New Peter Donohue Show! (If you were around 2 months ago)

Holy hell, I haven't updated since February? Thank god nobody reads this, or I'd be embarrassed. Annyway, I've made 2 and only 2 PDS (yeah, it's an acronym now) since I last updated, so I guess I'll post them here while nobody is watching.

First off, The Peter Donohue Show 4/17/09.


Wasn't that an exciting adventure! Now, The Peter Donohue Show 8/19/09, which is SO AWESOME, IT NEEDED TWO (count 'em!) PARTS! HOLY HANNAH! Also, it had an promo! I'll post it for you guys just cause I'm so nice.



Now, Part 1


And lets finish this up with Part 2


Splendorous! A new episoide should be up by Halloween (spoOoOoOoOoky!) so stay tuned! I'll leave you with Creed's Words of Wisdom (if you don't get it, watch The Office)

JK LOL

Ha ha freaken ha. Yeah, this is embarrassing. Remember that claim I made that I'd do one movie everyday throughout March? Yeah, that's not happening. More details to come later.

The Peter Donohue Show 2/17/09 PLUS A Magical Annoucement Full of Bunnies and Rainbows and Robocop!

God bless you Robocop!

Anyway, new video is up! Check it out. Make sure to spread it like your mom did last night! Hey!

"But Peter," you may be saying. "What is this announcement you spoke of in the title?" Well, I've decided to have a crazy good idea! Ta da! It's called March's Youtube Video Bash! What is it? Well, every day throughout the month of March, I will release a new fully original video onto my Youtube account! Isn't that wacky! More details to come soon.

The Peter Donohue Show 1/18/09 PLUS The Difference Between You and Me

I'M NOT WEARING HOCKEY PANTS!!!
(Note: Yes, I know in the movie it's pads not pants, but come on! Pants is so much funnier!)

You wanna know what's cooler than waiting a month to make your next video? Nothing! It's the best feeling in the world. You should try it sometime! Anyway, new video is up, check it out if you'd like.


Also, if you feel so inclined, you can head over to Healing Touch and read three, yes three, reviews of mine on some of the Oscar bait that's come out lately. Please do this. For old times sake.

The Peter Donohue Show 12/24/08 PLUS The Ultimate Christmas Present of All!

A new episode is up very late and much behind when I wanted it to be up! So see it today, or just wait till next Christmas!



Incidently, to my Jewish viewers out there, every time I say "Christmas," yell "Hanukkah" out loud.

This will probably be my last episode for a little while, due to post-holiday visiting, homework, and other badness, so look for new stuff about a week after New Years. On the plus side, I get to go to Boston for New Years and possibly see the Blue Man Group! I'll be quoting Arrested Development the whole time! See you at the Banana Stand!

The Peter Donohue Show 12/14/08 PLUS A Look Into The Mind of a Genius!

That genius is me, in case you didn't gather.

New episode is up! Check it out either here or through Vimeo, if that suits your fancy.

Anywho, Christmas is just around the corner, a time when race and religion moves aside for shopping and consumerism. So I decided to post my Christmas dream wish list for you to all look at and, if one of my readers is a secret millionaire (fingers crossed!), hopefully send me.

1. A CarMay seem simple to you, but when you are a 16 year old kid, this is the ultimate fantasy. I'll even take a super crappy one, as long as it runs.

2. Elizabeth Banks' Hand In Marriage
I'll stop asking only when you say yes, Ms. Banks. I can wait as long as you can!

3. A One Night Stand With Elizabeth Banks
Ya'know, if the whole marriage thing doesn't work out.

4. Every Video Game Ever
Yes, every console, every cartridge, every disc, all of them. Even Barbie Horse Adventure.

5. A Warehouse
Hey, I'll need a place to keep all those damn video games.

6. Morgan Freeman's Hand In Marriage
Ignore what I said up there, Mo-Mo. You know your the only one for me!

7. 1,000,000 views on Youtube.
Okay, now we are getting ridiculous here.

The Peter Donohue Show 12/4/08 PLUS Actual Blogging!

Hello all. It's been about a month since my last update, but let me explain why. I've decided to fall out of the movie blogging shtick. Quite frankly, it's way too much work to keep up with along with school work and it's not nearly as fun as you'd think. I'll still do movie reviews and the like, but if you want to be skimming through the latest movie news, I suggest checking out sites like The Movie Blog, Film School Rejects, and /Film.

But does that mean Victory Gin is done? Far from it! Instead, I'm just taking it into a new direction; actually making movies. I recently got a digital camera and will try my best to periodically create entertainment you guys will enjoy (I hope). Now, check out my first offering, a new show I hope to make a series, the cleverly titled Peter Donohue Show! Please please please PLEASE leave feedback on things to improve, change, and things you liked.



Happy landings!
~Peter Donohue A.K.A. Mr.Death

Twilight Gets A Sequel...Before It Is Released

More news for you Twilight fans out there. The sequel for this movie already has been green-lit. The Movie Blog tells us:

Although this franchise already has 4 books and the big plan was always to make all of them into movies… the studios will usually wait to see how the first film turns out and performs before giving the official green light to any sequels (does anyone remember Eragon?). However, it seems that the studio has already seen enough excitement from the fans to move forward with plans for Twilight 2 (New Moon) weeks before the first film even hits the theaters.

Please lord, can we stop talking about fricken Twilight? I haven't seen the movie, I haven't read the book, but I'm already sick of the damn thing! We get it, it's a popular book series and the movie is gonna make a lot of money (Don't even try to deny it. Even if it sucks, this movie's gonna be making a lot of dough.) but the hype for this movie is unbelievable! On the other hand, just a few months ago I was flipping out over The Dark Knight, so who am I to judge?

Anyway, this doesn't come as a surprise. Whether you like it or not, Twilight is gonna make money. So it's only natural they want to get all these movies done as quickly as possible before they have to explain why their vampires keep aging despite them being vampires.

Poster for Pixar's Up

Behold, the newest one-sheet for the much anticipated Pixar movie Up, coming to theaters summer 2009. This is by far one of my most anticipated movies for next year. It seems Pixar can do no wrong, and I have a feeling this movie won't break this trend. Thanks to /Film for the heads up.

A Shot of Nostalgia: How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Missed the first one? Read it here.

I know what your thinking. "Oh, the Grinch! You mean the classic Chuck Jones 30 minute cartoon that was made in the 60's? Oh yeah, that's loaded with Nostalgia." Well, your wrong. I'm reviewing the 2000-Jim-Carrey-starring-Ron-Howard-directed version. Ho ho ho!


Before we start this, I've got something to say. I didn't think I ever would have to say this, nor am I proud of it, but I need to get this off my chest before we start. Otherwise I won't be able to do this properly. You ready?

I kinda like this movie.

Now hold your fire! I'm going to tell you why this movie doesn't suck half as hard as you think it does. First of all, let me tell you what seeing this movie was like as an 8 year old. I live out in the boonies. Our biggest movie theater hold less than 200 people, and that's in the biggest theater they got! So when you go to see a movie, there are usually not that many people in the theater, maybe half the theater is full, tops. But with The Grinch, that way not the case. The whole theater was packed! And I don't mean packed as in all the seats were full. I mean packed as in people were sitting in the aisles and climbing on the walls to get a better view over the mass of people. Never was I in a theater where the audience was this excited to see a movie until Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest a couple years later.

Then the movie started, and the audience was so responsive to everything that was happening on screen. I'd compare it more towards when I saw "Weird Al" Yankovic in concert than a typical movie screening. Cheering along with laughing consistently throughout the movie. It was incredible and my favorite movie screening I've ever attended.

But you don't want to listen to me blabber about the movie theater I was in when first saw it. You want to know whether the movie itself is good. Well, it's not great, but certainly not worth all the terrible criticism this movie gets. Lets start off with the bad stuff. The flashbacks to when the Grinch was young are awful. Yuck. Watching them are painful. And Cindy Lou Who is really annoying. She's cute at first, but soon your just annoyed they're spending so much time on her in the movie. She's simply too altruistic. She also can't sing. "Where are You Christmas?" is just a bad song, and nothing you can say will change my mind. You could tell me "If you listen to this song, I'll give 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 dollars to charity," and I'd still say no. Partly because I know you are lying. Nobody has that much money. Most of the side characters are pretty bad too. Molly Shannon, who usually makes me laugh pretty hard, just couldn't get a giggle out of me.

Now for the good. First off, Jim Carrey is my hero forever. He is brilliant in this movie. I don't even know why, but that's part of the magic of it. He's just a funny guy to watch on screen, I guess. And the supporting cast did a pretty good job for the most part. Jeffery Tambor as the mayor was awesome! I love him! His character was pretty lame and cliche, but he definitely made the most of it.

Maybe I'm just an immature person, but some of the jokes did make me laugh. For instance, when Grinch says "This could change my entire outlook on life!" to which Cindy replies "Really?", and the Grinch says "No" and promply sends her through a tube that sends her into a garbage dump. AHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHhahahahahahah heh heh a ha. Well, it was funny at the time.

I don't know. It's certainly not a good movie, but as a kids movie it has it's charms and it won't make a parent want to maim themselves alive, like some movies out there. Still, I suggest sticking to Chuck Jones' classic cartoon version. This is alright. That is timeless.

September/October=No Good Movies

I love autumn.

I love the temperature, I love the colors that trees turn, I love how it's when my birthday is (October 8th baby!), and I love how it's when Halloween comes around. Yes, fall is a pretty kick ass time of year.

What I don't like, however, is how Hollywood decides to not release any good movies within the months of September and October. Seriously! What movies have come out recently that I care about? Eagle Eye? Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist? Beverly Hills Chihuahua?!?! Come on Hollywood, throw me a bone here!

Yes, the summer blockbuster season just ended and come November the movie titles will pick up, but isn't their any movies that are good which can be released within these two months? When the only movie I'm interested in seeing for two months is Burn After Reading, then we have a problem. Over the summer I can walk into a movie theater blindfolded and probably see a movie I was interested in. And studios don't release any Oscar bait because apparently Academy members have an attention span of 2 months and can't remeber any movies that are released prior to November.

I feel lost here. Come on guys, don't spill all your crap on us during September, October, and January. Spread it out, along with the good movies, over the course of the year. Anyway, I'm just venting here. Not like I have anything better to do. It's sad when the biggest movie release of the fall is Iron Man on DVD.

Ridley Scott Directing The Forever War

Fresh off of Body of Lies, it seems that Ridley Scott's next movie will be an science fiction epic! The Movie Blog reports:

“I first pursued ‘Forever War’ 25 years ago, and the book has only grown more timely and relevant since,” Scott told the trade. “It’s a science-fiction epic, a bit of ‘The Odyssey’ by way of ‘Blade Runner,’ built upon a brilliant, disorienting premise.”

The book revolves around a soldier who battles an enemy in deep space for only a few months, only to return home to a planet he doesn’t recognize some 20 years later, Scott said.

I must say that I am very very happy about this news! Scott has made a lot of movies over the years, some good and some bad, but I think we can all agree that his best movies tend to be his sci-fi movies, from Blade Runner to, one of my all time favorites, Alien. Seeing him back in his element is really great! Plus I'm always up for a good old futuristic war movie. Lets hope this doesn't go down the Starship Troopers route.

Twilight Trailer

Yup, here's a look at the newest trailer for the movie Twilight, based on the bestselling book.

Ehhhhh...I don't like it. Certainly is a huge step up from the abysmal teaser trailer, but that's not saying much. I've never read the books, but the movie itself just looks more horrible and horrible. The cheap production value, the poor casting, acting that sends me into convulsions, it all points towards a bad movie. Which is a shame to all the Twilight fans out there. I remember seeing the god-awful Eragon, which was based on one of my favorite books of recent years, and I'm expecting a similar fallout come November.

But I'm afraid that fans will be blinded by their love of the books. Look guys, Twilight may be the best book ever written and Stephenie Meyers may be the next Hemingway, but that doesn't change the fact that your movie is gonna suck. It may be a bit pretensious to be judgeing the movie before I see it, but I'm predicting that this will get a 30-something rating over at Rotten Tomatoes.

Whatever, I'm not seeing it. James Bond beats horny vampires.

Tron 2 is 3D

If you like Tron and 3D, then do I have news for you! /Film reports:

TR2N director Joseph Kosinski over the weekend, who revealed that not only was the Comic Con test footage filmed in steroscopic 3D, but the final film will also be filmed and released using the latest in 3D technology.

Urg. I don't see why people are going loco over this whole 3D thing. To me, 3D is really really distracting and takes away from the movie experience. Roger Ebert put it best, 3D seems wrong because it is wrong, at least from a perspective angle. Things don't bounce out at you in real life, they stay put! Plus I hate the whole glasses thing. That can really annoy me halfway through a movie. The only movies worth seeing in 3D are the old explotive movies, just for the novelty factor alone.

I don't see what people are freaking out about with TR2N. I hated the first Tron. I don't see why people are so excited to see a sequel to what is a pretty bad movie in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I like Jeff Bridges. I just thought that Tron was just a mediocre movie that deserved going down in history as a flop, as it should be. Fanboys, bring it on!

Russell Crowe Is Robin AND The Seriff in Ridley Scott's "Nottingham"

Wait, what? The Movie Blog reports:

How do you top the fantastic one, two punch of Russell Crowe (the single best actor alive today bar none) and Leonardo DiCaprio in the upcoming “Body of Lies”? You do a movie with a one, two punch of Russel Crowe and Russell Crowe. That’s Ridley Scott’s genius idea (no sarcasm intended) for his upcoming Robin Hood film “Nottingham” where Crowe will apparently play BOTH Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham.

The news comes straight from the helmer himself, with Scott revealing “He’s playing both!” exclusively to MTV News during an interview for his new film “Body of Lies,” which co-stars Crowe. While Scott held additional details close to his chest — saying they would take too long to describe — he did exclaim that Crowe’s dual roles would be “a good old clever adjustment of characters. One becomes the other. It changes.”

I don't know, Ridley. I do like Russell Crowe and think he's a good actor, but to have him playing the protagonist and the antagonist? Sort of seems a bit gimmicky to me. I just think it would make a ton more sense to just cast another great actor for one of the roles and Crowe for the other. Sure, Scott's probably doing this as a way of showing how much alike the sheriff and Robin Hood are, but you could probably do that more subtily and get the same effect with the traditional method.

Or maybe Scott is a fan of Eddie Murphy's recent movies.

New Stuff Regarding The Site

Hey, I just got a couple of things regarding some changes to the site.

-I am a high school student, so I can't spend that much time blogging. Due to this, you may notice little stints without as many updates as usual. Do not panic! I will fix this as soon as possible! ;-)

-From now on, I'm only putting little Digg buttons next to my original articles. Please please digg them! It's a great way to get publicity out there.

That's really it. I'm also trying to get my own website that's not a blogspot or wordpress! But that's probably off in the future a bit.

~Mr. Death

Paul Newman Dead

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am sad to report that movie star Paul Newman died on Friday. Film School Rejects tells us:

Early this morning, publicist Jeff Sanderson confirmed that actor Paul Newman died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near Westport. He was surrounded by his family and close friends. Paul Newman was 83.

This is truly a gigantic loss for the film industry. Paul Newman has had so many great movies and has made a huge impact on movies. Movies like Cool Hand Luke and The Sting both exemplify what makes him such a great actor. Ironically enough, I was watching Cool Hand Luke on Thursday, the day before he passed away. It's such a shame to see him go. My condolences to his family and friends. Mr. Newman, I'll gladly suck an egg and drink a glass of Gorilla Grape to you.

Speculation Time: Is "Housewife" The Wasp In Upcoming "Avengers"?

Hell hath no fury like a fanboy's wrath. According to The Movie Blog (who also gave us this snazzy photo), Eva Longoria may be one of the candidates for a hero in an upcoming superhero movie:

A can of worms was opened up this weekend when Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria was shot exiting the Marvel offices in Beverly Hills with a stack of comic books in hand, one of them happened to be THE AVENGERS.

Now, said can was opened today by the LA TIMES who gave this happen-stantial, if that’s a word, photograph some legs by saying she’d be good for WASP in the 2011 AVENGERS film Marvel has planned. The LA Times blogger goes on to talk about Wasp and her characteristics etc, just lending more and more gossip fodder to the fire.

I really hope she stole those comic books.

So Longoria may be The Wasp for the Avengers, huh? Personally, I think there is a good chance she might show up in Edgar Wright's Ant Man, which may also feature The Wasp. I haven't seen much of Longoria in, well, anything. But from the few things I have seen her in, I must say I wasn't impressed. And I don't think this is the role for her. She doesn't seem to capture the real spunky essence that The Wasp embodies. I think a more experienced (and better) actress could play out the part better than Longoria could.

But I'm jumping to conclusions. Who knows, maybe she isn't even being seriously considered. The Wasp may not even be in The Avengers movie! She isn't exactly a top billing superhero anyway. I wouldn't have even heard of her if I hadn't picked up Marvel Secret Wars a couple years ago (a series I would LOVE to see become a movie) so The Wasp may be omitted in favor of Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, and other more well known superheros. Longoria may even be a love interest for Captian America in his upcoming movie. So lets not jump to conclusions people. Still, this news is disheartining.

Burn After Reading Review

Hey, check out my review of the new Cohen Bros. movie Burn After Reading over at Healing Touch. Click the poster to read it.

It’s hard to really go into the synopsis much without giving anything away, and trust me, for this movie you want to go into it knowing as little as possible. But I’ll try. The story follows two moronic gym trainers (Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand) who stumble upon files from the computer of Osborne Cox (John Malkovich). Not understanding what these files actually are, they attempt to blackmail him with them. Meanwhile, Osborne’s wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) is having an affair with ex-Marshall Harry Pfarrar (George Clooney), and they get roped into this whole mess. Look, it’s really hard to explain, I suggest you just see it, and you’ll understand what I mean.

EXCLUSIVE! Interview with Igor Director Anthony Leondis

Hey guys, I was able to score a short little interview with the director of the upcoming movie Igor, Anthony "Tony" Leonidis. Here is the trailer for those who haven't seen it. We talked about many things, including inspiration, design, and comics.

Victory Gin: For those who don't know, what exactly is Igor?

Tony: Igor is an independent CGI animated movie coming out Sept 19th about a guy who isn't allowed to follow his dreams of becoming a mad scientist because he was born different- born with a hunch on his back. In this world a hunch on your back makes you an IGOR and you're treated like garbage. And when he finally gets the chance to build a horrible vicious monster, the monster doesn't want to be evil...she wants to be an actress.



VG: What was your inspiration that made you want to work in the animation business?

Tony: I grew up obsessed with comic books and much of my childhood was spent lost in my imagination. I filled hundreds, if not thousands of sketchbooks filled with fantastical beings who lived in magical worlds- and they all had their own stories. So as I got older I was naturally drawn to film-making, and doing it for a living. Best job in the world.



VG: Where did you learn to animate?

Tony: I went to film school part time in Boston and then went to Cal Arts. I thought I wanted to be an animator until I did my first bouncing ball test. I was like "OK....REALLY BORED NOW!" Design and Storyboarding were the most exciting parts for me so I focused on those two areas. I had two incredible teachers: Sue Nichols and Brenda Chapman. They both taught me so much about telling the story and telling the story visually. I will always be grateful to them for the extra time they spent answering my questions, going over my work, and really inspiring me with their passion for film-making. I also had a great mentor on The Prince of Egypt, (my first storyboarding job) her name is Lorna Cook. The education she gave me on the job was priceless!! People are very generous in the animated industry, if you are passionate they will share their time and talents with you graciously. It's like a family.




VG: How was it working with all the big names in your movie (John Cusack, John Cleese, Jay Leno)?

Tony: I get a little nervous before I meet the talent because so much of animation depends on the voice work. I want the actors to be comfortable with me so they know they can try different things and make interesting choices. Because we storyboard everything first in animation, before the voices, I need to make choices on how the character would deliver a line. But that has to be adjusted in the records because I want the actors to bring 'themselves' to the table, make choices that I wouldn't have thought of so the characters feel real and diverse. I hate it when all the characters in an animated movie speak with the same voice, usually the director's. (I mean that figuratively of course, not literally).

It's really all about getting what I need before the session is over- so I don't have time to be star-struck. But every once in a while I'll look up and think...is that John Cusack I'm directing? Or... Did John Cleese just record lines for MY MOVIE? Or wasn't Jay Leno just on TV like 10 minutes ago? CRAZY!

VG: What do you enjoy doing on your spare time?

Tony: I'm kind of boring actually. Besides reading and playing video games l love to create characters and their stories. For movies, comic-books, TV... I LOVE it! I'll never have time to MAKE all of them, but I just love coming up with them and creating characters. I love exploring the human condition. I guess I'm still that same kid who loves to gets lost in his imagination.


VG: Igor is obviously based off of a character from the classic movie Frankenstein. What is your favorite horror movie?

Tony: I love James Whale's Frankenstein, but my favorite would have to be The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. We had a screening of it in Cal Arts and I remember it BLOWING MY MIND! I grew up in a religious family, Greek Orthodox, so icons were always in my life. Icons are filled with symbolism: every mark, every color, EVERYTHING represents something. It's visual STORY-TELLING, and so, as I discovered, was Caligari! I was so inspired seeing visual interpretations of abstract ideas, it's what I grew up with. So that's why I'm drawn to expressionistic art and films I think, they're familiar to me. Everything is designed to convey a story or an emotion in an expressionistic way. I do that with Igor. I've talked about this before so if you've heard me say it, feel free to skip this part.

All the costumes in Igor are symbols and tell the story of the characters. Igor is a slave in his world, a prisoner, his hands are tied (again figuratively) so I put him in a kind of 'straight jacket' with prison bars on it. He has a cuff on his arm representing hand-cuffs. All the characters have their own story.

The world does the same. Malaria is a country without sunlight and it is filled with hopelessness. In our story Eva, the monster, brings hope to the world, like the rising sun. So I stripped the movie of oranges (the color of the sun) until we see Eva. She's dressed ALL in orange, and she has a collar that looks like angel wings. The movie gets more and more orange and saturated with warm colors as Eva becomes more and more a part of the story. Each set, character, everything says something. These are things the audience won't know, but will feel.

VG: How does working on a CGI animated movie differ from working on a traditionally animated movie?

Tony: The creative process is not very different at all actually, it's just the technical differences. Painting a cel vs. rendering a 3D character in textures...they each have their own challenges, but in the end it's all about telling a great story with great characters.



VG: What was your favorite moment during this movie's production?

Tony: My favorite moment of the production was when I saw the characters in finished full color models. Seeing all these crazy textures and shapes we put together come to life was so satisfying. During the process I kept expecting someone to say- 'this is too way out' or 'we need to pull back,' but it never happened. So everything in my crazy head, from Byzantine Icons to Caligari to my wacky sketches became real! It was like I knew them, they were friends. That said...I would NEVER presume to think I did it all on my own. My character designer Valerie Hadida, and Art Director Olivier Besson were my creative partners and brought so much of themselves to the project as well. But they were helping me find my vision, and seeing it was one of the best moments of my life.

I'd like to thank Tony for taking time out of his busy schedule to do this little Q&A with me. Igor hits theaters September 19th. Check it out!