Monday 3 November 2008

TV

Argumental
1x02 (3/11/08 edition)

The Graham Norton Show
4x05 (30/10/08 edition, uncut repeat)

The Sarah Jane Adventures
2x06 Secrets of the Stars Part Two

Spooks
7x02 Split Loyalties

Films

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)
[#74 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]

Non-Fiction

Story by Robert McKee
Chapter 9

Music

Roar! (Theme from Cloverfield) by Michael Giacchino
This is a great track, I highly recommend it. You can get it from iTunes -- all 12 minutes and 17 seconds for just 79p -- here.

Articles

Christopher Nolan on Dark Knight and its box-office billion: 'It's mystifying to me'
and
Christopher Nolan revisits and analyzes his favorite scene in Dark Knight
and
Christopher Nolan says his Batman doesn't play well with others by Geoff Boucher
(from Hero Complex at Los Angeles Times Blogs)
A very exclusive, in-depth, three-part interview with the director of Batman Begins and (more pertinently) The Dark Knight.

Coppola's slow boat on the Nung by Gordon Coates
(from guardian.co.uk)
Quite simply, "Gordon Coates on the five-hour Apocalypse Now". That would be the workprint, long available as a bootleg, that -- depending on who you believe -- is anywhere from 289 to 330 minutes long. (Incidentally, the information that the film is an 18 is out of date -- the Redux was classified at 15 in 2001, and while the original (shorter) cut received an 18 in 2004 (what's that about eh?), all the materials on the recent DVD release -- which includes both cuts of the film -- were collectively rated 15.)

Quantum of Solace Grabs #1 Spot At International Box Office by Devin Zydel
(from CommanderBond.net)
"the 007 film earned £15.7 million ($25.3 million) over the weekend" -- beating estimates by over $4 million, and "becoming the biggest three-day opening ever in the UK, surpassing Casino Royale’s equally impressive box office debut by 35%. [From] the UK, France and Sweden, [it] grossed a spectacular $38.6 million... ‘No other international release in 2008 has grossed more [playing in] fewer than 27 territories,’ said Mark Zucker, Sony’s president of international distribution." Super. From a different article: "Six movies can claim bigger UK openings than Quantum of Solace, but all achieved their grosses with the addition of paid previews, typically from the weekend prior and/or days immediately before their official opening."
Quantum of Solace opens around most of the world in the next two weeks, most significantly in the US on November 14th. Look here for a weekly-updated summary of its worldwide box office.