Tag Archives: review

Film

Miami Vice: Spoiler Free Review

So I could think of all sorts of fruity wordplay for this review, but the movie doesn’t mess around so neither will I. It just kicks ass. Now it does take some time to set up relationships between Crocket and Tubbs and their lady friends. Michael Mann doesn’t rush through that part, but he makes up for it with boobies, and more importantly later on, guns capable of removing limbs. The action scenes flat out rock; you do not want to wait for the DVD. See it somewhere with a great sound system and hear those .50s really sing. Ok, not so much sing as thunder – it pretty much sounded like lightning came down in the next seat over. [1]

It’s much more gritty and realistic than other action movies we’ve had lately (e.g., Mission: Impossible, which I also liked). It’s at the top, but not over the top. Yeah, it still has hot cars and boats and houses, but the series taught us 20 years ago that you need that crap to convince successful scumbags you’re just like them.

Just a reminder that Michael Mann directed Heat [2]. If you haven’t seen that lately, I can pretty much guarantee you it’s much better than you remember. It probably ranks up there as one of the most underrated action/cop/thrillers ever made. Miami Vice has the same intensity, although in different ways. Less touchy feely, more shooty stabby.

[1] And yet the burn mark was on my seat. Strange.
[2] And exec produced the Miami Vice television series.

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Film

Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest (Spoiler Free)

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I think average opinion on this was, “Eh, it was ok.” That about sums it up. It is also one of the most anticipated films of the year, and it is selling out like crazy everywhere. I got there 45 minutes early and the line was already insane. I imagine some were there a couple hours early or more. Anyway, I thought the effects were good, especially on the sea men, but the story never really got you that involved. Some action scenes felt a bit repetitive and long, too. Of course, Keira Knightly was beautiful, but that’s gonna be the same in any movie she’s in. What I’m most curious about is the second week box office drop, and how it will fair against Superman in the long run. Normally I’d think this would go away quickly, but since everyone knows a third film is on the way, they’ll probably see it anyway.

Edit: Pirates OBLITERATED box office numbers, smashing records left and right. It’s the new #1 weekend, passing Spiderman by over $17M. This must have also beaten Aquaman by a wide margin, so Vinnie Chase has gotta be bummed.

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Books

Wolverine’s Origin

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30 years after his introduction, Marvel has finally released an official backstory for Wolverine. It was released in a miniseries (available in TPB) called Origin. The art is quite good, as you’d expect of a work of such importance. Without giving spoilers, it covers his parentage, upbringing, awakening, and passage into adulthood. Some details are given through innuendo, but it’s certainly clear enough for any adult reader with decent comprehension. A few plot points are a bit contrived; the character is fairly complex, and they tried to give an origin/cause for all major character traits and interests. Considering the age of the character (detailed in the book, finally), you’d figure some interests were developed later in life. Still, a must read for any fan, and who isn’t?

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BTW, Film

The Ice Harvest

Just saw The Ice Harvest, and I have to give it a pass. It’s a film noir/dark comedy, but it’s too much dark and not enough comedy. For a good, relatively modern film noir, try Body Heat or LA Confidential. For dark comedy, try Army of Darkness or Shaun of the Dead.

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Film

Forbidden Planet: Spoiler-Free Review

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Robby the Robot and Anne Francis.jpgI just saw this SciFi classic last night, as part of a double feature with The Day the Earth Stood Still. Experts were on hand to provide more information (including, unfortunately, spoilers). I had never seen it before, but now agree it definitely deserves it’s status as classic SciFi. It was a big budget film back in ’56 ($1.2M), so the sets look great, esp. on that Technicolor film.

Even better looking is Altaira, played by Anne Francis . The 50’s were a great time for objectifying women, and Anne Francis was definitely worth the effort. She runs around the entire movie in ultra-flimsy micro-miniskirts and bare feet, pretty much just like the photo (although her hair is much blonder int the film). In fact, according to Wikipedia, she helped launch the miniskirt craze. It’s no stretch that Commander Adams (Leslie Nielsen) and his crew (all male, average age 24.6) are comically falling for Anne’s naive character. Nielsen, who’s almost unrecognizable to someone who knows him from his Naked Gun films created 30+ years later, does a good job, although we heard he wanted to play it cooler but the producers were against it.

And, of course, there’s the iconic Robby the Robot. Robby was built for Forbidden Planet, but has made many appearances in film, TV, and commercials since then. He also has the best line in the film, delivered when Altaira complains he took too long to arrive when she called him:

Sorry miss, I was giving myself an oil job.

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Film

“It’s Obvious” Episode 2: 2001 for Dummies

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This is beyond any doubt, the greatest movie ever made. If we pitiful hominids are to leave something of value behind us to demonstrate our collective genius (after the Solar System explodes), a copy of this movie would qualify. It was made in 1968 and has not aged a day. You could view it today and its vision of Mankind’s future in space and beyond would stand up to scrutiny.

The spoilers will follow; if you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and watch the DVD until you can get to the Cinerama Dome for a big-screen showing (they have them every other year). And don’t forget to sit in the very front row, center seat at the theatre; you’ll be immersed in a psychedelic journey beyond your wildest CGI-addled dreams.

PS. When I talk about the Monolith I am referring to that big, black, rectangular piece of ebony artwork that makes an appearance throughout the film. And yes, I’ve seen the Monolith written with a capital “M” for reasons that will appear in the review that follows.l
Continue reading “It’s Obvious” Episode 2: 2001 for Dummies →

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Music

Dani California… Sweet

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Catchy tune, great video, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are showing their long term relevance like few bands seem to be able to do these days . I enjoyed this song so much when I first heard it that I went to iTunes to purchase a copy, but sadly, my account info was garbled from a recent hard drive crash, so I didn’t buy it. I am oddly glad of this though, as it seems that this great song is destined to be overplayed on EVERY station I listen to, to the point where I will likely hate it before the full album is released May 9th. Hopefully the rest of the double album will live up to this single, yet somehow not get turned into jingles and get the Phil Collins era radio saturation that can ruin even the best album.

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Food

Nice try, but YUCK!

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I love a good gyro, and I love Arby’s fast food, but damn, their new gyro is just not good. I am sure that there were some skinny people in California that used words like fabulous or delightful to describe it in taste testing, but they were wrong. It is none of these. Now, the cheese filled potato things with bacon chunks were GREAT, but I would probably enjoy cheese filled cat turds with that much bacon mixed in. Can’t understand how a place that gets so much on there menu so right could drop the ball on a gyro!

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Film

It’s obvious. Episode 1: “Narnia for Dummies”

Living in a world that constantly occupies and stimulates our minds
with color, sound, action, motion, etc. it occurs to me that many of
the truly obvious things in life are not being captured, stored in
our organic, transitory brains (What *does* happen after the brain
decomposes?? Where do the stored memories and abilities go?? I’ll
address that in a future thread). There are so many obvious truths that
have been learned, discovered, realized by CT members that is seems a
shame to let them go to waste into the thoughtless void of oblivion.

Which is why I am starting this series of ‘obvious’ articles. Given
my preferences, I’ll start with obvious movie facts. Mind you, these
are not opinions; these are facts which have been backed by the combined
might of the human mind and endeavour. If you haven’t heard of them yet,
then you are the perfect subject for the ‘…for Dummies’ series.

Since these articles may be full of spoilers, I will give fair warning of the
spoilers to come. Let’s start with the very popular “Chronicles of Narnia:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” If you have not seen it yet, it is now
available on DVD. Purchase the 2-disc set and avoid the movie-only set. You
will be very pleased.

[spoilers follow]
Continue reading It’s obvious. Episode 1: “Narnia for Dummies” →

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