TV

The Sandbaggers
2x06 Operation Kingmaker [season finale]
After last season's dramatic life-or-death finale this one might seem a little low-key and office-bound. But the political wrangling is in full force, and there's an awful lot at stake should Burnside lose (again).

Articles

The eight drivers behind Top Gear stunt driver The Stig's famous racing whites by Richard Simpson
(from Mail Online)
So last week one was (allegedly) revealed, then it was revealed there were actually four drivers, and now there are apparently eight -- and all named. And at no point has the journalist wondered if someone might be pulling his leg by this point -- especially as he writes for the Daily Mail?

The joke's on Ricky Gervais as he reveals his father 'may have been drunk' when he filled in his birth certificate
(from Mail Online)
And revealing even more than is comfortable, really.
And Christ, the Mail has overlong headlines, doesn't it?

Review of Tropic Thunder 3-disc Director's Cut DVD by James Gray
(from DVD Times)

This year's Best Picture Oscar nominees are: Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Reader, and Slumdog Millionaire. How many of these movies have you seen? (poll results)
(from IMDb)
While the poll hasn't closed as of this posting, the majority of likely votes are in. Rather unsurprisingly, over 46% haven't seen any, while under 20% have even managed to see three or more.

Also, see the Tintin film press release here.

Tintin announcement

Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment Announce the January 26 Start of Principal Photography on the 3D Motion Capture Feature The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn Directed by Steven Spielberg and Starring Jamie Bell and Daniel Craig
(press release, published at CommanderBond.net)

Ah, press release titles! But oh so promising:

"The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, Defiance) as Tintin, the intrepid young reporter whose relentless pursuit of a good story thrusts him into a world of high adventure, and Daniel Craig (Quantum of Solace, Defiance) as the nefarious Red Rackham."

Shame to lose young Thomas Sangster (Love Actually, Doctor Who: Human Nature/The Family of Blood) as Tintin, but there you go.

"Bell and Craig are joined by an international cast that includes Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Gad Elmaleh, Toby Jones and Mackenzie Crook... screenplay by Steven Moffat [hurray!], Edgar Wright [surprise!] and Joe Cornish [well, I never...], is produced by Spielberg, Peter Jackson and Kathleen Kennedy" -- all good also.

It "is the first in the series of 3D motion capture films based on the iconic character... and is due for release in 2011... The second feature in the series is scheduled to be directed by Jackson, with a potential for a third film as well."

It will be most intriguing to see if, as it's 3D mo-cap, they keep anything of the actors' features, or just turn them all into 3D versions of their comic counterparts (the latter might be an especially good idea for Pegg and Frost's characters...)