I am Batman

So, I know this blog is supposed to be about movies. As a rule, during the school semester I do not play video games. I tend to get a little to sucked into them. With the semester at an end, I sort of broke my rule and picked up Batman: Arkham City since A) I work at a video game retailer and everyone kept talking abou it and B) I had to watch my boyfriend play it a month ago and drool secretly to myself. Breaking that rule has led me to want to write about the game, because it really is an interactive movie. (I also fell asleep during movie night this week while watching Paul, it was good for what I saw, I was just exhaaaauuuusted.) So let the review begin!

Things I loved:
1) Arkham city. It's expansive and beautiful. The over all look of this game is absolutely polished down to the T. The architecture is astonding. I'm an Art History minor and gothic architecture is one of my many loves. I walked into the cathedral in the middle of the city and could not believe the amount of detail that went into that building. It was perfect. There are so many places to explore at ground level, building tops, and even underground that you could honestly spend hours just taking a look around (if you weren't being shot at and attacked constantly by the goons)
2) Villan designs. The character models for the villans themselves are perfect. Normally I would say Harley Quinn is my favorite (she is my favorite in Batman and I loved her look in Arkham Asylum) but this time around the Riddler takes the cake. There is something about his character's overall design that just feels so perfect. My second favorite was the Mad Hatter. He's grungy I-just-walked-out-of-the-madhouse-gutter look fits so perfectly into a villanous version of the classic Alice hatter. And the corresponding Batman costume for that scene was amazing as well.
3) The story. The ending in particular leaves you staring at screen going "Is that really the end of the story? Are they going to change this somehow?" (comic book storylines always find that loop hole and it ALWAYS pisses me off) but this time you know it's the end. The main story jumps seamlessly between different villans while keeping Dr. Strange as your main focus and pulls what I will refer to as a Final Fantasy boss move. You think it's one thing and at the last moment *BAM* you were so wrong.
4) Mark Hammill. The man is a vocal genius. I give actors in general credit for what they do. But voice acting is such a refined talent that those who pull it off astound me. He IS the Joker. Done. End of story. I know many people loved Jack Nicholson in the 90s movie or even Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight but you have to admit that hearing Mark Hammill do the voice of Joker is exactly what he should have always been. I'm sad to say that this was his last outting as Joker. He's done so much damage to his vocal cords by voicing him that he announced at the begining of the year that he was stepping away from it. I nearly cried. Mark Hammill may be Luke Skywalker to many, but to me he will always be Joker.

Things I'm still Iffy about (I don't want to say dislike because I'm still torn)
1) The combat. I loved the combat in Arkham Asylum. This time around I don't get that same feel. I think it's because of the gadget set up. I hate fighting with the d-pad to choose things that are NE, NW, SE, or SW on the pad while midfight. As Batman, he's slow and needs to be timed perfectly. You also get to play as Catwoman if you are connected online. She's much faster but she doesn't have as many useful gadgets. I enjoy fighting with her more but Batman definitely wins for getting around.
2) Riddler challanges. Not the fight challenges, the hidden question marks. By the gods, some of these things are so frigin ridiculous to A) find but to B) get to is insane. But, if this were reality, I have a feeling that's exactly what he would have done. It's just cruel and unusual punishment to have to control the remote controlled batarang through electric fields across the map back to where you are and through some small port hole. *YIKES*
3) Villan side missions. Some of the side missions feel kind of pointless. The one for Deadshot. I felt kind of unsatisfied after that one. I enjoy having them there and some are pretty awesome, but not all of them.
4) Catwoman. I enjoy fighting with her and I love her character model but her story is so-so and the end game is actually kind of cheesey from what I have gotten to so far. I want to love her, but I just can't seem to get myself to. Maybe once I complete everything I'll feel better about her.

Overall this game is perfect. Just as the first one was. I love just about anything with Batman (that takes place in his world...Justice League be damned). But video games have always had a hard time recreating superheros as they exist in their comic book realm, or in the movie realm. Rocksteady for the win on this one.

As you can tell, I'm much more of a gamer than a movie person. I chose movies for this blog because I knew I could fit those in, but video games are definitely my expertise. I'm excited to go and catch up on all the games I missed over the semester. This is my final blog but I've been thinking of creating my own gaming webpage. We will see how that goes. Thanks for reading all semester. Hope you guys found some new movies to look into, because I know very few people have seen half of what I reviewed!

Next time, we don't date the girl with eleven evil ex-boyfriends

I saw Scott Pilgrim vs. The World in theaters at midnight when it released. I knew absolutely nothing about it. My boyfriend's friend wanted to see it so badly that we decided we would go to. I saw the people standing in line (even ran into people I went to High school with, for me that's a lot longer than most of you) and knew I would probably enjoy this movie. Lo and behold, I loved it.

We watched it for movie night last week, after a lenghty voting process, and it was the first time I had seen it since the midnight for it's release.

Things I love:
1. Video game references! Gaming is a language in it's own. I'm such a huge gamer, I work with video games, and it makes me happy when there are references to obscure, and popular video games in just about anything. The movie did a brilliant job at adding in "life" bars, sound effects, and hidden references all over the place.
2. Culkins!!! I've said it once (Scream 4 review) and I will say it again...I love them!! I love Keiran Culkin in this movie. He's so dry in his witty delivery of his lines! He's probably my favorite actor in this movie followed by Alison Pill (Kim, the drummer) and Michael Cera (Scott).
3. The Music. I'm glad that they put effort into the music. Since this was based on a comic series it's very hit or miss to whether or not they would really concentrate on the music as much as everything else. I really enjoy all the music in the movie.
4. Details! Every piece in that movie was placed specifically for the purpose of referencing. There is so much going on in this movie and every last bit of it is intentional. I love when a director cares enough to make sure things are done right.

Things I was not a fan of:
1. The final fight scene. Sorry if this ruins it for anyone who hasn't seen the movie yet, but all the other fights are amazingly done. They are super creative and paced beautifully. The last fight flies by (both times) and I think the fact that there are two fights going on at once is what really makes it suck. I think the movie could have ended on a better note.


Really the only problem I have with the movie is that fight scene. I love just about everything else about the movie. This is another one of those "geek" movies. The script is well written, the acting is quirky, the style is beautiful. I find that most people enjoy this movie for one reason or another and I think that it's a movie that everyone who is a gamer, a comic geek, or a music geek should check out at least once!

No Movie Review This Week

With Thanksgiving and Black Friday (I work in retail), I haven't had more than a few moments to myself. So I sadly did not have time to watch movies this week to review. So sadly, no review this week. This coming week, though, I should have something interesting. I'm hoping to find time to go see Happy Feet 2. That will fit riiiight in with the movies I've reviewed so far!

I hope everyone had a great holiday and that none of you are suffering from the end of semester crunch!

Great Lessons are Often Found in Defeat

http://www.onlinewatchfree.net/

One of my many obsessions is Japenese music. I watch a lot of Anime's and Japenese movies and seem to fall in love with the music as much as the twisted and often bizarre ideas found in the plots. My biggest Japanese obessions is an artist named Gackt. The most beautiful man in Japan. Seriously, look him up...he's too damn pretty for his own good. *Drool* So when I saw he was going to costar in a movie with a list of relatively big name American actors (Woody Harrelson, Demi Moore, Josh Hartnett, and Ron Pearlman), intrigued could not begin to name the emotions stirring within me. It was said to release in theaterS back in September...lies. One theater...in NY...for like a week. Luckily a month later it released on Amazon.com and I preordered it, because again, I'm that big of a geek.

Bunraku. An American film, created by a guy who only had two other movies under his belt. How the HELL did he get such a big name cast??? His other two movies? "Holly" and "?!"...seriously, that's the name..."?!" I've never heard of them. But apparently Demi and Woody had, and enjoyed "Holly" enough to sign on. Anyway, the plot: A drifter, a "samurai", and a bartender all have different motives, but join together to fight a common enemy.

Things I liked:
1. Gackt. Love him. He's quite the amazing fighter and a decent actor. I was pleasantly suprised.
2. Art Style. The entire movie is a cross between a pop-up book, a stage production, and a comic book. It's beautifully done, super creative, and I couldn't keep my gasps of "Oooo"s and "Aaaah"s to myself.
3. Fight Scenes. The fight scenes and the Art makes this movie. I'm extremely impressed by the choreography. The one henchman, Killer 2, practically dances as he slides in between guys, bashing their heads in. So many American movies lack that grace in the fight scenes, this one does it so beautifully.

Things I didnt like:
1. The story. It was cliche and not fleshed out enough. There was a lot of potential there but for a 2 hour movie I feel like the story was the least of my concerns.
2. The woodsman. It's upsetting to say because I love Ron Pearlman, but everytime the woodsman was on screen, I started falling asleep. I don't know if it's just because his voice was so soothing or if because his monologues were waaaaaaay too long, but I definitely almost nodded off.
3. Demi Moore's character. I could call her by her name, but I doubt anyone would care enough to remember the characters name outside of "woodsman's whore". Her character added nothing except motive for another character. We didn't physically need her in the movie for that.

Overall it's a visually appealing movie. The story was lacking but if you are a fan of movies that are simply enjoying to just watch, you should check this out. Just don't expect shakespearan writing going on here.

Worst Movies Ever

I had my cousin's wedding this past Friday night, so we didn't have movie night. But early in the week my boyfriend and I watched a movie that I was going to use. Then I decided to switch it up a bit. The movie was so bad I decided to lump it with two other movies and make this my top three list of worst movies ever.



First I'll start with "Plan 9 From Outer Space" (1959) by Ed Wood. It's so cheesey it's amusing. Ifyou've never seen it, don't worry about it. Watch "Ed Wood" by Tim Burton instead. It explains everything and is spot on with the pokes and prods at the original movie.

Things that make this movie bad:
1. Strings. You can see the strings on everything. It's amazing.
2. Acting. Soooo cheesey.
3. Pacing. I dare say this is even slower than Alien and The Thing rolled into one.



Secondly we have "Bloodrayne: The Third Reich" (2010) from Uwe Boll. We randomly decided to turn on it on this past week (giving me the idea for this blog). Let me just say, it was the worst idea I think we have ever had. The other two movies discussed here I was warned about prior so I went in expecting something bad. This just angered me, as you will soon see.

Things that made me want to cry:
1. Acting. If you can call it that. Woooooorst acting I have ever seen in a movie. That is saying a lot. I've seen a lot of movies. I've seen a lot of bad movies. This tops them all. This movie takes place in Germany, though you wouldn't know it if they hadn't had a very tedious opening scene to show the Nazi's running rampant. No one has an accent, well one guy did ATTEMPT to do an accent but he slips in and out of it and it doesn't have any real origin. I know I say "acting" as a problem with all the movies but what made this bad was they were TRYING.
3. Lesbian sex scene. No, I'm not appalled because I'm female and blah blah blah, a hot naked girl is a hot naked girl. None here...well, she's mildly attractive but something about these scene is just cringe worthy. Seriously, it was almost painful to watch. It was a full on sex scene with full on naked women going at it. It's bad when my boyfriend was even cringing.
4. Costuming. The vampires look like a bunch of 12 year old wannabe goth mallrats that should be hanging out in an arcade. Such a mess.
5. Fight Scenes. Remember when you were a kid and you would pick up sticks and start "sword fighting" with your friends? Remember how you would aim to hit each others stick instead of actually trying to hit each other? Well apparently that's how Rayne fights. As a kid, you probably could have choreographed and performed better fight scenes.
6. Natassia Malthe. This actress has such an irritating and childish sounding voice. She moves soooo akwardly. She can't act. She's got nothing going for her.

If I don't stop myself now I will just keep on going. For those of you who don't know, Bloodrayne is a video game. I, more than most, understand that ALL VIDEO GAME BASED MOVIES ARE TERRIBLE IN THEIR OWN WAY, but this was the third movie in the series and why do people keep giving this man movie to make more terrible movies??



Lastly, every so often we decide to watch a bad movie for movie night and we take suggestions. Someone told us to watch "The Room" (2003). After sitting through it three times now, I understand why they did. Not to say I didn't get that it was hands down the worst movie ever, but I now realize why they would inflict such pain upon another person. The only good thing to come out of that movie: watching everyone elses reaction to the movie as they realize that this was a serious attempt at making a movie!!

Things that make this one my number one terrible movie of all time:
1. Hello, Goodbye? Does no one in this movie know how to enter into a room or leave a room in a coherent manner? No? Didn't think so. People just come and go as they please and it makes no sense at all.
2. Sex Scene(s?). The (s?) is because there were two sex scenes...that were the same scene. And it was traumatizing both times. The Tommy Wiseau (who is the lead actor, director, producer, and all around idiot) is not an attractive man. NOTHING about him is attractive (see above). That includes his naked body. *gag* Even thinking back on it now I think I'm going to be sick. And you are forced to watch it TWICE.
3. The football. If you ever watch this movie, you have to do it on dvd and watch the extras. Tommy Wiseau has an interview where he addresses the need for a football in just about every scene. The use of the football makes no sense at all, and his explination makes even less sense. Watch it and you will understand. You don't even need to watch the movie, just watch the interview.
4. Story? I want to believe that there was supposed to be one, but I can't figure it out. Watch the movie. Then go to newgrounds.com and play the game. Whoever made the game found a way to make the moviemake sense. Movie = garbage, game = pure genius.
5. Acting? Nope, none here.

So I would like to let you know I used IMDB to keep my names and dates straight and whatnut. All three of these movies average about a 3.1 out of 10. Just proves I'm not lying about how bad these movies are! If you ever want to make your friends cringe check out "The Room". But be forwarned, it is hands down the worst movie ever, but it makes for great conversation!

One Roll to Rule Them All

http://www.examiner.com/

This week we watched "The Gamers: Dorkness Rising". About a year ago, my boyfriend and I decided to listen to Netflix's suggestion and gave this movie a shot. This was one of the very few times that Netflix was spot on. In this movie, a group of gamers (Dungeons and Dragons) are trying to get through a new campaign written by their Dungeon Master. But with the gamers being slightly too distracted and unable to think outside the box, they are getting nowhere fast and need to add a new player (*gasp* a female!) and learn to approach things differently. Sounds geeky to the max, right? Oh it is.

Things I like:
1) The humor. It pokes fun at itself while showing you why people find tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons appealing. I know I'm a geek, but even I thought this was going to be too much geek for me to handle. I was pleasantly suprised when I spent the entire movie cracking up.
2) Spoof reel in the credits. While the credits roll, they have all of the noteable spoofs running through. As funny as the movie is, the spoofs are amaaazing.They also have little things hidden in the credits for those who pay attention.
3) The story. What can I say? I just really enjoy this movie.


Things I didn't like:
1) Costuming. I actually think the only costume I had a problem with was on the Sorceress. Jennifer Page is pretty attractive, but that outfit made her look terrible. I know in the concept art (they kind of show you the concept art mid movie) it looked like a brilliant idea. But I figure I needed to note the only annoyance in the movie.

This is one of those movies that I just simply enjoyed. I've been wracking my brain to figure out exactly what it is I like, and I've been coming up short. Sometimes you are just drawn to things. If you are a fan of all things geeky, then this movie is a must watch.

Fear Is A Place

Instead of movie night this week, we had our annual Halloween party. So I've been trying to find time all weekend to watch a movie to review. I forgot how hard it is for me to find free time if it isn't previous designated. Luckily for the sake of this blog, I got sick...on Halloween (as I seem to do every year), and found some time to watch a movie I've had on my que for Netflix for nearly a year: Session 9. I figure, A) it's Halloween B) I need to get this movie off my que!

This one is going to involve a little bit of background. As I've stated in the past, I'm weird. To further solidify this, I LOVE abandoned mental institutions. I haven't figured out quite what draws me to them, but I love them. Furthermore, I love Batman and H.P. Lovecraft. So H.P. Lovecraft wrote about Arkham Sanitarium which is believed to be based on Danvers Asylum, the setting for Session 9. The Batman Arkham asylum is based on the Arkham Sanitarium. This was my one and only draw to this movie. I wanted to see the institution, especially since a few years ago (2005) they tore down Danvers and built apartments on the lot. And, in creepy story telling fashion, they had "mysterious" fires that burned down a good bit of the apartments.

The plot is a little less interesting. Some guys who do asbestos removal are hired to do a job in the abondoned asylum.  The institution starts to do it's damage, big suprise.

Things I Liked:
1. The Hospital. They actually filmed in the Danvers asylum. Apparently it was only a very small portion of it, but all the same, I like it!
2. Story. It was actually a very intersting story, it just wasn't done quite as well as I would have liked.
3. Jurian Hughes. The voice of Mary Hobbes. She does a great job switching between voices. For some reason, some adults are able to do creepy children very well.

Things I Disliked: 
1.Suspense. Fail. You think I would learn. Read movie description. If it says "suspense" in any form...do not watch it. Nope, not me. I never learn.
2.Confusion. I understand wanting to unsettle or leave your audience slightly in the dark but this movie was a little too confusing for me. It was all over the place. This movie couldn't seem to figure out what direction it wanted to go in and stay that way.
3. Music. At the end there is this random twinkling of very kiddy sounding music that does not fit anything in this movie at all. It was only a few seconds, but it was enough to seriously bother me.

Overall this movie was okay. Nothing I would ever look to watch again. It has it's good ideas, I just don't care for the execution. There was nothing scary about it. It was even slower than Alien and The Thing. The story was splotchy but I enjoyed the general idea. Characters were mostly two dimensional and the only one with any real depth has some vague references to something we never find out what ACTUALLY happened.

On IMDB this movie got a 6.7, and I agree with that. Though, I'm not even sure who exactly this movie would cater to. *Sigh*

There Is No Defeat In Death, Master Bruce.

                          http://www.posterrevolution.com/

Oh Batman & Robin...the bastard child of the Batman movies. Due to the release of Batman Arkham City the video game, it was decided we should watch this atrocity this week. If you look at it in terms of a 90s movie, it passes as a decent cheesey movie. If you are a fan of Batman at all, you see it as a disgrace to the story and characters. But how could you possibly go wrong with Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, Chris O'donnell, Alicia Silverstone, and Uma Thurman? Let me name the ways...

To start, the things I liked:
1. Costuming. Most of the costumes are actually really nicely done. Minus the anatomically correctness of them. I really think we could have done without the nipples. Apart from a few pieces of Ivy's costumes (what is with those green monster gloves with built in nails???), I think the costuming department was pretty spot on.
2. Alfred. Everyone always loves Alfred. I'm glad that Michael Gough returned again to reprise his role. He's such an awesome Alfred.

Things that are so laughable it's disgraceful to the series:
1. Mr. Freeze. Why so cheesey??? I don't understand the idea behind his character being so unreasonably cheesey. Everything that comes out of his mouth makes me want to slam my head into a brick wall. Make him stop talking!
2. The overall feel of the movie. I've gotten used to how directors portray comic book characters and settings in movies. Colorful. Surreal. Slightly cheesey. I feel up until Christopher Nolan, comic book movies have been, in a way, poked fun at. This one in particular ups the anty on the cheese factor. It's like one giant joke. Not the funny kind either.
3. Cartoon Sound Effects. To double up on point 2, during one of the fight scenes, they literally used sound effects that would be found in a cartoon. *smh*
4. Footage Rewind??? Seriously, there is a section where Robin is coming out of the water and gets dragged back in...or that was the idea. He couldn't just go back down? We had to rewind the footage???
5. Bane. One of the most overpowered characters with the highest intelligence, and he was dumbed down to a manservent for Ivy?? He doesn't even get any real lines. In the comics, Bane does the most physical damage to Batman in the whole series. So why is he being portrayed as such a monkey?

I'm a huge Batman fan. I actually don't hate this movie as much as everyone else I know. But in comparison to everything else out there, it's a joke. The more I watch it, the more it aggrivates me. If you are looking for a Batman movie you have so many choices that this should only be an option if your looking for a drinking game. If you want a feel good Batman, go for one of Tim Burton's. If you want a serious and darker look, go for the ones Christopher Nolan has done. But this one is really a waste of time.

Chariots of the Gods, man.

http://www.screenrant.com/

This week we watched "The Thing". I didn't realize I had tried to watch this one in the past and fell asleep during it. Big suprise...it happened again. But I almost made it through this time! It was like a ten minute mini nap. You can probably already see where this is going to be heading.

Things I Liked:
1.  Jed. < That's the name of the dog actor since the dog was not given a name. Is it bad that my first point is an animal??
2. 80's animatronics. They walk a fine line between super cheesey and pretty amazing. I did enjoy the animatronics in this one, though "the thing" is pretty cheesey.

Things I Didn't Like:
1. Pacing. Soooo sloooowwww. The parts with action are pretty good, but it's so slow for most of the movie. Now here is the problem...it's supposed to be. I'm just not a fan of suspenseful horror. I get bored so easily. "Alien" is the same way and I fell asleep during that as well. Both are classified as cult classics. But they are just not my thing.

Yeah, not much to say about this one. I'm kind of indifferent to it. If you like suspenseful 80's horror and you haven't seen this, it may be worth a watch. Otherwise, it's great for naptime! I love horror, but I need somewhere between 80's suspense and 90s/2000s blood gorefest. Oh the days of Pinhead are so far gone. *whimper*  So overall, not impressed.

Here's to hoping that next week will bring something better.

This isn't a comedy...it's a horror film

http://www.entertainmentwallpaper.com/


I hate the Scream series. I really do. I seem to have this distaste for American "horror" films. So much senseless blood and gore that is overdone for shock value. There is no "horror" in horror films anymore. Even though the Scream series is combination of horror and satire, I've never been able to get into it. So when I was told we were watching Scream 4, my whinning was just short of a 5 yr old's temper tantrum.

Sidney decides that after pulling herself out of the horrors of what happened in the past, writes a book, and then decides to head back home, where it all started, to talk about her book and fight to overcome in. In classic horror fashion, guess what happens! If you guessed it all goes smoothly, the end, you have obviously never seen a horror film. Ghost face is back, and she again needs to fight for her life.

Things I absolutely hated:
1. Weak females! Why are all the females in these movies absolutely useless?? Seriously. The only woman with half a brain is Neve Campbell's character who has somehow managed to live through all the past movies to get to this point. And even that seems to come in waves. One minute she's kicking some serious ass, the next moment she's pathetic once again.
2. Predicatable scares. I think my inability to tell whether or not Wes Craven was trying to make this movie a serious version of the past movies was making it hard to tell if these scares were supposed to be that way or if he was honestly trying to scare people. I jumped once. And it was a cheap loud noise during a quiet scene scare. What a waste.
3. Terrible Acting. C'mon guys. I know it's a horror film, but can't we find some decent actors? This has a lot of big names in it too and it's still painful.
4. Anna Paquin. She's so hot, but only if she's not talking. She perpetually sounds ignorant since even when she's trying to hide her accent she slips back into it and NO ONE EVER FIXES IT. She's ruined too many movies for me that I cannot forgive her.

Things I didn't absolutely hate:
1. Courtney Cox. Campy, yes. Entertaining, definitely. She plays a bitch so damn well, you have to love her for it.
2. Kristen Bell. I don't want to ruin the scene because it was kind of awesome. I don't care for her normally, on sheer female principle. Little bite-sized blonde that my boyfriend loves. Not a fan. But regardless, she gets props for her scene in this movie.
3. Action. Finally. There is some legitamite action in a Scream movie. And it's well choreographed. Finally, they figured it out! Some moments I even found myself getting into it. I love a good fight scene, and this had a few of them!
4. Culkins. I don't know why, but if you put a Culkin in a movie, I love them, regardless of their ability to act. They looked drugged out of their minds all the time. There is really nothing thats actually good about that family, but it's like my guitly pleasure. *shrugs*

Two things I've learned from this movie:
1. Having a chain lock on your front door serves absolutely no purpose when your house is full of full length windows and glass doors. Why is the front door the only wooden door in the houses in this town? Seriously?
2. Properly lighting your house and streets is not top priority when you have a perpetual state of murders running around. Your neighbors might be able to help you if you kept the lights on, or bought some brighter bubls, since your houses are made of 80% glass anyways. *Ugh* Bad designs..

This was significantly better than the other Scream movies, but in my eyes, that is not enough of a redeeming quality. I was still pretty bored through it and have no intentions of ever watching it again. That town seriously needs to get some outside help because they obviously cannot help themselves. Maybe they can go with the Buffy the vampire slayer tactic and destroy the whole town. Might help...couldn't hurt.

Next week: The Thing...or so I'm being told.

21st Century Cure! Finance Your Kidneys!

http://www.firstshowing.net/

I'm starting to notice a pattern already with the movies we've been watching...Geeky and Deranged. Yeah, those are the words I'm going with. This week we watched Repo! The Genetic Opera. Let's get this out there, I LOVED IT. Even with Paris Hilton playing a minor role...and not dying.

In the year 2056, the human race begins to suffer from organ failure. Not to fear! A savvy, though shady, business man to the rescue! Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino, Goodfellas) has created a business around organ replacement. But if you can't pay for your new fancy pants organs, you wont get to keep them. They also wont be removed as nicely as they were put in. Enter in the Repoman. He hunts down the fugitives and takes back what belongs to Mr. Largo. This is just the very basic idea of this movie. Lots of blood, lots of rock music, not so much Paris Hilton so not so much sex.

Five things that I love:
1) Sarah Brightman. She plays Blind Mag, and if you don't know who she is than you probably never heard the original recordings of Phantom of the Opera and shame on you. This was her first acting gig, but she is a classical opera singer and the hottest 50 year old woman I've ever seen.
2) Rupert Giles...whoops, I mean Anthony Stewart Head. For anyone who has seen Buffy, you may have noticed that sir Giles has one sexy voice for such a geeky man. Seriously, look it up. He sang Behind Blue Eyes, and it was drool worthy...moving on. He's absolutely amazing in this movie.
3) Joan Jett???? Damn straight. A uncredited quick cameo during one song, but it was so exciting for some reason. Like a little easter egg hidden away in this movie.
4) The music. It will get caught in your head even longer than Dr. Horrible.
5) The Graverobber. Nuff said.


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This movie is not for everyone, which is upsetting because I loved it sooooooo much. If you don't like Rocky Horror, then don't bother. If you don't appreciate humor drenched in blood and gore, don't bother. This movie is directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. Sound familar? Try Saw II, III, and IV. One of my friend's, who granted, is the girliest girl I think I've ever met, could not find one redeeming quality in this movie. Which is upsetting. She may be banned from my house for awhile, while I cope. But if your inner goth kid, or outter goth kid, needs something besides Rocky Horror to cling to, this is probably exactly what you need. Seriously have listened to the music nonstop for the past week. I just want to watch it again. And it's another movie from 2008. I must have been sleeping that year. Let's see what other goodies I can find!

Bashing in Minds

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On the table this week in the one great thing, in my opinion, to come from the writer's strike of 2008: Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog. A quirky story of a wannabe supervillan and his not-so-secret obsession with a fellow laundry-matt-goer. With a geek studded cast of Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day, and Nathan Fillion, directed by Joss Whedon, with help from his brothers Jed and Zack Whedon, this "movie" was set from the start to be any self loathing geek's wetdream. And by the by, I say "movie" because this was originally set as a three part mini series released on the internet.

Fans have a love-hate relationship with Joss Whedon. We (Yes, I am coming out of the closet here and saying I AM A JOSS WHEDON FAN, just keep reading) love him for his bizarre outside of the box writing style, and we hate him because very few things he ever writes end well. By well, I mean with an ending satisfying to the audience. He has a terrible tendancy to kill off the character you love or at least feel deserves it the least. His shows get cancelled before anyone finds out about them so they never get a solid conclussion and if he does have the foresight to conclude them it's one of the most confusing painful experiences you have ever experienced.

With that said, this "movie" is no different. It's like the thrill ride that ended with a screeching halt just before you hit the wall with a glorious explosion. Neil Patrick Harris is comedy gold as anyone who has turned on the t.v. in the past 2 years is sure to have noticed. As the title character, Dr. Horrible, he makes the fight for evil endearing. My personal favorite is Nathan Fillion. That man is sarcasm personified. He plays Dr. Horrible's arch nemisis Captian Hammer and makes being a hero look unbelievablely self centered. It's a brilliant twist. The laundry doing love interest (Penny) is played by Felicia Day who is the newest female love interest of geeks world round, thought I'm still not totally sure why. Perhaps meek red heads just aren't my type?

The music is unreasonably catchy. I've been singing it for days. For a movie made in 6 days, there is little to complain about. But there is always something. Some of the shots get blurry, taking away from the story for a moment while your eyes try to figure out what the hell is going on. And the ending leaves you wanting more, but again, this is a Joss Whedon staple. If it ends right, he probably didn't have much to do with it.

Overall, the movie is a fun time. If you are geeky and in the mood for a few laughs and some catchy songs getting stuck in your head for the next two days, I think you can waste 40 minutes on this movie. What better do we college students have to do? Homework? Pssshhhhh...

Into the Rabbit Hole

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As a college student, I find that I have less and less time to myself the further along I get into my degree. With that said, the less time I have, the less sanity I seem to hold onto. In an attempt to hold onto what I can, my friends and I get together every Friday night for movie night. Generally speaking, we try to find movies no more than two people have seen, and if we are feeling adventurous we may even watch something off online reviews. So I've decided to dedicate this blog to movie reviews of what we watch. Which means the movies I review, or assualt, will be of a very wide range from indy, foreign, to mainstream.

With that said, I'm going to go against that. We watched 13th Warrior this week, but the following day I watched Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. I decided, because of my love of Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, and Alice in Wonderland, that this may be a good starting place for my first blog, ever.

Oh, Tim Burton. I grew up as a goth kid, an outcast, etc, and I loved Nightmare Before Christmas to the point of obsession. I loved his quirky art style, his music choices, and as a child, his storytelling. I guess all things get ruined with age. The announcement of Alice in Wonderland made me as giddy as a five year old on Christmas Eve. How could this go wrong? All my favorite things rolled up into one cinematic ball! For lack of a better word, Fail. This was my second time watching the movie. My first, was in theatures at its launch. It ended with me swearing off any further Tim Burton and Johnny Depp combos. I decided to give it a second chance because everyone kept telling me I was being too harsh. So here it goes, my new found opinion.

Overall, the actors do well with what they were given. I, suprisingly, haven't a single complaint about any of the choices for the roles. I love Anne Hathaway as the White Queen and Crispin Glover as the Knave. Perhaps this is because these are two new characters to the Alice Cinimatic cannon. There is nothing to compare them to. Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, played by Matt Lucas, are as quirky as ever. As for everyone else, I give them credit for sucking it up and putting forth full effort to make some sense of the characters and story they were given. To start, the chesire cat, why no riddles?? Isn't that the whole point of the character? I love his design. He is a beautiful looking character, and Stephen Fry does a beautiful job voice acting for him but quirky moments aside, the chesire cat becomes, simply, a plot device. He has no real character, no puzzling riddles, nothing to link this to the chesire cat of the old disney film or original book. The same goes for Dormy. This character upset me from the moment she/he/it steps onto the screen. No longer the narcoletpic little creature of past, now Dormy wants to get out and fight. Making up for lost time, I suppose. I cannot even fault Barbara Windsor, Dormy was given next to no real lines, and a serious lack in personality. Next on my list of what the hell happened is Helena Bonham Carter. I do enjoy her as the Red Queen, but what is with the random Barbara Walters impression? She slips in and out of it throughout the entire movie. I'm not sure why this wasn't addressed at any point during filming. It makes her come off as a sloppy actress, which I don't truly believe her to be. She may not be my favorite actress in the world, but I think she should be better than that. Otherwise she plays crazy well, and the Red Queen is just that. She is one of the few characters who held up in this topsy-turvey world. Finally, the biggest and most obvious disaster: The Mad Hatter. Somewhere along the line he missed a few of his anger management classes and went from the slightly off the rocker but still fun neighbor to the creeper down the road who may just be hiding a shotgun. Johnny Depp, as always, was a champ. He played the character well, but the character was written terribly. There are different degrees of mad. The March Hare, was still the same goofy, crazy, loon as he had always been, but the Hatter went off the deep end. They give a reasonably valid explination for this in the story, but it still feels too far. If the whole movie doesn't go that far, you can't allow only one character to cross that line. It has to be all or nothing.

As for the overall story, the general idea makes sense and fits well. Alice is, again, unable to deal with her real life problems. She runs off into Wonderland, oh I'm sorry, excuse me, Underland? I'll address that in a bit. Once there, she has to save Wonder...Under...whatever you want to call it, once again. Okay, I'll accept that. But Tim Burton starts the movie with her as a child talking about this dream, which the audience is led to believe is her first adventure in Wonderland. The day before her second adventure, she brings up the dream, yet once there she is suddenly unable to remember anything. It's like this is all new to her. Why bring up the dream if you are just going to erase it from her mind? Obviously she didn't really remember anything useful at all. The change in name from Wonderland to Underland adds nothing to the story at all. It simply allows for the Caterpiller, played by Alan Rickman, to continuely to call her "stupid". Hurray for positive reinforment! Tim Burton also takes it upon himself to rename half the characters in the movie with names that are impossible to catch. The last piece of story I'll attack is the need for Tim Burton to bring Wonderland definitely into reality. The great thing about Wonderland is like the movie Inception, was it real or just a dream? Nope, Tim Burton has decided that any injuries sustaned in this mystical place will carry into reality. Injuries that will be hard to explain unless a bear was running rampant in the hedge maze.

My final piece to address is the visuals. If nothing else, Tim Burton is an artistic genius. The settings are stunning, even the more dark and dreary ones. The vibrant colors and classic Burton-style curls are splashed throughout the world and make it a place of magic. Too bad beauty does not make up for lack of substance. Costuming is well done with the exception of the Hatters very Wonka feel. I'll even let slide the bizarre need to make the Red Queen and her court have oddly sized features. I am still on the fence about the Red Queen's castle. As a major fan of the classic computer game American Mcgee's Alice, I feel as though the castle is a little too close to the one in the game, which is from the 90s. But maybe that's just me, it's too hard to find images to confirm my suspicion and playing through the game right now to simply answer that is a bit too time consuming. But regardless, the castle is one of the more stunning pieces in the movie.

So now that this is just short of a flat out rant, I will conclude by saying that I did indeed judge it too hard the first time through. I'm sure you are thinking "What? This is a nicer opinion?", but it is. All of these things are small pieces of a very large puzzle. Music is fitting, costumes beautiful, visuals overall are beautiful, actors are amazing, it's just the story and characters that fall flat to someone who has spent their life engrossed in Wonderland. For a fan of the original story and characters of Alice, this is a hard movie to watch and love. It's not that it's bad, it's just not good in the wider scheme of things. For someone new to Wonderland, this may just be a new take on an old classic. A new Wonderland for a new age. Maybe I've just gotten old. Oh no, that's a terrible thought. I'm going to go deal with my on coming quarter of a century crisis now...