As we all know, this past week or two has been incredibly unfortunate with the passing of many beloved celebrities, including David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. As depressing as all of this loss was, at one point in the chaos that occurred on the day that Fawcett and Jackson were lost, there were also various reports that actor Jeff Goldblum had also died after falling off a cliff in New Zealand while filming. This news never really seemed legit and we later found out that it was in fact false — but it had actually gotten as far as foreign news programs reporting that police in New Zealand had confirmed it as true.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to bring a little laughter to us at a time where many are mourning, Stephen Colbert decided to report the sad demise of Jeff Goldblum on The Colbert Report while touching on the journalistic accuracy of Twitter. [...]

At this point, most of us are aware of Sacha Baron Cohen, the British actor who has portrayed a Kazakhstanian reporter in Borat; a gay Austrian fashion buff in this summer’s Brüno, and a French car racing star in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby — among many other things. What many of us are not so much aware of is that Sacha has a cousin named Ash, and he’s been here in America and working in movies for much longer than his superstar relative.

In the July issue of Esquire, they did a small story on Ash Baron Cohen, and while he hasn’t made the most well-known films we’ve ever heard of, his story is wonderful and decorated with the praises of cinematic legends. Some of the films he has made are: Bang, which Roger Ebert called one of the best movies of 1997; Pups, which had Mischa Barton and Burt Reynolds; and probably his biggest project was This Girl’s Life, which starred James Woods, Rosario Dawson, Michael Rapaport, and Ioan Gruffudd. He also currently has three movies on the way that are in various states of production.

Most of his projects were directed under the one-name format: Ash. This was because he was initially here illegally. Apparently Oliver Stone loved his movie Bang so much, that he said “We need to get you legal,” and actually wrote the INS to make it happen.

Click over to the other side for one of the best Hollywood stories I’ve ever heard — WITH video! Pre-click warning: this video has some heavy NSFW language from thespian Richard Harris (that’d be Professor Dumbledore from the first two Harry Potter films, for you younger generation folks). Now you’re too curious not to look, aren’t you? [...]

The in-progress story of film maker Duncan Jones is an impressive one. The director took $5 Million on his debut film, and turned it into one of the more popular movies of this summer, Moon. The movie — which stars Sam Rockwell as an astronaut on a three-year mission who ends up dealing with the pains of extended seclusion — is still slowly-but-surely expanding to more and more theaters, and hopefully by the end of its run, it will have made much more than it cost. Even though its box office success is still unknown, Jones is now moving on to his next project, which will be called Mute.

Not much is known of the movie yet, only that it will have many more actors than his previous one-man-show, it will be reminiscent to the classic Blade Runner, and also this brief description: “Mute is about a woman whose disappearance causes a mystery for her partner, a mute bartender. When she disappears, he has to go up against the city’s gangsters.” [...]

The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today is the Stargate SG-1 – The Complete Series Collection for only $131.99 (reduced 60% from $329.98).

This is a 54-disc set with all ten seasons of the scifi series, with four of those discs being hours’ worth of bonus features like commentaries, video diaries, behind-the-scenes footage, and much more [...]

By now you’ve all seen the wonderful trailers for Shane Acker‘s 9, the computer animated post-apocalyptic adventure about a band of 9 ragdolls and their fight to survive (Read: Check Out The Original Short Film & Trailer For ‘9’ Right Now). It’s dark and scary-yet strangely beautiful look immediately steals your eyes and won’t give them back until its done with you. Now from io9 comes some great new visual sustenance in the form of eight posters that feature the nine brave ragdolls! Just a note, two of the ragdolls are twins, and are featured in one poster, hence the nine dolls in eight posters deal.

Here is the movie’s official synopsis:

When 9 (Elijah Wood) first comes to life, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world. All humans are gone, and it is only by chance that he discovers a small community of others like him taking refuge from fearsome machines that roam the earth intent on their extinction. Despite being the neophyte of the group, 9 convinces the others that hiding will do them no good. They must take the offensive if they are to survive, and they must discover why the machines want to destroy them in the first place. As they’ll soon come to learn, the very future of civilization may depend on them. [...]

LOST
The Complete First Season, Blu-ray Edition
Starring: Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Dominic Monaghan, Terry O’Quinn
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Release date: June 16, 2009

Remember when the average Lost episode had a plot about finding drinkable water, shelter, and learning which survivors could hunt and which could help build shelter? Those were the days, the days before the average plot revolved around time traveling, ageless strangers, ancient Egyptian statues, and electromagnetic anomalies.

There’s nothing wrong with the new seasons of Lost, but even the most dedicated fans must admit the show’s plot has become increasingly complex over the years. The first season is possibly the only season Lost writers could refer to as “simple.” After all, this is a season where an entire episode is dedicated to looking for Sun’s (Yunjin Kim) missing wedding ring. Lost was the first TV series to be released on Blu-Ray, but they started with Season 3. So now they’ve gone back and released the first two seasons.

You would be hard pressed to find a better TV show to have in high definition than Lost, too. The beautiful Hawaiian backgrounds stand out more in the earlier seasons when the island’s natural scenery was still important. The picture quality is, not surprisingly, incredible at 1080p [...]

See here, mug. We pinched us some sweet kitty right off the set of one a’ dem moving pictures. We got a hat for your melon, a poster to pretty up that mess of a hidey hole, and some cloth covers for your getaway getup. Ya get me? We know what you’ve been upta… don’t think we can turn a blind eye to your goings on for much longer, so git before I sic one a my molls on ya.

One (1) winner will receive:

- One (1) Public Enemies Movie Poster
- One (1) Public Enemies Hat
- One (1) Public Enemies T-Shirt
- One (1) Public Enemies Long Sleeve Shirt

What do you have to do to get a chance to win? Glad you asked ’cause it’s really easy. Just make sure you’re a subscriber to our email digest, and then go ahead and fill out the handy dandy form below. Done.

Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, opens in theaters on July 1, 2009!

Good luck! [...]

For a decade now, Frank Darabont has been trying tirelessly to adapt the classic Ray Bradbury novel Fahrenheit 451 into a movie, with nothing but bad luck and fallen plans keeping the project in a deep hole. The closest it seemed to be to actually happening is when they were able to score Tom Hanks for the lead, but when he eventually exited the project, Fahrenheit disappeared from the radar for some time. Now comes word via Sci Fi Wire from the Saturn Awards that Darabont has a new actor in mind and that he’s determined — even in the face of death — to make this movie now.

Frank Darabont isn’t someone who makes movies in quick-succession, but when he does make them, they usually find high-praise. Most-notably, Darabont has written and directed the comparable Stephen King adaptations of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. He also wrote and directed the remake of The Mist, which was liked by many people, but not nearly at the level of his other King adaptations. [...]

Days after making the brave and surprising move to double the amount of Best picture nominees from 5 to 10 (Read: 2010 Academy Awards To Include Ten Best Picture Nominees), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science has also decided that if there’s not a song worthy enough of an Oscar, then no Oscar will be given for Best Original Song.

Basically, this new rule states that if a song does not receive a minimum average score of 8.25 during the nominations voting, then it will not be considered for nomination. If not one song is given this minimum average score, than the category will just not be presented at the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony. If only one song gets the 8.25 average score, then that song and the next highest-rated song to it will be the nominees; if only two songs are deemed worthy, then, again, there will be only two nominees. This is also new as the minimum number of nominees used was three prior to this.

This is the second consecutive change made to the Best Original Song category. [...]

The LA Times is reporting that world famous product endorser Billy Mays was found dead in his home this morning by his wife. He was 50 years old.

Famous for his loud, in-your-face delivery of information of such products as OxyClean, Orange Glo, and Mighty Putty, Mays was also more recently featured on the fantastic Discovery Channel show Pitchmen, which followed him and Anthony Sullivan as they pitted “made for TV” products against one another, picking the superior one to provide their services to.

The cause of death is unknown, but a full autopsy is expected [...]

Transformer: Revenge of the Fallen
Directed by Michael Bay
Starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel
Rated PG-13
Release Date: June 24, 2009

When Transformers came out in 2007 and was a huge hit, you had to have known that a sequel was waiting in the wings. While it was an entertaining movie, it was far from perfect, due to the fact that it had to set up a lot of the origin story. Now with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the sequel can hit the ground running, but does it deliver like its predecessor?

It has been two years since our main protagonist Sam (Shia LaBeouf) has encountered the Transformers and life has moved on. He is going to college and trying to maintain a long distant relationship with his girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox). He has all but put the Transformers behind him but unfortunately, the Decepticons have other ideas. Apparently remains of the All Spark, the cube that brought all electronic machines to life, are still on Earth and hold the key to giving the Decepticons the upper hand in the destruction of the Autobots. This puts Sam smack dab in the middle of the war between the Transformers once again.

Now, just so no one gets the wrong idea, if you have seen the first movie or have seen trailers of this movie, I am already assuming that you are not paying money to see Revolutionary Road. Revenge of the Fallen is about as big a popcorn flick as can be [...]

Kyle Ward, who wrote the script for the Kane & Lynch movie, and was just reported to be writing the sequel to Hitman, has now been given a third video game movie writing job: Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.

The popular Playstation 3 game from Sony Computer Entertainment is being developed into a movie by Columbia Pictures, with Marvel Studios founder Avi Arad and his brother Ari Arad‘s Arad Productions producing the movie. Also producing will be Charles Roven and Alex Gartner of Atlas Entertainment.

Drake’s Fortune tells the story of Nathan Drake, an adventurer and descendant of actual explorer Sir Francis Drake, who discovers a diary by his late ancestor that leads the way to the fabled city of gold: El Dorado. As usual, when trying to discover some of the universe’s greatest treasures, things don’t go so well; between rival seekers of the gold city and mutated descendants of Spaniards and Nazis trying to stop him, Nathan Drake is obviously in for a challenge and a kick-ass adventure. [...]

Squidbillies
Vol. 2 DVD
Created by Dave Willis and Jim Fortier
Written by Dave Willis
Turner Home Entertainment
Release date: April 21, 2009

So Adult Swim has come up with some odd cartoons in their time, but I think Squidbillies takes the cake. Squidbillies, created by Dave Willis (Aqua Teen Hunger Force) and Jim Fortier (Brak Show), follows the story of the Cuyler family, a clan of hillbilly squids that happen to live in a town in Georgia. The Culyers’ penchant for violence and racism are always getting them in trouble but their bacon is usually saved by the town sheriff, thanks to a previous federal law passed that makes them an endangered species.

If you are even a bit familiar with Willis and Fortier’s previous work, you should like this series. The episodes are short and concise, and always really have no continuity whatsoever. Characters from the cartoon are often shot, brunt to a crisp, and eaten in every episode, but show up unscathed later on, sometimes even in the same episode. The storylines are also outrageous and over the top. One of the episodes involves Grandma Cuyler getting into a botched tanning accident and rather than have plastic surgery, the Cuyler family kill various animals and sew the animal skins onto her. Though be warned: A lot of the comedy is broad, with jokes ending with the death or dismemberment of another character, and might not be for all viewers, even for yours truly who happens to like Aqua Teen and Brak [...]

Vampires. These bitey little rascals have always been popular sources of entertainment — a fact that remains strong today with multiple movies and TV shows. Some are immensely popular like HBO’s True Blood and foreign film Let the Right One In; others are maybe not so good — depending on who you are, of course — such as Twilight and 30 Days of Night.

Whether you adore these creatures of the night, or if they’re really not your thing, the fact of it all is that they’re just not going anywhere. And with that assessment, here’s presenting the trailer for a brand new vampire tale that is well on its way: Daybreakers.

Daybreakers looks pretty interesting. It has a creepy Dark City with a touch of Guillermo del Toro’s Blade II look to it and deals with the vampire race trying to discover a way to survive when it becomes apparent that the human race is endangered and blood is running out. The movie stars Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill, and Willem Dafoe. It is directed by Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig, who have also directed Undead. [...]

It has been multiple years now that we’ve been aware of James Cameron and his revolutionary juggernaut of a movie, Avatar. As these years have passed, we’ve seen concept and behind-the-scenes images, but still not too much beyond that. Recently though, a small crowd of special peoples had the Willy Wonka-like opportunity to see 24-minutes of footage from the movie at CinemaExpo in Amsterdam.

Among this disgustingly lucky group of people, a handful of them offered up a description of what they saw, and it’s one of those situations where the words are really difficult to put together, and even harder for someone like myself to even attempt to recycle and be useful to you. In this matter, /Film gathered up a collection of clips of these descriptions and put them in one spot — you can go there to read them all, and you can follow the links provided to go to each site and read the full descriptions. Of the many that offered up a description of what they saw, I’ve picked a couple of bits to include below.

We all knew that Avatar was setting up to be a really special event and something that we’ve never seen, but after reading these recaps, you can’t help but put this movie at the very top of your must-see list. [...]

We haven’t really heard of any news involving Hitman since the 2007 movie starring Timothy Olyphant as Agent 47 (Including news about the horrifically long-awaited 5th game in the franchise; let’s go Eidos and IO Interactive!). The first movie didn’t exactly fare too well at the box office and was worse-off when it came to critical review, but even so, it was expected that a sequel would eventually come along. Even with the lacking first run, the flick did do better than most would expect of a video game-based movie; that and the property is based on the ultra-popular game franchise, which can always lead to some success.

In what confirms that a script is at least going to be written before deciding the fate of said sequel, IESB has learned that writer Kyle Ward has been hired to pen the sequel. Ward is pretty much a newbie to the game, but he does have a couple of unseen projects in-production: the Kane & Lynch movie with Bruce Willis and a movie called Fiasco Heights that’s set to be made by Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes. Kane & Lynch is of course based on another video game property that is developed by the same group that makes the Hitman games, so all fits together nicely here. [...]

Weeds
Season 4
Created by Jenji Kohan
Starring Mary Louise Parker, Justin Kirk, Kevin Nealon, Elizabeth Perkins, Hunter Parrish, Alexander Gould
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Release Date: June 2, 2009

Last year at about this time, when I reviewed Season Three of Showtime’s Weeds for this very website, I complained about how the DVD case trotted out that it was made from 100% recycled materials. I wondered who they could possibly market that fact to. People who hadn’t seen the show who felt they HAD to buy it because, well, those seasons of Six Feet Under wouldn’t allow them to be better people by having ITS packaging made from recycled shit? People who like the show and were gonna buy it anyway, even if the packaging were made from poodle ass and baby seal hymen? The point eluded me then and it eludes me now. I’m not saying you can’t make your stuff out of other folks’ leftovers, but quit being a dick about it.

Sure enough, another year, another packaging issue. Not with the packaging itself, I don’t give a fuck about that anymore, and yet I am mystified by the pull-quote from The Miami Herald that they put on the back of the box:

“Smart… Smug… And habit-forming.”

“Smug?” That’s what you’re saying to pull folks in? They… They know what that word means, right? I’m not necessarily saying the show isn’t smug (as mentioned, the show actively markets that its DVD sets are recycled), but there’s some shit you just don’t share with the rest of the class [...]

In what has turned out to be one of the more depressing days in entertainment, the “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson, has died at the age of 50. The news came mere hours after the report that actress Farrah Fawcett had lost her long battle with cancer.

The Michael Jackson news was surreal, as while it was unfolding, many thought it was simply inaccurate news. When word first broke, it was said that Jackson was found in cardiac arrest and not breathing; this news quickly took a turn for the worst when rumors started flying out that he had passed away; this shock was followed up by suggestions that he was actually in a coma, and the reports began alternating, leaving everyone confused as to what was actually going on. Sadly, as time moved forward, this news — first reported by TMZ — was confirmed by the LA Times to be true.

Many have been worried about the health of Jackson for a while now, but with a hopeful three-year world tour set to kick off with 50 sold out shows in London, it appeared that the star was feeling well and prepped for an attempted comeback of epic proportions. [...]

Farrah Fawcett, the ’70s bombshell with glowing blonde hair, has passed away at a hospital in California after her long battle with cancer. She was 62 years old.

Fawcett’s three-year battle had been very public, keeping fans well up-to-date on her progress in this incredibly difficult fight. She even appeared in a TV documentary called Farrah’s Story, which gave us a close-up look at the actress’s terrible struggles, and her determination to find beat it and find a cure.

Farrah Fawcett first showed up in the late ’60s, appearing briefly on legendary TV shows like I Dream of Jeannie and The Partridge Family. She made many other appearances as well, but it wasn’t until 1976 when she broke out in a big way with her highly-recognized run as one the beloved Angels on Charlie’s Angels, as well as her turn in Logan’s Run. Surprisingly, she only appeared in 29 episodes of Charlie’s Angels which ran from 1976 to 1981, yet she is known all over the world for it. After Angels, she became every man’s dream girl — her poster was on almost every young boy’s wall. She moved on from the show to do a lot more drama work, and she was in well-known movies like The Cannonball Run and Dr. T and the Women. [...]

An extended preview of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ran on Sunday night during the premiere of the NBC miniseries Merlin.

Watch the clip here below.

The clip focuses on the dark elements of this sixth Harry Potter story, which sees the dark forces of the magical world crossover in our world, revealing themselves to “Muggles.” There’s also an emphasis on Harry himself as the “chosen one.” Those who know the story, know there’s a entire subplot on the light side, with all the romance amongst the teenagers of Hogwarts. There’s only a touch of that in this preview, which contains new footage from the film [...]