Month: March 2010

Love Spaced? Hate Spaced!

4 March 2010 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

If you cast your mind back a long way, you’ll recall that film director and TV producer McG (in the negative column: Charlie’s Angels, Charlie’s Angels 2, Fast Lane et al; in the plus column: Supernatural, erm) wanted to remake Channel 4’s Spaced for Fox TV in the US. He didn’t ask any of the original cast – Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes, Mark Heap – or director Edgar Wright; in fact, the first they heard about it was on the Internet. Needless to say, they weren’t best pleased.

The US remake of Spaced didn’t get anywhere. Now a four-minute chunk of the pilot has emerged and you can see why.

[via]

Thursday’s “how I met your smurfs” news

4 March 2010 Rob Buckley Post a comment

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Music

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A Saturday Night Live Presidential Reunion: Jim Carrey, Dan Ackroyd, Will Ferrell, Chevy Chase and Dana Cavey together at last

3 March 2010 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Blimey, how many generations of Saturday Night Live stars can you get into one, not-especially funny political video? At least three – or is it four? – since here we have Chevy Chase, Dan Ackroyd, Jim Carrey, Dana Carvey and Will Ferrell recreating their famous SNL impressions of Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr and Bush Jr respectively (what no Bill Clinton?).

It’s all to raise awareness of Consumer Financial Protection Agency, and is directed by Ron Howard, so don’t expect big yucks. But Jim Carrey certainly still has what it takes, as does Chevy Chase. After the jump, you can watch a “making of” video and an extended scene with Dana Carvey.

Continue reading “A Saturday Night Live Presidential Reunion: Jim Carrey, Dan Ackroyd, Will Ferrell, Chevy Chase and Dana Cavey together at last”

What Spartacus reminds me of: Peter Brook’s The Mahabharata

3 March 2010 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

So, I’ve been catching up with Spartacus: Blood and Sand again after temporarily abandoning it after episode three. It’s not changed a huge amount, although surprisingly, not only have they finally introduced a couple of gay characters who get up to things in as much explicit detail as the m-f and f-f pairings, they’ve actually started moving away from female nudity in favour of mostly male nudity. Would you Adam and Eve it? It’s also got a little bit more interesting, and a little bit more intelligent, even if the swearing is still as pervasive as ever.

But while watching it, I finally realised what the shooting style reminded me of: Peter Brook’s adaptation of ‘The Mahabharata’. Shown on Channel 4 in 1989, this was a six-hour mini-series version of his nine-hour stage play and focused on the epic battle between the Pandavas (representing the good side) and the Kauravas (representing the bad side) depicted in the Hindu epic poem.

See if you agree: here’s a trailer for Spartacus: Blood and Sand – ignore the fight scenes, since they belong to a completely different aesthetic

…and here’s a few clips from The Mahabharata. You can get it on DVD from Amazon, by the way.

Today's Joanna Page

Today’s Joanna Page: Tweeting

3 March 2010 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Joanna Page in FHM

It’s been a long time since the last Today’s Joanna Page. What’s she been up to? When she’s next going to be on tele, I hear you ask?

Well, obviously I don’t hear you ask, because that would be sure sign of insanity. Although…  

Anyway, you could ask her yourself since she’s now on Twitter. But after doing panto over Christmas…

…she filmed an episode of Marple with Sir Donald Sinden. Haven’t yet watched Marple so this one’ll be a first. Apparently, she laughed a little too much on the last day of filming when the body turned up.

She’s also been on a tribute show for Welsh actress Margaret John, is about to start filming a pet show for Sky 1 with TV vet Marc Jacobs, and has kissed some Dunhill shirt collars to raise money for prostate cancer research. And she’s probably judging Nokia’s X6 competition to find a new entertainment reporter at this very moment.

But spare a thought for her poor hubby, James Thornton, who ended up in hospital over Valentine’s Day weekend after being hit by a car. He’s on the mend now, thankfully, which means he’ll likely end up doing yet another Ready, Steady, Cook with her – they’ve done two so far.