NEWS: Spike Lee's Jordan Documentary...

This is going to be a bit of a short post, but I think an interesting one all it's own.

Recently, on an episode of Outside The Lines: First Report on ESPN, Spike Lee was the focus, as his new film, Kobe Doin' Work (which premiered at Tribeca last week) will air this Saturday at 8 pm (without commercials). At the end of this 30 minute show, Lee was asked what an upcoming project of his will be released, and his comments were pretty interesting.

"I'm working on a documentary on the last season of Jordan's run with the Bulls. NBA Films has footage from the start of camp, going all the way to the end of the playoffs, and all of the time between. This isn't just game footage either. There is shots of Jordan and Phil Jackson smoking cigars on a train on their way to a game."

Along with Inside Man 2, the film is set to be released in 2010, and his production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks will produce, with financing coming from The NBA.

This project is beyond exciting for me. I love Jordan, as any and all basketball fans do, and Spike is a really great film maker. Also, him having access to EVERY SECOND of footage in the vault at NBA Films is what really intrigues me.

What about you?

Oh, and my review of Kobe Doin' Work will be up Saturday evening!

Go see something good!

TRAILER: The Road...

Late last year, there was rush of much anticipated films, getting massive delays.

The Soloist was delayed over a half a year, Star Trek got delayed 5 months, and the biggest delay, The Road, was pushed back an entire year. Well, the first trailer for that film has been released, and as Film School Rejects said on Twitter, it will catch up with you and kill you. It features Viggo Mortenson, and looks to be not only a completley compelling story, but also beyond stunning. It's got an epic size story, and the visuals look to be in that realm. Directed by John Hillcoat (which, if any of you have seen The Proposition, means great things), this trailer launches right near the top of my most anticipated films of this year, even higher than it already was.

Check out the trailer below!



A post-apocalyptic tale of a man (Viggo Mortensen) and his son trying to survive by any means possible.

The Road is directed by Australian filmmaker John Hillcoat, of To Have and to Hold and the western The Proposition previously. The screenplay was adapted by Joe Penhall (Enduring Love, The Undertaker) and is based on Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name. After delaying the film for more than a year, The Weinstein Company will now officially be bring The Road to theaters on October 16th later this year.

Go see something good!

NEWS: Depp To Be Sinatra?

Earlier this morning, it was announced that Martin Scorsese had agreed to direct a biopic based on the life of Frank Sinatra for Universal Studios.

Well, there is an interesting back and fourth between Scorsese and the studio, on who the two parties would like to be in the lead. Deadline Hollywood is reporting that, as one may be able to guess, Scorsese is wanting his new DeNiro, Leonardo DiCaprio, while the studio is pushing towards having Johnny Depp. For those of you wondering, the lead in this film will NOT have to sing, which was confirmed along with the Scorsese story, as Frank Sinatra Enterprises has agreed to the film, allowing for the master versions of the songs to be used.

I personally think that this is a win win. While I think DiCaprio may look a bit more like Sinatra, I think Depp has more of the charisma that made Sinatra, well, Sinatra. Both are top 5 Best Actors working today, and this is going to be an exciting back and forth to see who wins the battle.

The film is going to be penned by Phil Alden Robinson.

Go see something good!

TRAILER: Nine...

Today, there is not a single better actor working than Daniel Day-Lewis. Sure, he doesn't make 100 films a year, or act in huge blockbusters, but as a wise man said, it's quality, not quanity.

Lewis could have just made There Will Be Blood and be done, but add that to Last of The Mohicans, Ballad of Jack and Rose, Gangs of New York, In The Name of The Father, and My Beautiful Laundrette, you have one hell of a canon.

You can add the upcoming musical 9 to that list.

In a role originally filled by Javier Bardem, DDL will play famous film director Guido Conti, as he reaches a crisis, of epic scale. The film is directed by Rob Marshall, who also directed the Academy Award Winning Chicago, and looks great. It's got stunning, very contrast heavy cinematography from Dion Beebe, and the choregoraphy hints at some very large scale musical numbers. It's been a while since the last true classic musical, and this could fill that void.

The cast also includes Kate Hudson, Sophia Loren, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, and two of my favorite actresses, the sultry Penelope Cruz, and the always stunning, Marion Cotillard.

Check out the trailer below!



The Weinstein Co have released the first movie trailer for Nine. Rob Marshall, who directed Chicago - winner of six Academy Awards including Best Picture, returns to the big screen with another classic Broadway production. The musical tells the story of world famous film director Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) as he prepares his latest picture and balances the numerous women in his life including his wife (Marion Cotillard), a producer, a mistress (Penelope Cruz), a film star muse (Nicole Kidman), an American fashion journalist (Kate Hudson), the whore from his youth (Fergie), his confidant and costume designer (Judi Dench), and his deceased mother (Sophia Loren).

What do you think?

Go see something good!

PHOTOS: Inglourious Basterds, Up, and A New Toy Story Character?

Over the past 24 hours, new photos for a few of my most anticipated films have been released. Both Up and Inglourious Basterds photos have been released, and the Up ones may also have given us a glimpse at a new character for Pixar's much anticipated release, Toy Story 3.

First, here are the new Up photos, and they look GORGEOUS:




(5 more photos can be seen here)

Now, staying on Up, MTV has confirmed a rumor that has been floating around the web since the teaser trailer for the film was released.

Below is a photo of the newest member of the Toy Story crew, as shown as a special little easter egg (what's new, it IS Pixar after all) from the teaser for Up.



Awww, aint he so damn cute!

Here's the synopsis for what has been called the best film of the year, Up:

By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn't alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.

Pixar's Up is directed Pete Docter, one of the original Pixar members who directed Monsters, Inc previously and wrote the stories for Toy Story and Toy Story 2. The film is co-directed and written by Bob Peterson, who also wrote Finding Nemo. Disney will debut Up in theaters everywhere on May 29th this summer.

In other photo news, new pics from Quentin Tarantino's surefire hit, Inglourious Basterds have been released, and these shots look just as good as one should expect. Check out my favorite below, and click the link for more!



(See more here http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/05/13/check-these-out-great-new-inglourious-basterds-photos/)

I've said my peace about how brilliant this film is set to be, having read the script and seen a few videos from it, but for those of you under rocks, here's the films synopsis:

During World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "the Basterds" are chosen to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris that is targeted by soldiers.

Inglourious Basterds is both written and directed by the infamous Quentin Tarantino, of everything from Reservoir Dogs to Pulp Fiction to Kill Bill to Death Proof previously. The Weinstein Company and Universal have partnered to bring us Tarantino's WWII masterpiece in all of its brilliant glory. Inglourious Basterds will officially hit theaters worldwide on August 21st later this year after its world premiere at Cannes.

Come back later for more news and notes...

Go see something good!

NEWS: A Bit O' Casting...

There have been a few new casting notes dug up today, and both of which are quite interesting.

First, we have an Al Pacino sighting.

Of all of the books I've had to read for school since arriving at Grand Valley (an all of two) the one that I could see as least cinematic is getting a feature film adaptation.

Malcolm Gladwell's famous book, Blink, is set to get a cinematic version, penned by Traffic scribe, Stephen Gaghan. For those out of the know, Blink is a book about how we all think without truly thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant.

The interesting part, is that Al Pacino has been cast as one of the primary characters, the father of the story. The film will be about the relationship between an older man, and his 20-something son. The father, Pacino, is a financial advisor living in Connecticut, while the son, yet to be cast, is a drifter teaching at a New York based school.

Honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of the book, so this is not good news to me. However, I AM a fan of Gaghan, so while it's nothing I'm too excited for, I will be hunting down more information on this piece of news.

(THANKS TO RISKY BIZ)

On another note, Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz and Robert Pattinson will star together in a period drama called Unbound Captives. The first feature film directed by Madeleine Stowe, who also wrote the script, along with Brian Benben, her husband.

Weisz is set to play a woman whose husband is killed, and whose two children are kidnapped in 1859. Then, she is rescued by a frontiersman, enter the Jackman.

Oh, and Pattinson is the son.

Now, THIS project kind of has me excited. John Toll, the superb cinematography is set to make this film look stunning, the cast is great, the director is not proven, which always kind of entices me, and it's a period film.

What do YOU think?

Go see something good!

NEWS: Early Reviews Of The Road and Up Put You On Oscar Watch...

A couple of films that I know I'm looking forward to have screened for critics, and both came out just fine.

Today is the start of the Cannes Film Festival, which means it will be the premiere of Disney/Pixar's Up. However, the film has shown for select critics, and many have called this film the Best Film Of The Year.

Variety: “Depending on what you think of “Cars,” Pixar makes it either 9½ out of 10 or 10 for 10 with “Up,” a captivating odd-couple adventure that becomes funnier and more exciting as it flies along.” … “proves disarming in its deep reserves of narrative imagination and surprise, as well as its poignant thematic balance of dreams deferred and dreams fulfilled.”

Time: “Though it’s not yet summer, we can declare that Up, like WALL-E, will prove to be one of the most satisfying movie experiences of its year.” … “Extending the patented Pixar mix of humor and heart, Up is the studio’s most deeply emotional and affecting work.”

Roger Ebert, THR, Emanuel Levy, and Screendaily also have glowing reviews of the new Disney/Pixar film, Up.

Another film that recently screened, was the much troubled adaptation of the Cormack McArthy novel, The Road.

Esquire had a chance to see the film at a screening over the weekend, and had this to say about the film.

“The Road is no tease. It is a brilliantly directed adaptation of a beloved novel, a delicate and anachronistically loving look at the immodest and brutish end of us all. You want them to get there, you want them to get there, you want them to get there — and yet you do not want it, any of it, to end.”


“A story without guarantees. In every moment — even the last one — you’ll want to know what happens next, even if you can hardly stand to look.” … “You have to see it. Really. You do. Not because it’s grim, not because it’s depressing, or even scary. The Road is all of those things, both acutely and chronically. But there was not a single stupid choice made in turning this book into this movie. No wrongheaded lyric tribute to the novel. No moment engineered simply to make you jump.”

The Road stars Academy Award nominee Viggo Mortensen, Academy Award winners Robert Duvall and Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and 12-year-old Kodi Smit McPhee. The Road tells the story of a man (Mortensen) and his young son (Smit-McPhee) traveling through a desperate, post-apocalyptic world. The flap jacket on the book describes the setting as “burned America.”

Go see something good!

REVIEW: Fringe Season Finale...

So, it's over.

The finale for the new hit television series (and my personal favorite) Fringe just ended, and instead of being annoyed by people bitching in the news, I decided to write up my thoughts on this fun, if flawed ending to the season.

Early last week it was announced that Fringe would return for the fall, as FOX sent in an order for 22 episodes for a second season. Where would this finale take the show, and would it be a direction worth heading?

(For those of you who haven't seen the show, either WATCH IT, or head over to my series overview write up I did a few days ago)

The episode starts and we are thrust into the middle of the case. Nina Sharp has been attacked, and as she recovers, it is revealed that an energy cell has been stolen from her mechanical arm by Dr. David Jones.

As I wrote on Twitter, this energy cell is Fringe's version of a passport. This allows Jones to not only see an alternate reality, as when someone has a case of deja vu, but it ultimatley allows him to cross over into the said reality, which would allow him to finally confront William Bell, who he needs to prove his worth to, or so he says.

During all of this, Peter goes on the hunt for his father, who is taken by The Observer to a beach house where he gets a device that seals the portal open by Jones' device. The two meet Olivia who is on the trail of Jones, and they intercept him in the middle of opening his portal. They use the device found by Walter, which closes the portal, slicing Jones in half, leaving a half in both dimensions.

Owning up to a deal that she and Olivia made, Nina Sharp sets up a meeting. However, she bails, and Olivia leaves. Then, as she goes down the hotel on an elevator, she exits and is rushed into an office, where she meets William Bell. The final shot is a pan out of a widow of the office, where it becomes clear that she is in one of the World Trade Centers.

This episode was a bit of a mixed bag.

The real surprise of the finale was just how clean some of the things came together. Jones' process of selecting his spots to use the energy tube brought in the apparent use of the "Golden Ratio" within the commercial break interludes, as it looks as though it played into the dispersement of his experiments. Also, the use of the alternate reality idea was really well done.

The last shot is a great example of this, but there is another, more subtle shot that really got me wondering.

During the episode, Walter mentions to Peter that, while he was young he was extremely ill and dying, he would collect coins. However, he said he may not remember that, and of course, Peter doesn't. Then, during one of the last two shots of the show, we see a note in the office written for Peter. The note says that Walter is out and Peter shouldn't worry about him. Then there is a shot of Walter placing the coin on the grave of Peter, which can be seen with both a birth and a death date.

This, along with the idea of an alternate reality, which was of course thought of by Walter leaves me with one question. Is Peter the alternate reality version of his son? Knowing that there is a second season, I sure hope that this idea is minded a bit more, as not only the idea really interesting, but this could cause some great plot movements within the relationship between Peter and his father.

Also, the last shot is quite haunting. We start the last scene by simply seeing William Bell (Leonard Nimoy, of course) in the shadows. Dunham asks where she is and who he is, and he responds:

The answer to your first question is, it's complicated, and the answer to your second question, is, I'm William Bell."

Then the camera pans out to show us that Dunham is standing in one of the towers of the World Trade Center. The shot of her in the WTC would be haunting enough, but with the fact that the season is over, leaves me wanting more. And truely, that is what the best finales do.

However, there were a few flaws.

The main problem I had during this episode wasn't really anything that bothered me during the span of the show, but it was just one moment.

There is a monolouge given by Peter (Joshua Jackson), where he describes his childhood, in hopes of sparking memories in his father. While the idea is great and all, it was given with such a weird mix of cheesiness and sincerity, that it just didn't work for me. Whereas the rest of the series showed a great relationship between the father and son, this episode just really didn't work on that level. However, that didn't effect the impact of that last shot, which I talked about above.

All in all, this was a phenominal end to a phenominal show. It's a well acted, beautifully shot, and really well scored series, that delves into things that I have been craving since the loss of The X-Files. Sure, it may not hit every note, but for something this intellectually stimulating to be really entertaining, is something to stand up and cheer.

I'll be the one in the front with the megahorn.

Go see something good!

NEWS: Silent Hill 2 is Happening?

One of the best, if not the very best videogame to film adaptation is set to get a sequel.

Silent Hill is not only one of my favorite game franchises, but I think it may just be the best videogame to film adaptation every put to celuloid. It was both frightening and stunning to look at, and it really stayed true to what made the game so creepy. It was mood oriented more than a ton of jump scares, and the character of Pyramid Head may just be the creepiest looking monster I've seen in a while.

Well, accourding to Brett Easton Ellis, who recently wrote the critically destroyed film, The Informers, gave us a little insight when asked about his upcoming film, Glamorama, set to be helmed by Roger Avery.

Thanks to Bloodydigusting:

“He’s going to be shooting Silent Hill 2. As far as ‘Glamorama’, it’s just very hard to get the money to make it.”

Roger Avery is most famous for writing Pulp Fiction, Rules of Attraction, and Beowulf. He also wrote the first Silent Hill film, so he knows this material.

I really can't wait to see where they take this franchise for the next film.

What about you? Did you like the first Silent Hill movie? Are you a fan of the game? Do you want to see a sequel?

Go see something good!

NEWS: Preacher Update...

Since Watchmen has been released, there are a few comic book series/graphic novels that are at the top of everyone's must make list. The Dark Knight Returns (which is my number one pick and I am currently reading the book), Fearful Symmetry (as Kevin Smith pointed out on his appearence on the /Filmcast) which is the Spider-Man/Kraven storyline, and Runaways are three of the most talked about possibilities.

However, one of the series that I would be most interested in seeing on the big screen is the uber-controversial book series, Preacher:

“Here’s a book guaranteed to offend a bunch of people, not only because of its profuse profanity and graphic violence, but because it’s the epitome of iconoclasm. Like a brutal accident, you can’t watch but you can’t turn away. The story follows an ex-preacher man, Jesse, who has become disgusted with God’s abandoning of His responsibilities. So Jesse starts off into the wilds of Texas with his hitman girlfriend and new best friend (a vampire) to find God so that he can give Him a piece of his mind. Despite its superficial perversity, this book contains what may be the most moral character in mainstream comics. A cult hit in the making. Fans of Quentin Tarantino take note.”

Well, this film is about half way there.

Aparrently, American Beauty director, Sam Mendes gave MTV an update on the project which he is attatched to helm:

“There’s a long way to go yet, but I’m very, very hopeful. I think it could be amazing. The script is about half way written."

The premise sound insanely interesting, I love Sam Mendes (look out for Away We Go later this summer), and this comic book series easily can span several sequels, making it a very viable franchise. The subject matter will ofcourse spark some controversy, but I think with the group behind it, it can make a great film and franchise.

That said, the project has had more false starts that the Lion's Offensive Line.

The film was originally set for Kevin Smith and included a 25$ million budget and James Marsden as the lead, until that fell into HBO's hands for a television series (which I honestly think ALL comic book franchises would be better off going to, but that's another post). Then Robert Rodriguez got ahold of it for it's pilot, and after that again fell out of the hands of him, it landed in the lap of Mendes.

What do YOU think?

Go see something good!

NEWS: Takashi Miike's Samurai Film Is Green Lit!

One of my favorite directors, Takashi Miike, has finally found the funding and gotten the support from producers, allowing him to finally getting his much anticipated samurai film Thirteen Assassins, off of the ground.

Based on the 1963 film of the same name, this film follows 13 different assassins that come together for a suicide mission to take the life of an evil lord.

With films like Dead Or Alive, Ichi The Killer, the original One Missed Call, Sukiyaki Western Django, and my personal favorite (and one of the best horror films ever madd) Audition, Miike is easily one of my favorite directors.

The film is set to be produced by Jeremy Thomas and Toshiaki Nakazawa. Nakazawa produced this year's foreign language film Oscar winner Departures, and Thomas produced Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which also won Best Picture.

This director/producer group, along with what sounds like a great story makes this one of my most anticipated films for the next few years. It will be interesting to see when we get to see it state wide. What do YOU think?

Thanks to FirstShowing for the heads up!

Go see something good!

NEWS: Spike Jonze's New Where The Wild Things Are Blog...

It looks like Where The Wild Things Are director Spike Jonze has launched a website, We Love You So, in which he is going to be blogging about the film, his influences, and even some of the crew working on it, along with some other things.

Thanks to /Film for the heads up:

“In October 2009 Spike Jonze’s feature film rendition of Maurice Sendak’s classic story Where The Wild Things Are will hit movie theaters worldwide. The film represents years of work from hundreds of different artists, writers, photographers, musicians, actors, and creators of all degrees. This place has been established to help shed some light on many of the small influences that have converged to make this massive project a reality. Simply put, this a place to learn about things we think are great and to share with you the things those things helped make. Wild Things indeed… And also probably a lot of other randoms things that catch our eye along the way. We hope you like it. We love you so.”

Launched a few weeks ago, the Jonze has posted things ranging from a bio on Carter Burwell, to a few of the cinematic influences to the look and feel of the film. Here's a great example. The following is a test of the masks used on the film.

Where The Wild Things Are Focus Group #1 from Lance Bangs on Vimeo.

Go see something good!

NEWS: Inglourious Basterds Prequel?

One of my most anticipated films coming up this summer, happens to be Quentin Tarantino's new film, Inglourious Basterds. Not only is the cast amazing, spearheaded by Brad Pitt, but it's a Tarantino film, so of course I'm going to look forward to it.

From Resivior Dogs to Death Proof, Tarantino has yet to make a bad film, and his sophomore film, Pulp Fiction, is my favorite film of all time.

However, what had me worried when the film was originally announced was how it would work, and how much this film had changed since he first began to work on it, during the production of Pulp Fiction. That said, when I got my hands on the script, all of my worries were wiped away.

Not only is the films script stunningly well written, but there is ample backstory for each of the characters. Well, that backstory may be set to get it's full telling.

“I have a half-written prequel ready to go if this movie’s a smash,” Tarantino tells the New York Times.

Well, to me, this is great news. I loved all of the characters, particularly Eli Roth's, and there is more than enough story in the lives of each of these people that they could do 8 separate films.

However, Tarantino is famous for talking about projects and then bailing on them, so I will keep you all updated on this project as more news comes out.

Go see something good!

FORUM: The Brilliance of Fringe...

Sometimes, a show comes along, that you just know is going to be something to watch out for. Over the past two decades, shows like The X-Files, The Wire, Rome, and Battlestar Galactica have been shows that, while featuring overarching storylines that span seasons, are also able to be picked up, and enjoyed by the everyday viewer.

However, with every piece of brilliance shelled out by television studios, comes a certain cancellation as it’s the idea doesn’t feature a bunch of blondes with the brain capacity of a crap I just took, or a bunch of F list celebrities trying to win a dollar by paying their dignity.

That’s why it was a great surprise to yours truly when it was announced that not only was Fringe coming back for a second season, but Fox ordered a 22-episode season to follow up the shows 20-episode first season. At least someone in Hollywood has a brain.

While the last show I talked about, Dollhouse, was a bit more intellectually stimulating, Fringe has been on a roll as of late, and features a premise that is kind of a mix of the X-Files and the 5400, while not riping off any previous show. It’s taking ideas from other series, but it’s its own monster. A chimera to be exact.

Premiering back in September, Fringe tells the story of FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham, who is part of a special government group that investigates different aspects of what are called Fringe Sciences. Things such as telepathy, psychokinesis, and reanimation are all investigated by Dunham along with scientist Walter Bishop and his son Peter. The group was brought together after a series of mysterious experiments, spanning the globe, had begun. Called “The Pattern”, these “experiments” began out of nowhere, but as the series progressed, an apparent connection between “The Pattern” and the global research company, Massive Dynamic, has proven otherwise. Along with the rise a bioterrorist organization called the ZFT, the two sides are also mysteriously connected by a special chemical, developed by Walter and his partner William Bell (the CEO of Massive Dynamic), which was given to Olivia and other children when they were born. The drug, Cortexiphan, is at the root of this series, and it’s what is set to be discussed during the season finale, airing Tuesday at 9 p.m. on FOX.

The main reason that I think this series needs to be seen by more people, is how user friendly the series is.

Sure, the show has it’s season spanning storyline, with the points like what exactly ZFT is, how they are connected to the recent experiments, and what exactly cortexiphan is, but it was one major promise of J.J. Abrams, to make this series easy to follow.

Abrams is the same guy who created the geek favorite (although not one of yours trulys) series, Lost. Where as that show has a plot that not only spans many characters storys, but also time as well. With it’s copious amounts of flash forwards and backs, that show has a insane following, but is not open to new viewers.

However, Fringe is on the other end of the spectrum.

Where as Lost is much more of a comic book style television show, in that a viewer needs to have seen previous episodes to understand the new one, a viewer can skip one, two, or even three episodes of Fringe, and pick it up without to much lost. That’s not always a good thing, but I think it makes each episode more poignant, while still allowing for long time viewers, like myself, to get just that much more out of it. Sure, you will understand a ton more, but as a piece of television, a first time viewer is able to enjoy an episode, no matter where in the shows timeline it stands.

Lost has garnered a certain reputation for being a very complicated show and one that you have to watch every episode. Fringe is in many ways an experiment for us, which is, we believe it is possible to do a show that does have an overall story and end game, which Fringe absolutely does… We can do a show that has that, so that there's a direction the show is going and there's an ultimate story that's being told, but also a show that you don't have to watch episodes one, two and three to tune into episode four -- J.J. ABRAMS

That said, Fringe is full of nuggets for the long time viewer to chew on.

The primary mystery the show attempts to have the viewer decipher is actually so unbeknownst to most viewers, as it is in the interludes to commercial breaks.
One thing that this show, along with Dollhouse, is pioneering is what FOX is calling Remote-Free TV. The normal television drama is roughly 6-7 minutes shorter than Fringe, as the commercial breaks are in small amounts (probably 5 an episode), and only last for 30, 60, or 90 seconds. Also, when the show fades to commercial, one of nine special “glyphs” can be seen, and it is these little images, mainly a frog,
that Abrams has hinted at as to having meaning in the show.

The frogs first appeared outside of the commercial breaks in episode 109, The Dreamscape.

As the episode unfolds, we discover that the frogs produce two separate toxins: 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenin – both belong to the family of hallucinogenic tryptamines. While these frogs don’t truly resemble the frog glyphs from the interludes, it goes along with them, along with the Origami frogs which are shown in Walter’s lab notes.

However, within the frog glyph from the breaks, the frogs contain the Greek letter, phi. Phi is a greek letter, that, in mathematics, means what is known as the “Golden Ratio” or 1.6180339887… Many organisms grow according to this ratio, and even the branching veins of humans and animals follow this ratio.

Along with the frogs, each of the other eight glyhps have special meanings

Apple – Split in half, and instead of seeds, human embryos are in their place.
Butterfly – Has bones for wings
Sunflower – Has dragonfly wings as some of the petals, and in the center, there are counter rotating spirals, which represent the Fibbonaci sequence. Also, it has mirror symmetry, and a spade playing card can be seen.
Hand – Has six fingers, seen as a left and right hand (which doesn’t play into the location of the yellow dot seen), and it appears in every episode during the title sequence.
Horn – Shaped as a Fibonacci spiral, and has the number Phi inscribed along the horn.
Leaf – Has a Delta symbol on it
Seahorse – Has a Fibonacci spiral on its side, which can also be seen in the tail
Smoke – Forms a womans face
Yellow dots – Appear in many glyphs, and could be a possible code, as many people believe that the location of the dot along with the glyph could be a code, with the dot being a specific letter, and the glyph being another.

There is evidence relating to each of these glyphs, all of it adding a ton to the experience, at least for me, but I’ll let you all hunt that stuff down. Head over to Fringepedia for all of this information, and then some.

So, enough of my rambling. All I really want to say is that this show is something special. It takes the basis of The X-Files, or a show of that style, and throws in terrorism and a hot ass female lead. What more could you ask for? Relevant issues (big corporations, terrorism, bio-terror, enviornmentalism, etc.), great acting, stunning visuals, and completely engaging story makes this a must see, for those who care to spend an hour in front of the TV on Friday nights at 9 p.m. The season finale is coming up this Tuesday, and I hope this has sparked at least a bit of curiosity for those of you previously not interested.

Go see something good!

TRAILER: The Princess and The Frog...

Honestly, there is no movement that I am more annoyed with that 3D animation (not from Pixar). I may sound like a lame ass, but I miss the days of gorgeous 2D, hand drawn animation. Whether it be classic Disney films like Beauty and The Beast or The Little Mermaid, or more out there films, at least stylistically, like my favorite animated film of all time, The Tripletts of Belleville.

However, after taking a rather lame foray into 3D animation, Disney is returning to their bread and butter, with what looks like a wonderful new tale to throw on their already classic canon. This is the first full length trailer from the Princess and The Frog, and can be seen below, and will be shown before Up, when that hits theatres later this month.

Oh, and before people get all hot and angered for even uttering this films name alongside other classic Disney films, I'm not comparing them, but honestly, tell me that this film doesn't look great, and that it didn't bring you back to those glory days of 2D animation. Just saying.



The Walt Disney Studios continues its fairy tale legacy in animation by taking moviegoers on an all-new “once upon a time” musical adventure. Set in the legendary birthplace of jazz – New Orleans, The Princess and the Frog will introduce the newest Disney princess, Tiana, a young African-American girl living amid the charming elegance and grandeur of the fabled French Quarter. From the heart of Louisiana’s mystical bayous and the banks of the mighty Mississippi comes an unforgettable tale of love, enchantment and discovery with a soulful singing crocodile, voodoo spells and Cajun charm at every turn.

Featuring the voices of Anika Noni Rose (as Princess Tiana), Oprah Winfrey, Keith David, Jim Cummings, John Goodman, Jenifer Lewis, Bruno Campos, Michael-Leon Wooley, Peter Bartlett and Terrence Howard.

Directed by and based on an original story written by Disney’s acclaimed filmmaking duo John Musker & Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules). Scored and music written by Oscar®-winning songwriter/composer and New Orleans native Randy Newman (Toy Story, Monsters, Inc.).

Go see something good!