tv shows Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Over at our wonderful sister site, TV Squad, there is a feature that should be of interest to our movie-crazy readership as well: The Ten Worst Movies Based on TV Shows. I know what you're thinking, how could you possible limit it to ten, right? Paul Goebel has done a pretty spectacular job. I had tried to block a few of these titles from my memory, but seeing them again gave me some war-like flashbacks of struggling through these trainwrecks. Lost In Space more than lived up to its name and wasted a stellar cast, Car 54, Where Are You? is a question no one would ever ask again, and The Mod Squad with Claire Danes should have been called My So-Called Movie.

Wild Wild West is a great call, I can't believe at no point during filming did someone say, "Really? We're doing this?" It also features one of Will Smith's absolute lamest "Let me tell you the plot of my movie!" raps, including the immortal line: I'm the slickest there is. I'm the quickest there is. Did I say I'm the slickest there is? You didn't have to, Will. You didn't have to. Movies based on television programs are almost always disasters. There are exceptions of course. Off the top of my head, The Fugitive is one of the best thrillers ever made, Maverick rocked, and both Addams Family movies are terrific black comedies. But boy, do they get it wrong most of the time. I shudder to think what they'll try to do to something like my precious Seinfeld down the line! I couldn't agree more with Paul's choice of The Avengers as number one, I would actually rank it near the top of my "Worst Movies Ever Made" list. To quote Get Shorty, I've seen better film on teeth.

Rounding out the TV Squad list are George of the Jungle, McHale's Navy, The Flinstones, Scooby-Doo, and Leave It To Beaver. What would you add to the list? For me, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle would have ranked #2, it was so painful to watch Robert DeNiro take a big poo all over his legacy.

This is some pretty big news, so let's use that handy old writer's crutch known as The Bullet Point:

• Starting this Thursday you'll be able to download movies (and TV shows) from Amazon.com's brand-new Unbox service. Rental movies are $3.99 and the permanent downloads will run you about $15. TV episodes will be 2 bucks, and you can get 'em the day after they play on network TV.
• Warner Bros., Fox, Paramount, MGM, Lionsgate, Sony and Universal are all on board. Disney is not. (You'll be able to download Disney fare via iTunes, but that's not what this story is about. This one, however, is.)
• Amazon will give members their own movie page, which will be accessible from any computer, to house all their purchases.
• The picture quality will (allegedly) be on par with DVD technology, and you'll most likely be using Amazon's own browser-embedded player to enjoy your films.
• The "window" issue still hasn't been clarified. We're not yet sure if we can purchase Movie X upon its DVD release -- or if we have to wait for the pre-cable pay-per-view window.

Sounds like a pretty good plan. (Check out an excellent sneak peek!) I'll definitely be checking out the Unbox service -- although nothing's gonna stop me from continuing to build one helluva powerful DVD collection.

After sorting through a half-dozen writers (including one who never even watched the original TV show), a big-screen version of The A-Team is slowly taking shape. Series creator Stephen J. Cannell spoke with Empire and provided us A-Team fanatics with a brief update on the film, which probably will not arrive in theaters until at least 2008.

While Bruce Feristein was brought on to pen a draft back in 2004, he has since been replaced by an unnamed writer in the hopes that someone will finally get the damn thing right. Regarding plot, Cannell noted the film will be updated for the new millennium and may focus on recent conflicts in the Middle East. He says, ""I want to create it as taking place today. So the Gulf War could be a great angle. In the original, the A-Team were on the run after robbing a bank under orders just as the war ended. In this, maybe the four would raid Saddam Hussein's bank or whatever."

As far as cast goes, Cannell admitted he would like the original TV cast to play a role in the pic, whether that be behind the scenes or in some sort of brief cameo appearance. Also, he feels Bruce Willis would play a wonderful Hannibal ... and I totally agree. However, how in the world do you replace Mr. T as BA Baracus? Are there any actors out there worthy of taking on the role?