CliqueClack

NerdHQ’s 2014 Conversation for a Cause Panel list leaks online

Zachary Levi’s NerdHQ has become a staple of the San Diego Comic-Con since premiering in 2011. One of my favorite parts of what NerdHQ brings to the table is their “Conversations for a Cause” series. The most popular panels at the Convention Center are held in massive caves of rooms, but at NerdHQ, they are much more intimate affairs. And while they are ticketed events, the entirety of the proceeds go to Operation Smile, a Virginia-based (yeah!) charity that does incredible work.

The Conversations are always put together at the last-minute, as the NerdHQ team has to wait until after the official SDCC schedule is announced to confirm their offerings. This year, though, it seems that the schedule is taking longer to put together. 2013’s first announcements were on the Monday nine days in advance of the Con, but NerdHQ still hasn’t been able to make their list official. Continue reading 'NerdHQ’s 2014 Conversation for a Cause Panel list leaks online' »

Win passes to see Calvary with Brendan Gleeson in DC

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CliqueClack has partnered with Fox Searchlight to offer readers in Washington, DC an opportunity to attend an advance screening of the new drama Calvary starring Brendan Gleeson, Chris O’Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, M. Emmet Walsh, and Domhnall Gleeson.

Father James (Gleeson) is a good priest who is faced with sinister and troubling circumstances brought about by a mysterious member of his parish. Although he continues to comfort his own fragile daughter (Reilly) and reach out to help members of his church with their various scurrilous moral — and often comic — problems, he feels sinister and troubling forces closing in, and begins to wonder if he will have the courage to face his own personal Calvary.

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Win passes to see Scarlett Johansson as Lucy in Chicago or Indianapolis

ALL PASSES HAVE BEEN CLAIMED. COMMENTS ARE CLOSED. FOLLOW CLIQUECLACK ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK, GOOGLE+ and TUMBLR FOR CONTEST ALERTS, REVIEWS and BREAKING NEWS.

CliqueClack has partnered with Universal Pictures to offer readers in the Chicago and Indianapolis areas an opportunity to attend an advance screening of the new action thriller Lucy starring Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman and directed by Luc Besson.

From La Femme Nikita and The Professional to The Fifth Element, writer/director Luc Besson has created some of the toughest, most memorable female action heroes in cinematic history. Now, Besson directs Scarlett Johansson in Lucy, an action-thriller that tracks a woman accidentally caught in a dark deal who turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.

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Win passes to see Wish I Was Here in Washington, DC

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CliqueClack has partnered with Focus Features to offer readers in the DC area an opportunity to attend an advance screening of the new film WIsh I Was Here starring Zach Braff, Kate Hudson, Joey King, Pierce Gagnon, Josh Gad and Mandy Patinkin.

Wish I Was Here is the first movie directed by Zach Braff since his indie breakout hit Garden State. The original screenplay is by the director and his brother Adam. The new movie tells a funny, touching, universal story of what it means to be at a major crossroads as a parent, spouse, and child — all at once. Aidan Bloom (Braff) and his wife Sarah (Hudson) live in Los Angeles with their two children, Grace (King) and Tucker (Gagnon). Sarah supports the family with her public service job, while struggling actor Aidan auditions and escapes into fantasies about being the futuristic space knight of his childhood dreams. Aidan eschews cultural traditions and embarks on a chaotic attempt to home-school Grace and Tucker, and his curriculum for Grace and Tucker leads to some surprising self-discoveries for everyone.

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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes brings meaning to the action

If you didn’t see 2011’s terrific reboot of the classic Planet of the Apes franchise, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, it’s not necessarily required viewing to enjoy or follow the story of the sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. The new film takes place ten years after the events of the first movie — and the opening title sequence helpfully fills in the details of the simian flu which has decimated humankind — and now finds the band of intelligent apes (created by the same virus that killed the humans) living peacefully in San Francisco’s Muir Woods. It’s been at least two winters since they’ve last seen a human, so they assume everyone is now gone.

But, of course, they’re wrong when they discover a small band of humans traipsing through their property, one of them with an itchy trigger finger, unaware that the apes are nearby. A shooting incident immediately brings distrust of the humans but the ape leader Caesar (Andy Serkis), with memories of his warm upbringing with humans, is willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. The humans need to reach the dam which is just past the apes enclave in order to restore power to their base in San Francisco. Without it, their dwindling supply of fuel will run out, plunging the humans back into chaos. Caesar’s friend and right hand, Koba (Toby Kebbell), is not as trusting of the humans — for good reason — and does what he can to prove the humans cannot be trusted.

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Download free passes to see Disney’s Planes: Fire & Rescue in Baltimore, DC or Virginia

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CliqueClack has partnered with Walt Disney Pictures to offer readers in Baltimore, DC and Virginia Beach an opportunity to attend an advance screening of the new family comedy-adventure movie Planes: Fire and Rescue starring Dane Cook, Julie Bowen, Regina King, Ed Harris, Fred Willard, Curtis Armstrong, Erik Estrada, Patrick Warburton, John Michael Higgins, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara and Hal Holbrook.

When world famous air racer Dusty (Cook) learns that his engine is damaged and he may never race again, he must shift gears and is launched into the world of aerial firefighting. Dusty joins forces with veteran fire and rescue helicopter Blade Ranger (Harris) and his courageous team, including spirited super scooper Dipper (Bowen), heavy-lift helicopter Windlifter (Wes Studi), ex-military transport Cabbie (Dale Dye) and a lively bunch of brave all-terrain vehicles known as The Smokejumpers. Together, the fearless team battles a massive wildfire and Dusty learns what it takes to become a true hero.

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Win free passes to see Sex Tape in Baltimore, DC or Norfolk

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CliqueClack has partnered with Sony Pictures to offer readers in Baltimore, DC and Virginia Beach an opportunity to attend an advance screening of the new comedy Sex Tape starring Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel, Rob Corddry, Ellie Kemper and Rob Lowe.

Jay (Segel) and Annie (Diaz) are a married couple still very much in love, but ten years and two kids have cooled the passion. To get it back, they decide – why not? – to make a video of themselves trying out every position in THE JOY OF SEX in one marathon three-hour session. It seems like a great idea, until they discover that their most private video has gone public. In a panic, they begin a wild night of adventure – tracking down leads, roping in friends, duping Annie’s boss – all to reclaim their video, their reputation, their sanity, and, most importantly, their marriage.

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My Geisha is a politically incorrect product of its time

The Sixties were a weird, tumultuous time in the United States, at least the mid-to-late Sixties. Just before that time when we still had a bit of innocence left, it was a time when it didn’t seem to ruffle any feathers when an American actor played a character of another race. Jerry Lewis got away with his grotesque Japanese caricature for years, and both Mickey Rooney and Marlon Brando played Japanese characters on the big screen (and, yes, there was some outcry from the Asian community, but their voices were rarely heard at the time).

Heck, German-born Luise Rainier even won an Oscar for portraying a Chinese woman in The Good Earth (and she only got the role because Paul Muni had been cast as Wang Lung, and the Hayes Office would have forbidden a Chinese actress to be cast as the wife of an American actor, even if he was playing Chinese – interracial marriage was still illegal in many states, even when it was fictional).

So in 1962, just before America lost its innocence, Shirley MacLaine starred in a movie produced by her then-husband entitled My Geisha. MacLaine plays popular movie star Lucy Dell. Her husband Paul Robaix (Yves Montand) is a director who seems to only have a career because he makes movies that star his wife. He wants to shoot a new version of the classic opera Madame Butterfly, but he refuses to cast Lucy as he wants the film to be as authentic as possible, including shooting on location. The studio balks, without his knowledge, and tells producer Sam Lewis (Edward G. Robinson) that they’ll give him half a million dollars which means shooting in black and white and not hiring professional singers to dub the voices. Lucy knows this will be a blow to her husband’s ego, so she does what any good wife in her position would do – she disguises herself as a geisha when visiting him in Japan and gets herself cast in the starring role. It’s a classic I Love Lucy plotline stretched out over two hours.

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Frankenstein: The True Story isn’t what I remembered

It’s July.

We’re in the second half of the year and smack dab in the middle of summer. (*yeesh* Where did the first half go … ?!?) And, with the weather running in the triple digits, what better time to think about — you guessed it — Halloween. Or at the very least what better time for a Throwback Thursday Frankenstein film? (If you know me, connect all the dots in this paragraph and you’ll realize every bit of it makes sense.)

Fond Halloween memories — and my desire over the years to pay a revisit to this film I haven’t seen in ages — led me to 1973’s Frankenstein: The True Story. But I came to the conclusion while watching it there’s a big difference between a film as a “fond memory” from decades past and it being presented in the flesh. Translation: Time hasn’t been kind.

First off: Who was the Brainiac that decided to bill this adaptation as “Frankenstein: The True Story” … ??? Because it veers pretty far from Mary Shelley’s book. You could make a solid case of taking all the liberties used in the film, rolling them in a big ball and using it to discount the presupposed “true story” aspect and no one would fault you for it. But not all the liberties taken were bad ones; in fact, they served to keep the film engaging and also kept it grounded so that it didn’t take off and become a derailed mess. Continue reading 'Frankenstein: The True Story isn’t what I remembered' »

Win passes to see And So It Goes in Ohio, Boston, Milwaukee or Indianapolis

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CliqueClack has partnered with Clarius Enertainment to offer readers in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Somerville (Boston) and Indianapolis an opportunity to attend an advance screening of the new uplifiting comedy And So It Goes starring Michael Douglas, Diane Keaton, and Sterling Jerins.

There are a million reasons not to like realtor Oren Little (Douglas), and that’s just the way he likes it. Willfully obnoxious to anyone who might cross his path, he wants nothing more than to sell one last house and retire in peace and quiet — until his estranged son suddenly drops off a granddaughter (Jerins) he never knew existed and turns his life upside-down. Clueless about how to care for a sweet, abandoned nine-year-old, he pawns her off on his determined and lovable neighbor Leah (Keaton) and tries to resume his life uninterrupted. But little by little, Oren stubbornly learns to open his heart — to his family, to Leah, and to life itself — in this uplifting comedy from acclaimed director Rob Reiner.

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