AICN Fringe Review

Last week was a pretty negative review of the pilot episode of Fringe. This week AICN weighs in and their opinion is much kinder. Below are some quotes but you can read the full review here.

I’d be shocked if we see another fall pilot this year as good as this one. Scary, funny, suspenseful and superslick “Fringe” will fire imaginations and, like the three Abrams-scripted pilots before it, leave viewers craving more.

That “larger, more shocking truth” business is interesting, and complicated. The description of superscientist Walter Bishop as “our generation’s Einstein” represents a rare bit of understatement on the part of Fox’s publicity department. Bishop is more like this generation’s Milo Rambaldi, the shadowy 15th century seer/inventor who haunted the events of “Alias” by designing technology he saw in our future. Bishop’s twentysomething son (who turns out to be plenty brainy himself) believes with Sydney Bristow-esque naivety that his chemist father made his living in a basement below Harvard University, “doing research for a toothpaste company.”

JJ Abrams Next Project

Thanks to an article in the New York Times, JJ Abrams has found the next project he wants to produce. The article, "Mystery on Fifth Avenue" discusses a house that Steven Klinksy had renovated for his wife and four children. Designer Eric Clough redesigned the house with a furniture and walls that conceal messages and other treasure but to get at them you have to solve a series of puzzles. A gallery explain some of them can be found here.

Included in the design is a soundtrack by Canadian singer Kate Fenner and a fictional book called "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler." The retrofit of the apartment was the decision of Maureen Sherry (the wife) after meeting the designer Clough. The decision to add the secret compartments and puzzles was a secret addition after the couple made vague references about wanting a poem hidden in a wall somewhere "as if were a time capsule."

From that came inspiration and his firm, 212box went to work devising the secrets built into the walls and furniture. That idea later led to a book about friends finding the apartment and making discoveries as they unlock its secrets. The book was written by his colleague Heather Bensko and later used to help the family in the treasure hunt.

It took over 4 years to complete the project, with Clough eating some of the costs and getting the help of is friends. The couple moved in May, 2006 and with a little subtle assistance from Clough began to discover the 18 clues that unlocked the various secrets. After a long hunt and many steps in between, the family finds...a hidden poem written by Mr. Klinksy to his family.

Personally I find the concept of an apartment full of secret apartments and puzzles intriguing and the idea of a movie around that grabs my interest. The story ideas are pretty boundless. Abrams could use the fictional book for his movie or do something wholly original. Either way, I am curious to see what develops from this foundation.

Fringe Comic Coming

USA Today is reporting that a Fringe comic is in the works at DC Comics regarding the Fringe television series that JJ Abrams created. The comic is expected to hit stands on August 27th two weeks before the TV series premiere airs. What the story is about is unknown.

Fringe Cast Photos; New Premiere Date

If your interested in checking out the cast in high quality style, check out the Fringe-Forum which has one for each cast member. Anna Torv (Olivia Dunham) is the one on the left.

Fox has also released is schedule premiere dates for its shows. The two hour pilot of Fringe was scheduled to premiere on August 25th, but that has now changed to Tuesday, September 9th at 9PM.

First Review of Fringe

Bloody-Disgusting has scored the first review of JJ Abrams' Fringe. They watched the 80 minute pilot and pretty much came away cold. They enjoyed the opening sequence with a violent event occurring on a plane but once the cast starts getting introduced and the story moved along couldn't decide if the show took itself seriously or not. The cast varied between outstanding to lackluster and veered into farce at moments. Basically his thinking that the pilot showed that much tooling was still need for the series run.

The full interview is here.

Cloverfield on Blu-Ray Coming Tuesday

Apparently I am a little behind on the loop but it appears that Cloverfield is finally coming to Blu-Ray. I thought the disc was released at the same time as the DVD but clearly I was wrong. Any case it coming Tuesday, has the same features ad the DVD and probably isn't worth the extra cost since the HD and sound is mostly irrelevant since the movie was filmed with handhelds.