District 9

(please please please, if you were considering seeing this movie, just go see it. Don't read reviews or spoilers because you get more enjoyment out of it if it just surprises you and is unexpected.)

Okay here is the deal: District 9 is brilliant. It is the best movie this year. Yes, I thought it was more enjoyable than Up. And it took quite a bit of effort to prove to me that something could be better than Up this year.

So here's the basic basic premise: In an alternate time line to our own, a alien ship appeared over Johannesburg, South Africa. Soon they find Aliens inside, derogatorily called Prawns. They then move the aliens into a segregated district called District 9. The story is then about moving them from their current location District 9 to a new location, district 10. The aliens are refugees and can't get leave the planet Earth.

I've got to hand it to the Director/Co-Writer, he managed to(with the help from an amazing effects team) to create a living, breathing world that I truely believe exists. I watched the entire film and most of the time, the effects were so good, I couldn't even tell if they were CGI or if they we're just well designed animatronics. As it turns out its CGI, but it is still remarkably impressive. The other thing is that not since LOTR(which I am not a fan of) have I believed a CGI character was real. I think that's an atestiment to the story and the creative team.

The message of the movie may appear to be obvious at first glance, that its a reference to apartheid. This is true, but there is a much deeper and more important meaning in a broader sense that deals with the rampant and incessant hatred and attacks that is so common in today's world society. This message is important and has a real impact on our world today, not just America or South Africa, but the world at large is a hatred filed place.

Other things that are impressive is the acting. I swear, the actor playing Christopher Johnson is the next Doug Jones or Andy Sirkus. I hate that our society is formed so that such talent actors don't get nearly the work or respect but really these are the true skill workers of their craft. When I believe that CGI can be better than the people around them then clearly the actors are doing the very best job possible.
On top of that, the lead actor is really really good for a virgin actor. Virgin in the sense that this was his first movie. And yet he manages to portray this characters evolution and trials. When you see him at the beginning of the film, you really would probably want to kick the brown noser in the balls and tell him to grow a new pair. But by the end of the film you are rooting for the guy to succeed and get to live a real normal life again.

Without exposing the world to spoilers, I need to say that this is a great scifi story. It's certainly a heroes journey and the birth of universe that I highly doubt won't be visited again. And I am okay with that. Part of me wishes I could dive into spoilers so that I could tell you about some of the truly awesome moments. Those moments that make you verbally go "Wow, that was so cool" to some guy next to you that you don't even know. But that is what this movie evokes. That old school sense of unity among film goers. I get the feeling that no one in the audience knew what they were in for because every reaction was so real and we were loving every minute of it. This movie manages to do some truly original things and some rehashed ideas for the low low price of 30 million dollars. When you look at your average movie, it usually runs in the 75-90 million dollar range. And honestly this movie looks more professional and feels more complete than a great number of big budget movies released this year. I'm looking at you G.I. Joe, Watchmen, Wolverine, and of course that Bastard Son Transformers2:Roflcopter. I want this movie to make bank, but more than that I want it to prove to the studios that if you let the creators have real control and don't try to force feed us garbage we will not only love it, we will come back for more. I'm contemplating coming up with a way to see it again because it was just that great of an experience. And it's not too often that I see a movie that I still love after several days of contemplation and in all reality, this was truly a film EXPERIENCE.

a quick note.

I'm going to be playing around with the visual element of the blog over the next month or so up to the point when I move at the middle of september, therefore, I'm sorry if based on the colors and such it's hard to read. I'm working on it, trying to fix it.

Pushing Daisies: Season 2 Blu ray

Pushing Daisies: Season 2 Blu ray
Le sigh. Okay so I love this series. A Lot. Its my favorite series ever. Ever. It features witty dialogue, beautiful aesthetics, great and beautiful actors and actresses, and interesting stories. The second season is a continuation of the first season(and really the two should be viewed together and form a fairly lengthy and somewhat open story. There's only one storyline that doesn't get any resolution but otherwise its a great series. I'd argue the best.
so why Le sigh? That is for this box set. Aesthetically, the box is fantastic. a little thinner than the previous box set, but its inventive packaging which is Unbelievably awesome, is smartly designed like the first season box. But then lets open it up. Okay, it looks and sounds great. this is fantastic. The aspect ratio is slightly different from season one, which I'm not entirely certain why, but whatever we love the show. Its great lets not nitpick that. They've outdone themselves technologically from the first season box set(where they fit 9 episodes on 3 blu ray disks) here they did 13 episodes on 2 disks. A clear improvement in their usage of the technology.
But now comes the real debbie downer of the box set. The extras. Yes they are interesting. The first feature which is advertised on the box and the menu as a sort of tribute to Creator Bryan Fuller is in fact more of a season retrospective clocking in somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes total. Alright, that's acceptable. we still have three other bonus features....ten minutes later....that's it? forty minutes of extras for the entire season? No deleted scenes. no commentaries. Where are the commentaries Bryan? I know you can do them, you did half of wonderfalls with commentaries, so where are they? grrrrr. I HIGHLY recommend this series to everyone.
If you don't know the premise, find some way to watch the pilot episode. The premise of the series is that first episode and it plays out so beautifully that a summary will almost detract from your enjoyment of that first episode, which could have stood on its own without a series.

Dollhouse season 1 blu ray

Dollhouse: Season 1 on Blu Ray

For those of you who don't know, and based on the ratings, a lot of you don't know, Dollhouse is the show about a group of "volunteers" who agree to live and work in a facility called the Dollhouse for a period of five years. The concept is that they agree to have their mind taken out of their body and placed inside that of hard drive leaving them blank slates. These blank slates are then able to be programed and sent on engagements, missions if you will, of different types as paid for by clients. As the Dollhouse is secret only the super rich can use it, and they can use the Dolls for any mission they want, so long as the dolls aren't hurt. The story focuses on two main characters, Echo, an active who throughout the seasons seems to be different from the other blank slates, and Paul Ballard and FBI man in search of the Dollhouse.
As his obsession grows to find and Save her(Echo, or as he learns via anonymous sender, Caroline) she(Echo) begins to experiences engagements that eventually reveal there is more to the dollhouse than meets the eye.

Now this show is a bit of a labor of love, that is to say it is a Joss Whedon show but it is one that may not instantly grab you. And in fact the original pilot episode was thrown out leading to a 12 episode season instead of the original 13 episode order(though due to international deals they HAD to have an episode 13 so they made one for half the cost of a normal episode). So production issues abounded and more to the point that original episode is included, though isn't cannon.
The show really picks up after you sit through the first five episodes. They prepare you for this world. They set it up for you. They let you see the pieces of the world and then in episode six you see how these pieces all fit together and form a puzzle. Then the season slowly builds towards its finale aka episode 12 omega, and then caps it off with the coda otherwise known as Epitaph one, the mysterious new 13th episode(that never aired mind you).

If you aren't sure about it, I'd watch an episode see if it catches your eye. If your already a Joss fan, watch it, buy it. Because it is another good work by Joss, albeit works much much better in quick succession on Blu Ray.
The menus and picture and sound are top notch as expected by Blu Ray disks. The extras are fantastic and really give you a window into the production of the show and on top of that gives you Deleted scenes, a Deleted Pilot, and Epitaph One. There is also some commentary which offers some insight, though as always, the more insightful commentary is Joss just talking about the show.

So I say this, I approve of this Blu ray. I bought it. It is worth your time.

Hollywood Sucks 1996

So welcome to Hollywood Sucks. To me, 1995 is the year when film starts taking an insane downturn towards being horrible.
Now now, I know. Some of you are crying foul. But by the end of this series I think I'll have made my case. Each week I'll be rolling a D10 and a D4 and adding together the FACE VALUE together to the year 1994. This will result in what year I am talking about.

So for this installment, I hit 0 and 2, thus the year 1996.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movies_in_1996


The top film that year? Independence day. Oh boy. and it made...306 Million dollars!? What the hell is this? If you've seen this movie, you know that as a Roland Emerich this movie is big on the epic, small on the characterization and you know, plot.
Oh kay, that was harsh. It does have a plot. Its just so absurdly simple that I wrote better material that year, and I was EIGHT! I will admit, there are a few cool visual elements, I admit it. I've watched it several times. but it doesn't make it a good movie not in the least.

Alright, what about number two that year? ...Twister?! That piece of shit movie about the estranged couple that chases and tornado of almost unprecedented size? Do I really need to explain how shitty this movie was? No? Good cause that's as much as I was going to.

So what about number three...Boring Impossible...I mean Mission Impossible. Four? Jerry Maguire. This isn't a good movie.
Five. Ransom. Mel fucking Gibson.
Six...wait what? There's actually a good movie on this list? Holy shit! That is 101 Dalmatians. Yes the puppy Disney movie. but the live action one, you know with Glenn Close and Hugh Laurie. Oh yeah, rematch it. Awesome.

Lets keep going.
Seven The Rock. As an action movie this is fun, but like Highlander, Sean Connery does not instantly make your movie a good movie(it can however make it a great cult classic, but that's a different category).

8. Nutty Professor. Eddie. Murphy.
9.Birdcage. Hey wait a second. This is a half decent comedy that's actually funny and happens to be respectful of its subject, people of homosexuality. I would like to point out that it is based on a great play, La Cage, not the film of the same name.

10. A time to kill. Long, boring and insanely predictable.

So many the movie that took home the most Oscars that year was...oh...lets not talk about that one.

so IN CONCLUSION 1996 sucked pretty badly or rather, America chose to see the really bad parts of 1996. Why? Because there were good parts, here's the highlights of 1996.





Dragonheart(its a fun movie)
Fargo
Fly Away Home
From Dusk till Dawn
Gamera 2:Attack of Legion(Kaiju!)
James and the Giant Peach(Brilliant)
Mars Attacks!
Muppet Treasure Islands
My Fellow Americans
Star Trek:First Contact
Trainspotting
Scream(of this list, scream was the highest at 13th that year)


So 12 movies in the year were worth watching. Maybe 14. But its a very small amount. Ugh.

So how about the bottom of the barrel?


Spy Hard
SpaceJam(only good with nostalgia glasses)
Romeo+Juliet
Ransom
Kazaam
Jingle All the way
Joe's appartment
Jack
Homeward bound 2
Flipper
Eraser
Dunston Checks in
D3
Down Periscope
The craft
Barb wire


Oh and for those wondering, and who think I'm harsh and crazy, The rotten tomatoes scores:


Independence day 62 percent
Twister 55%
Mission: Impossible 56%
Jerry Maguire ...84%
Ransom 70%
101 Dalmatians 40%
The Rock 65%
The Nutty Professor 65%
The Birdcage 75%
A Time to Kill 69%

Repo:The Genetic Opera

-repo:The Genetic Opera-


It get's better. For anyone who sat through this movie and felt the first half hour felt bland, it's because it is. This movie isn't perfect. It's even marginably near the area known as decent.
This is actually my second review, as I was watching this on BLU RAY, I found myself witting the first draft based on my initial impressions of the movie as it began.
Things from my first review that I still firmly believe: The comic book sequences through out the movie that explain backstory are a distraction and could have better been served as a flashback(as proven by the Marni giving birth scene).
Worse is that some of them are very obviously Post Production additions that would try to clarify the story in the beginning. The problem is that you don't even need the grave robber, he seems like a bad narrator but can't even be called that. There is a lot of set up in the beginning in describing the world that this is set in, but the visual style and language already tells you what you need to know, so all of the set up of the past is useless.
A number of the musical sequences are filler and should have been cut. Especially the scene leading into the Genetic Opera with its arbitrary nudity.
the best element of the movie tis the relationship between Alexa Vega and Anthony Stewart Head. They are the only two(beside the actress who plays blind Mag) who can actually sing in the movie. And really, Tony Head is the only reason to watch this movie as it is his scenes that steal the show every time.
The visual style is pretty. It's very expressionistic and serves the story well. In fact, I'd give the director amazing praise if I knew he wasn't the person directing the singing, which other than for the three mentioned, feels flat and unimpressive throughout,
By the way, Alexa Vega looks awesome all gothed up. And Tony Head is just awesome throughout.
The drugs/Hooker sequence where Paris comes to see the Grave Robber for the first time, is an example of the film reaching for glory. If all of the sequences were as well designed as it the movie would be an easy 9.0
The best I can say is that it's worth a rental, and it's worth sitting to the end. It's not half bad. its only a quarter bad. 2 quarters okay. a one quarter good.
But if you do find yourself loving the movie, buy a copy for sure. It was a cool experiment. It didn't all work, but they we're at least trying new things and it looks cool.
8.0/10

Watchmen:The Theatrical Cut

This is an older review but its better late than never, and with the directors cut soon and me able to have time to sit and think about it more, I'll be able to give a better opinion soon.

-Watchmen:The Motion Picture-
Okay, okay. I know, Officialy the title is just Watchmen, but I feel the subtitle is necessary. You need it there to tell you that this is is an adaptation of a piece of amazing literature.
The movie is strong. very solid. It took me seeing it a second time several weeks later to make my opinion firm, but I REALLY liked this movie. It's hard to go into an adaptation without judging it against the original.
I couldn't the first time I watched. and other than some nit picky things that I'll get to in a second, it is a fairly faithful adaptation of the book. It gets the major emotional beats down, it gets the cool action moments and the big reveals.
The cool thing about Watchmen is that there is so much going on in every frame that a viewer can watch it several times and spot details across the board that are interesting. New viewers can go in, and come out with few questions regarding the film, such as Rorsharch's mask and some of the relationships, but in other obvious places they've structured the story after the book and for the most part it works. The changes to the ending were necessary, but the additions to characters we're not. For example they give one character at the end the strength to watch his best friend die and then punch the villain in the face. Not in the book and takes away his willingness to compromise. Another change is they made Rorsharch far more psychotic than he was in the book. But I'd say it was a fairly faithful adaptation and one that will be on the upper echelon of comic films. Its actually, much like The Dark Knight, a comic film that finds itself in the category of its genre, Drama/Action conspiracy, more than it is in the genre of SuperHero. And for this reason it is a component of our new age of film.

What happened.

So for the span of one month, this site will have gone black. My bad, sometimes life takes hold and you just don't have time to write a review or even a note. I mentioned it my twitter, which has also basically fallen to the way side. I can't gurrentee any real consistency till I end up moving again in September and see how things play out, so basically you'll see something at least once a week, and probaly quite alot showing up in the early weeks of october.
What I can say is coming hopefully next week is reviews for Wonderfalls:The complete series, Pushing Daisies:Season 2 on blu ray, Dollhouse:Season one on blu ray, Southland tales on Blu ray, Watchmen the directors cut on Blu ray, Marvels Civil War Hardcover and in september: Supernatural season four on Blu Ray.
Hopefully this week I'll finish up Gurren Laggan and will have that review out soon. Same to Smallvile season 8. Tonight I'm hopefully crafting my review of Harry Potter Six the film, and On top of that I'll soon have a very special 7-part long review.

I'm also working on putting together a little something extra for the minitures fans and looking into getting someone who actually still has a passion for Video Games still and get them working on this too.

Dragon ball z:Budokai: Tenkaichi: 3

Dragon ball z:Budokai: Tenkaichi: 3
-Title length
+ Nearly every character you could ever want.
- The characters arn't used to their full potential in story mode. Its as if they didn't know they were getting all of the charachters or forgot.
-Story mode Does some of the major battles justice, but the inclusion of Dodoria and others begs the question why they weren't used in the story mode. Even the Bardock level should have had him, but no.
+- User friendly. User Friendly also means D-pad down is a characters final move, D-pad left is typically second best, D-oad right is charge or blast 1 attack. D pad up are buffs. Now most of these are combinded with the moves animation from the anime, but it still is way too easy to do moves.
-Every characters move set is essentialy the same amoutn, and there isn't much variety from BT2.
-BT2 had the better story mode.
+Combat feels like dragon ball z.
+Story mode features the movies.
+The movies story modes unlock about where they would fit in the timeline if they could.
+American voice actors return.
-Edited version of alot of elements.
+Picclo says in one of the menus to shut up or he'll break your neck :D
-The story mode is so F'ed up that only the fans who've memorized the show would get it.
-In story mode, characters will randomly bark comentary off screen.
All in all, unless you can get this game for cheaper(and even then, only if you care about the new characters most of whom are minor, sans Future Gohan GLEE) I'd say go for BT2. BT2 is by and far the best fighter on the wii and boasts a beter story mode that even non fans might be able to follow.

Score comes to a -1 using the above 16 point pro/con list.

This was Friday's post

Oops. I goofed. I thought I posted this two days ago. For those who haven't read ze Twitter. While I'm working in July, I only gurrentee one full review a week. But might include a mini review like I have for Monday :D.


Kevin Smith's Zach and Miri make a Porno


In a word, Hilarious. Frankly speaking there is a lot of material here that most people would find offensive. This crosses the boundaries of most things that Kevin Smith has done in the past. Dogma offended less people than Zack and Miri has or will. The plot is pretty simple, two best friends, a guy and a girl, mind them selves in economic and romantic dry spells. Their solution is to make a porno and of course everything that can will and does go wrong.
I am going to try and avoid spoilers for most of the jokes but rest assured a lot of the comedy works. Some of it certainly works better than other. But without a doubt its Brandon Routh and Justin Long that put out the most entertaining performers. Especially Justin Long. He really needs to do more work of his own material because he is hilarious. Seriously, check out the material where it basically shows he improved the role and he’s brilliant.
The actors do a good job of being relaxed and human when they aren’t on camera in the film, and when they are on camera they act like people who’ve never been in front of a camera before and it works really well. The two pornstars in the movie, Katie Morgan and Traci Lords are actually better than a lot of “actors” performances in other works. Like for example Jessica Alba. They are infinitely better than Jessica Alba. To be honest, I feel like Seth Rogan has lost his charm. I really feel like I’m yet again watching Seth Rogan and not the character. I feel that Elizabeth Banks demonstrates her self as a slow but rising star. I honestly feel that with each successive performance she gets better.
The other bit is that the movie isn’t nearly as funny as any other film that Kevin Smith has done, but it is his second best film. Its second best because his last film, Clerks II did a similar story element that raises the film above a standard fare (the love story angle) and a line used to describe Clerks II also applies to Zach and Miri, “it has a dirty mind, but a pure heart.”
Every outing, Kevin Smith improves his technique. This film is no exception. Stylistically and visually it is his best directorial effort. Unfortunately his writing style is starting to show its age because this was the first Kevin Smith Film where I could hear Kevin Smith’s voice in the characters rather than the voice of the characters. This is problematic because a number of times a scene can be getting interesting and feel like its something all its own and then you can hear a line that sounds like Kevin Smith. This won’t be a problem if you haven’t seen his previous films, but in comparison it is an annoyance to say the least. All in all this film was entirely entertaining. So if you have a chance, I highly recommend seeing this movie.

The Twilight Review

I will update this page soon as this will be my Friday entry. This review will be different than my standard review as its very likely to be a single paragraph accompanying the view log I am witting as I watch this crappy.

So this will be updated soon.
Heres the view log so far.


*Kristen stewart takes otherwise intolerable dialogue and makes it listenable.
*This constant narration is so tedius and borring. SHOW. Don’t tell! Honestly a lot of this monologue other than the intro explaining who she is is pointless and even that part could have been reworked properly.
*Kristen Stewart often looks 24ish and completely out of place.
*This movie is just like the covenant, except that movie wasn’t successful. And blood and chocolate. Yeah, I’m comparing it to those glowing piles.
*The Kid playing Edward isn’t bad.
*the dialogue feels so stiff and stilted.
*This movie is the poster child for being emo.
*can we say continuity? In one seen she had obvious purple eye shadow and in the next(the same afternoon) it’s gone. Grrrr.
*Why is this movie so blue? I feel like I’m in an Eiffel 65 video.
*Now that I think about it, The dialogue sounds a lot like Bones on the TV show Bones, but there its intentionally played up that way because of Bones socially awkwardness. Here it comes across as odd.
*So far the plot of the movie can be summed up as, Girl moves to Forks. Girl stalks boy. Boy stalks girl.
*okay so the movie started with talk of homecoming but now there are is talk of Prom. SO CONFUSED.
* so this movie is set in forks, a really small town yet somehow they have this massively giant greenhouse. Say wha?
*wow, hanging a lantern on the inconsistencies of the character and we are barely half an hour into the movie, this isn’t going to go well.
*They just made comic book references. They get a point for that. 1.
*The vampire family don’t go to a specific beach?
*”What did they mean the Cullen’s don’t come here?” “You caught that?” yeah because you just said it!
*and now backstories on mildly suggestive of Werewolves….
*Ohhh creepy music and screaming. Oh she’s just playing on the beach....
**and then randomly a guy on a boat dies. While one of them looks like she has angel wings.
* Are vampires telepathic now? What the hey?
*Oh em gees a scene that wasn’t blue…and now they are blue again.
*Apparently my expert correspondent informs me just one vampire is telepathic.
* The explanations for things make less sense than the plot, or whatever semblance of a plot happens to be residing here.
*Oh god. She’s now researching vampire lore. Why did someone think this craptastic version of vampire lore needed to exist?
* Boy stalks girl. Girl stalks boy. Boy is weird and creepily possessive.
* Oh noes, I think it’s time for sparkle Motion.
*”It’s like diamonds” What? No it’s not. What the hell is this, a Gatorade commercial?
* Can we say jump cuts?
* Will these two just have sex and get it over with already?
* How did no one realize these kids were vampires?
*I want to know where in the world there are these hot girls that dig guys that just stare at them.
* And apparently their prom theme is james bond. Why couldn’t my prom have that as a prompt?
*Vegetarian vampire….
*The movie just made fun of Tofu. +1 more point.
* What the hell? Is it april already in this movie? It still looks like November.
*Why is everything so blue?
* Crazy vampire girl. Vampire family. Creepy vampire fans….
*And its now we learn that the boyfriend is in fact a nerd.
* What the hell is wrong with this guy? “I’m not afraid of you” “you shouldn’t have said that” and weee he grabs her and flies out the window. This all kind of absurd.
* So again the boy is stalking her, appearing in her room unexpectedly. Again why don’t they just have at it already? Oh hey they almost did. What the hell. What’s with all of the tilted shots? And now apparently they can’t have sex because he can’t “lose control”. This is getting worse and worse.
*Oh they are going to play baseball in the thunderstorm. Maybe they’ll use metal bats and holy crap they are playing muse. What does super massive black hole have to do with baseball?
* I will admit that this baseball sequence is very amusing, Its like Zach Snyder directed Major League baseball this is what you’d get. +2 points.
*this plot point is so random. One human being hunted? What the hell? Why?
*Okay and now one of the evil vamps supposedly changed sides.=
*What the hell? Did they just enter the desert? I just saw elements of the grand canyon and these odd rocky mountains, Where the hell are we supposed to be? Oh apparently you can drive from Forks to Phoenix in a single night…that seems plausible…
*Just how cheesy do all these characters get? It’s worse than slipping into the kraft factory.
*wow, so they actually did one interesting thing. They used a recording to trick Bella rather than actually kidnap somebody. Smart villains. For once.
* I still don’t get why they care about Bella. This seems like a hole ton of work for no real goal.
* So when did this become an action movie? Oh wow main character got bit by someone who isn’t her boyfriend, is that count as cheating?
*So shes convulsing like woah this suddenly got very erotic for sucking “venom” out.
*What? Did they just flashback to a bunch of moments that we’d seen and then some snow seen we’d never seen?
*Wait. She fell? How does that explain the bite marks?
*didn’t they go out of their way to say he didn’t sleep? Also where was Victoria in that entire fight?
*Apparently Bella developed turrets after the attack(sorry turret sufferers)
*Wow, suddenly Bella looks like a real girl.
*Oh look, it’s a character we havn’t seem for an hour. What the hell? Random thrown in plot line. Oh, FORESHADOWING.
*and as it turns out, this is the lamest prom ever.
*and and and…COP OUT.
*Oh god, that stupid narration is back.
* Can you say foreshadow?
*The credits are rolling but they aren’t done showing footage. Now it’s just flash backs in black and white. What the hell.


****During the sparkle scene I was originally going to make a sparkle motion reference but ultimately decided that Donnie Darko was too good for this movie to even be obscurely referenced.

In short, this movie wasn’t even designed for fans as fans hated it too. The movie is a mess, filled with bad dialogue and bad story. All of it culminates in a fight scene that’s pisspoor and then as the story decides its not done with you it keeps going. Not story. Miserable excuse for a story. Don’t even be kinda curious about this movie. Don’t do it. It’s really really bad. You’d be better off watching the, goddess help me, Buffy the Vampire slayer movie. This movie was on the level of Covenant and Blood and Chocolate.

Here's how its going to go

So starting monday I will be posting a blog hopefully every Monday, Wensenday, Friday. At least every Monday.

Reviews I'm working on are going to be:

Zach and Miri make a Porno
War Inc.(this is going to be tough because of time constraints, but I'll due my damnedest to get it done)
Twilight(yeah, I'm being forced to sit through the movie so I'm going to write a review to get something out of watching it)
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Now I might put together some other reviews and possibly put those up too.

Dead Like Me: Lfe after Death

This is a review as told by someone who watched the series as it aired. Now I started watching this show just as I rolled into highschool, this is also the same time I discovered Angel, Buffy, Firefly, Tru calling, Wonderfalls and an assortment of other highly Canceled television series. Now I adore all of them, but its been a few years since I've seen or really thought of the series. So when I started watching I was pulled in with all of my heart so I knew if they Fucked this up I would be pissed. And it was gooood.

Firstly, the most notable disappearance is two key cast members. Rube, played by Mandy Patinkin in the show is *spoiler* dead when the film begins. The other thing you'll notice is that because this is five years later, Ellen Muth's voice is much much deeper. One suspects that she smoked WAYYYY more than any human should(which is to say any at all) and so it takes time getting used to. The other missing cast member was _ as Daisy. She unfortunately dropped out at the last moment and they replaced her. The new actress Sarah Wynter isn't bad as Daisy, she just doesn't feel like the old Daisy. Ellen, other than her voice, feels like George, as do the supporting cast members basicly all of whom are back. Callum Blue, who played Mason, steals the show by feeling like he never left the role. Oh and the one new comer who plays Cameron, Henry Ian Cusick, Is freaking Desmond from Lost. This caught me off guard but he adds in a well fitting cast.

The story and movie works great for many respects. Unfortunately all of Daisy's material feels very flat compared to the rest of the movie. I'm not going to spoil the premise for this because a lot of that would in turn spoil the series, which I refuse to do. To say the least A large number of storylines do feel closing to the series. There are some elements that are left open ended, mostly because these writers and crafters of the movie are hoping for a sequel. I want to say right now that if your show gets canceled, and you have the opportunity to finish the series, don't leave things open ended. You got canceled once; hubris only fucks the fans over so don't do it.

The movie is damn near spot on for the first half, mixing in the light dark humour and the drama stuff. A little past the half way point the attempts at humour feel much more flat and so much more insignificant compared to the first half. Some of the emotional beats feel forced, but a number of them, particularly the Dolores and George scenes, feel better than they ever did in the series. But all in all, I honestly felt like I was watching a series finale to a series that deserved it. It's not entirely proper, but it does a damn good job trying. But in that compliment there is also a complaint. This has been billed and marketed as a movie. It feels like a two episode finale.
One last note, the movie does a good job setting up the basic premise of the series for the first 5-10 minutes or so, but does it in a clever little comic book sequence(along with the one in Repo, they seem to be moving into style) and it honestly feels completely lost. The sequence itself is well done and will catch anyone up on the premise, the important aspect aka the relations of all of the characters established in the series aren't there and thus people watching who didn't watch the show will still be lost. so as a general viewer I'd say its akin to watching just the Sopranos finale or just the Angel finale and not the accompanying series. Your just going to be all "whaaaat?". In that regard I give it a 5. As a fan(which really if you are reading this and you aren't a fan go out find someway to watch the pilot and then be hooked from there onward) I give it a solid 9.1 ratting. while not nearly as good as that first season of the series, it does a better job than the second season and as such I found it most enjoyable.

Why post the twitter messeges

I felt it was necessary if I actually state why I'm including the Twitter posts. For the most part, they are purely out of context expository information about me. This allows you the reader and better understanding of me the witter. Secondly there might be information in there regarding projects I'm working on, or reviews I'm working on.
Lastly a little bit of information in case someone decides, "hey this could be a good idea". Firstly, when you copy a tweet, you have to go in and space between the date and post, oh and you have to copy each post individually. Oh Joy.
I've also chosen to omit certain @ messages to protect various parties or that otherwise have no relevancy to this blog.

Twitter in June

Here it is, June:

Busy rewatching Transformers 1 in prep for his IMAX screen of ROTF
.3:03 PM Jun 14th from web

keepin' entertained by tweeting
11:23 PM Jun 14th from web

Busy plotting out something that wants to be a noir tv show in entirely black and white
11:56 PM Jun 14th from web

If there's one thing anyone takes away, its zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
1:26 AM Jun 16th from web


Hoping Jobs will call back tomorrow for interviews, but otherwise I'm working on a new pilot script and a comic script
10:38 PM Jun 16th from web

:( I just lost a member of my family :(
6:55 PM Jun 17th from web

Still can't believe he's gone, he was only 19...
11:46 PM Jun 17th from web

I find it hilarious that people think that there are still comicon tix available...Lol
10:57 PM Jun 20th from web

Finishing the second season of Best years, going to play some Rockband AC/DC, and fillout aps for PAX enforcer, L5R winter court, and Costco
12:33 AM Jun 21st from web

hey 3 out of 5 ain't bad. I'll do the Enforcer and Winter court apps in the morning.
1:49 AM Jun 21st from web

Omitted @ message
12:18 AM Jun 22nd from web in reply to

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2009-06-21-alice-in-wonderland_N.htm
12:24 AM Jun 22nd from web


Thats the link to the new Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland pictures
12:26 AM Jun 22nd from web

Never did fillout the enforcers or the winter court apps...but I am about to finish angel season 2 and The Gunslinger. The apps come later
12:27 AM Jun 22nd from web

Omitted @ message
1:48 AM Jun 22nd from web in reply to

Success! Now sleep so I can hopefuly wake early enough to call back and sign for an interview! Oh and start reading Drawing of the Three!!
1:49 AM Jun 22nd from web

Looking for noir character names. I'm working on script so help me out, I need colorful characters.
1:53 AM Jun 22nd from web

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41490
7:22 PM Jun 22nd from web

Oh Bryan, Why must you tease us like this?That said new BF shows make me excited,He created Wonder falls, dead like me, and pushing Daisies!
7:23 PM Jun 22nd from web

an excellent next few days are in line. Muwhahahahahahaha
10:51 PM Jun 22nd from web

is catching up on Reaper :D It's amazing.Meanwhile thinking up ideas for this noir...hmmm, I guess its more Noir movies and Daredevil then
1:20 AM Jun 24th from web

@mattfraction Many of us are pro-shark after all.
12:04 PM Jun 24th from web in reply to mattfraction

Rocking out to a little metallica while making lunch before finishing reaper season 2
12:41 PM Jun 24th from web

ust saw the comercial for mini sirloin burgers...how do they get that offensive?
3:15 PM Jun 24th from web

5 hours till Transformers:roflcopter.
4:47 PM Jun 24th from web

Transformers:ROFLcopter....its not bad except for the little detail that it's horribly racist....
1:44 AM Jun 25th from web


Job interview tomorrow with nordstroms, and likely best buy interview Friday
11:26 PM Jun 25th from web

Not only did my interview go well, I then ate some whipped cream...poor cream....it got all whipped
2:40 PM Jun 26th from web

Omitted @ message
8:07 PM Jun 26th from web

Bored.Bored. Bored.
10:08 PM Jun 26th from web

Omitted @ message
10:39 PM Jun 26th from web

Omitted @ message
10:47 PM Jun 26th from web

@NathanFillion I'd hope to make it sense, but apparently Paul Allen decided that the Jetson's we're more scifi then Firefly
.4:16 PM Jun 27th from web in reply to NathanFillion

I provide proof that Michael Bay knows what he's doing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXRCf9LbLM0
7:44 PM Jun 27th from web

Direct quote from Pochohantas: "They're not like you and me, which means they must be evil!" This is in a song.Movie won awards for songs!
8:06 PM Jun 27th from web

so to this I say, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
8:06 PM Jun 27th from web

As an ademendem to what I said earlier, I am implying Michael Bay knows how to make money by appealing to a target demographic, OR
9:14 PM Jun 27th from web

Or He likes things that go Boom
.9:14 PM Jun 27th from web

My washer just exploded.water is now dripping through my heating vents and I just finished bucketing out the remaining water from the washer
10:43 PM Jun 27th from web


It's a miracle! No ma'am, it's KGB.
2:04 PM Jun 28th from web

http://geekcorereview.blogs... my most recent entry on this blog, which will hopefuly be the first in a long line,a review is online!
6:40 PM Jun 28th from web

Today's entry, a review on Transformers 2:ROFLcopter
6:40 PM Jun 28th from web

Is going to do random stuff today, and finish some more apps and then hopefully start burning RVB for a friend to catch up
7:03 PM Jun 28th from web

just found out that there is a show about mc hammer, called Hammertime
11:02 PM Jun 28th from web

had a good day with two beautiful girls
10:23 PM Jun 29th from web

still has yet to do those other applications, but starts work Monday
10:50 PM Jun 29th from web

Rewatching the very touching episode of Angel, Lullaby with the madre as she is on her way through the series for the first time.
12:38 AM Jun 30th from web

a new blog at http://geekcorereview.blogs... where I attempt to review a critics review of his own review. Check it out
.2:47 AM Jun 30th from web

Omitted @message
about 22 hours ago from web

A response

The following is a letter I wrote to Mr. Timothy Callahan. Of Comic Book Resources.
The links to his original review, and article that addresses said review can be found here:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=21809

And the original review of X-factor 44:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=user_review&id=1116



"
To: Timothy Callahan
This is a response to your review of your X-Factor Review. While I appreciate your attempt to either defend yourself/your review or possibly just clarify your sentiments, however I had just a few small problems with it.

I am a type of reader who reads a month worth of books at a time due to a sub-service that I use; this leads me to look at reviews scores for the books that I know I'm getting, and read the review for the ones that I might not necessarily read otherwise. I find it important to get multiple perspectives on a given book so that I'm not simply receiving a single critics opinion but instead am getting a wider range of reviews. So rather than read just what IGN has to say, I also visit CBR and several other blogs whose writers have demonstrated good, well-written, and accurate reviews.

There are elements to your review style that are particularly off-tasting. that is to say that is always sounds like you are trying to be pretentious about your witting. Now it's possible you actually are pretentious in which case I'm sorry you can't see the insulting and condescending nature of it and worse that you fail to see that by phrasing your opinions in that manner that you are turning some potential audience members away. Part of this also comes from your overuse of [sic] to the point where it loses its value of being an indicator of the author, not the transcribers, error and instead sounds like your trying to point out that all of your quotes(or near all of them) have typos in them and that also comes across as rude. But that is simply where I come from.

You also go on to propose that you yourself are objective and can make an objective statement about the quality of book that is produced. This is of course complete and totally nonsense much akin to the idea that someone can be unbiased because what a single person experiences is going to be different than another and thus the way they approach anything is different to the point where even if both parties use the same method and standards, the varying degrees of such a standard(which, yes, defeats the purpose of a standard) that a given person approaches it with are going to vary. Now it's very likely your reading this going SHUT UP KID, I KNOW THIS. Maybe less angrily, but the idea is likely there I hope. I simply wanted to remind you of the concept briefly.

What I truly don't understand is how you can say that the art is good and that the witting is okay and still believe that it is on par with a story whose witting and art are horrible(read:Ultimatum).

Moreso, I found your almost personal attacks on David's sentiments to be in bad taste and imply that you could do better than David. Now I have no reason to believe otherwise on this, but based on the review I read and this article I find this hard to believe. You do a similar attack on another reviewer who wrote a positive review for the same thing. If being objective means you can attack other writters for writting a review, which while can be based on objectivity is more likely to be based on opinion because different opinions do exist.

So no, I don't think you have "the worst taste in comics ever" or any nonsense like that. I simply believe that the way you convey your opinions and your opinions that your opinions are fact or fact based, and not opinions based on facts, leads to a less successful reviewer and will make sure to check who writes the review before I read it and choose to not read your reviews.

Ultimately, what I said here has no barring on you. It won't affect you because what I've said isn't going to change your opinion. Its just me stating an opinion reviewing your opinion that is a review of your own review which is in turn your opinion.
Have a nice day.
"


Why did I choose to post this? Because I felt the need to demonstrate an opinion and also a review of a review. I'll try and post a review online tommarow(or rather later today) that will give you a better idea of how I'm going to be writing comic reviews from now on.


ps: THIS IS AN OPINION.

Transformers 2...

A review in a sentence. Racist piece of crap, but the explosions are cool.


....Second sentence, Jetfire kicks ass.


Alright so I should probally explain and quallify those statements.

The first thing I should warn is that This, plus Up, plus Gran Torino resulted in my new found theorm that old people are once again(?) cool. Jetfire gets almost all of the good lines and despite bein' a horrible stereotype, complete with cane and beard(yeah somehow the robot has a beard) he's most certainly the coolest character in the film.

Why it's racist you ask? Skid and mudflap. youtube some footage. Any line of dialogue is horrible and sterotyping in addition to that one of them has a gold tooth. there is a character in this meat shop(owned by the Sector seven agent from the first film and his mother) and the worker is black, 40s-50s and has horrible buck teeth, that are clearly fake, and a line about him working for new teeth. Shia's latino roomate from college spends most of the movie just screaming like a woman. This is one of the few movies where nearly every supporting character of a non-white ethnicity is supposed to be comic relief and worse isn't even that funny.

I'm not going to even talk much about the plot, not that theres much to be spoiled, but because it is so incoherent and illogical that after nearly every plot point, they expect you to basicly forget about it because if you think too much about it it ceases to make sense. Example. there is a pretender transformer, a transformer that pretends to be a person(aka a transformenator), but they never explain it. I had to look it up to figure it out because the movie either assumes you know what it is or that your not going to remember it.
The movie has two halves and stops to figure out where they have to go for the second half. This is after a fairly impresive threeway fight with optimus, starscream, and megatron so I assume they expect you to still be on the high from the fight when in reality you feel as if the moment is just lost.
Theres also way too much crude humor.

the good is limited to: Devestator(a transformer made of 5 transformers) who looks awesome but is on screen so little that it doesn't make it beter. Optimus in the last fight. Not going to spoil things but its pretty awesome. The aforementioned fight in the woods. Megatron and Starscream hanging out for the entire movie. and Jetfire.

So I give the movie a 2.1 out of 10 overal.
That said, if you have to see it, rent it when it comes out. I'll likely buy it on blu-ray just so I can watch those awesome fight scenes(If michael bay does one thing good, it's explosions, Honestly I much rather him be a director on action sequences than a number of other directors but everything else he's bad at). I can't blame Bay for some of the mistakes(those go to the writters) but I can blame him on alot of it, so Fuck you Michael Bay. Fuck you.





Transformers ROFLcopter

Uhhh, My bad

So It's summer now. I'm bored.
I may have failed in the past, and am likely to fail at this again, but damn it I'm going to try.
So one thing I am for sure doing is converting every months worth of Twitter posts into a blog. Yes pointless, no it won't take away from my other writings(assuming any are done) and then there was a third idea but I forgot it.

Few notes, if you notice typos, as in non usage errors( such as your, you're, or There, Their, they're) then likely it means I've typed it up in IE8 beta, rather than Firefox as I typically do.

Soon I'll add my list of top 100 films and Directors, and will likely make it a weekly(possibly daily if I feel ambition overcome me) Go through one by one explaining my choices. I'll likely start at the top of the list. number one, and work my way down as the higher numbered movies are more likely to shift to spot than the lower ones. I'll be working my way through some films this summer and thusly will be doing some work on the list and then will give an updated list at the end of the summer.

Again, I might be aiming for more than I can chew, but with no permanent job a bunch of free time this was the best I could do.

So I guarantee a review of something tomorrow. Don't know what, might be a napkin but damn it I'm going to do it!

Let's try this one more Time

Okay Okay.
I may have failed to actually maintain this blog thus far. So Let us try this again.

The original conceit of this blog may have been bigger than my briches(and really, schedule) would allow, and as such Something new shall be born. At it's heart this will be a text review site for geek interests and a few random things I find interesting. Specifically, in the next two weeks I shall be preparing and posting reviews of the recent episodes of Dollhouse, and Battlestar Galactica; Watchmen (the graphic novel); Watchmen (Zack Snyder's Theatrical cut); Let the Right one in; Fallout 3(Assuming I have the time to complete the game this week); Tsubasa Chronicles vol. 12/13; xxxHOLIC vol. 4; select comics from the last month at my discretion(likely the top two or three and bottom two or three of my pull list).
As a caveat this will(for the time being) serve as a review site, and a blog, meaning that I will be putting up reviews but periodically putting information such as convention reviews or writing projects(that I'm allowed to disclose) that I am at work on.

So a few updates. First I must talk about my current writing project which is I am working on which is a labor of love. I say that because even if I finish it, even if it's beautiful and perfect(Ha!) then there is still a very real chance that it will forever sit never to be touched, produced, or even thought of outside of my head and the brief time you the reader remember it. That is because I have a strong desire to write an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. I am in the process of my fifth read of the book(on my way to and from Seattle to see Betrayal, which'll have a review later this weekend). It isn't necessarily the best book available, however most of my favorites usually aren't. Instead I tend to favor things I enjoy more. They aren't necessarily better, but they are in my heart. For example my top ten film list is this:
1. Serenity
2. The Dark Knight/Batman Begins
3. Garden State
4. Southland Tales
5. Donnie Darko
6. Rocky
7. Cool Hand Luke
8. Godfather
9. Sin City
10. The Fall

Now likely you've seen(and statistically based on box office you have seen at least one) more than one film on this list. But it's also possible you've never even heard of Southland Tales, The Fall, and possibly Serenity depending on your love for Science Fiction/Westerns. Younger generations may not know Cool hand luke. But there are films on here for every type of person, and I highly suggest having to see all of them.

But as I have fallen into a tangent about films I should explain my film background. I am currently a student working to become a writer for television. I do whatever courses I can to write, and a write Decently. I formerly worked at a blockbuster where over my two year tenure I managed to see nearly 3-4 films a week(as a benefit you are allowed 5 rentals a week). As such I saw somewhere near 400 films. That doesn't include the fact that for a year I saw at least one movie a week in theaters, or rewatching those films on dvd. So you can see within that time period alone I've seen over 450 films. Then add in the fact that I had seen some 400 films prior to that time in my life(first 18 years), And since have seen around 15 new films. I don't get to see films as often as I used to because since attending a university at the age of 20(I was at a community college for two years getting a Associates degree) I have become a full time student. I am going to try to change that. The plan is to see at least a film a week in some capacity. Be it DVD/TV/THEATER/Blu/Cheating whatever. I will find a way to see four films a month. Bringing the Annual total up to 48 which actually means I will be shy of 4 movies for the entire year.

When I first started this blog, Obama became elected president. Now he's been sworn in. So here's how it is. I'm going to start writing. Hopefully at least once a week so that by mid-april when I begin my campaign to distribute this link across the internet, you random reader who found this blog will go wow, this is entertaining and will hopefully share it as well.

Internet fads I'm currently into include
SpoonyMan. google him and check out the spoony experiment. his effort is fantastic.
Yugioh abridged via Little Kuriboh. His work is superb and I draw some inspiration from him(I've written a short play inspired by his interpertation of Mako Tsunami, aka THE freaky fish guy).
PHB PSA's: as a DnD geek I find these videos fantastic and suggest you support Creative Juices 7.
Red Vs Blue: Oh, Rooster Teeth, look how you've grown. Your stories have grown to be both cerebral and funny.

So this is the new first entry. Here is hoping that by the time next week rolls around, there really will be new entries and that this time I can keep myself to doing this blog.

-Max

Rebirth of a Nation/ Dark Reign part duex

Bellow are the links to two blog entries I did when it looked like this blog was being shut down, Rather than let that page fall to the way side, I'm letting it serve as a reminder that nothing lasts and sometimes it takes more work than it should to keep the dream alive. Oh and an additional topic to the subject of this blog shell be my weekly DnD game that resumes in January. In a blog entry later this week I will surmise what happened in our first three sessions. And as the weeks go you will see our adventure take shape and form into the story of wonders. Just sans the dialogue of my playerrs because they argue a fucking ton. okay, here are the links to those former entries.


Friday, December 12, 2008

Birth of a New Nation



I Believe in Review