GET TO THE CHOPPA! AGAIN!

PREDATOR is a great film.  Just view this CLASSIC clip below..

Awesome.  PREDATOR combined the mindless 'group of commandos save hostages in the jungle' plot that was very popular in the 80's with the 'strange alien visitor who kills' plot device and it worked, VERY well.  Mention PREDATOR once to any of your friends, and see how many quotes are exchanged.

Robert Rodriguez is the man.  He is the mind behind DESPERADO, EL MARIACHI, FROM DUSK TILL DAWN (my favorite), SIN CITY (my favorite, tied with the former), and the SPY KIDS movies to name a few.  A lot of fans were upset with Rodriguez when he made SPY KIDS, but think about it, a kids movie from the guy who made a movie about vampire hookers, sleazy theives, and dick-guns?  Count me in.  Which is ironic because the character of MACHETE who originated in SPY KIDS will be getting his own HARD R rated movie soon...  ANYWAYS, if Robert Rodriguez can make all these movies, then dip into kid stuff and still make something people can enjoy, think about what he can do with PREDATOR.  It was announced this week that Robert Rodriguez will be producing and directing a relaunch/remake of PREDATOR.  Now, he's searching for writers right now, to polish a script he originally wrote a a long time ago as a writing assignment, which included DUTCH and his pals being caught by the Predator and taken to the Predator homeworld and hunted by a group of Predators.  COUNT ME IN.  Robert Rodriguez may finally create a worthy film follow up to SIN CITY, and re-introduce PREDATOR to a whole new generation, something that AVP and AVP2 failed.  This is going to be great, Robert Rodriguez you sonofabitch. 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT.

For those of you that know me, you know very well that I am very proud of living in Arizona.  While most people complain about the weather, or claim there isnt that much to do, I still wouldnt have wanted to be raised in any other place.  Last night I got to see one of my favorite bands, GIN BLOSSOMS who are from Tempe, perform LIVE, something that I always wanted to do.  Not only did I get to see them live, but I got to see them at home, in AZ.  My home as well as theirs.  It was an experience I wont soon forget.  And I thought that no other local event would top it.  But today, that memory already has competition coming.

A few weeks ago, FOX announced a contest for XMEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, where the WORLD PREMIERE would be held in one city in America, and all you had to do to win was vote for your town and whoever had the most votes won.  And in case you didnt hear this morning; HARKINS THEATERS AT THE TEMPE MARKETPLACE IN TEMPE ARIZONA WILL BE HOSTING THE WORLD PREMIERE OF XMEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE.  AND I WILL BE THERE.  REWIND.  The announcement was made this morning on every newspaper and news cast in the valley, and the actual announcement was held at the CINE CAPRI theater at NOON.  It was reported that the announcement would be open to the public, but a drawing would be held and only 100 people would be selected for tickets to the PREMIERE.  Surprise!  It was announced that ALL PEOPLE in the theater would be getting a ticket to the premiere and if your names were pulled from the drawing, you would win an extra ticket.  SURPRISE!  ALSO announced is that this premiere will be the LARGEST premiere of all time, with WOLVERINE playing simultaneously on all 16 screens at the HARKINS THEATER.  Dan Harkins came out and said the exact same thing I was thinking at the same time I was thinking it; This is my first Hollywood world premiere, and it will be in my hometown.  And I cannot be more excited.  Its going to be one hell of a night and Im ready for it.  This is the WORLD PREMIERE, that means actors, actresses, red carpet, cameras, news outlets, film journalists, AND ME.  RADICAL!

TOP 5: BIGGEST MOVIE DISAPPOINTMENTS EDITION

Here it is, the top movies that have reeeaaally ruined things for me.  Wether my expectations were high, or incredibly low, these movies just put the last nail in the coffin for their franchises, actors, or directors.  Just think of going to a restaurant that you always eat at, and deciding to try something new and different, only to find out that what you ordered is completely disgusting/boring/ and just downright a bad decision.  So here's the Top 5, in my book, be careful though, all the articles contain spoilers so if you havent seen the movie, too bad.  Please feel free to comment with anything you agree with, or disagree.  This site is open to comments/suggestions!

5.  Pineapple Express.

Seth Rogen, escaping with his career.

Remember UNDELCARED?  No?  Ok what about 40-Year-Old Virgin?  Closer?  Ok, Superbad?  Remember?  Ok, thats when Seth Rogen was funny.  Correction, thats when Seth Rogen was FRESH.  Seth Rogen got stale quicker than Will Ferrell, and Will Ferrell was pumping out movies ALL the time.  What made this movie so disappointing was that Rogen tried the same shtick that he always does, only he didnt have the right context, or supporting actors to pull it off.  The one shining beacon of light in this movie was DANNY MCBRIDE, who stars in the BRILLIANT 'Eastbound and Down' on HBO (which will be discussed later...), who offers a fresh personality to the whole thing.

4.  Zach And Miri Make A Porno

They don't seem very interested. Like everybody else in the theater.

Please just read my review titled 'Disappointing', and skip the movie.

3.  Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

"Wait in the ending we're supposed to find WHAT? Seriously?"

What if Luke Skywalker, while trying to take down the Galactic Republic, inadvertenly discovered a powerful ancient relic from the past and didnt care all that much.  Sound absurd?  Well flip that around that thats what happened in Indiana Jones 4.  Initial I liked the movie, but after a few days, it began to grow sour in my mind.  I had a rather long conversation with Gavin about this and we decided that we initial liked this movie because it was an Indiana Jones Movie--we were gonna like it if Indy made furniture for 2 hours on screen.  But soon after, you realize you were duped.  Why oh why did Indy and his friends have to find aliens? ALIENS.  But Indiana Jones discovering aliens wasnt the worst part, oh no.  The WORST part is that, immediately after the enormous alien saucer emerges from the earth, right below their feet, and flies away into space NOBODY CARES.  They all look it, smiling, as if to say "Those wacky aliens, whatareyougonnado?", and there is no verbal mention of this outrageous event by any of the characters from that point on.  What if they come back, Indy?  WHAT IF THEY COME BACK?  Well we're all going to be killed because you and your pals didnt tell anybody about them.  Ever.

2.  X-Men: The Last Stand

Remember in XMEN when Magneto used his magnetic powers

to levitate and restrain Wolverine's adamantium plated

skeleton when he tried to attack him?  Neither did whoever

made this professional poster.

This movie has beef.  Beef within the studios, between actors and directors, and it showed.  Bryan Singer directed the first two X-MOVIES for FOX and when time came to make X3, Singer turned down the offer to make it because he was offered to make SUPERMAN RETURNS (which isnt in this Top 5 for a good reason) for WB, but offered to still direct the movie when he finished SUPERMAN.  Well FOX got pissed and said No, Thanks and got another director to do it.  Well Singer took his writers with him and also Cyclops (James Marsden), to help him with SUPERMAN.  So pissy FOX hired new writers so they wouldnt have to use the script that Singer's writers had already made for X3 and killed Cyclops in the first 10 minutes of the movie.  Lame.  Not only that, but FOX effectively made it so that there more than likely will not be any direct sequels in this XMEN series, and left a very ugly scar on the franchise.  EVERYBODY was killed, there was no GAMBIT, ANGEL sucked, the costumes were ridiculous, and nobody did anything except for WOLVERINE.  Its like if you worked very hard to make a very awesome ice cream sundae, and just as you were about to finish it, somebody else came in and rubbed a pickle in it, the smashed it with the palm of their hand.  And your sundae was forgotten.

1.  Spider-Man 3

Two visions, one movie, one resolution:  RUIN EVERYTHING.

Spider-Man shattered, SHATTERED, records a long time ago, and along with X-MEN 2 brought us the movies we have today.  BATMAN BEGINS, THE DARK KNIGHT, WATCHMEN, SUPERMAN RETURNS, THE PUNISHER, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, IRON MAN, 300, THE SPIRIT, and SIN CITY all would NOT have happened had Spider-Man and X2 not achieved the success it did.  They had the right talent in its writers, directors, actors and vision and brought us the comic book movies we now have today, and BOOMED the comic book movie craze.  Hell, I remember waiting in line for 30 minutes to watch SPIDERMAN, and the entire theater in Chandler was filled with people standing and sitting in lines waiting for their first chance to see SPIDERMAN.  I also remember going to the theater 8 times to watch the first X-Men movie with my brothers and Julian, its still the most times ive seen a movie in the theaters.  I saw X2 5 times in theaters.  So when SM3 came out in 2007, about 5 years deep into the comic book movie onslaught, it should have been monumental.  It should have been grand.  It should have been the best comic book movie of all time.  It wasn't.  When SM3 was announced, fans wanted VENOM in the movie, and they deserved it.  But director Sam Raimi publicly expressed that he was NOT a fan of Venom, that he was a great character but he personally didnt 'understand' him, and that Venom would 'never' be in a Spiderman movie as long as he's involved.  BUT, many odd clues showed up online and before you knew it Topher Grace was cast as 'Edward Brock Jr.', aka Eddie Brock, aka VENOM.  At first the director Sam Raimi claimed he was proud of his product and if anybody didnt like it, they didnt understand it.  But recently he's changed his story.  He claims that he was forced by the studio to put Venom in the movie, and that his creative control was stripped from him during filming.  Basically, he couldnt make the movie he wanted.  And it shows in the movie.  You could almost cut the movie in half and have two different films.  With two villains (three if you count non-Venom Eddie Brock), SPIDERMAN getting and losing the famous black suit, Mary Jane bitching all the time, TWO  love triangles, and a mysterious dance number, its as if the studio and the director were playing tug of war as the movie was playing right in front of us, and the director gave in but as payback added in absurd resolutions and dance numbers.  But all is well, word has it that SM4 is on the way with Raimi in full control.  And no Venom.

BEHOLD.

I have created.  Created what you ask?  Well, you know all those '602' and 'PHX' gangster shirts that are running around these days everyplace you go?  Well, if you live in Tempe, here's your comeback....

Hahahahaha YES!  Calm down baby birds, this is meant as a joke/backhanded comment to all those PHOENIX t-shirts, and to capitalize on all the 90210 rage.  So buy a shirt and support my blog, and me, and my woman, and my addiction to apps, my dog who vomits where people like to sleep,  and the people at Zazzle, for letting me make and sell such an obnoxious and pretentious (and triumphant) piece of apparel.  If I could just see a whole gaggle of high school kids running around with this shirt on, ill be a happy man.  A happy, rich man.  

MOVIES YOU HAVENT SEEN, VOL. 3

The King of Kong:  A Fistful Of Quarters (2007)

Dir. Seth Gordon

One of the best documentaries of all time THE KING OF KONG chronicles two grown men as they battle for the all time high score for the arcade DONKEY KOKNG, and DONKEY KONG JR.  The film follows STEVE WEIBE, a down on his luck Joe Everybody who struggles for recognition among the video game community for his DONKEY KONG record, and the villainous video game master/weirdo BILLY MITCHELL as he tries with all his skill to top WEIBE's record.  But its about much more than just a race to the top.  Its a battle for one man to become a winner after a lifetime of coming up short in everything he's attempted, and his struggle to overcome his own self-doubt in order to finally accomplish his grand goal.

Before you watch this movie know that it is all real.  All the events, and more importantly, all the PEOPLE are 100% real.  So when Steve Weibe beats the DONKEY RECORD while his son calls him from the bathroom to wipe him clean, its real.  When Billy Mitchell shows up with his black Levi's from 1980, black denim shirt, and American flag necktie, its real.  It's all real, which makes this documentary much more engaging and soulful then it would have been if it were just a movie.  Hilarity will ensue each time an interviewee discusses how he or she played hours on end to make an all time record, play at FUNSPOT, and idolize BILLY MITCHELL.  But with the comedy comes the tragedy.  Each time a record is broken and then defeated, you feel the player's pain.  Each time they tell stories of how their lives have changed because of video games, you feel the same way, and find yourself relating to them in some way.  Video games have had significant moments in all our lives, but for these guys, it IS their lives.  

A running theme with my reviews here is to not give many details about the plot because I want people to be surprised and feel fresh when watching these movies.  Some of the best movie experiences I've had were times when i knew almost nothing about the movie, this was one of those times.  THE KING OF KONG is a great movie about self motivation, never giving up, and tons of video games.  It shows us that no matter how absurd our own goals may seem to others, we must strive to achieve them.  And no matter how weird our obsessions may be, there's always about a million people who are into the same weird thing.

BONUS:  The movie was spoofed in an episode of SOUTH PARK titled 'MORE CRAP', check it out.

ACTIVATE!

UPDATED 12:44AM. All NINE videos are now live on my youtube channel!

The YOUTUBE account is created and i have uploaded THREE videos from our 3-28-09 adventure for all to see. I still have about SEVEN more videos i still need to upload so hang tight and ill get to them later tonight. Until then, enjoy....

GOTO http://www.youtube.com/user/atomicpowersactivate TO VIEW THE REST... UPDATE LATER TONIGHT...

MARK MY WORDS, PART 2

So, I MAY have been a little overzealous last year when I proclaimed that WATCHMEN would be the biggest movie of 2009, results did not work out that way. BUT im not here to discuss that, what i AM here for is to inform all of you about a little film coming this summer called DISTRICT 9. Believe me when I tell you that this is going to be this year's CLOVERFIELD, in the sense that this film has been kept secret for a long time and when the secret is out, people will flip.

DISTRICT 9 is directed by NEIL BLOMKAMPT and produced by PETER JACKSON. Sound familiar? We all know PETER JACKSON directed KING KONG, THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY, and (one of my favorites) THE FRIGHTENERS to name a few. BLOMKAMPT is somewhat of a newcomer, this will be his first feature length movie. BUT you've seen his work before. Remember when HALO 3 was coming out and there were those live-action web commercials, that looked like parts of a HALO movie? He made those. In fact, Jackson and Blomkampt were signed to produce and direct the full length HALO movie a few years ago. But the budget grew out of control and the studios involved pulled out and now it seems it will never come out. I think that will change when DISTRICT 9 opens.


HALO: COMBAT, in case you missed it.

I heard about this movie about a year ago but at the time there were NO details whatsoever save for a cryptic website with a logo pasted on it. There are no pictures or videos or damn near any information about DISTRICT 9 available right now, but some details have leaked out including the synopsis, which is available on various sites. The movie is about an alien race that inhabits Earth but is segregated from humans and is mistreated to the point of conflict. The story sounds like a fresh alien invasion movie that we havent seen before, and the talent that is attatched is more than enough to entice movie fans. The above video should give you a vague idea of the shooting style of the film, only it'll have much better special effects. This is the closest thing to a HALO movie that we are going to have for now, yet also could be something very special on its own. So look for this movie this summer and prepare for something grand.