Christmas Classics . . .

This time of year can be very stressful! Trying to find that right gift for that special someone, getting the house all decorated and ready for the fat white guy, or putting up with the relatives. Whatever the case, Christmas time is special(and stressful) for just about everyone.

As all of the madness happens around me, I like to break out the classics this time of year. Mindyou, I’m not talking about It’s A Wonderful Life, White Christmas or even the 222nd version of A Christmas Carol.  

The new classics represnt movies like Die Hard, Scrooged, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Rocky IV, Batman Returns, Love Actually, the LOTR trilogy and Jingle All The Way that I must see. And these are just the ones with a Christmas theme. Every Holiday season, I try to squeeze in  a number of movies that make me feel all warm and yuletide like. In addition to the above named, the movie I watch before I go to sleep on Christmas Eve . . . .

Superman: The Movie

If you do not know by now, I am a huge Superman mark. I somehow never make it past the helicopter scene in the first 90 minutes, but to me Superman represents everything the Christmas season is. No matter how many reboots, remakes, re-imaginings there are, I plan on watching this every Christmas Eve until I am no longer here. 

Until next time, Verisimilitude and Merry Christmas!

The Top 10 . . . Kinda

With the holiday season in full swing, I have been a busy little boy. I am trying to catch up with all of the movies that I have not seen yet for the year so that I can post MY Top 10 for the Year. Kinda hard to do that when you have not seen movies like Hellboy II, Hancock and Wall*E.

I have been catching up on some of the craziness that is happening though. Independence Day 2, um, I mean The Day The Earth Stood Still looks pretty standard in a Keanu  kinda way (WHOA!!!), and so does the Jim Carrey’er, Liar Liar 2, um, sorry, Yes Man.

If you ask me(and i know that you didn’t), the two movies to look out for are Valkyrie and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I am going to give the edge to Mr. Cruise because I mean, a WWII story about a team within Germany plotting to assassinate the Von Fuhrer himself would win over a backwards aging Brad Pitt any day.

Rainbow 6 meets Call of Duty. Count Me IN!

Bond … James Bon- Er Kirk?!?!

Went to check out the new Bond flick last night. No doubt Daniel Craig is by far, the best Bond for my generation. Now, I am only 30 so I grew up with the Roger Moore Bond which at the time was entertaining to my little expectation but is now a shell of its former self. A ruthless secret agent, assassain, killer bent on revenge was exactly what the series needed to do in order to keep up with today’s Jason Bourne/Jack Bauer/Jack Bristow (hmm all have initials of JB, interesting) types. The movie was good, the acting was what you would expect from a Bond flick and it was indeed a compliment to the Casino Royale relaunch.

However, the highlight of the movie for me came before the MGM lion came on screen. Among the trailers were the groan inducing Fast and Furious, the rather stale looking Angels and Demons, and the what else are they gonna destroy 2012. There was one that encouraged applause. One that made everyone pay attention, one that looked that it could be the Iron Man of 2009. . .

When the 12 year old kid on screen uttered the name James Tiberius Kirk, there was a collective gasp by everyone in the audience. What followed were fast cuts of the entire crew, space battle that showcased the Enterprisein action and Romulan looking baddies that would make even Khan shudder. What stood out in my mind was Spock. Zachary Quinto seemed to chew the scenery in the little scenes that he appeared in. If this is any indication of how this movie is going to be, JJ Abrams will indeed take Star Trek where no man has gone before . . . .

Verisimilitude!

The Dark Knight Revisited….

I saw an article about whether or not director Christopher Nolan is going to make a third Batman Movie. Some of the internet gossip had actors like Angelina Jolie, (no offense but give it up, you’re only in movies for the eye candy) Johnny Depp (love ya!!!! but stick to the Pirates type role) Philip Seymour Hoffman (I just think of Patch Adams) and Cher. Really Cher!!!

I am mixed as to whether there should be a third one made. I don’t think that he will find someone to give a better performance than that of the late Heath Ledger, and to me his performance made that movie. I can only think of one franchise that has a great triple combo, Pirates. Lord of the Rings was good but too long and didn’t keep my interest. There have been a lot of great Batman movies (Still a huge fan of the original Michael Keaton), maybe it is time to hang up the rubber suit and move on to a new super hero. Superman?? Someone New?? I think Superman is ok, but I think that modern theatre goers need the gadgets, “Those toys where does he get those toys.” Whoever takes over just make sure (s)he has those toys!!!!

Any thoughts on whether there should be another Batman movie or new superhero to take over the big screen???

Time for a Scare . . .

For the past few weeks, my fellow sweet geeks and I have been watching horror movies we have not seen in years or at all, to get ourselves in the mood for Halloween. SO far we have watched The Last House On The Left, Shaun Of The Dead, Trailer Park of Terror and Hell Ride. Last night we even tried to sit through Zombie Strippers, but took it off because it was too stupid to be even considered Grindhouse-ish!

Looking back at all of these hours spent on these movies, the winner was definitely Shaun Of The Dead, closely followed by The Last House On The Left. As I finish the Halloween season by carrying on what has become a yearly tradition by checking out the latest SAW movie on Halloween night, I hope that next year’s line-up gives a little better quality. I have to admit that I do miss, some old favorites which I did not yet get to such as Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein. I have one day left.

Now, time to switch gears and dust off all of the Bond movies. November is here and I am sure that right behind it will be some Bond Marathons.

Quantum of Solace . . . I cannot wait!!!

“Shaun of the Dead” Brings Me Back to Life

Last night we watched what I now consider a Halloween (or any time of the year) classic, “Shaun of the Dead.” Filmmakers have been making zombies (mostly accidentially) funny for decades. “Shaun” makes them purposely hilarous. Dibida, Dibida, Dibida…uuuuhhhhhhhh…..heh heh heh. Genius.  (I also love that nearly the entire cast of Spaced show up in the film.)

What I learned from “Shaun of the Dead:”

• A night at the pub is better than any day at work.
• The Batman soundtrack should be used as a weapon.
• A dart in the head is worth two zombies with a cricket bat.
• If escaping zombies-take the Jaguar. It fits 7 and has childlocks.
• Zombies can make you “have a ‘lil bit of red on you.”
• And finally..If a zombie is in your garden and about to attack your best friend, do what any great friend would do-take a photo!

Alright…I’m off to my Winchester to throw back some lager and continue to convince my friends and others that in the midst of a zombie takeover… beer, a jukebox, and some blunt objects will truly save us all.   Can I get an “uuuuuhhhhhhh!?”

FYI!

From here on in, whenever a movie is referred to me as a vile, disgusting piece of crap, it will be described as NUKING THE FRIDGE!

Thanks Lucas, thanks a lot . . . .

Verisimilitude!

WB Going Green!

Because of the recent success of Iron Man and the phenomenal The Dark Knight, it seems that Warner Bros is going to look at some DC properties to adapt. This was already discussed in an earlier post. However, word is starting to bubble that the Brothers Warner are considering none other than Mr. Notebook himself, Ryan Gosling to play Hal Jordan, the 2nd Green Lantern.

What say I? SWEEEEEEET!

The way I look at this is that it can go two ways. One they can completely camp it out, spend too much money and have a mess of Fantastic 4 proportions. Or they find a director who cares about the source material and who will treat it with respect so they can have the next Iron Man.

The casting of Gosling seems like a step in the right direction.Time will tell I guess. I will keep my eye on that one.

Until next time, Verisimilitude!

Nothing Happened . . . .

 

Trying to catch up with some of the summer movies that have alluded me, I got to sit and watch M Night Shyama-lama-ding-dong’s new offering, The Happening. From the first frame, it seemed that it was going to be good. I mean, it was promoted as the first R-Rated M Night movie, the cast seemed good(c’mon Marky Mark=badass) and who does not like to see a move about a possible apocalypse. However, as the movie progressed, and Marky Mark’s character seemed more passive than his usual aggressive characters, I realized that the movie which started off so well was slowly beginning to suck. Don’t get me wrong. I like M Night movies. I thought that Signs was brilliant, Unbreakable was passable and The Sixth Sense changed the way movies were made. Not too bad of a track record despite The Lady In The Water and The Village.

I wasn’t looking for a big reveal, but I wasn’t looking for non-closure either.In the same way that it began, one hour and twenty five minutes later, it ended . . . Nothing happened. BLECH!!! Hopefully one day M Night can give us an extended cut or something that tells us more about what HAPPENED. There was a good story and movie under the surface, I just think that M Night really knew how to find it. BTW the whole R-rated thing . . . I still do not understand how. There was more graphic violence in the last Batman and Iron Man movies than this one.

-Until next time, Verisimilitude . . .

The Mouse Strikes Back . . .

 

I think that I need to retract a statement I made in my first article claiming that there is no such thing as a bad movie. For Wacky Movie Wednesday last night we decided to watch the Clive Owen/Paul Giamatti/Monica Belucci starrer, Shoot ‘Em Up! Between the wanna be John Woo/Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarentino/Frank Miller stylistic direction, everything just plaines SUCKED! So much so that after 30 mins, we tuned it off(we didn’t even do that to 10,000 B.C.) and watched the surprisingly entertaining Baby Mama. That movie will never be mentioned again  . . .

What I really wanted to point out was the potentially AWESOME news of a Disney/Bruckheimer helmed version of The Lone Ranger. What makes this cool(if you ask me) is the confirmation by Disney(we own everything media) execs themselves that Johnny “he who should be the Riddler” Depp will play the Ranger’s sidekick, Tonto.  Interesting, at the very least.

This lends to the question, if Johnny “I would be awesome in a Chris Nolan Batman film” Depp, is playing Tonto, then who will play The Masked Vigilante Ranger? Apparently all eyes are pointing to Dr. Ross himself, one Mr. George Clooney. Add Bruckheimer and hopefully a Gore Verbinski-esque director in the fold and you got yourself a franchise.

Let’s wait and see what bubbles with this one. Will this be another franchise of Danny Ocean proportions, or will it be another Batman and Robin debacle before it even gets going. All I have to say is please keep this away from one Shumacher, Joel.

Until next time, Verisimilitude!