A few weeks ago, as the indie group Here We Go Magic traveled through Ohio, they encountered a tall, skinny hitchhiker who they quickly recognized to be the inimitable filmmaker/public personality/pencil-thin mustache enthusiast John Waters. The band members took pictures of themselves with Waters and sent them out to the twittersphere. John Waters’s presence in their van did not transform into a difficult-to-believe apocryphal story between friends over drinks, nor did it grow into the stuff of urban legend, but instead became a certified true web event simultaneous to the band’s immediate experience of it. For any fan of the ever-captivating and unique Waters, this unlikely scenario which was still somehow consistent with Waters’s personality was truly bizarre, interesting, funny, and perhaps even enviable. But Mr. Waters’s is simply the most recent in a string of out-of-the-ordinary celebrity encounters. Celebrity has changed greatly over the past few decades. Whereas stars of film, television, and popular music formerly dominated the imaginations of their public through their creative output and carefully orchestrated public personae (through interviews, red carpet appearances, etc.), today’s celebrities are characterized more by their public personae than any output to warrant it. The Kardashians, the Hiltons, and the VH1 reality stars of the world are simply famous for being famous (or, more accurately, for being born into incredible wealth). There is no longer a sense that one earns fame through creating something or contributing to culture.

This week, I’m showing off my dedication to the cause. I’m taking time away from my very, very (very) busy Sundance schedule to drop another edition of This Week in Blu-ray.

Rob Hunter loves movies. He also loves defusing bombs. These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVDs. This week features three MUST BUYS including The Hurt Locker, In the Loop, and Moon! (But Big Fan can suck it…)

This week, on a very special episode of Reject Radio, we avoid getting hit by a volcano. By. That. Much.

Watching a 4-hour long movie may seem daunting, but it’s an incredible reward when the flick involves love, religion, cults, bloodbaths, lesbianism, perversion and, of course, upskirt pictures.

It was once again Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs which dominated the weekend box office, with all the new releases Surrogates, Fame, Pandorum and all the rest coming up well short

The ‘Fame’ remake owes a lot more to ‘High School Musical’ and other films of its ilk than the 1980 original.

This week, we have three movies in wide release — Fame, Surrogates and Pandorum rolling out, and they stand the best chance of knocking off Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Or they may not.

Kevin Carr takes a look at this week’s movie releases, including Surrogates, Fame and Pandorum.

Neil is huddled down in the Magical Studio in the Sky, surrounded by movie bloggers like he’s in a boat of Cuban refugees, preparing for the blitz of sex and gore of Fantastic Fest. The Fat Guys fight off Klingon attacks and giant wasps while they talk about movies like Fame, Pandorum and Surrogates.

It’s time now to turn our attention to the fall though, and what’s traditionally known as Awards season, but nestled between the blockbusters of summer and prestige films of fall is a little dumping ground Hollywood calls September…

Before directing the upcoming remake of Alan Parker’s 1980 hit Fame, Kevin Tancharoen was a dancer in You Got Served. Now he’s planning a major sci-fi movie. Yes, we’re confused as well.

Apparently Fame is having a contest to find talented people. I assume they should have done this before casting the flick, but that’s beside the point. What’s in front of the point is forcing Neil to make a tape of himself dancing to send in. Let’s do this people.

MGM has debuted the second full-length trailer for their upcoming modernized remake of the 1980 Alan Parker directed film Fame, and wow does it have some jazz hands action going on.

When talk of a Fame remake first started, there were a lot of disconcerted fans of the original movie and TV show, wondering what this remake yoke would do to the beloved memory of the Fame institution.

The folks at MGM have revealed a new featurette style teaser trailer for the upcoming remake of Fame, the 1980 musical from director Alan Parker. And we’re posting it. Know why? Because we like dancing.

We’ve got seven new production images from Fame that are surprisingly good. Our culture might just be ripe for this sort of remake.