Cinematical

• The Geek Beat: What We Learned in Summer 2008
  

  Filed under: Fandom, Lists, The Geek Beat

  
  
  

  The arrival of snow in the mountains in my neck of the woods means that summer really is on the way out. It seems like it was only yesterday that we were discussing what would be the hits and misses of the season. Now the talk is going to turn to Oscar buzz and Halloween horror. Are you freaked by how quickly time has flown by yet?
  
  Anyway, seeing as school is already in session, I've decided to pay homage to my Geek Beat predecessor, Mark Beall, and do a list of things we learned during the summer season....
  



• Cinematical Seven: Seven Men Gone Too Soon
  

  Filed under: Obits, Cinematical Seven, Lists

  
  
  For me, it started with the deaths of comedic greats like Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason. Death had become real and tangible, making the world and showbusiness finite. Since then, the numbers have gradually increased. We're slowly walking into the period where memorials and tributes aren't relegated to actors before our time, but to the names and faces that shaped our views of entertainment -- the people who we have spent so much time with on the big screen, and within the comfort of our own homes.
  
  But we're not just losing people to age. 2008 has been a heavy year for Hollywood,...
  



• Are These the 31 Most Badass Star Wars Moments?
  

  Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Lists

  
  
  I'm not sure what the difference is between a bad ass Star Wars moment, a great Star Wars moment and a memorable Star Wars moment, but something tells me the list of 31 Star Wars moments on Galactic Binder is a little bit of all of the above. They're calling it The Top 31 Bad Ass Star Wars Moments, so we'll stick with that for now. And while I certainly don't agree with the placement of a some scenes on this list, as well as the lack of a few...
  



• Samuel L. Jackson Picks 10 New Asian Classics
  

  Filed under: Action, Foreign Language, Fandom, Lists

  What do celebrities really know about movies? Samuel L. Jackson, for one, demonstrates a good knowledge of recent Asian cinema with his selection of "favorite 10 New Classic Asian Films" from the past 25 years for Entertainment Weekly. The best part? He picks the type of popcorn action flicks that got me interested in Asian films in the first place.

  A couple of his selections are easy to understand: John Woo's Hard Boiled and Ringo Lam's City on Fire are definite guns 'n' gangsters classics of late 80s / early 90s Hong Kong cinema. (Quentin Tarantino blatantly stole borrowed...
  




• Cinematical Seven: Non-Horror Movies that Scared the Crap Out of Me As a Kid
  

  Filed under: Fandom, Lists

  
  

  By: Patrick Walsh (original publish date: October 13, 2007)

  (With the Cine-staff off on a late-July mini-vacation, we thought it'd be fun to bring you some of our favorite pieces from years past. Enjoy!)

  As I pointed out in my Poltergeist review, I didn't watch much horror as a boy. That's probably a good thing, as even the non-horror flicks I enjoyed often scared the bejesus out of me. You kids today don't know how lucky you have it with your wussy Shreks and your lamewad Pikachus! Children of the 1980s are still in therapy over what Hollywood deemed "family films" back then. The following non-horror...
  




• Cinematical Seven: The All-Time BEST Double Features!
  

  Filed under: Fandom, Lists

  
  
  By: Scott Weinberg
  
  (With the Cine-staff off on a late-July mini-vacation, we thought it'd be fun to bring you some of our favorite pieces from years past. Enjoy!)
  
  OK, but when I say "all-time BEST," what I really mean is "REALLY good ones, according to one nerd," so feel free to challenge, argue and contribute your own choices as well. (I like to use hyper-superlatives in the title, just to get attention.) This topic was inspired by my weekly trip to a DVD store that shall remain anonymous (it rhymes with "guest fly"). I was...
  



• Cinematical Seven: Most Overly Used Lines in Trailers
  

  Filed under: Fandom, Lists

  
  

  

  By: Erik Davis
  
  (With the Cine-staff off on a late-July mini-vacation, we thought it'd be fun to bring you some of our favorite pieces from years past. Enjoy!)
  

  Part of my job involves watching every single trailer that comes through the pipeline, and, in most cases, writing about it. Thus, it pains me to keep hearing the same old voice-over lines from the guy with the deep voice. A friend of mine, a comedian by the name of Jeff Sussman, once did a bit on the movie trailer voice-over guy. In it, he speculated what...
  




• Cinematical Seven: Dream Projects We'd Love to See in 3-D
  

  Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Exhibition, Cinematical Seven, Remakes and Sequels, Lists

  

  If you paid good money to see Jaws 3-D, Friday the 13th Part 3 (in 3-D) and The Man Who Wasn't There (the Steve Guttenberg 1983 version in 3-D) during their original theatrical runs, as I did, then you might understand why I've been so reluctant to board the new 3-D bandwagon.Those were awful movies and terrible 3-D experiences: ghost images everywhere, red/blue mix-ups, and constantly shifting focus. The stupid little 3-D paper "viewers" never fit correctly over my own prescription eyeglasses. Instead of inducing a sense of wonder,...
  




• The Best of Mike Mignola's 'Hellboy'
  

  Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, New Releases, Universal, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Lists

  One of the best things about life here on Cinematical is that I receive a crash course in comic books that I'm unfamiliar with. The world of graphic novels and comic books is a pretty daunting one, especially when every other title is being optioned by a big studio.
  There are so many of these characters that I've known in passing or via their movie adaptations that I don't even know where to begin reading.
  



• Cinematical Seven: Overlooked Gems from the Top Half of '08
  

  Filed under: New Releases, Cinematical Seven, Lists

  
  

  Yesterday, Scott posted a terrific month-by-month report card looking back the 2008 movie scene from the halfway point. With the interval between theatrical and DVD release dates shrinking steadily, a lot of the movies from January through June are either already available on DVD, or soon will be. For your consideration, here are what I consider to be seven underseen, underexposed, and/or unfairly overlooked gems from the year to date. Something to consider next time you log on to Netflix.

  In no particular order:

  1. Charlie Bartlett - I'll clamber out on a limb and call Charlie Bartlett the most valuablemovie...