emptying my brain onto the internet since 1998…
for the heartwarming joy of kids being kids
A small British film made by the same guys who brought The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy to the screen, Son of Rambow, is a comedic look at two boys in the 80’s who try to make their own action film.
It was great fun to watch.
for fantastic heavy metal, both suit and soundtrack
This is how you do a comic book super hero movie. The guys who made the Fantastic Four should be forced to watch this and maybe they’ll understand why their movie was crap. Normally when a character from comics is brought to the screen, the first thing they want to do is tell you the origin of the character. However, most writers/directors don’t seem to quite understand that you don’t have to start at the beginning and tell a linear story. The audience, quite contrary to popular belief, is not stupid. They may gravitate to more visceral experiences of things blowing up than the more cerebral dramas, but just because they enjoy simply uncomplicated pleasures it does not make them mentally deficient. The Fantastic Four and Hulk movies dragged because rather than jump into a very interesting story and fill you in on the origin as they went, they decided to start at the beginning, which has little action and is a snooze-fest. Daredevil, while suffering from other problems (mostly, in my opinion, a miscasting of Bullseye and Kingpin), at least the pace of the film works well. With Iron Man they did decide to tell you the origin, but at least they were smart enough to weave the story of the film in with the origin such that they are not explicitly telling you the origin of Iron Man but instead telling you a story about Tony Stark during which Iron Man comes into being. It is a subtle yet very important distinction.
Anyway, I’m not going to go into details of the film because it was awesome and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. However, I do want to touch on the soundtrack, mainly because it too was awesome. The use of rock music in the film was superb, and the song choices were excellent. I was surprised pleasantly throughout the film as songs popped up and properly set the mood for the scenes, and even more surprised that they actually held off using Black Sabbath’s Iron Man until the end credits, because, frankly, using it anywhere else in the film would be like hitting you over the head with a hammer.
Fans of Iron Man should be pleased with the film as they did sprinkle enough “nerd knowledge” throughout to make the comic book geek in me smile without drowning me in comic references.
Fun, fast and fantastic, Iron Man gets a well deserved 12 out of 13 here… I’d have given in 13, but I do try to hold off perfect scores for stuff that is truly life alteringly spectacular.
for not deviating from the course
Four years ago, Harold and Kumar went to White Castle. Now, in the sequel that picks up right where the original left off (they are heading to Amsterdam so that Harold can hook up with Maria), they escape from Guantanamo Bay.
I’m not going to spend alot of effort reviewing this as trying to explain anything is just going to ruin jokes. But if you enjoyed the first film, you are bound to enjoy this one as well. I know I did. Its hilarious.
for bad zombies, worse jokes and even worse music
So, a little over a week ago, I decided to sign back up with NetFlix, which I had canceled a while back just because the wife and I were watching so much TV and buying so many movies that we never had time to watch our rentals. Now with TV in flux and not buying movies, we’ve got time… plus, since we use a PC to watch TV anyway, it gives us a great way to take advantage of the movie streaming available from NetFlix. Furthermore, as I work from home most days, it also gives me an opportunity to stream movies I might otherwise never see to my other laptop while I slave away on program code.
And this is how I came to watch Undead or Alive, a zombie western comedy. It was… bad. The zombies were corny and goofy, the jokes were lame (in fact the movie never crossed the line from “mildly amusing” into “funny”), all in all not really a good film, or even a good bad film. Don’t see it.
More after the break… Read more
for Card Counting fun and the best recent use of old Cowboy CurtisÂ
A couple years ago while watching yet another poker tournament on Bravo or some other channel, they ran a TV special about other card games, and their coverage included Vegas security and mentioned a book called Bringing Down the House. Surprisingly, I’d actually heard of the book before and even snippets and summaries of the story it contained, but that special was enough for my wife to decide she wanted to read it. She got the book (for Christmas or her birthday, I forget which) and she read it… then I read it. I loved it, and at the time I recall thinking to myself, “Somebody should make a movie out of this!”
Well, they did. It’s called 21 and it comes out tomorrow. I managed to see a screening of it a few weeks ago, and I have to say that they captured the book pretty well. Not exactly, of course, but the spirit of a team of people using a card counting scheme to win money in Vegas.
The movie had good performances all around, though I especially enjoyed Laurence Fishburne as the casino security man trying to catch the people “stealing” the casino’s money.
Completely 100% worth the price of admission.
for Terminator fighting awesomeness
When I first heard about the new TV show The Sarah Connor Chronicles, I was excited. I love the Terminator movies, and I always wanted to know more about the points in between, particularly the gap from Terminator 2 to Terminator 3. However, after watching the premier episode, I was left with a general “meh” attitude. The show certainly didn’t suck. It wasn’t garbage, but it also lacked a certain pizazz I was hoping for.
I’m glad I stuck with the show, because in my opinion it got much better… more after the break.
Normally, Wednesdays are reserved for zombie posts. But this week, I’m co-opting the Wednesday slot for a guy I know, one AJ Bowen.
AJ is an actor, and he’s from the Atlanta area. A couple of years ago, he and a bunch of other people made a horror film for about $50,000. Last year, they took that film to Sundance, where it was immediately picked up by Magnolia Pictures. And when I say immediately, I mean that talk started before the movie finished and, I may be wrong here, it sold that night. This movie is called The Signal.
I got to see it at a film festival in Atlanta last year, and then again at Dragon*Con, and then a third time at a screening a couple months ago around Christmas. Each and every time I’ve seen it, I have enjoyed it. And that’s not loyalty talking, The Signal is genuinely a good horror film.
As with other reviewers who have seen it, there are moments, few and short but they exist, where the low budget nature of the film comes through, but mostly the film just comes across as well made, with some scenes actually falling into the “disturbingly real looking” category, which in my book is exactly what you want from a good horror film.
The setting of the film is that a signal is coming through electronics and it is driving people crazy, acting out on their impulses and urges to deadly effect. I say that is the setting and not the story because it really is, its the backdrop on which the real story happens. The real story is about a girl, her husband, and her boyfriend. The story is told in three parts, each from the point of view of a different character: the girl, her husband, and her boyfriend.
The Signal is not gross out torture porn, like the Saw movies or Hostel. Instead it is a well crafted story with elements of and rooted in horror. If you like horror films, I highly recommend that you find a theater playing this one on its currently limited release.
And no, before you ask, they did not steal the idea from Stephen King, the movie was filmed before his book Cell even came out, and they aren’t the same in any event beyond sharing a basic idea: a signal through technology drives people crazy.
for Confusing Yet Stupid Twists and Unneeded Characters
Rest Stop is supposed to be a horror film, but in the end its just a mildly disgusting film that leaves you saying, “What exactly did I just watch?” The 5 out of 13 I’m giving it is generous, it would be a 4, perhaps even a 3, but it had naked boobs in it, and they were kinda nice. Be warned though, I watched the unrated version, so view the regular version at your own risk because it may not even have the boobs. Overall, still not worth the time.
More after the break.
for Survival Panic, and Crazy Shaky Camera Goodness
Let me begin by just saying, if you go see Cloverfield expecting the traditional Us versus Them monster movie, you will be disappointed. The only real battles between humans and monsters are seen in the background, passing by or as “we” run through it. That said, if you go in looking for a heart pounding survival run through New York as it collapses around you, this film totally rock.
More after the break…
I’ve undertaken a project in Urban Dead: the revitalization of the cinemas in the city of Malton. To that end, I am forming a group in game called the Malton Cinema Patrol (MCP).
The stated goals of the MCP are:
Members should carry a radio tuned to the same frequency, a toolbox, spray paint, first aid kits, and weapons.Anyway… that’s all for now… Oh, I should say that the MCP is officially beginning with the Munford Cinema in Galbraith Hills. Though, with a rotter revive center just a few blocks away, we may be forced to move elsewhere.