go with Topher Grace as Venom is downright scary since I always thought of him as a great casting choice as Spiderman himself. This baby comes out in May.
Technorati : Church, Dunst, Haden, Kirsten, Maguire, Marvel, Raimi, Sam, Sandman, Secret Wars, Sony, Spiderman, Toby, Venom
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New Harry Potter Poster 2006-11-18 20:00:34
I meant to post this teaser poster of HarryPotter
and the Order of the Phoenix much earlier in the week but joys of computing set me back. I would not personally call myself a Harry Potter fan but I have enjoyed all but the first film(which I checked my watch about fifty times while watching). Ralph Fiennes must be having a field day playing Voldemart. David Yates is the director and I haven’t seen a single one of his films but that could be a good thing since I hated the direction in Goblet of Fire which felt like it was cranked out as some expensive effects laden made for TV special.
Hopefully sometime next week the teaser trailer for Mr.Potter will be available online once Happy Feet is released in theatres.
Technorati : Harry, July, Order, Potter, Voldemort, bros, phoenix, poster, warner
Read more:Poster
Office Space Recut Trailer 2006-11-18 19:47:08 Before you check out this hilarious recut of Office Space
check out Mike Judge’s latest film Idiocracy if you can. Unfortunately it had little to no promotion and was released to only a few theatres. I had the chance to check it out a few months back and I loved it. Every bit as funny as Office Space
and likely to also become a cult classic when people can finally see it on DVD. Why this little gem was shafted we’ll never know.
So if you found yourself a fan of the recut parodies of the Titanic and Shining trailers, check this one out. Courtesy of http://www.whatthemaynard.com/ .
If only Ron Livingston could do better than those stupid Sprint commercials…
Technorati : Cole, Gary, Judge, Mike, Milton, Office, Space, livingston, maynard, parody, ron, trailer
Read more:Trailer
Star Wars Against Smoking 2006-11-19 19:44:12 And I thought the Star Wars
Christmas Special was bad and here they go and making an anti-smoking campaign featuring R2-D2 and C3PO. I gotta say worst idea ever. First off who would listen to these guys and of the two R2D2 is the cool one. I mean seriously C3PO is a stiffly Stifferson, and you know what I like to do to Stiffly Stiffersons. I like to prank them all night in my basement with a tire iron. Ha!
Now Han Solo telling kids not to smoke would be good idea afterall he probably has more intergalactic VDs than Captain Kirk and William Riker combined. Heck I’m sure one of the subplots about Jabba the Hut was that Solo went solo on one of his mistresses. All this nerd talk makes me want to see the movie Fanboys and damn is that going to suck.
ENJOY!
Technorati : Anti, C3PO, George Lucas, R2D2, Smoking
, Star Wars, cigarette, spikedhumour
Some Robin Sparkles from 1993 2006-11-21 06:25:32 I’m sure most of you who actually bother to read my site are also probably not fans of CBS’s monday night sitcom How I Met Your Mother but for me it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure that fills the void left by Friends and Frasier and since Two and a Half Men is total ass. Anyway you should find this funny regardless of whether or not you like the show. Try not to play it on a loop or you’ll go insane. I want to rock Robin
Sparkles till Canada Day.
Technorati : Canada, Gretzky, How I met your mother, Malls, Mulroney, Robin Sparkles, funny, slap bet, youtube
I’m not sure if I am impressed or disgusted… 2006-11-21 22:12:11 The Mrs(Talesfromthesubwayrider.com) found this gem on the Globe and Mail website. Now don’t get me wrong I think commercial is very well done and puts forth a very important message but it somehow bothers me that is done in the interests of advertising and not to actually help with the self esteem of young women. For some reason it reminds me of Sprite’s marketing campaign that was something like “Image is nothing, quench your thirst, drink sprite”.
Anyway I have to say considering Dove’s marketing strategy this intelligent feminist approach is hitting it right on the nail.
Dove’s Evolution
And somehow I found one the Obey your Thirst commercial which has a similar message(though vacuous) but were funny as well. This one was a hilarious parody on I’d guess SunnyD and the Pillsbury Doughboy.
Technorati : Sprite, beauty, commercial, distortion, dove, evolution, makeup, photoshop, quench your thirst, youtube
RIP: Robert Altman 2006-11-21 23:58:05
R.I.P.
RobertAltman
: 1925 - 2006
Iconic director Robert Altman
passes away yesterday at the age of 81. Altman is known mostly for directing the films Mash, The Player, and Gosford Park and had just recently directed A Prairie Home Companion in which Paul Thomas Anderson was in many ways his understudy while on set. The producers of the film were quite worried that he may pass away during the production and for insurance reasons needed Anderson to be on set in case he collapsed and was unable to finish the production. Though his passing was expected that makes it no less tragic in that we have lost one of our great filmmakers. Altman is one of my favorite directors and I’ll be sure to remember his work by watching my Criterion edition of Short Cuts for the billionth time. He was the king of ensemble films and truly was an actor’s director. Somehow he seemed able to get a great performance out of just about anyone. I can only hope that I’ll be directing from a wheelch
Rob Cohen Violates the Dead! 2006-11-22 01:43:32
I read this piece of news on Dark Horizons and honestly thought it was some sort of sick practical joke. Now look I have no problem with the concept of using digital actors. It’s not like I am going to boycott going to see Shrek 3 or something but I was personally disgusted when I saw the Coca Cola commercial with a cg Humphrey Bogart. That’s just a case of respecting the dead if you ask me and in many ways I think it is pure exploitation.
I should not be surprised that a certain talentless director, many of his films you may recognize as some of the worst movies in recent memory. He actually makes Michael Bay look good. At this point Paul W. Anderson looks like Steven Spielberg by comparison.
To see where I am coming from check out the article here at Filmstalker. To sum it up though Rob Cohen
is directing a martial arts picture with Bruce Lee in it. You’re probably asking yourself right now… Isn’t Bruce Lee dead? You’d be correct too. It appears R
Battlestar Galactica: Season 3 Episode 8 HERO 2006-11-22 01:02:55
This episode is another great kick in the pants from the cast and crew of Battlestar Galactica
. We find out some huge spoilers in this episode especially involving Adama and what may have started the second war with the Cylons. Also we get to meet Bulldog who was a former crew member of the Battlestar Valkyrie, Adama’s previous ship. Also we luck out with Bulldog who is played by Alias alumni Carl Lumbly who gets to kill Xena; well somewhat.
This episode takes Adama to some very dark places and I love the show for it and ironically we get to see Tigh on the road to recovery. Again the theme of family overcoming the Cylons is present throughout the episode. Adama is no longer a golden boy of goodness but maybe he’s something even better; a fully fleshed out character with some personal demons to deal with. This is easily one of the show’s best episodes and it throws me off how often I keep saying that.
GORMAN GIVES
Battlestar Galactica
S03E08 : HERO
out of
Now enjo Read more:Season
, Episode
Heroes: Season 3 Episode 9 - Homecoming 2006-11-22 00:34:02
One word for this episode: Wow. Yes I did it again. I can’t say a whole lot of things are resolved in Homecoming
. At least not like those cruel teaser commercials have implied. We don’t find out what “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World” means yet but we do get a larger glimpse of Sylar but we get nothing this week with Matt Parkman or Atomic-man. Also Hiro’s plot is not resolved but it’s a safe bet that next week will cover that when the episode is called Six Months Ago. We get some awesome stuff going on with Peter and Sylar though and there is some pretty graphic violence for a show that airs during prime time. It was a very Friday the 13th type death involving a certain cheerleader but I won’t ruin it for you that did not see it. Also Nathan as usual acts like a total prick and Niki is still a psychopath(aka Jessica) as she goes after her son.
Mohinder’s story arc in India is still boring as hell but the good news is we know now th Read more:Season
, Episode
Wii Vs. PS3 2006-11-23 05:09:47
I’d say this is pretty damn accurate. Too bad the Mac wasn’t a hot blond in stilettos and not some douchebage hipster who comes off like a condescending prick(no offense Justin Long).
Technorati : Mac, PS3, Wii
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The Fountain: REVIEWED! 2006-11-23 04:55:10
Well I figure it was about time after seeing this movie months ago back at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Fountain
is Darren Arronovsky’s third major film following his breakout conspiracy film Pi, and his genius allegory of addiction; Requiem for a Dream.
To say I had lofty expectations for this film would be an understatement. I was excited to see Aronofsky take on the dark knight with his Year One film which didn’t pan out as well as Samurai epic Lone Wolf & Cub which to the best of my knowledge is still under development. Then this film had been well into development with Brad Pitt in the lead. Well good things come to those who wait.
It frustrates me to mention that I cannot partake in another viewing of the Fountain until next week as I am busy doing grip work on set. Just so you know this film was like a jolt of heroine that made me look at the world in a much more beautiful way all while making want to watch it again and again.
Well now it’s
This movie feels like the story of my life right now. 2006-11-25 02:40:23 I’m a jack of all trades, but a master of nothing. Since I don’t have much spare time as of late(back to set “before dawn”). Anyway here’s a classic by it’s very definition.
Sherlock Jr.: starring Buster Keaton
Technorati : buster, jack of all trades, keaton, sherlock jr, veoh, video
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Hot Fuzz Trailer Released! 2006-12-03 01:02:27 Hello again, here I am fighting off a nasty cold after a nine day stint of volunteer work with Toronto Filmworks. I get home and low and behold the trailer for Hot Fuzz
is available on-line, and my RAM came in the mail! Today must be my lucky day. If only I could fix this sore throat.
One thing I love about the guys who have work on Shaun of the Dead and Spaced, which includes director Edgar Wright and comedic geniuses Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, is that they are able to make films that are self aware yet completely able to stand on their own. Shaun of the Dead for example only seems to get better viewing after viewing(and is now an inductee into my yearly horror movie marathon). Hot Fuzz looks to change little of that great formula and I’m not complaining. The cameos in the trailer alone leaves me excited to see it in theaters March 9th. So far we’ve got Bill Nighy, Stephen Merchant of The Office fame, and 007 himself Timothy Dalton. Not to mention this trailer features Sim Read more:Trailer
Hot Fuzz Trailer Released! 2006-12-03 01:02:27 Hello again, here I am fighting off a nasty cold after a nine day stint of volunteer work with Toronto Filmworks. I get home and low and behold the trailer for Hot Fuzz
is available on-line, and my RAM came in the mail! Today must be my lucky day. If only I could fix this sore throat.
One thing I love about the guys who have work on Shaun of the Dead and Spaced, which includes director Edgar Wright and comedic geniuses Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, is that they are able to make films that are self aware yet completely able to stand on their own. Shaun of the Dead for example only seems to get better viewing after viewing(and is now an inductee into my yearly horror movie marathon). Hot Fuzz looks to change little of that great formula and I’m not complaining. The cameos in the trailer alone leaves me excited to see it in theaters March 9th. So far we’ve got Bill Nighy, Stephen Merchant of The Office fame, and 007 himself Timothy Dalton. Not to mention this trailer features Sim Read more:Trailer
This movie feels like the story of my life right now. 2006-11-25 02:40:23 I’m a jack of all trades, but a master of nothing. Since I don’t have much spare time as of late(back to set “before dawn”). Anyway here’s a classic by it’s very definition.
Sherlock Jr.: starring Buster Keaton
Technorati : buster, jack of all trades, keaton, sherlock jr, veoh, video
Read more:movie
, story
Wii Vs. PS3 2006-11-23 05:09:47
I’d say this is pretty damn accurate. Too bad the Mac wasn’t a hot blond in stilettos and not some douchebage hipster who comes off like a condescending prick(no offense Justin Long).
Technorati : Mac, PS3, Wii
, clip, commercial, funny, parody, video, youtube
The Fountain: REVIEWED! 2006-11-23 04:55:10
Well I figure it was about time after seeing this movie months ago back at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Fountain
is Darren Arronovsky’s third major film following his breakout conspiracy film Pi, and his genius allegory of addiction; Requiem for a Dream.
To say I had lofty expectations for this film would be an understatement. I was excited to see Aronofsky take on the dark knight with his Year One film which didn’t pan out as well as Samurai epic Lone Wolf & Cub which to the best of my knowledge is still under development. Then this film had been well into development with Brad Pitt in the lead. Well good things come to those who wait.
It frustrates me to mention that I cannot partake in another viewing of the Fountain until next week as I am busy doing grip work on set. Just so you know this film was like a jolt of heroine that made me look at the world in a much more beautiful way all while making want to watch it again and again.
Well now it’s
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