HBO first unveiled the HBO Go service in February 2010, promising subscribers access to their favorite premium TV shows and movies inside their browser. It never really caught on. Today HBO revealed its plan to bring the on-demand service to the mobile front, and I’ve got a feeling this will get the motors revving. Come May 2, HBO subscribers will have instant and unlimited access to every episode of every season available through HBO on their mobile devices. Featured content includes “HBO original series, blockbuster hits, sports, specials and more.” The company has specified it’ll be coming to iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad as well as Android-powered ones. The service is free for (paying) HBO subscribers and it’ll work over WiFi and 3G. The interface mimics the one they’ve been using inside the browser and it’s pretty slick; check it out in the video above.
Rap icon Kanye West took his act to Indio, California this week to close out the Coachella music festival. YouTube streamed it live, and now it’s available for all to see; I’ve taken the liberty to embed the video after the break. The performance was phenomenal, to say the least. It was broken up into three acts, and ‘Ye made sure to please all his fans by spitting rhymes from all across his storied career. Everything from “Through the Wire” to “Stronger” to cuts from 808s & Heartbreak and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy were performed enthusiastically. Special guests included Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon on some Twisted Fantasy tracks, Pusha T on “Runaway,” and of course Kanye brought with him his wonderful ballet dancers. The cinematography is well done–it brings you up close and personal to the rapper and it also takes you into the iPhone and iPad dominated crowd. Again, the lengthy act can be viewed after the break; it’s split into to approx. 50 minute videos, so grab some popcorn and turn up the volume.
Pusha T’s solo career is about to go on fire. About a month after he released his first mixtape Fear of God he’s now let out a music video for the track “My God.” The Ryan Reichenfeld and Pusha-directed video hints at the G.O.O.D. Music rapper’s debut album at the very end. Fear of God 2: Let Us Pray is due out this June.
This little video’s gone viral and after you mash play you’ll no longer wonder why. Musical duo KarminMusic–comprised of Nick the keyboardist and Amy the vocalist–have produced an outstanding cover of Chris Brown’s “Look At Me Now,” a track I never really enjoyed until I watched this. Girl’s got game, yo.
Here we have the sequel to the November 2010 premiere trailer for Jon Favreau’s Cowboys & Aliens. It combines nearly everything we saw in that trailer with the Super Bowl 30-second spot and adds 0h-so-much more. In this brand spankin’ new trailer we are provided with more detail about Daniel Craig’s character and where he comes from. Apparently he was abducted by aliens and instead of killing him the foreign creatures dropped him into Arizona Territory in the year 1873. The weapon they fastened onto his arm looks to be a tracking device that ends up leading the alien race to the desert. Olivia Wilde has some speaking lines here, and co-star Harrison Ford also makes an appearance. Watch the trailer above, and hop after the break to read an updated synopsis.
Director Peter Jackson returns us to Middle-earth in this rather candid vlog that was released onto the web just earlier today. Though we aren’t privy to specific plot elements, this behind the scenes production video from The Hobbit gives us a glimpse into the weapons and costume work, stunt preparation, and it shows off a number of set designs, many of which are carbon copies from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. We even get to see the cast and crew kick off day one of production in New Zealand. Stars Andy Serkis, Ian McKellen, and Martin Freeman pop up here and there to provide some insight into what goes on during blocking and rehearsing. Let’s hope that ten-minute vlog sessions like this one become a recurring thing for fans hotly anticipating the Lord of the Rings prequel movies. Part 1 of The Hobbit is due out next year.
Today 20th Century Fox released the first full-length trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Too many ofs if you ask me. Anyway, the prequel tells a story where man’s own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy. Though the original Planet of the Apes came out in 1968, this one takes place in San Fransisco, present day. Now go on and watch James Franco initiate doomsday by ape infestation in the trailer above. The apes, I must say, look pretty life-like; we can thank the digital effects company behind Avatar for that.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes hits theatres August 5, 2011.
In his first post-Harry Potter venture Daniel Radcliffe will star in The Woman in Black. In it he plays a young lawyer who travels to a mysterious house to settle the affairs of the spooky mansion’s owner. And spooky this trailer is. Watch it and anticipate the film’s February 2012 release. Full synopsis below:
Based on the classic ghost story, The Woman in Black tells the tale of Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe), a lawyer who is forced to leave his young son and travel to a remote village to attend to the affairs of the recently deceased owner of Eel Marsh House.Working alone in the old mansion, Kipps begins to uncover the town’s tragic and tortured secrets and his fears escalate when he discovers that local children have been dying under mysterious circumstances. When those closest to him become threatened by the vengeful woman in black, Kipps must find a way to break the cycle of terror.
Larry’s headed to the great city of New York in the next season of Curb Your Enthusiasm and he’s bringing a boat load of special guests with him. They include Ricky Gervais, Michael J. Fox, Rosie O’Donnell, Michael McKean, Ana Gasteyer, and Bill Buckner. Get a behind the scenes sneak peek at the upcoming season above!
24 fans, I’ve got even more good news for you. Less than one month after Kiefer Sutherland confirmed a summer 2012 release for the film adaptation of the FOX show, 24 executive producer Brian Grazer tweeted, “Got off the phone Keifer yesterday [4/4] and we are very excited about producing the ’24’ movie for next year.” Grazer co-owns Imagine Entertainment with Ron Howard; the TV production company backed the show for all eight seasons. Good to know that Grazer is on board for the flick.
In related news, TVLine recently interviewed Elisha Cuthbert about her new ABC comedy Happy Endings and they managed to squeeze in a question about her future involvement with 24. When asked if she would reprise Jack’s daughter Kim Bauer for the film she said, “I would do it, for sure. It’s such a part of my career — and I would only hope that they would want Kim Bauer to be a part of it.” She concluded, “I’d be thrilled to go back to Kim anytime, but as of now I haven’t heard anything. So I don’t know!”
The newly renewedFringe returns with an all-new episode this week and as far as this fresh teaser is concerned…(spoiler alert?) Leonard Nimoy will be back, in some form or other. Episode 319 is “Lysergic Acid Diethylamide”; this is the psychedelic drug otherwise known as LSD. Whether or not it plays a role in the William Bell rebirth that has yet to be determined. You’ll have to tune into FOX this Friday at 9PM to find out.
I’m trying my best to come up with a theory here. Following his epic contributions to the Fringe season 3 finale, Nimoy publicly announced his retirement from acting. Over the course of the last couple episodes, Bell’s consciousness has found a home in Agent Olivia Dunham but soon it will have to find a new host. In all likelihood it will not be in the form of Bell but perhaps someone else, someone from the Fringe universe we’ve encountered before. I don’t know why I’m thinking this, but I can’t turn my mind away from Mark Valley’s John Scott who last appeared in season one. I’m well aware that he was proclaimed dead after the car crash, but reanimation is not a foreign term in Fringe land. Thoughts?
Update (4/15): Well there goes my theory. In an interview with EW, Fringe producer Jeff Pinkner shed some light on what’s to come regarding Belly’s return. “Leonard retired from acting at the end of our season finale. He was very sincere about that. But Joel and I and Akiva [Goldsman] were talking about the notion that William Bell would inhabit Olivia’s mind, and we came up with what we thought was a really cool idea. We called Leonard, and he just started laughing and said, ‘Okay, I’m in. How do you want to use me?’” Without giving much away, he says that “He’s participating in the show. It’s more than just giving us license … William Bell is present in the next episode, and he’s present in way that gives new meaning to alternate reality. But it’s very much Leonard Nimoy.” Hm, interesting. Perhaps he’ll appear in animated form (with his actual voice in tact), just like he did in the musical episode “Brown Betty.” All we know for sure is that this question will be answered tonight.
If you’ve ever watched a marathon of Pawn Stars on the History Channel surely you’ve encountered Rick’s go-to guy for restoring antique items. The man’s name is Rick Dale, and History has decided to create a spinoff show that takes us inside Rick’s Restorations.
AMERICAN RESTORATION features Rick Dale and his crew of loose screws at Rick’s Restorations in Las Vegas, Nevada, as they take rusty, beat-up items and restore them to their original glory. Whether it’s a giant gas pump from the 1940s or a Hopalong Cassidy bicycle from the 1950s, every restoration is a high-stakes business project where worthless rust is transformed into a valuable collectible. However, these restorations aren’t easy. Every project presents unique challenges for Rick and his team [including his younger brother and son], who develop inventive processes to finish each job flawlessly and on time. From old gas carts to timeless slot machines, the items Rick restores are part of the fabric that makes up American culture. Things just aren’t made like they used to be, but at Rick’s Restorations, old becomes new again.
American Restoration premieres Friday, April 15 at 10PM on History.
