Matrix Reloaded Review Part 2 of 3

Another reason to watch Reloaded…

When the movie shifted toward the Matrix, the movie seemed to get better. I found the conversation between The Oracle and Neo to be wonderfully directed and full of charm. It was treat to see Gloria Foster’s her last performance in this movie. Some of the high concepts theories she discussed were a little confusing, but she carried the scene and made it believable. However, her role in the first movie was just a little better.

From there, Agent Smith enters and we see Neo fight hundreds of Smiths. One of the interesting things to come out of the first Matrix movie was the notion Agent Smith appeared to loose it with Morpheus. It was a clever way of showing that Agent Smith was becoming more than a program run by the Machines. With Neo freeing him, Smith became a virus and copied his program on anything in his path. Smith was pure chaos.

Another thing that I liked about the movie was the fact the Matrix wasn’t made up of just Agents vs. the Human hackers, but there were random programs running around the world as well. It gave the world shades of gray. The Merovingian program was also an interesting character, but he got short-shafted in the next film. Plus, who didn’t like the Ghost Twins.

Agent Smith: “So, when did the new T-1000 show up in this program?”

T2 (Agent Smith): “Skynet would kick The Matrix AI’s ass any day and anytime.”

Ms Dewey

Ms Dewey (The hot search engine)

http://www.msdewey.com/

I saw this one YouTube and I’ve been ‘fooling around’ with it. Microsoft decided to create a search engine with a VR woman that comments on your searches. I found many of her remarks funny, and some are down right dirty. She's an interactive search aide, and she is clearly an Agent from The Matrix. Like most things Microsoft, the actual search engine is pure crap, but the woman is fun to play around with. If you can find anymore cool remarks from her, put them in the comment box below.

Here are some cool things to type…

Superman: Sometimes she’ll pull out comic books and insult you! There are many responses

You’re hot: I laughed with her disgusted expression as she talks to you…

Date Me?: She says she only dates men with good playlists!

Janina Gavankar: This is her real name. Very funny stuff

Poop: At one point she really insulted me!

Hiphop: this one is the best…

Frodo: Sometimes she actually uses “The Ring”

George W Bush

Windows XP: She should sing a tune

Fart

Take off your clothes: There are a few replies

How old are you

Tell a joke: There are a few of theseThink of her as a version of The Subservient Chicken, but only more attractive, (Not that I find the Subservient Chicken attractive…)

Janina Gavankar also showed up in both Barbershop movies as different characters.

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (Part 1 of 3)

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (Part 1 of 3)

Just like Batman Returns, Superman II has been debated among the fans for over 20 years now. When it was released, most people didn’t know that there was another version to the movie. The normal movie-going public wasn’t aware that part 2 was filmed at the same time as part 1. Basically, the call sheet would have the crew filming parts 1 and 2 on the same day, but something happened. About 75% into production, Part 1 was running behind schedule and something had to give. Richard Lester suggested to Donner that perhaps he should cease production on Superman II and just concentrate on Superman 1. Donner figured that once he was finished with part 1 the Salkind family (Whom were owned the movie rights to Superman) would let him finish up the Superman II. Little did Donner know that the Salkinds would fire him after Superman 1 was completed. This was despite the fact that critics and audiences loved Superman 1.

With 70-75% of Superman II completed, the Salkinds promoted comedy director Lester into the big chair. As director, Lester envisioned the Superman franchise as more of a comic book camp movie. So, Lester threw out many of the serious scenes that Donner filmed and replaced them with witty comments and comedic sight gags. Superman II ended up being a little bit more uneven with the comedic and serious tones competing with one another. I remembered being horrified when the three villains landed on the moon and brutally killed the three astronauts, but then the silly sight gags in the wind-blowing scene in the streets confused me and it wasn’t very funny.

Lester believed that the comedic elements enhanced the film, and some of this rubbed off Donner with all the Otis and Luthor scenes. However, we got to see what kind of Superman movie Lester had in mind if he had 100% control, and that would be the dreadful Superman III.

Like Robert Wise with Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Donner was able to get another crack at his material with enhancements. Part of this had to do with the Internet fan movement demanding that WB let him complete his film. To everyone’s surprise, WB agreed to the restoration of Donnor’s Cut…

Here's Superman realizing he didn’t wear his Kryptonite condom. (Which would later come back to haunt him in Superman Returns) Not even Superman can avoid Child Support

______________________________________________________I just love when Superman reflects the eye beams back at Zod, one of my favorite scenes in the movie.

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This scene is completely cut from Donner’s cut.

Vote or Die Mother*#&$er

Vote or Die?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93wTIjoGi7M

I thought this South Park clip was funny. It has Puff Daddy chasing around one of the kids and threatens to kill him unless he votes. I thought it was funny that Paris Hilton wasn’t registered to vote to begin with, yet she was in many of the promotions.

Superman IV: The Quest For a Good Movie

Here are some deleted scenes from Superman IV.

Comment: This video is over 8 minutes long. While the scenes are terrible, they do fill out the story a little bit more. The famous fight scene between Superman and Nuclear Man I is in this video, (Note: but the club scene that happens before this isn't in it). The scene ends up being really goofy. So goofy that Superman actually does a 'time out' sign during the battle!

I can see why they were cut, but they never bothered to at least re-shoot the cut footage so the movie at least would make sense. What we get is a short movie that is very confusing.

This montage of deleted footage isn't all the stuff that was cut from the film after the terrible test screening.

The tornado scene is still missing from most US prints and Lex Luthor going into hiding is still missing, as well as some other subplots.

Here's a bit of Entertainment Tonight's making of Superman IV.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JBwX96ATYIM

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VLg0XBIGrY4

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CoMGjSbFIjQ

While most of this stuff is fluff, it does give a little insight into why Christopher Reeves came back to film Superman IV, considering that he hated doing Superman III.

Matrix Reloaded Review Part 1 of 3

Matrix Reloaded Review Part 1 of 3

Just like SW Ep1, Reloaded had a lot of to live up to. The original Matrix was a great movie. No one knew anything about it, but Reloaded had built in hype because of the original. There was no way the movie could have stood up to the first one, so when I watched it, I tried to watch the movie as stand alone piece…that didn’t work. I can see where Reloaded is a part of a bigger overall picture. I found Matrix Reloaded a more enjoyable film than Matrix Revolutions, but there are minor flaws with this film that only get worst in Revolutions. Let’s get started.

Uh, This is called the Matrix?

What made the first movie so good was the whole concept of The Matrix. A fake world that stored billions of human minds into a complex program was an interesting concept to begin with, and I hoped they would gives more insight into this world. I just loved that everyone within the program had to follow the basic rules of the matrix, but could bend them as well. What would you do if someone told you that your entire world was just a program and nothing was real? Well for some reason, the Wachowski brothers decided to abandon this interesting concept in the first half of Reloaded. Instead the Wachowski brothers forced this strange hippie city called Zion down our collective throats. Zion simply wasn’t an interesting plot point in the film, and the film comes to a screeching stop with every passing Zion scene. Less should have been more with these dull scenes. Which brings us to the biggest problem with the film…

Uh, Why a 20 minute orgy/dance scene?

What the hell? I mean, come on. Did we really need to see a long scene where all of Zion decides to dance and have sex on the dance floor? Shouldn’t they be preparing for the coming attack, instead of dancing to poorly created techno music? There was no reason for this mess on the screen. This crap went on far too long, considering all the major plot elements that needed to be fleshed out. This was by far the worst part of the entire film, and someone should’ve said something to the brothers about this stupid scene. This was probably the main point that turned off most moviegoers.

Oh, boy…Beautiful shot, in more ways than one.

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Neo: “Watch me in a second, and I’ll become a polygon character!”
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As they pull the Nebuchadnezzar up to the drive-in, they realize it’s a double feature for Glitter and Battlefield Earth.

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Coming to the new CW, Keanu Reeves watching Keanu Reeves Show, whoa...

Agent Smith giving Morpheus a hand.
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Agent Smith: “I’ve read your file on IMDB.com, Mr. Anderson. The Lake House and Johnny Mnemonic?”

Neo: “Whoa, we can’t all pick Lord of the Rings, Agent Elrond.”

Batman designs

I had this photo sitting on my hard drive for a while, and I figured I’d post it. It shows the design progression of the Batman character. It is interesting seeing the many artists improve on their work.

(1992-95)

This version was the first design of the Batman uniform. Noticed the old school blue/gray uniform. During this time, Batman and the rest of the characters in the Bruce Timm universe were much rounder in form. There were more details to the character models, but this caused a problem. You see most of the actual drawings of the episodes were done overseas, Japan and S Korea. The producers found that despite all the hard work done by the different studios, each episode had a slightly (Sometime drastic) different look to the characters. And people could tell that different studios did the animation on each episode.

(1997-98)

Because of the problems I stated before, they decided to resign the entire show from the ground up. Batman’s uniform was changed to a darker tone, and they gave him a slimmer appearance. You will notice that his shoulders are squarer. This streamlined design helped keep all the studios within the design guidelines, and it also gave all the episodes a uniformed appearance.

(2001-2006)

This was the Justice League version. They decided to merge the two designs from earlier into this one, and they gave him longer ears. They still kept the streamline looked, but crafted to a more Anime design.

(1999)

This was Bruce Wayne in the distant future right before he retired from crime fighting in the futuristic show Batman Beyond. You can see where the long ears in the Justice League version comes into play in this future design.

Just a bit more

Just wanted to throw this out there, but it would appear that Prime from the TF movie has had a design change. This time he looks more like his First Season counterpart from the TF show from the 80s.

random things

A few points of random things

~I'm currently writing a review for The Matrix Reloaded. I should have it up in a few days.

~I just watched my first episode of Desperate Housewives on ABC.com, and I don't know what all the fuss is all about. I just didn't really care about the show, but shootout in the supermarket was alright. It's the episode where a crazy housewife takes over a Supermarket with a gun. The rest of the episode was dull. However, I'm not part of the demographics the show is aiming toward. I do know that Eva Longoria is hot!

~I also noticed ABC has removed all its airings of the sadly canceled show Day Break. I was hoping they would release the rest of the season online to watch, but I guess not. The show was starting to get good too.

The lady on the end with the silver white dress looks pissed.

Parkour

Free Running

Before the famous Nike and car ads, I didn’t know what the hell Free-Running was. One of the best scenes in Casino Royale has James Bond chasing a guy through a city using the techniques found in Parkour (Free Running is an outgrowth). There are differences between Free Running and Parkour. Free Running seems to be about flare and style instead of the movement centered Parkour.

Here’s a link explaining this

http://www.answers.com/topic/parkour

Note: It would seem that certain videogame characters also use Parkour as well.

Here are some videos

http://youtube.com/watch?v=H9Y8V6aiprA

This one below is pretty good, some of the guys use both Marshal Arts moves with their Parkour jumps. I also like the editing in this one.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uUksaD-JJgI

James Brown

Can you see the Light?

The Godfather of Soul is dead.

I hate to bring such sad news up during the time of joy, but Legendary Blues and R&B singer James Brown has died.

((James Brown self-proclaimed "Godfather of Soul" and five-decade R&B legend, died early Monday (12/25) morning in Atlanta at the age of 73.

Brown was admitted to Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta on Sunday after a routine dental appointment indicated signs of severe pneumonia, according to wire service reports. ))

The man was an amazing performer in live concerts, and his music has influenced many musical artist even today. I remember going to a free concert of his during an event at the riverfront in Louisville. I can safely say that the man knew how to put on a very entertaining show. You can see his influence in MC Hammer and MJ's shows.

Despite his many flaws, he was amazing person, and will be missed.

Little Shop of Horrors: The Original Ending

Little Shop of Horrors: The Original Ending

"Little Shop of Horrors" original ending part 1

"Little Shop of Horrors" original ending part 2

"Little Shop of Horrors" original ending part 3: Part 3 may not play at all, because I had problems with it.

When LSH was remade into the 80s version, it originally had a much darker ending to the film, which the play and older film had as well. Both Audrey and Seymour die in the original version of the film, and the killer plant takes over the planet. Test audiences hated this ending, and the studio demanded a change. They said it was too dark for a comedy. (Note: If you look closely in the theater cut, Audrey still retains a bloody wound near her stomach, but the wound disappears within a minute, thus showing where the re-shot footage was placed.)

While the ending we see in the final film is pretty good, this ending gives us a whole new spin on the movie. Seymour shows guilt and climbs up a building to kill himself, but is stopped by Paul Dooley (Jim Belushi in the final version) who informs him that they’ll be selling baby killer plants across the US, and Seymour realizes he needs to stop Audrey II. He fails and is eaten by Audrey II.

You decide if this ending is better than the one in the movie.

BTW, The Mean Green Mother song is slightly different than the one in the final film

Here’s some info from Answers.com

Little Shop of Horrors was the first DVD to be recalled for content.

David Geffen, the film's producer and owner of the rights, apparently wanted to re-release the film to theaters with the original ending intact. Geffen became angry at Warner Bros. for including this footage on the DVD without his consent, and as a result, the studio yanked it off the shelves in a matter of days and replaced with a second edition without the extra material. The original first edition DVD is now a much sought-after collector's item and sells for upwards of $150 on eBay, although there are copies of the ending floating around the net. Some guess that, with the coming 20th anniversery of the film's theatrical release, it will be featured on a new DVD, though with no announcement regarding this as of October 2006, (two months from the 20th Anniversary) this seems unlikely. Some even speculate that they're aiming for the 25th anniversary for a re-release.

Buffy the Animated Series

One of the things I’ve been trying to get a hold of lately is more information on the undeveloped (nearly developed) Buffy the Animated Series. Development of the series actually began in 2001, but things started to get serious around 2002. Fox shopped the idea around to many of the other networks in town, but no one took a bite (sorry). The series resurfaced again in 2004, and no one was interested in the show during that time either.

During the proposal that was shown to networks, there was a 4-minute ‘pilot’ with animation and voice acting. I would really like to get my hands on this material, but I just can’t seem to find it anywhere. I personally would have welcomed a Buffy Cartoon show that was stylized in such a manner as Batman: The Animated Series, which it was in the proposal drawings. I’m not sure exactly how the show would have been placed into the mainstream Buffy continuity, if at all.

Check out more of the promotional artwork from the Eric Wright web page… http://www.ericwight.com/portfolio/buffy001.html"Uh, I just asked for your phone number..."

Lucky Boobs

Lucky Boobs

I decided to travel across Louisville to the south end, I’m an East Ender, and go to a Christmas party. You would think with all the Christmas spirit, they would be singing ‘Holiday’ songs and other Christmas shit, but it was mostly a group of people drinking and playing poker.

At the party, I stood near the poker table, observing the drunken people playing a game I knew nothing about.

A dark haired female took a card from one of the players and proceed to rub the card on her well-rounded boobs. With surprise, I raised my eyebrows.

“Does that give the cards some sort of power?” I asked.

She smiled, and she noticed my expression. “James, you didn’t know my boobs were lucky. If I rub them on anything, it brings them good luck.”

I shook my head and asked, “So they have the power of a four leafed clover?” Trust me, I really wanted to know.

Everyone at the table laughed.

I never tested the theory, but I’m sure if I did, I would get lucky…

SoBE Superman Power=Kryptonite

SoBE Superman Power

I just tried the SoBE Superman energy drink, and I have to say that I didn’t like it at all. Given its smooth brown appearance, you would think the drink would mimic the taste of a soft drink, but it doesn’t. The taste is too bitter and nasty. There’s nothing Super about this energy drink. I believe Superman would lose his powers if he did attempt to take a sip of this bitter mess. I feel a little weaker now, after finishing a can.

This is strange, because I actually like most of SoBE’s energy drinks. It should be noted that this drink is still better than those Steven Segal drinks I tasted earlier.

Grade: D

The Brak Show Time Machine

The Brak Show Time Machine Part 1

The Brak Show Time Machine Part 2

This is one of my favorite Brak Show episodes. This episode deals with Time Travel. Brak goes back in time and gets stuck in a time loop, so they decide to stop Homework from ever being invented.

Silver Surfer

Silver Surfer photo released for Fantastic Four 2

It's simple, yet old school. I actually like it. I just hope he doesn't become distracting like Jar-Jar.

((With computer-generated imagery techniques similar to those used to create Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, the slippery Surfer, voiced by Doug Jones, "will look somewhere between gun metal and fluid metallics so you can see the body motion, the breathing, the muscle tone, the mood," says Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad ))

Justin Timberlake My love

Justin Timberlake My love

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ct_ypZR6lx0&mode=related&search=

Yeah, I actually like Justin’s My Love song. So, sue me, but I think Justin’s songs have been pretty good since his departure from N’Stink. He’s moved away from the bland boy-band crap and shifted into a Hip-Hop/R&B ‘flip mode’. His My Love song is probably one of his songs to date. So, there I said it, I like Timberlake’s work.

This version of the My Love video is over six minutes long, mainly because there’s a strange 2 min intro with a remix of the original beat with Justin rapping with Timbaland. Some people don’t like the 2 min intro, but I dig it. Timbaland always brings the best beats to a song, the only person that’s almost as good as him is Dr. Dre.

Grade: B+

Here are some dancers giving a whole new meaning to Pop-n-Lock.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EQ0fMqQLnFU&mode=related&search=

New Transformers Trailer

New Transformers Trailer

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zZp75fWe-ss

Here’s the official trailer for the Transformers movie coming out in July. I’m starting to warm up to the movie now, and I like what I am seeing here. The transformations are very complex and the FX is looking good.

I still don’t like seeing Shia LaBeouf (Sam Witwicky) playing the main human character in the film. They changed the name from Spike in the TV show to Sam in the movie, which I’m fine with. Frank Welker is still rumored to reprise his Megatron role, but Peter Cullen has been confirmed. I’m really leaning toward Welker reprising his role, because Welker has pretty much showed up in every movie since the 70s, in voice that is. He’s the guy everyone goes to create animal voices and noises in movies and videogames (Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2).

The trailer does confirm that there will be a battle in the Middle East with one of the ‘bad guy robots’ destroying an US army base, which was rumored.

Busta Rhymes

The old Busta Rhymes music video Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See

When Busta isn’t beating the living crap out of fans, he makes pretty interesting looking videos. The makers of this video based their work on all the Africa scenes in Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America. Like Missy Elliot, he tries to keep his videos unique

Bonus vids

Give me some more

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZRFPC0uVdeY

Comment: This video is strange. Listen for strings in this song.

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The Pussycat Dolls feat. Busta Rhymes - Dont cha

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1zJzezxhIVw

Comment: I only added this one because the Pussycat dolls are in the video, and the lady singing the song is hot.

Rambo Balboa

I'm not sure if I'm going to like the new Rocky Balboa film, but some reviews have been somewhat positive. Currently, the movie is sitting at a 70 % rating at Rotten Tomatoes. If this movie is a hit, we'll see a lot of promotion for Rambo IV.

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Rambo IV: In the Serpent's Eye (uh, Rambo IV: Pearl of the Cobra?)

I hope Sylvester Stallone will let someone else direct the movie and not himself.

John Rambo has been living a secluded lifestyle in Bangkok and salvaging old boats and tanks for scrap for twelve years. But when a group of volunteer aid workers bringing supplies into Burma disappear, a relative of one of the missing missionaries begs Rambo to find them. He heads off with a small team of aspiring heroes to locate and rescue them.

This sounds more like Commando 2: The Ocean Blue.

Rocky: “Hey yo, I still don’t know how to use the Three Seashells.”
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This may or may not be the poster for Rambo IV...

Superman Returns opening credits

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uWENiT2GZ9Q

Well, here's a better version of the Superman Returns opening credits. This one has the Brando opening sequence and the cool explosion of Superman's home planet. I like how Singer makes this opening credit scene remind us of the first film.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (Review 3 of 3)

Despite the major problems with Episode 1, there were many things that Lucas did well.

The Pod Race: Even today, many people still love this long scene. Watching the Making of video, you can’t help but smile as Lucas discusses this scene; he’s like a little child with new toys. I have to say the extended version in the DVD cut was more exciting than what was shown in the theater version.

The design of the ships: I just like the design of the starships in this film. They all have a sleek design that is completely different from the blockier shapes that we will later see in the series.

The Political subplot: Lucas didn’t have much in the way of politics in the earlier films. Seeing the Republic was interesting and it was a bit of foreshadowing of things to come.

Senator Palpatine: Many people take this movie at face value and see it as a light-hearted romp, yet it isn’t. Our friend Palpatine is behind the whole conflict, causing enough trouble to sway everyone into thinking that he’s the one that has the power to straighten out all this mess.

(Note: Watch the scene in the council chambers in the Senate, Queen Padmé Amidala acts very strange. It is as if she’s being influenced by Palp with mind tricks.)

In the end…

Yes, Ep1 is a flawed movie, but there are some things that are charming and enduring about it. There was freshness to the film that Return of the Jedi lacked. There was a sense of tiredness in Return, while Ep1 felt different. Yes, Lucas never got his Mojo back after Empire Strikes Back, but it was neat seeing the Star Wars universe again. After years away from the film, I find myself enjoying the movie more now, and despite the Jar-Jar factor.

Grade B-

Rosie O'Donnell again

Rosie proves she's not only loud, but stupid too.

Just in case you missed it, Rosie said some things that not only pissed off Chinese-Americans, but the entire Asian American community.

((On Thursday's show, she told the audience: "To say ching chong to someone is very offensive, and some Asian people have told me it’s as bad as the n-word. Which I was like, 'Really? I didn’t know that.'" ))

Come on, Rosie. All you had to do was ask your buddy Michael Richards for all the racist names out there. I don't buy it, Rosie. Perhaps, she had telepathic link with Rove, and that was who said those things.

On a side note: The View has never seen ratings higher than they are now, so I guess the Rosie experiment has worked.

Semaj Reloaded II: oversleep or die trying

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KpeQD4_w1Xs

boh3m3 tells us how he really feels about sequels. I agree with him, but I’d like to add that if they didn’t make money, they wouldn’t continue to make them. Like the horrible reality shows, someone is buy this crap.
Btw, do we need another Saw movie (IV)?

Judith Regan

The woman behind the whole OJ “If I did it” book thing, is shown the door.

((For weeks, publisher Judith Regan had been in trouble with higher-ups over the debacle of the canceled O.J. Simpson book and TV deal. But her firing swiftly followed a Friday afternoon phone call from her Los Angeles office to a HarperCollins attorney that included comments that were characterized as offensive, two highly placed corporate sources said Saturday. ))

I've always thought Judith Regan had lost her mind a long time ago, and this whole OJ thing proved it. I would like to thank Regan for bringing up such a sore subject that actually sent race relations back a few years between blacks and whites during the 90s. Screw you, Judith.

As I read the page, I noticed that she was behind the crapped-filled TV reality show Growing Up Gotti. Way to go, I guess making a reality show about a mob boss's family wasn't enough for her.

This time, OJ didn’t kill anyone, but Regan’s career.

Pauly Shore gets punched.

Pauly Shore sucked so badly in his prime time show that FOX canceled it after the 1^st episode. Heather Graham's Emily's Reasons Why Not also received that award as well.

Pauly Shore gets punched.

Comment: I used to like Pauly Shore when I was a teenager, but as I grew older, his movies grew dumber. Something about Shore makes me hate him now, but his Pauly Shore Is Dead movie was pretty funny.

In this clip, a Burly, red-shirted, Redneck heckler decides to take up for another Redneck heckler and jumps on stage and threatens Mr. Shore. The wimpy Pauly Shore backs away and says, “I'm sorry, I'm sorry.” The redneck crowd cheers on the Redneck on stage to hit Pauly, and the beer-hazed cowboy takes a swing at 'The Weasel', sending shore to the floor.

Now, I believe the Redneck was just mad at the fact that he spent actual money to see Son in Law and Jury Duty, so he took it out on 'The Weasel'. Of course this drunken fool probably spent a night in jail. I'm sorry but beating up a has-been-not-funny comedian doesn't give you street creditability in jail. Instead of belting the guy back, Shore throws a fit and does a Kramer by storming off the stage.

Yet, the Cop says the whole thing was staged...

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End pics

And, now here are some production photos from Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End

Source http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=17981

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Yun-Fat Chow plays Captain Sao Feng in this movie, not much is known on how much his character will be important to the plot.

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I love this photo, very cool. Something about that outfit makes Keira Knightley look hotter.

Live Free or Die Hard teaser

Bruce Willis knew he should have laid-off the spicy tacos last night.

Live Free or Die Hard teaser

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2F9eCSav9x0

Comment: Fox released the new Die Hard trailer yesterday, and you can check it out for yourself on the link above. The teaser only has one line of dialogue, and it makes me cringe every time I hear it. And, Justin Long (The Mac Guy in the Mac ads) says that stupid line. While I liked his character in Waiting, I don’t think Long has the chops to keep up with Bruce Willis.

While I’m not pleased with casting choice of Justin Long, Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood) is a good choice though for one of the bad guys. In addition, the plotline seems all right.

From IMDB.com

When a criminal plot is in place to take down the entire computer and technological structure that supports the economy of the United States (and the world), it's up to a decidedly "old school" hero, police detective John McClane (Willis), to take down the conspiracy, aided by a young hacker (Long).

I also heard FOX will try to get a more teen-friendly PG-13 for Die 4. Please, Fox, don’t do this, let the movie be a bloody R-rating.

shenanigans

I call shenanigans on shenanigan

I have never used this word, but I always laugh when people say it in movies or in real life. It just sounds funny. Shenanigan sounds life a little elf that lives under a bridge and only comes out on Tuesdays, and he grants wishes. (I don't know where that came from)

From answers.com,

reckless or malicious behavior that causes discomfort or annoyance in others

Remarks intended to deceive; deceit. Often used in the plural.

One of the best shenanigan jokes is in the movie Super Troopers, which can be found here. With this scene, in some peculiar way, Super Troopers is connected to the movie Waiting..., which means they encompass the same 'universe'. In the movie Waiting... the movie takes place in a restaurant with 'shit on the walls'.

Star Wars Episode 1 Part 2 of 3

Star Wars Episode 1 Part 2 of 3

Between Return of the Jedi and Episode 1, something happened to George Lucas. His writing became disconnected, and the human touch was gone. It was as if the emotional levels within his characters seem to drop. His dialog, while never great, appeared to be lacking. In Episode one, almost all the characters talk in this formal way of speaking. A prime example of this is this line below.

Obi-Wan: I have a bad feeling about this.
Qui-Gon Jinn: I don't sense anything.
Obi-Wan: It's not about the mission, Master. It's something... elsewhere. Elusive.

When spoken, these lines seem dry. And yet, the acting is also wooden with the exceptions being Ian McDiarmid and Liam Neeson. George should have let someone else direct Ep1-3, the same way he gave up control of Empire and Jedi. The fire to direct movies left Lucas a long time ago, and it’s illustrated in his directing style in the Prequels. The scenes where people are talking to each other have no feeling or energy to them. Watch any scene from A New Hope and compare it to Ep1, and you’ll see the difference.

Then, there is the character of Jar-Jar. With a character this goofy, he pretty much made sure that every fanboy would curse his name for the rest of his life. I’ve already said many things about Jar-Jar in this blog, so I won’t get into too much of it. He was supposed to be the comic relief, but the problem was that Jar-Jar wasn’t very funny. I wished Lucas could have handled Jar-Jar differently. Lucas should’ve made the character more noble and edgier. Have him be an outcast because he believed that his people should talk to the Naboo humans, and open a dialog with them.

Chris Pirillo's videos.

I was never a fan of him on Tech TV, but now that has changed. I'll Join the Pirillo fan club because of this

http://www.fool45.com/blogging/why-is-chris-pirillo-schizophrenic/

Rico has yet again found another great link. Head over to his blog and follow the link to Chris Pirillo's videos. Once at the other site, play all three videos at the same time, that means you have move your mouse quickly to play them all. What you will see is funny as hell, trust me

Star Wars Holiday Special (oh, boy)

Because I am writing the review of Star Wars Ep1, I found some clips from the terrible Star Wars Holiday Special.

And the best line actually comes from Lucas, "if I had the time and a sledgehammer, I would track down every bootlegged copy of that program and smash it." I find strange because it was Lucas who gave away the rights to the production company that was responsible for the un-holy mess. He oversaw this production.

Star Wars Holiday Special cartoon

The artwork is pretty bad, Han Solo being the worst. But, the actors from the movies do reprise their roles in this cartoon short and this is the first appearance of Boba Fett. The storyline is also pretty bad. I have to wonder if Lucas had to pay the Star Trek people for using their 'Captain's Log'.

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Princess Leia sings in the Star Wars Holiday Special

This crap is just bad; Leia lines and singing are just bad. Her speech is beyond bad. Han Solo looks pissed throughout this whole scene. This is why the 70s sucked.

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Star Wars Holiday Special Cantina Scene

Beatrice Arthur is the barkeep (Golden Girls), and she sings a song! This is probably the reason Lucas wants no one to see this Special. BTW, Bee Arthur also showed up in an episode of Star Trek Voyager (voice only). She was the other Caretaker.

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Here's another clip for good measure

This one has Han Solo killing a Stormtrooper by tricking him into jumping off some stairs, and Han doesn't shoot him. That’s just lame. Also, tricking the Empire Commander into thinking that the dead troop stole supplies and ran for the hills is also lame.

Who wrote this mess?

Pictures from http://www.badmovies.org/movies/swhs/

Fett is gotta knock you out!

People also forget there were two SW cartoon shows, The Ewoks and Droids, both were forgettable.

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The Gameboy keeps getting smaller and smaller, and it now comes with reading glasses so you can see the damn screen.

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Luke: “Hello, my name is Luke. Today, we learned that selling out a franchise isn't always a good thing, and this Holiday Special proves it. Now you know and knowing is half the battle.”