Well, got back from the first showing of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010.. I won't say it was absolutely horrible. But, I would certainly say to wait for rental. And not purchase.. But rental.
Not a lot to think about with this one, it pretty much staggers from A to B to C. Jackie doesn't have much of a part to work with. And I liked the character of Quentin but not so much Nancy. Chris was better, and she doesn't last nearly as long. For that matter Dean was it?? That dies in the diner at the start, was more likable and he was only in the movie for 5 mins or less.
I didn't think it was as bad as the reviews are saying, but then again, I'm old enough to remember the original somewhat. But also, old enough for it to be fuzzy. I don't remember how serious Freddy was in #1.. I presume he gained a lot of his charm in the sequels as they got campier.
But I didn't much care for Freddys look in this one, and the few one liners he did have didn't come off all that well. Unfortunately Jackie is no Robert Englund. And that's too bad.
The Crazies was a better horror movie. And these days they don't seem to even make horror anymore. Just action / thriller / Slasher flicks. Not much old school anymore a la Amityville Horror (Still havent seen the remake) and last years Paranormal Activity was a wonderful throwback to old school real Horror movies. Not the torture porn etc.. that passes as horror today.
And this movie was just full of cheap / jump scares. Nothing really scary or horror buildup at all I found.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Weekend
Stargate: Universe is coming up tonight, I think it's a new ep. I didn't check the PVR schedule today.
And A Nightmare on Elm Street is coming out, with Jackie Earl Haley. Looking forward to getting to that. Rated 18A so should cut down on a lot of the rabble from getting in to ruin the movie. Wonder if Dokken is on the soundtrack..
And A Nightmare on Elm Street is coming out, with Jackie Earl Haley. Looking forward to getting to that. Rated 18A so should cut down on a lot of the rabble from getting in to ruin the movie. Wonder if Dokken is on the soundtrack..
The Broad Strokes
NCIS
The one show on TV that I can usually watch re-runs of, over and over and not get bored with. Not a bad episode, not a great one either. Always fun when Fornell is around.
NCIS: Los Angeles
Why is this show around?? Heady is about all I watch this show for. It doesn't look, sound or feel like its branding NCIS.. I don't dislike Robin or LL Cool J. The show would probably be better as XYZ Police procedural show or CSI: LA. The NCIS title causes it to fail to live up to expectations.
V
Two weeks ago I would have said it was getting better, and hopefully would get the time it needs to mature. But, now after more 90210 drama and some Alien Soldier who didn't seem to be all that bad ass after all.. I'd rather they stick a fork in it now. Why couldn't Jericho have stayed around..
Fringe
Wow, coming up on the end of the season and a real throw away episode. I didn't get into the whole Film Noir / Gumshoe apsect about it all. Let's get back to monster of the week or something.
Supernatural
I liked this episode, was pretty good. Advanced the mythology some, went back and filled in some blanks about Sams past. Brought Crowley back. Good to seem him again after his run on Battlestar Galactica. Too bad we couldn't get his father a part as an old crusty Angel or Demon. Just so he could have some cool dialogue with his voice. Maybe he will be Death.. Heres hoping.
The one show on TV that I can usually watch re-runs of, over and over and not get bored with. Not a bad episode, not a great one either. Always fun when Fornell is around.
NCIS: Los Angeles
Why is this show around?? Heady is about all I watch this show for. It doesn't look, sound or feel like its branding NCIS.. I don't dislike Robin or LL Cool J. The show would probably be better as XYZ Police procedural show or CSI: LA. The NCIS title causes it to fail to live up to expectations.
V
Two weeks ago I would have said it was getting better, and hopefully would get the time it needs to mature. But, now after more 90210 drama and some Alien Soldier who didn't seem to be all that bad ass after all.. I'd rather they stick a fork in it now. Why couldn't Jericho have stayed around..
Fringe
Wow, coming up on the end of the season and a real throw away episode. I didn't get into the whole Film Noir / Gumshoe apsect about it all. Let's get back to monster of the week or something.
Supernatural
I liked this episode, was pretty good. Advanced the mythology some, went back and filled in some blanks about Sams past. Brought Crowley back. Good to seem him again after his run on Battlestar Galactica. Too bad we couldn't get his father a part as an old crusty Angel or Demon. Just so he could have some cool dialogue with his voice. Maybe he will be Death.. Heres hoping.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
New Blood
In a little over two months, we will be seeing the beginning of the third season of True Blood on HBO. Based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris.
The first season was fantastic, and the show has it's own quirky charm. And being on HBO they don't have to tone it down any. I think one of the best comparisons would be, what if Twilight was actually made for grown ups and had some maturity about it.
Season 2 wasn't all that great, the whole plot arc with Maryanne was just excruciating to experience. And Even more so, after reading the books and finding out that it didn't need to be that way.
I am thankful that the seasons are only 13 episodes each, helps keep the filler down and hopefully the quality up.
There is apparently a set of webisodes coming that will lead into season 3, look forward to see them.
Now, the countdown to the next book. Due next month.
The first season was fantastic, and the show has it's own quirky charm. And being on HBO they don't have to tone it down any. I think one of the best comparisons would be, what if Twilight was actually made for grown ups and had some maturity about it.
Season 2 wasn't all that great, the whole plot arc with Maryanne was just excruciating to experience. And Even more so, after reading the books and finding out that it didn't need to be that way.
I am thankful that the seasons are only 13 episodes each, helps keep the filler down and hopefully the quality up.
There is apparently a set of webisodes coming that will lead into season 3, look forward to see them.
Now, the countdown to the next book. Due next month.
MMO Roundtable
Star Trek Online or World of Warcraft?? I've played WoW for 5 years off and on. Horde and Alliance, Raids, Dungeons, Solo, Battlegrounds.. Played Star Trek Online for a week less a few days, since it was so mind numbingly boring.
Don't get me wrong, ST:O looks fantastic, ship battles are just the way I hoped they would be. Reminds me a lot of Starship Battles. Ground combat was ok.. I guess it was just that I found myself doing the exact same things over and over.. The grind (tm).. The thing that every MMO has to some degree, and try their best to hide. Once you see that hamster wheel it's never the same again.
But ST:O being from Cryptic is very much like City of Heroes in space to me. I played CoH off and on since launch. And it's fun for awhile, but again very repetitive. And I would probably be still playing if it was $9.95 a month, or even better free like Guild Wars or Dungeons and Dragons Online. I would describe it as MMOLite. Just not enough meat to keep going long term.
But, contrary to all the bitching and moaning that goes on about paying a $15 US monthly sub. MMOs are very cost effective entertainment. Play as much as you want for that 15 bucks. You can hardly eat out once on your own for that. And forgetting about buying a console game for $70 now days, you can't hardly rent one for a week for less $8 or so. But, granted you can usually wrap most games these days in a week if your dedicated enough. And renting 3 games a month and we're back to MMOs being better bang for your buck.
So, I've landed back once again in Azeroth. My last trip didn't last more than 2 weeks before I closed my sub and didn't even log in the last two. I have a bunch of Alliance in the 60s, one in the low 70s and some horde in the 70s and 80.
Cataclysm sounds interesting, and supposedly will launch in November. I'd like to have two level 80s by then. So, I can try and play the next 5 levels from different perspectives. But, last time I had difficulty leveling through the same terrain all over again. And whether it was horde or alliance the difference from 70 to 73 seemed minor. And I was bored.. I didn't expect 74 to 80 to be any more varied.
I'd like to have a DPSer to go alongside my healing toon.. But I find oddly enough, that my two most prospective candidates are both healers. And I'm more bored working up a Mage in the 70s. And until Cataclysm launches I'm certainly not going all the way down down to level 1 again to try a Rogue (For the third time, one level 47 and One level 20 already.. ) Until I can try Worgen out and the new low level stuff.
I did play a fair amount of Lord of the Rings Online. And there is a lot to like about the way they did things. But WoW being out longer, just has more to do as far as I'm concerned. Maybe I'll talk about LotrO later.
And the odd duck of the bunch, Star Wars The Old Republic by Bioware I am looking forward to seeing more about. Looking like the MMO to break the MMO mold. And if anyone can do it, I would have said Blizzard. But since, they have WoW who seems to have sharpened and perfected the current EQ style. Bioware would be the next choice to upend the paradigm. But we have upwards of a year or so before we find out.
Don't get me wrong, ST:O looks fantastic, ship battles are just the way I hoped they would be. Reminds me a lot of Starship Battles. Ground combat was ok.. I guess it was just that I found myself doing the exact same things over and over.. The grind (tm).. The thing that every MMO has to some degree, and try their best to hide. Once you see that hamster wheel it's never the same again.
But ST:O being from Cryptic is very much like City of Heroes in space to me. I played CoH off and on since launch. And it's fun for awhile, but again very repetitive. And I would probably be still playing if it was $9.95 a month, or even better free like Guild Wars or Dungeons and Dragons Online. I would describe it as MMOLite. Just not enough meat to keep going long term.
But, contrary to all the bitching and moaning that goes on about paying a $15 US monthly sub. MMOs are very cost effective entertainment. Play as much as you want for that 15 bucks. You can hardly eat out once on your own for that. And forgetting about buying a console game for $70 now days, you can't hardly rent one for a week for less $8 or so. But, granted you can usually wrap most games these days in a week if your dedicated enough. And renting 3 games a month and we're back to MMOs being better bang for your buck.
So, I've landed back once again in Azeroth. My last trip didn't last more than 2 weeks before I closed my sub and didn't even log in the last two. I have a bunch of Alliance in the 60s, one in the low 70s and some horde in the 70s and 80.
Cataclysm sounds interesting, and supposedly will launch in November. I'd like to have two level 80s by then. So, I can try and play the next 5 levels from different perspectives. But, last time I had difficulty leveling through the same terrain all over again. And whether it was horde or alliance the difference from 70 to 73 seemed minor. And I was bored.. I didn't expect 74 to 80 to be any more varied.
I'd like to have a DPSer to go alongside my healing toon.. But I find oddly enough, that my two most prospective candidates are both healers. And I'm more bored working up a Mage in the 70s. And until Cataclysm launches I'm certainly not going all the way down down to level 1 again to try a Rogue (For the third time, one level 47 and One level 20 already.. ) Until I can try Worgen out and the new low level stuff.
I did play a fair amount of Lord of the Rings Online. And there is a lot to like about the way they did things. But WoW being out longer, just has more to do as far as I'm concerned. Maybe I'll talk about LotrO later.
And the odd duck of the bunch, Star Wars The Old Republic by Bioware I am looking forward to seeing more about. Looking like the MMO to break the MMO mold. And if anyone can do it, I would have said Blizzard. But since, they have WoW who seems to have sharpened and perfected the current EQ style. Bioware would be the next choice to upend the paradigm. But we have upwards of a year or so before we find out.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday Night Yawn
The WWE had their annual monday night draft on Raw last night. Now, I've been watching and following Wrestling for years and years. Had a big break of probably about a decade after the late 90s. But, I was kinda hoping this would be a huge draft, shakeup of all the super stars. And keep Raw and Smackdown fresh. And maybe force the writers to work up stuff for two new talent rosters.. And not just a total work like I figured it would be. And it was.. 8 people change over. Eight.. big deal. I have yet to see the supplemental draft. But.. yeah.. eight. What a disappointment so far. Most politicians have bigger cabinet shuffles.
Raw seems to be top heavy now, like I've read today. Why not?? Most of the big names and the ones with all the spark are there now. Whats on Smackdown.. Off the top of my head Undertaker and Big Show. Anyone on Smackdown who looked like they were going someone got drafted to Raw last night.. Bye Edge, Bye Jericho.. Guess Smackdown may as well be Friday night NXT..
Jericho is best heel period. Do you all understand what it is that I am saying to you right now??
24
Not bad.. Pretty much following the formula now. Mole in CTU, Jack going wild. Crisis with the President. The fun seems to be in how they will get through the day. Too bad it's the last season. Here's hoping for a good movie.
Update: 11 more drafts for WWE Raw / Smackdown. Still a little disappointing. And more than a little obvious that certain people were randomly drafted together (Edge & Jericho, Hart Dynasty & Natalya. Not too mention Golddust?!? Haven't seen him yet. And Ive been back watching for must be 6 months.. )
Raw seems to be top heavy now, like I've read today. Why not?? Most of the big names and the ones with all the spark are there now. Whats on Smackdown.. Off the top of my head Undertaker and Big Show. Anyone on Smackdown who looked like they were going someone got drafted to Raw last night.. Bye Edge, Bye Jericho.. Guess Smackdown may as well be Friday night NXT..
Jericho is best heel period. Do you all understand what it is that I am saying to you right now??
24
Not bad.. Pretty much following the formula now. Mole in CTU, Jack going wild. Crisis with the President. The fun seems to be in how they will get through the day. Too bad it's the last season. Here's hoping for a good movie.
Update: 11 more drafts for WWE Raw / Smackdown. Still a little disappointing. And more than a little obvious that certain people were randomly drafted together (Edge & Jericho, Hart Dynasty & Natalya. Not too mention Golddust?!? Haven't seen him yet. And Ive been back watching for must be 6 months.. )
Salvation from Clash of the Avatars
Avatar
Just watched this again last night on DVD after having seen it once in theaters. Not a bad movie, but not great by any stretch of the imagination. Was a good effects laden, spectacle, summer blockbuster action movie. Had some interesting themes and ideas running through it. Like the whole moon (Since Pandora is in orbit of a larger body in the background) seems to be a large biological network.. Hopefully they will expand on this in the sequel(s)
I just didn't find this movie to be the best thing since sliced bread, like everyone and everything seemed to be trying to convince me it was. By all the hype I expected there to be a sequence at the beginning where James Cameron would demonstrate walking on water.
Clash of the Titans
Now, I'm just old enough to have seen the original when it came out. And by the same token, have a fuzzy enough memory to think that the original was pretty good (It's not.. I got a copy for $5 and had to shut it off.. I don't do that often.. )This re-imagining was.. well again I liked the cast, and the effects and stuff was good. But the movie is basically 3 set pieces.. The Scorpions, The Medusa and the Kraken. And they had to find a way to wrap a story / movie around them. If memory serves the same thing that happened with Mission Impossible 2. The Medusa was a great sequence, and so was the Kraken. And so much more could have been done.
Altogether another good FX movie, summer, popcorn flick. Just don't think about it too hard.
Terminator : Salvation
Well.. After all the crap that seems to get said for T3: Rise of the Machines. This should have been off the hook. But, it wasn't. Again.. great FX. Loved the Cycle bots. The movie comes off better when you think about it from Sams perspective, as a half human cyborg struggling with his new identity. I just wish we could finally get the movie we all want to see.
The war with the rise of the machines.. Tanks, A-10s, wheres the fight?? We never seem to see much. It's like humanity just rolled over and quit. I know, there was supposed to be nukes everywhere. But, really.. Wheres the fight?? They had A-10s in this movie, choppers.. There has to be stuff around still. They even had s sub..
The Resistance.. Wheres the old WW2 style resistance fight against the machines than?? Not so much an action movie. But an espionage style, infiltration and stealth movie. The sense that was invoked from the future scenes from T1 over 20 years ago.
In the end we got 3 movies with Sam Worthington who seems to have come out of nowhere. I like him, look forward to his next movie. Since the fade of Van Damme, Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Diesel (Who never seemed to take off) we don't have a big bankable action star. I'd love to see Jason Statham get more to do.. But hopefully Sam will keep coming. And not a Transporter 4. One was enough..
Anyway, 3 movies which could have used some more depth. Of the 3, Avatar would have the most. With the global biological network, they have a lot to work with. And hopefully the sequels will be better. And not just better FX and more shooting. How about more story and more character development. More Drama and a little less action.
Just watched this again last night on DVD after having seen it once in theaters. Not a bad movie, but not great by any stretch of the imagination. Was a good effects laden, spectacle, summer blockbuster action movie. Had some interesting themes and ideas running through it. Like the whole moon (Since Pandora is in orbit of a larger body in the background) seems to be a large biological network.. Hopefully they will expand on this in the sequel(s)
I just didn't find this movie to be the best thing since sliced bread, like everyone and everything seemed to be trying to convince me it was. By all the hype I expected there to be a sequence at the beginning where James Cameron would demonstrate walking on water.
Clash of the Titans
Now, I'm just old enough to have seen the original when it came out. And by the same token, have a fuzzy enough memory to think that the original was pretty good (It's not.. I got a copy for $5 and had to shut it off.. I don't do that often.. )This re-imagining was.. well again I liked the cast, and the effects and stuff was good. But the movie is basically 3 set pieces.. The Scorpions, The Medusa and the Kraken. And they had to find a way to wrap a story / movie around them. If memory serves the same thing that happened with Mission Impossible 2. The Medusa was a great sequence, and so was the Kraken. And so much more could have been done.
Altogether another good FX movie, summer, popcorn flick. Just don't think about it too hard.
Terminator : Salvation
Well.. After all the crap that seems to get said for T3: Rise of the Machines. This should have been off the hook. But, it wasn't. Again.. great FX. Loved the Cycle bots. The movie comes off better when you think about it from Sams perspective, as a half human cyborg struggling with his new identity. I just wish we could finally get the movie we all want to see.
The war with the rise of the machines.. Tanks, A-10s, wheres the fight?? We never seem to see much. It's like humanity just rolled over and quit. I know, there was supposed to be nukes everywhere. But, really.. Wheres the fight?? They had A-10s in this movie, choppers.. There has to be stuff around still. They even had s sub..
The Resistance.. Wheres the old WW2 style resistance fight against the machines than?? Not so much an action movie. But an espionage style, infiltration and stealth movie. The sense that was invoked from the future scenes from T1 over 20 years ago.
In the end we got 3 movies with Sam Worthington who seems to have come out of nowhere. I like him, look forward to his next movie. Since the fade of Van Damme, Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Diesel (Who never seemed to take off) we don't have a big bankable action star. I'd love to see Jason Statham get more to do.. But hopefully Sam will keep coming. And not a Transporter 4. One was enough..
Anyway, 3 movies which could have used some more depth. Of the 3, Avatar would have the most. With the global biological network, they have a lot to work with. And hopefully the sequels will be better. And not just better FX and more shooting. How about more story and more character development. More Drama and a little less action.
Kick My Ass
Someone should have for bothering to go see this movie. Right off the bat, let's be clear that I liked the cast. The look of the movie, and seemed to be the right length. Unfortunately the story seemed to be a bit of a mess.
I felt that it should probably of had several more rewrites. But my biggest problem would have been that the story seemed to try and walk too thin of a line between Kick Ass and Big Daddy & Hit Girl. More focus to either side, reducing the other to a side story would have worked a lot better for me.
A movie about the violent vigilante justice of BD and Hit Girl on their quest to clean up the crime and seek revenge against the crime boss as the main focus or more of a teen action / comedy about Kick Ass trying to live his dream of being a real superhero but getting the shit kicked out of him. While he sees the news about the two real vigilantes that he'll never live up to would have been much better. But we get is a half and half that doesn't seem to mesh in either direction.
I never heard of the comic before now, so haven't read it. From what I can find out, the movie is quite close to it. But, I have to believe that it is probably better.
Oh, and Red Mist.. who didn't know he would be a turn coat..Would have been better had he really thrown in with Kick Ass instead of just working for his father. (And yes I remember that he seemed to be really torn about his father taking Kick Ass in with BD & HG)
I felt that it should probably of had several more rewrites. But my biggest problem would have been that the story seemed to try and walk too thin of a line between Kick Ass and Big Daddy & Hit Girl. More focus to either side, reducing the other to a side story would have worked a lot better for me.
A movie about the violent vigilante justice of BD and Hit Girl on their quest to clean up the crime and seek revenge against the crime boss as the main focus or more of a teen action / comedy about Kick Ass trying to live his dream of being a real superhero but getting the shit kicked out of him. While he sees the news about the two real vigilantes that he'll never live up to would have been much better. But we get is a half and half that doesn't seem to mesh in either direction.
I never heard of the comic before now, so haven't read it. From what I can find out, the movie is quite close to it. But, I have to believe that it is probably better.
Oh, and Red Mist.. who didn't know he would be a turn coat..Would have been better had he really thrown in with Kick Ass instead of just working for his father. (And yes I remember that he seemed to be really torn about his father taking Kick Ass in with BD & HG)
Monday, April 26, 2010
The Losers
Went to see The Losers yesterday. The first of apparently 3 commando, unit, military type action flicks set to come out before the end of the summer. This one, based on a comic book which I had not heard of, or read.
Was a pretty good movie, actually. My movie reviews are pretty knee jerk first off the top of my head opinions. I won't be watching the movie 10 times, looking for minute details of dialogue or camera work. Just a seat of the pants reflection on how I thought when I came out. Not an in depth analysis unless something sticks.
I Like the cast, not too big or too small. They seemed to all have a good chemistry together. Especially Chris Evans who was great. I wasn't expecting much after reading some of the professional reviews. And was pleasantly surprised.
One of the best parts is at the end into the credits, at Evans' nieces soccer game. Was a great laugh. And keep watch for the T-Shirts he wears throughout the film.
I'm still of the opinion so far, that sadly the A-Team is looking like it could be the worst of the 3. I hope I'm wrong, but from the trailers.. for me.. it's in 3rd place.
Was a pretty good movie, actually. My movie reviews are pretty knee jerk first off the top of my head opinions. I won't be watching the movie 10 times, looking for minute details of dialogue or camera work. Just a seat of the pants reflection on how I thought when I came out. Not an in depth analysis unless something sticks.
I Like the cast, not too big or too small. They seemed to all have a good chemistry together. Especially Chris Evans who was great. I wasn't expecting much after reading some of the professional reviews. And was pleasantly surprised.
One of the best parts is at the end into the credits, at Evans' nieces soccer game. Was a great laugh. And keep watch for the T-Shirts he wears throughout the film.
I'm still of the opinion so far, that sadly the A-Team is looking like it could be the worst of the 3. I hope I'm wrong, but from the trailers.. for me.. it's in 3rd place.
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