Third Time Not Quite the Charm

Well, going all the way back to my 11th birthday, I do celebrate a bit of a tradition:  I see a movie on my birthday.  Of course, the lack of movie theaters in Athabasca generally means I get to see a movie on the weekend closest to my birthday, and thus declare that my "birthday movie."

I am back from the city, and back from this year's birthday movie:  Transformers: Dark of the Moon.  aka Transformers 3.

Yeah.

I don't know.  At this point in the franchise, Transformers are really starting to remind me of Godzilla movies.  The plot really, really drags when the humans are on screen.  I mean, it served a purpose in the first film.  The character of Sam represented the audience...new to this world of Autobots and Decepticons and thus serving as our eyes and ears.  But now, this far into the franchise, every time we cut away from Optimus Prime to Sam's wacky hijinks...it's just such a distraction.

This movie is way better than the second one, though.  There is more of a plot, rather than just random explosions happening all over the place.  The comedic relief still takes the form of very stupid comedy, but there's significantly less of it.  And there are few more nods to Transformers lore that were nice.  And there's one killer Star Trek reference that I won't get in to because it is somewhat spoilerish.

At the end of the day, the movie this most reminds me of is Terminator 3.  It's good for what it is, it's enjoyable, but really doesn't bring anything new to the table.  All of my childhood nostalgia was used up on the first film...the second film was so bad it burned up all my good will for the franchise...and the third one.  Well, it's good, I guess.

And what the hell is Buzz Aldrin doing in this film? 

And there was another moment...I know it was supposed to be this very emotional moment, but how it was carried out was so expertly spoofed in Team America: World Police that I couldn't help but laugh.

Yeah...look for a complete review on the main site in the next day or so.

In a way, it's not just the movie I'm reviewing.  I decided to pay the extra money and see the film in Cineplex's new and much hyped "UltraAVX" theatres.  They boast the biggest non-IMAX screen you can get, the most state-of-the-art digital projectors and sound systems, bigger, comfier, leather reclining seats, and reserved seating.  It's costs $5 more than 2D movie ticket...$2 more than a 3D movie ticket.

And the truth is...I don't think it really added anything more to the movie-going experience.

Yeah, the bigger screen was nice, but it's not that much bigger than a typical screen.  I don't think the seats really were any more comfy than typical movie theatre seats.

However, I did love the concept of the reserved seating in this case.  I don't know about you, but whenever I've gone to see a movie in 3D, the ticket-taker who hands me my 3D glasses tells me that the best place to sit is as close to the centre of the theatre as possible to get the full 3D effect.  Well, even when I show up a half-hour before showtime, I'll find that all the good seats in the centre of the theatre are taken, so I wind up sitting at the side.

But thanks to reserve seating, I was able to stake out the best seats in the dead centre of the theatre and fully enjoy the 3D show.

So my final verdict on UltraAVX.  If you're going to see a movie in good old fashioned 2D, it's not worth the extra $5.  But, if you're going for 3D, it is worth the extra $2 to guarantee yourself a good seat.

Also, while in the city, I swung by HMV and treated myself to some new CDs.  Way back when I was but a wee lad in Entwistle, my holy grail of albums was always the soundtrack to The Transformers: The Movie.  (aka the original 1986 animated film)  Never got my hands on it until college.  So, the lingering after effect of that is I've bought the soundtracks for every Transformers film.  So, of course, I had to grab the soundtrack for Dark of the Moon.  It's like the first two soundtracks...full of Linkin Park-y goodness.

I also wound up grabbing the soundtrack for Cars 2.  I haven't seen Cars 2 yet.  I was thinking about seeing it today after Transformers, but dude, Transformers is damn near 3 hours long, and when it was done, I saw far too much of my afternoon was gone.

The soundtrack for Cars 2 is OK.  The main theme is the 1980s classic You Might Think as covered by Weezer.  No doubt, it was chosen for this soundtrack because of the song's original artists, the Cars.

There's also a cut called Collision of Worlds, which is duet between country music star Brad Paisley and Brit pop legend Robbie Williams.  I was curious to hear what this bizarre pairing would produce, but it turned out to be just one of laziest songs ever written for a movie, as all they really do is rattle off a list of American deep South and British slang terms.







There's also a tradition French song and some peppy J-Pop to help add the international flavour of the globetrotting adventures in the film.

However, the main reason why I bought this was for the score as composed by Michael Giacchino.  I've geek out about Giacchino on the blog in the past, and how I think he's one of the greatest film composers working today.  I think he's done spectacular work for Pixar (with The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and his Oscar-winning score for Up), so I was curious to hear what he'd come up with on his fourth outing with Pixar. 

And once again, Giacchino does not disappoint.  No doubt, Giacchino got the gig for the same reason he got The Incredibles:  since the plot borrows from the classic James Bond spy films, they wanted a score that would replicate that classic James Bond sound.  And the James Bond sound is in full force, thanks to the heavy guitars just like in the James Bond theme.

There's also a few cues that seem to harken back to classic Disney films, and I swear that, given the film's subject matter, I could pick up on a few echos of Giacchino's Speed Racer score.  I was listening to it on the drive home, and I was smiling all the way.  Giacchino has composed another winner. 

And, as I reflect on day in the city, I once again lament that flirting is a skill I've never really developed.  So there I am at HMV.  The clerk is ringing me up.  She asks if I want to sign up for their rewards program.  I say no.  She says if I want to hear the sales pitch.  I say no.  She asks why I always say no.  I mumble something about being not interested. 

As I leave and head out into the mall, I start thinking, "Damn it!  Why did I say that?  She was cute!  I should have said something like, 'Well, it's because I never heard the sales pitch from someone as lovely as you.'  Yeah, it's cheezy as hell, but it's better than mumbling 'Not interested!'". 

I need, like, a practice dummy or something that I can practice flirting with.  Wait a minute.  They do make practice dummies.  They're called blow-up dolls.

OK, this is taking a weird turn.  As they taught me in broadcast school, when you don't have anything to say, just shut up and play the next song.

Rainy Day Blues

Summer is always a very busy time at work, and it looks like this is going to be the last weekend to myself for a while, so I decided to head on into the city for the day. Wasn't really sure why...didn't have any goals to accomplish. All I know is, sometimes, it's nice to get away for a day.

Of course, one of my first stops was Best Buy. When I finally got my Internet connection at home, I was fascinated to see that my wireless router had a USB port on the back. According to the instruction manual, this is so you can plug in a frequently shared device -- such as a printer -- or a flash drive or external hard drive so it can serve as network storage. So, naturally, I wanted to get a cheap little flash drive to try this out. I've been finding that Best Buy seems to be the best place for cheap flash drives. Picked up a 4G for $10, which will serve me well for my experiments.

But yeah. It's all plugged into the wireless router and I have network storage. The question now is what to store on it.

And of course, off to go shopping for Blu-Rays. I've been depressed that past few times I've returned from the city without any new DVDs or Blu-Rays. In the long run, that's probably good, because it means I'm saving money. But still, it's a tough habit to break.

The Superman Motion Picture Anthology: 1978 - 2006 is something that came out last week, and I would love to get it.  This contains every Superman movie made...the Christopher Reeve ones and Bryan Singer's reboot from '06.  AND for the first two, you get both the original theatrical editions and the Richard Donner cuts.  As awesome as this would be in my DVD library, I'm still a little gunshy at $110 SRP.  Amazon.ca has it for $85, but still, dude, that's a lot of money.

But I was still able to get my DVD fix.  One of the first DVDs I ever bought was the Terminator 2: Ultimate Edition, and it always felt like there was a hole in my collection without The Terminator.  However, there are no super-special editions for The Terminator.  The only one came out in 2001, was a limited edition, and is long out of print.  However, I discovered that it was released on Blu-Ray just last week, in one of those conversation piece "book editions."  That should be pretty self-explanatory...the package is actually a nice little book about the movie.  I saw that and figured it was worthy of my collection.

I also picked up Apollo 13 on Blu-Ray.  I was blogging about a month ago that I discovered that my Apollo 13 DVD had fallen victim to disc rot, and is no longer playable in my Blu-Ray player.  I snatched my Apollo 13 DVD out of a discount bin for $10, so when I saw the Apollo 13 Blu-Ray in a discount bin for $12, I figured, "Yeah...I can buy a replacement." 

And to cap things off, I snatched up Wallace and Gromit: The Complete Collection.  This contains every Wallace and Gromit short film ever made!  Again, I originally had this on DVD.  However, though, between the release of the DVD and the invention of Blu-Ray, they made a fourth Wallace and Gromit short, entitled A Matter of Loaf and Death.  I figured the release of another Wallace and Gromit short made this worthy of the double-dip.  And hey, discount bin for just $15. 

And I guess I did have a goal in mind on this trip...I wanted to see Green Lantern.  You know me, I'm a sucker for superhero films.  And Green Lantern...well, it's not as bad as most of the critics are making it out to be.  It's just...meh. 

You know, it's long been said that the difference between Marvel and DC can be summed up in the old saying, "Some are born into greatness, others have it thrust upon them."  DC heroes are born into greatness, Marvel heroes have it thrust upon then.  So with Green Lantern, they changed Hal Jordan to a guy who has it thrust upon him, and as such, he spends too much time on Earth moping about whether he should be a hero or not.  It just...didn't work for me. 

And I actually burst out laughing at the film's climax.  One of my most hated cliches of superhero films reared its ugly head, and when I saw it, especially given the cosmic powers of our hero and villain, I just couldn't help but chuckle at how absurd it was. 

So, yeah.  Ultimately Green Lantern reminded me of the Fantastic Four films...they barely scratched the surface of this very rich comic book universe, instead giving us something that seems slapped together and phoned in in order to cash in on the current superhero trends. 

Look for a complete review over on the main page in the next day or so. 

Neither Smoke, Nor Rain, Nor Coughing Fits

So, if you watch the news, you know we're in rough states here in Alberta right now.  We've got smoke blowing in from the BC forest fires, making our air quality the worst it's been in years.  On top of that, there was rain in the forecast for this Saturday.  And, on top of that still, I'm feeling quite under the weather right now.  Lived in Athabasca for 4.5 years now, and finally got sick enough where I felt I had to see a doctor.

Naturally, with all this going on, I jumped out of bed and said, "I'm going to the city today!"

I had to go to the city.  I had a very important reason to go to the city.  I had to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.  Because it opened in #5 last week, I knew that my chances to see it in the theatre would be running out fast.

You've probably seen the commercials for it.  Scott Pilgrim is a young 20-something in Toronto who plays in a band, and he meets the girl of his dreams, the bewitching and enigmatic Ramona Flowers.  But Ramona's got some serious baggage following her around...seven evil exes, and if Scott and Ramona want to live happily ever after, he must defeat all of them in combat!  Which is where the film gets its visual flair.  All the fights take the form of super hyperactive video games.

This film makes me wish I played more video games in my youth, because it's so full of references to the 8-bit era of video games that most of the jokes were over my head.

Other than that, I enjoyed the hell out of this film.  It's all about that period you go through in your early-20s, when you're finally casting off the last vestiges of your youth and learning to be a grown-up.  Needless to say, it brought back happy flashbacks to my college days, as I saw elements of people I knew in pretty much every character on screen.  It's all about discovering that yes, she has a past, and if you're a man, and if you love her, you'll get the f--k over it and work things out.

This has been a lean summer for films.  Iron Man 2, Toy Story 3, and now Scott Pilgrim vs. the World are the only films that had me walking out of the theatre 100% satisfied.

Then I stopped in at HMV.  There were lots of DVDs in the discount bin that caught my eye, but I was craving new music.  A lot of those digitally remastered Beatles albums that made such a big splash a year ago are now starting to pop up in discount bins, so I snatched up Magical Mystery Tour.  This one has more of my favourite Beatles tunes on it.  I am the Walrus...Penny Lane...All You Need is Love...Strawberry Fields Forever...so why the heck not?  Hmmm...it just occurred that I seem to be limiting myself to the Beatles' soundtracks.  First A Hard Day's Night, and now Magical Mystery Tour.  I guess that means Help! and Yellow Submarine will be next.

And then, that led to one of the more embarrassing moments in my life.  Since HMV's discount bin CDs are usually marked "2/$30" and all that, of course I was buying a second album.  A grabbed my second choice, and walked up to the counter.  The clerk was this attractive young blond.  She rang up the Beatles, and then my second album.  She looked at the album cover, looked up at me, and said, "Really?  You like Selena Gomez?"

At least I was able to hold my head high and answer her truthfully:  "I tend to put the Disney Channel on for background noise, and she gets stuck in my head."  Heck, the only reason why I ever sat down and watched a whole episode of the Selena Gomez show is because I discovered her TV mom is Hawkgirl.

So yeah.  Selena Gomez.  It's unremarkable, bubblegum pop, but it gets stuck in your head.



All in all, worth getting out of the house. 

Sunday Morning at the Movies

While flipping around the channels on this Sunday night, I managed to catch the final episode of At the Movies.  The majority of the online film community has been shedding a tear for the end of this 35-year franchise and what it did for film.  Let me bring you up to speed.

At the Movies started way back in 1975 when Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert started meeting on Chicago's PBS station to review movies.  It was such a hit, that in the early -1980s, it went into syndication, first by Tribune Entertianment, and then by Disney.  During this era, it was most commonly known as Siskel and Ebert, and brought the world of movies into people's homes.

But, the past decade was not kind to At the Movies.  It all began in 1999, when Gene Siskel passed away.  Roger Ebert then had a rotating panel of co-hosts until Y2K, when he settled on his fellow Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper, and it became Ebert and Roeper At the Movies.  It was like that until 2006, when Roger Ebert had to step down due to his failing health.  So, it was Roeper and rotating co-hosts until 2008, when Disney decided to take the show in "a new direction."  That new direction was critics Ben Lyons and Ben Mankewicz.  I never caught it during this era, but reviews were not kind.  Last year, they were replaced with critics A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips, but it was too little too late. 


Watching that final episode, I was a little sadder than I thought I'd be.  I have fond memories of Siskel and Ebert.  In the early-1990s, my parents were good church-going folk, but I didn't want to go, finding church to be too boring.  Being old enough to be left at home on my own, my family would leave me at home on Sunday morning while they went to church.  And I stayed at home and watched Siskel and Ebert. 

The early 90s was the perfect time to be watching Siskel and Ebert.  I mean, growing up in small-town Alberta, where you rented movies from the local gas station and the closest movie theatres were an hour away, where else was a kid going to be exposed to the entire world of movies out there?  And with the rise of independent film in the 1990s, Siskel and Ebert was where I was first exposed to Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarintino, Hayao Miyazaki, and many other fantastic filmmakers.

Hell, my first exposure to Clerks was when the special edition laserdisc came out, and Siskel and Ebert showed the original ending to Clerks on the show and debated whether Kevin Smith was right to cut it or not.  (Consensus:  he was.)  My first exposure to Hayao Miyazaki was their review of My Neighbor Totoro.  Ebert loved that film so much.  That show gave a lot of films exposure that wouldn't have gotten any. 

And now, it's done.  Great films will still get exposure, though.  My favourite film, The Iron Giant, was brought to my attention, not because of a TV show, but because of all the reviews I read online.  Great films still have a way of getting out there.  Part of the problem, though, is on the Internet, there's just so many voices to weed through.  Not like the old days, when it was just two guys talking about films, and you were eavesdropping through the TV. 

Whales on the Move

So, if you're my friend on Facebook, you probably saw this picture I snapped last time I was in West Edmonton Mall, along with the distressing message, "Are they dismantling my favourite West Edmonton Mall landmark?"

Well, while listening to the super-awesome reporter on the most awesomest radio station in the world, I have learned that, yes, West Edmonton Mall's classic baleen whale statue/fountain is being dismantled.

Why they are dismantling it is answered in this second photo I snapped, but never posted to Facebook.

See all that pink in the background?  That's Edmonton's first-ever Victoria's Secret store opening up.  West Edmonton Mall officials figure that the space in front of Victoria's Secret will soon be filled with bored husbands and boyfriends waiting outside for their ladies to do their shopping.  So they're dismantling the whale to make room for more benches. 

However, West Edmonton Mall officials assure us that the baleen whale will be fully restored, and moved to another location in the mall.

I sure hope so.  I know that, some where, in one of Mom's old photo albums, there's got to be a dozen or so pictures of me coming out of that whale's mouth.  I'm well into my thirties now, and I still always have a penny to toss in that fountain. 

Here's the Edmonton Sun's report on the matter.

I'm learning so much about the whale thanks to all this news coverage.  For example, the proper name of sculpture is "Open Sea" and it was sculpted by Robin Bell.  It's sat there ever since Phase II of the WEM opened in 1983.

Here's the Edmonton Journal's report on the matter.

And I after I wrote this blog entry and posted it on my Twitter feed, some smarmy reporter at a big city news station had tweet me and tell me she had the story last week.

Here's iNews 880's story on the matter.

Pixar Keeps Making Me Cry

And I'm back from another day in the city.  As always, there were ups, there downs, there were adventures and misadventures, and it all revolved around catching a movie.  Pixar junkie that I am, I had to be there opening weekend for Toy Story 3.

Wow.  This is the fourth movie in a row that Pixar has made that made me cry at the end.  Would you STOP DOING THAT PIXAR?  I mean, yes the movies are good, and it makes you the money, and you get the Oscar gold and the good reviews and everything, but damn it all, stop being so good.

As I've blogged several times before, I love it when an animated film surprises me.  Usually, it's when they go down a corner that I didn't expect, and it makes me go, "Did they really just go there?"  The benchmark I always use is the scene in The Iron Giant where the character Dean says, "I'd like to apologize in advance for this," and then unzips his pants to let a squirrel out.

Well, there is such a moment in Toy Story 3.  It goes down a dark path at one point and you just can't help but think, "Oh my God.  This is...wow."  I won't say what it is, so as not be spoilerish, but you'll know it when you see it.

Essentially, it boils down to this.  Toy Story 1 + 2 were made by young adults who still played with toys.  Toy Story 3 was made by middle aged folks letting go of their children.  And it shines through. 

(And I'm sure the streak of Pixar films that make me cry will end next year.  Next year, they give us Cars 2.)

And of course, it wouldn't be a trip to the city without spending too much money on DVDs.  I've been on a bit of a Doctor Who kick lately, catching up on the new episodes online, straight out of England.  A couple of months ago, when my Blu-Ray player was new and exciting, I picked up the complete David Tennant specials.  And I started thinking, "Where's the love for the Ninth Doctor?  Where's the love for Christopher Eccleston?"  I mean, this whole Doctor Who resurgence started because of him!

So, when I saw Doctor Who: The Complete First Series on sale for $55, I knew I had to pick it up.  Actually, I thought about picking it up when I was last in the city 2 weeks ago.  Back then, it was on sale for $50.  This week, it was $55, and I thought, "Gee, I'd better snatch it up before it shoots all the way back up to its full price of $120."  So I did.  I'm looking forward to watching it.  I only caught about half the episodes in this series, so I'm finally going to be able to catch the whole thing. 

And, of course, a day in the city is always fun when you can make someone's day.  You know how sometimes, when you go to a store, the clerk will ask you, "Would you like to donate $1 to charity?" and when you say yes they give you this slip of paper you can sign that they'll hang up on the wall?  Well, I donated my $1 to charity today, and the clerk totally geeked out when I signed my name "Optimus Prime."

(I never sign my real name to those things.  I usually go with the first cartoon character that pops to mind.) 

And after that, it was time for the long drive home.  The long drive is good, because it gives me time to reflect on things.  For example, my Friday night movies. 

If you follow me on Twitter, then you already know that, when I was home for vacation a few weeks ago, I finally laid claim to all my old VHS tapes.  So, the theme for my movie nights right now is "Stuff I still own on VHS."  Last night, I threw in the Disney classic Sleeping Beauty.  I remember buying it on VHS all those years ago simply for the novel fact that it was the letterboxed edition.  Ah, the life and times of a home theatre snob in the mid-1990s. 

As I was reading up on the making of Sleeping Beauty, I stumbled across the fact that the titular character, Princess Aurora, the Sleeping Beauty herself, is only on-screen for a grand total of 16 minutes in the film.  Reflecting on that, I realized that Aurora really isn't much of a character.  She doesn't have any significant arc or development.  If anything, she's more like a McGuffin. 

For those who don't know what a McGuffin is, it's a movie term.  Alfred Hitchcock, who's generally credited with coining the term, described it thusly:  "It's the object that all the characters desire.  In heist films, it's always the necklace.  In spy films, it's always the papers." 

Think about it.  Prince Philip desires her for romantic purposes.  The evil queen Malificent desires her to use her as a tool of vengeance.  Her father, the king, desires to use her to unite two kingdoms.  And the three fairies desire to keep her safe. 

If anything I'd have to say that three fairies are the true heroes of the film.  They do the most ass-kicking as they keep Aurora safe, bust Prince Philip out of prison, and then aid the prince in the final battle against Malificent. 

But  yeah.  It was good to see it again after all those years.

And while I was doing some reading up on Pixar before heading off to see Toy Story 3, I came across some shocking news.  Newt has been canceled! 

Newt was an animated film that Pixar had in development.  A couple of years ago, they announced with much hype and fanfare that it was to be their animated blockbuster for 2012.  But now it's been taken off all the Pixar schedules, and when the animators are asked about it, they respond with "no comment." 

Newt was to be the feature-length directorial debut of veteran Pixar sound designer Gary Rydstrom.  (Rydstrom made his short-length directorial debut with Lifted, the short in front of Ratatouille.)  It was to follow the adventures of a rare blue newt who discovers he is the last of his kind, and lives in a laboratory.  Then one day, the scientists find the only remaining female newt, capture her, and lock her up with the male newt in the hopes they'll repopulate the species.  One problem though:  it's hate at first sight.  Will they fall in love and save their species?

I wonder why this fell apart.  Maybe because it sounds an awful lot like Rio, the next one from Blue Sky Studios coming out next year.  Just replace with newts with parrots and the laboratory setting with the lush rainforests of Brazil, and they become strikingly similar. 

Oh, well.  Hollywood archives are full of animated films that fell apart in pre-production.  This isn't too shocking.  It's just odd, giving all the hype that surrounded the project's announcement. 

And I'm about all rambled out for this Saturday! 

Another Day, Another Blu-Ray

A friend of mine once remarked that the majority of my DVDs are the movies that you can watch on basic cable on any night of the week. Those words were running through my mind today when I bought the Blu-Ray boxed set of the Austin Powers trilogy. What can I say? I always liked it, and it was on sale for $25, so I thought, "Why not?"

Things was, I never got the Blu-Ray discs I set out to get. I've always had a soft spot for James Bond, so I thought about grabbing Quantum of Solace, but on the way out of the house, I saw my DVD websites indicated that a newer special edition comes out in a couple of months, so I figured I'd wait. As you may remember, I rented Whip It a couple of weeks ago, and that had the unexpected side effect of being temporarily obsessed with Ellen Page, so I was keeping my eyes open for Whip It. I'm also temporarily obsessed with The Goonies, and you'll find out why in tomorrow's podcast, but I couldn't find it on Blu-Ray.

Oh, look at that. It's not on Blu-Ray yet. I guess I could have just spent $10 to get the regular DVD out of the discount bin.

But those quests went out the window when I was in HMV, perusing some of the TV on Blu-Ray, and I saw a boxed set, Doctor Who: The Complete Specials. This is the series of TV movies that ran throughout 2009, signaling the swan song for David Tennant as the 10th Doctor. I actually haven't seen these yet, so after almost half an hour of staring at the boxed set on the shelf, wondering whether to get them or not, I got them.

But that wasn't all! It was also a movie day, so I had to go check out the first big blockbuster of the summer, Iron Man 2. I've got to admit, I've been disappointed with the films of 2010 so far, so I went into Iron Man 2 with some drastically lowered expectations. And I don't know if it was because of those lowered expectations, but Iron Man 2 completely blew me away. It's funny, it's action packed...I wouldn't say it was better than the first one, though. It's definitely on-par with the first one. Whatever, it was a hell of a ride and I enjoyed the hell out of it.

And then I went across the hall to finally see Kick-Ass. Kick-Ass is an incredibly messed-up film, but messed-up in a good way. As the superhero genre starts becoming more and more mainstream, I'm sure we're going to get more deconstructions like this, where people ask the question, "What would it be like if superheroes started popping up?" I was surprised at how darkly comedic the film was.

If I have one complaint about Kick-Ass, that would be the same complaint that was once raised about the first Shrek film. Around 2/3 of the way through the film, they switch from mocking the cliches of the genre to falling back on them. It really does feel like standard superhero fare at the climax.

But still, a highly enjoyable film.

Complete reviews in the next day or so.

Free Movies!

Nothing like going to see a movie, and then getting a free movie out of the deal!

So I head into the city today to finally see Alice in Wonderland, cuz I'm a big Tim Burton fanboy and all that. I get to the theatre, I'm all nestled in my seat, I'm enjoying the coming attractions, and then I see the Warner Brothers logo. "That's weird. I thought Alice in Wonderland was Disney," I think to myself.

And then the opening credits to Cop Out start to roll.

The first thought that goes through my mind, "Aw, crap, I'm in the wrong theatre." I mean, in all these multiplexes with three dozen screens and all that, it was bound to happen eventually, right? I get all turned around and walk into the wrong theatre. So, fearing that I might miss the beginning of Alice in Wonderland, I grab my coat and bolt for the door.

I get out of the theatre, I look at the sign above the theatre, and I see that I wandered into the theatre that was showing...Alice in Wonderland. What's going on here?

Some kids who bolted out ahead of me were talking to the usher, and they came to the proper conclusion before I did. "Hey, mister," they said to the usher. "Alice in Wonderland isn't playing in that theatre, Cop Out is!"

By now, people are coming out of the theatre in droves. The usher waved over the manager, the manager saw the situation for herself, got on her walkie-talkie and asked the projectionist what the heck was going on. At this point, with the proper authority figures on the scene, I returned to my seat. The manager relayed the situation to the crowd. "Sorry, folks, we showed Cop Out in this theatre last night and we forgot to change the film in the projector. Alice in Wonderland will be staring in 15 minutes. You'll all get a pass for a free movie at the end of the show. Thank you for your patience."

Sure enough, Alice in Wonderland started in 15 minutes, and at the end, I got a coupon for a free movie! So, yay, for that projectionist being asleep at the switch!

As for the movie...meh. They took all the familiar Alice in Wonderland characters and made them fill roles in your familiar fantasy epic kind of plot. It was all so...familiar. It felt like Tim Burton did it for the paycheck.

Full review on the website tomorrow!

Nothing Like a Day in the City!

Wow, it's actually been over two months since I took a trip to Edmonton. That usually means there have been no good movies out. But of course, I had to make the trip because one of my heroes and favourite directors, Kevin Smith, has a new movie out!

The film, in case you haven't heard yet, is Cop Out, starring Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan as a couple of detectives on the trail of a stolen, super-valuable baseball card. Smith said that, with this film, he set out to do one of the classic cop films of the 1980s, you know, your Beverly Hills Cop and Lethal Weapon and all that. And in that respect, Smith pulled it off wonderfully. In fact, he pulled it off a little too well as the plot gets kind of cliched and you start feeling like you've seen it all before.

It's got some good laughs, but it's not wall-to-wall laughs, like I've found with other Kevin Smith movies. Haven't decided yet if I want to be a hard-ass and give it 2 nibs, or nice and give it 3. Watch for the full review in the days ahead.

Had to grab some new DVDs too. The latest film from renowned Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, Ponyo, came out back on Tuesday, so I had to pick that up. I can now once again boast having every Hayao Miyazaki film on DVD. You might remember when I saw Ponyo in the theatre back in August and reviewed it here on the blog. I loved it. Miyazaki is back in the whimsical children's film mode that he was in when he made My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service, so if you've ever seen those films, you'll like Ponyo.

I do have on complaint about the DVD packaging, though. It says right on the front cover, "Inspired by the classic Hans Christen Anderson story The Little Mermaid." Now, many a reviewer has said that...Miyazaki himself has said it in a couple of interviews. But something about bluntly stating it ON THE FRONT COVER OF THE DVD just seems like a shameless ploy to sell more copies. It bugs me somewhat.

And, of course, because I'm such a fan of the DC/WB DTV movies, I had to pick up the latest one, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. The Justice League, doing battle with their evil twins from a parallel universe, the Crime Syndicate. There have been good reviews circulating about this one, so I can hardly wait to fire it up.

It was a good day. Good day.

Sherlock Holmes, More DVDs, and Other Shenanigans

Ah, it just wouldn't be a vacation without a day in Edmonton. I was hoping to see Avatar, but I'm saving it up to see it in IMAX 3D...the way James Cameron wants me to see it. And, since it was all sold out for today AND tomorrow, I decided to go see Sherlock Holmes instead.

Now, I should mention that I know absolutely nothing about the Sherlock Holmes franchise. Never read the books, never seen any of the earlier film adaptations...unless you count the Disney classic The Great Mouse Detective. So, really, this film was my first exposure to Sherlock Holmes.

It was pretty good I guess. Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law do have a great rapport as Holmes and Watson. I had no idea that Holmes, as a character, was so eccentric. The action scenes are pretty good, and I love the ending where Holmes explains the entire plot and how he figured it out. Hans Zimmer also provided a delighfully offbeat music score.

But I don't know...as cop movies and detective movies go, the whole thing seemed kind of conventional.

I give it a 3 out of 4 nibs.

Oh, and, of course, with Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket, I had to buy more DVDs!

First up, Best Buy, where I had to spend my Best Buy gift card. I snatched up Family Guy presents Something, Something, Something Dark Side. As you may recall, a couple years back, Family Guy did a scene-for-scene spoof of Star Wars. It was called Blue Harvest. Well, it did so well, that they decided to do a scene-for-scene spoof of the entire original trilogy. Something Something Something Dark Side is their spoof of The Empire Strikes Back.

I was hoping to get Robot Chicken Star Wars: Episode II as well, but Best Buy was all sold out.

And then, over at HMV, I was blessed to finally get my hands on a copy of Andy Barker, PI: The Complete Series, which came out a month ago but I hadn't found on store shelves yet. As I had to explain to a friend, Andy Barker, PI was the second brilliant-but-canceled sitcom starring the very, very funny Andy Richter. The series was created by Ricther's old partner Conan O'Brien, and was specifically geared for Richter's talents. Richter played Andy Barker, a very mild-mannered accountant who finally opens up his own practice. Thing was, his office used to be occupied by a private investigator, and when some of that PI's old clients start coming by looking for help, Barker begins moonlighting as a detective. And the whole thing turns into a loving homage to/spoof of the detective shows of the 1970s. It only ran 6 episodes, but Richter is comedy gold.

Oh, and for a while now, I've been thinking that I need more foreign films in my DVD library, so I grabbed Run Lola Run out of a discount bin. I can hardly wait to crank up that iconic techno score on my home theatre!

And, of course, I started pricing out some big ticket items. Every spring, I threaten to buy a bicycle and take up cycling again. I used to love cycling, I don't know why I stopped. I was also pricing out a Blu-Ray player. They've really come down in price...you can get a pretty good model now for around $150.

Next time.

Christmas Shopping's Done, and We've Seen Princess

I'm back from the city! Got all my Christmas shopping done in one crazy, busy day. That's the way I tend to tackle my Christmas shopping...about 90% planning, and then 10% execution. You prepare the list, do a little recon to find out where you can get everything and for the best deals, and then, all in one day, POW! POW! POW! you swoop in and buy everything and it's done.

And of course, it's just not a trip to the city unless I catch a movie. I went to see The Princess and the Frog, Disney's much hyped return to traditional, 2D, hand-drawn animation.

I've been following this one online pretty closely, mainly because of how it came about. See, around six or seven years ago, Disney made headlines when they declared that traditional animation is no longer profitable, and that they'd be shutting down their traditional animation units and focusing solely on computer animated films. Well, a couple years after that, there was a change in management. Specifically, John Lasseter, the man who made Pixar what it is, took charge of Disney animation. Lasseter looked at the declaration that traditional animation was no longer profitable and said, "Nertz to that!" He got traditional animation going again...he called all those animators that were laid off and said, "I'm getting the band back together." And the end product? The Princess and the Frog.

Now, loving my animated films, I always enjoy it when an animated film throws something at me that's different. My case study is always the "squirrel down the pants" gag in The Iron Giant. So I'm watching The Princess and the Frog, and it's following the formula tickety-boo, and then...something different. Something happened in the film that just BLEW MY MIND. My jaw dropped, and I was left asking, "Did they really just do that?" And yes...yes they did.

I'm not going to tell you what it is, as it happens near the end, and it is a spoiler, but all I will say is, yes, they go there.

And as for all the much-hyped differences about this film, how it's Disney's first with an African American heroine, or how she's a career woman and all that...well, despite all that, it still manages to stick to the proven formula pretty closely.

If this film came out in 1990s, at the height of Disney's resurgence, I'd definitely say it's above average. 3 out of 4 nibs...complete review coming soon.

I was originally hoping to do this as a double-feature day with Fantastic Mr. Fox, but it seems to only be playing now on Edmonton's south side...just a bit too far out of my way, given today's -40 weather. Looks like that one will have to wait until DVD now. Maybe I'll have to see it as a DVD double feature weekend, along with another really cool looking animated film that I missed in theaters, 9.

Woody & Buzz & Wolverine & James Bond

I hate going into Edmonton on Sunday.

I usually go in on Saturdays. My job has me programmed to get up early. I'm at 7, on the road by 8, I hit Edmonton right at 10, just as all the stores open. Bing, bang, boom, I get all my shopping done. Have lunch, catch a movie at 1, get home in time for supper.

But this weekend, I couldn't go in on Saturday because the job called me away. Nope, I had to go in on Sunday. On Sundays, nothing in Edmonton opens until noon. So I get in at around 11, have lunch, catch my movie, and go shopping afterwords just as things are super-crowded. I wind up getting home later than I want. It's just a longer day.

Especially if you run into crazies. While at Best Buy, getting my DVDs, one stoner started yelling out that Best Buy's DVDs are "cheaper than whores in Thailand."

*sigh*

But what, pray tell, was so important that I had to go into Edmonton on a Sunday? Well, right now, in theatres, for a limited 2-week engagement, is the 3D special edition double feature of Toy Story and Toy Story 2. Now, the Toy Stories are the only Pixar films that I've never seen in the theatre, so I knew this would be chance.

I don't think I'll do a full review of these films for the website, because we've all already seen them about a dozen times. No need to rehash what we've gone over a dozen times before. All I can say is I still love them. The grand climax of Toy Story 2, where Woody rides to the rescue chasing down that airplane? Still gets me all goosebumpy.

That being said, I'm still not sold on the whole 3D thing. Putting the films in 3D didn't really add anything new. Showing them as a double feature though, that was a stroke of genius. I mean, they're both short movies, only 1.5h each. Watching them as a double feature is just 3h long...as long as, say, Titanic or Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

So it was really good.

But as I said, I was on a quest to get some DVDs. I was after the 2-disc special edition of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Yeah, I thought it was kind of weak, but hey, I must have the complete X-Men franchise in my collection.

Now I was all worried. They're starting to put out the 2-disc special editions in fewer numbers, so that way you'll buy the Blu-Ray instead. And with Wolverine having been out for a couple of weeks now, I was afraid that the 2-disc special edition would be all sold out by the time I arrived.

"Oh, well," I thought. "I could always buy it at HMV." Granted, HMV still tends to have the best selection, but they make you pay for it. When it comes to new releases, I've noticed that they tend to run at leas $5 more than Best Buy or Future Shop. I was certain that HMV would have it, but would I want to pay more?

So, after the film, I was browsing through HMV, I saw it on the shelf and thought, "There it is, right in front of me. What the hell, let's get it."

The other big DVD on my list today was the latest Warner Brothers/DC Comics direct-to-DVD animated film, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. As I've done with the other direct-to-DVD films, I'll have a complete review later in the week.

And then, I made a lucky strike in the discount bin!

When I first started with this DVD thing, I set a little goal for myself. Like a lot of guys, I enjoy the James Bond films, but I didn't really want to buy the box sets and get all 20+ films. So I said that I would only get my favourite films with each Bond actor. So, to represent Sean Connery, I got Goldfinger. To represent Roger Moore, I have The Spy Who Loved Me. For Timothy Dalton, I have The Living Daylights, and Pierce Brosnan is represented with Tomorrow Never Dies. Daniel Craig is just starting out, so right now, I only have Casino Royale.

But I was left in a bit of a pickle. To complete my collection, I still needed the lone George Lazenby Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. It hasn't been available outside of a boxed set for at least the past five years.

So, there I was today in Wal-Mart, and what was floating on the top of the discount bin but the long out-of-print, outside-of-a-boxed-set edition of On Her Majesty's Secret Service!

Only $5 out of that discount bin. $5.25, including GST. And, lo and behold, in my pocket, was five loonies and a quarter. It's the first-ever DVD I've bought with nothing but pocket change.

So I'm going to be watching a lot of DVDs on this upcoming Thanksgiving weekend!

A Hard Day's Basterds

I do so love spending a day in the city. Especially days like today, where I have my goals in place, but they're spread out enough so I can accomplish several side quests.

First and foremost was to finally see Inglourious Basterds. Quentin Tarintino's latest opus has been in theatres for almost a month now, but because I was off on vacation and far from theatres, I didn't have a chance to see it until now.

What can I say about Inglourious Basterds? It's awesome. It's fantastic. It's thrilling. It's got Tarintino's trademark over-the-top with everything. However, there were enough scenes that made me go "Meh," so I'm not ranking it as highly as Pulp Fiction or Kill Bill. I give it 3/4 nibs. Full review coming in the days ahead.

I also had to succumb to the hype and pick up one of the Beatles' remastered albums. I just had to pick up A Hard Day's Night. People usually get a charge out of hearing me tell the joke about how, during my time in Japan, I used to close the karaoke bars...and in Japan, that's really difficult to do seeing as to how karaoke bars are open 24/7. But the detail that I usually leave out is that it was songs off A Hard Day's Night that I would belt out. That's how I really discovered the music of the Beatles...a little Hard Day's Night, some Can't Buy Me Love...I found that all of their early stuff was the easiest and most fun to sing.

Plus, as is well-documented, the album doubles as the soundtrack to the film of the same name. I have the DVD of the film...it really is a great film. Very funny, and of course, fabulous music.

But yeah...no DVDs on this trip to the city. We're at a point right now where there's not much in the way of blockbusters that I want to pick up. All the summer blockbusters are going to start coming out on DVD next month, in anticipation of the Christmas shopping rush. And I usually have a list of discount bin stuff that I snatch up, should we be in a blockbuster lull, but the discount bins at my usual haunts seemed strangely empty. But that's OK. Because today, my usual DVD budget was earmarked for another purpose.

I bought a bookshelf!

See, it's like this. I have my extensive DVD collection, and I keep most of it in a bookshelf. It's one of those cheap, particleboard, assemble-yourself bookshelves that you can get for around $50 at most department stores. At around this time last year, the bookshelf became officially full. And ever since, I've been keeping my DVDs in neat little piles all around my apartment.

So today, I bought a second bookshelf. It's another cheap, particleboard, assemble-yourself bookshelf that you can get for around $50 at most department stores. Getting it home, though, required some engineering. As I looked at the box, I started fearing that the bookshelf would be too big to fit into my car. So, I ran over to the hardware department, bought a cheap tape measure for $2, and then ran out to the parking lot to measure up my car and make sure it would fit. Once I had the numbers, and with some clever arranging, I figured that yes, it would fit. And lo and behold, it did!

It's now lying on my apartment floor. Assembling it will be my lazy Sunday project.

My Day in the City and Some Comments on Watchmen

It's almost a monthly ritual for me, heading into the city, spending too much money on DVDs, and then heading to see a movie.

For those curious, the DVDs I spent too much money on this month are a couple of straight-to-DVD movies. First up, I had to get the latest DC Universe animated film, Wonder Woman. It's been getting some fantastic reviews, so I'm looking forward to watching it soon. And, I also got the fourth and final Futurama DTV film, Into the Wild Green Yonder. I love the first Futurama DTV film, felt the next two kind of wavered, but the reviews for the fourth one is that it's almost as good as the first one.

As with all DTV films of mine, look for reviews in this here blog in the days ahead.

But that's not all! I also had to pick up some new CDs to rip and load into my MP3 player. Snapped up Lily Allen's new one, It's Not Me, It's You. I do so love Lily Allen. She's got the kind of voice that haunts me.

I also had to pick up the debut album from The Lonely Island, Indredibad. For those too lazy to click the link to Wikipedia, The Lonely Island is a comedy troupe that includes Saturday Night Live cast member Andy Samberg and SNL writers Akiva Shaffer and Jorma Taccone. They are the trio responsible for most of the SNL digital shorts. If it's a rap video, it's these guys, so this album is made up of pretty much all the comedic rap songs they've done for SNL. There's some funny stuff here, so once I heard it was out, I knew I had to snatch it up.

To get all this new media, I wound up spending a lot more money than I intended to. I tend to feel less guilty about spending a lot if I buy at least one thing that I really need. Good thing I needed socks.

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So...Watchmen.

Needless to say, Watchmen has been quite the experience these past few years. Not gonna lie...I'd never heard of Watchmen until I met my best friend in college and he started re-introducing me to comics. Even then, I never went down to the library and checked out a copy. Instead, I turned to the Internet (which I was just discovering at the time) and started reading about Watchmen. Armed with plot synopses and critical analysis, I was able to keep up a conversation with my best friend.

(In an amusing side-note, by best friend's girlfriend at the time was a great follower of the works Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Again, I did a lot of extensive research on their projects so I'd be able to maintain a conversation with her. One night, after an extensive debate about the merits of Cannibal!: The Musical, I shattered her world when I revealed that I had never actually seen the film...just read a lot about it. Finally got around to seeing it last year...it was pretty good.)

Anyway, as this decade went on, I still never got around to reading Watchmen, but still I read just about every article and synopsis and guide that could I find. That's right, rather than immerse myself in the book itself, I immersed myself in the Coles notes. When the release date of the film was announced, that became my ticking clock to finally read the book.

Signed it out of the library a month ago. Finished reading it three days ago.

Needless to say, it was an interesting reading experience, too. I'd read a few chapters, then go online and watch the film's trailer again, or some of the viral videos that were released to promote the film, and everything started falling into context. "Oh, that's what that scene is...I still don't understand that. Maybe it'll be explained in the next chapter."

I can honestly say that I've never walked into a film knowing more about it beforehand that I ever have before.

I found the film to be really, really good. It was as faithful as it could possibly be.

However....

I had the same problem with it that I had with that other Alan Moore adaptation, V for Vendetta. In order to get it down to a marketable running length, they had to cut out so many subplots and character moments and universe developing bits of coolness. It's almost like, well, reading a synopses.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a fantastic film, but the book just has the opportunity to flesh things out a little more.

I'm feeling generous today, so I'll go ahead and give it my highest rating of four nibs. A complete review will be coming in the next couple of days.

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Oh, and just a little observation about my favourite fast food place, Wendy's. They've finally started doing something that I've wanted fast food places to do for a long time.

And that is, you can now choose the size of your fries and drink with a combo meal.

A "small combo" comes with small drink and fries, a "medium combo" comes with...well, you get it.

However, I would recommend ordering the small, as I went with the medium, and discovered that what they now call medium was once called large.

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Oh, and one last thing. When watching Watchmen today, I tried something new.

I now have my Twitter account set up so I can tweet using text messaging from my cellphone. I was posting my off-the-cuff comments while I was watching the end credits!

So, follow me on Twitter for the next time I see a movie!