Critical End!

Welcome to an alternative 1985:

Needless to say, this is a clip of Eric Stoltz as Marty from the upcoming 25th anniversary Back to the Future Blu-ray release.  Kinda creepy, huh?

Did you watch any of the new episodes of Futurama?  I ended up hearing mixed things.  Ryan liked it.  Some fat guy I carpool with hated it.  But the feeling I got from most people was sort of a “I could care less” vibe. 

Now you can care less on DVD and Blu-ray starting in December.  According to IGN, Futurama Vol.5, the first set to contain the new episodes, is heading your way on December 21st.  This is (barely) just in time for X’mas, which is great news as it means I don’t have to pay for something that may very well end up sucking.  

Oh, and IGN is also telling me that the set is going to “span two discs”.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the other sets have four or five?  Was the new season really that short?  Hmmm.

Compliment or complain about the new Futurama season in our comment section below.

"You want it post-converted when?"

In an extraordinarily rare show of common sense, WB has decided NOT to release part one of the final Harry Potter film in 3D, because they “were unable to convert the film in its entirety and meet the highest standards of quality.”  So they ran out of time, which isn’t exactly like saying “there was no reason for this to be in 3D in the first place” but I’ll take it.  Hollywood’s no stranger to rushed 3D conversion jobs, so it’s nice someone finally had the guts to put the kibosh on one.  That doesn’t mean part two won’t be in 3D, however, so you’ll still be able to enjoy the magical wonder that slightly increased depth of field will bring to Ron Weasley’s hair.

[Via Screened]

“The best advice I can give you about falling is to never land.”
-Chevy Chase, 2010

Yes, it’s that time of year again.  Your pals at Critical End! would like to wish the happiest of birthdays to our dear friend Dr. Chevy Chase (he’s a doctor of being awesome).  Today he turns 67, folks.  67!  Can you believe that?!  It seems like only yesterday that he was reminding Danny to take drugs, bribing Frank Oz to let him cheat on an exam, and making a movie with either Benji or Goldie Hawn.

So, what has Chevy learned in those 67 years?  Only how to steal our hearts!  Oh, and some practical stuff too…practically funny stuff that is!  Okay, I’ll stop now and let Chevy speak for himself in this wonderful Esquire article from last month, Chevy Chase: What I’ve Learned.

Happy Birthday, Chevy.

Director Adam Green with Hatchet's Victor Crowley.

Although I don’t have an AMC theater in my neighborhood, I was excited to hear that they had agreed to start showing “Unrated” movies.  This is really something that’s overdue in the film community, as most filmmakers will tell you that the MPAA is basically a big joke run by Hollywood bullies (Case in point: This Film is Not Yet Rated and Matt and Trey’s battle with the MPAA over the South Park movie).

And now it looks like they’ve struck again…maybe.  Mere days after opening last Friday, AMC pulled Adam Green’s Hatchet II, and nobody seems to know why.  AMC released a statement saying, “At AMC theaters, we review all films in all of our theatres every week and then make our business decisions based on their performance.”  Gee, that’s nice and all, but do they realize that they didn’t even let this movie play for a week?  Writer/Director/Awesome Guy Adam Green stepped in with the most logical explanation: The MPAA is out to get him.

“All signs would point to AMC being unhappy with how vocal I was about the MPAA and not wanting to deal with the controversy- which if the case, is their given right. Had the film grossed millions, maybe it would be a different story with them,” he said in an early statement.  If true, this makes me pretty mad.  I’m not going to sit here and type a long rant about how corrupt the MPAA, mainly because it’s all been said before by people who are far more articulate than myself, but I will say this: Fuck you, MPAA.

via CHUD

Friday is Chevy Chase Day around the world, which means that this week I’m going to be talking about Chevy even more than usual! (Editors note: Apologies.)

I thought I’d kick things off right by talking about a little seen classic Chevy bit, such as this short one from the 1974 skit film The Groove Tube.  The film itself is just a lame, early version of The Kentucky Fried Movie, with Chevy only showing up twice (three times if you count his hands).  However, it’s worth digging up just to see him and pal Ken Shapiro perform “Four Leaf Clover”.  The two would later regroup to make Modern Problems.  I think we all know how that turned out.

Anyway, sorry for the VHS-ish quality of this video, but it’s the best one I could find.  You can always come over to my place if you want to catch it on DVD, complete with commentary and laugh track from me as well.  Enjoy!

You know, that film that made a ton of money last year but wasn’t Avatar?  Well, I loved it, and this news has me chomping at the bit for the sequel.

Apparently Jared Harris, who Critical End! fans will know from both Mad Men and the second Resident Evil movie, will be playing Moriarty.  And, in news that slipped by me somehow, Stephen Fry will play Mycroft, Sherlock’s older brother!  Both of these announcements are huge, as these are some damn fine British actors set to play classic British roles.  Which leaves me wondering how Downey’s passable-but-not-outstanding accent will fair in their company.

Either way, confirmation that both Holmes’ arch-nemesis and oft-forgotten brother will appear in the second movie makes me think that they’ll continue to strike a nice balance between literary fan service and modern action.  And that is alright by me.

[Via /Film]

I have three celebrity heroes.  My goal in life is to some day meet each of them, shake their hand, look them straight in the eye, and simply say “thank you”.  After several years, I could only mark Ray Davies off of this list…until now.

Thanks to the power of the Internet, I managed to corner director Joe Dante on Facebook via his Trailers From Hell page and ask him the most obvious of questions: Can I have a tour of your garage?

His response, as posted on YouTube:

Granted, it’s not a handshake and a “Stay gold, Ponyboy”, but it’s a start!  I firmly believe that some day I will get that tour…seconds before the cops show up. 

Thanks, Joe!

Did you remember to buy your Community season 1 DVD set today?  You’ve only got a couple of days to watch all 25 episodes before season 2 premieres on Thursday.  Better get to work!

In addition to the first season release, it’s worth noting for all of you Community diehards out there that today is also the release date for the season 1 soundtrack.  Unlike most television soundtracks that feature incidental and background music, the Community album is notable for containing every song the cast performed this past season.  Tracks of interest include rockin’ party classics like “Pierce You Are a B”, three tracks from Chevy, Troy and Abed’s rendition of “Somewhere Out There”, and the full-length version of The 88’s Community theme.  Check out Amazon and iTunes for more info.

Off to watch season 1!  Happy Community week, kids! 

Suitable for framing

Did you remember to buy Boy Meets World seasons 1 to 3 on September 7th?  Well, if you didn’t then somebody did, as Lionsgate is going ahead with their plans to release season 4!  TVShowsOnDVD.com is reporting that all 22 episodes from the never before released season (see full story here) are arriving on December 7th.  That’s just in time for you to buy it for me!

Until then, why not catch up by buying seasons 1 through 3 on Amazon for only 12 bucks each?  That’s 67 episodes for less than 40 bucks, kids!

(Thanks to CE! reader Todd for the tip)

One of my favorite bad trailers of all time is My Bloody Valentine 3D.  The trailer does a fine job of advertising for the film; it’s not until the end of it when things go horribly awry.  You see, according to the trailer fire is going to fly out of the screen.  Observe this still:

“But wait, Logan, ya lovable trickster,” you say.  “That’s just advertising the fact that the film is 3D!”  Then I ask you: Why are the people looking up?  I’m no expert, but I don’t quite think 3D works that way, Lionsgate.

But it seems that Lionsgate never got my memo, as now they’ve gone and done it again with the new Saw 3D trailer.  No fire this time.  This time?  Oh, this time one of the characters is actually going to come out of the screen, reach into your theater, and pull you into the movie.  I’m not making this up.  Let’s watch:

People, this is blatant false advertising.  In fact, if I go to see Saw 3D and the theater has NOT equipped my seat with a spiky torture device thingy that comes over my head and locks me in place…oh, I’m going to be mad.

Lately I’ve been pretty rough on zombies.  Honestly, I’m just mostly tired of comedic zombie films.  I feel like I’ve seen it all.  That being said, I expect FearNet’s upcoming new show Zombie Roadkill to suck.  However, this teaser does anything but suck:

Welcome back, kids!  I trust you all had a great Labor Day weekend and didn’t almost die watching the new Danny Boyle film.  I thought about posting some of the usual crap to slowly ease you back into your working week, then I thought, “Screw it.  I’m going all out.”

Thus, I give you the first image from the upcoming Telltale Back to the Future game:

BAM!

Is that freakin’ awesome or what?!  Ryan gave us some of the first news on this five episode series back in June.  Word on the net is that the first episode of the game is going to come out sometime at the end of the year to coincide with the 25th anniversary release of the series on Blu-ray.

I can’t wait to play this game.  Hell, I’d play that picture if they put a Start button on it.  That’s how pumped the image has me for the game.  It also helps that I was almost expecting something more along the lines of this:

via CHUD

With Labor Day weekend at hand, I thought I’d cram a lot of awesomness into one mega post.

First up, James Cameron thinks he owns the concept of 3D and takes it upon himself to call out Piranha 3D as “exactly an example of what we should not be doing in 3-D.”  This prompts Piranha producer Mark Canton to point out that not everyone can “take ten years using other people’s money to make and market a film.”  All I can say is that there was ritual mating in both movies and the fish film did it right.

Shamelessly stolen from cbsnews.com

Elsewhere, I Watch Stuff reports that CBS reports that 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair report that nobody gives a crap how evil Mel Gibson is.  76% of those polled said that the scandal would have no effect on their likelihood of seeing a new Mel Gibson movie. If America can separate Gibson the man from Gibson the actor, I suppose I can start going back to my favorite Starbucks, despite that one barista’s outspoken views on abortion.

Here’s Doctor Who favorite David Tennant from the upcoming remake of Fright Night.  I’ve never seen the original, but you can pretty much take any beloved genre actor and cast them as a magician and I’ll see that movie.  Just ask The Prestige.

Speaking of awe-inspiring images, Juan Pablo Bravo made a HUGE size-comparison chart of just about any Hanna-Barbera character you can think of, 600 in all.  Click the tiny sample below for the full shebang.

Almost as cool as knowing the exact relative heights of the Hair Bear Bunch, is Conan O’Brien announcing the name of his new TBS show.  It’s a good thing he’s getting back to work.  With that beard, he looks like he’d be on the streets with a beaver puppet, leaving angry voicemails for Oksana Grigorieva if he didn’t have something to keep him busy.

And finally, let’s usher in the holiday weekend with everybody’s favorite weekend activity.  DANCE PARTY!

Happy Labor Day, folks.

I already wasted time and web space making fun of the (sigh) Planet of the Apes prequel back in May, so let’s just get to the goods, shall we?  This is either the first photo from the set of Rise of the Apes, or some strange guy in a bodysuit following James Franco and his girlfriend home.

Decide for yourself in our comment section below.

via CHUD