When the reviews came out, sure. Before the film arrived, however, I remember Reeves being blamed for sabotaging the series and his own career by declining the role, the idea being that no-one wanted to see a film focusing on Annie (even though it was obvious that there were a ton of other reasons) and that Reeves needed a hit after a few misses and wasted his chance.  In the end it worked out for Reeves, which is why I said there were probably better examples.

In theory though, isn't an actor who refuses to take part in a franchise, encouraging its demise while throwing it all away to make a pet project, quite a poisonous commodity? I'm sure there are better examples, but I remember it took a few years for Keanu Reeves to be taken seriously after he eschewed Speed 2 in favor of The Last Time I Committed Suicide. Perhaps people didn't want to touch Vince not because of a "string" of bombs, but because he bit the hand that fed?

Hope it's fun, and fun so far.

Why thank you.

That makeup really is the best thing about it. My friend John played both the zombie and the cop, so it was fun to have him eating his own head.

I just got my Canopus converter box so I've begun importing old VHS tapes. 'Tis addictive. Here's one of my student films, interesting concept and so-so execution.

This was a production one film, shot black & white with no sound. For your viewing pleasure I took it into Final Cut and gave it a quick temp soundtrack. Hope you like Camille Saint-Saëns. And zombies.

'Til Death (Or Thereabouts)

It's my token "student zombie fim", but we have it set in 1968 for no apparent reason. My girlfriend was happy, she got to wear awesome glasses, and looks FOXY. Also, does that zombie makeup not KILL? She did that, I'm so happy.

I played Quackshot whenever we rented a genesis (or megadrive as we in the rest of the world called it). Hitting things with different types of plunger was fun but I was never able to beat the Transylvania level. I was really never good at games, really.

Maybe Luthor was going to have a really tall henchmonster, or Superman had to be able to fly inside in a whole "I mock your power" way, or maybe Schwartz, like all writers, really wants to be a production designer.

Will they slowly mount up, taunting you as you try to get stuff done, or is it something you definitely want time set aside for?

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE  
THE DARK KNIGHT
WALL•E
THE BROTHERS BLOOM
IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS
FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL
THE WRESTLER
IN BRUGES
HUNGER  
IRON MAN
ZACK & MIRI MAKE A PORNO
FUNNY GAMES
THE FALL
QUANTUM OF SOLACE
TROPIC THUNDER  
CLOVERFIELD
HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY new!
VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
[•REC]
RAMBO
LONDON TO BRIGHTON
MAN ON WIRE
BE KIND REWIND
CHARLIE BARTLETT  
TAKEN
SEX AND THE CITY
WANTED
BODY OF LIES
HANCOCK
GET SMART
THE INCREDIBLE HULK
YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN
THE BANK JOB
BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT
DONKEY PUNCH new!
DOOMSDAY
THE STRANGERS
THE HAPPENING
RUN FAT BOY RUN
INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

•     •    •          •     •     •


Hellboy II was fun but it took them a while to get to that Golden Army, huh? Del Toro does good sequels. Here he's learned from the mistakes of the first film - this one's much tighter and isn't boring, the completely uninteresting human lead from the first one is gone, and the villains actually seem threatening. Still some problems, however. The big Forest baddie is just bundles of tentacles... again, and as soon as you see the elf twins are linked so that one gets hurt if the other is, you know just what'll happen in the end.

And Donkey Punch - I suppose it's nice to see a film that isn't afraid to have gratuitous violence and sex '80s style, but it takes itself so seriously that it's just not enjoyable for the last hour. Not that the first half hour was brilliant, but they seemed like likable enough people, and I like how they at least tried to create characters for the audience to care about.

I figured that you hadn't seen that many incredible films this year.

Gentlemen prefer Bonds, it seems.

I always assumed that Bond was "present day", whenever the time period was made. This means that each film will be affected by real-life international relations and technological limitations, but in the general sense it doesn't matter. Bond can always have Russian baddies and have a submarine car.

 They're not going to make a film set in the sixties just to satisfy continuity. Casino Royale, to me, is Bond's start as a 007 agent and his adventures fighting Dr. No, Goldfinger, etc. are yet to come. Those films have just already been made, that's all.

I don't like the "James Bond is a name given to a number of successive agents" idea, and if they do that officially, I'll be very unhappy. I prefer Brosnan's Bond to be the same one that's gone into space, fought SPECTRE, had his bride gunned down on his wedding day and so on. Craig's Bond just hasn't done any of that yet.

Did it? I don't think they did anything that would contradict the first twenty films. Judi Dench M, maybe.

Who's the guy on the left?

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE  
THE DARK KNIGHT
WALL•E
THE BROTHERS BLOOM
IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS
FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL
THE WRESTLER
IN BRUGES
HUNGER  
IRON MAN
ZACK & MIRI MAKE A PORNO
FUNNY GAMES
THE FALL
QUANTUM OF SOLACE stupid title!
TROPIC THUNDER  
CLOVERFIELD
VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
[•REC]
RAMBO
LONDON TO BRIGHTON
MAN ON WIRE
BE KIND REWIND
CHARLIE BARTLETT  
TAKEN
SEX AND THE CITY
WANTED
BODY OF LIES
HANCOCK
GET SMART
THE INCREDIBLE HULK
YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN
THE BANK JOB
BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT
DOOMSDAY
THE STRANGERS
THE HAPPENING
RUN FAT BOY RUN
INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

•     •    •          •     •     •

The new 007 isn't bad at all. The last one languished too much in the casino scenes and felt like it's still getting to the ending, this one doesn't waste a second. Would have been nice to hang around in some scenes before jetting off to the next place though, and would have been nicer to be able to see what was happening in the action sequences.
    Apart from that, same old Bond problems - he's not much of a spy, really, and bad guys never seem to kill anyone efficiently. And why did I have to wait until the very end to see The Bond Entrance and hear the theme music? For shame.