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Tuesday, July 27, 2010 19:10:48
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"We must meet this threat with our courage, our valor, indeed with our very lives to ensure that human civilization, not insect, dominates this galaxy now and always!"
- Sky Marshal Dienes (Starship Troopers) |
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Monday, July 19, 2010 22:07:26
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"I challenge you... Strike a blow for motherhood! Strike a blow for the American justice system! Put the 'can' back in American! Put the 'ju' back in jurisprudence! Put the 'con' back in the constitution! And put the 'dom' back in freedom!"
- Ned Ravine (Fatal Instinct) |
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Saturday, June 26, 2010 08:17:18
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"Well, I guess if a person never quit when the going got tough, they wouldn't have anything to regret for the rest of their life. But good luck to you Peter. I'm sure this decision won't haunt you forever."
- Lance Armstrong (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story) |
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Wednesday, June 23, 2010 00:26:45
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"I wasn't like every other kid, you know, who dreams about being an astronaut, I was always more interested in what bark was made out of on a tree. Richard Gere's a real hero of mine. Sting. Sting would be another person who's a hero. The music he's created over the years, I don't really listen to it, but the fact that he's making it, I respect that. I care desperately about what I do. Do I know what product I'm selling? No. Do I know what I'm doing today? No. But I'm here, and I'm gonna give it my best shot."
- Hansel (Zoolander) |
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Tuesday, June 15, 2010 22:07:07
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"Crazy? Some people think walking down the street muttering to yourself is crazy. I'll tell you what crazy is. Crazy is walking down the street with half a cantaloupe on your head, saying 'I'm a hamster...I'm a hamster'. Now that's crazy."
- Dick Steele, Agent WD-40 (Spy Hard) |
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Saturday, June 05, 2010 09:13:49
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"Let me explain to you how this works: you see, the corporations finance Team America, and then Team America goes out... and the corporations sit there in their... in their corporation buildings, and... and, and see, they're all corporation-y... and they make money." (Video)
- Tim Robbins, as portrayed by a puppet (Team America: World Police) |
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Wednesday, June 02, 2010 20:01:31
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"I'm telling you, it's jobs. We gotta get jobs. Then we get the khakis. Then we get the chicks."
- Joe Cooper (BASEketball) |
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Tuesday, June 01, 2010 07:14:59
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Saturday, April 17, 2010 15:01:45
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This afternoon I watched the Syfy mini-series Alice, a reimagining of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
Alice was made in a very similar fashion to the one they did a few years ago, Tin Man, which was the Sci-Fi Channel's reimagining of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Both mini-series were very popular, and I believe they were the two top-watched Sci-Fi/Syfy mini-series in the channel's history. The two original stories were similar to begin with, but Alice appears to intentionally mirror Tin Man in story, theme, tone, and style. For example, in Tin Man, the tin man character was just a person, with the nickname "tin man" because of his metal police badge - same here, with characters like the caterpillar and white rabbit being ordinary people with "code names". Both take place in the alternate reality long after the "original" story, with Alice and Dorothy both being drawn in to deal with events following their same-named predecessors long ago.
There were several recognizable faces, including several sci-fi actors, like Colm Meaney (O'Brien from TNG and DS9) as the King of Hearts, Teryl Rothery (Fraiser from SG-1) as Alice's mother, Alessandro Juliani (Gaeta from BSG) as the 9 of Clubs, and Matt Frewer (crazy time-traveler guy from that one episode of TNG) as the White Knight, aka Don Quixote. Kathy Bates (crazy stalker from Misery) played the Queen of Hearts, and there were several other faces I've seen before in various shows and movies through the years. The lead, Caterina Scorsone, hasn't been in anything popular before, but she did a reasonably good job as Alice.
I haven't read the original book, seen the Disney movie, the numerous other movies or musicals, nor the newest Tim Burton remake, so I don't know all the links to the original story, or how much they followed or butchered story items. But overall, I would say that by itself, this was somewhat entertaining, if a little long and drawn out - the 3-hour length is an unfortunate necessity for mini-series, but it probably would have been better as two hours. In my opinion, it's not as good as Tin Man, but better than some of the crap that's been released lately. |
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Saturday, December 26, 2009 15:26:48
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This afternoon I watched Avatar in IMAX 3-D. Incredibly impressive work, definitely worth all the hype it's been given for its visual effects.
I'm not sure how much of this was the movie and how much was the IMAX 3-D tech, but like I've read several places, you really can get lost in the action, as if you're really there flying through the forest. There is a lot of movement, not shaky-camera stuff, but still probably enough to make some people a little motionsick. As long as you can handle it, however, if you allow yourself to believe what you're seeing, you'll be amazed at the sensation.
The technology is still not quite perfect - both the 3-D and the CGI are not 100% yet, but they are definitely better than anything I've seen up until now. I don't know all the technical details, but the movie was shot at the standard 24 frames per second, which, combined with the strobing effects of the 3-D, makes movement a little weird at times. From what I've read, they're working on improving this technology, and hopefully for the sequel (of course there will be a sequel), they'll bump it up to 48 or 60 frames per second.
The movie itself was decent - I guess it borrows a lot of story from other movies, and doesn't really provide anything unexpected or brilliant. But Avatar is not about the plot or characters, but rather the effects. With a stunning set of visuals, and a story that does manage to stay reasonably interesting, they've definitely got a winner here. |
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Tuesday, December 22, 2009 21:48:45
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2009 has been a pretty big year for celebrity deaths. Here are my reactions to some of the bigger ones, and what I found most memorable about their lives.
(1) Billy Mays [07/20/1958 - 06/28/2009]
Billy Mays was the most in-your-face pitchman on TV, and his commercials were always fun to watch. His style definitely worked - it's hard to find anyone who doesn't know what OxiClean or Orange Glo is, all thanks to Mays's unique showmanship.
Video: Mighty Putty
(2) Michael Jackson [08/29/1958 - 06/25/2009]
This was by far the biggest worldwide event of the year, with millions of people tuning into every detail. After his death, people immediately stopped talking about his creepiness or possible terrible indiscretions, and focused on his music and early life. Thriller, Bad, Beat It, and Black or White are my favorites of the Michael Jackson collection.
Video: Billie Jean with first moonwalk
(3) Gidget Chipperton [c. 1994 - 07/21/2090]
The Taco Bell dog was an enormously popular campaign for Taco Bell back in 1997. I remember the first time seeing the commercial - one of the funniest things I'd ever seen in a commercial, just so ridiculous that it totally worked. I even remember having a "Yo Quiero Taco Bell" T-shirt with a picture of the dog on it.
Video: Yo Quiero Taco Bell
(4) Ricardo Montalban [11/25/1920 - 01/14/2009]
Ricard Montalban had a long and successful career in TV and movies. His greatest role was Khan in Star Trek II - the character was just the right amount of evil. Second best was Vincent Ludwig in The Naked Gun - one of the funniest movies ever made, and Montalban's character was hilarious.
Video: KHAAAAAAN!
(5) Henry Gibson [09/21/1935 - 09/14/2009]
Not a hugely popular actor, but he played one of the funniest roles on Boston Legal - Judge Clark Brown. Judge Brown was the namby-pamby judge who still lived with his mother, and was constantly manipulated by the main characters in court.
(6) Ed McMahon [03/06/1923 - 06/23/2009]
I barely remember Ed McMahon from The Tonight Show - I remember him more as the American Family Publishers guy, and the guy that hosted Bloopers and Practical Jokes.
Video: Hiyo!
(7) Dom DeLuise [08/01/1933 - 05/04/2009]
I never saw any of his movies, except for Robin Hood: Men In Tights, playing Don Giovanni.
Video: Robin Hood: Men In Tights - Don Giovanni
(8) Farrah Fawcett [02/02/1947 - 06/25/2009]
This picture is actually the only thing I've ever seen her in.
(9) Wayman Tisdale [06/09/1964 - 05/15/2009]
Wayman Tisdale had a long and successful career in the NBA, including his last three seasons with the Phoenix Suns. In addition, he was a very talented jazz musician, releasing several popular albums. He was just a great guy, and was taken early after a fight with cancer.
Video: Off Into It
(10) David Carradine [12/08/1936 - 06/03/2009]
I never saw Kung Fu or any of the other hundreds of things David Carradine was in, except Kill Bill (both parts), which were absolutely awful movies. The thing I'll remember most about him was the ridiculous circumstances of his death. Depending on who you believe, he likely died in the most embarassing way possible, in a...how do I put this...compromising situation (if you don't know what I'm talking about, just leave it at that - you don't want to know).
Video: Kung Fu: The Legend Continues
Other famous deaths included Patrick Swayze [08/18/1952 - 09/14/2009] (that guy from some crappy movie in the 80's), Ted Kennedy [02/22/1932 - 08/25/2009] (that old guy), Walter Cronkite [11/04/1916 - 07/17/2009] (that guy from the TV news), and Bea Arthur [05/13/1922 - 04/25/2009] (what's-her-name from The Golden Girls). There's also a ridiculously long list (probably a few thousand) of notable 2009 deaths over at Wikipedia. |
Tags: movies bestof tv
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Sunday, November 01, 2009 15:43:02
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The new direct-to-DVD movie Battlestar Galactica: The Plan was recently released on DVD. This movie is a follow-up to the hugely popular series Battlestar Galactica, the reimagined series of the same name from the late 70's. The new series ran for 4 seasons, and was an excellent addition to the sci-fi genre that has become popular again in recent years. There were some aspects of the show, including the finale, that were a little out there, but for the most part, people have nothing but good things to say about the show.
The series focused on the conflicts between the human survivors and a race of machines called the Cylons. The Cylons are a very complex race, and their story evolved significantly over the four seasons. The Plan is supposed to give you some of the back story of the Cylons from early on, things that you wouldn't have known during the run of the first two seasons.
Like the other BSG follow-up, Caprica (a.k.a. Craprica), The Plan pretty much sucked. It was exactly as described - the first two seasons from the point of view of the Cylons. But there was absolutely nothing interesting about it, except of course for the unnecessary gratuitous nudity (just like Caprica). I'm no prude, but it really looked like they just did it for the "Hey, we're not on TV anymore, so let's throw some naked people in there" factor. The interesting stories that made up the series were set as backdrops for the boring and useless dialogue of the Cylons, with a noticeably missing character of "Number Three" (Lucy Lawless). Watching this movie was like watching two hours of deleted scenes from the show - a little bit of "hmm, that's something new, but not all that interesting", but mostly "this is a bunch of boring crap that I'm glad I didn't have to deal with in the show".
It's just too bad that a great show like BSG has produced such crappy follow-ups. |
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Sunday, August 09, 2009 19:24:35
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Recently, a new trend in movies seems to be starting: lazy titles for sequels. You've got movies where the only difference in title is the word "The". In April, we saw Fast & Furious, the third sequel to The Fast and the Furious. Later this month, The Final Destination is coming out, which is the fourth in the Final Destination series.
In addition, we've got titles that sound like they should be the first movie, but technically are not duplicate titles: Star Trek is the eleventh film in the franchise, while the first movie was named Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The latest Rocky sequel is named Rocky Balboa. Rambo was released last year, which technically isn't a duplicate name because the first movie was named First Blood, though commonly referred to simply as "Rambo".
Then there's The Batman series (not just "Batman") and Aliens vs. Predator (sequel to Alien vs. Predator).
Here are some new ones that I wouldn't be surprised to see:
- Terminator (original was The Terminator)
- Superman (original was Superman: The Movie)
- Harry Potter (you know they'll continue this - it's too much of a cash cow to end)
- The X-Men (original is just X-Men)
- Star Wars (No episode number)
- Indiana Jones (He'll be 70 years old, but that won't stop him)
- Mummy (original was The Mummy)
On a related topic, here are some sequels that really shouldn't be made, but probably will anyway:
- Deuce Bigalow: Martian Giglolo
- Spiders on a Plane (Snakes on a Plane was great, but we really don't need a sequel)
- Superboy
- Saw XVIII (they're just never going to stop)
- Hannibal the Cannibal Steals Christmas
- Crank 3: This Time We Mean It (Not Really)
- Back at the Planet of the Apes (they left it a cliffhanger, but it was just so bad, they really should just leave it alone)
- Furiously Fast
- The Next Final Destination
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Friday, May 08, 2009 16:59:52
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When the trailers for the new Star Trek movie came out, I was skeptical about the quality of the movie. My main concern was with the re-casting of characters that we have come to know over the past 40 years, and how they could not be replaced. In addition, I believed that they were simply going to paint over the craptasticness of the movie with lots of special effects in order to confuse the audience into thinking that it was a good movie.
After watching the movie, I'd have to say that I was only partially right. There were many things that I didn't like about the movie, but overall I'd have to say that I did like the movie in general.
If you haven't seen the movie, then do not read below this paragraph. I'll just leave you with my opinion that while it's not really Star Trek the way we've come to know it, it's still a pretty good movie. I would, however, rank it 8th best in the movie series (6-8-2-3-4-7-5-11-9-10-1).
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
***SPOILER ALERT!!!***
Casting:
I knew going in that the characters of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott, Sulu, Chekov, and Uhuru were tied to the original actors, and it was hard to believe anyone else in those roles. However, since they had to re-cast them anyway, I think they did a pretty good job.
Characters:
Separate from the actors portrayals of the characters is the concept of the characters themselves. Much of the dialogue and the actions of the characters goes against what we know of them. This can only partially be attributed to the alternate timeline; the rest is an overwrite of the characters, which has to be expected given a clean reboot of the series, so I can't be overly critical of this.
Time Travel:
They've already done it in 3 of the movies (4, 8, and I'm counting 7, even though it was only back a couple hours). When I first heard that they were going to do time travel again, and bring back an older version of Spock, I thought that this was really unnecessary, that they could have done something else better. But it turns out that the introduction of an alternate reality leads to all kinds of possibilities, including sequels where events don't need to unfold the way we remember them, because it's a completely different timeline. I'd say this was an excellent way of avoiding having to conform to the traditional Star Trek story.
Cadets:
Maybe I missed something, but when you have a brand new ship that's the flagship of a fleet, you wouldn't assign a bunch of cadets with zero experience to run it. McCoy was a cadet who for some reason was a senior medical officer, second only to the chief. Kirk was a cadet who wasn't even invited on the ship, and became first officer and captain in a matter of hours. I would expect that a ship with hundreds of people on it would have a better chain of command. After all, in a normal day, there have to be a second, third, maybe even fourth shift, which means three or four levels of officers that should be in the chain of command before a cadet even is considered for the job, even if it is someone the captain likes. And being permanently promoted to captain and given command of the flagship, skipping the ranks completely, after a single successful mission, seems ridiculous.
Misc.:
I didn't like the 'stick a bug in his head to get him to talk' idea. That was already used once before, and really shouldn't have been done again.
The interior of the ship looked ridiculous - every part of it. What were they smoking when they came up with that design?
How many times do they need to change how the transporter beam looks?
I loved the 'red shirt' that came along for the parachuting ride - great homage to the original show. |
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Tuesday, February 24, 2009 20:59:23
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A couple days ago the 81st Annual Academy Awards aired. Just like every year, they picked terrible choices to win just about every category. I decided to put together my own movie award list, with winners in most Oscar categories. This list covers all time, not just the past year.
My winners are:
Best Picture: Office Space
- Runners-Up: BASEketball, Team America: World Police, Spaceballs
Actor in a Leading Role: Leslie Nielsen in The Naked Gun
- Runners-Up: Mel Gibson in Maverick, Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny, Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight
Actress in a Leading Role: Jodie Foster * (win in 1992) in The Silence of the Lambs
- Runners-Up: Angelina Jolie in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Ashley Judd in Double Jeopardy
Directing: Tony Scott for Crimson Tide
- Runners-Up: Mel Brooks for Spaceballs, Carl Reiner for Fatal Instinct, Stuart Baird for U.S. Marshals
Actor in a Supporting Role: Tommy Lee Jones * (win in 1994) in The Fugitive
- Runners-Up: Christopher McDonald in Happy Gilmore, J.K. Simmons in The Ladykillers, Cheech Marin in Desperado
Actress in a Supporting Role: Marisa Tomei * (win in 1993) in My Cousin Vinny
- Runners-Up: Rene Russo in Lethal Weapon 3, Valeria Golino in Hot Shots! Part Deux, Sandra Bullock in Demolition Man
Cinematography: The Dark Knight
- Runners-Up: Desperado, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Crimson Tide
Music (Song): Opening Theme in Star Wars
- Runners-Up: Spy Hard Theme in Spy Hard, Freedom Isn't Free in Team America: World Police, Men in Tights in Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Music (Score): Team America: World Police
- Runners-Up: South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Cannibal: The Musical
Animated Feature Film: South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
- Runners-Up: The Simpsons Movie, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): The Dark Knight
- Runners-Up: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, The Fugitive
Writing (Original Screenplay): Crimson Tide
- Runners-Up: Greedy, A Few Good Men, The Terminator
Makeup: The Dark Knight * (nominated in 2009)
Costume Design: Dodgeball
Foreign Language Film: El Mariachi
Film Editing/Sound Mixing/Sound Editing/Visual Effects: The Matrix * (win in all 4 in 2000) |
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Saturday, November 22, 2008 20:17:00
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Is it just me, or does the new Star Trek movie look like it's going to be the worst movie ever made? The first time I saw the trailer, I thought it was a joke - it looks absolutely awful. I've been expecting it for awhile now, ever since I heard that they were doing a prequel. There are just some things you shouldn't re-cast. Batman, Superman, James Bond, and other similar remakes worked because the characters weren't tied to the actors. William Shatner is and always will be Kirk - same for Spock, McCoy, and the rest of the cast.
But even aside from the casting, the movie looks awful. They're using crazy gimmicks - Kirk as a child being chased by a robot, a Kirk-Uhuru sex scene, an angry Spock, a monster-like creature attacking them, and a terrible redesign of the ship. It looks like they're trying to fill the movie with action to make up for the stupidity - if nothing else, the movie may have plenty of sci-fi action.
I'll still be there for the opening day Midnight show, but that doesn't mean I'll like it.
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Monday, October 13, 2008 22:21:03
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I don't know why I keep watching M. Night Shyamalan's movies. Every time I think that maybe this time will be different. Today I rented The Happening, hoping that maybe it would be good. Instead it was exactly the same as every other one of his movies - terrible overacting, unbelievable dialogue, and not-so-interesting supernatural twists.
The Sixth Sense really wasn't terrible, even with the overacting. After it was over, you can look at it and say "Well, I didn't see that coming. The movie may have sucked, but at least it's different." Unbreakable was terrible, and Signs was pretty bad as well. The Village was a little less bad, but still nothing special. Then top it off with the craptastic Lady In The Water. So I guess I really should have known better than to watch this one.
Next time this guy releases a movie, remind me not to watch it...But I'll probably watch it anyway, then complain about it. |
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Saturday, August 23, 2008 23:43:37
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008 22:11:29
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Just finished watching the 1980 movie Flash Gordon. It's hard to describe just how bad this movie is. Absolutely awful in every possible way - acting, characters, story, special effects, music, dialogue - all were just terrible. But for some reason, I just couldn't turn away.
I didn't have any idea in advance what the movie was about - it just happened to be on my Blockbuster queue - I never even saw a trailer. I thought it was some kind of superhero movie - I've enjoyed a lot of comic book movies lately like the X-Men series, Batman Begins, and the Spider-Man series. But I must have been thinking of the "Flash" - this turned out to be just some regular 80's sci-fi crap.
I normally turn bad movies off after no more than 15 or 20 minutes, but this was just so awesomely bad (to borrow a phrase from VH1), I had to keep watching. It just kept getting stupider and stupider - I felt like I was losing IQ points with every passing minute. I realize they were trying to make a camp style movie, but this was just overkill.
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