Wy O wy SyFy ?

I'm sorry, but I can't stand it.

The Sci-Fi Channel is changing their name to SyFy.

So, I wrote Sci-Fi channel in regards to their name change...

==============================================================
Hy! Longtyme vyewer, fyrst tyme complayner.

I remember pinning a flyer, of an alien watching TV with a dog, to my wall almost 19 years ago, anxious, eager and psyched about the promise and prospect of the very idea of a network dedicated to Science Fiction. I realize that across almost every bit of the basic cable landscape, stations have sacrificed their specialized uniquity in effort to broaden their audience. For some time now, it has been clear to fans, that Sci-Fi wants to become just another TNT, USA, G4, SPIKE, MTV, TBS, etc. We understand that programming like Galactica is much more expensive than Soth Park and The Daily Show to produce, hence why Comedy Central is one of the few stalwart specialty stations left.

Good luck becoming generic, but, this isn't false posturing of we'll stop watching the network, but this is the truth...

As you become generic, and programming becomes more and more on-demand, I won't need, or want SyFy. I'll have Netflix.

Thank you, and thank you for have been a wonderful network.

You're already missed.

===========================================================================

I had more to say, but it's much better said, when their own NEWS SITE runs this:

Forrest J. Ackerman has a message for you from beyond the grave

Ouch, and that kick to the groin was from YOURSELF! We've NOTHING more to say.

Once again, Thanks Forry!

Forry Farewell
by dreadcentral

Favoritest Movies of 2000

While doing the spreadsheet for this year, I was sure Gladiator might win the top slot, I couldn't tell. I like a lot of these movies for very different reasons. Heck, at one point I was wondering just how high Rocky and Bullwinkle were going to be. Wouldn't they look odd at the top spot. But, no this works. I've actually rewatched Thirteen Days more than Gladiator. While I'm not fond of how Kevin Costner's character feels the need to be the chorus of the obvious, a narrator with legs walking through the plot, and you could argue that the movie would be better without his character at all. None of that has anything to do with Costner either, he's just not playing John or Robert. For faults with the movie, it's THE "Major Motion Picture" of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Battlefield Earth isn't red either. I realised while doing the list, I like this movie in a sense. It's not good. It's the ultimate of bad, the textbook case, but, it's fun to make fun of. Battlefield Earth is so bad, it's a shared crappiness, a benchmark, and a collective whipping boy.

The Dune movie here, is the Sci-Fi mini-series. I'm still wrestleing with how TV movies and straight to DVD play out in this. the majority of these movies I see on DVD and not in the theater. While I did see 7 of the top 10 here theatrically, for instance, the Anime titles rarely even come out in a theater in St. Louis. So, later years may be adjusted with the animated Dr. Strange, Iron Man and Superman Doomsday movies. Crap, Stitch the movie might wrangle to vie for the all time list!

1. Thirteen Days
2. Gladiator
3. Ah! My Goddess: The Movie
4. X-Men
5. Titan A.E.
6. The Road to El Dorado
7. Finding Forrester
8. Frank Herbert's Dune
9. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
10. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
11. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
12. Godzilla vs. Megaguirus
13. Pitch Black
14. What Women Want
15. Shanghai Noon
16. Scream 3
17. Escaflowne: The Movie
18. Pokemon The Movie 2000
19. Meet the Parents
20. Quills
21. The Perfect Storm
22. Pollock
23. Final Destination
24. Unbreakable
25. Dungeons & Dragons
26. U-571
27. Frequency
28. Almost Famous
29. The Whole Nine Yards
30. The Art of War
31. Shaft (2000)
32. Charlie's Angels
33. High Fidelity
34. Chicken Run
35. The Patriot
36. Gone in 60 Seconds
37. Coyote Ugly
38. Dinosaur (Walt Disney)
39. Bedazzled
40. The Next Best Thing
41. Erin Brockovich
42. Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
43. How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
44. Digimon: The Movie
45. Boiler Room
46. Mission: Impossible II
47. Snatch
48. The Million Dollar Hotel
49. Traffic
50. The Family Man
51. Battlefield Earth
52. Scary Movie
53. The Emperor's New Groove
54. Return to Me
55. Cast Away
56. Nurse Betty
57. Requiem for a Dream
58. American Psycho
59. Me, Myself, and Irene
60. What Lies Beneath
61. Cruel Intentions 2

One small factor that may have helped Thirteen Days slip by Gladiator. I this poster hanging over my DVD collection.

Favoritest Movies of 2001

If I was only listing first place, I wouldn't have even needed to do a spreadsheet for this year. Some movies, in their own year, are an automatic 100th percentile. Like Star Wars for '77 and Jaws in '75, 2001 ended with a movie that says "You shall not pass!". Coming in 62nd place is a movie my friends and I walked out of. I don't walk out of movies. It was the first and only (willingly Reel breakages don't count). Problem is, the list isn't 62 movies long, it's 66.

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2. Atlantis: The Lost Empire
3. Spirited Away
4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
5. The Mummy Returns
6. Monsters, Inc.
7. Iron Monkey
8. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
9. Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heavens Door
10. The Affair of the Necklace
11. Rush Hour 2
12. Just Visiting
13. Swordfish
14. Jurassic Park III
15. The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
16. Spy Kids
17. Kate & Leopold
18. Spy Game
19. Shaolin Soccer
20. A.I. Artificial Intelligence
21. Amélie
22. The One
23. Moulin Rouge!
24. Evolution
25. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
26. Josie and the Pussycats
27. Black Hawk Down
28. From Hell
29. Cats & Dogs
30. Planet of the Apes
31. Shrek
32. Bandits
33. Pokémon 3: The Movie
34. A Beautiful Mind
35. Rat Race
36. Super Troopers
37. Ocean's Eleven starring George Clooney
38. K-PAX
39. Donnie Darko
40. Hannibal
41. Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles
42. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
43. Pearl Harbor
44. Driven
45. Metropolis
46. The Tailor of Panama
47. A Knight's Tale
48. Legally Blonde
49. Ghosts of Mars
50. Monkeybone
51. Behind Enemy Lines
52. Blow
53. Osmosis Jones
54. The Royal Tenenbaums
55. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
56. The Fast and the Furious
57. Zoolander
58. CQ
59. Left Behind: The Movie
60. Scary Movie 2
61. The Mexican
62. 3000 Miles to Graceland
63. Memento
64. Rock Star
65. Vanilla Sky
66. Shallow Hal

Legend: Onto the next Round! In the middle. Did NOT enjoy

Redboxed: Mamma Mia and Babylon A.D.

I rented. We watched. I apologized to my family. I still have great affection for Vin Deisel and Abba. No real, lasting harm done.

(Holly)Wooden Logos: G.I. Joe

Why, why in James T. Kirk's name would you spend money, time, meetings and everything else to develop this?


Instead of using this.


The top one means shit to me. It's a cow-pie, it's some generic store-brand knock of... it's a toy from the dollar store!

The bottom one says "Yo Joe!" So Paramount, if you're not Scrooge McDucking your way through the piles of Joe Money you may feel is due you come August. This is going to be one of the reasons why.

But, before you blame Paramount;

This;

Gets upgraded to this;

Favoritest Movies of 2002

Too many four way ties are going to make me look really indecisive. 2002 is ruled by Weakness and the words; "In Space"

Weakness:
The (in some ways) weaker installments of the two mega trilogies, allows for a tie with the LAST good Disney movie ever. Weaker than Atlantis in many respects, the pair was a non-musical sci-fi stride that I wished had some more gas in it. If you'd asked me in '02, it maybe MAYBE would have made the top 10 that year. Hell, I didn't even want to see it in the theater. I saw Treasure Planet, 2 years later. I know there's technically a couple Disney flick after that before they go CG, but I'll take this one as the end of the line. As for Minority Report, Damn, I remember thinking the film might never happen, when they were trying to squeeze Matt Damon into it, I think as the character that Colin Farell plays, it's an awesome, but weaker Blade Runner. A WEAK Blade Runner, can still kick your ass!
As for "In Space"... Could a Jason movie ever score so high without the words "In Space" in the plot description?

1. TIE: Minority Report
2. TIE: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
3. TIE: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
4. TIE: Treasure Planet
5. Die Another Day
6. Lilo & Stitch
7. Spider-Man
8. Kung Pow: Enter the Fist
9. Millennium Actress
10. Eight Legged Freaks
11. Jason X
12. Catch Me If You Can
13. Austin Powers in Goldmember
14. The Count of Monte Cristo
15. XXX
16. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
17. Maid in Manhattan
18. Hero (Jet Li)
19. The Time Machine
20. Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla
21. Ghost Ship
22. Reign of Fire
23. Scooby-Doo
24. Gangs of New York
25. Spy Kids 2: Island Of Lost Dreams
26. The Scorpion King
27. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
28. Pokemon 4Ever
29. Ice Age
30. The Tuxedo
31. Bubba Ho-tep
32. Dragonfly
33. Road to Perdition
34. Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever
35. Men in Black II
36. Resident Evil
37. Auto Focus
38. K-19: The Widowmaker
39. Panic Room
40. Solaris
41. The Powerpuff Girls Movie
42. Blade II
43. The Sum of All Fears
44. The Mothman Prophecies
45. Star Trek Nemesis
46. The Ring
47. 8 Mile
48. Red Dragon
49. Better Luck Tomorrow
50. Chicago
51. Signs
52. The Master of Disguise
53. Bowling for Columbine*
54. Death to Smoochy

Legend: Onto the next Round! In the middle. Did NOT enjoy!

*Where these Micheal Moore movies have been landing, are in no way a political statement, and I'm not going to comment on that. They're soooo low because; while I'm sure at least a handful, if not more, guys have gotten laid for having the DVD of a Micheal Moore movie sitting on their shelf, I'm equally sure that no one has ever, oh, said, "Hey, I hate to cut this short but, I was really looking forward to going home, kicking back and watching Bowling for Columbine! It's my Wednesday afternoon thing, I like to squeeze it in before Wheel comes on!" That's NEVER been said.

Best Lists are BS! My Favoritest Flicks of 2008 (So Far!)

Ah-hem, Now on to my "BEST" of the year Bullshit! So I was just reading Massawyrm's "Best of 2008" List on AICN. And the BEST movie of the year on his list is Frost/ Nixon. And that does look to be a kick ass movie, and I can't wait to see it. But... Unlike all these other BEST of whatever year lists, Massawyrm mentions, that his favorite movie of the year is Kung-Fu Panda! Because its fun. Wait, you think Wall-E and Dark Knight and Slumdog millionare are better movies than a movie you like MORE? I suspect all these other listeers are doing the same thing. Why would your favorite movie not be the best one of the year. If Frost-Nixon, is BETTER than Kung-Fu Panda, why don't you enjoy it more? Now, I know we all enjoy some movies that are complete piles of crap. One friend of mine KNOWS Little Nicky is a pile of Crap, and knows that to HIM, it's good! A Best list is from the author's point of view. Such as with my list below, I feel Mongol is a BETTER movie than Wanted, but not by much, I know I like Wanted a little more than Mongol, and Wanted did end up with a higher score than Mongol. Let me try to boil this down some.... If you don't LIKE a movie, it won't make your BEST list. If you LOVE a movie you're likely to argue that it's the best anyway! I do think 2008 is a "One Droid to Rule them all." kind of year. Wall-E is the BEST movie of the year to me, it's also my favorite of the year. Generally you're going to like what you think is good, and not like what you think is bad... Aw Fuck, just pop in the Criterion Armageddon DVD and listen to Ben Affleck go on about "Best"... So, as of 2008, so far, I still need to see Momma Mia, and Eagle Eye, the Best Picture nomoniee's, then I need to HATE any movie on that list Not ending in a hyphenated "E". Just kidding. I grew out of that... I think. Kinda. I broke down in 2008 and finnially watched Annie Hall. I liked it. It's good. But it wasn't better than Star Wars. When I redo my all time list, Wall-E may even threaten Colossus: The Forbin Project. But I've yet to see a movie that beats The Original Trilogy.

But, this is just '08, and with all the movies I've yet to see, I am sure of one thing, the number one slot safely belongs to the droid that gives me bits of;

• I am Legend: He's the Last man on Earth...
  
• Fight Club: He's a lone iconoclast causing people to question their day to day monotony
• Titanic: two young lovers on the best ship in the world.
• Star Wars / Droids with Ben Burtian personality!
• Silent Running: The droid design
• 2001 /2010 / Colossus / Macross Plus: Auto, welcom to the pantheon. Dr. Charles Forbin is in the chamber of Hell reserved for Dr. Frankenstein and his ilk since Colossus didn't have an off switch.
• Phantom of the Opera: Well not in theme, but you do open with Michael Crawford singing!

You're probably a nice number more, you little scamp, so here's your list, it should be your year, next year belongs to a different set of robots... or Captain Kirk, and if not either, I'm going to be pissed. Oh, only one red title so far... why? My hate for Semi-pro is so far from the special Hell deserved by the Happening, relatively, I like every movie but the Happening. Fuck there's the BEST of 2008 list EVERY MOVIE EXCEPT THE HAPPENING! You all get Oscars, leave M Night alone in his seat...

1. WALL-E
2. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
3. Iron Man
4. Star Wars: The Clone Wars
5. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
6. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
7. Quantum of Solace
8. Kung Fu Panda
9. Wanted
10. Mongol
11. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
12. The Incredible Hulk
13. Hancock
14. Journey to the Center of the Earth
15. The Spiderwick Chronicles
16. Cloverfield
17. Get Smart
18. Speed Racer
19. The Day the Earth Stood Still
20. The Forbidden Kingdom
21. Tropic Thunder
22. The Dark Knight
23. Step Brothers
24. 10,000 B.C.
25. W.
26. The Spirit
27. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
28. The Love Guru
29. Space Chimps
30. Jumper
31. Meet the Spartans
32. Semi-Pro
33. The Happening

The Happening did make $64.5 Million. Maybe he should get the Oscar. I may have bitched that Dark Knight was overrated, but it was good enough to make bank! The Happening should have had the same fate as Extreme Movie, or at most Delgo! It's people staring at TREES! For two FUCKING HOURS, People run from and react to TREES. We all know "Spielberg does the same thing!" No. He does give us bits of seeing a shark or Dinosaur or UFO or Tom Cruise, BUT We're sitting there, looking at those people thinking, YEA, I'd feel that way seeing a shark or dinosaur or UFO or Tom Cruise.... NOT TREES! I'd say M Night needs to be Go-4'd but, if we're so STUPID as to give 64 MILLION to his movies. We might deserve him...

Andrew Stanton makes a movie about robot on robot love, and his movie gets branded as a tree huggin liberal by Fox news, but the Happening, a movie from Fox, about Tree's killing humans in retilation for human development makes 64 million. Fuck.

Favoritest Movies of 2003

I've seen so many movies from this year, Finding Nemo doesn't make the cut to advance to the All-time list, and Matrix revolutions isn't sitting at the bottom! Even Hulk and Matrix 2 manage to stay out of the red, In second place; with nineteen words and two colons between their titles, one compared to... scratch that one WAS Star Wars on water and the other is Star Trek. There must have been something about boats that year. What an awesome pair, and a number of other good movies too, but the TOP spot, was a movie that for some reason, didn't make the list of even having been seen when I first compiled it, then, I'm working on 2002 and I see Two Towers, and think, wait, No! If Two Towers even exists in 2002, then 2003 BELONGED to only one movie, and it bows to NO ONE.

1. Return of the King
   
2. TIE: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
3. TIE: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
4. X2: X-Men United
5. Underworld
6. Zatoichi (The Blind Swordsman)
7. Lost in Translation
8. The Corporation
9. Fog of War
10. Big Fish
11. Kill Bill Vol. 1
12. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
13. City of God
14. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
15. Basic
16. Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.
17. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
18. The Core
19. Bulletproof Monk
20. Kaena: The Prophecy
21. Runaway Jury
22. Timeline
23. Frank Herbert's Children of Dune
24. Finding Nemo
25. Looney Tunes: Back in Action
26. Bend It Like Beckham
27. The Last Samurai
28. The Medallion
29. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
30. Freddy vs. Jason
31. Tokyo Godfathers
32. Peter Pan
33. Scary Movie 3
34. The Triplets of Belleville
35. Final Destination 2
36. Spy Kids 3D: Game Over
37. The Italian Job
38. Wonderful Days
39. Once Upon a Time in Mexico
40. The Recruit
41. Phone Booth
42. Shanghai Knights
43. The Haunted Mansion
44. Down with Love
45. S.W.A.T.
46. School of Rock
47. Daredevil
48. Mystic River
49. Matchstick Men
50. Shattered Glass
51. The Matrix Reloaded
52. Hulk
53. Seabiscuit
54. Anger Management
55. The Dreamers
56. Freaky Friday
57. Ju-on: The Grudge
58. Paycheck
59. 28 Days Later
60. American Splendor
61. Bruce Almighty
62. Cold Mountain
63. Rugrats Go Wild!
64. Old School
65. Elf
66. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
67. The Matrix Revolutions
68. The Cooler
69. Bad Boys II
70. Gigli
71. Thirteen
72. The Cat in the Hat
73. Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd
74. Cabin Fever
75. Dreamcatcher

Legend: Onto the next Round! In the middle. I do NOT enjoy.