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The protagonist of Lucky Them, music critic Ellie Klug, is one of those all-too-rare female antiheroes who makes the kinds of chronic mistakes traditionally associated with men in the movies: she drinks too much, sleeps around (and with members of the opposite sex who are often much younger than she is), and is on the verge of getting fired from her job. It’s almost weirdly empowering to see a woman onscreen who so unabashedly embraces being a screw-up. You could argue that much of her borderline destructive behavior is filling the void left by the disappearance of Matthew Smith, indie music icon and love of her life, but Ellie manages to come across as far more complicated than that--probably because she is played by Toni Collette, who instantly brings an extra layer of human complexity to every role she takes on. Here, she takes the stereotypically “unlikable” character of...

Critics complaining about formulaic popular films actually have some ammunition these days, thanks to the popularity of the late Blake Snyder's screenplay template, outlined in his best-seller Save the Cat.

Director Megan Griffiths's smart, nimble Lucky Them both validates Snyder in its adherence to his template, and breaks with him by jettisoning his most commercial advice and making the protagonist an older woman instead of a young dude. Ellie Klug (ass-kicking Toni Collette) is an eye-rolling, whiskey-swilling rock journalist who once dated musician Matthew Smith, a kind of Kurt Cobain figure revered by aging, tubby Gen-Xers.

He supposedly committed suicide at a waterfall and is now the subject of urban legends and Elvis-like sightings in the Pacific N...

Ellie (Toni Collette), a journalist for music magazine Stax, has just been informed by her editor Giles (Oliver Platt) that she has one last chance to save her job. All she has to do is write a story about her rocker ex-boyfriend Matthew Smith who mysteriously disappeared years ago and is believed dead. Before his disappearance, he was a beloved music icon like Kurt Cobain, and since his apparent death, he has become a legend, influencing a whole generation of musicians. With the help of her ex-boyfriend Charlie (Thomas Haden Church), an aspiring documentary filmmaker, Ellie sets out to find out if Matthew is still alive and if he is, where he has been hiding all these years. Her attempts to find closure, however, are complicated by her feelings for Lucas (Ryan Eggold), an up-and-coming singer-songwriter.

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Odd List Ryan Lambie 30 Aug 2013 - 06:41

It's not unusual for games to be cancelled before release, and some of them could have been great. Here's a pick of 25 promising examples...

Earlier this week, news emerged that Sega Studios Australia had pitched an idea to its parent company called Sega Reborn. These games would have revived some of Sega's classic names from the 80s and 90s - Golden Axe, Altered Beast, Streets Of Rage and Shinobi - and created new games around them, mixing tried-and-tested gameplay with high-res graphics and new ideas. The studio even put together a proof-of-concept video, which gave a rough idea of what a 21st century Golden Axe might look like.

For unknown reasons, Sega decided to pass on the idea, and Sega Studios Australia is set to close later this year - fittingly, perhaps, its last release will be a remake of Castle Of Illusion,...

Her Coronation Street character Maria Conner regularly kicks up a stink in Weatherfield, so Samia Ghadie had no trouble dealing with a giant toilet in a bid to prevent household sewage floods. The actress posed next to the oversized latrine at Manchester's Trafford Centre for United Utilities campaign 'Think You Before You Flush', which aims to raise awareness of what can and can't be sent down the loo. Ghadie, who has a 3-year-old daughter named Freya with ex-husband Matthew Smith, also called for wet wipe manufacturers to improve packaging labelling so consumers know not to flush them. "You'd think it would be obvious to put toddler wipes in the bin, but when the packaging says (more)...

If you thought there was nothing worse than being trapped inside an Abercrombie & Fitch store with hormonal pre-teens, thumping techno and headache-inspiring cologne, think again.

You've never been aboard CEO Mike Jeffries' corporate jet, a luxurious playpen where stewards are male models, Abercrombie & Fitch cologne #41 is sprayed at regular intervals throughout the day and carpets are vacuumed in perfectly straight lines.

According to a lawsuit outed by Bloomberg today, Jeffries and his "life partner" (as the lawsuit refers to him) Matthew Smith rule over the Gulfstream G550 with a compulsive attention to detail, requiring employees to abide by a 47-page manual that specifies everything from the seating arrangement of Jeffries' dogs to the precise temperature at which the crew may wear winter coats (50 degrees).

The documents in the lawsuit -- filed in 2010 by a pilot who claimed he was fired for being too old -- lay Abercrombie & Fitch's secretive...

Aspiring journalist Matt Smith tried to persuade The Daily Telegraph’s Joe Hildebrand to publish a piece he had written in the News Limited paper’s Inside Edition section. Matters did not end well, as Smith reveals in this guest post.

“Getting published in the Telegraph at all is a pretty massive deal for an aspiring journalist mate and you just blew it. Take your piece elsewhere.”

The above is, word for word, the e-mail from Joe Hildebrand that ended my chance of getting a piece published in their pages.

You may wonder what prompted him to respond in such a way.

I consider myself a freelance journalist. It’s not my day job (in the past year I’ve made $2000 as a journalist) but I enjoy the discipline of writing.

My bank balance might not really reflect this, but I have quite a few runs on the board when...

Coronation Street's Samia Ghadie has outlined her intention to stick with the ITV soap for another decade. The Maria Connor actress, who has been a Weatherfield regular since 2000, said recent events in her personal life have impacted on her decision. Ghadie's father died in 2009 following a battle with cancer, while she separated from husband Matthew Smith last year. Speaking to Ok!, she explained: "I'd be very happy if I was still in Corrie in ten years' time. I think because of everything that has happened in the last few years I'm trying not to plan too much ahead. I am happy for each day. "I often get anxious about things that never end up happening and it's such a waste of energy. I'm a terrible worrier but I'm working at that. "They say that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and I am definitely a stronger (more)...

Ifta-nominated filmmakers Souljacker (Origins) have received support from the Cavan Arts Office for a new live-action short to be filmed in the area. Sean Smith has written and will direct Irish-based horror 'The Gloaming' which will be filmed over two days in Bruskey bogland in Cavan. Filming is due to begin at the end of April, with Smith and his Souljacker partner Brian O'Brien looking to recruit as many Cavan natives as possible to fill crew roles. Already on board are Cavan-born Matthew Smith (assistant on Game of Thrones) and Kevin McGahern (Hardy Bucks), who will play the lead.

I’ve always been a fan of web series on big screens. Despite the obvious irony in that, web shows that are shot well (and in HD) just look better in a theater, especially surrounded by a hundred or so fellow web series fans. Celebrate the Web wrapped up its fourth installment last night with a screening of the thirteen entrants in its “Raising the Bar” festival at the Acme Theater in Los Angeles. The festival tasked web series creators from all over, with one entry hailing from the UK, to create an independent web series pilot in just 7 days. In a nod to the 48-hour film festival model, entrants had to incorporate three elements—a William Gibson quote, a globe image and the number 42. Taking home the Judges Prize last night was The Silver Lake Badminton and Adventurers Club (or Tslbaac for you acronypsters), from “Team Tax Deductible Charity...

Elite Systems has announced the release of 1980s platform game Jet Set Willy for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. The classic Zx Spectrum title will cost £1.19 and will be available to purchase from the iTunes App Store next week. The latest port of the game - which was designed by British developer Matthew Smith - includes an auto save feature, a separate infinite-lives mode and TV-out support for iPhone 4, iPad (more)...

If a television series lasts long enough, it will eventually get around to taking their turn at retelling Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and after fifty years, it was finally the Doctor’s turn. For its annual Christmas special, Doctor Who offered up a strong hour’s entertainment despite the overly familiar premise. Unlike most other versions, this time the Doctor freely admits his inspiration and has great fun with it.

Scrooge in this case is Kazran Sardick (Michael Gambon), an elderly man on a world where his family has controlled the electrically-charged clouds that perpetually envelope the world. Using machinery that only responds to his touch, Sardick follows in his father’s footsteps, controlling the clouds and inhibiting the lives of the people he considers beneath him. In a typically odd Doctor touch, the electricity coursing through the air also allows the planet’s fish to fly through the air.

Samia Smith thinks it's ''nice'' her 'Coronation Street' character is about to start dating again. The actress - who plays hairdresser Maria Connor, who was widowed in October 2008 - can't wait for her alter-ego to meet a new man in a new storyline, even though they won't compare to her real-life husband Matthew Smith. She told Bang Showbiz: ''It's nice, I just roll with whatever the writers are doing. ''Which cast member would I want it to be? Oh I couldn't say that, my husband's not a cast member but, you know, it'd be him.'' However, the 28-year-old actress - who raises 11-month-old daughter ..

The new season of "Doctor Who" kicks off this weekend across the pond, but if you're anything like me, you'll find a way to be watching when the series' new duo debuts on both BBC One this Saturday and BBC America two weeks later.

While "Doctor Who" has a long history in comics, it also occupies the top spot in my personal hierarchy of geekery (yes, even above comics) — which is why I jumped at the chance to interview the series' award-winning lead writer and new showrunner, Steven Moffat, ahead of this weekend's UK premiere. Longtime readers will recall I spoke to former "Doctor Who" star David Tennant during last year's Comic-Con International about his final season as the time-and-space-traveling Timelord, and with the sonic screwdriver passing to Matt Smith in this new season, I chatted up Moffat to get the scoop on the upcoming season.

I've broken the interview up into two parts,...

Coronation Street star Samia Smith has revealed how she managed to lose her baby weight following the arrival of first child Freya. The actress, who is married to property developer Matthew Smith, welcomed Freya into the world last October and has reportedly since returned to her original size eight figure. Smith, best known for her role as Weatherfield's Maria Connor, told Ok magazine: "My arms are more toned from carrying Freya so I am content now. I kind of lost a lot of weight in the first couple of months. I think it was because I was breastfeeding (more)...

Idw Publishing have announced a new Doctor Who Annual to be released in the United States in 2010. Revealed at the Gallifrey One convention at the weekend, editor Denton Tipton explained:

The U.K. annuals are always reprints, oversized stuff, where this will be something new and different that hasn't been done before. The annual is a Tardis-centric issue - it's not really a Doctor Who book, it's more of a Tardis book, so we've got some pretty cool ideas there."The annual will be written/drawn by three established writers for Idw's Doctor Who range - Tony Lee, Al Davison and Matthew Dow Smith - plus Hollywood screenwriter Jonathan L Davis who has written the main story.

The annual also features a short story by Matthew Smith and Tony Lee that leads into Idw's final arc of their ongoing Tenth Doctor range of comics (issues 13-16, entitled Final Sacrifice). The...

Our friends at Top Cow have sent us over a whole bunch of their upcoming new comics solicits for the upcoming months. There’s a lot of stuff to choose from and its har to make a choice, really. We may have to just go out and get all of them.

Check out the full list below, complete with descriptions, from the official press release. Of course, we also have some great artwork from these upcoming books to share with you as well, so enjoy that after the jump.

January 2010 Checklist

The Darkness: Shadows & Flame One-Shot Rob Levin/Jorge Lucas $2.99

Angelus #2 Ron Marz/Stjepan Sejic $2.99

Angelus #1 Signed Edition Ron Marz/Stjepan Sejic $14.99

Pilot Season: Stealth #1 Robert Kirkman/Marc Silvestri/Sheldon Mitchell $2.99

Cyberforce/Hunter-Killer #1 Lbcc Variant Mark Waid/Kenneth Rocafort/Eric Basaldua $10.00

Tracker #3 Jonathan Lincoln/Francis Tsai $2.99

Tracker #1 Signed Edition Jonathan Lincoln/Francis Tsai $14.99

Witchblade #134 Ron Marz/Stjepan Sejic/Michael...

The Doctor Who Christmas Specials have normally been delightful affairs, bridging the events of one season with teases for the forthcoming season. This time, though, The Next Doctor actually kicks off a season of four specials featuring the last time David Tennant will command the Tardis as the doctor as he makes way for young Matthew Smith in 2010.

When the special aired last December, there was intense speculation whether David Morrissey was actually being introduced early as the replacement. It certainly felt that way as we learned the villains would be the Cybermen and that Velile Tshabalala had been added as Morrissey’s companion, a woman named Rosita, which more than echoes the now gone Rose Tyler.

Clearly, that was not the case and was an interesting premise with so-so execution. In short, while visiting London on Christmas Eve, 1851, the Doctor comes up against a new threat but also a man acting,...