Level Orange

Reports are in that ABC has cancelled Life on Mars after only one season. However, in a bit of an unprecedented move, the network will let the show wrap up and bring its main storyline–how detective Sam Tyler found himself transported back in time to 1973–to a fitting conclusion. Apparently ABC was pleased the show’s creative spin, but couldn’t continue to back its falling ratings, so perhaps allowing a series finale is a move to reward those viewers that stuck with the show.

Frankly, I’m surprised that more viewers didn’t get into Life on Mars. While it’s yet another British remake and was hampered by a complete revamp before even airing (including reshoots and recasting), I thought there was enough great writing and performances to keep viewers engaged. And while the show revolves around a central mystery, it never went so far into LOST territory that new viewers couldn’t check in and still enjoy it. Maybe that was a mistake on ABC’s part. After all, the show had excellent production quality (and exceptional music selections), but it was nothing like LOST, and perhaps aligning the two shows worked against Life on Mars. Either way, I thought it was a great run and will be happy to see things wrap up.

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Nominations for Best Picture include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire. Despite campaigns to land nominations, The Dark Knight and WALL•E were shut out, although WALL•E seems to be a shoo-in for Best Animated Feature. Also of note, Heath Ledger nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role of the Joker in The Dark Knight. Also also, Tropic Thunder’s Robert Downey Jr./Kirk Lazarus nabbed a nom too.

Personally, this will mark the first year that I haven’t seen a single one of the nominees for Best Picture. I’m not exactly in a hurry to see any of them, although I’ll probably catch Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon and Slumdog Millionaire on DVD someday. However, I’m excited to see Ledger, undoubtedly the best part of the year’s biggest film, receive some even-higher-profile recognition for his performance. 

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Erika Olsen from Redbox’s Redblog shares photos from her trips around the world to find and document locations from movies like Jurassic Park, Godzilla, Master and Commander and The Lord of the Rings. There’s also the bonus photos from the set of LOST. Fun stuff!

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Every year, the US Library of Congress selects films of importance for its National Film Registry film preservation project. This year, classic films like The Asphalt Jungle, In Cold Blood, Deliverance, Sergeant York, and others from the early 20th century were added to the list, guaranteeing their physical preservation and a place in national history as significant contributions to our national culture. 

Perhaps the most intriguing of the selections, was James Cameron’s The Terminator from 1984. It’s the only film of this year’s selections that still has an active following, including a third sequel due next year and a great (albeit-struggling) TV series airing on broadcast TV. While most sci-fi fans would easily consider the low-budget, visionary flick a classic, it says a lot that the federal government considers it a national treasure worth preserving for all time. I mean, that’s, like, forever.

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Today Disney announced a new high-profile promotion for their Blu-ray titles, marking a big end of year push for new adopters of the high-def format. The price-dropping promotion, which lasts from December 26, 2008 until January 10, 2009, includes some of the studio’s biggest hits like Cars, The Chronicles of Narnia series, the Pirates Of The Caribbean series, Ratatouille, Sleeping Beauty: Platinum Edition, The Nightmare Before Christmas: Special Edition and Wall·E.

I know I’ll be looking for some of these, especially The Nightmare Before Christmas and Wall·E, which have apparently been deemed to of the best Blu-ray releases of 2008.

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According to Variety, Relativity Media is working to get its hands on rights to The Crow license, with plans to bring self-exiled director Stephen Norrington (Blade, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) to reboot the franchise.

Boo that that shit, I say. While I can understand that the death of Brandon Lee was tragic and unfortunate, I honestly think it made The Crow stronger and far more poignant, to the point where I don’t see why anyone would ever want to remake the film. Sure, Lee wasn’t exactly a star like The Dark Knight’s Heath Ledger, but just like with Ledger, there’s something to be said for leaving a man’s legacy–the one truly excellent film he made in his career–intact. Don’t let his death be in vain, Hollywood.  How about just putting together another sequel, but this time like you give a damn?

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Can you imagine the magical fields of sweet mystery that must be Michael Jackson’s mind these days? Just when you thought you could identify a celebrity kid toucher, he goes and turns all Hamburglar on us. Beware kids, danger lurks out there. And it brings with it a phat Barney mixtape.

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For years, anyone who wanted solid recommendations on movies usually took the question up with a local video store clerk. I should know. I used to be one.  When you’re around so many movies and hear so many customers’ feedback, it’s easy to know what people really look for in their purchases. These days, as people buy and watch movies online, it becomes a one-way street, making it sometimes difficult to get a real human-based recommendation on what else is out there.

Created by Reel.com founder Stuart Skorman, Clerk Dogs is looking to fit that bill and do it with an unprecedented amount of human input, including hand-picked recommendations by thousands of video store clerks themselves. Even the site’s Mash It tool relies on real connections as suggested by people, not some collaborative, taxonomy-based algorithm. Check out this video of how the service works or just give it a spin and see what you think.

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As someone who’s played video games regularly for years, watching this video by photographer Robbie Cooper of young gamers and the emotion on their faces is both amusing and interesting.

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“Caprica” will star Eric Stoltz, Esai Morales, Paula Malcomson and Polly Walker, and will be set 50 years prior to “Galactica’s” seminal attack on human civilization by those dreaded ‘droids the Cylons. Family-drama-themed series will focus on the Earthlike planet of Caprica as two rival families deal with, among other topical issues, the broader implications of their society’s emerging artificial intelligence technology sector.

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