I love Blueray.

Not because I own a Blueray player, but because it means stores are now practically giving away DVDs. At places like Blockbuster and Rogers, you can buy movies for $4.99, and sometimes even cheaper depending on the promotional specials that week!

Unfortunately, I've recently learned that if a movie costs under five dollars, it's probably because it's terrible. Here' s just a handful of the under-five-dollar movies I've regrettably purchased lately.

Make sure you visit (Cult)ure's cinema section Monday to Thursday this week for our four-part series, The Hollywood Fantasty Draft.  It was fun to put together, and I think it makes for a great read, especially for cinema lovers and pop culture junkies.  We'd love to hear thoughts from our readers, so make sure you post comments and let us know who your picks would have been!

When I first saw that Crank: High Voltage had a 70% rating on Rotten Tomatoes this morning (it has since fallen to 64%), I was a little surprised. Given that the trailer's approximately 12 hours long and that I've seen it before pretty much every movie since January, I didn't think there was any movie left to see. This afternoon, I read the review on the A.V. Club, and now I'm more confused than ever. A -? A frinkin' minus? They hate everything over there! Apparently the movie's a rousing success on its own gonzo terms. I'm still not convinced I'll ever want to see it. 

I'm pumped that The Hurt Locker, acclaimed war drama somehow nominated for Independent Spirit Awards despite having yet to be released, has gotten a new trailer. The first one I saw made no sense, featured a countdown to I-don't-know-what, and was only notable because it contained Jeremy Renner. Now we're onto something. Let's hope it's July release serves it well.

In case you haven't already seen it, the Moon trailer is out there looking insane. Seriously, it's directed by David Bowie's son, Duncan Jones, and it looks like Ziggy Stardust crossed with 2001. While I normally steer clear of all 2001 related things, Sam Rockwell is one of the best actors I can think of to make finding a copy of yourself in space (spoiler? I don't know; it's in the trailer) seem like the creeping dread I want to watch. Enjoy!

We have an article this week in the Cinema section about 80's family adventure films.  As a companion piece, we've updated the Youtube Picks with some great musical sequences from a few of those films.  Check it out!

Oh shit. I'm getting that tingly feeling.

You know the one, where you start to get really excited, the way you used to get excited back when you were a teenager and everything was still new and wondrous. It's that magical sense that takes over your body and tells you, "Don't worry, everything is going to be alright. This is going to rock. You are going to feel the way you want to feel."

I didn't get that feeling as we approached The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and despite my best intentions, I didn't get it for I Want to Believe. At this point, I've seen way too many Matrix Reloaded's and Lost season 3's to allow myself that sort of unadulterated anticipatory excitement anymore.

Can you believe it? First art on a Wednesday and now on a Thursday? It's shocking.

Sharon Lemay's show "First Impressions" (pictured: Beautiful Cosmos Flowers) is opening tonight at heARTwood Gallery (153 Chapel St.) from 5 to 7 p.m. You can meet the artist and win a door prize along with the usual wine and cheese. Fun! I love prizes. Show's on until the end of the month. 

You are so close to missing the second installment of the new Groundbreakers Series, RiP: A remix manifesto, because the movie only runs until April 2.

In RiP: A remix manifesto, Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores issues of copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 20th century and shattering the wall between users and producers.

You can catch it immediately at the Mayfair Theatre, which is a partner in the series with SAW Video. Go! Go now!

Every Wednesday (Cult)ure shares with you one of the internet's best webcomics.

Joseph Dunn sees a lot of movies. A lot of crappy movies. Then he makes webcomics about the experience. They are usually hilarious, and a must read for fans of mainstream Hollywood cinema and genre films.

Apparently Sunday March 22 was "International Talk Like William Shatner Day". 

 How can something as important as this come and go without me noticing?  I am forever shamed, and will go out of my way to talk like William Shatner extra hard next year.

(Note: This is likely the first of many Trek posts that will appear between now and May 8.  Sure, you don't care now, but when you are transformed into a Trekker by Mr. Abrams in t-minus two months, your gonna look back and regret missing Talk Like Shatner day too.)

Here's a great article on "the truth about Saint Patrick". Turns out he didn't rid Ireland of snakes, and he wasn't even actually Irish! He also apparently went through a phase where he prayed 100 times a day, which would make anyone thirsty.

There's also this old article, also from Slate.com, about the worldwide development and marketing of a "faux" Irish pub culture, with the help of the Guinness Brewing folks, its parent company Diageo, and something called the Irish Pub Company.

As fer meself, I'll be heading to the Mayfair to catch The Commitments at 9pm; and I may grab a pint of Guinness or six at Quinn's next door, if there's room in that tiny box of a place tonight.

Kevin's right about there being nothing much to see, but you've got a couple of choices.

You could hit the Canadian Film Institute  (2 Daly Ave) for Canada's Top 10 2007 (weird, right?) from March 14 until 22.  Adoration is the opening film.

If not, My Father's Studio by filmmaker Jennifer Alleyn, daughter of Edmund Alleyn, will be presented tomorrow, March 14, at Library and Archives Canada (395 Wellington Ave) at 7 p.m. Jennifer Alleyn will be in attendance to present the film and answer questions after the screening.

Happy Friday the 13th! (Didn't we just do this?)

 I was going to encourage everyone who missed the opportunity to see the new Friday the 13th movie on Friday the 13th  last month to go see it tonight, but it's apparently no longer in theatres. For a movie with a $40 million dollar opening weekend, it sure came and went fast, didn't it?

So if you didn't do it last month, the bad news is you've missed your chance to spend a Friday the 13th watching blood, guts, boobs, Dean from Gilmour Girls, and that blonde guy from Veronica Mars up on the big screen.

I went to see Cadillac Records this weekend, and I found myself distracted when, after getting caught getting his mack on with a certain lady, Chess (Adrien Brody, pictured on left) asks, "What if I told you I have feelings for her?" First off, drop the hypothetical, dude. We're onto you. Secondly, I'm tired of "feelings" as a catch-all in screenplays. There are two problems with "feelings" : 1) they could mean anything, both positive and negative, and 2) they're plural. I'm tired of hearing about these so-called feelings. How 'bout characters man up and actually have feelings instead? You could even throw an adjective up there, and we'd be getting somewhere. I recognize that human emotions are complex and we can't always define what it is that we are feeling, but you're writers. Use your words! Stop hiding behind vague aphorisms and spell it out.

This Friday brings this year's first big opening weekend with Watchmen. Maybe you've heard of it? If you didn't go see it last night and want to save yourself from the fanboy rush, you can head over to the Bytowne for Cadillac Records about the heyday of Chess Records when the likes of Etta James, Chuck Berry, and Muddy Waters were recording there or One Week, where Joshua Jackson gets movie cancer* and decides to ride his motorcycle (picture: and a horse?) across Canada. It sounds pretty mushy, but Jackson's a careful and talented actor capable of grounding far fetched material in real human emotion (he's probably the reason I watched Dawson's Creek as long as I did, which is to say: too long), so I have hope.

Tomorrow night, hit Library and Archives Canada (395 Wellington St.) for the CFI screening of the restored print of Guy Maddin's Archangel at 7 p.m. "A weird and wild melodrama of obsessive love, Archangel is set in the northernmost tip of old imperial Russia in the winter of 1919. The Great War has been over for three months, but no one has remembered to tell those who remain in the town of Archangel. Maddin's powerful black and white cinematography and memorably stylized set design make this a film quite unlike any other." It's $10 without a membership and $6 with membership.

Watchman is many things, but it is primarily a mystery. Who murdered The Comedian? Who's behind the international events pushing the world closer and closer towards armageddon?

Well, if you want the answer to these questions, but don't feel like reading the book or seeing the movie, just read Anthony Lane's scathing review of Watchman in The New Yorker. By the third paragraph of the review, Lane has revealed the film's climax and completely spoiled the twist ending.

As (Cult)ure has reiterated before, the world needs film critics. What the world doesn't need are film critics who dislike a film so intensely that they become intent on spoiling it for everyone else before they even get a chance to see it.

Okay, forget what I just wrote. My love of robots and things that go ker-blooey has been instantly superseded by my love of Joseph-Gordon Levitt. The trailer for 500 Days of Summer is finally available!

 

There's a new Terminator: Salvation trailer making the rounds, which gives away slightly more plot than we've seen in the past and even cooler robots, explosions, and motorcycle chases. I don't care what Christian Bale does at this point: this thing looks awesome, and he can't take that away from me. 

 

Every Wednesday (Cult)ure shares with you one of the internet's best webcomics.  

What's better than a consistently funny webcomic? A consistently funny webcomic that is updated daily!

Filled with delicious black humour, Zach Weiner's long running single panel gag strip Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is the perfect way to start each and every day!