Hollywood Goes Gaming, as part of Starz’s new Starz Inside series hosted by Richard Roeper, dives into the history of the union between the video game and movie industries and the fruits and rotten apples cultivated from years of development, blunders, and an occasional blockbuster.

The program really focuses in on the beginnings of this brain trust with films like Disney’s Tron, which were more inspired by video games than actually based on them. The epitome of bad licensing, E.T.: The Game, is touch on more than once as single handedly crippling the collaboration between the two industries and sending video game companies into the great market crash.

The program touches on a few big movies including Super Mario Bros., Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Tomb Raider giving some interesting tidbits that many fans might not have known about including the husband and wife tandem directors of Super Mario Bros. telling you how they really feel about the script and the film, and the backstory about how much work Eidos has to put into making Lara Croft into a marketing icon before a movie studio would even think about touching the property (and making all that fanboy money).

The hour showcase does miss a few notable entries including only touching upon the Resident Evil series (one of the most financially successful crossovers) not mentioning Final Fantasy, the hugely successful Pokémon, or Silent Hill and the huge stable of upcoming releases stuck in development, or moving forward like Alice and World of WarCraft.

When journeying on the flip side (games from movie licenses) the program only spends a few minutes showing examples like Superman Returns and never showing some of the critical blunders like Superman 64 and just about every animated film to game transition in the last ten years. Even a solid mention of GoldenEye 007 as one of the greatest games of all time would have provided enough lip-service to fans.

Catering to the controversy surrounding him, the special devotes a sizable amount of time to Uwe Boll, the modern day Ed Wood who is the antagonist to many video game fans. With his stable of release critically and commercially panned, and upcoming films already garnering unrespectable buzz, the scourge of gamers pleads his case with references to his boxing matches against his critics and his feelings when he gets a bad review. There isn’t much new here in the constant battle of gamers attempting to preserve their beloved licenses.

Maybe an hour wasn’t enough to fully realize the connection between video games and Hollywood, but what we do get is a respectable look at how some of the gaming world’s biggest properties made the less than successful transition to movies, and vise versa as the age of cross marketing continues unabated. Maybe a follow up in a year or two can divulge more information on modern day practices, including the outright licensing of a property before the movie is even completed. As a casual look at Hollywood‘s journey through gaming territory, Hollywood Goes Gaming provides enough topical information, but for the deeper discussion of business practice you’ll need to look elsewhere.

The Lost Book of Nostradamus is a difficult program to review because if one does not find the subject matter completely viable, a bias might inadvertently hinder the final evaluation. For the sake of full disclosure, let it be known that this reviewer does not believe in the prophecies foretold by the 16^th century man. With that said, the program does provide an interesting look into the recently discovered “lost book” of Nostradamus, allegedly containing the exact date of the end of the world and prophesizing modern events like the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the trials and tribulations affecting the Catholic church and many other events that happened in the last 100 years.

Whether these are true, or simple water color paintings shaped in the minds of the viewers to hold some sort of significance in today’s world is really in the mind of the beholder, yet The History Channel’s special takes a clever approach to present the viewer with one side of the issue and let the audience make their own decisions. Still, this approach is troubling because there is only one side presented throughout the two hour special. The producers decided to not including any dissenting members of the community refuting claims that the book was authored by Nostradamus. Mention is made to the fact that he might not have drawn the watercolor paintings inside, but it is firmly held that he did write the background text on which they are based. What the show ends up is a decidedly one-sided affair, which is disappointing.

The big hook of the special is the revelation of the date in which modern society will meet its end when a collection of cosmic events and constellations lining up will signal the end of human activity as we know it. Unfortunately the baiting of the audience is done far too often throughout the runtime, with each commercial break repeating the same thing over and over again, with the revelation being made two minutes from the end of the special.

Frankly, the special could have been trimmed down to an hour, chocked full of information, and still proved the same point. There’s too much exposition on lesser watercolors and how they relate today than focusing on the bigger ones (like a burning tower symbolizing the World Trade Center) or how an eight-spoke wheel and fire under a stick can symbolize the end of the world.

For fans of the prophesier The Lost Book of Nostradamus indulges them from beginning to end, but for more skeptical audience members, the information is harder to grasp and even harder when the opposing side is not represented during the course of the show.

It’s Saturday and another disappointing B-movie from the Sci-Fi channel, this time capitalizing on the upcoming Halloween holiday with Headless Horseman. Forgetting everything that happened in the Washington Irving story of Sleepy Hollow and its terrified residents, Horseman puts a more sinister spin on the tale of the headless equestrian owing up his existence to a deal with the devil for some backwards, hillbilly town to continue to exist.

Of course, in the vein of Rob Zombie’s colorful collection of characters from House of 1000 Corpses, the town is filled with brain dead hicks that sabotage cars every couple of years so the horseman can collect seven heads and continue to be appeased. The seven teenagers (how convenient) traveling to a party are the standard, cookie cutter staples including the cocksure leader, bitchy girlfriend, closed off sensitive bookworm who becomes the hero, the girl the bookworm likes, the bookworm’s best friend, etc. With no surprise, each is picked off, one by one, in a series of been-there-done-that deaths that don’t even compare to the most mundane horror films.

The movie continually strings along the staples of horror films, but being on cable, keeps away the gratuitous sex and nudity which usually saves your two hours, just a little bit. Instead we get a side boob shot of one of the mysterious towns’ people curiously changing in front of a door.

The special effects aren’t even up to Alien Apocalypse B-movie standards with most of the CG work done by, what seems like, a graduate student earning credits at DeVry. When seeing a shot of the horseman carrying out a head, it’s almost humorous how the actor has to keep his hand steady and in the same place (a foot from his body) so that the effects could later be put in.

There’s a point in the middle of the movie where you just feel bad for some of the actors having to endure the dialog, most of which is nonsensical, usually equating to “we have to get to the bridge and get help” only, like all horror movie participants, they stick around, trying to fight rather than run. You, in the audience, if you made it this far, simply stare in disbelief at how people can still write scripts that feature such annoying and dumb characters.

Zachary Weintraub’s script could feature any number of antagonists in the role of a monster collecting heads; it just worked out well to have a headless horseman around Halloween it would seem. Couple that with color-by-numbers direction, drama school acting, and a general lack of cinematography and there just isn’t much to like about Headless Horseman. The film is yet another generic, cookie-cutter movie spat out by those who didn’t make it to Hollywood, finding a home on cable, and making the next two hours of your life purely inconsequential.

Starz Annual Fear Fest usually delivers something all horror fans crave, a whole month of genre films, hour after hour of excellent, questionable, B-movie, amazing, disgusting, and enticing cinema that is both a guilty pleasure and some of the most memorable films of all time. This year’s Fest also includes the hour feature Bloodsucking Cinema, a look back at the history of the vampire film from the myth and legend to modern interpretations and genre bending engagements.

From F.W. Murnau’s original Nosferatu to modern films like Underworld and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the piece takes a careful look at the history of the film and peers into the window of what makes the vampire movie so enticing to movie-goers that it still remains nearly a century later.

Cory Haim in Bloodsucking Cinema

Starz Media manages to gather some big name director’s in the genre like John Carpenter (John Carpenter’s Vampires), Joel Schumacher (The Lost Boys), David Goyer (Blade: Trinity), and Stephen Sommers (Van Helsing) to relay their experiences with the genre, and how they tried to flesh out their takes on the legend. Commentary from Leonard Maltin, Ain’t It Cool News’ Harry Knowles, and Blade creator Marv Wolfman give a great reflection on how the sub-genre has really affected generations of filmmakers.

The special pays particular attention to several memorable entries in the vampire stable like Interview with the Vampire, From Dusk till Dawn, Blade, Underworld, Van Helsing, and The Lost Boys. Questionably added to that list is Uwe Boll’s BloodRayne which is easily one of the poorest entries in the special. Personal opinions aside of the filmmaker’s work, Boll’s inclusion is sure to turn off a great many of hardcore fans who may loath his writing and ‘filmmaking’ skills.

Stan Winston in Bloodsucking Cinema

Bloodsucking Cinema doesn’t quite spend enough time focusing on how the genre has branched off from the core mythology into other genres like the teen flick (Buffy: The Vampire Slayer) and comedy (Dracula: Dead and Loving It), instead just touching upon them with a simple screenshot of their respective one-sheets. It would have been nice to get some perspective from some of the director’s and special effects artists who shaped the genre on what they thought of the films coming to a point where they’re making fun of themselves because of overblown mythologies and sometimes bloated back stories and contradictory rules.

With all the movies included, the producers opted to go for the T&A wherever possible, which isn’t so much of a problem when it doesn’t feel as though they are trying to hard to entice the audience with talk of vampirism being a thinly veiled metaphor for sexual activity and eroticism. Sometimes the scenes just seem shoehorned and forced into the special to keep the audiences’ interest, which isn’t needed because Bloodsucking Cinema is an hour of horror pleasure in itself.

John Carpenter in Bloodsucking Cinema

Horror fans and especially vampire movie fans will find tons to love here, including some little trivia bits about some of your favorite films you might not have known (they added glitter to the blood in The Lost Boys, did you know that?). For those with Starz, you should be able to catch the special one of a dozen times over the next few weeks. For those without the premium channel, the special is worth the monthly payment, and the daily dose of horror is only blood-red icing on the cake.

FOX begins to roll out the new season with the third season premiere of high intensity thriller Prison Break. Season three sees most of the remaining (read: not dead) principle cast from season two back in prison, this time, in Sona, a Panamanian prison with no guards and ruled by the inmates themselves.

The premiere starts off directly where season two left off, Lincoln (Dominic Purcell) has been exonerated of all charges, but Michael (Wentworth Miller) was forced to kill a man in the season two finale, this time facing his punishment in the aforementioned hell-hole. In a turn of events that would be considered ludicrous on any other show, sans maybe 24, several other characters enter into the prison as well including FBI Agent Mahone (William Fitchner) who chased Scofield the duration of the last season. Mahone is set up by Michael in the finale with a boat full of drugs, and as he enters the prison he’s without the little white pills he popped all throughout the manhunt and begins to go into withdrawals.

The writers did what you would expect here as Mahone attempts to befriend Scofield knowing he’s the only one who can clear his name of the drug charges and subsequently break him out of Sona due to his masterful skills displayed in the first season of the show.

Showing up as well is T-Bag (Robert Knepper) and former prison guard Bellick (Wade Williams) who’s been beaten and relegated to cleaning the toilets. Although his cleaning of waste brings up the season’s initial big plot point and the reason Michael won’t be getting out of Sona anytime soon.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the writers utilize Lincoln now that he’s not the one on the run anymore, and doesn’t have the same skill set Michael had to initially bust him out of Fox River. The notable absence and seemingly written off character of Dr. Sara Tancredi (Sarah Wayne Callies) should be interesting to watch as the season progresses now that Callies has stated she’s no longer on the show, yet the character remains a very big part and the only motivation for Michael to stay alive and escape.

The season premiere successfully sets up the upcoming season with a greater focus on The Company directly instead of through proxies like the former President and Mahone. It’s a serviceable introduction to what we’ll see in the coming months, and all over-the-top plot points aside, Prison Break is still a hugely entertaining show.

After two years it seems as though the city of New Orleans is ready to be in the center spotlight once again. With film and TV production returning to the ravaged city, it seems only right that a new show, K-Ville, would actually take place in the immediate aftermath of one of the worst natural disasters to strike the United States.

The premiere opens with officer Marlin Boulet (Anthony Anderson) helping to pull flood victims out of the water, tending to their wounds, and rationing supplies. His partner, Charlie (Derek Webster), takes their squad car and runs away from the turmoil on the overpass, leaving Marlin for days to tend to the injured.

Flash forward two years to September 2007, two years after the storm and faulty engineering that destroyed parts of the city where Boulet has been teamed up with mysterious Trevor Cobb (Cole Hauser), a transfer officer from Cincinnati who, conveniently, has a deep dark secret to go with his ways. The pairing of Anderson and Hauser actually works out better than you would expect based on the pilot episode with Anderson playing his usual comedic self with dramatic overtones, much like we saw in his excellent work on The Shield. Hauser plays the straight man, Cobb is closed off to the world (we learn why as the episode concludes) but could also be the balance the emotional Boulet needs to keep his head in the game.

The pilot episode deals with a land buying scheme to obstruct the rebuilding of a troubled district. Without giving too much away, the plot plays out in a cookie cutter, color by numbers action without much in the way of twists and turns associated with it.

The on location filming in Louisiana brings even the cliché plot devices such as the disgraced cop desperate for redemption, and the good cop, bad cop routine writer Jonathan Lisco tries to set up in the first few minutes of the series. Even the hard-nosed but supportive chief is ripped right out of a Law & Order series, but the authenticity of the series is what gives it its punch, even with tired story elements.

Still, it remains to be seen how the writers will be able to fill up a full 22 episode season completely based in New Orleans and the surrounding rebuilding and crime. The show certainly has potential to be something more than a weekly B-grade buddy cop show taking down the baddie of the week, but if it sinks into that routine, when pared with the serialized Prison Break, you can’t expect it to last past midseason.

SciFi’s new Flash Gordon series takes a few pages from the highly successful relaunch of Battlestar Galactica and modernizes a classic series bringing in a new generation, but still able to bring in those nostalgic enough to give the series another look.

Starting as a comic before branching out into serials, movies, and subsequent TV relaunches, Flash Gordon has stood the test of time even while in the controversial eye because of its supposedly depiction of Asians, but none of that really relates to the re-imagined series which strives to put its best foot forward combining the cheesy effects and acting that we’ve come to expect from the serials of yesterday with the stories of today.

The 90 minute pilot introduces newcomers (and old fans alike) to the new Flash Gordon (Eric Johnson) and his sidekicks reporter Dale Arden (Gina Holden) and Dr. Zarkov (Jody Racicot) as well as introducing us to the not-so-merciless Ming (John Ralston) who is now more of a savvy businessman than dictator. He’s heartless all the same, but he doesn’t have the imposing image he did in some of the earlier visions of the series (and he’s not wearing spandex either).

The series plays out in a mix between comedy and drama never taking itself too seriously but never going for a punchline as well. There’s a fine line to be walked here, Firefly did it wonderfully while others have come up too much on the comedy side. It remains to be seen where Flash Gordon will end up in the delicate mix, and for that only time will tell. There’s an overarching storyline to find Flash’s father, who may, or may not be, alive somewhere on Mongo after being transported there thirteen years ago. Still the series will take on a story-of-the-week premise to move things along.

One of the strong points is capturing the atmosphere and lightheartedness of a serial in the form of a one hour series. What is bothersome though is the writing, particularly in the pilot, the dialog is almost cringe inducing at times and while it is suppose to move along at a brisk pace, simply writing off the fact that aliens now exist and I’ve been to another planet into next to nothing seems wholly unrealistic. How many people today are going to accept that fact so easily?

Even besides that fact, most of the character interaction is hokey, almost as if they aren’t talking like real people (maybe they’re the aliens). In the reviewable copy sent to the press not all of the effects were completed so only one can imagine if their cheesy nature falls in line with what we’d expect.

If you can sit through some poorly written parts, Flash Gordon is a fun way to spend a Friday night at home. Hopefully following episodes will be able to gel the characters better together and not sound like their lines were written by a ninth grade screenwriting class.

Flash Gordon premieres Friday, August 10 on the SciFi Channel with a 90 minute premiere. Check your local listings for time and channel.

The Two Coreys on A&E is a hodge-podge of similar reality shows that aims to break the mold by starring two of the 1980’s heartthrobs who, about twenty years ago, would have been plastered all over young girls rooms in poster form. Now Corey Feldman and Corey Haim are back with Haim living with Feldman and his Stuff-featured wife, Susie.

The episode made available for review focuses on the landmark vampire flick The Lost Boys with Feldman and Haim promoting a special 20^th anniversary screening and Q&A session, something Haim takes with the utmost importance because of his desire to write and star in the sequel to the film. Throughout the episode all the promotion comes a head with Feldman telling Haim that Warner Bros. is producing a direct-to-DVD sequel, without them. Haim, devastated, leaves for what appears to be a 12 hour walk only to return with a four-year-late wedding gift for the Feldmans. If you’re wondering, “What the hell?”, join the club.

The Two Coreys is a miss matching of sitcoms like The Odd Couple (Feldman is married, and a neat freak; Haim is single and a slob), The Real World, I Love the 80’s, and theatrical You, Me, and Dupree with Feldman’s wife thrown into the mix. In the end, each part is insignificant to the whole and the show just feels forced, mainly focusing on the antics of Haim and Feldman’s reactions to them.

Even the interstitial interviews only seem to feature Haim, who seemingly worked out some sort of deal to get his face out there after years of drug trouble and virtually disappearing from Hollywood.

The only highlight of the episode is the third act featuring the staff from Stuff magazine shooting Feldman’s wife, Susie, which should get you by until the issue hits newsstands in August.

The Two Coreys isn’t necessarily a bad program, but it’s a tired idea that’s been done to death from every network from ABC to TLC to G4, its just so unoriginal its almost a crime that shows like this can suck viewers away from much worthier scripted programming. Fans of the Coreys may watch for the nostalgia value, but casual fans will likely steer clear.