Author Archives: Maggie Van Ostrand

Maggie Van Ostrand is ashamed to not be a geek, but she’s proud to have once attended a Star Trek convention where Bill Shatner spoke to her. He said “Hi. Are you anybody?”

Maggie graduated from college so long ago, she can’t remember the name of it but thinks it was somewhere in New York. She majored in stuff that has nothing to do with anything she does today, except the classes she audited at the AFI. She knows little or nothing about comic book characters unless they’re drawn by Robert Crumb. She knows nothing of gaming outside of Vegas, and still thinks Moonlight was way better than True Blood. She is here because she reminds the publisher of his grandmother and he felt sorry for her.

Her favorites are anything by Billy Wilder, Godfather I and II, Lawrence of Arabia, & Young Frankenstein. She writes political satire for Huffington Post, was head writer for movie trivia TV show; writes a column about Old West characters; was TV comedy ghostwriter; humor columnist for newspapers and online publications, and other boring stuff.

Twitter: @magpie99
Website: www.maggievanostrand.com

TV Review: 24 8.12 - “3:00 a.m.-4:00 a.m.”

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Jack and Cole try to save Kayla from Tarin and his terrorist buddies. Meanwhile, Dana’s hillbilly plot thread continues to disappoint.

DVD Review: The 39 Steps (BBC 2008)

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The BBC adaptation of the classic thriller The 39 Steps is, by my calculations, the fifth version of John Buchan’s 1915 book. The incredible landscape of Scotland, vivid colors, and gentle acting performances give credence to director James Hawes’s decision to follow the book more closely than any other film adaptation.

TV Review: 24 8.11 - “2:00 a.m.-3:00 a.m.”

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Even without Renee or President Taylor this hour, there was plenty of suspense. What made this ep interesting was, of course, Jack Bauer.

DVD Review: Alice in Wonderland (1966 BBC Television Play)

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This production of Alice in Wonderland, directed by Jonathan Miller, is dark, surreal, and frequently haunting. Alice doesn’t smile and doesn’t seem curious about anything — just critical, and even bored. But the DVD is well worth the cost just for the extras and the backstory of Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell.

TV Review: 24 8.10 - “1:00 a.m.-2:00 a.m.”

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Colleges and universities all over the world are suffering with the enforced demise of the Jack Bauer Dammit Drinking Game. Students are just sitting around, beer bottles in hand, waiting, waiting, waiting. What’s up with Jack this season? Have TPTB sanitized him too much?

Burton & Bekmambetov to Produce Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

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It’s not enough to know that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves — Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov plan to tell us that Lincoln also killed vampires. What a guy!

Game of Thrones Gets Series Greenlight From HBO

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Springtime with HBO is sounding better and better. HBO has given the greenlight to a first season debut (pilot plus nine eps) of Game of Thrones, the George R.R. Martin fantasy series that has generated huge online interest already.

Dustin Hoffman Finds ‘Luck’ at HBO

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Dustin Hoffman has agreed to star in the new Michael Mann/David Milch HBO series Luck, joining previously-cast Dennis Farina and John Ortiz.

5 Best Picture Winners That Didn’t Deserve The Oscar (And What Did)

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Time itself is important to the merits of any Best Picture winner. I contend that the Academy should vote not every year, but every 10 years. By that time, Best Pictures will have truly earned an Oscar. Here are 5 examples of movies that won Best Picture but shouldn’t have, along with the classics that should have won instead.

THR: Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is “Truly, madly, wonderful”

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Alice in Wonderland’s Hollywood Reporter advance screening review gives the Tim Burton film a bottom line of “Truly, madly, wonderful.” That’s enough to get me to the theater for the public opening on Friday, March 5th.