Archive for the 'hollywood' Category

30
Apr
12

An all-day Marvel marathon for diehard Avengers fans

By plugintodan 1 Comment
Categories: comic books, hollywood, media and movies
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Movie theaters across the country will be swarming with fanboys and fangirls Thursday, May 3.

And not just fro the midnight premiere of Marvel Comic’s epic, star-studded, BIG blockbuster THE AVENGERS.

This time, the action starts an entire 12 hours early with the ultimate Marvel marathon.

Starting at 11:30 AM, diehard fans can watch all six comic book films leading up to the debut of Marvel’s now world-famous team-up.

It seems The Avengers will catapult past X-Men as Marvel’s most popular franchise, at least in movies. The film has already grossed $178 million overseas, and the marathon will only add to the buzz…and profits.

AMC Theaters seemed to have the idea first, with movie site Fandango capturing the details (and your money).

If you’re not near an AMC, there’s also:

Cinemark’s Marvel Avengers Movie Marathon, Cinebarre’s Marvel Avengers Movie Marathon, Regal’s Marvel Marathon, Kerasotes’ The Avengers Anthology and the Carmike Marvel Maniac Super Hero’s Movie Marathon.

Check the pricing and the options as some movies are in 2D, others in 3D. AMC is charing $40 for the whole deal, while Cinemark is undercutting them at $20 but with fewer locations. Regal is offering 5 of the movies for $35.

Who’s calling out of work on Thursday? (Not me, I’ve got the day off!)

The six movies to be screened lead up to the midnight debut of The Avengers:

Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man 2
Thor
Captain America
The Avengers

22
Sep
11

Is J.J. Abrams losing his Midas touch? New series “Person of Interest” reviewed

By plugintodan 1 Comment
Categories: hollywood, media and TV
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson star in the new CBS crime drama "Person of Interest".

New CBS crime drama “Person of Interest” fails to hold its own interest between campy fight scenes and blasé plot points, despite ideal match-ups in acting, writing and producing.

A show meant to involve all the good stuff — grit, guns and government conspiracies, the “Person of Interest” pilot tries a lot and succeeds with little.

The show has all the right elements for a surefire hit, blending conspiratorial thriller with Big Brother paranoia.

But there isn’t much glue holding things together.

An ex-CIA agent played by Jim Cavaziel teams up with a mysterious billionaire (the masterful Michael Emerson) to prevent crimes before they happen, working off tips from a magical machine created for the government to prevent terrorist attacks after Sept. 11.

Where “24” gave us a post-9/11 real American hero, “Person of Interest” gives us an alcoholic bum who cleans up overnight and starts shooting people in the knee while wearing snazzy dress suits.

“24” succeeded in making the threat of terrorism incredibly real and close to home. It kept me on the edge of my seat with the tick-tock pacing, strategic battle scenes and a stellar ensemble cast.

“Person of Interest” does none of that.

Motivation for the two protagonists is weak at best and it’s unclear why these two men want to save people (and the world, presumably) so badly. We’re left to believe its because they’ve both lost someone, but that’s about all that’s offered.

Not to mention, Caviezel’s character slings a stolen machine gun around in broad daylight and loads it up in the back of a New York taxicab. Why?

So he can safely spy on some dirty cops to save or incriminate a woman he doesn’t know based on a social security number some creepy billionaire scientist gave him. Believe that!

The show was created by Jonathan Nolan, who is also the lead writer. If the name sounds familiar that’s because he is brother to renowned director Christopher Nolan. The two have worked together on the “Dark Knight” movies, “Memento” and plenty other critical and financial hits. Unfortunately for “Person of Interest“, there is no thought-provoking dialogue or real-world grittiness to be found.

Caviezel is not bad as the brooding John Reese, but his performance in the pilot doesn’t come close to what I watched in the excellent 2009 AMC miniseries “The Prisoner“.

Emerson, better known as Benjamin Linus from “LOST“, feels like he’s watering down the same stark and cryptic guru. All-knowing and all-confident, with a dark past and unknown loyalty.

To round off the talented team, the one and only J.J. Abrams is executive producer. That’s right, the guy who brought us “LOST”, “Alias”, “Cloverfield”, “Super 8″, the “Star Trek” reboot and “Fringe” is on board too.

J.J., this is strike two.

Last year’s “Undercovers” wasn’t great either. Maybe you should stick to movies for a while. I mean, “Fringe” is still great, but it feels like you’re not even trying.

“Person of Interest” is “Enemy of the State” meets “Minority Report”, with none of what made either of those movies good. No pre-cogs or laser-engraved name balls, no hologram computers or people freaked out and on the run, nervously thinking they’re being watched.

Instead, the buzzworthy show jumps between too many events in the first hour and feels campy and implausible.

Like when Reese hijacks a gang’s weapons by shooting them all in the knees with their own gun, loading up a rifle in a New York taxicab and slinging the gun under his peacoat in an alleyway like somebody isn’t going to notice.

You can’t (shouldn’t?) judge a book by it’s first few pages, but “Person of Interest” better get a lot better in the next two episodes if it plans to 1. stay on air and 2. have me keep tuning in.

Don’t agree with me? Neither do the reviews from the San Francisco Chronicle or Screen Rant.

18
Jun
11

A place where dead TV series can live on

By plugintodan Leave a Comment
Categories: hollywood, media, technology and TV
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I’m a little late in the game on this one, but I finally got around to watching the season finale of NBC’s “The Event.“

While far from one of my favorite shows (LOST, 24, Fringe), “The Event” blends all the genres I love: action, adventure, sci-fi and drama.

But, as good-but-expensive television series go, it was recently announced that “The Event” was cancelled. Damn!

Every time I get engrossed in a good new series, the money-hungry network execs cancel the crap out of them.

Last year it was “Flash Forward” and this year it was the “The Event.”

I was REALLY, REALLY upset when I found out about “Flash Forward” last season. Loved this show and I was totally hooked. Great character development, intriguing government conspiracies, double-crossing intelligence agents, the works — everything a man needs for a good TV show.

Both shows ended after a single season, and both ended with a bang — basically the same concept that started the show’s plot happened again. Sounds cheesy, but it worked for me. Same sort of thing worked for Keifer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer in eight seasons of “24.” (Where’s that “24″ movie we’ve been hearing about anyway?)

The real news here is the rumor that “The Event” may resurface on SyFy.

According to media blog The Deadline, the producers of the show have received interest from multiple cable and digital entities, including Netflix and SyFy.

If there’s one trend I like in the TV world these days, is the continuing rise of services like Netflix and Hulu and a creative desire to try out new kinds of programming. Or in this case, find a home for a quality show that didn’t have enough viewers to remain on primetime.

Sure, it’s easier to get lost in the sea of Web videos, between YouTube’s memes and Vimeo’s fledgling filmmakers, but we must do something to keep the quality.

America has already been sucked deep into reality shows like “The Real Housewives”, “The Bachelor”, “Survivor” and “American Idol.” Personally, I don’t need to turn on the TV to see what other people’s “real” lives are scripted to look like. It’s all just a bunch of cat fights and teary-eyed nonsense anyway.

But here’s to forward-thinking operations. It’s 2011, come on guys. If a show musters up a hardcore niche fanbase, no matter how relative sized it may be, that’s got to be something worth banking on. What about iTunes launching its own series? Season pass only.

Or how about Comcast, who now owns NBC and controls plentiful TV pipes, going iPad-only on a show like the Event? We can AirPlay it or Slingbox it onto our widescreens and get the full experience for a fraction of the investment.

I know the writers over at Pop Culture Junkie would agree.

It’s time to find new ways of keeping the good content alive when a major network station can’t afford to take a risk or think outside the damn box.

02
Jan
11

2010 in review

By plugintodan Leave a Comment
Categories: hollywood, journalism, media, movies and music
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The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 3,100 times in 2010. That’s about 7 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 22 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 68 posts. There were 46 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 31mb. That’s about 4 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was January 22nd with 38 views. The most popular post that day was The CoCo and Leno Show.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, plugintodan.com, twitter.com, en.wordpress.com, and current.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for amazon mp3 logo, amazonmp3 logo, mata leon, couples retreat, and rx bandits wallpaper.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

The CoCo and Leno Show January 2010

2

Mirthless “Couples Retreat”, heartfelt “Wild Things” October 2009
2 comments

3

Pomona’s big changes July 2009
8 comments

4

Bay Area band Mata Leon emerges with fresh focus February 2010

5

First Listen: Gorillaz “Plastic Beach” floats on March 2010

21
Nov
10

Cal Poly Pomona grad competing in Miss California contest in Palm Springs

By plugintodan Leave a Comment
Categories: hollywood, journalism, media and TV
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Since summer, I’ve been following the journey of one contestant in the Miss California USA beauty pageant.

Her name is Kelleen Lim Chea and she’s a recent Cal Poly Pomona grad. I got exclusive, behind the scenes access to her life as an aspiring beauty queen and how she made it to this weekend’s contest.

On Friday, I had a major feature air on 89.3 KPCC, the largest Southern California NPR station.

Here is the text, but be sure to listen to the report so you can hear my voice and audio from the interviews!

Good luck to Kelleen, representing the city of Anaheim and all the other ladies.

CLICK FOR FEATURE

By Daniel Ucko

The “Miss California USA” pageant is this weekend in Palm Springs. Close to 400 young women are competing to represent the Golden State at next year’s “Miss USA” pageant. One of the contestants is a recent graduate of Cal Poly Pomona.

It’s a hot summer evening in August. Kelleen Lim Chea – or as her sash says, Miss Anaheim USA – glides across the floor of a rowdy Huntington Beach nightclub in high heels & a form-fitting evening gown. She’s leading a parade of young women in bikinis and lingerie. It’s a fashion fundraiser. A portion of the proceeds go to a campaign to help stop human trafficking. It’s just another day on the job for an aspiring beauty queen.

“I had this expectation of becoming a doctor but I just don’t feel like it’s my time or it’s my passion,” says Chea.

Since graduating from Cal Poly Pomona with a chemistry degree, Chea’s had one eye on her career and another on beauty pageant glory. Now, she’s seeking the crown of Miss California. Med school will have to wait.

“And it’s been a struggle because I always knew this is what my family expected of me; however, deep down inside it just didn’t feel right,” says the petite 23-year-old.

But with her silky long black hair, winning smile and girl next door good looks, Chea is just right for pageant recruiters like Erik DeSando.

I met DeSando at a busy outdoor cafe in West Hollywood. He’s the middle man between pageant producers and the thousands of girls who apply for the Miss California and Teen USA pageants every year. He gets more than a dozen messages during our interview.

“The type of girl I attract for the contest is a five-finger girl. On the four fingers, we have loving, caring,” says DeSando.

“Then I point to my big finger, middle finger which is non-judgment. Then on the thumb, that’s where the beauty comes in.”

So now you know; the thumb is the most beautiful digit.

Kelleen Lim Chea tries to keep her beauty wholesome. Scar removal below the knee and teeth whitening are the only surgical enhancements she’s had. There are however other enhancements. Interview skills and stage presence are sharpened with the help of a pageant coach; Giselle Boone, a fashion show choreographer and former model. Chea & Boone spent the summer working on everything from posture to stage presence.

Competing in beauty pageants also means marketing a glamorous image through sponsorship deals. Sponsors help raise money, and Chea needs it. All contestants must pay a $1700 dollar entrance fee just to compete in this weekend’s pageant. That covers everything from food to personal security.

“You wanna do this? I will show you 15 different ways to get that money together,” says Miss California recruiter Erik DeSando laying out another unconventional beauty pageant formula.

“A girl has a 20-100 sponsor. A 20-100 sponsor is $20 from 100 people,” laughs DeSando. “Now it’s simple as hell, but think about it, you can find 100 people to give you 20 bucks.”

You can also find friends willing to work for you on the cheap as agents, photographers and stylists. Chea has tapped several. It didn’t always work out though. Several friendships, including with her now x-pageant coach Giselle Boone, were cast aside in the quest for the crown.

“I couldn’t say if it was me or the other party, all I can say is we’re just not in alignment for the path I’m going to,” says Chea.

“My mother, she would probably be wishing that I would be going to medical school right now. But she understands life is short. Do you what you want to do.

But the life of an aspiring beauty queen is short. Kelleen Lim Chea is 23. At 28, you’re considered over the hill – even if you’re a winner. But just showing up to compete can pay off handsomely in scholarship money, endorsements, modeling jobs and more.

And the winner of this weekend’s pageant also gets the chance to represent the Golden State at Donald Trump’s Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas next summer.

Live stream on Justin.TV - http://justin.tv/missca2011/b/274306759

Google results of my feature below:

28
Sep
10

Ratatat rocks the Fox, RX Bandits polish off third straight night at the Troubadour

By plugintodan 2 Comments
Categories: hollywood and music
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ratatat @ The Fox Theater in Pomona. Photo by Daniel Ucko.

IT was a double header concert weekend Friday and Sunday with RATATAT and RX Bandits.

AMAZING visuals from Ratatat, the electronic duo that combines video game synths with blazing guitar riffs to create a monstrous, head-bobbing sound.

There were two giant glass panels on either side of the stage, probably a good 50 feet high. Each one had a projector pointed at it from behind, creating ultra-real 3-dimensional images like a violinist and celloist dressed in Victorian-era white wigs and getup. Cue in the X-shaped neon lights on the back of the stage and add the massive pull-down screen with music videos and strange visuals being projected to match or contrast the panels.

For a band that makes completely instrumental music, the sounds are funky enough and change frequently to keep the ears tingling all night long.

…

RX Bandits was a completely different style concert at the Troubadour in West Hollywood.

The Troubadour has got to be my favorite venue simply because of its size. Its a tiny, divey club on the outskirts of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood and you can get so close to the bands there that you taste the sweat from stage.

RX Bandits have been a favorite of mine for a few years now, since I re-discovered them in college and realized their music style had progressed along the same line as my own tastes. No longer ska-punk, and more reggae-funk experimental prog-rock, it must have been a career milestone for the Long Beach fourpiece, celebrating their growth and indie-level success by performing their three previous albums in entirety from Friday thru Sunday.

So they played “The Resignation”, “…And The Battle Begun” and “Mandala” from front to back, side to side and kept the crowd moving, grooving and singing along.

LA Weekly put it nicely HERE in a weekend highlight.

Love these guys and love how far they’ve come.

They never put on a bad show and since interviewing them at Cal Poly Pomona a couple years ago, I still feel like I know the guys – Matt, Steve, Joe and Chris.

“Mandala”, which I reviewed HERE on its release, is RX Bandits’ most melodic and transcendental album, blending Embree’s soulful voice with flying guitar solos, smooth Rhodes keys and ever-changing rhythms.

Check out one of the awesome percussion jam-outs below:

Now have a listen to “White Lies” by RX Bandits and see what I’m talking about. Click below or on Box.net widget on the right to download the track.

21
Sep
10

INCEPTION STYLE

By plugintodan 2 Comments
Categories: hollywood, media and movies
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The viral video phenomenon known as YouTube has struck again.

And this time…it’s serious.

While the astounding summer movie “Inception” may no longer be in theaters, its finding a new life of its own through YouTube.

Or at least the trailer and its epic soundtrack by Hans Zimmer are living on…in more ways than one.

A stream of Internet spoofs have arrived once again, this time using the audio from the moody, loud and overdramatic audio from the “Inception” trailer to create a new preview for an old movie.

Not even Christopher Nolan’s other films are off limits. There are even spoofs of The Dark Night, Batman Begins, Memento and Superman Returns.

It started with UPCEPTION, a remixed “Up” trailer synced to the “Inception” preview:

Then I heard about TOYCEPTION, a mashup of the Toy Story 3 and Inception trailers:

Hilarious! Ingenious!

Simple formula: take family Pixar movie A, mix with not-so-family friendly “Inception” trailer and voila! You have yourself a comedic viral video masterpiece.

And this is how YouTube works, again and again. Someone has a good idea, makes it, uploads it, shares it and then everyone else spoofs it. It can be obnoxious as hell, but these new trailers are all pretty funny. And nothing goes untouched – the best ones are classic comedies like Dumb & Dumber and Superbad (see videos below), but anything is fair game – even LOST, which isn’t a movie, Titanic, Space Jam, Step Up 3D, Star Wars, Austin Powers, Christmas Vacation, Dogma, The Hangover, The Lion King, Big Lebowski, Star Trek and many, many MORE.

Here are some of my favorite Inception mashups – or as the YouTubers call them, Inception Style:

SUPERBAD, INCEPTION STYLE:

DUMB & DUMBER, INCEPTION STYLE:

LION KING, INCEPTION STYLE:

18
Aug
10

Looking for shoot-em-up summer movie fun? See The Other Guys, not The Expendables

By plugintodan Leave a Comment
Categories: hollywood and movies
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The "star"-studded Expendables

So I went to a DIY double feature of “The Expendables” and “The Other Guys” last night with my girlfriend Stephanie.

DIY Double Feature you say? What’s that?

Well it’s when you create your own two-movie experience just by planning ahead a bit. Look for two movies you want to see, one theater they’re both playing at, how long each film lasts and when you can see them back to back. So we did 7:40 The Expendables (1:48 run time) and 9:50 The Other Guys (1:40 run time, not that it matters if it’s the second screening!).

EXPENDABLES, which is directed, written and produced and starring Sylvester Stallone went about as predicted. A bunch of washed up action superstars dressed to the nine in bulletproof vests and mercenary gear taking on one small army at a time.

Alongside Stallone, we’ve got Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, (Stone Cold) Steve Austin and Mickey Rourke.

Okay so maybe Statham, Li and Rourke aren’t washed up, but…

Luckily they’re not ALL on the same team. Just most of them. The other good news? The previews only give away pieces from the opening scene.

The bad news? There’s not much else worth giving away.

Most everyone with Internet access already knew good ol’ Arnie Schwarzenegger (is it sad that his last name is in the spellcheck dictionary?) made a cameo, which was utterrly pointless, much like this movie played out. Does the Governator want the mercenary job from undercover CIA operative Bruce Willis (aka Mr. Church)? Nah, he’ll give it to his old pal Stallone. Arnold’s holding out for president of the United States anyhow.

The rest is just a playful mess of buff dudes with big guns overthrowing an entire island’s military and government for a girl Stallone never even kisses. And we don’t even know if they did it for money! Go in with low expectations and you might be pleased…

But instead, go see THE OTHER GUYS. The laughs really begin after the first 15 minutes, where (spoiler alert!) the gung-ho celebrity cops played by Sam Jackson (yus!) and Dwane Johnson (the artist formerly known as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) accidentally kill themselves, leaving a void in the NYPD that Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg are ready to fill. Or rather, ready to argue about whether or not they can, want or need to fill it. [more after the break]

The bad cop/bad cop, buddy/not-buddies partnership between Ferrell and Wahlberg on the force keeps the movie afloat. The two play to their strengths and it works.

Wahlberg’s stereotypical angry, aggressive cop persona versus Ferrel’s stupid, clueless, I’m Will Ferrell character never ceases and the laughs keep coming.

A bit gimmicky and a lot silly, The Other Guys makes it work. The story is more compelling than The Expendables lack thereof, perhaps because Sylvester Stallone didn’t write and direct The Other Guys. (No offense Sly, but it was a bit dry!)

Says it all in the clip below!

08
Jul
10

Fashion fo-paw?

By plugintodan Leave a Comment
Categories: fashion, hollywood, media, technology, Web and wildlife
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Now I’m no trendsetter or bandwagon jumper…okay, maybe just a little of each….but this latest fashion “trend” — if you can call it that yet — is seriously jaw dropping.

You’ve seen fake animal tails on humans…you’ve seen faux fur coats a plenty…furhood coats and furry Fargo hats…but you may not have seen this: straight up animal headdresses.

If you’re saying “WTF?” right now, it’s OK. I am too. I’ve recently discovered that a company called Spirit Hoods makes upscale, ‘pro Wildlife’ creature clothing for your animalistic tendencies. I can’t even think of the jokes that could result from something like this. There’s pandas, wolves, foxes, lions, zebras and even snow leopards. See them all here.

What is going on with the world these days. Every time you think it’s all been done before, some new wacky innovation comes barreling around the corner. I’m sure Paris Hilton and Twilight tweens are already on top of this….and that Lindsay Loham is wishing for one in jail…but, seriously?!

>> Update: Swear to God, I wrote that line about Lindsay Loham before I saw THIS. Guess she really is missing one.

And to make matters worse, according to major concert promoter Goldenvoice’s Twitter account, this is the company’s official mascot. I didn’t know concert promotion companies needed mascots, but if you wanna stay hip, I guess this over-the-top feral fashion is a good start.

…Now that you’re desperately seeking to unleash your inner beast with one of these hood things, Spirit Hoods start at $69 and go up to $129.

You can find em at select designer stores throughout this country and one spot in Japan!

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