Cinema « Scott's Blog of Doom

Posts Tagged ‘Cinema’

The SmarK DVD Rant for the Ace Ventura Collection

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Sometimes I just like to review random stuff that I buy, what can I say?

So let's talk about my DVD collection a bit, shall we? I recently had a chance to reminisce on its beginning like a bad sitcom clip show when I switched from having them on shelves (which were increasing sucking up a good portion of my house) to tossing all the cases and putting them in binders instead. Five 250-disc binders later (and that's just MOVIES, not even TV sets), I realized how out of control my collecting has gotten over the years, and yet I don't see it stopping because new movies I want will always be coming out.

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Tags: Cinema, DVD Reviews
Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments »

The Lounge List: Die Hard

Monday, September 15th, 2008

The Lounge List: 8 Laws of Science and Nature Broken By The Die Hard Franchise

Now, I love John McClane as much as the next guy. The original Die Hard trilogy formed an indelible part of my movie-going experience in my teen years, like Back to the Future or the Star Trek movies. And heck, I even really enjoyed Live Free or Die Hard, which I picked up for $10 from Future Shop and felt I had underpaid after seeing it, because it's a tremendously entertaining movie (at least the unrated version is) that strives to go over the top in the quest to make stuff blow up bigger and better in each scene. I can respect that. However, as a human being with a functioning brain, there are some trends in movies (and specifically in the Die Hard movies) that bug the hell out of me and they all seemed to come together in that one two-hour package, inducing groans instead of wows. So although I don't long for a hyper-realistic experience in the cinema, here's eight examples of stuff that happened to John McLane (and other action heroes) that could not possibly occur in real life and that offend me as a former math major.

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Tags: Cinema, Stupid lists
Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

Repeat pluggage

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

Couple things for you Scott.

1) If you could plug this site for me again http://www.freewebs.com/wrestlinglists You've plugged it for me before, but I've added the new archives section, which can be found on the right hand side of the page, under "ARCHIVES*. I really think its a must for any Keith-A-Maniac, and I'm not just saying that becuz I designed it and built it.

2) Been watching a lot of DVD commentaries recently, and have to say I'm one who thoroughly enjoys them. Are you one who enjoys them and if so, what are some of your favorite or best commentaries in your humble opinion?

As a quick note I'm writing this from my laptop while camped out in front of a Barnes and Noble bookstore as I await your new book...

...just kidding, although I am excited for it.

I quite enjoy DVD commentaries, yes. My favorite variety is the text commentary because I find it easier to pay attention to the movie that way, and my VERY favorite style was the one for Walk Hard, which featured commentary subtitles so I could listen to the original soundtrack and still read the commentary from Apatow and friends. Anyway, best ones I've heard overall...

- Anything from Roger Ebert. I'm bummed that he can no longer speak, because his commentaries for Dark City and Citizen Kane are amazing, incredibly detailed stuff. Kane especially gave me appreciation for what I was watching, because he broke down every innovation that Orson Welles was using and why it was so important.

- The Simpsons commentaries tend to be really entertaining and occasionally informative, but largely depend on who's doing them. Still, I've listened to each and every one and will continue to do so.

- The Spinal Tap commentary is like another cut of the movie by itself, as McKean, Guest and Shearer do the whole thing in character and bitch about their treatment by the movie studio while giving us insight on what "really" happened. SO funny.

- Paul Verhoeven on Starship Troopers is not the best commentary by any means, but it IS a unique one because it's the only one to feature a moment where I nearly jumped out of my seat and had a heart attack. Basically he's doing this mellow commentary track and there's some point where he wants to describe some sound (I forget what he was talking about), but anyway he just starts SCREAMING out of nowhere and it scared the shit out of me for some reason.

Anyway, there's way more, but I'm gonna do this is as another Lounge List type thing, so thanks for the inspiration.

Tags: Cinema, Interweb plugs
Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments »

Great Movies With One REALLY Messed Up Scene – The Lounge List

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

Given my DVD collection now exceeds 1000 and counting, I watch a LOT of movies, but some of them have actually affected me to the point where I can hardly stand to watch them for a second time because an otherwise awesome piece of cinema is nearly brought down by one scene that is just like nails on a chalkboard for me. So with that in mind, here's 7 otherwise great movies with one REALLY messed up scene.

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Tags: Cinema
Posted in Uncategorized | 33 Comments »

Movie Poster Quiz

Sunday, August 24th, 2008

http://www.empireonline.com/features/posterletters/

Damn, this was pretty tough. Shows what a great job is done by the people in charge of coming up with distinctive lettering, though.

Tags: Cinema
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

Sequels that didn’t suck

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

Scott,

Thanks for posting my email on TDK - have another ranking question for the blog: Where does The Dark Knight matchup as far as great movie sequels? This could be more of a list question so I might be wording this wrong. If I were to make a list of Great Franchise Sequels, I'd list them as follows in no particular -

01.) Empire Strikes Back - Star Wars Franchise

02.) Aliens - Alien Franchise

03.) Lethal Weapon 2

04.) Terminator 2

05.) The Matrix Reloaded - Matrix Franchise

06.) Spiderman 2

07.) The Two Towers - Lord of the Rings Franchise

08.) X2: XMen United

09.) The Dark Knight - Batman Franchise

10.) The Godfather II

My Top 4 would be listed as follows -

1.) Empire Strikes Back - the epitome of what a sequel should be: bigger, badder, bolder. You can tell just by how Darth Vader's helmet glistens in ESB that Lucas said "Ok, this is what I REALLY want to do..." We were given more story and this film was carried on the back of Harrison Ford. Also, Darth Vader really underscored why he was one of Hollywood's greatest villains. IMO, this is arguably the standard bearer that all sequels should be compared to...

2.) The Dark Knight - A fantastic crime drama. Everybody in this film hit a home run w/ their performances and I really wonder if Nolan will EVER be able to make a film better than this. The best Batman movie and the best comic book adaptation brought to cinema. *My biggest question for this email is how do you think it matches up against ESB?*

3.) Spiderman 2 - this film is what really underscored why Spidey fans love Peter Parker's world so much: the everyday problems that we all go through and how having another responsibility can complicate life so much.

4.) The Matrix Reloaded - IMO, the best scifi action film EVER made. This movie gave me everything I wanted. W/ ESB as a template, they expanded more on the backstory of the war between humans and machines ; we saw ZION upclose and personified; and we saw some of the best fight and chase scenes that every other action/ scifi film has tried to copy in some variation; and we got a great cliffhanger ending. A true trendsetter for the early 2000's and beyond...

That's my list, what's yours...

Oh man, you're so gonna get roasted by the blog for some of that. Godfather Part II won the freakin' OSCAR and you'd put Matrix Rebloated over it?

Speaking of the Dark Knight, rather ironic that it's going to pass Star Wars on the all-time list the same weekend that Lucas beats at that dead house one more time with The Clone Wars.

Anyway, Godfather Part II is one of the greatest movies, of any genre, ever made and is easily my #1 pick for sequels as well. Dark Knight is all kinds of awesome, but Empire Strikes Back is still above it at #2 because there's a reason why people say "such and such is the Empire Strikes Back of the trilogy". Then I'd put Dark Knight. And why is there never any love for James Bond? From Russia With Love completely defined the Bond franchise and added all the elements that came to be associated with the character from then on.

Tags: Cinema, Stupid lists
Posted in Uncategorized | 41 Comments »

Pineapple Express

Tuesday, August 12th, 2008

Good to see that the Apatow comedy juggernaut was only slightly derailed by stuff like Drillbit Taylor and Walk Hard (which, although hilarious, was a pretty huge flop), because Pineapple Express was a pretty great comedy. The formula seems simple -- Seth Rogen plays a regular guy who smoke pots, movie makes mad cash. Really though, this one is all about James Franco coming out of nowhere as a major comedic force, just acting the shit out of his role as Saul the drug dealer and carrying the movie on his back. I think the movie skews a little too much towards the action by the end, and some of the violence was way too graphic for what was a low-key road comedy for the most part, but I laughed a lot and that's what counts. I did, however, think that no matter how great Gary Cole played his part ("Has anyone seen my BIGGER knife?"), I was always wondering a little how much greater Paul Rudd would have done with the part. But maybe that's just me.

Tags: Cinema
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Is DVD dead?

Friday, August 8th, 2008

http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/crosstalk_is_the_golden_age_of/1

Really, really excellent article from the AV Club, as they debate whether the "golden age" of DVD has passed us by, and I found myself nodding along more than once while reading it. I too rarely use commentary tracks on movies I'm not reviewing, with the main exception being The Simpsons, which has some of the best commentary tracks out there and because I've seen them all a million times and it adds something new. But, for example, I bought the 2-disc version of Sweeney Todd even though I still haven't even watched the movie, because otherwise I'd feel ripped off somehow. It's weird, actually. And I too have recently had Dave's World and Caroline In The City dumped in my mailbox by the studio even though I only requested one of them (I leave it as an exercise to the reader to guess which one). Not to mention a show like Fastlane, which I doubt anyone was crying out for, and which I shall bash the fuck out of once I finish sitting through the special features no one will watch but me.

Tags: Cinema
Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments »

The SmarK DVD Rant for Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Friday, August 1st, 2008

The SmarK DVD Rant for Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay

"You know what the 'P.H.' in 'N.P.H.' stands for, don't you?"

"Patrick Harris?"

"No! Common mistake. It actually stands for 'Poon Handler'."

- Neil Patrick Harris, as Neil Patrick Harris.

If ever there was a movie franchise that knows its audience, it's Harold & Kumar. Their first outing, Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, was a mild critical success and a total theatrical flop, but struck a chord with goofy stoners everywhere on DVD, far exceeding its theatrical total when ported to the small screen. The formula was pretty simple: Two charming, everyman actors get into misadventure on what appears to be a simple trip to a burger joint. The true star of that movie was of course Neil Patrick Harris, playing a hilarious twist on his relatively nice-guy image as a womanizing, car stealing, drug snorting wildman in one of the most memorable cameos in recent cinema history. So the sequel seemed to be easy enough to pull off -- just jack up the stakes, add more NPH and vulgarity, and watch the money roll in. Which is exactly what happened.

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Tags: Cinema, DVD Reviews
Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

The King of Kong

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

Amidst Mike Adamle as the new RAW GM and Freddie Prinze Jr. on the writing team, it's good to know that there's still big money wrestling storylines out there. However, in this case it's in the form of The King of Kong, a videogame documentary I had heard about but never checked out until tonight. And man, Billy Mitchell v. Steve Wiebe is the Wrestlemania main event for next year based on the rivalry here. And the great part of the movie (among many) is that the filmmakers don't put words into their mouths or judge the eccentricities of the people involved, they just let them talk their talk and watch the personalities come to the forefront. Billy Mitchell is like the Randy Savage of Donkey Kong and Steve Wiebe is Ricky Steamboat -- Billy cuts these amazing pro wrestling promos ("Everyone wants to see me lose. Maybe I should try it sometime") and Steve endures all this crap fighting against the establishment of the videogame world who want nothing more than for Billy's decades-old Donkey Kong scores to stand untouched, and it's a totally engrossing story where you're nearly standing up and cheering for Steve by the end. In fact, I did. And you couldn't make up the bizarre crew who follow Billy around like sycophants, particularly gaming guru Walter Day. It's fascinating stuff, following a seemingly trivial pursuit, which I think makes it all the more amazing.

Freddie should check it out, he might learn something.

Tags: Cinema
Posted in Uncategorized | 35 Comments »