Fifteen years ago I was planning my nights around episodes of "Mystery Science Theater," programming math cheats into my graphing calculator and filming "60 Minutes"-style interviews with Cobra Commander. I was also madly in love with director Roland Emmerich's "Stargate," the German filmmaker's bold sci-fi experiment in 1994 that foreshadowed his big-budget juggernaut "Independence Day" only two years later. "Stargate" is now bowing on Blu-ray as a "15th Anniversary Edition," and it's one of a handful of notable releases during an otherwise forgettable DVD week.

"Stargate" finds Kurt Russell as a suicidal, no-nonsense military officer tasked to lead a group of battle-hardened veterans -- and soft-skinned ninny scientist James Spader -- through a newly discovered wormhole to an unknown destination. The other side winds up being a sandy desert planet whose native inhabitants have kept their human slaves in bondage under the guise of ancient Egypt. It was a wholly original concept, driven forward by personality-heavy stars, amazing location photography and Emmerich's strong sense for the fantastical. The film would eventually launch a number of successful television spin-offs, although sadly no follow-up film (although one was originally planned). Read more...

"Little Red Riding Hood" is one of the creepier folktales out there. A young girl goes skipping through a dark forest, bound for her sick grandmother's house with a basket full of food. Along the way she encounters a wolf, who advises her to bring flowers. While Little Red is dilly-dallying, the wolf runs ahead to poor grandma's house and eats her, disguising himself as the poor lady. Then he eats Red when she arrives, only to be saved by a wandering hunter who cuts the two free, fills the wolf's body with stones and drowns him.

Pleasant, right? There have actually been numerous variations on the story, and now it looks like we'll be getting one more. Variety reports that Leonardo DiCaprio has picked up the rights to "Little Red Riding Hood" under his Appian Way banner. The trade reports that the project will serve up a "Gothic reimagining" of the fairy tale, with a script from "Orphan" writer David Leslie Johnson. Read more...

It’s been a video game-y week Around the Blogosphere. Sam Raimi being attached to a “Warcraft” adaptation was the talk of last week of course -- the non-Comic-Con talk, that is -- but there’s also been news about “Castlevania” and “Asteroids” movies. Today brought word of a “Dead Space” adaptation, which publisher Electronic Arts will soon auction off to the highest bidding studio. As you might expect, the news inspired some opinion-rattling across the thinking person’s Internet.

There’s also some chatter about the value of DVD/Blu-ray releases that include Digital Copy, ruminations on a similar pair of “crazy kid” movies, some David Cronenberg commentary/speculation and light spoilerage on the "Smurfs" movie front, thanks to some casting call announcements. PLUS-- I read today on Cinematical that the excellent(ly twisted) Bobcat Goldthwait-directed movie "World's Greatest Dad" is now available to watch On Demand. Order that up and tell us what you think here in the comments or at Your MTV. Read more...

The voters have spoken, and talking CG animated guinea pigs are not what they want. The clear winner of this week's Box Office Poll is psych thriller "Orphan," about an adopted girl who seems just a little bit... off. Not "watch her or she might break something" off. More "oh crap, what is she doing with that bloody knife" off. Whatever her problem is, she nabbed 61% of your votes.

The other two big wide releases for the week -- the aforementioned guinea pig-driven family adventure "G-Force" and the Katherine Heigl/Gerard Butler rom-com "The Ugly Truth" -- are pretty much neck-and-neck as we round into the final few hours of this week's poll. The CG feature has a slight edge, with 23% of your votes as compared to 21% for "Ugly." Read more...

“Orphan.” Whether or not you plan on seeing this fright fest about a girl who terrorizes her newly adoptive parents, one thing is indisputable: that is one freaky lookin’ little girl. The dark, hooded eyes, the thick red ribbon bound across her neck, the do-you-feel-lucky-punk stare—this orphan named Esther is a shining example of the supreme creepitude that some pop culture children exude without saying a word.

In creepiness, if not narrative, "Orphan"'s little orphan Esther comes from a long line of hair-raising fictional youngsters. Here’s our list of the kiddies who, intentionally or not, get the chills running up and down our spines. Read more...

FROM MTV.COM: Little Esther has been a bad girl. A very bad girl. For most of her nine years, in fact — although as the new horror movie "Orphan" opens, all we know of her earlier life is that she was left homeless when her previous adoptive family died in a fire. How fortunate that she managed to escape. Now she's available to be re-adopted by another family, and here come the well-to-do Colemans to scoop her up. Naturally they haven't thought to hide the matches or anything, but they'll learn, soon enough.

"Orphan" is an evil-kid movie with a fresh, inventive twist at the end. This twist doesn't stand up under retrospective contemplation, but how many do? And the picture is so strongly cast and beautifully shot that when the ending arrives, it's so crafty that we accept it out of simple consumer gratitude.

Continue reading 'Orphan': Our Little Monster, By Kurt Loder

It's a relatively quiet day Around the Blogosphere, but I guess that is to be expected with San Diego Comic-Con now in full swing. There have been a lot of exciting happenings IN the office today. Emmanuelle Chriqui -- ie Sloan from "Entourage" -- was a guest on "It's On With Alexa Chung" today, and it caused quite a stir in the newsroom as people rushed downstairs to gawk.

We also debuted the awesome "Ninja Assassin" trailer this morning. Exclusive or not, I'm a sucker for slickly produced martial arts action and that's exactly what the trailer delivers. But then, I would expect no less from the Wachowski Brothers/Joel Silver production team. What else is popping out there you ask? Keep reading to know the score. Read more...

Wow is this a busy week. After the runaway success of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" last week -- and other shoe-in blockbusters in the weeks before it -- it's nice to see a little bit of variety for Friday's releases. "G-Force," with showings in two and three dimensions both, is an easy weekend win for families, provided they're not making a repeat (or first-time) trip to Hogwarts.

The CG animated adventure about a secret agent force of talking guinea pigs is a big-ticket item for a number of reasons. It is Disney's first (non-concert) live-action release shot in Digital 3-D. It is also produced by blockbuster-meister Jerry Bruckheimer in his 3-D debut. Then there's the knockout ensemble cast, which includes Nicolas Cage, Penélope Cruz, Steve Buscemi, Tracy Morgan, Will Arnett, Bill Nighy and Zach Galifianakis. Yeah, wow. Read more...

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. Conspiracy theorists who have been crying "hoax!" for the past four decades may not be terribly excited, but everyone else should be able to appreciate the significance of this momentous event. We went into space people! And landed on another planet! ANOTHER PLANET!!

Anyway. A lot of moon-related chatter buzzing Around the Blogosphere today. Along with a few other things that are similarly out of this world. Like unbearable movies and unbearable movie journalists. I don't like to sling mud at my colleagues, but names aren't named and there's some funny stuff to read. Don't take my word for it though. Follow the jump to see for yourself! Read more...