Movie News

The first pic of Brad Pitt from Inglorious Bastards was released as they are filming in Belgium at Babelsberg Studios (Valkryie) and its suffice to say this movie may make a few men question their sexuality:



Also here's a few minutes of vid from the set of the Sherlock Holmes movie which is currently filming in England. You can see Downey conferring with a stunt double near the end:



And here's a pic of Tim Burton directing his new take on Alice In Wonderland with newcomer Mia Wasikowska, an 18-year-old from Canberra, Australia, in the title role:

NFL Power Rankings

We're nearing the halfway point of the 2008-09 NFL season so here's my power rankings so far:

1 Tennessee Titans
2 New York Giants
3 Buffalo Bills
4 Pittsburgh Steelers
5 Tampa Bay Bucs
6 Carolina Panthers
7 Washington Redskins
8 Arizona Cardinals
9 New England Patriots
10 Green Bay Packers
11 Chicago Bears
12 Atlanta Falcons
13 Philadelphia Eagles
14 Dallas Cowboys
15 Jacksonville Jaguars
16 Indianapolis Colts
17 New Orleans Saints
18 San Diego Chargers
19 Denver Broncos
20 Baltimore Ravens
21 Minnesota Vikings
22 St. Louis Rams
23 New York Jets
24 Houston Texans
25 Miami Dolphins
26 Oakland Raiders
27 Cleveland Browns
28 San Francisco 49ers
29 Seattle Seahawks
30 Cincinnati Bengals
31 Kansas City Chiefs
32 Detroit Lions

Religulous Review

Anybody who has seen an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher or Politically Incorrect knows that Maher is an atheist and isn't afraid to tell you that. Maher has made a career out of his political humor and his skepticism on religion so it's only fitting that he would come out with a humorous yet provacative documentary about it. From the title itself you can immediately tell what Maher's position is (Religulous is a mashup of the words Religion and Ridiculous). It's from here that we are taken on a 2 hour journey that spans the globe and every culture to get to the bottom of religion and if it is a farce.

Now the one thing that this movie did well, is that it doesn't necessarily tell you how to think and just lays the facts and opinions out there for you to figure out on your own. We are not force fed Maher's views and he even sheds a lot of light as to how he became an atheist and how the one time he made a "deal with god" it actually did pay off. We are introduced to Maher's mother and sister and the movie starts off with a journey in Bill's past where we can see how he was raised in a religiously conflicted environment because his dad was Catholic and his mom was Jewish. His family quit the church when he was age 13, and since then he hasn't looked back.

Maher got the help of Borat director Larry Charles for this doc and there is a similarity in the style and tone of both movies. The one thing I didn't like was how Religulous trys to knock down its interviewees a notch before they even say a word, as it shows them getting mic'ed up or situated for the interview and Maher is using this to rely on them doing something embarassing or stupid. It doesn't work and feels unneeded, if his whole agenda is to let the facts speak for themselves then why try to immediately invalidate your guest? Maher does do a good job of covering all of the major religions, Christian's/Jew's/Muslim's/Hindu's and even talks about some ancient Egypt and Persian religions of which he believes a lot of the stories of Jesus Christ were copied from.

Maher deeply talks about the differences in science and religion and his message at the end is pretty strong, but at the same time I don't expect people to drop their faith after seeing one documentary. Maher exploits a lot of religious leaders for the businessmen that they really are, and shows just how ridiculous some of the stuff that so called "rational" and "intelligent" people actually believe in. I'm sure he had trouble finding big name guests willing to be a part of this, but he certainly has his fair share of middle class americans who are passionate about what they believe in, even though it could certainly be proven wrong. Once again, this rings a familiar tone with Borat as the first part of the movie also is set in the midwest and southern states.

Overall, this movie is intended to get you to think a little bit and open your mind which is where I think it does succeed. It can certainly make for a heated debate when you and your friends get out of the theater, but in the end like every other argument surrounding religion, nobody knows who is right and who is wrong. Maher closes with a strong note, showing a lot of graphic imagery of wars that he claims were started by religion. Would the world be a happier place with out it? Or is man's ego so strong that we would still have these acts of brutality and violence so one can claim their dominance over another? It's hard to really say if this movie answered any solid questions and while there is humor there, if you don't like Bill Maher you won't be changing your mind with this doc. I suggest a dvd rental or cable viewing with some pal's you can discuss it with, but not worth the $10 bucks at your local cineplex, as there does get to be parts in the middle where I was checking my watch. I would be interested in seeing more movies from Maher as I am a fan of his cable series and Religulous is certainly classic Maher at its best, but with a topic so controversial I don't know if he quite left the viewers with what he was looking for.

7/10

Week 7 NFL Picks

Adi:

SD @ BUF / NO @ CAR / MIN @ CHI / PIT @ CIN / TEN @ KC / BAL @ MIA / SF @ NYG / DAL @ STL / DET @ HOU / IND @ GB / NYJ @ OAK / CLE @ WAS / SEA @ TB / DEN @ NE

Brian:

SD @ BUF / NO @ CAR / MIN @ CHI / PIT @ CIN / TEN @ KC / BAL @ MIA / SF @ NYG / DAL @ STL / DET @ HOU / IND @ GB / NYJ @ OAK / CLE @ WAS / SEA @ TB / DEN @ NE

AND because I am too lazy to make 2 posts...here's Sarah Palin from last nights SNL:

news and notes

- Madonna and Guy Ritchie are dunzo and I couldn't be happier. This means Guy can put his full focus and attention on his new adaptation of Sherlock Holmes which has recently started filming in London. Coincidence? Madonna herself is on tour and Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla opens wide next week so this seems to be a good time for a controversy career wise for the both of them. Guy will walk away with assets totaling around $60 million, including a 1,200-acre country estate, a London pub, and a cash settlement. Madonna walks away with her 24 inch biceps, thighs that could squeeze a bear into submission, and face that is more and more resembling the hobgoblin. Have fun with a woman more used than a port-a-pot at Pimlico there A-Rod.

- The economy remains to be shaky as we enter the final 2 weeks before a new president is decided. Jeff Zucker, CEO of NBC Universal, has announced he plans to reduce the budget by $500 million for EVERY department owned by the company. With parent company GE in the toilet and advertising rates in steep decline, NBC expects to cut 3% of its work force going into '09. Not to be outdone, Sumner Redstone has announced similar cuts are in the wings at CBS, and Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp (owner of Fox News) will be following suit in the new year. Tough times for media stock as well as every other sector and the job market is becoming tighter and tighter as companies plan their budgets for 09 and hiring new employees isnt on the docket.

- An artist you should keep an eye on is Lady Gaga. Every once in a while I'll spotlight a hot new trendy artist that is set to take the world by storm and this week Lady Gaga takes that place. She has been endorsed by celeb's such as Lindsay & Samantha Ronson, Perez Hilton, the girls from The Hills, and more. Her cd drops 10/28 and here's her single "Just Dance" which has been tearing up the chart since April.

Spread the Word

Throw up this banner in your myspace, facebook, twitter, college campus, hang it out your window, stick on people's car, staple it to your favorite waitress, put it in your kids lunchbox, anything else you can think of to spread the word and let's make a change!

Obama '08

Call of Duty 5 Beta Review

Being on the E list of fame has its perks such as a key to get into the beta for Call of Duty: World At War the follow up to last year's smash hit Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The beta lets you play 5 multiplayer modes (CTF, War, Free For All, etc...) with 3 maps and a few options for weapons to give you a nice taste of what to expect come November. It would be nice to have a little bit of the campaign in this beta, but the multiplayer is truly what draws people to this franchise as even Sarah Palin's down syndrome baby could beat the single player missions with ease.

For those of you who were worried that Infinity Ward has handed off the series to Treyarch for this installment, fear not, the multiplayer is pretty much exactly the same as it was before. The boot camp objectives, barracks, and levels of rank are all back and beefed up. The biggest complaint with going back to World War 2 was losing the fancy red dot sights from Modern Warfare and I must say this does make a huge difference in the heat of the battle to not be able to have a pin point laser dot going over the enemies head. I think players will get used to it, but its a big step back at first and feels like the series might be moving in the wrong direction as there was still so much they could have done with Modern War. There is an inclusion of vehicles which are a fun new touch and you can get "momentum" bonuses for capturing multiple flags or bases in a game, which help you capture more flags in quicker time. The air strike is back and you can even get guard dogs after a certain amount of kills to sniff out any opponents trying to hide in the brush.

Overall, I think people who were expecting a train wreck with this game will be pleasantly surprised to see everything is still in tact. Graphically, there is virtually no improvement and I experienced a lot of clipping/lagging/and even a crash but thats to be expected in a beta version. Quite frankly I don't know if this game is worth $60 because the multiplayer is the same as it was in COD 4, so you're getting some new maps and the satisfaction to kill some jap's, but thats about it. For people who are not familiar with the series, it'll make for a lot of fun to discover what all the hype is about, but COD 4 vet's will probably burn out pretty quickly on this. Especially with Gears of War 2 coming out around the same time with a better tweaked Multiplayer experience and more riveting campaign.

8/10