RT Obscura with Kim Newman
Further Reading: Inauguration Special with The Ugly American ( comment)
It's inauguration season in the United States, which always gives rise to editorial about how -- no matter who is in the White House -- the country keeps making the same foreign policy mistakes. Outside a few war films with explosions and martyred movie stars, this has never been a 'sexy' subject for Hollywood, though there has always been a trickle of ambitious, underperforming-at-the-box-office, political essay cinema. Here, we look back a generation to an era of diplomats in cutaway suits and neatly-trimmed moustaches, third-world mobs waving 'Yankee Go Home' placards and the beginnings of a battle for 'hearts and minds' that the West tends to lose because the whole concept of such a campaign sounds hideously patronising to the owners of said hearts and minds.
Further Reading: Seasonal Slaying - The 12 Horrors of Christmas (5 comments)
Thanks to Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol, the Yuletide season has long been associated with ghost stories -- often with hard-won uplift at the end, like Scrooge being reformed by pestering spectres or Jimmy Stewart terrified into affirming that It's a Wonderful Life after all. So, for those who still think Christmas fans should be buried at the crossroads with a sprig of holly through their hearts, here are Kim Newman's recommendations for a full holiday of horrors...
Further Reading: Remember the Song, Remember Town Without Pity? (1 comment)
Town Without Pity, a little-remembered 1961 courtroom drama with Kirk Douglas, inspired a much more familiar song of the same name. But what of the movie asks Kim Newman.
Total Recall
Total Recall: Star-Crossed Lovers (54 comments)
A big part of the cinema's appeal is its ability to take us places we've never been -- but to really work, that escapism has to be grounded to universal themes, and like the Good Book says, the greatest of these is love. As any Twilight fan could tell you, nothing ratchets up the drama like star-crossed love, and to celebrate the imminent release of the franchise's second installment, New Moon, we've put together a list of some of Hollywood's most noteworthy -- and most persistent -- couples. We couldn't cover them all, of course, but if you've ever shed tears for the injustice of an onscreen love unfairly denied, you're sure to swoon over this week's Total Recall!
Total Recall: John Cusack's Best Movies (98 comments)
For much of the 1980s, John Cusack was one of Hollywood's most dependable go-to guys for affable leads in teen romantic comedies -- typecasting that led to some great films (Better Off Dead, Say Anything...) as well as some rather forgettable efforts (Hot Pursuit, One Crazy Summer). But beneath that guy-next-door exterior lurked the heart of a thespian, and over the last 20 years, Cusack has assembled one of the more eclectic filmographies in the biz, starring in action flicks (Con Air), quirky dramas (Being John Malkovich), and even dabbling in horror (1408). With his starring turn in Roland Emmerich's latest big-budget disaster epic, 2012, arriving in theaters this weekend, could there be a better time to give Mr. Cusack's collected works the Total Recall treatment?
Total Recall: George Clooney's Best Movies (94 comments)
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. We hear it all the time, but George Clooney is living proof that perseverance pays off: Despite the inauspicious beginnings of a career that threatened to pigeonhole him as a Ted McGinley-style supporting player on fading sitcoms, he's risen to the ranks of Hollywood's highest-paid actors, and has appeared in some of the last decade's most critically and commercially successful films. This fall, Clooney surfaces in three major releases: Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, Jason Reitman's Up in the Air, and The Men Who Stare at Goats, opening this weekend. If that kind of star power doesn't deserve the Total Recall treatment, what does?
Weekly Ketchup
Weekly Ketchup: Rachel McAdams Reads for Spider-Man 4 (75 comments)
This week's Ketchup includes new movies for the directors of Moon and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, as well as casting news for Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx and two of the stars of The Hangover. FRESH DEVELOPMENTS #1 WILL THE BLACK CAT JINX PETER PARKER IN SPIDER-MAN 4? The comic book site Mania.com is reporting that director Sam Raimi is currently casting for Spider-Man 4, and this early information gives us new insight into a possible new character.
Weekly Ketchup: Abrams eyes Micronauts, Aykroyd as Yogi Bear (34 comments)
This Week's Ketchup includes news about movies based upon Micronauts, Arabian Nights and The Berenstain Bears, as well as casting news for Sir Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Depp, George Clooney and Owen Wilson; and a new movie for the director of Slumdog Millionaire. FRESH DEVELOPMENTS #1 J.J. ABRAMS WANTS TO PLAY WITH YOUR OLD MICRONAUTS TOYS Hot off the success of his reimagining of Star Trek, J.J. Abrams is in negotiations to produce a movie based upon the popular 1970s-1980s Japanese toy franchise Micronauts, which was also a long-running Marvel Comics series. Micronauts was a series of interchangeable science fiction heroes, robots and vehicles (sort of imagine a cross between action figures and LEGO) that collectively told the story of alien warriors in the grip of an intergalactic war. The best part was that they have crashed on the strange world of Earth where they find themselves just the size of little toys. Among the most popular Micronauts figures were Biotron, Microtron, Acroyear and Baron Karza.
Weekly Ketchup: A Paranormal Sequel, Hopkins Joins Thor (35 comments)
This week's Ketchup includes news of sequels for Paranormal Activity, Mad Max, and Men in Black franchises, as well as casting news for Sir Anthony Hopkins, Matt Damon, Keira Knightley, Tom Cruise, and Adam Sandler.
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