Raise your hand, if you're a Basterd

I'm not a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino's films. I fell asleep during Reservoir Dogs, I thought Pulp Fiction was somewhat interesting, but nevertheless have no intention of watching it again, never saw Jackie Brown...Kill Bill Volume 1 was awesome, 2 was a bit of a letdown, and Death Proof was definitely the weaker of the Grindhouse films. Which leads me to Inglourious Basterds (which I think is the correct way to spell Inglourious...I know that's not the right way to spell "Bastards"), Tarantino's attempt at a war film.

Now, if you've never seen a QT film, just to let you know, he is known for having long dialogue scenes...and I do mean loooooong dialogue scenes. His character's like to talk about everyday things, and while from a nuance side, I do appreciate the fact he's trying to get as much characterization and what not in there, sometimes it can lead the audience member to wonder what the point is of the entire scene. Basterds is no different, though I'm becoming acclimatized to Tarantino's style, so it didn't bother me as much as usual. There's also a lot of brutal scenes, including a bat-wielding bastard taking it to a Nazi, the carving of swastikas into Nazi foreheads, scalping, and at one point, shooting a corpse until their face is basically destroyed. That's right, this film is not for the squeamish, and it's certainly not for people who look away at the very sight of implied violence. When it happens, it's brutal.

Also, this film is not really about the Basterds (though they do play an important part), and one thing I did appreciate, is that if a character was supposed to be German or French, they spoke in German or French, it was not implied that everyone knew English or German or whatever (this also accounts for subtitles, so if you don't like reading dialogue, don't bother), and this film is also not historically accurate, other than the fact that there was a World War 2, and a Hitler, etc, etc. So, don't go looking for a history lesson.

What you get though, is a pretty interesting ride, with over-the-top characters (Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz excel as the leader of the Basterds and the main villain of the film, respectively), and gratuitous violence (did I mention the blowing off of a corpse's face?), so quite frankly, if you're into that, then you'll like the film. I often find it amazing that Tarantino can have characters discussing the most mundane of things in one scene (take strudel, for instance), and then in the next scene, a character has two guys pointing guns at his balls. That's pretty much what you're going to get for the film, so either you like it, or you don't. For the record, I did.

I bid thee a fond goodnight (with the blowing off of corpse's faces)

- Stephenstein

Rating 4 out of 5 stars.

Be-yawn-ce.

Obsessed.

Where to begin. First off, this is Disclosure – but no sex – (actually he didn’t go all the way in Disclosure) but Disclosure was just Fatal Attraction in an office. Ok, are you with me? So Obsessed is about Beyonce and her hubby who recently got married and have a child together. She used to be his assistant then they started dating etc. She is no longer his assistant and he has a gay guy instead. The gay guy gets sick (for 2 days) and they get a temp Ali Larter…hold up.

When I am sick for 2 days THEY DON’T HIRE A TEMP???? – BUT I think she was already temping there for someone else, so they kept her on an extra few days to cover…hold up.

How can a generic temp be so skilful at multiple jobs in the same company – and to be an assistant to one of the head guys? Anyway she likes her boss and makes a move and nothing happens….but in Ali Larter’s mind it did happen.

So the guy never tells Beyonce and one day Ali shows up at a convention in vegas - I think it was vegas…I cant remember, but this is AFTER another person gets sick and she gets to temp for them for a week…ok, this is getting ridiculous. Anywho, she OD’s in the guys bed and then Beyonce figures it out and doesn’t believe him when he says nothing happened. Why didn’t he tell her a month ago when Ali made a move…well he was about to tell her when just before he can speak, she reveals that her sisters husband cheated on her…so of course he cant tell her then…etc.

The movie is FILLED with these super fake coincidences that wouldn’t happen in the “real” world…or maybe they wood, only Dr. Manhattan knows. Beyonce finally forgives him, but Ali is now pissed and breaks into their home, takes their child, BUT BUT BUT…whew…he’s ok, she just left him in the backseat of the car!

She comes back again and her and Beyonce duke it out catfight style. Now the fight is pretty even considering the fact that Beyonce would probably kick the hell outta Ali Larter in 2 seconds. Ali Larter is skinner than my baby toe!

Anyway, I was able to call how Ali would meet her death – yes I just gave that away – but I saw it coming a mile away...so will you.

But this movie is really made to have fun with. Not to be taken too seriously, and on that note it was pretty fun to watch (even though I watched it in 3 sittings), but in any case it wasn’t bad.

2.5/5

--J-KraKen--[>

Avatar Day -- why it pisses me off

Is it me, or is this Avatar Day thing frickin’ stupid? I mean, I honestly don’t understand going through the trouble of showing only 16 or so minutes of the movie in only 100 IMAX theatres across the country for free. a.) you have to get the tickets off of only ONE site in all the internet, and of course that one site was prone to crashing every two seconds, b.) to me, by doing this, they’re only catering to die-hard geeks who are going to see this movie anyway. They’re the only ones who would camp out on a website for hours, clicking "refresh" every minute (or second) and get their tickets, get excited about seeing 16 minutes of something, and they’re also the only ones who would watch the movie guaranteed on opening day with or without hype, so the whole exercise seems like a giant waste of money, c.) word-of-mouth hype springing from this Avatar Day is a wash-up because who listens to movie-geeks anyway??? Nobody listened when I said Transformers sucked and TF2 would amplify the stupid humour even more so, d.) why in the hell would I want to go out of my way, set aside time one night and drive out to see what is essentially a frickin’ commercial for Avatar? It’s not even feature length. I don’t care if it’s “free”. Is Fox also going to pay me gas money and give me my time back? Unlike these unwashed super-douches who are all excited over watching a measley 16 minutes of a movie that will be old news this time next year, I actually have a life. I can’t be setting aside time to watch 16 minutes of something in a movie theatre. What am I going to do afterward? I’d watch a movie, but then that requires another $11.00 of my money.

I have a crazy idea. It’s so crazy, it just might work. I don’t know if I should tell you, it’s that crazy. I don’t know. Should I? Okay, here goes: RELEASE TRAILERS IN THEATRES AND ONLINE SO THAT I CAN ACTUALLY SEE THEM CONVENIENTLY WHENEVER I WANT TO!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why am I forced to go out of my way to watch your commercial? This ain’t Star Wars. Bring the hype TO ME!!! Fox better get their arses in gear quickly, because right now when I talk about Avatar at work or wherever, people have no clue what I’m talking about. Seriously. People at large don’t know what Avatar is. Honestly. Unless you’re a geek who visits joblo.com or whatever and are going to see Avatar anyway, the mass audience doesn’t know what Avatar is, and if they do, they think it’s The Last Airbender. This Avatar Day only penetrates geeks. Horray! Good for you. Getting geeks excited by blurry CGI aliens and spaceships is like shooting ducks in a barrel.

And another thing, and I know this is tantamount to sacrilege, but I’m getting a little sick and tired of these sniveling filmmakers bellyaching about their vision on the big screen. Avatar is in some new fandangled 3D process and James Cameron wants you to watch it on IMAX 3D, the only “true” vision of his “work”, which is why he wants everyone to preview the movie in IMAX theatres in 3D on this Avatar Day. Oh, he does, does he? Listen, filmmakers have to get with the 21st Century. In the average lifespan of a movie (which is seemingly infinite), a movie will be watched on TV, computer screens, tiny iPods and whatever other screens they come up with in the future waaaaaaaaaay more so than on a movie theatre screen. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a movie theatre at home. No matter how big your TV screen is it ain’t comparin’ to an average movie theatre screen, let alone an IMAX one. Movies need to be able to hold up on whatever screen you can see it on. If your movie needs IMAX and gimmicky 3D for me to watch your movie, than you SUCK! If your movie can’t hold up on anything other than a movie theatre screen, then back to the drawing board with you! And let’s face facts: 3D is a gimmick. It’s cool and all in moderation, I suppose, but you don’t need it to tell a story. If Avatar sucks without 3D, then it sucks outright. I’m willing to bet that it doesn’t need the 3D gimmick to be enjoyed by audiences as I’m sure the story is very good (this ain’t Michael Bay we’re talking about here), but James Cameron’s insistence that 3D is necessary is annoying at best. The only way that 3D can be the wave of the future is if you don’t need glasses to watch it. Until then, it’s a gimmick. End of story.

Anyways, that’s my Avatar Day hype. Summary: Fox, give us actual movie trailers! And stop being dicks.

Deceptisean

Not B13

District 9

Aliens land on Earth and are put into a slum. Well they call it District 9, but it’s a slum where they are treated as second-class citizens maybe worse. Wikus is a regular guy (a bit nerdy) in charge of evicting the aliens (called prawns) and relocating them to a death camp. Wikus seems to be very happy at serving these eviction notices, and you may not like the guy very much. Now he’s not all bad, but sometimes Wikus can be a real Dikus. But after he accidentally gets exposed to some of the alien fluid he starts to sing a different tune.

The movie is basically showcasing the way we treat outsiders and minorities and anything we don’t understand, and what happens if we suddenly become the outsider.

The first half of the movie is set up as a mockumentary to explain what has happened in the last 20 years with the aliens. Slowly we merge from that to the movie, and when the action starts, it’s really impressive.

One of the titans mentioned the films budget at approx 30 million (imdb backs him up) and that is pretty darn good for a movie that shows the cgi aliens all the time. They are not hidden, or in shadows, they are in plain site throughout the movie and when the alien mech shows up! Wow! What an accomplishment for the film makers!

Great film.

5/5 – will be remembered as great scifi movie!

--J-KraKen--[>

SRK in a duel role...who'd a thought?

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.

SRK (Shahrukh Khan) stars as Surinder (Suri) a big time nerd…just look at the pic! He is good friends with his teacher, who is at death’s door and his teachers daughter, Taani, is getting married, and once Suri gets a look at her, he falls in love.

The day of the wedding there is a terrible accident and Taani’s fiancé dies, and her father gets sent to the hospital. He sees that Taani is completely destroyed by the death and before he dies he wishes her to marry Suri. There is no love there (well, there is on Suri’s part, but no one knows that), but Taani agrees to marry Suri anyway.

Suri is a “geek” which now a days means a smart nice guy. He loves her, but she tells him that she can never love anyone again due to her loss of her fiancé and father at the same time. She spends the next few days alone at the house while Suri works. He treats her well, makes her breakfast and loves her, but cant tell her.

One day she decides on taking some dancing lessons so Suri forks over the cash and she goes. He decides he wants to watch her, but in disguise. He visits his friend who owns a salon and they make him over but accidentally shave his moustache, and he becomes Raj. A superstar kind of guy, who is overly cool, and really over the top!

What happens next is obvious, Raj and Taani end up being dance partners, and she ends up liking him.

The running theme throughout the movie is that “God is writing this love story”, so things are going well, the only problem is that Raj is really Suri and Suri is really a geek. Suri says (in a great line in the film) “I will be Raj to make her smile and laugh, but when she loves me I want her to love Suri.”

I wont give away the ending, only to say it ended the only way it could. I have to admit I really liked this movie. It was really well done and believable.

SRK was great as usual and the story was new (to me anyway) and I love his attitude, that she has to love me, the real me.

Most movies have their characters make compromises. Like I will change to be with you, but come on, that doesn’t happen. And it didn’t in this film.

4.5/5 – great film.

--J-KraKen--[>

G.I. Joe: A Real International Hero

I can't help, but comment on the fact that G.I. Joe has an "international" cast. Huh. Good work, United States. You've jaded everyone with your political shenanigans, to the point that if you present a squadron of United States military as titular "heroes" in a film, you're likely to be bombasted with cynical rhetoric about how ridiculous the notion is. You've managed to destroy your own good press. Good jobs.

But enough about my political comments. I feel all dirty just making them. This is G.I.Joe. Not the G.I. Joe you know from being a kid. This is a different G.I. Joe. One with a wise-cracking Wayans' brother in it. I know, I know, I thought the movie would be garbage, too...and you know what? It's not! That's right, all my posturing and sneering at how crappy this movie was going to be and it...wasn't...CRAP! Whooo hoo, somebody proved me wrong! Excuse me, I must high-five a random individual on the street.

[Later] You know, that guy didn't have to ask me for spare changed, as well! The high-five was enough! Eh...people...where was I? Oh yes. G.I. Joe. So, if you like action, this is the movie for you. There is non-stop action...when the Joes are fighting Cobra at the beginning, when Cobra infiltrates The Pit, when Cobra tries to unleash a devastating weapon onto unsuspecting Paris, when they infiltrate Cobra's underwater base, I mean the action simply does not stop!

That's not to say there aren't bad parts, and I'll list them here:

1. Baronness turning good sucks.

2. Ripcord's character is for the most part, annoying.

3. The proposal scene between Duke and the Baronness is horribly written.

4. Cobra Commander's mask is terrible and Destro doesn't have the mask until the end.

5. I didn't like the romance between Scarlett and Ripcord.

Yeah...but Snake Eyes is awesome. Storm Shadow is awesome. All the characters (with the exception of Ripcord, and he's not Jar Jar Binks) are cool, the gadgets and weaponary in this film are unbelieveable, and let me just re-iterate that again for the people in the cheap seats, the gadgets and weaponary are UN...FRICKIN'...BELIEVEABLE. No, seriously, now I know where all the creative people are in Hollywood...they were on G.I. Joe, making the cool stuff. The stuff in this film is genius, and I can't, and I really mean this, I cannot wait to see what things they come up for in the sequel! I mean, those were worth the price of admission, alone. This movie deserves to be seen on the big screen, with a pumped up sound system, and all the bells and whistles. Honestly, this was the most exciting visual movie of the year, for me at least, and you could even see the action! Hurray! Score one for Stephen Sommers! But honestly, go see this film, it's entertaining, it's fun, it's not exactly G.I. Joe as you may remember it, but at least it doesn't piss all over the legacy.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5.

I bid thee a fond goodnight

- Stephenstein

Julie & Julia (& Juliet & Julianne...)

Good friggin' grief, Charlie Brown...Stephenstein went and saw a "chick flick". I must be mad. Well, I am. I'm mad because why did Julie get her name in the title before Julia? I mean, Julia Child was famous, for crying out loud! She's been on television, she's been published, I've at least heard of Julia Child, who in the blue hell is Julie Powell? And why is Amy Adams playing her? And that usher, the guy who comes in right before the movie before it starts, you know, the dork with the hat and the notepad, what is he writing down, while looking at the screen before he leaves? Will somebody please tell me?

Alright, enough about my pet peeves. This movie is about cooking...and making something of yourself through cooking. That's right, no Hell's Kitchen, no Gordon Ramsay shouting and swearing at people (entertaining as that is), we have some serious people here who want to cook. Julia Child is bored, and discovers through her passion of eating, that she should try cooking. She goes to an all-male classroom, the woman who let her into the the program in the first place doesn't like her, and despite these obstacles, becomes a master chef.

Julie Powell, on the other hand, has a dead-end job, her apartment is terrible, and her dreams of becoming a writer have never come to fruition. Her husband suggests that she combine the two things she's good at...cooking (duh), and writing, and write a blog about doing all of Julia Child's recipes. She begins the quest, and gradually, her blog picks up momentum.

So, we now know it is possible for people to care about you through a blog. Great! Now I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Needless to say, though Amy Adams is terrific as Julie, there are some things about this movie I'm a little iffy on. Firstly, Julie's quest, while noble, is not as noble as Julia's. Julia just wants to do something with her life, not caring about fame and fortune. Julie had the advantage of following Julia's footsteps, and of course, because Julia Child is a brand name (at least in the arena of cooking), you had a built in audience that would be willing to buy whatever you were selling. Julia Child brought French cooking to America...Julie did what?

Added her blog to the galaxy of other blogs out there? Like I said, not saying Julie doesn't deserve her good fortune, because doing over 500 receipes in one year has gotta be tough, but arguably not as tough as going against the norms of an entire society.

Then we have the problem of this movie being too long, and I do mean, too looooong. The movie is over 2 hours, which is problematic when the most exciting thing anyone is doing on screen is...cooking. Of course, there's spats with loved ones, spats with collaborators, a little bit of personal stuff in both women's lives that DON'T involve cooking, but overall, yeah, it's cooking. Not too exciting.

That's not the say the movie was completely boring or anything. Meryl Streep is extremely amusing as Julia Child, and she works well with Stanley Tucci, who plays her husband. Amy Adams has a sweet vulnerability about her that makes her sections of the film tolerable (and no, I didn't buy that she was a self-centred bitch, like the movie tries to imply at one point), and both women are struggling to make something of themselves in the world, so that's good, too. In the end, this movie is decent, not something you want to replay over and over again, but it was a nice little tale of overcoming odds, and making something of one's self, which is always nice to see.

Rating 3 out of 5 stars.

I bid thee a fond (and full) goodnight.

-Stephenstein

A real American hero.

Well we saw GI JOE. To be honest I thought this was gonna be Transformers part 2, or even worse, Transformers 2 part 2. But let me begin at the beginning.

The holy trinity of 80s toons for me was, He-Man, GI Joe and Transformers…of course Thundercats, Silver Hawks, and Bravestarr were cool too (so was Flash Gordon and Blackstar for that matter.) But these 3 were the best. So obviously any movie adaptation is anticipated.

Transformers was such a let down and GI Joe looked like it was going down the same road. But it was actually pretty enjoyable.

Actually, I really liked it! I mean the Joes were the Joes. All of the cartoon tag lines were in there and not made fun of. In TF they say “more than meets the eye” but right after they make fun of the line “I cant believe I said that.” In Joe, they just say them. “Knowing is half the battle.” “Yo Joe!” etc. Even “A real American hero" got in there and wasn’t made fun of!

That being said, I didn’t like Cobra Commander…BUT they have the chance to make him better in part 2..which doesn’t excuse his lousy look in part one, but I liked that he took control in the end.

Snake Eyes and Stormshadow stole the show and there were 4 fights between them. 2 in adult form (with costume, that we could see – unlike the Prime Megatron fight, where sam kills megatron). And they fought twice as kids (with the kids being really good fighters!!!!!!!).

So to quickly sum up:

The Good:

Baroness and her guns – gawd damn those guns were at par with the level gun in I come in Peace.

The action – as good as an 80’s action movie where the action serves a point…sure it’s as simple as – the bad guys are heading towards the Eiffel tower and we need to stop them. So lets have a kick ass chase and destroy everything in our path. Hey, works for me. The final action scene in TF serves no purpose…where were they taking the cube?

The vehicles – wow, a lot of cool gadgets and vehicles that do all sorts of things. And the gear reminded me of the cartoon.

The Bad:

Ripcord’s jokes…pretty tee n hee, but they were kept to a min, and they never interfered with an action scene. And he actually had a purpose – he was a skilled shooter and pilot.

Cobra commander’s look. Darn it, he is the face of GI Joe in my opinion and he didn’t look the part.

Overall, I really liked it. Ill buy it, ill see part 2 and I actually got pumped to watch the cartoons again.

So good job guys.

Man those guns were so wicked.

4/5 (Snake eyes is so wicked in this movie man…I want GI JOE ORIGINS: SNAKE EYES!)

--J-KraKen--[>

R.I.P John Hughes

Today, we lost a legend. I don't make comments like that lightly. I hate the term "instant classic", and think all of these "unforgettable" films clogging our cineplexes will be forgotten by the end of the year. However, this man was not one of them. He was a legend, and in the 80's, he was one of the giants in an era where true classics were being routinely pumped out.

Don't believe me? Think of the films that came out in the 80's: Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Rocky III & IV, Batman, Blade Runner, The Terminator, E.T., Beverly Hills Cops 1 & 2, Die Hard, the Indiana Jones trilogy, The Karate Kid, Superman II, The Rambo films, Lethal Weapon 1 & 2, Aliens, Predator, the Conan movies...I mean, get real, the amount of classic films that came out in that decade was outlandish, and I'm sure I'm missing some, to boot, that's just off the top of my head. So, in this era where films were expected to be good, this man stood out. As a producer, writer, and director, the man had few peers. Don't believe me? Let's look at the films he did in the 80's.

Class Reunion, Mr. Mom, National Lampoon's Vacation, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, National Lampoon's European Vacation, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Some Kind of Wonderful, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, She's Having a Baby, The Great Outdoors, Uncle Buck, and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Wow. That is a ridiculous amount of movies he did, and I'm not even touching his 90's work (which was headlined by Home Alone 1 & 2). The thing is though, every one of them had a quality to them; you might not care about some of them, but you had to admit they were usually enjoyable, and usually fun.

Now think of who is his replacement these days: Judd Apatow. Wow. That's crazy. I mean on one hand, we have a man who basically put the Brat Pack to the forefront, Molly Ringwald had a career because of this man. Anthony Michael Hall had a career because of this man. John Candy, as popular as he was on SCTV, had mostly no memorable movies, until Hughes cast him first in Vacation, and then later, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and Uncle Buck. Jon Cryer, Macaulay Culkin, Judd Nelson, Jennifer Grey, Annette Bening, all got their first big break in Hughes movies. What has Apatow given us? Seth Rogen. Gee, thanks. There's no comparison.

Hughes had a knack for portraying both the everyman, and the teenager, and not looking down on either. While his average schmoes might be bumbling and comical at times, they still had heart, they had good intentions, and when the chips were down, they did what was right, even at their own expense. His teenagers might have been rebellious, but they were smart, they were interesting, and they didn't engage in b.s. just for the sake of it; they were thinking human beings, not caricatures of anti-authority sentiment. Hughes gave us slice of life, but he made it sweet, and poignant; even if it seemed that nothing mattered in their lives, his characters still tried to find meaning, and they still tried to find love and happiness. Simple, sappy stuff you may say, but we don't get that anymore. Hughes made movies about an innocence at the edge of death (which was basically the mid-90's onward), but he also gave hope that even though you may be ordinary, looked-down upon, picked-on, nothing special, you still had the ability to turn things around and prove yourself.

We will probably never have another one like him. Like I said, his movies were about an innocence that is lost today amongst a sea of selfishness and cynism. The everyman is now sneered at and made fun of, ridiculed and embarassed. Teenagers are scumbags, who you wish are quickly dispatched by serial killers in masks. I think it's fitting that Hughes' career tailed off in the 90's; his films were no longer suitable for the next generation.

Nope, we'll never have another like him. So do me a favour, and sometime tomorrow, or the next day, throw in one of Hughes' films, and enjoy yourself. The great thing about films is that even when their creators depart, their work lives on, and in the case of Hughes, I have no doubt his movies will last an eternity.

Goodbye John, and thanks.

- Stephenstein

I'm the other Half...

I’m the other half.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I really enjoy the HP series and this is no exception. By now, we all know the characters and they really come to life as the series goes on. This instalment is just as good as all of the others, and even though, there is less “action” the characters are handled very well, and I love where the series is going.

I will continue to support HP and continue buying the dvds. Good show guys.

5/5 – this is a great series, and they always make my top 10 of the year…this one will too.

--J-KraKen--[>

The Apartment (of bosses and confused women)

Well, I recently cracked open my Billy Wilder 9-pack. For those of you born beneath a rock, Billy Wilder was one of the greatest film directors of all time. No kidding. I already own Stalag 17 (an interesting look at soldier's in a POW camp during WWII), Sunset Boulevard (an excellent, though somewhat depressing classic), and Sabrina (a light-hearted comedy, unusual for Wilder). That's right, light-hearted is unusual; Wilder shows us the ugly side of people, in a completely comedic way.

C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) is a young admin guy working for an insurance agency. He also happens to be a bachelor, and owns a decent apartment in New York. Now, Baxter has a bunch of philandering bosses, and they all use Baxter's apartment for their trysts with their mistresses (and yes, it is unbelievable that all these mangers would be having affairs, but trust me, that's not the point). These managers are giving Baxter chances at big promotions in exchange for the use of his apartment. Despite being a bachelor, Baxter has eyes for Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), a cute elevator girl who works in his office. Fran, while pretending to be all business, is actually carrying on an affair with Jeff D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), the head of personnel for the company. Of course, Sheldrake gets wind of Baxter's apartment, and offers to not blow the whistle on Baxter's dubious tactics for his new promotion, in exchange for the use of the apartment. Baxter agrees, not knowing that Sheldrake is having his affair with Fran...and when he finds out...things get very, very complicated.

After watching this movie, I thought Wilder bang on nailed everything he was going for. Firstly, there are no "heroes" and "villains" in this movie...just a bunch of flawed people. Lemmon uses his bosses indiscretions to his advantage, MacLaine is having an affair with a man who she knows is married, and MacMurray uses Shirley (and evidently, a lot of women before her) for sex, while refusing to divorce his wife, and carry-on the veneer of a respectable family man. What is really interesting though, is Wilder's portrayal of the bosses. They're all shown as a bunch of opportunistic, insensitive jackasses (much like most managers in real life). They use Lemmon for the use of his apartment, not caring about inconveniencing him (and in one case, forcing him to leave bed and sleep in Central Park for the night), and the first opportunity they get, they screw him over, using the logic "what has he done for us lately?" The way they're shown, while cartoonish in a sense, is very close to my dealings with not just management, but a lot of people in the workplace these days: a bunch of selfish, hypocrites.

Then you have Shirley Maclaine. There's one section where she just agonizes falling in love with a man who is wrong for her. "Why can't I fall in love with a nice guy like you?" She asks Lemmon, at one point. The funny thing is, I've had conversations with women just like that. They fall in love with the wrong man, and then they ask why they did something so stupid, and then pine for him in the next breath. I know men may do this as well, but as I'm only interested in women (in that sort of sense), I'm not privy to those conversations. I won't tell you if she figures things out at the end or not. All I will say is that you'll probably find more women like MacLaine's character, than these fantasy smart, attractive women that you find in most movies.

So, watch this movie, if you're tired of the same old cliched romantic comedy/dramas about the guy who does everything right, and deservedly gets the girl in the end. Lemmon is more of a lackey, too blinded by his own ambition to step up to the amoral power brokers controlling his life, and seize the one thing is his life he truly needs. Wilder is clever though, in making his just likeable enough for the common audience member to sympathize with him. Likewise, though the speeches get annoying, you want MacLaine to end up with Lemmon. You just don't know if it's going to happen. Watch the movie, and find out.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I bid thee a fond goodnight.

- Stephenstein

Bak to basics.

Ong Bak 2

Tony Jaa wrote and directed this one.

What you need to know about Ong Bak 2 BEFORE you see it.
(no spoilers)

1 – this is a period movie (feudal Thailand)
2 – they are trying to make a “real” movie (ill explain)
3 – I didn’t have English subtitles – so I don’t know if the if the story was good.
4 – this should not be compared to Ong Bak 1, or Protector.

Ok, the effects and setting were wicked. The story looks interesting too, but there isn’t as much action in this one.

Like Ong Bak 1 was like “lets show what Tony can do.”
A lot of the fights could be edited out and the story would still make sense. Same with Protector.
That being said, OB2 is short. 90 mins and when the action comes, it never lets up.

This movie has some of the craziest stuff ever! Do you remember the “More Guys” scene from Protector? Well this is more guys but they are NINJAS!!! There is even a Crow Ninja!!!! Not only do they fight on top of elephants, but underneath, around and over them! The elephant is used as a weapon on some parts and every ninja weapon is in this movie. Kama’s, 3 section staff, swords, halberds, spears, wolverine claws, etc.

This movie is soooooooooooo crazy.

5/5 (man that elephant part is so wicked)

--J-KraKen--[>

Go Green.

Green Lantern: First Flight

Intro story with Hal Jordan. Everything’s in there, including the Green Lantern Corps. Within 10 mins Hal is with the Guardians and they are explaining the ring. He never returns to Earth for the rest of the movie!!! It’s all in space!!!!! Sinestro is the villain and he rocks man! They even give him his Yellow-Black costume (which I love). I am not a big Green Lantern guy, but after this movie I am!

Ps, I think this movie will make the live action one look death…oh well.

4/5

--J-KraKen--[>

Go Big or go home!

Big Man Japan

Mockumentary about a guy who gets electrocuted to become BIG MAN JAPAN. A big huge Godzilla type (he looks like a big sumo) who fights monsters. However, in this film, no one really cares about him. They think he sucks too!

The monsters in this film are really bizarre. Like really! And the ending is very odd, but I think I figured it out….but still…odd.

This movie is just odd. People say there is a lot of subtle humor…well I didn’t really laugh much at the movie, but thought it was neat. It’s a bit slow at times though…and the fights are not long, but neat.

The ending, even thought it’s odd, is funny! I have to watch this one again and see if I pick up anything new.

Good one for the boys to own – If you like Godzilla (kaiju) films.

3.5/5 (for now…)

--J-KraKen--[>

Truth be honest.

The Awful Truth

Cary Grant believes his wife is cheating on him. She spends a night in a hotel with her singing teacher.

“My car broke down and we were stuck” she says.
He replies, “oh come on, people stopped believing that lie before cars started breaking down!”

Hahaha
The entire film is like that…and it’s a fun little movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Lets face it, any Cary Grant movie is great!

3.5/5

--J-KraKen--[>

Teaching fools, some basic rules.

I Pity the Fool

Mr. T runs around to help people in their daily lives.

This was a fun show. I think Mr. T makes it the best (duh), but his charisma is so amazing that half of the problems get solved because they wanna make T look good! I love how in one episode after the commercial break, we come back and Mr. T is like “if you just tuned in….then what the hell is wrong with you! You should watch my show from the beginning fool!”
Hahahaha

Mr. T rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

--J-KraKen--[>