The alleged benefits to the entertainment industry of 3D's latest incarnation are many, if they pan out: 3D supposedly justifies higher ticket prices, 3D projection foils pirates, 3D supposedly turns moviegoing at movie houses into an "event" again. On paper, it's a veritable Manhattan Project solution to all of showbiz's woes. The only people who stand to lose are audiences, who will be forced to dig even deeper into their wallets to shell out more for the up-to-this-point dubious advantage of seeing things float around just in front of the screen.

And there is no guarantee all this will work out. After all the hype, audiences might just decide that the cost of moviegoing has hit a tipping point and they are better off staying home or taking their kids to get messed up on malt liquor in a convenience store parking lot for a fraction the pricetag. If things go that way, a lot of people in Hollywood are going to have a lot of explaining to do.

But this isn't the first time we've been through this. From the dawn of cinema, audiences have had cockamamie inventions foisted on them that were supposed to keep their dollars in the theaters. Some have been wildly successful, most have been disasters. Here's a look back at some of the greats:

Invention: Narrative Film
First Introduced In: 1890's
Alleged Advantage: Instead of just showing pictures of horses running down a track, for instance, films sought to tell a story.
Biggest Drawback: Film pioneers failed to anticipate that by the 1980's, narrative would become obsolete, and viewed as a tactic of artistic imperialism, to be replaced by oblique forms which allow viewers to create their own meanings and rely on indirect referencing to achieve a mise en scene rather than actually telling a story.
Outcome: Had its moment but ultimately doomed by the forces of hipster cinema and post-modern criticism.

Invention: Sound
Introduced In: The Jazz Singer, 1927
Alleged Advantage: Audiences got to hear Jolson singing "Swanee" while they watched him gesticulating in blackface.
Biggest Drawback: Once we let actors start talking, Lindsay Lohan twittering was only a few steps away.
Outcome: Pray as you might for someone to tell them to put a cork in it, talkies are here to stay.

Invention: 3D 1.0
Introduced In: Made its first breakthrough in the 1950's with films such as Vincent Price's House of Wax.
Alleged Advantage: Extra scary to think the monsters were actually in the room with you.
Biggest Drawback: Once audiences realized, ten movies later, that the monsters weren't actually in the room, the massive headaches brought on by 3D glasses no longer seemed worth the price.
Outcome: The fire died out but a tiny ember remained smoldering and waiting...

Invention: The Tingler
First Introduced In: 1950's for the film The Tingler
Alleged Advantage: Devices placed in seats made audiences fell they were actually being felt up by the onscreen villain.
Biggest Drawback: Being felt up by a screen villain isn't necessarily what one wants in their moviegoing experience.
Outcome: Like most of the gimmicks brought to the movie house by schlock producer William Castle, The Tingler's moment was not to last.

Invention: Sensurround
First Introduced In: 1970's disaster films such as Earthquake.
Alleged Advantage: Massive sound effect would make seats and your bones shake with onscreen rumbling.
Biggest Drawback: No one really likes having their bones shake when they are not at a rock concert.
Outcome: Sensurround didn't make it but it's memory lives on in the vision of Michael Bay and the decades of annoyingly loud movies that have followed.

Invention: 3D 2.0
First Introduced In: The Stewardesses in 1970.
Alleged Advantage: A new processing innovation reinvigorated 3D for the zany 1970's. The number "3" was especially advantageous to filmmakers in underscoring the specialness of the third installments of franchises as it was thus used in Jaws 3D, Amityville 3D and Friday the 13th, Part 3D.
Biggest Drawback: Despite the "D" audiences were still stuck watching a third Amityville Horror film.
Outcome: Again the flame died, but the fire was never extinguished.

Invention: Web Driven Production
First Introduced In: Snakes on a Plane, 2006
Alleged Advantage: Popular netsroots outcry spurred filmmakers to tailor the film, then in progress to the needs of their audiences, inserting extra nudity and swearing.
Biggest Drawback: Once fanboys on the internet are given any actual power, the collapse of modern civilization can not be far behind.
Outcome: After all their noise, the fanboys tired of their plaything before it made it to market. Snakes grossed a mere $34 million giving it the most off-kilter hype to grosses ratio in film history.

Eaten by a shark? Check. Deadly alien? Check. Killer Snowman? Check. Creature crawling out of the fridge to pull you in? You betcha! Gore-obsessed video intern Brad Clark scoured countless horror movies to find the most creatively campy, disgustingly delirious, and just plain shitty ways to die and condensed it to under a minute. Now you have your whole weekend to do productive things like make a costume or figure out how to put razor blades into apples. You're welcome.

The films these moments came from are:
Deep Blue Sea
Chopping Mall
Final Destination (A whole bunch of 'em)
Friday the 13th Part 8
Scanners
Deadly Friend
Dead Alive
Nightmare on Elm Street 5: Dream Child
Jack Frost
From Beyond
Ichi the Killer
Slither
Cube
Day of the Dead
Parasite
House of Wax

LA Times writer Mark Olsen says that Doris Wishman, who made the 1965 flick Bad Girls Go to Hell, was in many ways the forerunner of the feminist exploitation genre. The movie involves a woman being raped by her janitor while her husband is at work; she kills him with a bowl. But fearing the consequences of the murder, she flees the city and travels to New York, where she changes her name and has a tryst with a woman, then gets raped by some other guy, then eventually wakes up to find it has all been a dream. Then her husband leaves for work… And the janitor comes in and rapes her. Uplifting? Here's the trailer:





Then there's Terminal Island, directed by Stephanie Rothman. The movie revolves around a an island penal colony where the male and female prisoners fend for themselves without guards. But the subtext is all about power, sexism and social upheaval. Critic Dave Kehr claims the film can be seen as a "lurid exploitation subject turned into a crafty feminist allegory… It's difficult now to believe there was a time when such progressive politics could be expressed in a drive-in movie." This is not the original trailer, but a remix that might not be safe for work, view with caution: (And check out the trashtastic poster!)





"No She Didn't" will also look at Gator Bait, what's called a "hicksploitation" movie directed by Beverly Sebastian. Kathleen McHugh, director of the UCLA Center for the Study of Women says: "Even in the mid-'70s, the kind of proto-feminist element was being written about… you have these powerful, self-assertive, one might even use the term 'extremely aggressive' women who are wreaking vengeance against forces, people, men who are trying to keep them down." Gator Bait, looks, in a word, awesome:





Of course, all of these films are still part of a genre which is deemed "exploitation." So you'll find gratuitous nudity, violence and general sleaze. But the female filmmakers were following what was — at the time — a viable career path in Hollywood. Notes Olsen: "Where many male filmmakers who worked the same route moved on to more respectable projects and acclaim, their female counterparts largely faded into obscurity." Still, the women making these movies injected their point of view. McHugh points out: "A significant part of feminism was women taking charge of representations of sexuality. And you clearly see, albeit in an extreme and sort of trashy way, you do see it in these exploitation films." Paul Malcolm, who is the programmer of the UCLA series, puts it this way: "The films are really flat-out fun genre films, but there's something else at work."

Female-Exploitation Films Seen In New Light [LA Times]
Bad Girls Go To Hell [YouTube]
Gator Bait [YouTube]
Terminal Island [YouTube]

[Image via MovieGoods.com]

Hodgman, a sometimes Daily Show correspondent, author, and former literary agent, absolutely killed it last night at the 2009 Radio and TV Correspondents Dinner.

The entire thing is about fourteen minutes, all of which is priceless (and Hodgman, not a professional comedian, makes Wanda Sykes' performance of a few weeks ago look completely bush league). Watch and learn, future Obama funnypeople. This is how it's done.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

Nice work by Hodgman, who's clearly still in a little bit of shock himself.

"I cannot look at Matthew Fox… We cannot keep a straight face." Since the show is shot in Hawaii, outside of the L.A. "scene," Jorge says he thinks of Lost "a show that just me and my friends do out in the jungle." He also said sometimes the cast will be distracted by whales or seals when filming (he totally used the word pinniped!). Jorge is an avid gardener, and showed Bonnie pictures of his heirloom tomatoes and his "salad bar." In addition to having a green thumb, Jorge is also crafty; he loves making Halloween costumes and has been an oyster and a fish in a fishtank. Verdict: He is awesome. Clip above.

Obtained by TMZ and recorded, they say, for insurance purposes, it starts off with a bang—a threat launched at cinematographer Shane Hurlbut to "kick your fucking ass. I want you off the set you prick!"—and then continues for several solid minutes of shouted and profanity-laced invective, mockery, more pledges of physical violence, interspersed occasionally with Hurlbut's muted apologies and meek entreaties from the crew for the Dark Knight star to possibly cool down and stop threatening to injure them. (One response from Hurlbut in particular displeases him so much, you can literally hear Bale charging at him.)

We're trying to think of another example that even comes close, and failing. This makes the legendary David O. Russell/Lily Tomlin I Heart Huckabees flareups seem like yoga class, and generally makes us rethink the entire Momzo the Clown affair. The only silver lining we can come up with is that Bale wasn't nominated for an Oscar. The Academy is notoriously unsympathetic towards DP-beaters.

• Bale Went Ballistic [TMZ]

Future, Cupertino — After a long and fruitful tenure as CEO, Steve Jobs steps down in early 2009 to fanfare and industry fawning. Apple needs a new leader. It's time to choose your own adventure.

Much deliberation and coin tossing goes on in the back rooms of Apple. Their board of directors choose a person who they strongly believe can lead Apple into its next phase of growth, a person who can, at the very least, match Steve Jobs' product development whip cracking, if not his outsized public persona.

The board chooses...

• Jonathan Ive, Apple's Senior Vice President of Industrial Design. Turn to page 10.
• Phil Schiller, Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing. Turn to page 11.
• Tim Cook, Apple's Chief Operating Officer. Turn to page 12.
• Bill Gates, Super Rich Dude. Turn to page 13.
• Yourself, Super Poor Dude. Turn to page 14.

Choose Your Own Adventure is property of CYOA.com.

The famed director and producer, whose credits include Jaws, E.T.,, and Indiana Jones — is trying to get new financing for DreamWorks, the studio he cofounded in 1994 with music mogul David Geffen and ex-Disney exec Jeffrey Katzenberg. He hoped to take it independent again, raising $1.25 billion for a slate of 36 movies over the next five years.

But the worldwide financial crisis is making this a harrowing ordeal. Reliance Big Entertainment, an Indian company, had pledged $500 million in June — but only if DreamWorks could come up with another $750 million in loans. JPMorgan Chase, which had been raising the money, now thinks it might be able to come up with less than half that amount, next year, maybe.

DreamWorks is now living on dribs and drabs of money loaned here and there — including money from Spielberg's own pocket — and may end up being a much smaller studio, one of the many supplicant production houses that orbit around Hollywood's big names.

Spielberg and his partners sold the studio to Paramount in 2006, but the relationship was always uneasy, leading to the current split; Geffen and Katzenberg, who'd tended more to business matters, are now gone. Spielberg would rather have sold to Universal, on whose lot he kept an office; he'd been making movies for Universal since 1968. Or, had he known how hard money would be to come by, perhaps he would have made his peace with Paramount.

Instead, he's wandering the world, hat in hand, with no one to support him save DreamWorks CEO Stacey Snider. But she's more of a younger sibling, as lost as Spielberg without a bigger company's backing. Another Spielbergian theme: the absent parent.

She was there to plug her latest "I took lots of drugs and alcohol and married a gay dude" memoir, Enter Drinking. (Wait, that's not it. Up, No Olives? It'll come to us eventually.) Seriously—how did this seismic, evolutionary species reassignment come to pass, and do the universe's laws of equilibrium require that the slug-like crime lord now be cavorting by some Tatooinian resort pool in a bikini?

After the jump, Fisher talks about taking acid with Cary Grant or something.

• Today Show [NBC]

Add to the spacey sound track a truly silly marketing line of "space lights" known to the rest of the world as "under body neon," a classy lightning bolt logo below a yet even classier rear spoiler on the back, new leather interior and leather floors and you have a vehicle truly fit for Captain Kirk.

World Debut at the Essen Motor Show 2008

The Very First Tuned Electric Car Comes From BRABUS:
BRABUS Customization Program for the Tesla Roadster

The first tuned electric car comes from BRABUS: The first project of the future cooperation between Tesla Motors, Inc. and the new BRABUS business division Zero Emission celebrates its world debut at the 2008 Essen Motor Show. BRABUS (Brabus-Allee, D-46240 Bottrop, phone + 49 / (0) 2041 / 777-0, fax + 49 / (0) 2041 / 777 111, Internet www.brabus.com) presents an exclusive customization program for the Tesla Roadster, the world’s first electrically powered production sports car.

The new BRABUS logo with added lightning bolt is the trademark of BRABUS Zero Emission vehicles.

To give the sports car a more exciting sound the BRABUS electronics specialists have developed a ‘space sound generator.’ The occupants on-board the Tesla Roadsters can choose from several simulated engine sounds including that of a typical V8 combustion engine, a racecar engine and two futuristic soundscapes named ‘Beam’ and ‘Warp.’ The volume of the sound is dependent on the momentary power output of the electric motor.

A custom-tailored BRABUS tire/wheel combination further improves handling characteristics. The two-seater is refined with weight-optimized BRABUS Monoblock S light-alloy wheels in size 7Jx18 in front and in size 8.5Jx19 in back. BRABUS technology partner Pirelli provides the corresponding P Zero Nero high-performance tires in size 215/35 ZR 18 in front and in size 255/30 ZR 19 on the rear axle. These tires were developed to deliver minimum rolling resistance.

The two-seater also receives an even more striking exterior at BRABUS. The customization measures include a special high-quality ‘matte white’ paintjob. To give the mid-engine sports car an even more enticing face the BRABUS designers treat the front apron to a lightweight carbon-fiber front lip and daytime running lights integrated into the front grille. Matte-white surrounds for the headlamps add interesting detail to the overall effect.

The sides of the Tesla are upgraded with BRABUS entrance lights shaped like futuristic space lights. They are activated with the keyless fob or by pulling on a door handle. BRABUS carbon-fiber air inlets add even more sporty flair. Immediately apparent in the rear are the BRABUS rear wing and the BRABUS rear diffuser, both made from light yet extremely strong carbon fiber. The round taillights are accentuated further by matte-white applications.

The BRABUS customization program for the Tesla Roadster also includes exclusive interior options. The range of products starts with scuff plates with illuminated BRABUS logo. They are integrated into the top of the rocker panels.

The company-own BRABUS upholstery shop masterfully handcrafts exquisite custom interiors for the Tesla. The designers chose a combination of especially soft yet durable BRABUS perforated lightweight leather and Alcantara. The cockpit features white seams to reflect the exterior color. The vehicle floor is also upholstered with lightweight leather for added exclusivity.

The goal of the BRABUS customization concept for the Tesla Roadster is to define a potential limited edition as well as an individual tuning program for the Tesla driver.

For additional BRABUS information please visit our web site at www.brabus.com

[Source: BRABUS]

In Marc Forster's follow-up to Casino Royale (the new film picks up an hour after the first one ended), death is given no particular extravagance - from when you wake up, wherever you wake up, it's a straight line to the grave, and Bond leaves them where they die in his arms. The muscled bullet of a secret agent tracks the movements of the shadowy Quantum organization, with help and harm from his American friends along the way.

The Bond films routinely have high death counts, but few films in history rank with the frequency and impact of death in Quantum of Solace. More like a Bruce Lee movie than a Michael Bay one, other action films aren't like Quantum: they toy with death, characters threaten each other with it, and near-miss encounters rule the day. In this new world, people really die, and don't come back. Instead of making a joke out of an action film, this Bond turns other action films into jokes by comparison. There's barely a laugh line in the movie, characters rarely smile, and Bond only has sex once. Once!

The film's American contingent is led by the returning Jeffrey Wright, reprising the longtime Bond character of CIA agent Felix Leiter. American agents willingly consort with the film's enemy, Dominic Greene, played by Mathieu Amalric, but they're not all bad, and their motives in the film's conflict are largely unknown until the end.

Tellingly, Leiter gives all the evidence that Bond is his ally — yet he always wisely brings a cavalry of men to run off the harbinger of destruction. It's clear where the Quantum group stands, but whether the events of the film are exactly good or bad for the United States, we're purposefully never told. We just see SWAT teams move in and out of locations, looking for the weapon even they wouldn't know what to do with. Bond might serve the U.S.'s desires, he might not. And just try getting a straight explanation out of him.

Out of multiple shifting alliances and betrayals, Forster makes sense of how difficult that weapon is to control. Quantum of Solace surrounds Bonds with action so fast and furious, you can barely remember where in the world you were last. You're never in America, but the U.S. is with you the whole time, more shadowy and indistinct than any secret organization. If you just pay attention to the action, there's enough to cheer about as Bond commits murder after murder on his way to the truth. But when you look behind the veneer of violence, there's something very sad there indeed.

[CLICK IMAGE TO EXPAND]

• ! OMG, more naked Daniel Radcliffe !! [omgblog].

[Faith Popcorn]:We are going to be doing a lot of traveling on the Internet. Get me out of here — wheeee. And we’re going to be taking drugs with that travel.

WWD: Drugs, what do you mean?

F.P.: Facilitated travel. Like salvia, which is an herb. There are going to be induced or supported [Internet] trips. So we’re going to learn a lot from the Seventies.

Ha, yes. And here is exclusive video of Faith Popcorn at work:

[WWD]

First, let's take Wall-E. The indomitable Pixar robot has collected some of the most glowing reviews of the year and many of those critics then called it the best American film of 2008 — in fact, Wall Street Journal scribe Joe Morgenstern was already talking Wall-E up for Best Picture in July. Still, the film has several things working against it: it opened early enough in the year to have been forgotten, it made a ton of money but not as much as much as, say, Cars (thereby falling into an Oscar trap where the movie is too successful, but not so successful that it can't be ignored), and it's animated. "Younger-skewing" films like Beauty and the Beast and Babe have been nominated before, but almost offhandedly, and not in a while.

Then, there's the Bat. The Dark Knight has one big thing going for it: Heath Ledger's performance is a mortal lock for a Supporting Actor slot, which may help grease the wheels for the film to grab a Best Pic nom. Also, its box office total, second only to Oscar favorite Titanic, is so massive that The Dark Knight has remained the biggest story in the industry all year. Yes, it's still just a comic book movie (and one that had a minor Bat-lash), but what isn't in Hollywood these days?

Thus, in the race for Best Picture, we're going to give the edge to The Dark Knight. With previous contenders like Frost/Nixon and Changeling losing steam among the chattering class, The Dark Knight's chances are certainly improved, and it has the best precedent: The Fugitive, a well-reviewed action blockbuster that rode a buzzworthy supporting performance to Oscar glory. We're going to hold out hope in our hearts for Wall-E, but we fear it'll take something stronger than a laser blast from EVE to bust this robot out of the Best Animated Film ghetto.

• Studios Are Pushing Box Office Winners as Oscar Contenders [NYT]

• George Takei Calls William Shatner's YouTube Rant 'Silliness' [ET]

For example, few of you are probably old enough to remember 1970's The Paul Lynde Halloween Special, starring Uncle Arthur and a galaxy of stars—including Margaret Hamilton in full Wicked Witch of the West garb, Billie "Witchiepoo" Hayes...and KISS, for crying out loud! If that's not enough to make your inner-gay explode and ooze down your insides, we also found a clip from The Halloween That Almost Wasn't, the discoriffic 1979 TV movie starring Judd Hirsch as a Count Dracula hellbent on putting the bite back into the scariest holiday. As always, notable omissions are welcome in the comments...if you dare!!! Ah ah ah ah ah!!!

• Previously: The Top 8 Women Who Changed the Face of 'SNL' [Defamer]

But the cosmetics are still what makes this one-off car something special. Ford's turned this $80,000 Shelby into KITT thanks to a sweet-looking black-on-black paint job, the addition of 20" Shelby "Super Snake" wheels, 90% tinted windows all-around and of course, the Auto Indulgence 15" LED "Knight Rider" security scanner lightbar. Sure, it's all stuff you can buy off the rack — but when combined together, it makes this "King of the Road" look bad-ass.

But what's great about this customized Shelby is when the novelty of cruising around in KITT wears out, and you've turned the lightbar off, you remember you're still driving a Shelby GT500KR. That said, there's now even greater incentive to pull to a stop, shift into first and floor it. Because when you do, your world shrinks into a tunnel of motion with only a pinpoint of clarity ahead, wild-eyed narration provided by an unnatural banshee wail emanating from the supercharger. You watch, almost from outside of your body, as time dilates and you are no longer subject to the rules of physics. You feel as though this motor will pull the stars from their places in the heavens. And then the rev limiter brings it all back to reality.

A sideways grin spread across my face as my autonomic nervous system registers how close I just came to some form of fiery death. The manic rush, instead of acting like a deterrent, plays a powerful stimulant, and you do it again, and again, and again.

That's because the GT500KR is a much better car than its predecessor, the Mustang GT500. The GT500 is a mean and nasty car, operating at the limits of the chassis — it's twitchy, overpowered and hard to live with. Driving it always makes you feel like you're toeing the line of control, even when toting the groceries. To be perfectly honest, the notion of driving a GT500 with more horsepower was, at the outset, mildly terrifying. But the GT500KR is much more refined — the extra power is met with a much better suspension thanks to upgraded KR-only dampers, springs and shocks. All of it works together to provide a far more confident drive than the GT500. No more skipping across expansion joints at speed on a sweeping freeway corner, only planted, firm and predictable driving over the bumps and potholes of Michigan roads. But, then why the taken-to-the-limits feeling? It's because that added confidence is underscored with the notion that instead of being more controllable, the razors edge has just been raised to a new and more frightening level.

In spite of this knowledge, you smile like any man charming a Cobra; resigned to the danger, but addicted to the exhilaration of it. It doesn't matter if the car handles incredibly well for a solid axle design on a heavy car with monster mill, it doesn't matter if the interior has no upgrades over a standard 'Stang, it doesn't matter that the windows are tinted so dark you strain to see headlights in the night because none of that changes the mechanical the wail of obscenities the supercharger hurls at you as it takes over your world.

People point. They stare. The silent back and forth sweep of the red light draws the questions of curious passers-by. Camera phones are wielded, friends are called over and disbelief removed. But in the face of the crushing power of this car, the tight hold that childhood memories maintain over the aura of KITT shrink, and become insignificant as you pull runs — again, and again, and again. The show may be in need of some "Turbo Boost," but this GT500KR has all the boost we need.

Photo Credit: Alex C. Conley

I have to think Card's work also resonated with another demographic of kids who felt set apart from the crowd: Gay teenagers. Which makes Card's antigay screed, published in the Mormon Times, all the more hurtful. Card, a practicing Mormon, says he's against gay marriage. But he's really against gays, period — and thinks we should overturn the U.S. government to put his views into practice.

No matter how sexually attracted a man might be toward other men, or a woman toward other women, and no matter how close the bonds of affection and friendship might be within same-sex couples, there is no act of court or Congress that can make these relationships the same as the coupling between a man and a woman. This is a permanent fact of nature.

If Card really meant "the same as," I'd actually find that statement hard to disagree with; there are aspects of gay relationships which differ from straight ones. But what Card really means is that gay relationships are not as good as straight ones — and that's just hateful.

AfterElton.com, in an editorial, deftly shreds Card's argument to pieces. It mostly makes me feel sad to see such a brilliant imaginer of worlds incapable of empathy on such a basic issue.

So what does this mean for Ender's Game, which Marvel is now turning into a comic-book series, after which a big Hollywood movie seems inevitable? It is a surpassingly fine work. Though the hero is schooled for warfare, he ultimately learns empathy for those who are different. Perhaps Card should read it himself.