Ok, folks. Baby C had been on a Star Wars kick lately so we’ve been watching a TON of Star Wars. I’m not complaining because, you know, Star Wars, but as soon as he comes into the house he points to the TV and says, “Star Wars!” So in the past couple of weeks we’ve watched all six movies and all three seasons (that we have) of The Clone Wars.
When we were watching The Empire Strikes Back the other day it came toward the part where Yoda berates Luke for his “failure in the cave.” As many times as I’ve seen this movie (it has to be over 1000 – seriously), I’ve never understood exactly how Luke failed in the cave.
The cave. Remember your failure at the cave? (Photo credit huffingtonpost.com)
Hmmm… This is an interesting question. And to be honest, I really don’t have a clue.
I guess we could start movies. Batman and Spiderman would definitely be placed in the capsule. Along with a Blu-Ray player to play them. After all, if this capsule is eventually discovered, our technology will be antiquated. Also, The Avengers would have to be in there, since it is one of the best movies ever. Also, the upcoming Hobbit movie would have to be included. I obviously haven’t seen it yet but I’m betting it will be good.
One of the best movies ever.
Music? I don’t think I’d put in music in there. It’s embarrassing, at least to me, what passes for popular music today. Gangnam Style? Nicki Minaj? Justin Bieber? Will. I. Am? Taylor Swift? Chris Brown? Embarrassing. All of it. It’s all a big, steaming, nasty pile of suck.
Hard to believe, but true.
It’s hard to believe that this creature is in fact male. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
2012 was also an election year, although a forgettable one. Other than Mitt Romney honestly, but unwisely, pissing of 47% of the population because they get free stuff from the government and calling them out on it and Barack Obama’s inane “you didn’t build that” rant, we didn’t get anything but pathetic, and childish, political banter. Oh, and Obama was reelected. We all lost.
Makes sense, right?
I guess I’m not really that good at this. I’m obviously out of touch with what the majority of Americans like (and strangely, I’m okay with that) so I guess I’m not really a good judge of what to put in a 2012 time capsule. Oh well…
Me and the wifey went to see The Avengers on Sunday. I was expecting to see a blockbuster movie chock full of action and fancy special effects, and in that way it delivered. What I wasn’t expecting were several laugh-out-loud moments, one of which I was laughing so hard I became dizzy and damn near passed out.
I have a feeling true hard-core Marvel fans would likely be upset with the addition of humor to the movie, but I found that the humor was well done and enhanced the movie.
The plot isn’t very complex, which I expected. Basically, Loki has teamed up with the Other to conquer Earth, which his brother Thor has vowed to protect. Loki has promised the Other the Tesseract, an energy source of unimaginable power, in exchange for a Chitauri army with which to invade the earth.
Loki somehow opens a portal directly to the Tesseract and is able to subjugate a handful of SHIELD operates to assist him with stealing the Tesseract. Nick Fury then rounds up the members of the scuttled Avengers Initiative, including Tony Stark (Iron Man), Bruce Banner (The Hulk), and Steve Rogers (Captain America).
The team is initially skeptical of each other, and divided on how to attack Loki. They also become skeptical of SHIELD’s intentions. However, they eventually begin to work as a team and the heroes win in the end.
The Good
As I said, the plot isn’t very complex or intellectually stimulating, but humor, good acting, and kick-ass special effects more than make up for it. Robert Downy Jr. once again reprises his role as Iron Man and does a fantastic job with it. Chris Evans does a serviceable job as Captain America, as does Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Scarlett Johansson does a pretty good job as the Black Widow and has a few punch lines in the movie. Tom Hiddleston does an excellent job, I think, of playing Loki, a deluded alien with godlike powers hell-bent on ruling the Earth. I think there’s nothing better in a movie such as this than a good villain and Hiddleston nailed it. Samuel L Jackson does an adequate job as Nick Fury, and Cobie Smulders (of How I Met Your Mother fame) was surprisingly good in her action scenes.
The special effects were obviously exquisite, as the movie cost over $200 million to make and has been in production for years. There are no complaints about that here.
The humor in this movie makes it stand out from all of the movies leading up to The Avengers. Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America (which I haven’t seen yet) were good in their own right, but were devoid of humor for the most part. The Iron Man movies embraced humor and that’s what made them so much better than the other movies previously mentioned.
The Bad
I have little criticism of this movie. The only thing I would have changed about this movie is the casting of Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner. That’s not to say that Ruffalo did a bad job, but Edward Norton did better. Marvel did attempt to bring Norton on for this movie, but negotiations between the two failed so the part went to Ruffalo.
Other than that, I have no criticism of this movie.
Overall
I loved this movie and plan to take the twins to see it on Wednesday, which goes to show how much I love this movie. The only other movie I’ve seen more than once in a theater is Revenge of the Sith. If you enjoy comic book movies or action movies, this movie is for you.
Have you ever read a book so epic that when it’s announced that a movie based on the book is coming out that your excitement rivals that of a child on Christmas Eve?
Timeline by Michael Crichton was that book for me. I read that book probably three times in a row when it was first released. When the movie was announced about 10 years ago, I couldn’t wait to see this masterpiece on the big screen.
I’ve never been so disappointed in my life.
When I asked the twins what movie they’d like to watch the other day, this is the movie they choose. I acquiesced and consequently seethed the entire time I was watching the movie due to how much the movie just totally ignored the book. And it irritated me badly enough to warrant writing this irate post.
Richard Donner directed the movie and has made such hits as the Lethal Weapon series, Scrooged, Superman I and II, Conspiracy Theory, and The Goonies. So you would assume that a director with such a pedigree combined with a novel written by Michael Crichton would be sure-thing, right? Wrong. Richard Donner butchered this story, which is surprising to me.
The book is about a company, ITC, that inadvertently discovers “time travel” which allows them to travel through a wormhole in the multiverse to the year 1357 using quantum technology.
The beginning of the book centers on an archaeological dig in medieval towns of Castelgard and La Roque in France. ITC is funding the dig. The professor leading the dig, Edward Johnston, becomes suspicious about the information ITC has been providing, which is far too accurate for the towns they are just no unearthing. He travels to ITC headquarters in New Mexico where he finds about the ability to “time travel.” He coerces ITC into sending him back to 1357 and becomes separated from the team and gets lost in the past.
The rest of the team finds out that Johnston is trapped in the past while excavating a newly found room in a monastery which has been buried and deserted for over 600 years. The team initially fears that their professor has played a practical joke on them, but after three carbon-dating tests, they confirm that the parchment and ink are both 600 years old. They confront ITC when they cannot get a hold of the professor and ITC sends a plane to bring them to ITC’s New Mexico headquarters. There the professor’s fate is revealed to them and ITC’s CEO, Robert Doniger recruits the team to go back to 1357 to find the professor.
The movie flies through the beginning so fast that by the time the archeology team goes back in time you have no idea what is going on. Then, in the biggest omission from the book, the movie does not use the ear pieces that were a centerpiece in Crichton’s novel. In the book, the team is sent back with biodegradable ear pieces so they can communicate with each other. They use the ear pieces to find each other when separated. In the movie they find each other through blind luck. There is also an ex-ITC employee in the past who uses the ear pieces to capture the team. In the movie, it’s a mere coincidence that he captures them.
The casting is horrible in this movie. Gerard Butler, who I think is a terrific actor, is cast as Andre Marek. In the book, Andre Marek is described as dark-skinned. In the movie he’s very white and Scottish. And Andre Marek is not a very Scottish name. Professor Johnston is not described as Scottish, but he is in the movie. Paul Walker is cast as Chris, Professor Johnston’s son (in the book, this character’s name is Chris Hughes and is not the professor’s son). Paul Walker is a horrible actor so he has a straight American accent because that’s all he can do. So, in the movie we’re supposed to believe some Scottish Guy has a son that doesn’t sound Scottish. Right.
There are many other discrepancies between the book and the movie. In the book there was a pretty epic fight on a watermill that ended up getting blown up but that is completely omitted from the movie. The tunnel to La Roque is found in some house at the base of a waterfall, not in the monastery like it was in the movie. Also, everyone sent to the past was given a “marker,” which is a device you use to go back to the future (1.21 jiggawatts!!!). In the book the markers are good for three days. In the movie they’re only good for six hours.
Ugh. I could probably go on and on (and on and on), but I just don’t understand why Hollywood feels the need to change the stories of books when adapting them into movies. The book is obviously great the way it is otherwise you wouldn’t be making it in to a movie. So leave the damn story alone and just make the movie, will you people?
I finally was able to watch this movie last night. I’ve been wanting to see it for a while as I am a Topher Grace fan.
Unfortunately, the movie is only mediocre at best.
*SPOILERS*
The premise of the movie is Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) trying to hook up with his high school crush 4 years after graduation. Matt is working as a video store clerk in the late 80′s after having graduated from MIT, but has yet to decide what career he will choose.
While working in the video store his high school crush walks into the store. Matt takes off his vest and pretends not to work there. He has a short conversation with his crush, Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer), who asks him if he is going to Kyle Masterson’s party that evening after Matt lies about his career.
What ensues is Matt going to excessive lengths to impress Tori, often with catastrophic results.
Admittedly, there are a handful of laugh out loud moments but the premise kind of turns me off. The idea of a character pretending to be something he or she is not to try to get something they want is a worn out story and I’ve honestly never liked the concept because you know it’s always going to blow up in that person’s face and it’s no different in this story.
That being said, the movie isn’t entirely horrible even if the plot is dated. Topher Grace and Dan Fogler deliver some hilarious moments and Teresa Palmer and Anna Faris do well in their supporting roles.
Ultimately, I’m glad I waited until it was on Netflix to watch this movie. If I had actually paid to see this in theaters I probably would have been pissed.
First and foremost, I’d like to pat myself, Revis Edgewater, and Superbitch on the back for reaching this, our 500th post. I started this blog on my own server, just as a side project to see if I could, in fact, host my own blog. I did so, but had to move it here when my ISP objected to my use of their service for hosting a website. I kept the blog going here because I found that I actually enjoyed writing. I then invited my brother, Revis Edgewater, and my wife, Superbitch, to contribute, and we’ve been pumping out top quality content ever since. Or so I believe.
On to the topic at hand, I surprised my wonderful wife yesterday with a trip to our local movie theater to see a movie she really wanted to see, a movie which she was resigned to seeing with her friends as she assumed I would not take her to see since it’s a chick flick.
I had no idea whatsoever regarding her desire to see this movie until Friday, when she put out an open call on Facebook to her girlfriends to watch the movie with her. I decided yesterday morning to phone my mom and ask her to watch Baby C for a couple of hours so I could take her to see it. Little did I know that I’d be surprised in return, as I actually somewhat enjoyed the movie.
I expected to see a movie filled with unrealistic happenings, where a man and a woman have a surreal storybook romance and all ends happily. What I actually saw was a heart-wrenching drama that eventually does end happily, although you don’t think it will until the very last moments of the movie.
This movie dives into the drama very quickly as Leo (Channing Tatum) and Paige (Rachel McAdams) are heading home from a theater amid the snow-covered streets of Chicago. They stop at a red-light where Paige unbuckles herself and jokingly tells Leo that the chances of conception increase when procreating in a vehicle. She didn’t use those exact words, but you get the gist.
Anyhow, no sooner than they, uh, start to get busy, they are rear-ended by a huge truck that was unable to stop. Their car then crashes into a telephone pole, sending Paige through the windshield.
Leo, having been buckled, was relatively unharmed. Paige, on the other hand, was in the ICU for quite a while. When she finally awakens, she has no memory of the last five years of her life, a time during which she had changed into a completely different person than she was five years prior. Also a time before she had met Leo, her husband.
From there, the movie follows both Paige and Leo as Paige tries to remember what has happened in the last five years and Leo tries to help her remember who he is and that they were very much in love. Leo, however, is a complete stranger to Paige, and Paige’s parents swoop in and try to pull her back to her old life; the life with which she is now familiar since she cannot recall the last five years of her life.
The Good
I was pleasantly surprised to find many laugh-out-loud moments in what is otherwise considered a drama, and was also surprised to find out that this movie was somewhat enjoyable. The acting in this movie was superb, and Sam Neill does an excellent job of playing the affluent, asshole dad who you love to hate. Scott Speedman does an excellent job ensuring you loathe him as well, playing the ex-fiance who tries to win Paige back. Tatum and McAdams do very well in their roles, Tatum’s character struggling with the life he now has with a wife that no longer knows who he is and McAdams as the woman who is upset that she keeps disappointing Leo because she can’t remember their life together.
The Bad
I have shockingly little criticism of this movie. There were parts of the movie I didn’t like, but they were parts of the story, not the movie in general. For instance, I loathe Paige’s dad, but that’s the idea. He’s such an ass that you’re supposed to hate him. I also had a problem with some of the ways Leo tried to help Paige remember their life. That, however, is because I would have done things different and been slightly more sensitive to what she was going through. These things don’t negatively impact the movie, but those are just foibles of the characters. We all have foibles, and they do not detract from the enjoyment of the movie overall.
Overall
I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a good story, but only to watch it once. Maybe twice. I don’t normally watch dramas as I like to be entertained when watching a movie, not saddened. This is definitely a sad movie overall, but a movie with happy moments sprinkled in. This is definitely more of a drama than a chick flick, but it’s still worth one watch. If nothing else it makes you wonder; what would you do if the one you loved could no longer remember you? What if you could no longer remember the one you allegedly loved?
George Lucas’ new movie Red Tails is set to release this Friday, January 20. According to a recent interview with Lucas in the New York Times, this will be the last movie Lucas ever makes, except for a possible fifth Indiana Jones movie. “I’m retiring,” Lucas said, per the article.
The interview eventually, and inevitably, turned towards Star Wars. That’s when the interview became absurd, and hence why I’m writing this post.
“Why would I make any more,” Lucas says of the “Star Wars” movies, “when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?”
Translation: Stop mocking me!
Those sound like the ravings of a maligned child. I have criticized the prequel trilogy myself, but I’ve never really yelled and I sure have never implied or stated that he’s a terrible person. I may have suggested that he had forgotten how to make a good movie between the time he made Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and The Phantom Menace. I, for one, would love to have more Star Wars movies to watch. Sure, Jar Jar sucked. Yeah, the dialogue in the love scenes was horrid. But I still love to watch the movies. They are entertaining despite the odd quirks he slipped into the movies. The action is great, the overall story is good, and other than Hayden Christiansen the acting is pretty decent.
“On the Internet, all those same guys that are complaining I made a change are completely changing the movie,” Lucas says, referring to fans who, like the dreaded studios, have done their own forcible re-edits. “I’m saying: ‘Fine. But my movie, with my name on it, that says I did it, needs to be the way I want it.’ ”
Translation: Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!
Ok, George. Releasing the Special Editions was one thing. The movies were old and deserved to be updated. I was onboard with all of the changes except for Greedo shooting first. The idea of Greedo shooting first isn’t the problem, it was the implementation of it. The scene is just not believable at all. Han jerks his head slightly to the side and that’s all it takes for Greedo to miss? Not likely. Not from point-blank range.
And, George, it’s not that you changed the movies, it’s that you keep changing the movies In 1997 there was the Special Editions. Fine. Great. You cleaned up the film. You added some CGI to enhance a few scenes. You even added a couple of deleted scenes. No problem. Then came the DVD release, in which additional gratuitous changes were begotten. Ian McDiarmid was superimposed over the actor who originally played the Emperor in The Empire Strikes Back. Hayden Christiansen was superimposed over the actor who played Anakin in Return of the Jedi. With the Blu-ray release, we now have Darth Vader screaming, “No!” while he heaves the Emperor down into the Death Star core. Lord only knows what changes will be made in the 3D (why, oh why?) versions of the films set to release later this year.
Aside: I’m somewhat intrigued by the idea that some fans made their own edits to the movies. I wonder where I could find said movies so I can see just what changes were made.
“I’m moving away from the business, from the company, from all this kind of stuff,” he says.
Translation: I quit. . .and I’m taking my ball with me.
This entire interview sounds to me like he just can’t handle criticism, constructive or otherwise. I don’t believe any of the criticism bestowed upon him is unwarranted. I agree with the majority of it, though I still enjoy the movies whereas others refuse to watch them and claim outright that these movies are the worst thing since Roseanne Barr sang the National Anthem.
If that’s the way he feels there’s obviously nothing we can do about it. I find it childish, however, that he’s taking his ideas with him. If he no longer wishes to make movies then so be it, but pass the torch. Let some one else produce some Star Wars movies. There’s no need for a script. There are literally hundreds of them already written in the form of Expanded Universe novels. There are many worthy novels in the Star Wars EU library that would make excellent movies.
So, fanboys, you’ve done it. You’ve finally broken George Lucas. You’ve hurt his feelings. You assailed his work and made him cry. And now there will be no more Star Wars movies…unless he dies and his family decides to sell their rights to the franchise.
I finally had the time to watch this movie last night. We got the DVD from Netflix over a month ago, but with the holidays and birthdays going on it was hard to find a time where myself, my wife, and the twins could all sit down and watch it together.
On Stranger Tides, the fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, is the first film without Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swan (Kiera Knightly). In this adventure, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and Captain Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush) search for the legendary Fountain of Youth. The film also stars Ian McShane is Captain Blackbeard and Penelope Cruz as Angelica Teach.
There will be spoilers from here on out. If you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want to know…then don’t read.
The movie starts out with Sparrow in London, saving Gibbs, who is about to be hanged as Jack Sparrow. Jack ends up being captured and brought before the king, because he has a map to the fountain of youth. Jack escapes only to be captured by Angelica, who was posing as Jack to recruit a crew for her journey to the fountain so her father, Blackbeard, can drink from it.
The way the fountain works is somewhat complicated. In order to use the fountain (in this movie anyway) you have to get two chalices made for Ponce De Leon and a tear from a mermaid. You fill both chalices from the fountain, and then put the mermaid’s tear in one of the chalices. Two people have to drink from the chalices. The one who drinks from the chalice with the mermaid tear gets all the remaining years of life from the person who drinks from the other chalice.
So it ends up that Jack, Angelica, and Blackbeard end up in some cove where mermaids are known live. Mermaids, in this movie, are drawn to light kind of like a moth is. Mermaids are also, in this movie , belligerent creatures that attack without provocation and can sling seaweed from the hands a la Spiderman. They also have fangs like vampires. So there is a pretty intense battle to get a tear from one mermaid, whom they capture and take with them. And miraculously, the mermaids bottom half transforms into legs when she’s taken out of water, but she can’t walk.
Blackbeard sends Sparrow to Ponce De Leon’s ship to find the chalices and he finds Barbosa there, where the duo discover that the Spanish, also looking for the fountain, have already been there and taken the chalices. They then raid the Spanish camp and come away with the chalices. Barbosa lets Sparrow take the chalices as Barbosa is there only to kill Blackbeard because Blackbeard stole the Black Pearl and somehow shrunk it down so it would fit in a small glass bottle.
All three groups end up getting to the fountain one after the other. The English battle Blackbeard and lose, because half of Blackbeard’s crew is magical and can’t be killed. The Spanish then arrive and outnumber them all by a wide margin and they end up destroying the fountain. Barbosa is able to kill Blackbeard with a poison laced blade and because Blackbeard does not have the power of his ship to assist him. He inadvertently cuts Angelica when she tries to save him.
Barbosa claims Blackbeard’s sword and crew. Sparrow saves Angelica, who he won’t admit he loves, by tricking Blackbeard into drinking from the chalice without the mermaid tear. He then strands Angelica on an island. The mermaid that was captured saves an injuried cleric from Blackbeard’s crew after he asks.
That’s how it ends, leaving multiple questions. Why, if Sparrow loves Angelica, did he leave her stranded on an island? Also, how did the mermaid save the cleric? She takes him down toward the bottom of the sea and that’s the last you see of them. Was she able to save him? Did they live happily ever after?
There is also another cliffhanger. Gibbs escapes while on the island and is able to get the bottle with the Black Pearl trapped in it along with a bag of treasure. I assume the goal is to get the ship out, but do they do it? How do they get off the island? The Spanish are gone and Barbosa and Blackbeard’s crew have already left. The English’s ship was sunk by the mermaids.
Johnny Depp again performs brilliantly as Jack Sparrow, who is easily one of my favorite characters from any movie or movie franchise. Geoffrey Rush and Ian McShane also do a decent job in their roles. Penelope Cruz was okay, but I really don’t care for her and that may or may not have affected my opinion.
The special effects are top-notch again and there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. I wasn’t crazy, however, about how mermaids were portrayed and the story just wasn’t as good as it was in the other movies. It was still an enjoyable movie to watch, but I still believe The Curse of the Black Pearl was the best.
I finally got around to watching X-Men: First Class this past weekend. I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews in regards to this movie, some even calling it the best X-Men movie to date.
The movie stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence as Professor Xavier, Magneto, and Mystique respectively, and Kevin Bacon as the protagonist, Sebastian Shaw.
This movie uses the Cuban Missile Crisis as grounds for the formation of the X-Men. Xavier and Magneto are discovered by the CIA and used to recruit other mutants to form a team that be able to prevent the Crisis, which they vaguely know is being subtly manipulated behind the scenes by Shaw. The X-Men single-handedly defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis, then the Americans and Russians alike both turn on them, leading to Magneto’s turn against the humans.
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, although I don’t know if I agree it is the best X-Men movie made to date. I enjoyed them all equally. The movie does a great job in showing how the X-Men were formed, why Magneto wants to go to war against the humans, and how Cerebro came to be.
The acting in this movie is very well done, though the only actor I’d heard of in the movie was Kevin Bacon. I didn’t even know he was in this movie until he appeared on the screen. Watching Kevin Bacon play a villain was a little odd, but he did well enough.
The special effects in this movie, like all the others, is top-notch. Everything in this movie looked realistic and believable.
There were some comical moments in the movie as well, such as when Eric and Charles found and attempted to recruit Wolverine. I won’t give it away, but it’s hilarious.
Overall, X-Men: First Class is another strong entry into this franchise. I highly recommend it, two thumbs up, or whatever your pleasure, this is a fun movie to watch.
My wife and went to see 50/50 for our anniversary last Tuesday, and I’m just now getting around to reviewing it. Thus proving that you have absolutely NO time when raising an infant.
Anyhow, 50/50 is a movie starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Adam Lerner and Seth Rogen as Kyle, Adam’s best friend. Not long into the movie Adams learns that he has a rare form of cancer and the film documents his struggle with this disease.
Rogan’s character in this movie is the same as every other character he’s ever played. A drunk that wants only to get laid. Is Seth Rogan capable of playing a character who is not absessed with getting laid and being drunk all the time? This is who he is in every fucking movie I’ve seen him in, including the Green Hornet, which is supposed to be a comic book movie.
As for the movie itself, I was surprised to find that this movie is more of a drama than a comedy. The commercials I saw on TV show a lot of funny parts and Seth Rogan is in it, so I figured is was supposed to be a comedy.
It’s a pretty serious movie about a young man fighting against a terminal disease with some funny parts sprinkled in. That being said, the transition from serious to funny and back again is done very well in this movie and Gordon-Levitt nails the part of someone struggling with cancer.
Anjelica Huston plays a supporting role as Adam’s mother and Anna Kendrick does a very good job as Adam’s very inexperienced (right out of college) shrink. Bryce Dallas Howard plays Adam’s despicable girlfriend, who is anything but supportive during Adam’s journey.
I really enjoyed this film and recommend it to anyone who has reasonable taste in movies (like me).
My wife and went to see 50/50 for our anniversary last Tuesday, and I’m just now getting around to reviewing it. Thus proving that you have absolutely NO time when raising an infant.
