The good folks over at AICN have started receiving some reviews of the new [last?] Indiana Jones movie as it just started screening for people in sneak preview form.
The reviews are... mixed. Which is scary.
I'm not one of those guys who will run around with Lucas and Spielberg's heads on a pike screaming "YOU RAPED MY CHILDHOOD!" if the movie sucks. If it sucks, it sucks... it's a shame, but it's life, right? People make shitty movies and put them out to torture the masses. It's a test to see the breaking point of man and how far society can be pushed before we all turn upon each other and create an anarchist state of people who slaughter anyone who mentions phrases like "King Arthur" or "Air Bud."
But I digress.
I haven't followed the making of this movie very closely. It's one of those flicks where I would prefer to go in fresh, knowing as little as possible, and let the chips fall where they may. We've all heard the rumors about that Shia fellow being Indy and Marion's love child - don't want to know. We've heard that the Ark is involved - don't want to know. We've even heard that Indy may die - don't want to know.
With so little information going in, oddly, I don't feel the same sort of anticipation for this one as I did the Star Wars prequels... strangely, I don't even know if I feel the same sort of anticipation that I feel for... say... The Dark Knight. I mean, I know I want to see it and I know I probably want to do a midnight screening of it... but I'm not sitting around wondering what it's going to be like.
And the reviews coming in... the few that I skimmed the beginning of, praying for no spoilers... have done little to get me hyped up for it.
But it can't suck, right?
And before anyone points out Episodes I-III... just don't. I won't listen to you. You can stamp your feet and jump up and down and tell me how much you hate Jar Jar or little Jake Lloyd or whatever... I don't care. They weren't Ep IV-VI but they never were going to be - they never could be. But they hold a special place in this Star Wars fan's geeky heart so... just don't.
Indy can't suck. I've made that decision. I put my foot down on the baby toe of the movie gods and deny them the ability to make it suck.
Look, I can read bad reviews... I can hear bad buzz... I can not feel the hype...
But I can tell you one thing...
Before Iron Man, they ran an Indy trailer.
And I got chills. Chills at the beginning. Chills at the middle. Chills at the end.
And for now, that's good enough for me, Dr. Jones.
2008-05-10
2008-05-09
Top Five Friday: Iron Man
Grrrr...arrrrgh... nowhere in my wedding vows do I recall, "I will pause the Laker playoff game that you knew was on at 6 PM (and that I openly declared my intent to leave Happy Hour at 5:45 so I would be home on time for the game) so that you have time to get home from a trip to Aaron Brothers that you openly admit was a "last minute thing since you weren't going to be home""
Everybody got that?
So, Top Five Friday. Saw Iron Man last night. Loved it. Absolutely loved it. If I had done last week's Top Five this week, I would have had some serious difficulty pulling it off. My immediate thought walking out of the movie is that I think it's very close to Batman Begins in quality level but I'm not sure if it surpasses it.
But that's a topic for another time.
The topic for today? The Top Five Reasons You Want To See Iron Man... a slightly spoilerish edition so avert thine eyes if you're sensitive to spoilerish materials.
Images inserted as spoiler space.
5. FX
You know those moments during The Hulk? Or those moments during the trailer for the new Hulk movie? Or even some of those moments during the Star Wars prequels? You know the moments I'm talking about... the moments when you see an action sequence or a CGI "thing" on the screen that makes you scratch your chin and say, "You know, that's just not right." I never had a moment like that during Iron Man. It was all completely natural and looked/felt right. And to top it off, during the credits, I remembered that the work was a joint effort between ILM and Stan Winston [who is a mofuckin' genius.] And to pay them tribute, I say... I honestly have no idea where ILM's work ends and Winston's begins. Big props on that.
4. The little things
When making a HUUUUUUGE FX heavy action flick, it's easy to forget the little things that make movies charming and adorable. Iron Man is not short on any of those moments. Whether it's Tony being the alcoholic playboy or the little machines that help him build and test the suit and his relationship with them or Pepper Potts just being so damn adorable, this movie has all the little things that will make you smile and know it's more than one explosion after another.
3. The acting
The acting in this movie is phenomenal. There's not a single cast member that uttered a single line that felt forced or unnatural. In fact, that's a big plus for Iron Man over Batman Begins, IMO. Every member of the cast _was_ their character in my eyes and I never felt I was watching someone "play a role"... other than trying to wrap my head around The Dude being some big bald businessman. Go figure.
2. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark
This is a little bit of a double-dip from #3 but RDJ _was_ Tony Stark. He had everything down pat in the way that I would envision Tony Stark if a comic book came to life. He was the alcohol-chuggin', womanizin', fast car-drivin', private jet ridin', suit of highly technological buildin' son of a gun. Everything seemed right and he seemed totally natural in the role. The frustrating thing of it all was that I watched Fantastic Four 2 yesterday before seeing this and the difference between the portrayal of Tony Stark as a brilliant scientist and Reed Richards as the "smartest man in the Marvel Universe" was absolutely astonishing. I really wish Marvel had taken creative control of their own properties sooner.
1. AFTER THE CREDITS
Well, it's not _really_ #1 probably but it was so, so, so awesome as a comic book geek, I encourage one and all to stick through finding out who the Best Boy and Ms. Paltrow's Assistant was just so you can see it. Don't be like the two people I've talked to today who missed it and then went nutty when I told them what happened. Stick around and see it for yourself so you can post a comment here saying how absolutely batshit fucking awesome it was.
And that, my friends... is that. Go Lakers!
Everybody got that?
So, Top Five Friday. Saw Iron Man last night. Loved it. Absolutely loved it. If I had done last week's Top Five this week, I would have had some serious difficulty pulling it off. My immediate thought walking out of the movie is that I think it's very close to Batman Begins in quality level but I'm not sure if it surpasses it.
But that's a topic for another time.
The topic for today? The Top Five Reasons You Want To See Iron Man... a slightly spoilerish edition so avert thine eyes if you're sensitive to spoilerish materials.
Images inserted as spoiler space.
5. FX
You know those moments during The Hulk? Or those moments during the trailer for the new Hulk movie? Or even some of those moments during the Star Wars prequels? You know the moments I'm talking about... the moments when you see an action sequence or a CGI "thing" on the screen that makes you scratch your chin and say, "You know, that's just not right." I never had a moment like that during Iron Man. It was all completely natural and looked/felt right. And to top it off, during the credits, I remembered that the work was a joint effort between ILM and Stan Winston [who is a mofuckin' genius.] And to pay them tribute, I say... I honestly have no idea where ILM's work ends and Winston's begins. Big props on that.
4. The little things
When making a HUUUUUUGE FX heavy action flick, it's easy to forget the little things that make movies charming and adorable. Iron Man is not short on any of those moments. Whether it's Tony being the alcoholic playboy or the little machines that help him build and test the suit and his relationship with them or Pepper Potts just being so damn adorable, this movie has all the little things that will make you smile and know it's more than one explosion after another.
3. The acting
The acting in this movie is phenomenal. There's not a single cast member that uttered a single line that felt forced or unnatural. In fact, that's a big plus for Iron Man over Batman Begins, IMO. Every member of the cast _was_ their character in my eyes and I never felt I was watching someone "play a role"... other than trying to wrap my head around The Dude being some big bald businessman. Go figure.
2. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark
This is a little bit of a double-dip from #3 but RDJ _was_ Tony Stark. He had everything down pat in the way that I would envision Tony Stark if a comic book came to life. He was the alcohol-chuggin', womanizin', fast car-drivin', private jet ridin', suit of highly technological buildin' son of a gun. Everything seemed right and he seemed totally natural in the role. The frustrating thing of it all was that I watched Fantastic Four 2 yesterday before seeing this and the difference between the portrayal of Tony Stark as a brilliant scientist and Reed Richards as the "smartest man in the Marvel Universe" was absolutely astonishing. I really wish Marvel had taken creative control of their own properties sooner.
1. AFTER THE CREDITS
Well, it's not _really_ #1 probably but it was so, so, so awesome as a comic book geek, I encourage one and all to stick through finding out who the Best Boy and Ms. Paltrow's Assistant was just so you can see it. Don't be like the two people I've talked to today who missed it and then went nutty when I told them what happened. Stick around and see it for yourself so you can post a comment here saying how absolutely batshit fucking awesome it was.
And that, my friends... is that. Go Lakers!
2008-05-08
Mixtape Of The Month - Aural Hershiser
So, I'm still running behind schedule on Mixtapes Of The Month but I'm on the comeback trail, I can feel it! Download and enjoy!
Mixtape Of The Month (April 2008)
Title: Aural Hershiser
Length: 1:43:30
File Size: 95 MB
Featuring: 16 cool-as-fuck songs including music by Styx, Vampire Weekend, Motley Crue, Bob Marley, Pearl Jam, Kate Nash, No Doubt, Black Sabbath, Flight Of The Conchords, and many, many more!
2008-05-07
More G.I. Joe Photos + News
As your very unofficial source of G.I. Joe info, I come bearing gifts.
First, the good folks over at Superherohype.com were given the courtesy of a visit to the G.I. Joe set recently . Their initial report is pretty vague but they did drop a few details of interest. Some of the sets they were shown included the MARS lab [can't really go wrong with a weapons-development building], the "interior of the G.I. Joe submarine" [makes sense], an underwater base station [fits with the rumors of an undersea battle at some point in the flick,] and "the remains of the Pit." Aha! So, at some point in the movie, the Pit gets damaged badly. Seems fitting considering the number of times it happened in the comics and cartoon. I'm okay with all that!
The real test?
More pictures. As Samuel L once wisely said, "Hold on to your butts."
Having some HTML troubles so I'll put all my comments at the bottom of the page.
New shot of Storm Shadow. Much, much better, IMO. Still not perfect but he doesn't look like he fell out of a bad anime.
Ahhh, sweet, sweet Baroness. I dig it. I think this one works nicely - but I said that after the first photo of her too. She's the only one they've completely hit on the nail so far - Snakes is very close but the second photo of him scared me a bit.
Destro. Hrmm. Without the mask, it's hard to tell but I think this guy looks just about right for the gig. Slap some wrist rockets on him and let's see how it goes.
Still Metrosexual General Hawk. Egads.
Heavy Duty. Not bad. Not fond of everyone in black leather still but not bad at all. Mr. Eko rules it.
And lastly, Breaker... who looks just fine again except for the black leather.
First, the good folks over at Superherohype.com were given the courtesy of a visit to the G.I. Joe set recently . Their initial report is pretty vague but they did drop a few details of interest. Some of the sets they were shown included the MARS lab [can't really go wrong with a weapons-development building], the "interior of the G.I. Joe submarine" [makes sense], an underwater base station [fits with the rumors of an undersea battle at some point in the flick,] and "the remains of the Pit." Aha! So, at some point in the movie, the Pit gets damaged badly. Seems fitting considering the number of times it happened in the comics and cartoon. I'm okay with all that!
The real test?
More pictures. As Samuel L once wisely said, "Hold on to your butts."
Having some HTML troubles so I'll put all my comments at the bottom of the page.
New shot of Storm Shadow. Much, much better, IMO. Still not perfect but he doesn't look like he fell out of a bad anime.
Ahhh, sweet, sweet Baroness. I dig it. I think this one works nicely - but I said that after the first photo of her too. She's the only one they've completely hit on the nail so far - Snakes is very close but the second photo of him scared me a bit.
Destro. Hrmm. Without the mask, it's hard to tell but I think this guy looks just about right for the gig. Slap some wrist rockets on him and let's see how it goes.
Still Metrosexual General Hawk. Egads.
Heavy Duty. Not bad. Not fond of everyone in black leather still but not bad at all. Mr. Eko rules it.
And lastly, Breaker... who looks just fine again except for the black leather.
2008-05-06
A great day in LA sports
I sit here writing this post with the biggest fucking grin on my face.
Watching Kobe Bryant accept his long-deserved, long-denied, long-awaited NBA MVP award is one of the greatest moments in LA sports history to me. Obviously, it doesn't rank up there with the Gibson homerun or the Kobe-to-Shaq alley-oop or... well, so many others. But this is so great to see after the season [and summer] that this team went through.
It's almost impossible to imagine that when this season started, we all were faced with the very real possibility that Kobe would be dealt somewhere else and the Lakers would probably be a low seed or a lottery team. Very few ever envisioned this season ending with the Lakers in the second round of the playoffs, with Kobe accepting the MVP Award, and with a very real possibility that the Lakers will move on in the post-season.
Amazing.
But it is reality. As I sit here to listen to Luke Walton jokingly ask if Kobe will be buying his teammates a gift. As I sit here to listen to Tex Winter ask if Kobe likes the triangle offense. As I sit here to listen to Kobe struggle to answer a question in Spanish in a J-Lo-as-Selena fashion while looking at Pau Gasol for help. And maybe most importantly, as I sit here to listen to Kobe Bryant tell the world he wants to be a Laker for life. It's real, you know? In an unbelievable season... you've gotta believe your eyes and ears from time to time.
It has been an honor and pleasure to watch Kobe Bryant mature as a player from the kid throwing up airballs in the playoffs against Utah that made me want to put my foot through the TV screen to the greatest player in the game collecting his first MVP award and trying to push his team to another championship. Oh, and if that's not enough, instead of resting over the summer, he's going to carry his country to a gold medal.
Repeat: He's _going_ to carry his country to a gold medal - there's not a doubt in my mind about that.
And as the details trickle in, we find out that it wasn't even close. As much talk as there was about Chris Paul being right there with him, Kobe has 82 first place votes while Chris Paul had 28. After all the debate, after all the talk - it wasn't even close.
Kobe Bryant is your MVP. Kobe Bryant is _our_ MVP.
Kobe Bryant is the greatest basketball player that I have had the pleasure to see in my life. Now, that statement comes from behind purple-and-gold colored glasses and from someone who didn't get to see Magic, Kareem, Jordan at their primes. But Kobe will be the player that my kids and grandkids will someday ask if I saw. His golden #24 [or #8... or both!] will be hanging from the rafters the first time my kids and grandkids walk into a Laker game.
"Did you ever see him play?"
The question will come, surely enough. And I'll stop and look up at the rafters of the Staples Center [or whatever building the Lakers have moved into by then.] I'll look at the jerseys of Kareem, of Magic, of Wilt, of Chick, of West, of Shaq. I'll turn my head slightly to look at the wall of banners - more than a few more added at that point.
I'll think back and remember it all - all the moments that are unforgettable, all the shots that are unbelievable, all the plays that are unimaginable.
And I'll smile.
"Yeah, I saw him play."
"What was it like?"
"You know that movie I make you watch every March? With the baseball player who breaks the lights with a home run?"
"Yeah."
"Kobe Bryant was just like him - the best there ever was."
Congrats, Kobe... and thanks.
2008-05-05
News And Reaction: The Wrestling Edition
I figured it's been a while since I've tossed some Rassle Talk on this blog so... here goes!
NEWS: WWE experimenting with a little more "shock TV"
REACTION: Well, honestly, I don't know. Regal pulling the plug on Raw's main event was amusing and didn't bother me one bit. I thought it was a clever way to get some heat on the new heel. All the 'net outrage over the main event's finish not being seen is amusing - maybe it's because I grew up watching wrestling in the 80's when that was a real common ploy but it was just fine with me. Will it lead to more viewers? Maybe initially - the curiosity factor to see what will happen to Regal because of it. But an initial bump is all they'll get unless they instill a new feeling of unpredictability to every show. The ECW thing was interesting but I'm not sure an angle built off bad reaction to an announcer's performance is a good thing. Eh. I didn't even watch it, to be honest. I might tune in for the aftermath.
NEWS: TNA is... well, TNA
REACTION: I've given up again. There's just nothing worth seeing. I want to be interested in Samoa Joe as the champ since he's one of my favs but... really? I just don't care. And Russoiffic concepts like the Deuces Wild tag tourney do nothing to make me change my mind about that. Oh, not to mention the new round cage introduced one month after an all-cage match PPV. Money, baby, money.
NEWS: ROH in the Hammerstein this weekend
REACTION: In what could be the biggest weekend for the nation's top indy in its history, Ring of Honor invades the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC this weekend for an attempt to take a step up the ladder. It's a big risk to take but they have stacked the lineup for it. I'll be curious to see the results [and the attendance] as they have recently set up a couple of interesting angles to get my attention again.
NEWS: PWG snakebit
REACTION: Can't go through one of these without putting over the local product. The PWG faithful were all looking forward to their big two night tag tourney [DDT4] in a couple of weeks. They had to make the usual pre-show lineup juggling but all was well... until their champ went down with a knee injury. Now, with their big Labor Day tourney and another show with Dragon Gate on the horizon, they're scrambling again. I know what I would do... but I'm not on the writing staff for them for some unknown reason!
NEWS: XPW! XPW! XPW!
REACTION: Oh yeah, baby! The big XPW reunion show is Memorial Day weekend and it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. The latest addition has a Dream Death Match with former XPW King of the Death Match Supreme taking on the quickly-becoming-legendary Necro Butcher. Now _that_ should be fun.
NEWS: WWE experimenting with a little more "shock TV"
REACTION: Well, honestly, I don't know. Regal pulling the plug on Raw's main event was amusing and didn't bother me one bit. I thought it was a clever way to get some heat on the new heel. All the 'net outrage over the main event's finish not being seen is amusing - maybe it's because I grew up watching wrestling in the 80's when that was a real common ploy but it was just fine with me. Will it lead to more viewers? Maybe initially - the curiosity factor to see what will happen to Regal because of it. But an initial bump is all they'll get unless they instill a new feeling of unpredictability to every show. The ECW thing was interesting but I'm not sure an angle built off bad reaction to an announcer's performance is a good thing. Eh. I didn't even watch it, to be honest. I might tune in for the aftermath.
NEWS: TNA is... well, TNA
REACTION: I've given up again. There's just nothing worth seeing. I want to be interested in Samoa Joe as the champ since he's one of my favs but... really? I just don't care. And Russoiffic concepts like the Deuces Wild tag tourney do nothing to make me change my mind about that. Oh, not to mention the new round cage introduced one month after an all-cage match PPV. Money, baby, money.
NEWS: ROH in the Hammerstein this weekend
REACTION: In what could be the biggest weekend for the nation's top indy in its history, Ring of Honor invades the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC this weekend for an attempt to take a step up the ladder. It's a big risk to take but they have stacked the lineup for it. I'll be curious to see the results [and the attendance] as they have recently set up a couple of interesting angles to get my attention again.
NEWS: PWG snakebit
REACTION: Can't go through one of these without putting over the local product. The PWG faithful were all looking forward to their big two night tag tourney [DDT4] in a couple of weeks. They had to make the usual pre-show lineup juggling but all was well... until their champ went down with a knee injury. Now, with their big Labor Day tourney and another show with Dragon Gate on the horizon, they're scrambling again. I know what I would do... but I'm not on the writing staff for them for some unknown reason!
NEWS: XPW! XPW! XPW!
REACTION: Oh yeah, baby! The big XPW reunion show is Memorial Day weekend and it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. The latest addition has a Dream Death Match with former XPW King of the Death Match Supreme taking on the quickly-becoming-legendary Necro Butcher. Now _that_ should be fun.
2008-05-04
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