Catch the “Fire”--The ABC Family Channel series “Wildfire,” which shoots right here in Albuquerque, is looking for new faces to act as background extras in the upcoming season. If you’re interested, there will be an open casting call on Thursday, Jan. 25, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Hilton Hotel at University and Menaul. The family-oriented soap, about a rebellious girl who finds excitement and romance at a horse ranch where she works as part of her parole from juvenile hall, is currently in its third season.

Bizarre fantasy creates uncharted worlds

One thing films do very well is transport audiences to another world. From Metropolis to The Wizard of Oz to The Lord of the Rings to Pan’s Labyrinth, films have developed a visual language that’s highly conducive to the creation of imaginative realms. Arguably, some of the best filmmakers in the world are the ones who can not only create previously unseen vistas on the movie screen, but convince audiences of their veracity.

Lean, mean Western goes all metaphorical in the end

Seraphim Falls begins with a bang. Literally, as a cowboy camped in the wintry Western mountains is shot in the arm by a faraway rifle. Abandoning both horse and weapons, he flees the campsite. This touches off a 20-minute, nearly wordless chase sequence in which former Union officer Gideon (Pierce Brosnan) tumbles down mountainsides, washes over waterfalls and basically does every damned dangerous thing he can to avoid a vengeful Confederate soldier named Carver (Liam Neeson) and his gang of gun-toting toughs.

TV on the Web

A year ago, networks were all trying (and failing miserably) to sell downloads of their most popular shows for iPod and other digital media devices. Why wouldn’t people be willing to pay $1.99 to see a low-quality, one-time-only rerun of a previously free TV show? (I don’t really need to explain that, do I?) Now, with the proliferation of TiVo and YouTube, networks are starting to figure out the benefits of letting people watch shows whenever and wherever they want. Instead of battling against the Internet in an attempt to keep multimedia-savvy viewers from abandoning traditional broadcast television in favor of cooler more high-tech options, networks now are embracing the trip-dub and all its gimmicky goodness.

Week in Sloth

The Week in Sloth