Mammoths to return in 2015

Read an article today saying Japanese scientists intend to clone a mammoth by 2015 in a procedure that completely disregards the valuable lessons we learned from Jurassic Park.

According to the article, Dr. Akira Iritani of Kyoto University had this to say:

“The success rate in the cloning of cattle was poor until recently but now stands at about 30 per cent,” he said. “I think we have a reasonable chance of success and a healthy mammoth could be born in four or five years.”

I was left wondering if Karl Pilkington had heard the news, especially knowing how he reacted to a similar story years ago…

My reviews for ‘Predators’ and ‘Despicable Me’ are up on Trashwire

I’ve seen so many movies in the past couple weeks that I can barely keep track of all the plots anymore. Everything’s starting to run together and it’s all one big story involving a Predator adopting three little girls to try and break up his mother and her vampire boyfriend. Thankfully, I managed to separate all the plots before I wrote these two reviews.

Here’s my review of the highly-anticipated Predators. I love the original film and was very pleased that this film departed from the corny Alien vs Predator sequels.

The Predator franchise was slipping down the slope of ridiculousness and on it’s way to Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus territory when Robert Rodriguez was announced as the producer of a brand new enrtry to the Predator game. Thankfully, Rodriguez and director Nimród Antal brought back the suspense of the original and ditched the cheesy b-movie feel of more recent films starring everyone’s favorite dreadlocked alien.

Read the rest on Trashwire.com at http://trashwire.com/2010/07/09/predators-elevates-the-franchise-with-suspense

Just a few days after the Predators press screening, I went to a screening for Despicable Me. Try having a 3D animated family film and a movie about people being skinned alive by aliens floating around in your head at the same time! Despicable Me was the opposite of Predators in terms of plot, but was very similar in terms of being enjoyable.

In the tradition of Shrek, Universal’s Despicable Me is a film for kids, that’s also fun for adults. The Pixar-like 3D animation wows children and the cast list alone is enough to get adults excited. When I saw the first trailer for the film, seeing Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, and Kristen Wiig all listed together made me mark my calendar for the release date.

Read the rest on Trashwire.com at http://trashwire.com/2010/07/11/despicable-me-fun-in-3d

I’m going to have reviews for Inception, Salt and Dinner for Schmucks coming soon on trashwire this month.

Also, definitely follow @trashwire on Twitter because I’m headed to the famed San Diego Comic Con next weekend and I’ll be tweeting live about everything I see.

Why I love Mel Brooks

Variety published a great little article about Mel Brooks today…

Mel Brooks: The king of comedy – Entertainment News, Profile in Excellence: Mel Brooks, Media

Thanks to “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “High Anxiety” and a slew of other movie, stage, TV and album hits, Mel Brooks’ prominent place in the pantheon of comedy stars is assured. … http://bit.ly/cq7dNO

Which instantly reminded me of my favorite scenes from my favorite Brooks film, High Anxiety.

“Oooh, ‘xiety! It’s you… that I blame!”

“I am not going to listen to any more of this, I mean, I’ve *had* just about enough!”

The Psycho shower scene is my absolute fave, but embedding is disabled on YouTube, so you’ll have to watch it there. It starts about 4:40 in. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTyHPh-9kD8

I used to watch this movie all the time when I was in elementary school and practically memorized it. I would estimate that I’ve seen it over 100 times.

A few more after the jump…
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