Dredd Movie Commentary

When word got out about a new Dredd movie, first thing I thought was why? Stallone‘s version of Judge Dredd was beyond abysmal and barely watchable. Granted, I  was never a Dredd fan but after watching Dredd, all I can say, “The helmet stays on!” Karl Urban is becoming one of my favorite character actor who does not mind in not being recognized in many roles as in, “Hey, that’s Karl as…” He is the complete opposite of Tom Cruise and though I like some of his films, he always looks like Tom Cruise regardless of the role. But not Karl; he’s different and truly amazing like Jeffrey Comb amazing. Aside from playing Éome in the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), and channeling the spirit of Dr. McCoy in the Star Trek (2009), there was a little film he did called Pathfinder (2007) which I enjoyed immensely. And yes, there was Doom (2005) but frankly that movie was a mess.

As I mentioned, “The helmet stays on.” This risk of not seeing the actor’s face was a gamble and not many actors would have wanted this option; hence Stallone. Karl is Dredd from start to end and that is a good thing. We can look at Dredd as noted in the film as the face of justice much in the way Darth Vader is the face of the Empire. Dredd is a solid character and is driven to provide justice; never wavering from his duties. Even in the face of overwhelming odds, while his grumpy cat expression gets grumpier, he does care and shows a compassionate side; just once. From a writer’s point of view, this is a classic example of show and not tell about the character and Karl does that convincing through out his performance.

 Dredd (2012):

The future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One - a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called “Judges” who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner. Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge – a dangerous drug epidemic that has users of “Slo-Mo” experiencing reality at a fraction of its normal speed. During a routine day on the job, Dredd is assigned to train and evaluate Cassandra Anderson, a rookie with powerful psychic abilities thanks to a genetic mutation. A heinous crime calls them to a neighborhood where fellow Judges rarely dare to venture – a 200 storey vertical slum controlled by prostitute turned drug lord Ma-Ma and her ruthless clan. When they capture one of the clan’s inner circle, Ma-Ma overtakes the compound’s control center and wages a dirty, vicious war against the Judges that proves she will stop at nothing to protect her empire. With the body count climbing and no way out, Dredd and Anderson must confront the odds and engage in the relentless battle for their survival. Written by Production

My friend and partner Mr. Gene warned me about the amount of violence in this film and honestly, I haven’t seen this much red since watching Robocop. The visual carnage is almost hard to look away as it is amazing well done and so well choreographed. This is one of those films to watch that if you’re having a bad day and need a violent movie therapy, this is the movie to watch. I have not been more satisfied and surprised on the some ways a human body can get f’ed up. Even more to this mix is the amazing Lena Headey.

This MILF-y actress from 300, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Game of Thrones, turns in a truly memorable performance. There is nothing MILF-y about her in this role and love how well she can play a great villainess. She is menacing and fierce just as she hideous and repulsive.

I am glad to have seen Dredd and it should have deserved a better opening. I am adding this to my dvd collection. This is truly something I recommend for you to watch and even own.

Look Ma, I can fly…

I was reading this piece on io9 about the relationship of being a superhero in a virtual reality can lend itself to you being altruistic in the real world. The article went on about how the test subjects used the VR tech. There were two groups – ones that could fly under their own power and another that flew but in a helicopter. When the experiment was over, the tester had knocked over a jar of pens. Of those that flew under their power were the ones that helped over those who did not help and flew in the helicopter. The article as went on to say that the power of flight might have contributing factor.

Now, those who follow this blog would undoubtedly want to have a superpower for a variety of reasons. Flying, I believe, would be high on the list for many people including myself. As an experiment, I typed in the word “superhero” on the 3 big search engines. Yahoo, Bing, and Google each had similar results when it came to images. (Give it a try.) A flying superhero or a Superman image appears first; which is kinda interesting. My guess is the concept of flying is so ingrained in our imagination and that it is logical to associate with the word of superhero.

Thinking further on this point, I had Maslow’s hierarchy of needs concept stuck in my head. When I was laid off from work and wasn’t going to school, I was at the lowest point in my life as the very basics – food, shelter, clothing were at times not being met. Moving on the Maslow’s next level can only be done when the level below is fulfilled and so on. Recently, I ran a 1/2 marathon which is the top-level, Self Actualization. This was something that was beyond I had ever done and could have only done in Maslow’s order. What if this sudden injection of superpowers such as flying would make leaps and bounds over the Maslow’s level and in some cases skipping them? In doing so, we have this new perspective on the world around us? In other words, if I was in the same experiment and was unemployed, would I yield the same results with the jar of pens? Were those flying in the experiment working and secured the each of Maslow’s level? If the answer is yes, than I would conclude my outcome would have become less than altruistic and here’s why.

If you remember the phrase, “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” I think this is what would happen to me because the Maslow levels are not satisfied. For example, I was poor and hungry and suddenly, I found a million dollars. Now, I am not poor but I’m still hungry. I may have security with my new wealth but not satisfied my hunger. In the process, I could become reckless with the money and lose it all. There would an element of instability/corruption because there was no foundation. On Star Trek: The Next Generation, First Officer Will Riker was given the powers of Q who is omnipotent. While he used his powers for good, he was getting corruptible each time he used those powers. He did not grow into those powers over days, week, years or even a lifetime; it just happened in a flash.

What do you think?

Separated @ Birth… Scifi Style Part 17

Let’s us call NASA out on this “SOLAR SAIL.” We all know this is code for a Phantom Zone prison for our criminals in the near future. Am I wrong? I leave the decision in your hands. On a side note, this is one of those moments were science fiction is becoming science fact. There are three types of solar sails spaceships that come to my mind. The first one is Count Dooku‘s ship as seen in Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones. The second is the Bajoran Solar Sail that Captain Benjamin Sisko re-created in the series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The last one was by far one of my favorite and earliest designs for a solar sailer ship was the one created in the original Tron. I am always in awe of a solar sail design and how a low tech concept can still work in the future.

NASA will launch the largest solar sail in history as soon as next year

Robert T. Gonzalez

Solar sails are all about “propellantless” propulsion — using photons from the Sun (as opposed to an onboard fuel supply) to push a spacecraft through space. Building on the lessons learned from smaller solar sail missions, like NASA’s NanoSail-D and JAXA’s IKAROS, NASA is gearing up to to launch the biggest solar sail in history as early as next year. It’s called Sunjammer, and at 13,000 square feet it is positively massive.

via I09

Death of Spiderman!!! WTF!!!

Here I am working in the post apocolyptic world the Mayans failed to eradicate. Mayan FAIL! I am sitting in a library kiosk bidding my time between patrons with my thoughts about this issue my friend Gene and I had talked about late last night. It would have been interesting if the world was destroyed because then I would not have to be here at work and, more importantly, hearing this news about Peter Parker/Spiderman dead. I’m sorry to say this is really nothing more than a business decision to increase sales. I think it’s the lack of direction and originality that placed us where we are today with comic books. Gene and I have had this conversation over and over again about the problems with comics. Basically, there is no right solution to the problem or should I say problems but let me list them to get them off my mind.

Price – Back in the 70′s, growing up with comics were not only fun but affordable. With a $1.05, I was able to pick up 3 comics a week from the local store. I was not interested collecting several copies of the same book in the hopes of selling them in the future for massive profit; I just needed one. I was enjoying the stories because they were fun to reading. Many times, the stories were complete within the issue and a few that had a small arc maybe 3-4 issues. I did not mind wasting my allowance because as each week passed, my collection kept on growing and I kept on re-reading my treasures. Over the decade and a half, my interests in comics were waning by my interests in females, clothed females and the price of comics were well past the price of $1.05 now for each one.

Stories – One of the main draws for me are the stories  that were told as well as the amazing artwork. For me, while I love DC with all my hearts, The Uncanny X-Men – The Dark Phoenix Saga by Chris Claremont was THE storyline growing up. A couple of years ago, I did a career day and I talked about my love of comics books which helped my reading. When I mentioned my favorite comic book storyline, I was recalling the moment how Jean Grey sacrificed herself on the moon fighting along her X-Men comrades. The pain of Scott seeing Jean being killed before him was unbearable and then ultimately leaving the X-Men. You could have heard a pin drop in the classroom as the kids were there; in the moment with me. That was a mark of great storytelling. You know you’re old when you find yourself saying, “Well, back in my day…” but while I read the comics today, there are complicated storylines and story-arcs that reach across multiple books if not the entire comic book line. If you missed one or two books, you were lost. The only way to enjoy them is to have a graphic novel collection to capture the scope but then the cost would be helluva lot more than a $1.05.

The BIG event – When the 90′s rolled around, the Death of Superman was the BIG event that made this old comic book reader shelling out money for this incredible story. Yes, there was Crisis on Infinite Earths, which came out before and killed many iconic characters, but the death of Superman was something unheard of and beyond what came before. Looking back, this is no different from what has happened to Spiderman, or the Human Torch or Captain America or …. This BIG event becomes meaningless over time and I refuse to play the game. I might read it but I don’t want to buy it. It’s one thing to have the hero kill or vanquish the villain and then years later the villain shows up again. It’s another thing when you plan on killing a major character to only have them return a year later. I was duped as a reader and I don’t want to be taken again. I don’t want to hear the words, “This changes every thing…” because nothing changes.

Over Christmas, I got an iPad which I was more than overjoyed with. My tablet from last year somehow got cracked and became inoperable. When it was working, I had downloaded digital comics from various apps and read what I could while online. The experience in reading in was awkward at times as I would have to change the rotation of the tablet from portrait to landscape or zoom in to read the text. I’m glad comic books are heading into this new medium but there needs to be a better way. When Gene and I were talking about the death of Peter Parker, I had my iPad open to a digital copy of Batman vs. the Hulk. While the file was a PDF, there are no software enhancements to read each panel close up except to zoom in, I was ok with this because of the size of the screen and the clarity was amazing. This led me to believe, I might have answer to my problem.

Since I loved collecting comics so long ago, I find no value in them today other than to read them online or borrow from the library. I have to go digital all the way. I am willing to pay the low rate, like Netflix low, per month to read the comics online or through wi-fi. I just feel this will be the only way that I can enjoy myself with comics again as well as access to my older comics which I don’t want to take out of my storage. I’ll put up with the constant killing of heroes or rebooting of series, I just want to have a wonderful time reading comics again without the hassle of buying.

 

Wait a minute. By George Lucas, I’ve seen this before.

This entry falls under there is no such thing as an original thought. Whether movies and tv shows that came out years ago are or scenes from one movie somehow work their way into another. One such infamous scene from the movie Prophecy  appeared in the rebooted pilot for The Munsters called Mockingbird Lane which drove me nuts. I just don’t want someone to say that wow, that scene was original when it is not. I’m sure that I’m just a few who really care about such things but it bothers me. It’s one thing to see the Odessa Steps scene from Battleship Potemkin being recreated in movie The Untouchables. You can check out the clip below and see how The Untouchables made a nod to the Odessa Steps scene without ripping it off.

Moving forward, this past week with the news of Disney buying Lucasfilm thus giving Disney the rights to the Star Wars franchise.  This brought up something that I’ve meant to post about. In the first prequel, The Phantom Menace, Kenobi is fight against Darth Maul after Jinn was killed. In a surprise move, Kenobi finds himself hanging for dear life. He forms a plan to jump back  up and use the force to get Jinn’s lightsaber and slice Maul in two. A nice way to end a scene but I’ve seen this before; almost shot for shot.

Back in 1985, the year I graduated from high school, there I just dated myself… because no one else did, there was a small movie called Starchaser: The Legend of Orin. Aside from the obvious similarities to Star Wars from the ship designs, to a lead character who looked like Luke Skywalker with a “light” blade, this movie mixed traditional and computer animation plus 3D to boot. Of course, the movie did not do so well but those who watched it will remember the climax where Zygon, the baddie above, and Orion fought. Eerily, the ending of the fight scene was somehow mirrored in The Phantom Menace between Kenobi and Maul some 14 years later.

Just like Orin, Kenobi was hanging for dear life with Zygon and Maul standing above them.

Orin uses his “light” blade to strikes down Zygon. Kenobi uses Jinn’s lightsaber to strike down Maul.

As a result both Zygon and Maul were both cut in half and fell to the deaths. (and yes, I know Maul comes back in the Clone Wars series but that’s besides the point.)

I’m not sure if you’re reading and even care but I just find it odd that two different movies just happen to have the same last battle scene. There you have it, my scifi rant for the day.

Mockingbird Lane on Hulu.com

Let me begin this entry on the right that everyone to like what they like. When you go a summer movie, you want to be entertained – point blank. Fanboys watching a movie, on the other hand, would crucify the film makers if their favorite superhero movie fails to live up to their expectations. Whereas a non fanboy, could not care about such details but like the movie anyway. Just like I’m sure some non Star Trek fan liked Nemisis because I sure didn’t. Now if you’re a fan of Battlestar Galactica, the original series, will know that BSG, the rebooted series by Ronald Moore, made a lot of fans upset by casting the roles of Starbuck and Boomer with female actors. I believe that over the time, when the series aired, we saw a much more interesting series than the original. That’s just my opinion, (I still love the old 70′s show.) I had just about enough, over the years, of reboots and re-imangings till I’m blue in the face; not like a Smurf. Now, enter The Munster, or rather Mockingbird Lane, to the growing lists of series/movies being remade.

Right from the beginning, I was not loving the series which started with a scene ripped off from the movie Prophecy, not the one with Christopher Walken but the one about a mutant bear from the 70′s. As the pack of boy scouts were being attack by an unknown creature, one camper was stuck in sleeping bag and tried to hop away. As seen in the movie Prophecy, the creature smacked the kid into a tree and all the stuffing came out. (Major facepalm).  Then we get Jerry O’Connell as Herman, who we see as a shadow of the Frankenstein’s Monster. As he moves out, he’s normal looking except for some stitch work around his neck. Sigh, creature makeup f/x on the cheap; reminds me of Smallville’s No Flight No Tights mantra. Next, this Lilly did not look at all like the pasty undead matriach and now can become a mist. So, 10 minutes in, I was really hating this series.

When I watched BSG, Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck became a non issue after I saw her in a card game. She had a stogie and almost perfect grin ala Dirk Benedict. She captured the essence of that character and then made it her own. BSG was more than just the original series. The show could stand on it’s own merits and go beyond. On Mockingbird Lane, Eddie Izzard as Grandpa Munster was my Starbuck. He looked nothing like the original character but I was drawn to him right from the start and me continue to watch the pilot. He delivered his lines in a beautiful, dry brit wit that made relish everything he was saying. From that point on, the pilot really came together and was on its own terms.

Much like creator Bryan Fuller‘s other series, Pushing Daisies, if Mockingbird Lane were to be continued, I can’t see this going past one season. It’s not a knock against Fuller but rather, the tone and humor of the series is really darker than I expected to and I think finding an audience would be limited. And yes, those who saw this with Grimm, which I dislike, would think this would make a great Friday night pairing lineup much like the Scifi Channel had many years ago with Farscape. Hell, I would continue to watch the series even on the Syfy channel if it were to be picked up. Watch the show on my blog or on Hulu and would love to hear your thought and comments.

G4′s ‘Attack Of The Show’ And ‘X-Play’ Cancelled As Network Transition Begins | /Film

I am at a loss of words for G4 cancelling Attack of the Show (AOTS) and X-Play. While I have not had cable for some time, I miss those days of geeky goodness. Like all things that must change  not all change is good. The Scifi Channel, sorry The SYFY Channel, has long been dead in my eyes for a very long time. The changing of the channel’s name failed to capture the essence of what made this channel great.  Hell, even MTV, back in the day, used to show non stop music videos. Then the channel created shows to showcase videos and then added other shows that moved away from playing videos all together. And yet, they had to create M2 to showcase music videos; huh, fancy that.

What are the plans for G4? I’m not in favor of making another channel for guys ala Spike TV. That channel was originally TNN (The Nashville Network) and completely remade itself. Fine. If that’s what you want fine but when you are not really changing a whole new identity what is the point. I feel that the same target audience that G4 is looking to attract is going to be the same audience as before. If that is the case, make better programming.  The SYFY Channel could have save itself by seeking quality scifi and well as older scifi series. I think that AOTS and X-Play would make a fine addition to the channel rather than having wrestling which I understand this was done for rating purposes but it does not fit the channel’s identity. In the meantime, enjoy the YOUTUBE clip of AOTS. X-Play and AOTS, you will be missed.

G4′s ‘Attack Of The Show’ And ‘X-Play’ Cancelled As Network Transition Begins

Posted on Friday, October 26th, 2012 by Germain Lussier

Two of G4′s signature geek shows, Attack of the Show and X-Play, will officially be cancelled at the end of 2012. The network is slowly starting its rebranding process to a more upscale, male audience (a la GQ) and the two pop culture centric shows aren’t part of that plan. Each will continue to air new episodes through December, including tributes with returning hosts, guests and more, leading up to their series finales.

Read more about the plans, as well as some new rumors on G4′s new direction, after the jump.

TV Guide broke the news of both shows ending their runs and ran this quote from G4 Media general manager Adam Stotsky:

via G4′s ‘Attack Of The Show’ And ‘X-Play’ Cancelled As Network Transition Begins | /Film.

 

Skyfall – The Latest James Bond

I’ve wanted to write about James Bond for a while. A few weeks ago, the internet was blessed with the release of Adele’s Skyfall for the new James Bond. Before I knew Adele was attached to the theme song, there was song called “Rumor Has It,” she did from her 21 album. When I listened to it, I knew she had great potential for a Bond song ala Shirley Bassey (and that’s a tough act to follow). At the 2:21 mark of Rumor Has It, the music and tempo switches to a slower beat and then she utters the line, “All these words whispered…”, this harkened me the days of Carly Simon and her song “Nobody Does it Better,” from The Spy Who Loved Me. And then, oddly enough Adele gets her own James Bond song.

After watching the video several times, I’m okay with it and I was glad to hear the little James Bond theme riff in the music. Having said this, the last two Bond songs, “You Know My Name,” by Chris Cornell and “Another Way to Die” By Alicia Keys and Jack White where interesting to listen to but for some reason, when a James Bond song does not include the name of the movie in the song itself, I’m somewhat missing it. Hell, A-ha managed to sing The Living Daylights in their song and in A-ha fashion made this one of my all time favorites. Now, I’m not saying that this trend has to continue but I just feel that there’s a stronger connection between the song and movie which binds them both good and bad.

Going back to Adele, the opening line is, “This is the end,” which I’m hoping is code for Daniel Craig‘s last outing as James Bond. If you have read my blog before on this subject, you’ll know my dislike for Craig’s Bond. For some unknown reason both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace justified another Bond movie with Craig. While I was sad to see Pierce Brosnan no longer with the Bond franchise, I was very happy with the replacement after I saw Layer Cake. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it as I saw Daniel Craig as James Bond which I thought I would see in the movies when Daniel took over. For example, just like when I saw the original The Saint, (not the Val Kilmer crap) with Roger Moore I could see the 007 role. There wasn’t much of a change with Moore from The Saint to James Bond. An yet, Daniel performance was totally lackluster from Layer Cake to Casino Royale. Except for one or two scenes of action, which I admit were great, I enjoyed him more getting hit in the balls in Quantum of Solace. Payback sucks, Craig. Where’s my Bond?!? Skyfall on the surface appears to be another slick bond production and I am willing to see it in the theaters but if this fails to deliver to my expectations, I will start a campaign to get rid of Craig as Bond. I am all for different actors to bring something unique and new to the role but Craig has gone through the motion and not delivered the goods.

Sorry I was gone but I was re-generating… not really.

This entry has been a long time coming. I think the last thing I wrote about was my dislike for the Pixar movie Brave. The reason why it’s crossed out is because this movie was not a Pixar movie in the sense of quality, uniqueness and charm. No, Brave was a good Disney film. To boot, Cars 2 was another let down for me. While I like Mater, having the story focus on him was not the best move. Yes, I loved Mater in the first movie but in little bits. Watching Cars 2 was pure torture. Okay, enough about my Pixar rant.

What I’ve been up to is finally landing a library job. I have been unemployed for almost 11 months and in that time had to cut back in expenses including internet. Luckily, my iPhone still has the unlimited plan for internet data from way back when but AT&T throttles you after x amount of gigs. (Insert smart ass remarks here.) This left me very little options to continue blog and podcasting. Needless to say, I miss do them greatly as well as doing other side projects. Now, that I have work and going to school, life is slowly getting back to order though my family and I are very deeply in debt.

Of the few times I actually went to the movies this summer, either being treated or giving blood for movie tickets, only two movies which made my top list of must watch and must have movies – The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises. The Avengers I saw 3x in the theater which I have not done since the days of the original Star Wars back in ’77. The Dark Knight was one of the most satisfying endings to a trilogy that was consistent all the way through. One of the highlights was watching Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and her driving the Bat Pod. (Yes, it’s a guy thing.) I loved the combination of the Knightfall and No Man’s Land comic book storylines. On a side note, both movie soundtracks were less than impressive. The Avengers theme and The Fire Rises for Batman were my favorites. This harkened back to the 3rd and final Indiana Jones movie where, I love John Williams but the score was nothing memorable. I know they all can’t be winners but it wasn’t even close. And yes, I said the 3rd and final Indy movie because the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a complete waste of time. Now the worst of the bunch in summer movies were Battleship, Men in Black III, Prometheus, The Amazing Spiderman, and Total Recall.

Ah, Battleship, you sunk my childhood. But really, this was movie was done with this simple premise in mind aliens vs humans in a bathtub. It had the whole logic of a six year old despite the fact the f/x were amazing. I love Peter Berg‘s work like The Kingdom and Hancock though the last 3rd of the movie was edited to cut for time. (there is more on the floor to fix this movie.) Plus, Peter was at one time going to remake Dune. While this project fell through, I actually believed in Peter’s directing skills but here there was not much to get an emotional connection to anyone. Plus, the movie had a scene from Star Trek: First Contact where the aliens where building a dish like the Borg were with the Enterprise. What the HELL!!! For a summer popcorn movie like Waterworld this movie is watchable just don’t expect too much from it.

Men in Black III was not exactly high on my list to begin with. The only worthy note to watch this film is because of James Brolin playing the younger Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent J. He had the same dead pan delivery style which I love but overall the movie failed to engage me like the first movie. The movie had all the same bells and whistles to expect like the first movie though the opening with Boris the Animal (Jermaine Clement) , while funny, was too similar to Edgar (Vincent D’Onofrio ) from the first movie. I’m sure in another six years we’ll MIB IV where Agent J fights a Russian.

Prometheus was another movie with high expectation because Ridley Scott was helming the project. While the Alien franchise has been a big hit in my book except for Alien 3, I was all set to see how the Alien franchise was going back to how it all began… sort of. This movie had amazing effects, where alien-esque scary moments but felt many questions unanswered. Now writer Damon Lindelof of Lost told a story that was very much like the Lost tv series. Many questions were posed, some answered and many left unanswered. Now, I’m ok with the later provided there is going to be another Prometheus movie. With Lost, I was satisfied with the ending even though some questions never got answered but there was 6 season of storytelling – Prometheus was just a single story and I think this is where it left many fans scratching there heads about what is going to happen next.

Now The Amazing Spiderman had something going for it right from the onset – Andfrew Garfield. I liked him enough in The Social Network movie and could see him as Peter Park. Putting that aside, the retelling of the origin movie was not necessary. This movie should have been treated as the same as James Bond – here’s the character, here’s the story, here’s the bond girl and off you go. The movie wasted too much time with the origin as well as the lackluster villian that we’ve been waiting for three movies to see, Dr. Connors as the Lizard. The story failed to engage me. The romance between Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and Peter was very painful to watch as I felt myself not caring for either character. Now, if Gwen died…maybe. Unlike the first three Spidermans, Peter (Tobey Maguire) and Mary Jane (Kristen Dunst) was very believable as I felt like Peter liking the girl next door but never quite getting the girl. And yes, it two different movies but it was obvious the new Spiderman would not work for me. Hell, Aunt May (Sally Field) was a bore. If you wanted to do something new a different why not make her like in the comics in which she was an old spinster who hated anything Spiderman did. At least then, this would give this movie some bite and not me explaining to my kids that Sally was better as The Flying Nun and Carrie from Smokey and the Bandit. This was just a waste of good talent all around.

On a side note, last weekend David Blaine was doing another of his performance but with electricity. The outfit he had reminded me of a Spiderman villain which oddly enough found out that was going to be in the next movie. I must say that this is one of the lamest villains of all time. There are so many other villains to choose from like Electro, The Rhino, The Scorpion to name a few. : (

Lastly, there is Total Recall. There was a day when I went to Game Stop with my son to pick up a new game for his DS. The clerk and I started to talk about my Spock “You better Trek yourself before you wreck yourself” when the trailer for Total Recall came on. I was shaking my head in disbelief when the clerk said that he couldn’t wait to see it. I said there was nothing wrong with the original for it to be remade. His response, “There was a Total Recall 1?” I did a mental facepalm. This clerk had no idea and I was about to ask how old he was. I did my best to hide the pain and left it at that. Now, when you say to your best friend let’s go watch Total Recall, you really have nothing else to do. In a weird sign, about 1/2 the movie the film projector blew up. However, not once did I think there was an incident occurring that was similar to the shooting in Aurora. I just laughed my ass off because the projector could not handle playing this crappy movie. And it was pure crap through and through but eventually, I watched it online to see how the movie ended. Trust me when I say this movie was a complete waste of time. I was not entertained in the least and a summer movie should be able to deliver some thrills.

So aside from my summer movie rants, there is nothing else that’s new to report. Now, I do want to pick up the ashes of my blog and podcast to it’s former glory but I feel this may not happen any time soon. I need to focus on finishing my library degree so that my job prospects will never be as bad as they were this past year. I’ll keep writing every once in a while when I come across something I have to get off my chance and internet access to write about. Right now, the library is not exactly jumping with activity and I have another 3 hours to go before I call it a night. But at least for now, you know that I’m still around and moving forward.

Here’s a pic of Stitch as General Grevious at my work desk.

Brave – Movie Commentary

Since the first Pixar movie I saw back in 1995, there hasn’t been a Pixar film I didn’t like. Well, let me revise that statement. I didn’t care for Cars because many of the car themed jokes kinda flew over my head. I wasn’t a car guy nor did I have the same passionate memories of driving on Route 66 as Steve Lasseter. When I watched the Cars DVD, I understood where Steve was coming from with his ideas for Cars but it took me a while to just like it. With Cars 2, the focus on Mater would have been fine if that was the focus. Lightning McQueen was the star of the Cars and yet the character of Mater was a big surprise. Even the saturday morning Disney Pixar Mater’s Tall Tales shorts between cartoons really pushed Mater into the limelight. Which is why, I’m sure, someone said, “Why don’t we you have more Mater in Cars 2?” As a result, we had a sequel that failed to capture the same Lassester spirit from the first movie and work off the humor from Mater’s Tall Tales. Cars 2 was not worth the time nor money to spend in the theaters. This could have gone straight to DVD and called it a day. The reason why I bring this up in the first place is because I thought Cars 2 was the first chink in the Pixar amor. After watching Brave, the chink is now becoming a crack.

************SPOILER ALERT***********

So what happened with Brave? A tell tale sign that a movie has problems would be how many writer were used. In this case, Brave had 4 writers. The rule of thumb for me is that if you have 3 or more writers you’re in trouble. However, 6 of the 13 Pixar movie had more than three writer so this blows my theory out the window. Still, I could tell that something was a miss when once the conflict was establish for Princess Merida. Having sought a witch to change her fate, ripped from the Disney playbook, the mother, Queen Elinor was changed into a bear after eating an enchanted tart. Hmmm, poisoned apple anyone? Oh Brother Bear, where are thou??? Really, Pixar?!? This was the best you could do? Any trailers of the movie, up till now, never showed the whole Bear storyline. The trailer always focused in the princess and the archery scene. Now, I can see why this was left out.

In fairness, Brave is wonderful movie to look at especially the flowing red hair of Princess Merida. I am always looking for strong female characters for my daughter to watch as a role model. Brave could have been and should have been more than just another Disney Princess