Inception

Posted: 2nd January 2012 by Jacqui in Movies
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OK, I head to Amazon to pull the images and links to share on my reviews. Sure, it’s partially because I have an affiliate thing there but that’s not why I do it. It’s convenient, consistent, and takes you right to a slew of other reviews and whatnot. The affiliate thing is there because all the “experts” tell you it’s what you should have. *eyeroll* Whatever. I’m sure that’s what tags and categories are for, too, gods forbid I don’t do something that follows convention and google search requirements. Bleargh.

Anyway, Inception. I was on Amazon to get the image art and the link and perused some of the reviews and I think most people really cannot be such idiots. WB digital copy code issues aside (I rented this I didn’t buy it so I couldn’t care less and I had zero problem on my rental to skip the previews I didn’t want to see)

This movie is NOT hard to follow at all. It’s kind of a simple plot. MY issue with this movie was DiCaprio’s character being so fucking obsessed with his wife. (I won’t plot spoil what happens here). When people on my Facebook saw it in the theater, and comments about it on Blastr came out, people raved it or bitched, pissed, and moaned about how they couldn’t tell what was a dream and what wasn’t, it was so confusing and hard to follow… no… it really wasn’t. Not ever movie has to have crayons and a map does it?

Overall, the concept was interesting and the pace and production made it easy to follow and enjoy visually. I actually would have liked to see this in the theater even at $10. Then again, I like movies like this, that make you have to pay attention to little details to follow the plot. The premise of the main job DiCaprio and his team are hired for in this movie was a bit silly, but the complexity of the process of completing that job makes up for it. Sadly, every time the movie got really good, that damned wife would show up. I understand the point of her being there, but it was unnecessary the way it was done. I get why, and the effect on DiCaprio’s character but zzzzz too much. There were a lot of times I found myself saying GET ON WITH IT!!!! LOL

Captain America

Posted: 2nd January 2012 by Jacqui in Comics, Movies
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Just like most Marvel Comics characters, I knew very little about Captain America when I grabbed this movie from the Redbox queue. First thing I thought was, THIS mamby pamby guy is the “Chris Evans” everyone I know (gay or straight) salivates over? LOL shows you how little I knew about ANYTHING with this movie!

The special effects they used on Evans to make him look mamby pamby was great. THEN I realised why everyone drools over this guy! And here is where I personally have a bit of an issue with movies in general. I tend to analyze the process of the special effects and get distracted by figuring out how it was done, how long it took, what those artists/techs needed to learn to make that look convincing, professional, seamless, etc. Sometimes I get caught up in that and forget about the movie.

OK enough fangirl cougar squee about Evans and tech… the movie itself you probably already know the basic premise, if not that’s elsewhere. This movie mostly kept me interested however, as usual, the “final battle” scenes in most movies feel like they drag on entirely too long for me. Otherwise the pacing was fairly decent and kept me interested throughout -until that dreaded final battle. I feel with most movies, if I can figure out how it’s going to play out (let’s face it, in the majority of times we know good prevails over evil so there’s no shocker there) and I can run to the restroom and back and not really miss anything, it’s dragging on too long. Maybe I’m just impatient.  Worth the $1 rental.

fix attempt

Sucker Punch

Posted: 2nd January 2012 by Jacqui in Movies
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I saw very little about this movie prior to seeing it. When I plan on seeing a movie I am pretty convinced is “up my alley”, I tend to avoid reviews and whatnot for fear of plot spoiling or skewing my objectivity. (granted, sometimes the actors or directors will spoil that instantly re: Halle Barry, Tom Cruise…)

I saw action sequence previews to this movie. Of course, that draws me in. Anything with empowered women, weapons and beating the crap out of villains, critters, invaders, evil-doers, that’s my thing. This movie had NOTHING to do with empowered women whatsoever. Quite the opposite once I figured out the plot. (very early on, it was extremely predictable) That said…

The special effects were decent, perhaps they are better on Blu Ray or in the theatre, but for $1 Redbox DVD, I can be pretty forgiving on all that. The first few forays into the fantasy world of Baby Doll were cool, fun, eye candy, gratuitous, and of course several nods to niche genres of anime, steampunk, video games… and taken as such, acceptable. Taken as anything further like driving the plot, serving a purpose, it fails. It fails horribly. There were entirely too many “dance sequences” and, as the movie dragged to its eventual “final battle”, I was eye-rolling, fast forwarding, and watching only long enough to determine if my plot guess was correct or not (it was) and then yanking it out of my dvd player, disgusted, annoyed, and bored.

Sometimes eye candy and action and fight scenes can carry an otherwise meh plot (Kill Bill comes to mind). The only ones sucker punched were us idiots who invested $ and 2 hours of our lives watching this drek that we’ll never get back. Talk about renter’s remorse. Totally not worth the $.

Tron Legacy

Posted: 2nd January 2012 by Jacqui in Cartoons, Movies
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When the original Tron came out in the 80s, I was googly eyed, wowed, dazzled, and obsessed. When this came up in the queue, I thought “hell yea!” because I am oblivious to most pre-movie chatter, I was unsure if this was a remake or a sequel or some hacked up mishmash to make it a reimagined version, or whatever the hell Hollywood is doing – looking for a quick buck, I know -

So much potential on ANY direction with Tron. Reimagined with today’s effects technology, could have been amazingly mind blowing. Remade to attract a new generation of fans -along with today’s effects tech- would have been awesome for the fans of the original and uninitiated. A sequel with some nods to the past, good stuff, fun times.

Instead, we have a confusing beginning that is just downright stupid when the prank unfolds. From there it’s just schlock I see when I skip past all the kids channels on my cable lineup. Drekky bad acting, arrogance, kn0w-it-all attitude with no way to back it up… it just dragged and was annoying.

Some of the action scenes were cool, but that can’t carry a movie when you’re older than 5. I found Tron Legacy terribly disappointing and did nothing to further the franchise or rekindle the long smouldering romance many of us had with it.

Thor

Posted: 18th December 2011 by Jacqui in Comics, Movies
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Thor is another one of those characters I know nothing about beyond the Norse mythology and what I learned of Thor and Asgard on Stargate SG-1. So, obviously, not much about Marvel’s Thor. And I didn’t need to. Very quickly into the movie it had me laughing, especially after Thor gets exiled to Earth. I thought that, as a n00b to Thor’s lore, this movie entertained and informed for the rookie fan. I sometimes get annoyed when the final battles in movies drag on and this one did a little bit, but not too bad. When I read the credits and saw Branagh’s name, well it made sense why I liked it so much. I typically enjoy what Branagh touches. I think I learned on Blastr that he may not be directing Thor 2, which would be unfortunate if that’s the case, but overall, a good introduction to the character and lead in to The Avengers. Solid 8/10

Green Lantern

Posted: 18th December 2011 by Jacqui in Comics, Movies
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I’ve always been a diehard Batman fan. I have indulged in some of the supporting character comics like Robin, Nightwing, Birds of Prey etc but I’ve never ventured far from that. However I enjoy superhero movies. Usually.

I know nothing of Green Lantern’s history, backstory, characters or anything like that, so I can’t  comment on the accuracy of the movie to the character’s history. This happens with other superhero movies for me, especially with any Marvel Comic movie. If it entertains me and I can be fully engaged, I’m all over it and sometimes pick up a trade or two so I can learn more about the character.

Green Lantern will get none of that support from me. I first stumbled into him in one of the DC New 52, and the dialogue between Green Lantern and Batman bored the ever living shit out of me. It was lame, cliched, and felt like forced banter to fill spaces. Sadly, the movie wasn’t far from that concept.

The acting was atrocious. The story was bland and dragged on. 30 minutes could have been totally eliminated from the beginning of the movie and the story still would have been easy to follow. I ended up so bored I shut it off with 30 or so minutes to go. It was a $1 totally wasted imho.

2/10 is my rating on Green Lantern

Twilight Graphic Novel Volumes 1&2

Posted: 18th December 2011 by Jacqui in Books, Comics, Manga, Movies
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I must admit that I have been utterly befuddled by the hooplah and fuss over the novel version of this story. A few yeas back I was on vacation in Mexico with friends when one of my traveling friends brought the first novel. While she devoured the book on the beach and poolside, I think I spent a lot of the time blogging and people watching. One of the days I decided to get up off my ass and wander around, swim across the property and see what was going on across the way (turns out it was a wedding reception or something) and as I swam across the way, I noticed something really weird and began counting. I literally counted 12 women either floating along, camped on their beach chairs, sitting at the bar, sprawled in cabanas… reading fucking Twilight. Some had the first book, some had the second. I thought what the hell?! There’s a Twilight cult or something.

I stopped at the bar to get a drink and there were two women there, mutually engrossed in their books and randomly commenting to each other. They were initially strangers as introductions had taken place. One woman said her husband was golfing, fed up that she was so involved in Twilight and ignoring him. She said good riddance, she wanted to relax and read. The other woman said her boyfriend went on a fishing excursion because he as aggravated she was having an affair with a teenage vampire. I thought, okay, you’re in Mexico, on vacation, reading about a pedophile vampire pursuing a 17 year old girl…. mmmmkaaayy… In one of the few moments my friend put her book down, I admit to picking it up out of curiosity and found chapter 1 grating. Obviously not my cup of tea.

On one of the days we went into town, we were on a mission, we HAD to find the 2nd Twilight book IN ENGLISH. Yea, good luck with that. Upon my return home, the first movie was on the horizon. Curious about the hooplah, I decided to go with my friend. Through most of the movie I was entirely annoyed by the many expressions of Kristen Stewart, which is 1: terminally constipated. And the vampires don’t dissolve in the sun in Twilight… they… sparkle.

Sparkle?

Barf.

However the movie did turn ME into a pedophile as I admit I joined in the collective Cougar Gasp when Taylor Lautner’s character Jake, took off his shirt. phrew!! But other than that… I admit I was more interested in the back story of the other Cullens. They seemed far more interesting. But the movies are painful. KStew and RPatt are just expressionless and can’t act worth a damn. The books, to me, were written at around a 7th grade level, and just not appealing to me. But yet there was still a draw to the story, I have seen all the movies and admit there are interesting and fun parts amidst the drek. (I will be reviewing the movies at some point)

Enter learning of the graphic novel adaptations. Now THIS I could get into! Young Kim does amazing artwork. The lettering, however, is painfully amateurish and clutters up the art and often has difficult to read fonts. But not looking at KStew and RPatt are a huge plus. This made the story tolerable and there seemed, at least in Volumes 1-2 (which cover the first Twilight book) there’s enough back story about the other Cullens that made some stuff in the movies make sense to me. I don’t get why the lettering is so painfully shitty, though. Rookie mistake? Or perhaps it was originally in another language and translated, I’m not sure. I hope for subsequent volumes they get another letterer. Hell, I’ll letter it.

All in all, though, the Graphic Novels made this series tolerable and actually quite enjoyable. I don’t think we have a rating system set up yet but I would throw out there a 6/10 for this. Pick it up on discount or used. The lower rating is because of the lettering. From that point of view, I have to rate it lower than I would normally. Better lettering would get this a 7.5/10

This review was written by Jacqui who can’t figure out how to change the author and accidentally logged in as the admin instead of herself LOL!!!

CD Round Up — Blondie and Gloria Estefan

Posted: 8th October 2011 by Kirk in Music
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First of all…Both Debbie Harry (of Blondie) and Gloria Estefan sound as good as ever.

Blondie — Panic Of Girls

 

 

 

 

 

The new album by Blondie is pretty terrific. I have only a few quibbles. I’ve decided that Blondie sounds best doing pop/rock songs. Those pop songs sound a lot like something the Killers would do. There are the pop hooks with synths, drum machines and guitars. Blondie, the band, sounds best and at home doing those kind of songs. Debbie Harry’s voice has not changed in 30 years. She sounds vital and important to the band. Tracks 2 and 3 are the absolute supreme best ones. However given that, the band also delivers a few dub/raggae tracks in the vein of The Tide is High that don’t work in the band’s favor. Why they would do these tracks when they are obviously a rock band is beyond me. I kept hoping that Boy George would interrupt her and take over the vocal line. In spite of this, I give the CD a rating of B-.

Gloria Estefan — Little Miss Havana

 

 

 

 

 

Dare I say that Gloria Estefan is an icon from my childhood. I loved her then and I absolutely love her now. Her voice is like fine wine, it’s get even better with age. This album is a revelation. The songs are of course filled with latin percussion along with house and techno flourishes. While I can’t say it’s as dance oriented as her Gloria album, I can say the instrumentation is better. It’s a great party CD and she plays on her “Conga” image. I love this version of Gloria Estefan. She knows who she is and where she came from. The instrumentation reminds me of my visit to Mexico. You can actually dance to this CD!

This my biggest flaw with the album, and I can’t believe I am saying this…The songs are so well written that the production holds them back. Yes, the SONGS are well written and it’s the production that I have a problem with. If these songs were performed live, it would be a revelation. However, we are given cliched dance beats that weigh down the actual songs! Her voice is prestine, but the production limits her. That is my only criticism. In spite of this, I have to give the CD an A- review. Highly recommended.

Arthur (2011)

Posted: 25th September 2011 by Kirk in Movies
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I seen the new version of Arthur last night. The new version wasn’t as annoying as I thought it would be. It’s very similar to the original with even some of the same dialogue. Russell Brand is not a good actor…Dudley Moore was and he was charming to boot. You cared about Dudley Moore, but not Russell Brand. The actress who plays Naomi PALES in comparison to Liza Minnelli. Liza was funny (and a good actress), and this new actress isn’t funny at all — she seems dour and pathetic. Helen Mirren was the whole movie and I couldn’t wait for more of her scenes. I think I only laughed once during the film.

The film might have been better with decent actors in the roles. The entire reason to watch this is for the scenes with Helen Mirren. I thought about how good Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli were the entire time I was watching this.

C- grade

Here’s the original trailer:

Mid-Year Music Round Up

Posted: 25th September 2011 by Kirk in Music
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I normally post round up music reviews twice a year. This was my round up from my previous blog. This was originally posted at the end of June.

My favorite CDs of 2011, thus far have been:

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Clare Maguire is a cross between Kate Bush and Annie Lennox, and this CD is amazing. I highly recommend this. This CD helped me to win the Family Feud competition at work. The clear favorites are: The Last Dance and The Shield and The Sword.

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This is another British winner. She sings about being overweight, hoarders, and her dislike for the city she lives in. A clear winner for me. The favorite is: Asthma Attack.

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Destroyer is a band I had never heard of before, until I seen the video for the title song. I cleaned my apartment to this CD, and it turns out my sister did the same thing! The favorite is the title song: Kaputt.

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Boy George’s first full length CD in years is a revelation in dance music. Some of these songs were released years ago as singles and got a shiny gloss courtesy of Kinky Roland. In spite of this, the album is consistant and wonderful.

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Kate Bush went back in the studio and re-recorded songs from two unpopular albums from the early ’90s. The result is a current album of charm and emotion. Many of the songs reminded me of Peter Gabriel albums. Highly recommended.

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Antony gives a distant folk and emotional take on his songs. While not as good as previous CDs, this one is still brilliant.

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I don’t normally include comedy CDs in my lists, but I should. I have enjoyed CDs by Lisa Lampanelli, Kathy Griffin, and Lewis Black. However, this one gets special attention. I have been a Sandra Bernhard fan for years, but this is her first stand-up comedy CD in 10 years and it’s brilliant.

Stay tuned for more music round ups later in the year.

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