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MaryAnn’s quick take… Culturally clueless cinematic vomit, a cynical undertaking embracing the most diminishing clichés it can apply to its characters. Low stakes, and low humor. I’m “biast” (pro): big fan of Dwayne Johnson, occasion fan of Jack Black

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

More than 20 years after 1995’s Jumanji — the family adventure film about a couple of kids who get sucked into an ancient board game and have to play it to completion to escape — the sequel has arrived… and this time, it’s all about hapless teens who get sucked into a videogame and have to play it to completion to escape. Was anyone demanding a second go at Jumanji? Zathura, the 2005 “spiritual sequel” — which, to be fair, does sound more like marketing baloney than anything else — was a flop. And, to be “fair” to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,...

Quincy Rose, the godson of Woody Allen and the offspring of the late Mickey Rose (an Allen collaborator on films such as Bananas and a writer for The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson), has just scribed, directed, produced, and edited his second feature film, Friends Effing Friends Effing Friends (Fefef) so roll out the red carpet and blow the horns. Such an amazing lack of talent has seldom been contained in a mere 117 minutes.

This is not to propose that Mr. Rose is totally bereft of any artistry. The trailer for his initial effort, Miles to Go (2012), in which he stars, displays an engagingly high-strung neuroticism in his Allenesque take on heterosexual relationships, and you can't help but wish he had cast himself as a lead in Fefef.

But before I decimate the theatrics and the writing, let's confront the plot. Two childhood buddies -- one circumcised, the other not...

Following on the heels of Kanye West's Yeezy season 4 spectacular on Wednesday afternoon, designer-slash-filmmaker Tom Ford made his return to the runway after a one season hiatus, during which he showcased his collection via a short film starring Lady Gaga.  The whole shebang took place at what's left of the legendary Four Seasons hotel restaurant on East 52nd Street in Manhattan, and included not just a fashion show, but also cocktails, dinner and a live performance by Leon Bridges. Ford, who was in Venice just days ago to premiere his new film Nocturnal Animals starring Amy Adams

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Now, after 62 years, viewable again in beautiful 3-D! Scientists are being murdered in a secret underground laboratory overseen by a super-computer and two robots, Gog and Magog. The restoration is a stunning achievement, covered thoroughly on the disc extras. The year is young, but this is an early favorite. Gog 3-D 3-D Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1954 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 85 min. / Street Date March 1, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 34.95 Starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf, Philip Van Zandt, Michael Fox, William Schallert. Cinematography Lothrop B. Worth Film Editor Herbert L. Strock Original Music Harry Sukman Written by Tom Taggart, Richard G. Taylor, Ivan Tors Produced by Ivan Tors Directed by Herbert L. Strock

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Once viewable only at isolated special film festivals, vintage films on 3-D are enjoying a comeback thanks to a busy independent company. The 3-D Film Archive has done work for various studios and disc distributors,...

Oh, and Anika? That was an Emmys opening video.

Forgive us for channeling Empire‘s Cookie, but Sunday’s 2015 Emmy Awards kicked off with an elaborate, on-point pre-taped bit that set the bar high for the rest of the telecast.

RelatedEmmys 2015: And the Winners Are….

The set-up: The evening’s host — and Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Andy Samberg — locked himself away in a bunker to watch “every show” so he can participate in TV conversations with his friends.

Along the way, he ran into all your small-screen favorites, including Castle‘s Nathan Fillion, The Odd Couple‘s Yvette Nicole Brown,...

Meet the staff of Camp Firewood in this new orientation video featuring Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks and more...

The eight-episode prequel series to David Wain and Michael Showalter's Wet Hot American Summer is almost upon us. The whole shebang arrives on Netflix on July the 31st, which means there's still time to catch up on the original film beforehand, also available on the streaming service, if you've yet to see it.

Back in 2001, assembling a cast including the likes of Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper and Elizabeth Banks wasn't quite the coup that it is now. What makes First Day Of Camp particularly impressive is that all of the above and more (the wonderful David Hyde-Pierce, Janeane Garofalo, Molly Shannon...) signed straight back up for the prequel. It's testament to the fondness with which the original film and its creators are viewed with by its cast.

The Festival of German Films in China is showing cinema from Germany this year for the second time. 16 internationally successful and award-winning films will be presented to the public and industry in the four Chinese cities of Peking, Chengdu , Shenzhen and Hangzhou in this important film market. Director Doris Dörrie is the event's patron, actor Florian Stetter and director Georg Maas will also be guests. German Films is organising the Festival of German Films in China together with the Goethe-Institut.

The festival will be opened on 14 November 2014 in Peking with a gala and the screening of "Stations of the Cross" (Ufa Fiction, cine plus Filmproduktion) in the presence of the lead actor Florian Stetter and the patron Doris Dörrie at the Broadway Cinema. The film by Dietrich Brüggemann will also open the festival in Hangzhou . "Suck Me Shakespeer" by Bora Dagtekin (Ratpack Filmproduktion, Constantin Film Produktion) will be the opening film in Chengdu and Shenzhen.

Doris Dörrie will be honored in Peking with a retrospective which will open on 15 November 2014 with "Bliss." The film-maker will then travel to Shenzhen to participate in a workshop discussion with the Chinese documentary film-makers Andrew Lone and Zhao Dayo.

Director Georg Maas will be presenting his film "Two Lives" (De/No, Zinnober Film, B&T Film), last year's German Oscar® candidate, in Chengdu , Shenzhen and Hangzhou as well as Peking .

Apart from new German productions, the Peking program will also include a newly restored version of the silent film classic

"The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" by Robert Wiene with musical accompaniment by the Aljoscha Zimmermann ensemble. An accompanying program at the film archive in Peking aims to promote an exchange of views and experiences between Chinese and German film-makers.Christiane von Wahlert, the managing director of Spio, will speak here with Chinese industry representatives about the age rating for feature films, and Stefan Drößler, the director of Munich 's Film Museum , will talk about the digital restoration of films.

All of the films in the program of the Festival of German Films in China :

Peking (14 – 20 November 2014 ) Broadway Cinema:

"Stations of the Cross" (Kreuzweg) by Dietrich Brüggemann (Ufa Fiction, cine plus Filmproduktion) (opening film)

"Home from Home" (Die Andere Heimat) by Edgar Reitz (De/Fr, Edgar Reitz Filmproduktion)

"Suck Me Shakespeer" (Fack Ju Gohte) von Bora Dagtekin (Rat Pack Filmproduktion, Constantin Film Produktion)

"The Woman Who Dares" (Die Frau Die Sich Traut) by Marc Rensing (Zum Goldenen Lamm Filmproduktion)

"Hanna's Journey" (Hannas Reise) by Julia von Heinz (2 Pilots Filmproduction, Kings&Queens Filmproduktion)

"Master of the Universe" by Marc Bauder (De/At, bauderfilm)

"Broken Glass Park" (Scherbenpark) by Bettina Blümner (Eyeworks Film Gemini)

"Two Lives" (Zwei Leben) by Georg Maas (De/No, Zinnober Film, B&T Film)

"Inbetween Worlds" (Zwischen Welten) by Feo Aladag (Independent Artists Filmproduktion, Geißendorfer Film- und Fernsehproduktion)

German School - Peking : Doris Dörrie retrospective:

"The Whole Shebang" (Alles Inklusive) by Doris Dörrie (Olga Film)

"The Hairdresser" (Die Friseuse) by Doris Dörrie (Collina Filmproduktion)

"Bliss" (Gluck) by Doris Dörrie (Constantin Film Produktion, Rainer Curdt Filmproduktion)

"Cherry Blossoms" (Kirschbluten- Hanami) by Doris Dörrie (Olga Film)

German Embassy:

"Beloved Sisters" (Die Geliebten Schwestern) by Dominik Graf (De/At, Bavariafilmverleih- und Produktion, Senator Film, Kiddinx Filmproduktion)

"West" (Westen) by Christian Schwochow (zero one film, Terz Film, öFilm, Senator Film)

Peking Film Archive:

"The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" ( Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari) by Robert Wiene (Decla-Film)

-Chengdu (November 16 – 23, 2014) / Shenzhen (November 18 – 25, 2014):

"Suck Me Shakespeer" (Fack Ju Gohte, opening film) von Bora Dagtekin (Rat Pack Filmproduktion, Constantin Film Produktion)

"Home from Home" (Die Andere Heimat) by Edgar Reitz (De/Fr, Edgar Reitz Filmproduktion)

"The Woman Who Dares" (Die Frau Die Sich Traut) by Marc Rensing (Zum Goldenen Lamm Filmproduktion)

"Hanna's Journey" (Hannas Reise) by Julia von Heinz (2 Pilots Filmproduction, Kings&Queens Filmproduktion)

"Master of the Universe" by Marc Bauder (De/At, bauderfilm)

"Two Lives" (Zwei Leben) by Georg Maas (De/No, Zinnober Film, B&T Film)

"Inbetween Worlds" (Zwischen Welten)) by Feo Aladag (Independent Artists Filmproduktion, Geißendorfer Film- und Fernsehproduktion)

-Hangzhou (20. – 29. November 2014 ):

"Stations of the Cross" by Dietrich Brüggemann (Ufa Fiction, cine plus Filmproduktion) (opening film)

"Home from Home" (Die Andere Heimat) by Edgar Reitz (De/Fr, Edgar Reitz Filmproduktion)

"Suck Me Shakespeer" (Fack Ju Gohte) by Bora Dagtekin (Rat Pack Filmproduktion, Constantin Film Produktion)

"The Woman Who Dares" (Die Frau Die Sich Traut) by Marc Rensing (Zum Goldenen Lamm Filmproduktion)

"Hanna's Journey" (Hannas Reise) by Julia von Heinz (2 Pilots Filmproduction, Kings&Queens Filmproduktion)

"Master of the Universe" by Marc Bauder (De/At, bauderfilm)

"Two Lives" (Zwei Leben) by Georg Maas (De/No, Zinnober Film, B&T Film)

"Inbetween Worlds" (Zwischen Welten) by Feo Aladag (Independent Artists Filmproduktion, Geißendorfer Film- und Fernsehproduktion)

Further information about the festival can be found at www.festivalofgermancinema.com and in the festival brochure .

The Festival of German Films in China is supported by the German Embassy in Peking .

Sponsors of German Films and the Goethe Institut at the festival are: Audi, Kempinski Hotels, Lufthansa Center and Arri

The festival's partners are: The Art Gallery of Sichuan University, Beijing Film Academy , China Film Archive, Bookworm, the German Embassy School , EU Film Festival, Labor Berlin, Oca, Ucat and the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation

Media partners: MTime, Movie and Ent Qq

Cinema partners: Palace, Moma, Broadway and IMAX

China is a promising film market with an enormous potential for growth. German Films has been active in the Middle Kingdom for 11 years and is represented there in all affairs by Anke Redl. Apart from the Focus Germany at the Shanghai International Film Festival, German Films also regularly supports the presence of German films at the Shanghai TV Festival.

Further information about China 's film market in the German Films market study.

On German Films:

German Films Service + Marketing is the national information and advisory center for the international distribution of German films. The aim of German Films' activities is to raise the level of awareness for German cinema abroad via information services, lobbying, PR and marketing measures and to make it visible in the international media arena.

Website: www.german-films.de

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/German-Films

Twitter: https://twitter.com/German_Films

Instagram: http://instagram.com/germanfilms...

Japan was the big winner at this year’s Moscow International Film Festival which ended on Saturday evening with the Golden St. George trophy for best film going to Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s My Man (Watashi-No Otoko) [pictured].The film, which also received the Silver St. George best actor honours for Tadanobu Asano, had its international premiere in Moscow and was the first Japanese film to win the grand prix since Kaneto Shindo’s Will To Live received the honour

Japan was the big winner at this year’s Moscow International Film Festival which ended on Saturday evening with the Golden St. George trophy for best film going to Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s My Man (Watashi-No Otoko) [pictured].

The film, which also received the Silver St. George best actor honours for Tadanobu Asano, had its international premiere in Moscow and was the first Japanese film to win the grand prix since Kaneto Shindo’s Will To Live received the honour in 1999.

Kumakiri...

35th edition of the festival runs June 19-28.

The Us documentary Red Army about the Soviet Red Army hockey team will open the 36th edition of the Moscow International Film Festival (Miff), which runs from June 19-28.

Directed by Gabe Polsky, the film was first shown at last month’s Cannes Film Festival and will be released in the Us by Sony Pictures.

Speaking at this week’s press conference, programme director Kirill Razlogov exxplained that documentaries have always played “a special role” at the festival - “documentaries are practically in all of the programmes” - and said that it was “symbolic” to open with a documentary.

The festival will be rounded off on June 28 at the Pushkinsky Cinema with a screening of Matt Reeves’ Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Veteran Russian actor-director Gleb Panfilov (Vassa) will head the international jury for the main competition and will be joined by the German actress Franziska Petri, Georgian...

A pungent reek of testosterone stinks up this high-toned apologetic for vigilantism and revenge. Still: great performances! I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): the trailer looked like the film was treading well-worn ground

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

First scene: Woody Harrelson rape-ily shoves a hot dog down a woman’s throat, and then beats up a guy who points out that, hey, buddy, not cool. Woody (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) is the villain, so this is “okay,” but that’s the sort of movie you’re in for here. The pungent reek of testosterone off screen is deafening. Oh, is that a mixed metaphor? Kinda like the title of the film: out of the furnace… and, what? into the frying pan?

Writer (with Brad Ingelsby) and director Scott Cooper follows up his first film, Crazy Heart, with a similarly familiar tale of manly dysfunction,...

Spending the morning with her littlest ones while Violet is off at school, Jennifer Garner headed to the Brentwood Country Mart on Wednesday (September 18).

The "13 Going on 30" star looked cute in her black-rimmed spectacles, black sweater, and blue jeans as she helped little Samuel Affleck on a tiny carousel while his older sister Seraphina rode with him.

It was just announced that Fox has given the greenlight to "The Whole Shebang," a drama co-produced by the 41-year-old actress's Vandalia Films.

In the series, a newly single soccer mom inherits a rundown male strip club and finds herself at the center of a dysfunctional work family.

Jennifer Garner is giving the mom drama formula a new twist. The actress landed a pilot commitment from Fox for "The Whole Shebang," her new show written by "Butter" scribe Jason Micallef.

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that "The Whole Shebang" follows a newly single soccer mom who ends up inheriting a strip club business. The site reports that she "unexpectedly finds herself at the center of a dysfunctional, makeshift family that helps her take charge of her life."

Garner will executive produce the show if it gets picked up to series, but she is not expected to star in it. Her last foray into television was in the ABC drama "Alias," which ended its run in 2006.

Fox has given a put pilot order for the drama series "The Whole Shebang" which actress Jennifer Garner will produce through her Vandalia Films label.

The story follows a newly single soccer mom who inherits a rundown male strip club.

She soon finds herself at the center of a dysfunctional, makeshift family that helps her take charge of her life.

Jason Micallef ("Butter") will write the pilot and executive produce. Garner will also serve as executive producer.

Source: Variety...

The popularity of Magic Mike has given rise not only to talk of a sequel, plans for a Broadway version, and even bars where the stripping is just part of a way classier "theme," it’s also given some the idea that the “male stripper story” is a genre begging to have others grind away on it until it’s left spent and chafed. Waiting in line just behind that Chippendales biopic is Jennifer Garner, who’s tossing the crumpled singles of her production company behind the Fox pilot The Whole Shebang, an hourlong drama from Butter writer Jason Micallef ...

Jennifer Garner and Fox are hitting the strip clubs together. Fox has given a pilot order to the drama “The Whole Shebang,” which Garner is executive producing along with Jason Micallef (“Butter”), who wrote the pilot. The project has bee given a put-pilot commitment by the network. Also read: New ‘Alias’ Series for Syndication? The one-hour drama revolves around a newly single soccer mom who inherits a rundown male strip club and unexpectedly finds herself at the center of a dysfunctional, makeshift family that helps her take charge of her life. Garner’s Vandalia Films is producing the project in association with Warner Bros.

Fox has given a put pilot commitment to The Whole Shebang, a drama from Warner Bros TV and Jennifer Garner‘s Vandalia Films. Written by Jason Micallef — who wrote the 2011 feature Butter, also co-produced by Vandalia and starring Garner — Whole Shebang centers on a newly single soccer mom who inherits a rundown male strip club and unexpectedly finds herself at the center of a dysfunctional, makeshift family that helps her take charge of her life. Garner and Micallef, repped by Wme and Underground, executive produce. This is the first sale for Vandalia under the overall deal the company inked with Wbtv in June.

The Whole Shebang from Jennifer Garner's Vandalia and Warner Bros. lands at Fox The hourlong drama follows a soccer mom who is newly single and inherits a rundown strip club. She finds herself in the middle of a dysfunctional, makeshift family that aids her in taking charge of her life. Variety reports that Jason Micallef (Butter) is writing the pilot and will serve as executive producer on The Whole Shebang. Garner can be seen in Dallas Buyers Club alongside Matthew McConaughey and prior to that joined Joel Edgerton in The Odd Life of Timothy Green. She's in post-production phase on Ivan Reitman's Draft Day...

Philip Defranco's Defranco DoesArizona event was billed as a Q&A session where hundreds of his fans could bombard him and his SourceFed pals with all the questions on their minds. In reality, Defranco used the Tempe Center For the Arts Theater as the venue for a much more important conversation. Towards the end of the event, Defranco used a plant in the audience to help him propose to his girlfriend, Lindsay Doty. Doty, who goes by LinzLoves on YouTube, initially joined Defranco and SourceFed hosts Steve Zaragoza and Meg Turney on stage. Eventually, a woman in the crowd asked her a particularly personal question: "Are you going to get married?" As Doty gave an evasive answer, Defranco reached over, pulled out a ring box, and got down on one knee. The crowd went crazy, Doty said yes, and her parents rushed onto the stage to celebrate with her. The whole shebang...

By turns hilarious, absurd, offensive, and insulting, this is all rote action that will pique your interest only when it is being completely ridiculous. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): the trailer looked ridiculous

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Here, have some Cage rage. On the day he gets out of prison after eight years in the clink, Will Montgomery (Nicolas Cage: The Croods) is forced to run around New Orleans yelling a lot and randomly waving guns in people’s faces because his former partner, Vincent (Josh Lucas: J. Edgar), has kidnapped his teen daughter, Alison (Sami Gayle), in order to get Will to cough up the millions in spoils from their last job. The Expendables 2 director Simon West and Safe House screenwriter David Guggenheim have teamed up on a flick that is worse than both of those combined...

Proof that anything a mutated neutrino and Roland Emmerich can do, God can do better (and first), Darren Aronofsky's Noah is currently at the pointy end of production. The whole shebang is coalescing into something seriously intriguing - after all, we're talking about the director of Pi, Requiem For A Dream and Black Swan tackling the first ever apocalypse - and our spies tell us that even the big guy upstairs is excited to be involved. Someone else with a tingle of anticipation is Breaking Bad stalwart and old Aronofsky hand Mark Margolis, who plays a fallen angel known as Samyaza in the film. As he explained to Empire, he won't look anything like Breaking Bad's wheelchair-bound enforcer. "I play a 12-foot god," he said, "[and] most of my character will be created through CGI."Shooting in Iceland, Margolis took the mantle of leader of a posse of six-armed angels known as the 'Watchers'.

Well, Old Sport, it's time for Baz Luhrmann's spin on The Great Gatsby to make its debut and it's set to take New York City by storm. In less than an hour the Aussie director's long-awaited big-screen Fitzgerald adaptation is set to have its red carpet premiere. The stage is set, the stars are in town (including Jay and Daisy themselves, Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan), and even the famous Plaza Hotel has joined in the celebrations.

The whole shebang kicks off starting at 6:00 pm (Est) so get comfy, settle in and watch the event unfold after the cut!

While there may be a lot to quibble with when it comes to Quentin Tarantino's slavery/vengeance pic "Django Unchained" (it split The Playlist so much we gave it three reviews), once thing almost everyone can agree on is that the soundtrack is aces. Only Tarantino would have the presence of mind to put Ennio Morricone and Rick Ross in the same movie, but believe it or not, it works (and in fact, it's one of Best Soundtracks Of 2012). So forget trying to track down the songs all over the place. The whole shebang has dropped online for your listening pleasure, with the full 23-song tracklist ready for your ears, featuring all the selections from the various films that Tarantino drew inspiration from, new tunes by John Legend and Anthony Hamilton, dialogue clips, and much more. It's a nicely flavored stew of songs, well worth the time. After that...

When Sesame Street tweeted Cookie Monster-ified "Call Me Maybe" lyrics, we could only hope a song would follow. And, today -- hallelujah! -- "Share It Maybe" is here.

There are many reasons to love Cookie's version of Carly Rae Jepsen's hit. For one, "It hard to look at your snack, baby. But you got cookie. So share it maybe." Genius! Then, the video itself ... the good people of Children's Television Workshop found a way to wink at cubicle-dwelling parents everywhere by setting Cookie's perfomance in an office where grown-ups are doing what they obviously do at work -- hoarding treats and watching YouTube.

The whole shebang is not unlike "I'm Elmo and I Know It," last year's incredible Lmfao parody. While you may be tired of hearing Carly Rae everywhere and didn't think the world needed one more parody, adding Sesame to the mix means you will grin compulsively...

Motion control Ameratsu again as the artful Capcom title heads to Psn this fall.

First off, don't worry: if you don't want to waggle your way through the painterly world of Ōkami, the PlayStation Move support is completely optional and if you're so inclined, you can play it using the Dualshock controller. You can play this visually upgraded PS2-era classic with either configuration (although hopefully Capcom has polished the motion controls somewhat since the Wii port).

According to the press release, Ōkami HD will feature Trophy support, and is going to be optimized for 16:9 televisions. The whole shebang will run you $19.99 Usd when it hits Psn this fall.

Related posts:

The "Persona 4" Anime Coming to U.S. DVD and Blu-ray In September

New Video Game Releases for the Week of 6/19: Gods, Heroes, Soldiers... and Puzzles?

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Bonus multiplayer content and an extended version of the upcoming Forward Unto Dawn web shorts make of some of the extras in the upcoming Limited Edition set.

Over on Halo Waypoint, 343 Industries released the details of the stacked Limited Edition that will be available alongside the standard edition of Halo 4. The whole shebang will run you $99.99 and is available for preorder now. Normally, these things come in threes, though: a standard, Limited, and Legendary edition, usually including something nuts like a cat-sized helmet. Can we expect another announcement in the near future?

Here's the full list of features in this set:

War Games Map Pack Access

The competitive multiplayer modes of Halo 4 are known as War Games. The Limited Edition includes access to nine maps - three future competitive multiplayer map packs, each including three locations, available for download post-launch on Xbox Live. Yes, you read that correctly; you get...

Yesterday, we gave you the keys to Panem’s last-but-not-least division (okay, it is the least): District 12, where dozens of Hunger Games fanatics are satisfying their taste for all things Katniss Everdeen by traveling in by the droves. Today, it seems the sky is the limit — or at least a solid 72 acres. Start lining up your sponsors, Games fans! Because not only can you visit Henry River Mill Village near Hildebran, N.C., now you can own it.

Because of the influx of tourist travel, 83-year-old resident Wade Shepherd has decided to put a stretch of his property featured...

In an initial draft of this review of the first collaboration between accessory maker Mad Catz and publisher Namco Bandai, I overused the word "satisfying" when describing the experience of using the arcade fightstick they sent over. My need for a thesaurus aside, that's precisely the feeling that comes with using this hefty—and pricey—new controller for your ever-expanding collection of fighting games, and there's an obvious level of love and care that's gone into crafting what can only be described as an arcade-perfect controller.

The first thing you'll notice about the Soul Edition stick is that it's got a bit of weight to it. According to its Amazon product page, with packaging it weighs a little under 22 lbs. (and the lovely box it comes in isn't exactly heavy). What this means in a practical sense is that you're probably not going to be keeping this one in your...

“Chrysalis” director Julien Leclercq’s “The Assault” came out in 2011 in his native France, but it’s just now finding its way to the U.S., which in turn gives us this U.S. trailer courtesy of Screen Media Films. The film will arrive in Stateside theaters via limited release on April 6th, 2012, and it looks pretty badass. The whole shebang is apparently based on a true story, so it’s got that going for it, too. Then again, movies with dudes in Swat gear storming airplanes is always A-Okay in my book. An action packed thriller, “The Assault” is the gripping true story of the hijacking of a Paris-bound flight on Christmas Eve 1994, and the 48-hour effort to rescue the passengers. When four heavily armed Islamic terrorists hijack a Paris-bound Air France flight on the runway, 227 innocent lives hang in the balance. Their only chance of rescue is the...

A slick motion poster and new clip for “Open Water” directors Chris Kentis and Laura Lau’s “Silent House”, starring Elizabeth Olsen as a young woman who becomes trapped in a house and stalked by ghostly visions. Or a killer. Or killers. Well, one of those things. The whole shebang apparently promises “meticulous camera choreography to take the audience on a tension-filled, real time journey, experienced in a single uninterrupted shot.” We shall see about that. Starring Olsen, the film is based on “La Casa Muda”, the official Uruguayan entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category to the 84th Academy Awards. Supernatural shenanigans are afoot March 9th, 2012. In case you missed them, two previous clips from the movie can be seen over this hereaways...

This month on The Liberal Dead we’re going to be featuring some films honoring Blaxploitation cinema. While a formal announcement and articles will follow in due time, an event not unrelated to this celebration has reared its exploitable head. eX-Fest (the e is purposely kept lower case) thrown by the good folks at Exhumed Films is in its second annual run and plans to exploit Philadelphia like it’s never been exploited before. eX-Fest features films of several different exploitation sub-genre not limited to but including blaxploitation, hicksploitation and spaghetti westerns. While Exhumed Films is known best for its 24 Hour Horror-thon and double feature presentations throughout the year, in recent years they have shown tremendous ingenuity in the art of marathon film presenation by creating both the Go Ape! film marathon (featuring Planet of the Apes films) and eX-Fest.

Last year’s offerings featured the following exploitation films (they...

The last couple of weeks have been worrying ones for someone who has been tasked with writing a “Hater’s Guide” to each Twilight movie but who remains open to the possibility that one day the vampire franchise might actually produce a decent film. After all, if an infinite number of monkeys given an infinite amount of time can write the works of Shakespeare, then it would surely take just one chimpanzee a few weeks to write a film better than, say, 2008′s thunderingly dull series opener Twilight or 2009′s The Twilight Saga: New Moon which, to the best of my recollection,...

How I Met Your Mother: “Disaster Averted” – Recap

“Disaster Averted” took us back a few months,to when Hurricane Irene was bearing down on New York, as Ted told the story of how he caused a rule to be made about boogey boarding at McLaren’s. This was a tried and true How I Met Your Mother episode, containing big laughs, tender moments and someone trying to tell a story while being constantly interrupted. And in that classic Himym way, the different storylines weaved in and out of each other effortlessly.

The whole shebang starts off with Barney telling a ridiculous story detailing how a bird swiped the ducky tie while Barney was trying to save the life of a small boy dangling from a rooftop. In reality, the tie was simply thrown in the garbage, where Lily recovered it. It seems Barney has had enough of the tie...

Skeletons, she-devils, and werewolves populated the ballroom on this week’s Dancing With the Stars, along with a robot cohost that, possibly experiencing a sugar rush from a “fun-size” Halloween candy, briefly strayed from her cue cards in a moment of giddy awkwardness. Thank heavens for emcee Tom Booo-geron, who presided over the festivities with the kind of campy glee that was absent for too much of the 90-minute telecast.

Tom’s interaction with a giant CGI spider, his references to “Scare-old Wheeler and the Zombie Orchestra,” even his gentle chiding of Bruno’s interminable critiques added a sugary balance...

Broadway’s biggest news this week was sad stuff: Tony-winner Billy Elliot will shut its doors on Jan. 8 after 1,304 performances. Yet there were some things to be happy about. Rumors that Newsies could be headed to Broadway gained some ground when producers confirmed that they had been approached by several NYC theater owners wanting to host the show. Ghost the Musical announced its U.S. debut date: April 23, 2012. Jesus Christ Superstar is returning to Broadway in March. Alicia Keys will be writing original music for December’s Stick Fly. And Alan Rickman gave EW.com readers a little taste of...

Duo hit on songs by Vanilla Ice, Cypress Hill and 50 Cent on 'Late Night With Jimmy Fallon' on Tuesday.

By Gil Kaufman

Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake on "Late Night" Tuesday

Photo: NBC

We already know Justin Timberlake can do funny on "Saturday Night Live," and serious in "The Social Network." He can obviously sing (though he doesn't seem that interested in doing it lately), and now he's top-lining his first motion picture with "Friends With Benefits."

But the dude can also rap, which he proved again on Tuesday night when he visited old pal Jimmy Fallon on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" and dropped a blazing sequel to their first road trip through hip-hop with an equally head-spinning "History of Rap 2."

Though he made it seem like he was once again reluctant to pick up the mic, it took very little convincing to get Timberlake to lace up.

The video game industry is among the most forward-thinking when it comes to doing charitable work. Just look at the efforts made by Grasshopper Manufacture and Ccp Games in the wake of Japan's recent earthquake. One of the cooler charity drives, managed by Wolfire Games, is the Humble Bundle series, a pay-what-you-want offering that allows gamers to set their price for a bundled set of indie games and dictate how the money is split up between the Child's Play and Electronic Frontier Foundation charities. The latest in the series, the Humble Frozenbyte Bundle, is now live and offering some kickass games for a good cause.

Frozenbyte, the developer of "Trine," "Shadowgrounds" and "Shadowgrounds: Survivor," is making all three of those games available -- and then some -- in the new pack. Also included are soundtracks for all three games, a pre-order for the studio's in-development game "Splot" and, perhaps coolest of all,...

Film, TV and literature is filled with dark visions of the future, full of oppressive state control and bad weather. Here are 10 of the most disturbing…

Why are we so drawn to dystopian visions of our future? There’s something compelling about these gritty, dirty, hopeless settings of oppressive state control that keeps us coming back to them time and time again in books, film and TV. If the appeal of fiction, especially speculative fiction, is meant to be escapism, then why would we want to escape to such an unpleasant scenario?

It’s probably schadenfreude. We see the poor downtrodden masses and think, “There but for the grace of random fluctuations in the space/time continuum go I”. It’s always fascinating to examine the dark side of human nature, and studying the effects of power’s corrupting influence on mankind is always particularly interesting.

Some of the societies...

A new, fresh behind-the-scenes looks at D.J. Caruso’s sci-fi actioner “I am Number Four”. The Michael Bay-produced flick is trying to do that trilogy thing — that is, if the kids show up at the theaters for it. The whole shebang is based on a novel by that guy who lied about writing a book. Yeah, I’m pretty sure he won’t be going around doing press for the movie, probably. Check it out. Extraordinary teen John Smith (Pettyfer) is a fugitive on the run from ruthless enemies sent to destroy him. Changing his identity, moving from town to town with his guardian Henri (Olyphant), John is always the new kid with no ties to his past. In the small Ohio town he now calls home, John encounters unexpected, life-changing events-his first love (Agron), powerful new abilities and a connection to the others who share his incredible destiny.

Paul W.S. Anderson’s “Resident Evil: Afterlife” is scheduled to infect theaters next week, but until then here are a new batch of images from the movie. Milla Jovovich returns as Alice, once again taking her fight to those dastardly evildoers at the Umbrella corporation. The whole shebang was shot with great emphasis on 3D, so even if you’re a 3D hater like me, you’ll probably appreciate the effort Anderson put into this thing. Granted, I’ll probably just see this in 2D anyway. That’s just how I roll. Via Ultimate-re. The fourth installment of the hugely successful Resident Evil franchise, Resident Evil: Afterlife is again based on the wildly popular video game series, and will this time be presented in 3-D. In a world ravaged by a virus infection, turning its victims into the Undead, Alice (Milla Jovovich), continues on her journey to find survivors and lead them to safety.

One of the perks of this job is being able to go to some major Hollywood awards shows and performances, but attending Microsoft’s unveiling of its new Xbox 360 motion-detection device, called Kinect, was an experience that trumped all the rest. The tech giant hired the French-Canadian circus group Cirque du Soleil to create an all-out extravaganza that’d introduce Kinect (and kick off the annual E3 videogaming convention) with a bang, and boy did they succeed. I think. See, I’m still trying to process the hallucinogenic fever that occurred Sunday night inside L.A.’s Galen Center. I...

A Lloyd Dobler mob — or "Mobler" — took over New York City Tuesday.

The mob, a group of young men wearing trench coats and white T-shirts, hoisted boomboxes over their heads and serenaded passersby with Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes."

The whole shebang, a re-creation of a scene from Cameron Crowe's film Say Anything..., was staged to celebrate ...

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