Father Geek here with ol' Latauro (catatonic with grief over the passing of the BUFFY franchise) with our regular weekly report from that world downunder. Its a little skimpy this week, but Latauro's PC monitor
simply reminded him too much of ye olde telly, and thus his true love Buffy, to put in the hundreds of hours before it that this column normally requires. However, he did dig up a great bit of welcome news that "HAMMER FILMS Has Risen From The Grave"...
I do not wear the cheese. The cheese wears me.
AICN-DOWNUNDER
It was only a few hours before it aired that it sunk in: there would be no more “Buffy” after this episode. Sure, there were a few episodes from Seasons One and Four I hadn’t seen, and there’s the new X-Box game, and I’m sure there’ll be many guest spots on “Angel”... but it was, effectively, all over.
Like many, there’s no artform that exclusively holds my attention. Books, music, films... generally, if you’re mad about one you’re mad about another. But film was always my thing. There was something about being able to engage two senses at once that just got me. Television was a nice diversion, but films were the way to go. There was so much more you could do with them.
Then I got into “Buffy”. Episodes like “Hush” and “The Zeppo” and “Graduation Day” pulled me in and showed me that TV could be layered. It wasn’t cinema’s poorer cousin, it was just a different medium. Television is where character arcs are truly formed. If you want to see a developing character arc in a movie, you have to wait until the cast can be re-signed for the sequel; on television, you just wait a week.
But the one moment that truly turned me was at the end of Season Four. Buffy and the Scoobs had defeated the bad guy, won the day... and yet there was one episode left. Where could they go from here? Joss Whedon wrote/directed “Restless”, in which the spell they cast to defeat the Big Bad came back to haunt them in their dreams. Four characters, four acts, four dreams. It was so sublimely perfect, such an eerily brilliant representation of dreams, that I listed it as one of my five favourite films that year.
Which, I suppose, is doing it a disservice. I mean, I just said that television is a different medium to film, not a worse one. So “Restless” was so good it was elevated to film status? Well, yes. But no. I’m not sure. I’m in no mood to debate semantics, but you get my point.
So, thank you Joss, thank you Mutant Enemy, for completely transforming my opinion of the medium that is the most influential social platform of all time. And for God’s sake, make another show.
NEWS
I do not wear the cheese. The cheese wears me.
AICN-DOWNUNDER
It was only a few hours before it aired that it sunk in: there would be no more “Buffy” after this episode. Sure, there were a few episodes from Seasons One and Four I hadn’t seen, and there’s the new X-Box game, and I’m sure there’ll be many guest spots on “Angel”... but it was, effectively, all over.
Like many, there’s no artform that exclusively holds my attention. Books, music, films... generally, if you’re mad about one you’re mad about another. But film was always my thing. There was something about being able to engage two senses at once that just got me. Television was a nice diversion, but films were the way to go. There was so much more you could do with them.
Then I got into “Buffy”. Episodes like “Hush” and “The Zeppo” and “Graduation Day” pulled me in and showed me that TV could be layered. It wasn’t cinema’s poorer cousin, it was just a different medium. Television is where character arcs are truly formed. If you want to see a developing character arc in a movie, you have to wait until the cast can be re-signed for the sequel; on television, you just wait a week.
But the one moment that truly turned me was at the end of Season Four. Buffy and the Scoobs had defeated the bad guy, won the day... and yet there was one episode left. Where could they go from here? Joss Whedon wrote/directed “Restless”, in which the spell they cast to defeat the Big Bad came back to haunt them in their dreams. Four characters, four acts, four dreams. It was so sublimely perfect, such an eerily brilliant representation of dreams, that I listed it as one of my five favourite films that year.
Which, I suppose, is doing it a disservice. I mean, I just said that television is a different medium to film, not a worse one. So “Restless” was so good it was elevated to film status? Well, yes. But no. I’m not sure. I’m in no mood to debate semantics, but you get my point.
So, thank you Joss, thank you Mutant Enemy, for completely transforming my opinion of the medium that is the most influential social platform of all time. And for God’s sake, make another show.
NEWS
It was only a few hours before it aired that it sunk in: there would be no more “Buffy” after this episode. Sure, there were a few episodes from Seasons One and Four I hadn’t seen, and there’s the new X-Box game, and I’m sure there’ll be many guest spots on “Angel”... but it was, effectively, all over.
Like many, there’s no artform that exclusively holds my attention. Books, music, films... generally, if you’re mad about one you’re mad about another. But film was always my thing. There was something about being able to engage two senses at once that just got me. Television was a nice diversion, but films were the way to go. There was so much more you could do with them.
Then I got into “Buffy”. Episodes like “Hush” and “The Zeppo” and “Graduation Day” pulled me in and showed me that TV could be layered. It wasn’t cinema’s poorer cousin, it was just a different medium. Television is where character arcs are truly formed. If you want to see a developing character arc in a movie, you have to wait until the cast can be re-signed for the sequel; on television, you just wait a week.
But the one moment that truly turned me was at the end of Season Four. Buffy and the Scoobs had defeated the bad guy, won the day... and yet there was one episode left. Where could they go from here? Joss Whedon wrote/directed “Restless”, in which the spell they cast to defeat the Big Bad came back to haunt them in their dreams. Four characters, four acts, four dreams. It was so sublimely perfect, such an eerily brilliant representation of dreams, that I listed it as one of my five favourite films that year.
Which, I suppose, is doing it a disservice. I mean, I just said that television is a different medium to film, not a worse one. So “Restless” was so good it was elevated to film status? Well, yes. But no. I’m not sure. I’m in no mood to debate semantics, but you get my point.
So, thank you Joss, thank you Mutant Enemy, for completely transforming my opinion of the medium that is the most influential social platform of all time. And for God’s sake, make another show.
NEWS
Then I got into “Buffy”. Episodes like “Hush” and “The Zeppo” and “Graduation Day” pulled me in and showed me that TV could be layered. It wasn’t cinema’s poorer cousin, it was just a different medium. Television is where character arcs are truly formed. If you want to see a developing character arc in a movie, you have to wait until the cast can be re-signed for the sequel; on television, you just wait a week.
But the one moment that truly turned me was at the end of Season Four. Buffy and the Scoobs had defeated the bad guy, won the day... and yet there was one episode left. Where could they go from here? Joss Whedon wrote/directed “Restless”, in which the spell they cast to defeat the Big Bad came back to haunt them in their dreams. Four characters, four acts, four dreams. It was so sublimely perfect, such an eerily brilliant representation of dreams, that I listed it as one of my five favourite films that year.
Which, I suppose, is doing it a disservice. I mean, I just said that television is a different medium to film, not a worse one. So “Restless” was so good it was elevated to film status? Well, yes. But no. I’m not sure. I’m in no mood to debate semantics, but you get my point.
So, thank you Joss, thank you Mutant Enemy, for completely transforming my opinion of the medium that is the most influential social platform of all time. And for God’s sake, make another show.
NEWS
Which, I suppose, is doing it a disservice. I mean, I just said that television is a different medium to film, not a worse one. So “Restless” was so good it was elevated to film status? Well, yes. But no. I’m not sure. I’m in no mood to debate semantics, but you get my point.
So, thank you Joss, thank you Mutant Enemy, for completely transforming my opinion of the medium that is the most influential social platform of all time. And for God’s sake, make another show.
NEWS
NEWS
The Incredible Kitster has alerted AICN-D to something that transcends cool. Hammer Horror are going to shoot their first film in over thirty years... in Australia. Announced at the Australian International Movie Convention, the Queensland-based Pictures In Paradise will co-produce the films, which they hope will have long lives on DVD. Given that Christopher Lee has no problem coming down to Australia or New Zealand for movies that make film geeks go ga-ga, it could be a strong possibility, no?
MORE on this in future reports right here...
AWARDS AND FESTIVALS
FLICKERFEST 2004
Entries are now open for the 13th annual short film competition. The event, held at Bondi Beach from January 3-11, is eager for your input, so get cracking.
BOX OFFICE
One film that’s Australia, and two that aren’t sequels. Pie Guy takes top spot, whilst the Running Man drops to second.
The BO Winners this week are...
- 1. AMERICAN PIE: THE WEDDING
- 2. TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES
- 3. IDENTITY
- 4. CHARLIE’S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE
- 5. BAD EGGS
RELEASED THIS WEEK
Lucy Lui goes Cubist, Ewan McGregor goes Rock Hudson, Samantha Morton goes Bridget Jones, Jason Patric goes narcoleptic, Dennis Hopper goes rat pack, and Vince Colosimo goes fried.
And the NEW Flicks are...
- CYPHER
- DOWN WITH LOVE
- MORVEN CALLAR
- NARC
- THE NIGHT WE CALLED IT A DAY
- TAKE AWAY
NEXT WEEK
- Nicholas Brendan will have a five-episode guest arc on the final season of “Friends” as Chandler’s long-lost brother
- Anthony Stewart Head will star in a big-screen adaptation of the coffee ads that made him famous (his character is now an incompetent spy)
- Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alison Hannigan, James Marsters and Marc Blucas lobby to star in teen-angst adaptation of THE FANTASTIC FOUR
