Stop Frame

Debbie Schussel calls it depraved . Kyle Smith calls it brilliant . Barbara Nicolosi walked out . John Nolte likes it and Movie Bob thinks it may be better than The Dark Knight . A friend went to see it during its opening weekend; she was utterly confused. Meanwhile, her daughter walked out. I’ve finally seen Watchmen and I think it may be brilliant. Hard to say, though. I’ve read the Alan Moore graphic novel. This gives me an advantage over the average viewer, but I think anyone paying attention can easily follow along. The problem for the average viewer, though, is that they’ll go in expecting to see another comic book, action hero thriller, e.g., Iron Man or Spider Man . Surprise, it ain’t! Let me get some negatives out of the way. Watchmen reaches new depths of excess. One of the things I found truly imaginative about The Dark Knight was how it didn’t show us things. It was stuffed to the eyeballs with violence, but blood didn’t spray across the screen, we didn’t...

Angst - Focusing on anxiety that leaves the character full of doubt and uncertainty. The new (and reportedly final) trailer for the upcoming Star Trek is online at Apple trailers . Check it out here . The film is due in theaters 5/8/09. This trailer simply rocks, for the first time making me excited about seeing the film. And yet, I can’t help being apprehensive. I’ve been a Trekkie since before there was such a thing. I watched the very first episode when it very first aired way back when. I watched the salt vampire try and suck Kirk dry, saw Spock attempt to smack it around, and saw McCoy blast it into eternity. I was hooked. Despite that, and my continued love of the show and several of the movies it spawned (everybody scream, “ Khan! ”), I’m not so fanatical as to object to any change. From what I’ve gleaned of the plot for this film, it sounds pretty intriguing. A Romulan is apparently more than a little pissed at how things have turned out for his planet. To correct t...

I know Taken has been out for a few weeks, but what can I say? I’m always late to the new release party. I have no excuse. What I do have are a particular set of skills. You know, sometimes it’s just fun to watch bad guys get the crap kicked out of them for no other reason than they are bad. Some people are very good at doing just that. Skills I have acquired over a lifetime. And at the same time, it’s fun to watch one of your favorite actors take on the role of the ass kicker. For example, it was all kinds of awesome watching Charles Bronson at work in Death Wish . It was amazing watching the hunters (muggers) become the prey. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. Here, that actor is Liam Neeson , someone I’ve enjoyed watching since I first saw him as an Irish terrorist on Miami Vice . He’s a marvel at playing a suave gentleman, whose face can be open and warm one moment, then close, frozen, and lethal in the next. Here, he plays a tired and re...

Today marks the 47th anniversary of John Glenn ’s flight into space. Last Friday was Chuck Yeager ’s 86th birthday. To celebrate both, it was only natural that I watch The Right Stuff . Written and directed by Philip Kaufman (from the book by Tom Wolfe ), the film chronicles the early days of the United States manned space effort. Like the book, however, it starts with test pilots, specifically Chuck Yeager. In 1947, the US is looking for a way to break the sound barrier. They design an experimental rocket plane, the X-1, which they believe is the right tool for the job. Now they just need a pilot, and they find Yeager. Kaufman, at the time a San Francisco Bay Area-based independent filmmaker, successfully made what is almost an anti-epic epic. While a big-screen production in every way, The Right Stuff has a certain gritty, indie film vibe to it. The majority of the film was done in the SF Bay Area. Kaufman sought, as much as possible, to use locations that were a close match to...

But before I get to that, let me say this: I don’t really like horror films. Tonight reminded me why. Christian Toto wrote encouragingly about two: Rogue and Eden Lake . I saw Rogue a couple of weeks ago and held off writing about until I’d seen Eden Lake . Well, that was tonight. Rogue is one of the best man-versus-seriously-nasty-beast films since, well, Jaws . What’s startling is that very little happens during the first 30 minutes or so, yet I was staring at my screen in rapt attention. It’s damn near a travelogue for the Northern Territory of Australia. It’s mind-bogglingly beautiful, yet somehow, amidst all this light and beauty, in wide open spaces, claustrophobia builds, a sense of dread creeps in, and in a splash, a man disappears and no one know how. He’s just…gone. Like Bruce the shark, the crocodile in Rogue is within the realm of the possible. What makes the situation horrifying is that the creature’s motivation is simple: Humans have invaded his territory and he ...

I am sooo behind in posting. Any moment now I’ll post a few thoughts on horror films, a genre I used to say I disliked. But an honest evaluation of what I like to watch, and write, tells me otherwise, especially given some of the great examples I’ve seen recently. More later. For now, some minor notes. First, I finally caved and bought a Zune. I searched high and low (i.e., went to a local Fry’s) and found an 80GB model. Since the 120 can’t handle all of my library, and I felt even the 16GB was a little too restrictive, I hunted down a deal on an 80GB, and voila, there is was. As an added bonus, the 80GB came with deluxe headphones, which are now a $40 option. So I got the player at a discounted price, plus an upgraded set of headphones. Score for me! I opted for Zune over, say, iPod because of the desktop software. For me, a player is a player, so it came down to how the desktop software handled my library and how I could access new music. iTunes has become such a beast, and frank...

The Idiossey : Speak to me, O Muse, of this resourceful man who strides so boldly upon the golden shrine of Potomac, Between Ionic plywood columns, to the kleig light altar. Fair Obamacles, favored of the gods, ascends to Olympus Amidst lusty tributes and the strumming lyres of Media; Their mounted skyboxes echo with the singing of his name While Olbermos and Mattheus in their greasy togas wrassle For first honor of basking in their hero’s reflected glory. Who is this man, so bronzed in countenance, So skilled of TelePrompter, clean and articulate whose ears like a stately urn’s protrude? So now, daughter of Zeus, tell us his story. And just the Cliff Notes if you don’t mind, We don’t have all day.