Swans on Tea

Pixar grants girl’s dying wish to see ‘Up’
From the minute Colby saw the previews to the Disney-Pixar movie Up, she was desperate to see it. Colby had been diagnosed with vascular cancer about three years ago, said her mother, Lisa Curtin, and at the beginning of this month it became apparent that she would die [...]

Movie Trivia: Mary Poppins
When the kids look surprised at all of the stuff Mary Poppins pulls out of her carpet bag, that was genuine shock. They couldn’t see what was being fed to the bag from under the table, so when she pulled hat stands and huge potted plants out of that regular-sized bag, the [...]

The best & worst movie time machines
I agree with the Back to the Future flux-capacitor-tricked-out-DeLorean being at the top of the ones shown. But The Harry Potter Timer Turner doesn’t count because it’s not a machine — it’s magic. And they are missing other, like the Terminator franchise time machine, which is so [...]

Via gg I see that there is a new vertex on the bologohedron, The X-Change Files
The X-Change Files explores the intersections of science and entertainment, regularly taking a look at the ways in which science is portrayed in film and television. Given that science is often the basis for provocative and compelling storylines, we’ll also [...]

RunPee.com
A website that tells you when during a movie you can dash to the bathroom without missing anything critical.
If only conferences had this service, for that balance between proper caffeination and the full bladder.

filmjabber: 50 Best and Worst Twist Endings in Movies
I kept looking for The Sting … and it wasn’t on the list! What an ironic twist!

Movie Trivia: The Wizard of Oz
This one sounds like a total urban legend, but Snopes says it’s true. The costume designers were looking for a very fancy coat for Professor Marvel – the Wizard’s Kansas counterpart – but one that had gotten quite shabby. Some of the crew went to a secondhand shop and bought [...]

ThinkGeek has a page showing a Tauntaun sleeping bag
Use the glowing lightsaber zipper pull on the Tauntaun sleeping bag to illustrate how Han Solo saved Luke Skywalker from certain death in the freezing climate of Hoth by slitting open the belly of a dead Tauntaun and placing Luke inside the stinking (but warm) carcass. [...]

Pub evacuated after Monty Python prop mistaken for grenade
[A]fter nearly an hour of analysis bomb experts realised that the cause of the scare was in fact a copy of the “Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch” used by Eric Idle to slaughter a killer rabbit in the 1975 film Monty Python And The Holy Grail.
Thank goodness [...]

The Godfather Wars
A story about the making of The Godfather.
[A] number of priceless ad-libs by actors that turned what was supposed to have been a low-budget movie into a masterpiece.
Examples: “Leave the gun,” Richard Castellano, as Clemenza, orders his henchman after they take out the traitorous Paulie Gatto in a parked car. “Take the cannoli,” [...]

Movie Trivia: The Silence of the Lambs
Gene Hackman originally wanted to direct and write the screenplay for the movie based on the novel. He was also going to play Dr. Lecter himself. But time passed and he lost interest; Jonathan Demme picked it up and wanted Michelle Pfeiffer to play Clarice Starling. She, however, thought [...]

Movie Trivia: Beetlejuice
Warner Brothers really didn’t care for the original title, which happened to be Beetlejuice. They suggested House Ghosts, which Burton hated, so he retaliated with the equally horrible Scared Sheetless, just to annoy them. He was mortified when they loved it and considered using it.