Smallville Ultimate Justice, made-for-tv movie featuring Hawkman, Dr. Fate and Stargirl
Dexter Season 4 finale breaks Showtime ratings records at 3 million in one night
The mid-season tv that you want to see returning schedule, courtesy of the Ausiello Files
Scooped by Alicia Glass
Reviewed by Alicia Glass
Director: Nick Willing
Age: 17+
Website: Alice
Review Rating: 9
A hundred years or so after the original adventure through wonderland, a new kickass Alice finds her way to a signifigantly changed Wonderland to look for her boyfriend Jack.
This is an incredibly fantastic piece of work from the Tin-Man folks! If you can envision the original Alice in Wonderland story as a somewhat dark and wicked adventure for children, then this new Alice is like that, but for adults!
The changes are big: this new Alice has long black hair and looks a lot like American McGee’s Alice, plus she knows karate! The Red Queen, played by the ever-imposing Kathy Bates, is still lopping off heads, but she now runs the biggest pleasure Casino in Wonderland. The Casino is stuffed with humans culled from the real world, referred to as “oysters”, who are drained of their emotions as the House of Cards lets them win and win and win, and eventually the ultimate prize: death, at the hands of soul drainage. The Mad Hatter is a thief and middle man, trying to balance the Queen’s wrath and the Resistance that fights them. The Dodo, a soldier for the Resistance who’s gone a little mad with it, is acted by the ever wicked and scheming Tim Curry! The March Hare is actually this assassin guy who had the bad taste to get killed, and is reinvented as a cyborg killing machine with, you guessed it, a rabbits head from a mad scientist. And of course, leader of the Resistance itself is the never-forgettable Caterpillar, complete with his hookah! And, quite possibly my favorite part: the Queen’s Suits (as in troops) have suits (as in playing cards) on their suits (as in clothing)! I am liking to die of amused cackles!
It’s not for everyone, and you do really need to be an Alice in Wonderland fan in order to truly appreciate this fine piece of original tv. But for those of you that are, and I know there are lots, this is truly a Wonderland of adult entertainment!
Reviewed by Alicia Glass
Studio: ABC’s V
Age: 14+
Review Rating: 8
A remake of a wildly popular 80’s Sci-Fi show, V features a race of aliens come to earth known as the Visitor’s, or V’s, who slowly infiltrate everything on Earth to reveal a diabolical plot against the humans.
The good news is, if you’re a fan of the original series, the remade series will blow your mind. The alien ships have had a CGI makeover, as we all knew they would. Morena Baccarin of Firefly and Stargate SG-1 fame gives a wonderfully icy performance as Anna, leader of the V’s, and I would guess equivalent to the classic Diana. The thrust-upon leader of the Resistance is still a blond female, but oh yeah baby, this time she’s an FBI agent who kicks serious ass. Elizabeth Mitchell of Lost fame portrays her. There is still exciting tightrope tension between a leading world reporter and the V commanders, but of course Scott Wolf is remarkably different from the gruff and capable reporter turned resistance fighter of the original series, played by Marc Singer. We still have the iconic black guy in the resistance, but this time, he’s a V who’s apparently a soldier of some kind who turned coat and decided to aid the humans after all. There is, so far, a lot more about the V’s themselves, the wars they apparently fought eachother with and the defecting of various military style outfits. Which leads me to an interesting question: if a visiting alien race is showing empathy and compassion towards the atrocities they themselves committed on us humans, is it called showing humanity, or alien-ity?
There is bad news, unfortunately. For those of us who are fans of the original show, well. This new show of course doesn’t have Robert Englund as a V human sympathizer. And yes, the Mike Donovan equivalent of this show, the reporter that ignites a firestorm against the V’s, is so far a complete wuss as far as physical fighting goes. Those of us who’ve seen both the classic and this new show are likely to enjoy this new one for it’s sheer improvement value if nothing else. However, for anyone raised in the United States with a healthy interest in the Sci-Fi genre, this new V has as yet to distinguish itself from other giants like Battlestar Galactica. If it’s all been done before, then this new V will have to work much more hard and be much more vigilant if it doesn’t want to simply fade out, head hung in shame, as with most remakes these days. It hasn’t happened, yet! Let us pray (or prey) that it doesn’t.
Whether V stands for Victory or Visitor, watch the show and make your choice!
Check out a Trailer
Reviewed by Alicia Glass
Website: http://www.battlestargalacticadvd.com/
Age: 14+
Review Rating: 8
Experience most of the story of Battlestar Galactica all over again: humanity’s struggle for survival and the Cylon battle for existence, but this time from the Cylon point of view.
First off, if you’re not a fan of BSG, there really is absolutely no point in trying to watch this straight-to-DVD movie release. Without having watched the four amazing seasons of the remade Battlestar Galactica, that won numerous awards, a legion of die-hard fans and a huge amount of criticism, you won’t be able to enjoy this movie to it’s fullest. That being said, and as I am huge fan of BSG, on with the review!
Yes, it’s from the Cylon point of view, sure. Dean Stockwell stars as Brother Cavil, also known as Number One. And while he certainly does an adequate job at trying to get his Cylon brethren to do their fraking job already and kill a bunch of pivotal humans, I just can’t get around remembering him as Al in Quantum Leap. Certainly both Sci-fi series, but they’re very very different from eachother. We have a pair of Sixes running around, the one that seduces Gaius and the one that, well, is generally a whore who likes killing people and telling Number One how he keeps messing things up. Boomer, also known as Sharon, or Number Eight if you like, is here too, and boy is she angsting about lying to the humans (and herself) and shooting the Admiral. There is actually rather little about Starbuck and her being…well, we honestly couldn’t tell from those last few episodes of BSG what the frak she’s supposed to be, a Cylon or an “Angel” or whatever else. Leobon, the Cylon who tortured Starbuck, is in there, but he seems to take a distinctly protective turn towards Starbuck, at least when talking to Number One.
And unfortunately that’s pretty much it. The Cylons have their plan and as we all know, it didn’t work. The movie runs through the pivotal moments of the show: the destruction of Caprica, the shooting of Adama, the death of Boomer, and a bunch of other things. And yes, you do see bits of the Cylon POV interlaced with those scenes, Edward James Olmos, who directed this film, did a very seamless job. The film is rather abruptly ended with the capture and subsequent deaths of the two Number One copies aboard Galactica. There is a memorable scene, for those of us BSG fanatics towards the beginning of the film, where the Hybrid informs the Cylons of this gem of storytelling:
“Progress reports arriving. The farms of Aerilon are burning. The beaches of Canceron are burning. The plains of Leonis are burning. The jungles of Scorpia are burning. The pastures of Tauron are burning. The harbors of Picon are burning. The cities of Caprica are burning. The oceans of Aquaria are burning. The courthouses of Libran are burning. The forests of Virgon are burning. The Colonies of Man lie trampled at our feet.”
True BSG fan-atics will most likely greatly enjoy this little-known slice of fun.
Underscoring the growing convergence between games and other forms of entertainment, today Spike TV announced it will premiere the complete “Assassins Creed: Lineage” short film. The live-action/CGI short movie is based on Ubisoft’s best-selling video game intellectual property Assassins Creed. “Assassins Creed: Lineage” explores the events that happen just before
the upcoming release of the Assassin’s Creed II game begins. The story
revolves around Ezio’s father, Giovanni Auditore da Firenze, and it
provides insight on the game’s back story and why Ezio begins the game
on a quest for revenge. The short film was developed by Ubisoft’s
Hybride Technologies, the visual effects company behind the visual
effects for films such as 300 and Sin City. It will globally premiere
in its entirety for the first time in high-definition on Spike TV on
Wednesday, November 11 at 12:00am Midnight.
“As Ubisoft begins to expand into other media beyond games, we are
excited to be working so closely with our valued partners at Viacom to
debut this new story in the Assassin’s Creed universe exclusively on
Spike TV,” said Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing
at Ubisoft. “Spike has long been a leader in supporting our industry
with excellent editorial programming, so it was a natural choice to team
up with them for the U.S. public unveiling of this revolutionary new
short film.”
“Video games have been a cornerstone of the Spike brand since the
inception of the network seven years ago,” said Kevin Kay, president,
Spike TV. “We always knew there would come a day when a game publisher
would have the vision to bring a blockbuster franchise to life as a
televised short movie on Spike. We’re thrilled to be working with
Ubisoft to showcase how its creative talents stretch beyond game
consoles.”
ABOUT UBISOFT
Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive
entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through a
strong and diversified line-up of products and partnerships. Ubisoft is
present in 28 countries and has sales in more than 55 countries around
the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge
video game titles to consumers. For the 2008-09 fiscal year Ubisoft
generated sales of 1.058 billion euros. To learn more, please visit
www.ubisoftgroup.com <http://www.ubisoftgroup.com/>
NBC has joined with DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. to air two all-new, family-friendly animated holiday television specials based on the studio’s blockbuster feature films, Monsters vs. Aliens and Madagascar, both featuring many of the characters as voiced by the original talent from the films.
The first of the 30-minute specials is titled, “Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space,” and is based on the 2009 smash hit, Monsters vs. Aliens. It features the voices of cast members Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Kiefer Sutherland and Rainn Wilson (NBC’s “The Office”). The special is set to air on Wednesday, October 28 (8-8:30 p.m. ET, repeating from 8:30-9 p.m. ET).
The second special, “Merry Madagascar,” is based on the hugely successful smash hits, Madagascar and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, which both featured the voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Cedric The Entertainer and Andy Richter. The special, which also features the voice of Carl Reiner, is scheduled to broadcast on Tuesday, November 17 (8-8:30 p.m. ET) and repeat on Saturday, November 28 (8-8:30 p.m. ET) just before the holiday season.
The announcement was made today by Angela Bromstad, President, Primetime Entertainment, NBC and Universal Media Studios.
“This is a major coup for NBC to join together with the esteemed artists at DreamWorks Animation as we bring to life new holiday stories based on these popular and lovable characters,” said Bromstad. “We are intent on providing original, family-friendly programs that reflect the quality that big-screen audiences have come to expect from these franchises.”
“We are thrilled to have two new DreamWorks Animation shows on NBC this holiday season,” said Ann Daly, Chief Operating Officer of DreamWorks Animation. “The creative teams from the hit feature films were reunited to make these new specials and we hope they will become annual holiday favorites for families.”
“Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space” is produced by Latifa Ouaou and directed by Peter Ramsey from a screenplay by Adam F. Goldberg. The story continues after the events of Monsters vs. Aliens, as Susan Murphy (Witherspoon) and the Monsters now work with the U.S. government as special operatives. When an alien presence is detected in Susan’s hometown of Modesto, California — right before Halloween — the team is dispatched to investigate. Everything appears normal, right down to the jack-o-lanterns
peering out from every doorstep and windowsill. But when Halloween arrives, those innocent-looking carved pumpkins are revealed for what they really are — mutant aliens. The altered pumpkins then start to implement their fiendish plan to take over Earth. The Monsters are there to combat the mutant gourds and try to smash their wicked scheme.
“Merry Madagascar” was written by David Soren, Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath. The executive producer is Mireille Soria; Joe Aguilar is the producer and David Soren directs. The brand new holiday adventure stars everyone’s favorite Central Park “zoosters” from Madagascar and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. “Merry Madagascar” begins when Santa and his sleigh unexpectedly crash-land on the island, giving the jolly gentleman a case of amnesia. So it falls to Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria — along with the ever-inventive Penguins — to deliver the presents and save Christmas. And it doesn’t hurt that Santa’s Sleigh just might be able to make a little trip to New York City, so they can finally return to their beloved home. But during their appointed rounds, the four re-discover the magic of giving — and that it is ultimately more important than their own wish to return home. Also included is a long-lasting North Pole/South Pole rivalry between the Penguins and Santa’s reindeer, plus magic flying dust and a King Julien-based holiday called “Julienuary.”
