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Things to Do: Movies

Coming out this Friday is Daybreakers, in which most of the human race has been turned into vampires with the remaining humans sufficient to supply their blood needs for a matter of weeks only. With an all star cast that includes Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill, and Isabel Lucas, this film has the potential to be something special. Also this week, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus hits screens everywhere, ending its limited release run.

For a small but immediate chunk of Neil Gaiman goodness, go watch his new (short) movie Statuesque at Pink is the New Blog. It stars Bill Nighy and Amanda Palmer, runs about 8 minutes long, and does an amazing job of storytelling with no dialog.

2010 has some very interesting movies scheduled to make the theaters. Other films coming out in January include Legion, The Book of Eli, Tooth Fairy, and When in Rome. February has the sequel District 13: Ultimatum, as well as Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and The Wolfman.

It isn’t coming up until March of 2010, but one of the films I am looking forward to this year is Hot Tub Time Machine, starring John Cusack and Chevy Chase. Nothing profound on this one, just silly fun.

LLewTube, Amanda

No new film fests again this week, but if you haven’t seen it yet, let me point you to Bobby Llewellyn’s LlewTube web site. This site is where he keeps his Car Pool programs, a unique format in which he drives around with his guest and interviews them. He isn’t wearing the Kryten head gear, but his trademark humor shines through.

For those who haven’t seen Amanda Palmer’s Gaga, Palmer, Madonna, here it is… be sure to comment on YouTube, and join your voice to over a thousand others.

Red Dwarf Radio, Doctor Who Special

Starting tomorrow, Sunday December 6th, BBC7 will be running Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, the book by Grant Naylor (who is actually Rob Grant & Doug Naylor) that tells the story about how Dave Lister ended up as part of the crew of the Red Dwarf. If that wasn’t enough, the story is read by Arnold Rimmer himself – Chris Barrie. The segments are 30 minutes long, so it will take six of them to read the whole book. There are three more Red Dwarf books and I for one am sincerely hoping they decide to present them all.

There are only 3 David Tennant Doctor Who specials left, and BBC America will be playing The Water of Mars on Saturday December 19th. Yes, it is the Beginning of the End; and Children in Need had a taste to share…

Things to Do: Film Fests

From December 2nd to the 6th is the Sante Fe Film Festival with a number of interesting movies touring the festival circuit. The one that caught my attention at this one was Mythic Journeys, part animation, part documentary, and all story, starring Tim Curry, Mark Hamill and Lance Henriksen.

Running December 4th to the 17th is the 9th annual Anchorage International Film Festival, and with a tag line of Films worth freezing for you can bet there will be some good ones in the mix. They do have some we have seen at other festivals, like Zombies of Mass Destruction, and some new ones, like Homemade Vigilante, where his super-power is enthusiasm and his qualifications are his cape and comic book collection. Then there is the huge number of animations the have playing in blocks. In their assortment of film making workshops they even include an Animation Workshop 101 for people looking to create their own.