Hallmark's got a 50th Anniversary HAL 9000 Christmas ornament... with light and sound!

The latest result in machine intelligence, the HAL 9000—thought to be the most reliable computer ever made and incapable of error—served as the brain and central nervous system for the Discovery One ship's ill-fated mission to Jupiter. Fans of "2001: A Space Odyssey" will want to bring home this special Christmas ornament that celebrates 50 years of the science-fiction masterpiece. Press the button to see the ornament light up as HAL says several memorable phrases.

Side note: reviewers can't decide if it's actually Douglas Rain voicing HAL or not (you can listen to a sample of HAL's ornament voice via the video on the product's page.):

Elizabeth: "I do believe these quotes on this ornament are the original Hal ... I played it against my lap top computer from the movie clips to compare. The difference is the speaker on the ornament is not great quality so it makes the sound of his voice a little off but the quotes are said the same way... I wish they would have added a few more fun quotes from the movie I like mine and glad bought it."

Matt: Matt: "I just received this ornament today in the mail. The voice being used is not Douglas Rain's (Hal from the movies). This is not a minor issue for a product sold as "HAL 9000 50th Anniversary Ornament With Light and Sound." The use of another voice actor should have been disclosed as part of the product's description on this page.

Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, and Lily Tomlin are going to be back on the job in a sequel to their 1980 hit comedy 9 to 5, as confirmed by Fonda.

Entertainment Weekly:

“My role is as an executive producer, and I’m working with the writers, with Lily, and talking to the writers,” Fonda told reporters at the Television Critics Association panel for her new HBO documentary, Jane Fonda in Five Acts. “Right now, Dolly, Lily and I are all intending to be in it.”

The film's original screenwriter Patricia Resnick will be co-writing the script with Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation) under Fonda's executive production.

Bust:

...They hope to make a story that tackles the work issues of 2018, including the wage gap, sexual harassment in the workplace, shifting technology, and outsourcing.

Dolly Parton also weighed in on on the storyline in a recent interview with ABC's Nightline, stating that with the current conversations around unequal pay and sexual harassment in the workplace, a sequel makes sense, and feels right to her and the other stars in a way it hadn’t before.

Can't. wait. Read the rest

The following people have all unsuccessfully tried to bring Marvin Gaye's story to the big screen: F. Gary Gray, Cameron Crowe, James Gandolfini, Scott Rudin, Jesse L. Martin, and Lenny Kravitz. None of them had the blessing of Gaye's estate. Now though, Dr. Dre is giving it a shot. Apparently the film is in early development and Gaye's estate has authorized use of his music. From Variety:

The most recent project to get the sign off from the Gaye estate was with Jamie Foxx who landed the rights for a limited series in 2016 but that project has seen no movement in the years since...

In a curious twist of fate, Dre is represented by King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, the same legal firm which defended Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams against the Gaye estate in the closely-monitored “Blurred Lines” trial in 2015. The verdict found in favor of the Gaye family, which contended that “Blurred Lines” infringed on Gaye’s 1977 hit “Got to Give It Up” and ordered Thicke and Williams to pay millions in statutory damages.

This commentary titled Never Just A Car is a nice montage of iconic cars in films, making it fun to guess the film as each car whizzes by. Read the rest

Crosby, Stills & Nash recorded this theme song for War Games, the seminal hacker film of 1983. The tune was heard in movie trailers and in this promotional video that aired on MTV but was apparently pulled from the film. The song, "War Games," was included on the band's album Allies. From the lyrics:

I am not so sure What you want me for Either your machine Is a fool, or me

Now there is no time to wait No time to think it over Take the path, believe the math You'll tell me when it's over

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Directed by Michele Lupo, "Un Uomo Da Rispettare" (A Man to Respect) is a 1972 Italian/German crime flick starring Kirk Douglas and Florinda Bolkan. Released as The Master Touch in some countries, this story of a safe cracker and a circus gymnast is considered to be a mediocre movie at best. However, the soundtrack by legendary composer Ennio Morricone is absolutely fantastic. This isn't a typical Morricone spaghetti western score but rather veers into the avant-garde, noir-jazz soundtrack vein. But even during the music's most abstract moments, it still maintains the cinematic groove of which Morricone is the master. I'm delighted that our friends at the Superior Viaduct record label are reissuing Un Uomo Da Rispettare on vinyl for just $20! The first 500 copies are on translucent green wax and only available directly from the label.

Check out a track below and, if you're so inclined, watch the actual film.

Da Rispettare OST LP (Superior Viaduct)

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Quadriplegic alcoholic John Callahan was one of the most controversial American cartoonists from the age of newsprint. Now he may finally be getting a long-awaited film about his life starring Joaquin Phoenix and directed by Gus Van Sant. Read the rest

Co-starring the digital resurrection of Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin?

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"Jyn Erso leads a group of unlikely heroes to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction." Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters December 16.

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Jeff Rowan loves Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise. When he decided to look into the young woman who inspired the trilogy of films, he discovered a remarkably moving story that's worth the 20 minutes if you love those films. Read the rest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jlK3NPa0vo

This would have been better. (stryderHD)

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Here's a new trailer for the film Hidden Figures, on the untold true story of African-American women working at NASA who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit. Read the rest

The bowling ball! The melting chocolate bunny! Well done, Dissolve.

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A Blair Witch Project for the Snapchat generation, Sickhouse originally rolled out on Snapchat star Andrea Russett's account as if it were real and in real time. Read the rest

Yes, I know that isn't really Ryan Gosling.

(Joey Thompson/YouTube)

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On Sunday, Oliver Stone showed his Snowden film, due out this Christmas, to a group at the Sun Valley Film Festival with a Q&A following. From the Hollywood Reporter:

“We moved (filming) to Germany, because we did not feel comfortable in the U.S, (Stone said.) "We felt like we were at risk here. We didn’t know what the NSA might do, so we ended up in Munich, which was a beautiful experience...."

Despite the director’s involvement in the movie, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Snowden and Shailene Woodley as Mills, “No studio would support it,” he said. “It was extremely difficult to finance, extremely difficult to cast. We were doing another one of these numbers I had done before, where pre-production is paid for by essentially the producer and myself, where you’re living on a credit card.”

Eventually, financing came through from France and Germany. “The contracts were signed, like eight days before we started,” he noted. “It’s a very strange thing to do [a story about] an American man, and not be able to finance this movie in America. And that’s very disturbing, if you think about its implications on any subject that is not overtly pro-American. They say we have freedom of expression; but thought is financed, and thought is controlled, and the media is controlled. This country is very tight on that, and there’s no criticism allowed at a certain level. You can make movies about civil rights leaders who are dead, but it’s not easy to make one about a current man.”

Filmmaker Candice Drouet "collected images from all the movies I have seen in my life and split them in different themes" for a project titled "My Life In 1.000.000 Frames." The first edited collection, seen here, is titled "(A Story Told With) The Last Words From 129 Films."

Gravity / Zero Dark Thirty / My Own Private Idaho / Punch Drunk Love / Lost in Translation / Flawless / Last Days / The Knight of Cups / Psycho / The Hours / Snatch / 127 Hours / Control / Carrie / Natural Born Killers / Interstellar / Ruby Sparks / The Matrix / The Pianist / High Fidelity / Jaws / The Reader / My Week With Marilyn / StrangerLand / Contagion / Little Miss Sunshine / Drive / Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas / The Terminator / Donnie Darko / Only God Forgives / Snowtown / Slow West / Behind the Candelabra / The Great Gatsby / Kill Bill 1 / Flightplan / Fargo / Being John Malkovich / The Babadook / Breakfast at Tiffany’s / Kill Bill 2 / Little Children / Notes On a scandal / Minority Report / Savages / The Piano / Big Fish / Cosmopolis / Child 44 / The Royal Tenenbaums / Catch me if you can / Barton Fink / The Birds / Walk The Line / The Grand Budapest Hotel / Manglehorn / Dark Shadows / The Kids Are All Right / The Big Lebowski / Dazed and Confused / Goodfellas / Blue Jasmine / American Hustle / Groundhog Day / The Master / The World’s End / Inherent Vice / Macbeth / Raging Bull / Boogie Nights / Ex Machina / Monster / Titanic / Gangs of New York / Mulholland Drive / The Machinist / Insomnia / August Osage County / Wrong Cops / Broken Flowers / Tangerine / Doubt / Dogville / Apocalypse Now / Night Crawler / It Follows / Secret Window / Still Alice / Fight Club / Youth / Edward Scissors Hands / Irrational Man / Casino / Confessions Of a Dangerous Mind / Her / Transpotting / Filth / The Unbearable Lightness of Being / Inglourious Basterds / Philomena / There Will Be Blood / Citizen Kane / Reservoir Dogs / Marie-Antoinette / The Dreamers / The Others / Django Unchained / Pulp Fiction / The Hurt Locker / The Silence of The Lambs / The Queen / City Of God / Inside Llewyn Davis / Taxi Driver / Black Swann / One Hour Photo / The Diary of a Teenage Girl / American Psycho / 2001 A Space Odyssey / Eyes Wide Shut / Holy Motors / O Brother, Where Art Thou ?