I was able to sit down for a couple of years and pump out a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.
And now, you can follow me on TWITTER under the name: Stipp
Item #1 – HOW THE EARTH WAS MADE
I really was a bad student in high school. Not horrible in the classical sense but I was absolutely a C student and I couldn’t grasp mathematical or scientific in ways that made me wonder if I was functionally retarded.
Smash cut to college and one of the very first classes I took my first semester was Geology 101. Kid you not, it was really brutal. Theories on geological formations, how earth’s natural functioning is a result from eons of slow and steady processes, why Illinois is so damn flat (glaciers!) and a multitude of other nuggets that I still feel good for remembering today.
HOW THE EARTH WAS MADE is a lot like that geology class we all had in one form or another in that you are taken on a blazingly up-close exploration into the things that will help anyone appreciate the literal globe of dirt we’re all spinning on with the added bonus of being genuinely friendly to those of us who aren’t versed in nerd. If you’re looking to add a sharp looking title to your Blu-ray collection that’s also educational you have to go with this.
For more on what you get in this check out the product description:
From a seething ocean of radioactive, molten rock to a refuge for life as we know it, Earth has undergone a staggering series of cataclysmic transformations in its long and epic history. Assailed relentlessly for millions of years by meteorites, our once toxic and hostile planet has been covered in water and in ice, and seen the rise and sundering of continents, the creation of an atmosphere, and, ultimately, the beginning of life.
HOW THE EARTH WAS MADE plots the twisting course of Earth s amazing journey. Using groundbreaking special effects and traveling to remote locations where our planet still bears the scars of its violent history, this compelling documentary tells a story of unimaginable timescales, world-shattering forces, radical climates, and mass extinctions.
HISTORY journeys back in time to show the creation of Earth s land masses, the birth of the first complex creatures, and devastating extinctions–before speculating on the future when all life becomes extinct.
BONUS FEATURES: Bonus Documentary Inside the Volcano; Additional Scenes
Item #2 – HEROES SEASON 3 GIVEWAY
People will try and take pot shots at this series which has certainly had issues with trying to find its footing and voice but it still is trying to be something that geeks and nerds can call primetime goodness. This season finds itself marred in various storylines that seem to drag the series down a bit but it is still ballasted by its intriguing premise and the hope that they’ll actually listen to the fans who made this series last this long and get the train back on its proverbial course. There’s stuff to love and there’s stuff to, well, not love about this series but Season 3 still deserves a look see and what better offer out there today to do such a thing than with my contest to win Season 3 on DVD.
Shoot me your name to Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com and I’ll make sure you’re entered to win one of many I have sitting on my desk just waiting to be devoured who is curious enough to check it out.
El Producto Descriptiono:
Experience all the explosive action and shocking twists as Heroes: Season 3 comes to DVD! Rediscover the phenomenon in this six-disc set that includes all 25 suspenseful episodes from the third season’s volumes, Villains and Fugitives. Plus, go behind the scenes with the show’s writers, stars and artists as you explore hours of exclusive and revealing bonus features.
EXTRACT – REVIEW
In OFFICE SPACE writer/director Mike Judge deconstructed the white collar workplace that has now become a classic in a way that some films never achieve on their own; the film has embedded itself underneath the collective experiences of those having to endure the pains of modern working life. IDIOCRACY explored the way in which our culture seems to be on a slow steady shuffle off the mortal coil of intelligent living. Who could disagree that the one of the more colorful choices of a future president of the United States was found in Terry Crews’ President Camacho? It was an honest examination of our descent into the banal, the bast and just plain stupid.
EXTRACT, unfortunately, explores nothing new and certainly is a disappointment from a man who could very well become a professor of this American life.
The basics of what happens with all our main characters should have produced more comedic gold than the lead we’re given. A sexually frustrated husband, played by Jason Bateman as Joel, has to deal with his distant, frigid wife (Kristen Wiig) while dealing with a clueless bartender friend Dean (Ben Affleck) and a potentially damaging lawsuit from an employee who loses a testicle (Clifton Collins Jr.), threating to derail a plan to sell the extract plant that Joel owns. On the surface, it’s all there. The ways in which marriages can sometimes slip into ruts and routines, how some friends never seem to get over their own arrested development in adulthood and what it means to be loyal as an employee in an age when loyalty and hard work doesn’t seem to have any currency. Instead, we get a strange love story between Bateman and a woman (Mila Kunis) who plays a tempting grifter that smells opportunity where Joel only smells the sweet nectar of infidelity.
The issue that occurs early on in this movie is that none of these opportunities are ever taken advantage of and, instead, we’re given a fairly rote story of a man who thinks he wants to cheat but has cold feet at the moment he realizes it’s too late to go back to the way things were. He ultimately follows temptation and fulfills his lusty fantasy but there is no redemption for a man who obviously has it all wrong to begin with. This isn’t a Mike Judge expose on the nature of human relationships, rather, it’s a poorly constructed and pedantic tale that is not interesting and seems forced at every opportunity to elevate its story to something other than C+ storytelling.
The bright spots, script notwithstanding, are Jason Bateman and Ben Affleck who both give life to characters that are absolutely lifeless on the screen. There are gags (Joel takes bad drugs without knowing what he was taking! Watch the wackiness ensue as he does things he wouldn’t otherwise do without being under the influence!) and coincidental situations (Joel ends up in an apartment taking more drugs and ends up meeting someone who will prove pivotal to the plot! How convenient!) that are not only far fetched but obviously were tossed into a movie that doesn’t feel sincere, devoid of any subtext worth ruminating on.
Clifton Collins Jr. turns in one of the more intriguing performances as a man who deals with issues concerning loyalty and the lure of cashing in on life’s lottery ticket. It’s the issue of loyalty that you could find yourself most attracted to, as it’s ripe for examination at a time when the modern corporation would just as soon replace a worker than to cultivate, take care, of one of its own. He isn’t used much in this film and it suffers more because of it. We don’t examine anything, really, of much importance. The film seems more focused on the absurd and the shocking than it is with becoming a touchstone for any great message. And while Judge certainly has every right to make the film he wants to make, even in this incarnation the movie just isn’t amusing.
The movie ends with the kind of resolution that would be more appropriate on a Must See TV sitcom, the dramatic elements falling flat and flying far off the mark, and we’re left to wonder what it was that we are supposed to get out a movie that wants to blend the contents of a dissolved marriage, subplots that end with a whimper and a completely useless cameo by Gene Simmons that is more sideshow and grinds what little momentum there is to a halt.
EXTRACT is not what you would expect from Mike Judge as it’s a movie that’s terribly flawed and unfortunately doesn’t have anything new to say about the human condition other than what we already know.
MY ONE AND ONLY – REVIEW
I am in love with this movie.
There was a time when you would be hard pressed to think of Renee Zellweger as anything but a high priced movie star who makes choices based on how high the profile of a picture than of its value. In MY ONE AND ONLY she actually smashes preconceptions about her range as an actress and delivers a performance that feels like an intimate period piece, think Neil Simon’s BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS, and is truly one of her most accomplished roles to date.
Renee plays Ann, a mother who has honestly had enough of her cheating husband (played deftly and delightfully by Kevin Bacon) and loads up a car with her stepson Robbie (Mark Rendall) and a young George Hamilton (Logan Lerman). Yes, that George Hamilton. The movie asks a thoughtful “What if” as we’re treated to a quintessential road trip movie that not only is a fresh take on a stale concept but the very idea of piecing together a movie that gets Renee to act in a film that is not too saccharine sweet and manages to eek out one of the stronger performances I have ever seen her is delightful.
We see what happens when a woman can’t stand to conform any longer to society’s expectations of women, but needs her son to drive her in a latent vestige of her old-fashioned femininity, and sheds that shell as she takes her kids to the west coast in the quest to find a better life for all them. Through a series of madcap hookups with such notable actors as Chris Noth, Eric McCormack, Nick Stahl and David Koechner (who plays a lot better here than he did in EXTRACT) Renee plays the part of kept woman who has to deal with the realities of leaving a successful, but cheating, husband behind to find something more out of life. Yes, the premise sounds wickedly cliched. Yes, by all accounts this should be a direct to DVD movie that should share shelf space with the next Antonio Sabato Jr. release but there is something electric and wholly satisfying about this film.
What’s most pronounced in this film is the way director Richard Loncraine has taken the 1950’s and instead of showing the darker, harsher realities of 1950’s living, a la FAR FROM HEAVEN, this is a movie that embraces the perception of this decade and shakes it up to great comedic effect. As well, the script, written by Charlie Peters (HOT TO TROT), crafts a world where zaniness can co-exist with a minor tale of one woman’s slow discovery of liberation. Cinematographer Marco Pontecorvo dusts everything we see with the kind of perceived, augmented reality that only enhances the movie’s comedy.
Renee Zellweger should be in more films like this that allow her to show off just what she’s capable of doing as a genuine actress. While it would be hard for anyone to deny the siren song of big budget production it is her firm grasp on helming every scene she’s in with, at times, quiet ferocity. At times you want to dropkick her, at times you feel for her but the point is that you feel something for her. There are a few films, as of late, that she’s been in where she couldn’t earn any kind of sympathy but she does it here. Logan Lerman, who plays the young George Hamilton, shines as well as a boy trying to find his own way and, of course, crossing paths with his mother as the two of them fight for their independence. It shouldn’t go without noting that the music deserves a nod for being the unseen actor in the back helping to bring the spot-on locations and moments pop with the right amount of energy and wistful nostalgia. The movie has a lot of charm and it spends it slowly, evenly, throughout the picture.
By the time the end of the movie comes it is almost a disappointment in that you’re unsure whether this film can be seen a second or third time but you know that the first time through was a ride that was absolutely worth the effort to take.
In two separate cars, four boys and three girls drive to a rendezvous in a Norwegian ski cabin. The girls are Hanna (Charlotte Frogner), her cousin, the squeaky voiced Chris (Jenny Skavlan), and Hanna’s friend Liv (Evy Kasseth Rosten). That’s all we know about them, though it helps to know that Norway is one of the richest countries in the world ““ as a general background to the kids’ leisure time activities ““ and that it is the Bethlehem of death metal. The boys are Martin (Vegar Hoel), a medical student with a problematic phobia of blood, Erlend (Jeppe Beck Laursen), the requisite horror movie buff, Roy (Stig Frode Henriksen), who is characterized as the “horniest guy north of the Arctic Circle” though we don’t really see much evidence of that character trait in the subsequent narrative, and who seems to speak a dialect different from the others, and Vegard (Lasse Valdal), the cute one, whose girlfriend Sara (Ane Dahl Torp) is skiing cross country to meet them all at the cabin. Unfortunately, as we the viewers know from the opening sequence but the characters don’t, Sara is already dead, having been attacked by some unknown assailants with apparent cannibalistic inclinations.
The nature of the horror is first alluded to by a lone traveller who comes into the cabin for a coffee. He is openly contemptuous of the youngsters, and also tells them a campfire story about the menace lurking in the mountains. It seems that during World War II, a German occupying force of 300 men called Einsatz controlled the village of Oksfjord, which was important to the war effort because of its conveniently placed harbor. These Nazis were unusually cruel to the villagers. As the war went against the Germans, the soldiers, led by a Colonel Herzog, raided the houses and stole as much gold and coins as they could find. Finally, the villagers rose up against their oppressors and, using various farm tools, attacked the Nazis, who fled to the mountains of Istind with their ill-gotten gains, and where they presumably froze to death. This narrative is told in that close slow-track-in trick that signifies to viewers that something of great or scary importance is being related. It’s also a story that sets up the classic “dangerous village” premise of so many horror films, An American Werewolf in London and Kill, Baby … Kill! being two varied examples. Not that we ever see any of the village.
These zombies are publicized as evil, but is that really the term? When they were alive, these Nazis would probably have been defined as evil, since they were exploiting others for personal gain, but on the other hand, they were probably ideologically driven people with a view of their Norwegian subjects as inferior beings, not a pleasant idea but from their own viewpoint not evil. The more I try to think about the term the more I wonder just what it is that is supposed to be “evil” in horror films. Help comes in the form of Cynthia Freeland’s book The Naked and the Undead: Evil and the Appeal of Horror, one of a handful of academic studies of the horror genre that tries to grapple with its psychological allure. Her discussion of the conflicting Whale and Branagh Frankensteins is intriguing, because it is clear that our notions of evil are played with by the filmmakers, as in the original novel, though differently. The doctor has hubris and the creature is a tortured being set on revenge. As newer horror movies have come along they have grown cruder, crueler, with “evil” presented unambiguously, and with those trick ending codas where the seemingly vanquished evil rises again to finally triumph. These codas probably got their started with Boorman’s Deliverance, where it was a dream sequence, and which was borrowed by De Palma for Carrie. But in later films, especially those of Wes Craven, the coda tends to undermine everything that has gone before. The filmmakers may think that they are portraying the face of evil, but the result is so freed of ambiguity as to be rendered a cartoon. The struggle against evil is revealed to be useless.
Freeland raises the question of why people would willingly want to be scared, but the Craven Coda also raises the issue of why people would enjoy a movie that preaches the unconquerability of evil. In daily life, “evil” ranges across everything from the engineers of the Holocaust to bad bosses or the guy who steals your girl. In movies, or at least bad movies, evil is simply something that scares you or is presented as a monster. To me, Sigourney Weaver is civilization personified; to the Alien she is baby food. Most stories put goals in opposition, and there is the good goal and there is the bad goal and we are encouraged in commercial cinema to root for the person with the good goal. But there is a perverse part of us that seems to like evil. Some horror films are explicit about their alignment with evil, such as the Hellraiser series, a precursor to the so called “torture porn” genre in which the leather gear of the villains links them with a playacting S&M take on good versus evil. It was kind of cool in the ’70s to like the suave, confident bad guys better than the milquetoast good guys in thrillers, and Hitchcock exploited that impulse. But since then there has been a rise in villainy or evil to the point that in recent G. I. Joe movie the bad guys “win” through about 90 per cent of the movie and then again in the last sequel-whoring 30 seconds. It’s a story structure borrowed from professional wrestling ““Â don’t let the good guys win too often. The popular culture’s enlarged interest in evil almost seems to be sexual, especially when manifested in the technically unnecessary leather outfit Sienna Miller wears in G. I. Joe.
In its 5th season, 
I have been waiting years for someone to deliver something the ridiculously straightforward 
Want a pair of classic TV shows cheap and in one fell swoop? Well, now you can get the complete 3 season run of Steve McQueen in 
The History Channel continues down the path of its bizarre “Must make movie reenactments” form of documentary filmmaking with 
For a last look at what an amazing talent she was, and what we lost with her unexpected death, look no further than 
If Juno was just a bit too cutesy for you but you love that quirky vibe, then check out 
Warner Bros. is still rolling out new additions to their on-demand “Archive Edition”, making available some catalogue titles that otherwise would sit in the vaults. Newly added to the available list is the made-for-TV 70’s horror films 
While it was a step up from the bewilderingly awful seventh season, the eighth season of 
Though seen as groundbreaking at the time, 
Sad that the nicely pleasant Chrstina Applegate series 
Need a RomCom fix? Or simply need to recommend a RomCom to a significant other, to keep them occupied? Then here’s this week’s recommendation – 
Take The Sopranos, set it in a biker gang led by Ron Perlman, and you’ve essentially got 
David Duchovney returns as writer Hank Moody – single-father, ex-boyfriend, and a man keen on sex, liquor, and drugs – in the second season of 
Seeing as how it’s from the same producers, I can understand why 
Even though they’re inferior to the multigenerational writing of iCarly, preteens will probably hound the parents for the first volumes of Suite Life spin-off 
Turns out 
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Want to see a show that’s lost the plot and really doesn’t know what to do with itself anymore? Look no further than the 8th season of 
Would you be surprised to find out that a movie with the title 
For those of us who love Bruce Lee’s influence on modern Asian cinema you’ve probably seen many incarnations of program in some form or another. Like an 80’s DJ who is ultimately limited by the fact that there is a finite number of tracks they can play, there seems to have been so much overlap with footage we’ve seen with regard to the man who was wickedly charismatic and destined for far more than we were given.
Some of you may know of Sun Tzu’s Art of War from its many incarnations from how it plunder’s Tzu’s theories on warfare and misappropriated them for self-help books all the way to manuals on how to get ahead in business. These derivative works are appallingly poor interpretations for what is, really, a how-to on using philosophy and intelligence to win battle.
Who here wants to win a movie?
I could stay awake for days on end watching clips from World War II.
When I bought Bobcat Goldthwait’s “Meat Bob” back in 1988 on cassette it was one the very first comedy albums I owned. I put Bobcat up there with Eddie Murphy and George Carlin but, here’s the funny part, I never bought Bob’s shtick. Yeah, he absolutely used that voice that made him famous as Zed in those POLICE ACADEMY and plundered that character for all it was worth but his comedy was brutally funny and honest. To wit, he has a bit in his set where he gives a glimpse of what it’s like to be a comedian. It’s subtle but you can hear how people’s perceptions of him shapes his comedy and it leads into a wicked joke that concerns a monkey, an alcoholic beverage and genitalia. You can hear his honesty, you can feel his true self and it’s what attracted to me to the guy’s work for over two decades.
CHRISTOPHER STIPP: Thanks for doing this interview. I’m going to go out on a geek limb and tell you that I dug out my cassette of Meat Bob that I’ve had since the 80’s and revisited that and your old HBO comedy special which I still had on VHS tape”¦
CS: And Robin, himself, he’s a sympathetic character. I felt downright sorry for the guy. He’s trying to make good decisions, do the right thing. Explain to me the idea of the character, the twists of the film come in later, but what launched his character. Was it Robin himself? Or was it the twist that came and you thought that would be a good premise for a movie so let’s build around that?
GOLDTHWAIT: I think it’s what we are talking about ““ the sense of entitlement and the inability that their actions affect other people. They are just exposed to everything. We are becoming a culture with no consideration of couth.
GOLDTHWAIT: There were two different companies came to me and said we were trying to make changes and I actually walked away from these two deals that were in place. They proceeded to tell people in LA that I was crazy and that the movie wasn’t going to get made but honestly it was nothing I was ashamed of. I already have plenty of that.
Oh no! Just when you thought it was safe to hang out at the Quick Stop…
Ari Gold, the man who created the very funny ADVENTURES OF POWER, passed along an e-mail message to let me know that 
I’ve got some DVDs to give away. Want some?
Director: 
Yeah, so, one of my absolute favorite Disney films I their live-action/animated hybrid musical 
This week’s Thinkgeek recommendation is a piece of cool kit that always seems to be out of stock. It’s just that popular. However long it lasts, it’s now back in stock, so run and pick up your very own 
Seeing as how my nephews are addicted to Nickelodeon (particularly the yellow crack that is Spongebob), it’s inevitable that I’d have to see the programming on offer. One of the shows that I actually enjoy quite a bit – and believe is just as well-scripted as the sitcoms on network TV, better even – is a favorite of my 5-year-old nephew, 
I can’t be the only one who was completely blindsided by the announcement that the 4th season of 
If you’ve ever watched the UK series Skins and thought to yourself “My teenage years were nothing like that sex party bacchanal,” then 
Well, now that we’ve reached the 12th season of 
It’s double-crosses, mysteries, and intrigue in 
Like most modern horror remakes, the new 
I know there are devotees who think it’s the second coming of Undeclared, but I have yet to find the appeal of 
So, in short, 
After an awkward, sometimes rudderless second season, things were largely back on track in the 3rd season of 
The second season of 
It’s not exactly intellectually stimulating, but using the beautiful high-definition of Blu-Ray to take aerial journeys around the world is certainly worth a look see to me, and that’s exactly what you get with both 
After her ridiculously self-confident appearance on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, I was at least curious about 
LONDON – The Mutant Chronicles unleashes cannibalistic humanoids into a steam punk World War I world. The movie features Thomas Jane (Hung), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Devon Aoki (Sin City), Sean Pertwee (Doomsday) and John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich) as the only defense against these ungodly creatures in the CGI enhanced environment. Can Aoki cut them all down with her cool sword?
Sometimes you have to go to the postman to receive the goods. In this case it was a chance to hang out with Mr. McFeely. Since 1968, he’d been making the rounds of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood with his cry of “Speedy Delivery!”
