CliqueClack

Free passes to DC screening of The Book Thief

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CliqueClack has partnered with 20th Century Fox and Allied Integrated Marketing to offer readers in the DC area a chance to attend an advance screening of The Book Thief, starring Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Sophie Nélisse. The Book Thief tells the inspirational story of a spirited and courageous young girl who transforms the lives of everyone around her when she is sent to live with a foster family in World War II Germany.

The screening will take place on Tuesday, November 5, 7:00 PM at the Landmark E Street Cinema. To get your free passes, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. We have a limited number of codes redeemable at GoFoBo.com which will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. One comment per person and/or email address. Please note that passes do not guarantee you seats at the screening. Seating is first-come, first-served so plan to arrive early. This offer may end at any time. Have a look at the film’s trailer and let us know if you’d like to see this movie.

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CliqueClack Giveaway: Dallas Buyers Club passes in Baltimore or DC

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CliqueClack has partnered with Focus Features and Allied Integrated Marketing to offer readers in the Baltimore and DC areas an opportunity to attend an advance screening of the highly anticipated Dallas Buyers Club, starring Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto. McConaughey is Ron Woodroof, an electrician and rodeo cowboy. In 1985, he is well into an unexamined existence with a devil-may-care lifestyle. Suddenly, Ron is blindsided by being diagnosed as H.I.V.-positive and given 30 days to live. Yet he will not, and does not, accept a death sentence.His crash course of research reveals a lack of approved treatments and medications in the U.S., so Ron crosses the border into Mexico. There, he learns about alternative treatments and begins smuggling them into the U.S., challenging the medical and scientific community including his concerned physician, Dr. Eve Saks (Garner).

An outsider to the gay community, Ron finds an unlikely ally in fellow AIDS patient Rayon (Leto), a transsexual who shares Ron’s lust for life. Rayon also shares Ron’s entrepreneurial spirit: seeking to avoid government sanctions against selling non-approved medicines and supplements, they establish a “buyers club,” where H.I.V.-positive people pay monthly dues for access to the newly acquired supplies. Deep in the heart of Texas, Ron’s pioneering underground collective beats loud and strong. With a growing community of friends and clients, Ron fights for dignity, education, and acceptance.

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About Time is actually about love … and life

I went into the screening for About Time after a pretty rough day of work, just feeling physically and mentally exhausted with a nasty headache to boot. The movie’s premise had me interested, to be sure — Tim (played by Domhnall Gleesonaka Bill Weasley from the Harry Potter series) learns on his 21st birthday that all the men in his family can travel back in their own timeline. British magic and time travel stories is kind of a favorite of mine, but I just was not in the mood to sit in a full theater that night. As the opening narration began to set up the film, I immediately started to relax. By the time the end credits were rolling, I was genuinely moved and enjoyed the whole experience. I basically have About Time to thank for salvaging my evening.

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Ender’s Game is the best adaptation it can be, but is that enough?

Literary history is filled with “unfilmable” books, stories that might be too incredible or deal with subject material too sensitive to market successfully. Film history is filled with movies that were once “unfilmable,” occasionally successful (Life of Pi and the television adaptation of A Game of Thrones), but usually less so (Watchmen and Cloud Atlas). Author Orson Scott Card has long said his classic Ender’s Game would never work on the big screen, citing Ender’s internalized drama too difficult to get across (I personally would have pointed the significant amount of violence surrounding a six-year-old, but that is just me). It took Gavin Hood’s screenplay to bring the controversial author on board.

Note: That will be the last mention of Card’s personal opinions in this piece. They have been covered in detail across the breadth of the Internets. I disagree with those beliefs, but don’t believe they have any bearing in my – or your – opinion of this flick. Continue reading 'Ender’s Game is the best adaptation it can be, but is that enough?' »

Day Of The Dead – More standard-setting reanimated dead from Romero

So I asked myself:

“Self? What’s a horror trilogy without all three films that make up the trilogy?”

A few years ago this very month, I gushed strange and unsettling love on one of my all-time favorite films, the classic that started it all, Night Of The Living Dead.

A few weeks later, I gushed about its worthy successor made 10 years later, Dawn Of The Dead.

Fast forward two Halloweens to the present day: I’m finally completing my little circle of creepy love with the endpiece to Romero’s trilogy, Day Of The Dead.

This 1985 film falls somewhere after the events of Dawn Of The Dead with the remnants of society, government and the military overrun by the undead and struggling to locate survivors while seeking a solution to what caused the zombie outbreak. A collection of scientists and members of the Army are holed up in an underground base experimenting in an effort to reverse the effects of zombification. Several scientists have seen limited success with their experiments — one in particular, Dr. Matthew “Frankenstein” Logan, houses a prized specimen of the undead (“Bub”) who retains some of his past and a few memories, dense and stupified though he might be. Continue reading 'Day Of The Dead — More standard-setting reanimated dead from Romero' »

The Walking Dead – Character flaws

Question: How is The Walking Dead working for you this season?

Because I was having my doubts during the first couple episodes.

But when “I spied” Beth’s foreboding “30 Days Without An Incident” marker in her cell, I knew it was just a matter of time before things heated up and heads started to roll once again. Literally.

It took some doing to jump start season 4 but we’re finally there. And all things appear to be right with the world once again …

The Regulars:

Rick: As mentioned, Farmer Rick — with his decision to relinquish power and purpose and let others work out the details — isn’t the Rick we’ve come to know and love. We need kickass Rick. We need introspective Rick. We want Rick full of turmoil, put in situations where he reacts … for better or worse. Because the shit’s gonna fly once again and there isn’t a better person to dive in head first than Sheriff Grimes when it starts getting thick. Continue reading 'The Walking Dead — Character flaws' »

NBC’s Dracula nibbles at the legend

As a literary character, Dracula has been around since the publication of Bram Stoker’s novel in 1897. Vampires existed in lore prior to that, but Stoker’s Count really set the ground rules for vampires from that point on. Bela Lugosi brought the vampire famously to life first on Broadway and then on film in Universal’s classic fright fest (which seems rather tame and stagey by today’s standards). The Count was redefined once again in 1958 with Christopher Lee’s performance, Frank Langella made the role his own, like Lugosi, on Broadway and on the silver screen, and Gary Oldman gave a tour-de-force performance in 1992. There have been many iterations of the bloodsucking count over the past century, and now NBC attempts to breathe new life into the undead creature in the form of sexy, hunky, young Jonathan Rhys Meyers. And he, like those before him, bears little resemblance to the aged monster of Stoker’s literature.

In case you aren’t familiar with the story, Dracula secures the service of solicitor Jonathan Harker to help with some legal matters involving his move from Transylvania to England (to be among “the teeming millions”). Harker barely makes it out of Transylvania alive, he and Mina Murray are married, Dracula moves into Carfax Abbey, is attracted to Lucy Westenra (who becomes his first victim), turns his sights on Mina once he learns everyone is on to him (thanks to his connection with her), but is destroyed while trying to return to Transylvania. There is also a mental patient, Renfield, who seems to have some kind of psychic connection to the vampire. The new TV series, however, tells a slightly different story.

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TV on DVD October 29: Degrassi, Family Tree, and Christmas collections

While there are no major US TV series being released on home video this week, the home video releases do include the popular Canadian series Degrassi — the 12th season — and HBO’s recent improv comedy Family Tree. With Halloween just days away, the studios want us to start thinking about Christmas with several collections of holiday movies for the family as well as animated programs for the kids. Damages fans can also own the complete series on DVD. To see all of the home video highlights for October 29, have a look at our shopper’s guide and click on a link to get more information or to make a purchase!

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Monsters University, R.I.P.D. and more to haunt your home video collection

It’s a very slow week for home video with the biggest release being Disney Pixar’s animated prequel, Monsters University, which should make for some good family, Halloween fun if you order now! Also on tap for some scares and laughs is the Jeff Bridges/Ryan Reynolds team-up, R.I.P.D. Scream Factory has a new collection of horror titles to keep you up all night, and those who remember Cinerama should enjoy two new video releases of those classic films. To see all of the home video highlights for October 29, have a look at our shopper’s guide, and click on a link to get more information or to make a purchase.

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CliqueClack Giveaway – Free passes to Thor: The Dark World in Baltimore, DC or Virginia Beach

ALL PASSES HAVE BEEN CLAIMED. THIS OFFER IS NOW CLOSED.

CliqueClack has partnered with Marvel Studios and Allied Integrated Marketing to offer readers in Baltimore, DC and Virginia Beach a chance to attend an advance screening of the highly anticipated Thor: The Dark World, starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, Jaimie Alexander with Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins as Odin.

The new film continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s Thor and Marvel’s The Avengers, Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos … but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. To defeat an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor sets upon his most dangerous and personal journey yet, forced into an alliance with the treacherous Loki to save not only his people and those he loves … but our universe itself.

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