The Sopranos ending still sucked, Mr. Chase

Yep, this is the way it ended. I am sorry, but this isn't clever.

David Chase is speaking up about that rather abrupt ending to The Sopranos. For a time, he was avoiding the criticism aimed toward his handling of the season finale.

((And mostly Chase wonders why so many viewers got so worked up over the series' non-finish.))

It was a shitty ending to an otherwise kickass season. It is just poor writing. Having the screen go black for 15 seconds doesn’t do a good show justice, Mr. Chase. You f’ed up and admit it.

((Chase says the New Jersey mob boss "had been people's alter ego. They had gleefully watched him rob, kill, pillage, lie and cheat. They had cheered him on. And then, all of a sudden, they wanted to see him punished for all that. They wanted 'justice' ...))

Actually, most people believed that Tony was a rather pathetic person that never let things go. He only cared about his feelings and no one else’s. He even killed some of his own blood over bullshit. I don’t think anyone cheered for him.

(("Why would we want to do that?" he asks. "Why would we entertain people for eight years only to give them the finger?"))

Nevertheless, that is what gave us, the finger. Therefore, I am now giving you the finger, Mr. Chase.

This is how it should have ended

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7EwUG2nSLdw

Watch the last few seconds.

Not the ending that I wanted.

Return of the Living Dead (A follow up or spin off of MC's post

Read MC’s post first, before reading this one: Remembering Return of the Living Dead (1985)

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I wanted to make a follow up post on MC post about Return of the Living Dead

MC has great post about this little movie gem. I remember watching this movie with my family, and we had a great time watching it. It was kind of a spoof and part horror movie. Think Night of the Living Dead with jokes.

There seemed to be a sort legal dispute between George A. Romero and John A. Russo. Some people behind the scenes didn’t want to step on Romero’s toes and make a simple rehash. They added the humor, thus making it a spoof of the original Night of the Living Dead movie, and not a direct sequel to the other series.

I like part 2 a little more than this one, but perhaps because it had zombie kids and also for the sheer cult-ness of it.

Side Note: Yes, this movie is set in Louisville, Kentucky. I am not sure why. It looks nothing like the city I live in. I haven't seen any zombies roaming around the city, just crackheads. And, they're more dangerous than zombies anyway.

Anyway, this was a follow up post to MC’s post. So, make sure you check out his post too.

Here's a trailer from that movie: As you can tell the trailer never takes itself seriously either.

Some great moments from the movie: Check them out

RIP Robert Goulet

Singer Robert Goulet dies at 73

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iQsxAP_UDaZdZjDZhVyo6fgnhN4gD8SJTU500

Comment: I really liked this guy. I thought his role in The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear as the main bad guy was pretty funny. And, who can forget some of the recent ads he’s done.

Here are a few of his ESPN ads

Robert Goulet ESPN Commercial 3

Robert Goulet ESPN Commercial 1

Robert Goulet ESPN Commercial 15

Emerald Nuts ads

Emerald Nuts boogeyman Super Bowl XLI Commercial ad 2007

A message from your friends at Emerald Nuts

He was certainly one of the coolest people around.

Transformers the Score (review) part 1 of 2

Transformers the Score

I heard for a while there weren’t any plans on releasing the score to the Transformers movie. But the film’s composer Steve Jablonsky made statements that there was always going to be a score release of his music.

After hearing the score, I have to say the score ranges from fair to impressive with the tracks on the CD. There are some themes that feel too much like Zimmer’s Batman Begins, but then there are some unique tracks that sound alien enough to stand out from The School of Zimmer tone.

Jablonsky uses a great deal of strings and chorus for this score. The chorus is varied enough that it will surprise even the most jaded Bay hater out there. I have to give credit to Jablonsky for not deciding to go for the more The Rock style score. This score is a good mixture of electronic music and a real live orchestra.

The proud main Autobot theme is mostly done on the French horn, and I think the French horn is certainly a good choice because of its ‘wide’ sound. (Note: the French horn is a very difficult instrument to learn.) The Decepticons theme is very well done as well with the chorus using low voices. You get the feeling that these are alien here.

There are some drawbacks. Sometimes I think Jablonsky relies on Hans Zimmer’s Batman Begins soundtrack for certain portions. I also feel this score would have been better served if Jablonsky incorporated some of the familiar themes from the 80s movie and the TV.

In the second part I will run through some of my favorite tracks on the CD.

GI Joe: The Movie (part 3 of 3) review

The Characters and voice talent

All of the voice actors from the TV returned for the movie. The producers also felt the need to add some bigger names to the film. Some bigger star power would help sell the movie they felt, like the way they added big names to the Transformers movie.

Don Johnson was a big name at the time with his role on Mimi Vice. He played the role of hot head Lt. Falcon. Another writer mentioned this; Think of this guy as the human version of Hot Rod from Transformers. Don Johnson does pretty fine job with the limited amount of character development provided with script. I think he handles the relationship with Duke fairly well. Yet, there are a lot of character traits that I just don’t like about Falcon. He almost doesn’t deserve to be in GI Joe.

Burgess Meredith does a marvelous job as Golobulus. While we don’t get to see much of the character, I think his voice fits the design of the character model well. We see that this is a very intelligent guy.

Probably the best performance came from the late Chris Latta as Cobra Commander. I think Latta did a great job in this movie, and he has one of the more interesting sub plots.

In the End

While certainly not as good as the Transformer movie, it has its moments. I also enjoyed the fact they decided to venture into the more sci-fi fantasy realm. Sure it changes the back-story of Cobra Commander and Cobra, but that’s okay. From a sheer 80s action standpoint, this is still a fun movie that tried something different. It is a shame the studio didn’t support the movie. Perhaps if they pumped a few more millions into the production, they could have released it into theaters.

Grade: B-

Shûko Akune played the new character Jinx. It is too bad we don’t see this character much after this movie. I liked this character.

________________________________________________________

I thought these guys were pretty cool too.

Terence Blanchard's NPR interview

Isn't this that tape ad with the dude getting blown away by the incredible sound?

A few things from film composer Terence Blanchard

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15625264

Here’s a performance of Terence Blanchard’s Funeral Dirge theme from When the Levees Broke

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Z3GO9IqUE

I enjoy listening to NPR for the interviews. They seem to be more down to earth than the mainstream ones. He mentions a few things I wrote in my paper about him.

A New Captain America

A New Captain America?

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=12094

Well, it certainly looks that way. The site in question mentions that it is not Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, but someone entirely different. I really like this new design with the handgun and shield. I also like the black they've added to the uniform. Alex Ross designed this new Cap. Ross' work has always impressed me. (Read DC's Kingdom Come)

While the only way we'll ever see Steve Rogers's Captain America again is in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. But, I think this new character will be an interesting read.

Here is Captain America having the worst day of his life. (Well, there was that Captain America movie too, which he was forced to watch.)

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Nice picture

the Shatner

Shatner is upset over not being in the New Star Trek Film

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/26/people.williamshatner.ap/index.html

Uh, sorry, Shatner, I think J.J Abrams does not want to deal with all your shit.

(("I couldn't believe it. I'm not in the movie at all. Leonard, God bless his heart, is in, but not me," Shatner, 76, told The Associated Press on Thursday. "I thought, what a decision to make, since it obviously is a decision not to make use of the popularity I have to ensure the movie has good box office. It didn't seem to be a wise business decision.))

How arrogant of him to think that he was the only box office draw. The story is about Spock and not William Shatner. While Abrams hasn’t convinced me that this reboot is a good idea, I’m still going to give him a chance. Moreover, anytime someone pisses off the Shatner, I’m happy.

Stationed in Iraq Part 1 of 2

My friend stationed in Iraq Part 1 of 2

I mentioned about a year ago that I had a friend that was ordered to go to Iraq. Well, he's come back alive and well. He seems to be the same person he was when he left, more or less. The first question I asked him was this:

“So, how was Iraq?” I asked.

“It was bad. What do you think?” he answered.

So, I asked him about Blackwater. And, he told me they were assholes and he'd seen them everywhere.

“So, how's progress in Iraq?” I asked already knowing the answer.

“Ain't no progress in there. It's just a bunch of people dying, a whole bunch.”

Here are a few things he mentioned...

1. He didn't lose anyone from his group, but he patched up hundreds of Iraqis. So, he saw a lot of wounded and dead people.

2. A sniper fired two rounds at him, missing him both times. He felt the wind from the bullet pass his face. He then said, “After the first shot, I ran like a bitch.” (Note: This didn't seem to phase him, when he told the story.)

3. He said the normal people living there are scared to death of the 'bullies' with guns. They know that these thugs will make them disappear if they try to stand up to them. (I found this most disheartening.)

4. Anyone that tries to help ends up dead the next day.

Coming up in Part II: Iranian army items (I have to get permission to tell this story, but it is a funny one), A funny encounter with Bill O'Reilly and fishing in Iraq.

That Dell Dude (Ben Curtis) Where did he go?

Whatever happened to that Dude, you’re getting a Dell guy?

For the longest time, this guy Ben Curtis was the main face behind the Dell ads. Sure he was a stoner, but he was a likable stoner. Who knew a stoner could become the spokesman for a major computer company?

Later on, Ben Curtis got into a little trouble with the law over some weed. After being phased out of the Dell ads, the Dell dude seemed to disappear. However, that’s not the case. It looks like he’s been busy promoting Gameznflix. In addition, Ben has made appearances in the videogame Bully, and an episode of Law & Order this year.

Here’s some info regarding the arrest and the connection to his contract with Dell.

I really enjoyed watching these ads back in the day. Gateway never had anything this entertaining in their ads.

Hey, Dell, bring the Dell Dude back! I’d loved to see him kick those Mac vs. PC guys’ asses.

Here are a few videos

The very first Dude ad: He looks so young here.

Dude your getting a Dell: The one is where he helps some younger kids out

And, you can click here to discover all the Dell Dude ads made for Dell.

More useless info on this ‘Dude’

http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/adtrack/2002-01-14-dell-dude.htm

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/delldude1.html

Dude, where's my Dell?

Maxim released its top five Un-sexiest women

Sandra Oh: “Hey, I’m not that bad.”

Maxim released its top five Un-sexiest women

http://www.maxim.com/Entertainment/Thefiveunsexiestwomenalive/slideshow/435.aspx

And I have to agree with some of their choices.

5. Britney Spears: give her some more fast food. Actually she’s not that fat, but her actual looks have certainly gone away. She’s lost that cuteness she had in that hit me one more time video.

4. Madonna: Let it be known that I have never found Madonna attractive. Her early music was pretty tight, but I just hate all the New Age Euro-Techno mess she’s trying to shovel out now. She’s too skeletal for me.

3. Sandra Oh: Okay, this one is a little mean. I think she has a nice tight body on her, (watch Dancing at the Blue Iguana.) Sure her face is a little long, but she has unique features. I would have certainly dated her character in Sideways.

2. Amy Winehouse: I don’t really know who this person is. She’s like the funky girl at the party that’s shit-faced drunk and coming on to every dude there. Yet, no one takes her home because she’s so messy. (I’d rather take home the fat chick, Amy Winehouse.) (Nice teeth you have there, Amy)

1. Sarah Jessica Parker: Agreed, eww.

GI Joe: The Movie (part 2 of 3) review

The Story

Basically, the movie was an origin story for Cobra. However, truth be told, it was merely an overblown 6 part mini-series that they used to have to open a season. The story is slightly bigger, but not as special as the Transformers movie that came before it. Again, this probably had something to do with production problems.

However, the movie does have a small amount of blood and violence that the TV show never had. Then there was the famous story about Duke dying in the film. The writers intended to have the character killed off and to give Lt. Falcon a reason to stand up and become a responsible man. With the negative response from children from the Transformers movie, the producers didn’t want a repeat of what happened, so they did a quick change in dialogue, stating that Duke was merely in a coma. Watching the movie recently, I feel they should have killed off Duke. It would have given the rest of the movie a serious tone. It would have reminded us that anyone could die.

Yes, the movie is a departure from the TV show. It has a more sci-fi fantasy base than the TV show, but I liked it. While I have a bit of a problem with the reconning of Cobra Commander’s background, I can live with it. One of the best subplots deals with Cobra Commander slowly turning into a snake, but having to trust Roadblock with his life. I really enjoyed the interaction between the two, especially when Cobra Commander started to lose his mind.

If Sunbow had its way, the next season wouldn’t have hadCobra Commander or Duke.

Nice set of Windows you have there

A bouncy boot up for Windows...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWydEW-VO6A

Uh, I posted this before, but here's an extended version. (uh, boobs don't bounce like that, even when standing still. This must be the same boob physics program that was used in the DOA series.)

A few news Bits

A few news Bits

Matthew Vaughn talks about his feelings on X3

Comment: Vaughn was the director slated for X3, before stepping away from it and Ratner stepped in.

(("What happened with X-Men was I didn't have the time to make the movie that I wanted to make. I had a vision for how it should be, and I wanted to make sure I was making a film as good as X-Men 2, and I knew there was no way it could be. I just suddenly knew it wasn't the right thing for me to do. ))

I can understand that. If I knew I had to follow a highly praised film, I'd probably get cold feet.

((Brett Ratner stepped into the breach, and Vaughn was not impressed. "As it happens, I could have made something a hundred times better than the film that was eventually made," he says. "It sounds arrogant, but I could have done something with far more emotion and heart. I'm probably going to be told off for saying that, but I genuinely believe it." ))

BTW, I love the dis toward Ratner and his mess of a movie. That never gets old. Now, did he really leave the project over 'family problems'?

Yes, the Spice Girls have forgotten that no one really cares about them: I can’t wait till this reunion tour completely explodes and these has-nevers fade into the VH1 shows. (BTW, does Victoria Beckham really need an assistant following her around with fruit and champagne?) But, I used to really like Baby Spice. Enjoy this piece of crap video. (Yes, I know the words to the song)

Vanessa Hudgens, so is getting dropped by Disney or not?: That is the question. The Samurai Frog has some interesting points about this whole scandal. It's not like she went down on a guy or let somebody steal her memory card full of nude and sex pictures stolen (like a certain woman in Louisville). Btw, Vanessa, call me some time.

Remember that groovy dancing girl? Here's a video with her performance slowed down. I don't think it takes away from her performance, because I dig white girls that can dance. Just ditch the goofy head gear. (she also has a second video too: Groovy Dancing Girl #2 ) (Btw, you can see her mouthing the words to the song, which you can't see in the sped version.)

I actually like this slowed down version of the song.

Of course someone made a 'rave remixed' version of this video.

Daniel Dae Kim busted

Another LOST Star gets busted!

http://www.ogpaper.com/news/news-01167.html

Uh, perhaps this is a DUI curse. This time it was Daniel Dae Kim. Does this mean he'll get killed off? The Hawaii police must really hate the show.

I sort of liked Jin last season. Somebody, please take the booze away from the cast!

Blood Diamond

Blood Diamond

This film is intense and sometimes very brutal in the way it portrays violence. However, with its important subject matter, the violence needs to been seen, because this stuff really does happen even today. And, I have to give credit to the filmmakers for not backing off and making a soft PG-13 movie. This is a hard R-rated movie. There are scenes that will make you go, “oh, shit.”

The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio (Di-CRAP-rio) and Djimon Hounsou. Djimon plays a man that looses contact with his family after rebels raid his village. He is forced into slave labor and discovers a huge diamond, which he hides from his overseers. Djimon does a convincing job playing an everyday man that gets caught up in the horrible war ripping his homeland apart.

DiCaprio plays a go between man that smuggles weapons and diamonds between countries. This is a character that can be both charming and ruthless at the same time. DiCaprio’s performance here is very good and probably one of his best to date. He’s a guy that’s given up and become jaded and mean. This is nice counter balance to Djimon’s idealist character.

And, this is probably one of the stronger points of the movie, character development. The plot isn’t necessarily all that compelling, it is merely a tool to show the way things were during the 90s in Africa. This is more of a character and visual piece with complex war scenes.

I like James Newton Howard as a composer, but his music in this film is a bit too Zimmer for me. I would have liked some stronger main themes that would have drawn the moviegoers in more.

Overall, it is an intense movie with a good message and good acting from its main stars. The movie does feel a little long, but I really don’t have a problem with that because it is a good movie.

Grade: B+

Nice shot

GI Joe: The Movie (part 1 of 3) review

GI Joe: The Movie

Like the 80s Transformers movie, the producers created this movie during the run of the weekly cartoon show of the same name. Both this and the Transformers movie were developed around the same time by the same creative teams. Due to major production problems, the GI Joe movie was pushed back and Transformers was released into the theaters first.

Because the theatrical run of Transformers: The Movie bombed, this movie was doomed to the Direct-to-Video hell. I also felt this movie’s production values were harmed when that happened. With little or no promotion, it was released to video stores and often ignored. After this movie, sadly, Sunbow would lose the rights to GI Joe and the cheaper animation studio DiC would take over.

With this movie, you could tell the show under Sunbow would have completely taken the main storyline in another direction. Like the Transformers third season, they were cleaning out their old characters and themes, and they were going to start fresh. (Duke was supposed to die in this movie.) That wasn’t the case with the newer DiC series.

The Animation and Design

With the opening scene of the attack on the Statue of Liberty, you can fully tell that there was a deal more money put into the animation. The characters seemed more fluid, while not on the same level as the Transformers movie. There are hints of a more realistic approach to certain scenes. For the most part, the quality was consistent.

Pretty much all the older characters maintained their TV designs. The newer Cobra-La characters were a complete departure. They felt alien and were a total departure from the appearance of the GI Joe characters.

I had no problem with the changes. There was certainly an Asian feel to Pythona’s design. I thought of them as a way to shake up the way we viewed the GI Joe universe, to gives a new look.

On the other hand, the backgrounds in this movie are fairly dull when compared to the Transformers movie. There wasn’t much thought or care given to these new areas, with the exception being the swamp.

End of part 1

Here’s the new poster for Cobra recruitment: Join Cobra, and destroy the world.

____________________________________

Text-messaging from the 80s.

______________________________________

I was once a man, once a man

a few good clips

A plan is coming together

Marie Osmond faints: I could watch this clip over and over. If there were more random fainting in reality TV, I'd actually watch it. The best part is when her dancer partner didn't catch her. Not being a Osmond fan of any kind, I have to say that she handled herself pretty well afterwards.

Some of the Funniest deaths ever in movies: There some 'classic' 80s clips in here. “Let off some steam.”

The A-Team intro: Brings back memories. This was the time when you could edit together hundreds of action clips for no reason and put on a bland Mike Post main theme behind the footage. Throw in title cards for the actors, smirking of course. Then you can call it the opening credits. This was probably one of the things that revealed that the quality of TV was lower than movies at the time.

Side Note: I love the Dirk Benedict joke with his reaction to a Cylon walking by, given he spent one season fighting them on Battlestar Galactica. Nice little joke.

A wonderfully bad videogame error

A wonderfully bad videogame error

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qWE3AN7ym-g

Magically, this really bad error is in a Spawn Videogame. With the exception of the toys, most Spawn merchandise sucked badly.

Yes, the enemies keep falling of the ledge and dying to their death. At some point, you’d wish the bodies would start to pile up. At some the point, the suicidal villains would stop and look down at their fallen brothers.

I’ve seen this respawning bug in modern games too. You have to love when creatures will follow you right off a cliff. Or continue to fall off while you are at a hard to reach area. That’s either dedication or stupidity or both.

Random Things

Please get in a pit and love someone...

Random Things

~While reading through TMZ, I came across a post about some chick named Lisa D'Amato. I never heard of this chick, and I've never seen an episode of America's Top Model. However, I read that she did an atrocious rap video and peed in a diaper. So, I watched the video, and it is bad, really bad. Yo, check it! And she responds to all the 'haters' (the people that know it sucks).

(Note: The interviewer kisses her ass so much, that he might be called the new Larry King.)

~I guess Kid Rock didn’t like the waffles: There appeared to be some type of fight at a Waffle House with a customer and his crew. Now, I work on the night shift, so I know that you will run into some strange people in 24hrs locations.

~Looks like the Grindhouse fallout is still being felt, because the Barbarella remake is being scrapped. Though not a great director by any means, I still like many of Rodriguez’s movies. Yet, cheating on your wife with Rose McGowan won’t win you any popularity cases. Then, again he did get Rose McGowan!

~I had to do some mock interviews in a class today. I really did well in my interview, but I went too fast in my interviewer position. We were supposed to go through 6 minutes and I went through mine in 3, but I did very well in that one too.

Naturally Seven in Da Subway

The Best Subway Performance I’ve seen

This is probably one of the best public singing groups I’ve seen. They are singing Phil Collins’ best song I can feel it in the air tonight. They really made it their own with their harmonizing and changing of the words. You can tell these guys really are enjoying themselves. People in the record industry need to take note.

I did some digging and found out who this is. They’re called Naturally Seven and here’s some information. Here’s their Myspace page: You can listen to many of their song here. (They have another version of I can feel it in the air tonight in the media player, second song.)

Bonus videos: The Phil Collins song

Miami Vice Pilot - Phil Collins "In the air tonight": This MV version just simply kicks ass, and it should have been in the new movie.

Strange Picture

Strange Picture

http://nubiana.co.uk/2007/10/13/as-the-girl-turns/#more-740

Head to the post above and study the picture and read the post. There is a girl spinning (Think all those James Bond intros). People will see her spinning either clockwise or counter-clockwise. I see her spinning clockwise, mostly. But if I look away, she will change directions.

Here’s a cool tip: Blink you eyes quickly while looking at the picture. You will see her change directions. (Switch closing your eyes too.)

A Strange Restroom Encounter

No Four Legged Creatures Allowed, that includes US Senators

A Strange Restroom encounter not involving a Senator

True Story

A few weeks ago, I was in a public restroom at school. I came out of one of the stalls and proceed to wash my hands. After turning off the water, I headed for the paper towel box to dry my hands, and the door opened. An ordinary heavy looking white dude in a red golf shirt came strolling in. He then stepped to the side and opened the door wider.

To my surprise, a little brown dog walked into the restroom. The dog’s hair was fluffy. This guy brought his dog into the building and brought it into the restroom. A human restroom… So, the dog proceeded to walk around the restroom. I was a little more than disturbed.

Listen, I’ve heard of rich people taking their dogs everywhere, but this was just stupid. (I was in a government building dealing with that traffic ticket and a very well dressed woman brought her little shitty dog into the waiting room with her.) Now, granted a restroom is one of the dirtiest places to be, but I still questioned why the dog was inside to begin with.

The dude headed for one of the stalls and called his dog to follow him into the stall with him. (The larger handicap stalls.) After the dog joined him, he then closed the door. That was when I decided I didn’t want to discover what happened next, so I quickly headed for the exit and never looked back.

Of course, my mind went through a few scenarios as to what was happening in there.

Maher to conspiracy nuts 'STFU'

Bill Maher is my new hero

((Maher on Friday night helped security remove a rowdy protester from the studio during his weekly HBO show "Real Time with Bill Maher," and it was all captured on live television.))

And, there was any taser involved either. Yeah, some of these crazy 911 conspiracy nuts got in the crowd and started to disrupt the show. Maher lets the guy shout for a while. However, there comes a point when you can’t take it anymore.

(("Do we have some (expletive) security in this building," Maher yelled, "or do I have to come down there and kick his (expletive)?"

When security reached the man's aisle and the man resisted leaving, Maher ran into the seats and helped them push him out the door, shouting "Out! Out! Out!"))

This was done without 20 cops pulling a guy from a microphone too. Some people might try to say this is similar to the ‘don’t tase me bro’ incident, but this isn’t an open forum like the John Kerry event.

I strongly believe in free speech, but not when you disrupt someone else’s free speech. These 911 protesters seem to not to understand this notion. And why are you attacking Bill Maher, the guy who hates Mr. Bush more than me?

I could go on about these 911 conspiracy folks, but I won’t. But I will say this: by claiming that the government created the 911 attacks, you’re saying that our President and his minions are smarter than they appear to be. Trust me, this is worst run presidency ever in history. These guys couldn’t save lives in Hurricane Katrina, let alone create an overshadowing conspiracy. Have they gotten rich off the war? Yes. Did they cause 911? Nope, not smart enough. (I could also attack Rosie too, but I won’t).

Here is the video of the incident (Before HBO takes it down)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=B-f_YYEw-QI

Mr. Brooks

Mr. Brooks

This has me deeply confused. On one hand, I enjoyed the actual concept behind the movie, giving us a cold-blooded killer that kills for the sheer joy of it. On the other hand, I found myself questioning the casting and acting choices.

Like, why did they cast Dane Cook in this movie? He is so bad that his terrible acting brings the entire movie down a grade point. With a different more skillful actor, this role could have been very interesting. The other poor choice is Demi Moore, whom seems to be acting in her Striptease mold and cannot get out. She is totally out of place. I guess banging Ashton Kutcher can suck the talent out of you.

However, the film draws me in. I enjoyed watching the twisted mind of Kevin Costner’s character. I also liked that he had an evil personality represented by William Hurt (Marshall). His alter ego talks to him and gives him chillingly logical reasons for murdering. I found it fascinating that he goes out and kills people and then lives a normal life as a local businessman and has a family.

Hell, I even like the twist involving his daughter, which I won’t give away here. Yet, the director makes some bad choices. The score is probably one of the worst movies scores I’ve heard in a long time. Why would he choose a techno-heavy score for this type of movie? Then there are some bad editing choices toward the end dealing with Moore’s character. Was he going for a dance music video feel?

Because of some poor casting choices and an incomplete story, I can’t fully endorse this movie to anyone, but I also didn’t hate this movie. So, watch it at your own risk.

Grade C

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Kevin: “Dane, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

Dane: “Who?”

Kevin: “His name is Carlos Mencia.”

____________________________________________

Here she is waiting for a call to reprise her role in Nothing But Trouble II: The Troubling.

The Two Coreys: The end is near!

The Two Coreys are no longer friends: Hell is freezing over.

http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah7129.shtml

Comment: Besides being total prick, has-been Corey Feldman told the news that Corey Haim and he are no longer on speaking terms. I’m sure Hollywood is really upset with the fact that these to has-been aren’t talking.

((The two Coreys are no longer friends according to Feldman, who spoke about the matter earlier this week to US Weekly.))

But, didn’t you two do a stupid reality show about your friendship? Isn’t that false advertising?

While it appears that Corey Feldman is still attached to the new Lost Boys movie, Haim is not. I’m guessing Haim is back to using drugs again and even Feldman doesn’t want anything to do with him.

At least we won’t have another season of the Two Coreys again.

BTW, because this new Lost Boys II is direct to video, something tells me that it’s going to suck big time.

Lost Boys 2: The Tribe

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1031254/

Whenever you add ‘The Tribe’ to a title, it usually tends to suck.

I still love the first Lost Boys, so don’t screw this up.

(Somehow adding a drunken Kiefer Sutherland to this movie and it will make it ten times better. Having a drunken vampire around will make any movie better.)Lame is me

Random Bits

Hey, there hot lady. Weren't you the girl that got naked in that American Pie movie?

~Can P-Diddy stay out of trouble in Night Clubs?: It doesn’t look that way. When is this guy going to get in trouble for his violent behavior? This guy has severely beaten many people and has never spent any time in jail. Then he makes a song about prayer? WTF?

~Call me old fashion, but I thought Victoria Beckham was hotter without all the plastic surgery. Now, she looks like an upgraded version of 7 of 9.

~I wonder if they’re going to make another animated TMNT movie. I really liked the first one.

~I've had a huge crush on Shannon Elizabeth. She has a lovely body, but poor acting skills. I wonder what happened to her career? Did she really divorce her hubby over a Punked prank?

~So Indiana Jones 4 wraps production, I have high hopes for this movie. Here's hoping Lucas didn't interfere that much in the script writing.

old ads...

Check this video out, talk about old school. Who knew they predicted the DVD/Laserdisc format in 1983. (The video discs)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ3IRSldvYA

Comment: This couple seems to be reacting perfectly calm when you consider someone is turning their furniture into devices. I’d be running for the door.

Bill Cosby gives us a $100 rebate on a Texas Instrument computer. Thank you, Bill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA8Acx6IVoY

Star Trek: The Motion Picture interviews for the 70s

"Who loves ya, baby?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEgsfo0JDU4

An old Star Trek: The Motion Picture news piece: this old piece is really cool, because it shows some of the key players in the making of this film. This is pretty neat because there is very little behind the scene footage because director Robert Wise kicked out the Behind the Scenes Crew for visiting the set. He felt they were in his way.

Key points worth noting:

~ William Shatner is a total prick in this piece. He gets a little mad when the interviewer starts to ask him about becoming a Superstar. Shatner during this time wanted to distance himself from trek, but couldn’t become the big star he dreamed of. Watch the way he answers these questions.

~ Persis Khambatta talks about shaving her head for her role in the movie. She actually starts talking about ‘getting off’ on being bald in a sexual nature. (I kid you not). Watch Robert Wise’s reaction when she says it. Note: There is a rare photo floating around the Internet of Khambatta getting her head shaved and crying.

She was really a pretty woman.

~Some of the Klingon footage in this clip is very raw and edited differently than what’s in the film.

~This interview footage must have been filmed during the opening. Wise saw the final cut wasn’t too happy about it. He would later be embarrassed with the film and always felt he needed to re-cut it. It would take him nearly 25 years to re-cut the film.

The Death Star vs. The Death Star II

The Death Star vs. The Death Star II

I remembered how cool the Death Star looked in the first Star Wars movie. I just loved the design of it, and I always wanted to get a model toy of it. I wanted to blow up my own planets with my own Death Star.

I also liked the enhanced explosion with the Praxis explosion ring added to the Special Editions. While looking through the web, I found some interesting facts about the two Death Stars.

1. The Death Star II is enormously more powerful than DS1.

2. It only took the Empire three years to create the DS2, while it took the engineers to create the first one nearly 20-30 years. That’s an amazing turnaround.

3. The first Death Star was 160 kilometers, but the second one is 900 kilometers: I always thought the second Death Star was supposed to be smaller, but more powerful. The way it was filmed, it looked smaller compared to the first one. I was wrong.

4. The Death Star I could only fire every 24 hours, because it had to regenerate the power. The Death Star II could fire every 3 minutes at full power, making it a major threat to planets and ships at the same time. (I didn’t this either).

Find out more here: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Death_Star

I guess the Death Star II was filmed in a lighter color.

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I loved this shot of the guys shielding their eyes from the laser beam.

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Looks very much like Earth, and it was probably done so for that reason.

1408

1408

I thought this movie was going to be another bad PG-13 horror movie with bad shitty acting and plotting. However, it turned out to be one of the better new age horror movies I’ve seen lately. While certainly not perfect, there are some really good concepts involved in this story and some truly creepy moments here and there.

John Cusack is a writer who writes about famous haunted hotels and motels. While he’s not a true believer of the ghosts or even the afterlife, he still writes about it. He discovers a hotel room in New York that many consider truly haunted because of the deaths in the room. The writer discovers that the room really is evil.

I really like the character arc Cusack’s character goes through in the movie. He starts out as a man that doesn’t believe in anything because of the death of his daughter, but through this horrible ordeal he finds out there is an afterlife. Cusack’s never goes over the top with his performance. Samuel L. Jackson is a total badass in this movie and has one of the best lines in the movie. He has to cuss, because he’s one bad motherf’er.

I like this movie mainly because it doesn’t fall into the clichés that all these torture horror movies have done recently. It has a plot and some style to it that many horror movies have forgotten to do. I liked how it mixes the normal monster scares with the personal scary moments dealing with this guy’s history.

While I’m no Steven King fan, this is one of his better movies. There are some problems with some of the ‘Stages’ that he goes through, and it might get a little boring for some because he spends most of his time in one room by himself, talking to himself.

Not great, but entertaining and enjoyable to watch. Think of it as a throwback to the horror movies where style and fright was more important than guts and torture. That’s one mean f’ing room.

Grade B-

Note: This is based off the Steven King short story of the same name. Silent Hill 4: The Room is highly influenced by this short story. You will find many similarities to Silent Hill in this movie too and vice versa.

This scene is Not in the movie...

Sam Jackson: “I’m a tired of all these snakes in that motherF’ing room.”
John: "Do you realize we've both been in movies where someone hijacks a plane?"

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This is what happens you try to reboot up Windows Vista.

A few videos

Cab Calloway and Nicholas Brothers: You have to see this dance number. The Nicholas brothers were a famous tap dancing group in the 40s. This comes from the amazing musical movie Stormy Weather. Though Cab Calloway starred with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Calloway didn’t really get along with Robinson. Calloway saw him as a sell out because of the foolish roles he took earlier in movies (The Little Colonel)

It takes some skill to move around like they did in this film…something these new pop stars need to learn.

So, this is the new Transformers cartoon?: Uh, I don’t like the design at all. It just feels like a bad Go-Bots episode. What were they thinking? I do like the new Starscream voice and Grimlock sighting. But come on, you couldn’t have gotten a better design?

Here is more of this mess. At least Beast Wars was a Sequel and the Prequel.

Now this is Subway entertainment: You have to love that some people have no reaction to them at all. What is wrong with these people?