Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Twilight Is A Huge Hit On DVD

The Twilight DVD has sold 5.2 million copies since its release. This makes the film the best selling DVD of the year so far.
Reports have stated on its first day of release Twilight was able to sell 3.1 million copies and Wal-Mart, the nation’s biggest DVD retailer, set the company-wide single-day record with some of its stores attracted more than 1,000 fans.
If you want to see my thoughts on the Twilight movie you can find the link to that review on the side under movie reviews.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Vampires Coming to CW

A new vampire show "Vampire Diaries" will be hitting the CW with Ian Somerhalder playing a vampire. For those of you who don’t know Somerhalder, he played a character named Boone on ABC’s hit show Lost.
The pilot will be based off of a series of young adult novels.
The only reason I’m posting this on my blog is because I had this idea months ago and I mentioned it at the end of my Twilight review. If you follow the link below to the review and scroll down to the bottom of it you will see where I mentioned that the CW would make a killing off of something like this.

ABC Talks Deal With Hulu

ABC is looking to join Hulu.com, a popular website that allows you to stream NBC and FOX shows for free.
The reports are that ABC’s corporate parent, Walt Disney Co., is negotiating with NBC and FOX to take a spot on the website.
The shows that ABC is looking to put up on the website are Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives – but what about their hit show Lost, they have to make that available through Hulu also.
I know that ABC offers all of their shows on their websites, but if they join Hulu.com they will be catering to the public because Hulu can become a one stop place to watch all of your favorite shows. Also, Hulu offers a smoother and sharper picture.
Disney and ABC are also in talks with YouTube on a deal.


Bruno Gets An NC-17

Sacha Baron Cohen’s newest film “Bruno” has been given a rating of NC-17 for graphic sexual content. In the film industry NC-17 means death, since studios won’t market a movie that carries that rating. The movie will need to cut the film down to receive an R-rating so it can be marketed and earn money in the box office.
A spokesman for Universal has given his thoughts on the matter, “It is far too early to say that there is any struggle (referring on getting an R-rating), and the process is only at its inception.”
Cohen has tested two versions of the film with audiences and reports are that both versions of the film were very successful with audiences.
What I have to say to this is keep the NC-17 rating, too many films loose so much of what they are when they are cut back. This is also the perfect film to carry a NC-17 rating because no matter what Cohen’s followers will go see the movie and with out a doubt it will still turn a profit and maybe then Hollywood will see that there is money to be made with NC-17 films and start to market them.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

The Haunting In Connecticut

With the movie The Haunting in Connecticut coming to theaters I thought it was appropriate for me to go out and spend the pass month researching everything I could on the Snedecker house, the house the movie is based off of. I read through numerous reports and stories about the house and I’m now going to discuss with you on what I’ve found out about the haunting.
First let me give you the story about the house. In 1986 Allen and Carmen Snedecker moved into the house at 208 Meriden Ave., Southington, CT. Once in the house their 14 year-old-son, Phillip, started to see monk-like apparitions.
Soon after, the family started to hear strange scratching sounds and whispering coming from the walls. They then encountered several ghosts in their basement; this included an old man in a blue suit with his eyes rolled back into his head, a young man with long black hair and a little boy wearing Superman pajamas.
Then for several nights in a row, their 18-year-old daughter, Tammy, awoke screaming, saying that something had sexual assaulted her. This caused the family to bring in a Vatican-trained demonologist priest who performed a several hour exorcism after which he reported the house to be cleaned of spirits.
Now, when the Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators and Lorraine possess a sixth sense, investigated the house they found out that the 75 year old home was once a funeral home and the basement was where they once embalmed the dead bodies. They also suspected necrophilia had taken place there.
That might sound all scary, but how much of it is true? I do believe in hauntings and ghosts and that’s what drew me to research this house and what I found was things that made me question whether or not if this was a true haunting or was there something else behind all of this.
The first thing after finding out the story about the house I went and tracked down all the information about the novel "A Dark Place" By Ray Garton. The book weaves together all the stories of the family members into one scary read, but some of the stuff in the book seemed to be too out there to be real.
"I wrote a book called In A Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting. It was published as "non-fiction", but that was just marketing," said Garton. "I went to Connecticut to meet with the family involved in the alleged haunting of their former house, which used to be a funeral home. I was never able to see the inside of the home, because the people who were living there by then wanted nothing to do with the "haunting", which they said was utter nonsense." Added Garton.
That is still that attitude today with the current residents and the neighbors. They find the story about the haunting is ridiculous.
A neighbor also said that there was never a priest that performed an exorcism and said to call the archdiocese and they can confirm that.
Before you go thinking that this article is going to be one sided, your wrong. It’s time to bring in Lorraine Warren, a women who is a clairvoyant and a light trance medium who had worked with her husband Ed Warren, who is deceased, in investigating paranormal activity.
The Warrens founded the New England Society for Psychic Research in 1952 and also opened up an Occult Museum. They are well known for their work as the investigators on the Amityville horror case and also about 10,000 other investigations, including the house in Southington.
"I know the experiences at the Southington home were real," said Lorraine. She also stated that the upcoming film "The Haunting in Connecticut" is too glamorized for her taste.
Lorraine and Ed Warren were brought in to investigate when the haunting hit a height.
"They were holding rosary beads in their hands, and the beads were falling apart in their hands and falling on the floor," Warren said.
The warrens investigated the house and called in a priest and the archbishop of Hartford had authorized a late-night exorcism.
Now this brings me back to the neighbor, maybe they didn’t see the priest go into the house because it was happening at an odd hour of the night. Either way you look at this is just turns out to be controversial.
"The only source of controversy was the Snedeckers, because they just couldn’t keep their stories straight," Garton said. "I went to Ed Warren and told him the problem. He laughed. "They’re crazy!" he said. "Everybody who comes to us is crazy, otherwise why would they come to us? Just do the best you can. You write scary books, right? That’s why we hired you. Use whatever you can of their story, make the rest up, and make it scary." And that’s what I did. The book ‘In A Dark Place’ is a combination of elements of the family’s story and stuff I made up – because it was for-hire writing job, and that’s what I was told to do. If this family is saying they had "little involvement" in the book, then they are bald-faced liars," Garton added.
Now let’s talk about the son, Phillip, the haunting seemed to be starting with him. At the time Phillip was receiving treatment for his cancer at the University of Connecticut. Later he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and many believe that, that was the cause of him seeing stuff. They say this; because he said once he was medicated for his schizophrenia the bad things stopped.
"I never got to meet their allegedly ill son - I was only allowed to speak with him briefly on the phone. Although there was much talk of his illness, it was never verified for me, although he did have a drug problem," Garton said.
Lets look at the house now, the house was a funeral home and they did embalm bodies there. There is also a good chance that some of those spirits were still lingering inside the house when the Snedecker family moved in.
There was actually videotape that the Warrens had with paranormal activity taking place in the house.
"The warrens and Zaffis claimed they had videotape that clearly showed supernatural activity inside the house, and they told me numerous times that they would show me that videotape. Somehow, during our time together, they just couldn’t manage to find it," Garton said.
This kind of bothers me, because if you’re a paranormal investigator and you get something interesting on film and then you misplace it – that’s just seems a little fishy to me. If it was I and I caught something on tape, I would take that tape, make copies and then label them and put them in a safe place.
If they have found that tape they should make it available, because it would clear up some of the controversy surrounding this particular haunting.
With seeing the house from the outside I can’t really say if its haunted or not. I don’t want to call anyone liars, because without being able to investigate the house once again we’ll most likely never now for sure.
I’ve seen a lot of the work from the warrens and many of their cases seem legit. Yet, a lot of the stories concerning the Southington haunting don’t add up – there is also a lot of evidence pointing to this not actually being a real haunting or that something that might have been fabricated by the family.
Since this is a blog I’m going to give you exactly what I think happened. I think the boy (Phillip) really believes what had happened in the house due to his schizophrenia. I believe that he was seeing something and from that he manifested the haunting – so I don’t think it was spirits lingering from the days of the funeral home I believe everything that has to do with the haunting was human controlled. Everything that was reported from that families stories stems from their son and he is the real source of the haunting, not ghosts or demons but a boy that was suffering from an illness.
I’m not going to give out the address of this house on this story. If you want the address from me, you’ll have to get in contact with me through email. I suggest that if you really desire to see this house that you stay out of the people’s yard and respect their privacy. Please do not go to the door and ask about the haunting – the people living there now have not reported any paranormal activity and believe the haunting to be nothing more than a hoax.
I suggest that everyone just let this story die and bring his or her attention to other real haunted places here in Connecticut. Connecticut is considered to be the most haunted place in the United States and there are numerous places here that will make everyone scared and no I’m not talking about Green Lady Cemetery.
If you and your friends are interested in checking out some of these haunted places here in Connecticut and don’t know where to start, send me an email and I can give you some suggestions and directions to specific paranormal hotspots.
Photos Taken By: Brenda Drzewiecki

Monday, March 23, 2009

'The Beatles: Rock Band' Coming September 9th

Many people are eagerly awaiting Activision’s “Guitar Hero: Metallica,” yet, it isn’t the most anticipated music game of 2009. That honor goes to MTV’s “The Beatles: Rock Band.” That game is set to invade September 9 and the pricing for it is $60 for the software, $100 for standalone guitars and $250 for a “premium bundle.”
The package will include newly modeled instruments to match the style and look made famous by The Beatles. Don’t worry though, if you already own Rock Band instruments those will work with the game as well.
The game promises to take you on a journey through the legacy and evolution of the band’s legendary career.
Here are some quick facts that I was able to pull together:
- The game has been rumoured to include 45 master tracks, chosen from the Beatles albums recorded during their 1962-1969 tenure with EMI Records.
- The game will include Beatles tracks owned by Sony/ATV Music Publishing Company.
- The game allows players to perform in virtual bands by providing up to four players with the ability to play three different peripherals modeled after music instruments (a guitar peripheral for lead guitar and bass guitar gameplay, a drum peripheral, and a microphone for vocals). These peripherals are used to simulate the playing of rock music by hitting scrolling notes on-screen (The very basics of Rock Band, but I thought I would include it).

Darth Vader Battles Cancer

David Prowse, the man who portrayed Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, is battling prostate cancer.
This was revealed while he was being interviewed on U.K. radio.
“I’m undergoing treatment for prostate cancer, would you believe. I’m having my very last treatment this morning. I’ve had two months of radiotherapy at the Royal Marsden (in London); it’s the most fantastic hospital. I feel fantastic, no problems whatsoever.” Prowse said. “The only thins I’ve had is hot flushes. I’ve also lost some of my hair on my legs and the hair on my chest has all got very fine. But other than that I’ve had no after effects.” Prowse added.
Prowse acted in the Darth Vader suit while filming the movies and actor James Earl Jones added his voice work after the shoot during post-production.

Obama Pulls Big Numbers On Leno

With the appearance of President Obama on NBC’s tonight show, Jay Leno has received his highest ratings in years. Nielsen Research has released the numbers and the rating for that night was 11.2.
That is the best score that the NBC show has received in five years, those numbers only have shown when Leno held a special about Johnny Carson and when he interviewed the cast of Seinfeld after their finale in 1998.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

'Sopranos' Creator David Chase Returning to HBO

HBO is teaming up again with David Chase, once again, for a miniseries showing us Hollywood's history.
The miniseries will be titled "A Ribbon of Dreams," and will start in 1913. It will follow two characters as they become movie pioneers, then studio moguls. Real-life figures like John Wayne, Bette Davis and Billy Wilder will be part of the tale.
Chase will write and executive produce the project, his first for TV since "The Sopranos" ended its HBO run two years ago.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Reliving The Madness

March Madness tips off next week, and no matter who you are, you’re going to be filling out those brackets to try and win some cash, a gift card from work or to simply capture some all important bragging rights.
So, in honor of the NCAA Tournament, I put together some events in March Madness history that have become legendary.
Since this is Connecticut, I’ll start with one of the greatest upsets in NCAA history that involved our UConn Huskies. I know a lot of UConn fans want to forget about this, but we have to be honest with one another, it was an impressive game that deserves to be mentioned.
The game I’m talking about is when George Mason defeated UConn, 86-84, in 2006 which allowed the underdog to advance to the Final Four. Simply put, no one ever thought that 11th-seeded George Mason would take home the victory, but the team was that year’s Cinderella.
If you watched the game, and I know you probably did, I would bet you thought the Huskies had this game in the bag when the Patriots trailed by 12 points in the first half and later by nine in the second half.
The turning point was when George Mason hit six 3-pointers in a row in the second half and went on to create some March Madness history.Now that you’ve relived some not-so-pleasant memories, let’s move on to some more great March moments.In 2005, Arizona and Illinois locked up and the Illini found themselves in an early 15-point hole. Illinois was No. 1 for most of the season and everyone was surprised to see it down by double-digits to the Wildcats.Led by Luther Head, Illinois went on a 20-5 run and tied the game late on a 3-pointer. Illinois was then able to hold on and defeat Arizona 90-89 in overtime.
Now, since I made UConn fans relive a dark part of their history, I’ll lighten up your day with a great moment involving the Huskies.In 2004, UConn went up against heated rival Duke, and the Huskies trailed by 11. But in the second half, UConn was able to push forward and scored 45 points to erase the deficit and take home a dramatic 79-78 victroy. The key player that turned everything around for UConn was Emeka Okafor. He spent most of the first half on bench due to foul trouble, but when they brought him back in for the second half, he turned things around.
Okafor scored five points, grabbed three rebounds and completely shut down Duke’s offense during the final four minutes which turned a 75-67 deficit into a one-point victory.
The last trip down memory lane is arguably one of the best NCAA basketball games in history, and that was back in 1992 when Duke went to head-to-head with Kentucky.If you were too young to catch it live, check out ESPN Classic.
Everyone remembers “the shot” by Duke’s Christian Latettner that makes every sports highlight reel known to man.
His buzzer-beating, turnaround jumper gave Duke a 104-103 victory over the Wildcats.
Latettner made every shot he took that night and ended with 31 points, seven boards and three assists.
That shot made Latettner one of, if not the, best clutch performer in March Madness history.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Watchmen Earns $4.55 Million During Midnight Showings

Watchmen has earned $4.55 Million in 1,595 theaters during its midnight showings. Yet The Dark Knight still has it beat with $18 Million in its midnight sales.
Watchmen is the biggest release so far this year. It will open on 7,500 screens and be in 3,611 theaters that is including its 124 IMAX screens.
The biggest movie opening for the month of March is 300, which earned $28.1 million in its opening day and went on to gross $70.9 million for its opening weekend.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Halloween 2 Photos Hit the Web

Here are the photos of the new Halloween movie that will be directed by Rob Zombie and released on Aug. 28, 2009. I can't really say much about them, Michael Myers is sporting a really large beard though, hopefully he gets rid of it as the movie goes on. The picture of the farm house in the middle of nowhere looks like it could be cool if they include it in the story.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Scream 4 News

On Jan. 12, 2009, Bloody-Disgusting.com exclusively announced that Kevin Williamson will be returning to write the script for Scream 4 and the word on Wes Craven is that he still on the fence on whether or not to return to direct.
It has also been confirmed that the Wesinteins are defiantly moving forward on Scream 4 and are also trying to talk Wes Craven back to direct.
It is also said that this will be a younger version of the Scream movies and I guess they mean that they’ll be taking the story back to a high school environment. I’m all for that, but they need to also buckle down and get a good cast, because the original cast from Scream was great and really made the movie believable.
I also think that the movie can and will have a R rating, if it does have a PG-13 rating then we know we’re in for a movie that is going to suck and be like the Prom Night remake (note: no one watch that Prom Night remake it was awful).
I love the original Scream, it was on my 31 days of horror list and I consider it to be one of the greatest horror movies of all time, yet the sequels weren’t as good and I feel that might have been a little rushed. Now with Scream 4 I want them to take their time and really come up with an interesting story, one that can rival the original.
I know I've reported some of this before, but I'll continue to bring you updates on the project as they come in.
To read a little bit more about my thoughts on the original Scream, just click the link posted below.
http://jamesentertainmentedge.blogspot.com/2008/10/31-days-of-horror-scream.html

Monday, March 2, 2009

Friday the 13th Sequel in the Works

Jason Voorhees is making another trip to the big screen; sources have stated that New Line and Platinum Dunes are making a sequel to the recently released “Friday the 13th” reboot. They have also stated that Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, who are the ones who penned the reboot script, are working hard on the beginning stages of a new script.
People who are working closely on the project have said that it won’t be a sequel as much as it will be a follow-up, which I have some reservations about.
First, I think it might be a little difficult to get back Jared Padalecki and Amanda Righetti and those two actors are key to make a follow-up story to work. You might think what are they doing, well they’re rising stars and they are both on hit TV shows, Jared is on “Supernatural” and Amanda is on “The Mentalist” and I think they’ve already done the Friday thing and would want to try different things in their off times from their shows. I could be wrong though and they both might want to really do another Friday the 13th movie.
Now the box office has been kind to “Friday the 13th” it opened up first with a whopping $43.6 million and has grossed $60 in domestic and $18 Million in foreign putting its worldwide gross to $79 Million.
I’m looking forward to another Friday the 13th movie and you can read my review of Friday the 13th (2009) right here on this blog, just scroll down or hit the link under movie reviews.

Abrams To Bring Back Cloverfield

J.J. Abrams has stated that the team that was behind the hit “Cloverfield” is coming up with ideas for a sequel.
“We’re working on one right now,” said Abrams when asked about a Cloverfield sequel. “The Key obviously is with a sequel, certainly with this film, is that it had better not be a business decision. If you’re going to do something, it should be because you’re really inspired to do it. It doesn’t guarantee anything and it doesn’t mean that it’s going to work, but it mean you did what you did and not because you’re trying to make a buck. We have an idea for something that’s pretty cool that we’re playing with. It’s something that would be related to ‘Cloverfield’ and hopefully we’ll do something sooner than later, because the ideas are pretty sweet,” added Abrams.
The original film grossed an impressive $40 million in its opening weekend and it only had a budget of $25 million. It made $80 million in domestic gross and $90 million in foreign markets bringing its worldwide total to $170 million.
The movie focused on a monster attack on New York City and was shot documentary-style with a lot of TV actors. The film also had an impressive viral ad campaign that I think made the movie successful.
I am looking forward to seeing how they do another Cloverfield film; I’m just hoping it’s nothing like The Blair Witch Project sequel.
My thoughts are that they need to get rid of the documentary-style way of filming, because if they do use it in the sequel I think most people are going to feel tired of it and the other thing they need to make the story a little tighter. The first one left to many questions and I really want this one to answer all the questions we have from the first film and also make the sequel a more rounded story.
Abrams also stated that he will be producing the film and his longtime collaborators, Drew Goddard and Matt Reeves are serving as writer and director.