OK, ok. Everyone (well, not everyone) has been talking about the new Joss Whedon show Dollhouse starring executive producer Eliza Dushku (Faith From Buffy (as if I had to tell you!)). I had to give it a second showing before I could make my decision.
First let me say that I know all about the Joss vs FOX feud (for those of you that don't know, Fox has been all over this show making Joss re-write and re-shoot the pilot to make it more of a "stand alone series with a looming story arc" (such as
The X-Files or more recently Fringe) as opposed to an on-going full on story arc (such as 24 or Lost). Also, I have to say that (as most of you know (or should know by now) I am a HUGE fan of Power Rangers.
As mentioned in a previous post, the original Pink Power Ranger is starring in a new CBS show called Flashpoint. Dollhouse happens to air opposite said show. That said, Dollhouse has to be pretty good to tear me away from watching Kimmy. It really isn't. After two episodes, I still have no reason to watch this show other than Eliza herself (and I have watched shows just because of a certain actor,/actress is in it). I really don't care for the characters or even the story behind this dollhouse. I am left to wonder if the original pilot was any better and would have hooked me. So far each week we learn alittle more about the cast and we see Eliza stretch her acting chops as she "becomes" a completely different person with the knowledge and the skills needed for the particular episode. It was brought up in another blogger's entry about the show, but why go to the Dollhouse in the first place? If you have that much money and need a negotiator/date/target practice, why not just pay for one? They gotta be cheaper than the dolls in the show.
If has been said that after 6 episodes, the show will shift in a new direction. I can give it till then. If it will make it that long is another story....
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Even 3 pairs of boobs couldn't save.....
Yes, I said it. Despite the fact that there was a generous amount of nudity, blood, and gore, the "re-imagined" version of Friday The 13th was a (pardon the pun) a horrible movie.
As with all my movie reviews, Spoilers may be mentioned.....
First of all, This new movie is actually re-telling the first 4 Friday the 13th movies. Starting with the mom killing the camp counselors (part 1) to Jason with a bag over his head killing people (part 2) to the Hockey mask (part 3-D), to finally killing Jason (part 4). For those of you that don't know, part 5 had a fake Jason, part 6 made him a zombie, part 7 had him fight a psychic, part 8 had him in Manhattan, part 9 took him to hell, he fought Freddy in Freddy Vs Jason, and (even tho this was released prior) went into space.
They took the original timestamp from the release of the original movie (1980) and using "real time" Jason is now up and about in 2009 as an adult killer. That leads me to my first problem. It's 2009 people. Why are the people in the movie as stupid (or stupider) than they were 20 years ago? The only "real" indication that they are in present day is the Technology the victims are using (G.P.S., cell phones, etc).
Through out the movie I kept on wondering a few things:
1) Why were people doing what they were doing.
2) Why are the people living there still alive (since there really is no motivation for Jason killing people except that they are near the camp)
3) Why was this movie even being made.
Unlike the new Halloween which enhanced the original film, this one, just rehashed what was already done. There was nothing special, nothing different, nothing...just nothing to say about this movie except that it was a huge waste of time.
When I was in the SDCC, I actually sat in on the Friday the 13th panel where the cast and writer/director was present. Even at that time, I wasn't feeling it despite the good intentions I felt the panel had.
One quick note, (for those of you who actually saw this movie) when they finally killed Jason at the end of the movie, I was left wondering why he wasn't fully destroyed as opposed to just his brain being chopped up. And why would they dump him into the lake (which led to the oh-so-obvious ending)?
As with all my movie reviews, Spoilers may be mentioned.....
First of all, This new movie is actually re-telling the first 4 Friday the 13th movies. Starting with the mom killing the camp counselors (part 1) to Jason with a bag over his head killing people (part 2) to the Hockey mask (part 3-D), to finally killing Jason (part 4). For those of you that don't know, part 5 had a fake Jason, part 6 made him a zombie, part 7 had him fight a psychic, part 8 had him in Manhattan, part 9 took him to hell, he fought Freddy in Freddy Vs Jason, and (even tho this was released prior) went into space.
They took the original timestamp from the release of the original movie (1980) and using "real time" Jason is now up and about in 2009 as an adult killer. That leads me to my first problem. It's 2009 people. Why are the people in the movie as stupid (or stupider) than they were 20 years ago? The only "real" indication that they are in present day is the Technology the victims are using (G.P.S., cell phones, etc).
Through out the movie I kept on wondering a few things:
1) Why were people doing what they were doing.
2) Why are the people living there still alive (since there really is no motivation for Jason killing people except that they are near the camp)
3) Why was this movie even being made.
Unlike the new Halloween which enhanced the original film, this one, just rehashed what was already done. There was nothing special, nothing different, nothing...just nothing to say about this movie except that it was a huge waste of time.
When I was in the SDCC, I actually sat in on the Friday the 13th panel where the cast and writer/director was present. Even at that time, I wasn't feeling it despite the good intentions I felt the panel had.
One quick note, (for those of you who actually saw this movie) when they finally killed Jason at the end of the movie, I was left wondering why he wasn't fully destroyed as opposed to just his brain being chopped up. And why would they dump him into the lake (which led to the oh-so-obvious ending)?
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
"This will probably be..." or "the good the not so good and Fringe", or "Rejuvinated"
OK, While I am undecided on my title, my review of the New York Comic-con will be as complete as possible, which may make this my longest post to date.
I live about 2 hours away from the con (and I drove each day!) so I got to the con around 2:30pm on Friday. I just had a late start and planned to be there around noon. As soon as I got there, I went right to the press room got my badge (Thanks Lance!) and headed into the con. They did say that the show was to be bigger, but to me it felt somehow smaller (I didn't realize that there was a third floor till around 4:30pm on Sunday). I made sure to hit up my buddies Sam Vera from Crazee Comics, Rich Bernatovech from Sentinels, Brian Kong, Brian and Jess Ferrera from Terminal Press (who also have been co-hosts to my radio show), Christian and Antonio Montalvo from Alpha Godz, the Lazerman guys, and all my buddies from The Comic Artists Guild (C.A.G.) as well as James Seetal and Mark Mazz (more on him later).
Once that was done, I walked around the con and tried to take it all in. After all these years (and finally making it to the SDCC), I feel it's just more of the same (not that that is a bad thing). I attended a C.A.G. panel (if you are into comics as a craft, you should join them!) and then the C.A.G. awards (hosted by Samuel Vera.)
The Categories and winners are:
(I'll try to upload the images as time goes on)
Best Story Writing: Shawnti Therrien for Meth: A Reason to live
Best Story Art: Hector Rodriguez for Hell's Blood
Best Single Story created by a team: Hector Rodriguez, Keith Murphey and Scott
Murphey for Hell's Blood
Best Writer: Everett Soares
Best Penciler: Hector Rodriguez
Best Inker: Alex Rivera
Best Colorist: Liz Ortiz
Best Letterer: Ed Traquino
Best Cartoonist: Matt Ryan
Best New Talent: James Rodriguez
Production Excellence: Ed Traquino
Best Workshop/Panel: Matt Ryan for "Sales Techniques"
Best Web Comic Creator: ZMAN
and C.A.G. MVP: Keith Murphey
Afterwards, I hung out with Arlen Schumer (after his fine lecture on "The Twilight Zone" original TV series). He was kind enough to treat me to dinner at The Empire Diner. Never been there before, and as promised it had one of the best burgers I have ever had. Special shout out to Brigador Stamback
Saturday:
I had a plan for Saturday. 1) meet Seth Green. Now the thought had occurred to me during the SDCC as Seth had walked right past me (I originally thought that he was a guy who looked like Seth, and then realized that it was him!). I thought, "Hey maybe If I gave him some copies of our best of CD, it might lead somewhere.". Alas, I wasn't ready back then. So today was the day. I went to the Robot Chicken panel, and it was a blast! I managed to get a good seat b/c I actually went into the earlier Cup O' Joe panel. it was basically a "what is coming up in Marvel Comics" panel with an interesting Q&A. I say interesting, because some fans questions were more like complaints. The Marvel guys took a page from the Obama book and was like "I'm sorry" and "it won't happen again". I was impressed with that. Getting back to the Robot Chicken panel...They brought a couple guys from the show most notably Seth Green and Breckin Meyer. All of them were funny and I had a feel that they really wanted to be there and generally are fans of comics and the like. During the panel it was announced that they all would be signing stuff for free on a first com first serve basis but only for an hour right after the panel in a completely different room. So with about 5 minutes to go I took off left the panel to get in line for the signing. Met them (asked Breckin about Rat Race 2, "Never gonna happen he replied."), and gave Seth all of the Cd's.
I honestly believe that he'll listen to them. He also liked the artwork so Kudos to Brian Kong! Once my mission was over, I went around the show floor s'more and then headed out to the Indy After party. It was a great party. Free (great Mark friendly) food, (cash bar tho, but since I don't drink, it's all good) great company, and a performance by a Tool Fist cover band (well, the band didn't actually show, but the Lead singer rocked on, so Kudos to him!).
Sunday:
Sunday I got a super late start. Got to the con around 12:30pm. today was all about Fringe. I had always planned to see the Fringe panel, but because of the special signing area for Seth the day before, I decided to check that area first to gauge the line. At 1pm (the panel was at 2pm) there were about 5 people on the signing line. I was informed that there was going to be a (non-ticket) signing at 3pm. First come, first serve, and they were only signing for an hour. Which was fine. I decided to go to the panel and leave early as I had done the day before. First off, I have to say how impressed I was to see the entire cast from the show. Best thing was that it wasn't announced, so it was a pleasant surprise. Around 2:50pm, I ran out of the room to the signing area. When I got there, the line was longer (about 25-30 people, which wasn't so bad). While on line I met a group of people that were waiting on the line since 1:30 and they were just in front of me. They had no idea there was a fringe panel and had just read the autograph sign upstairs and headed down to the signing area. we talked for a while and then a staffer came along and said (this was a little after 3pm) "there are already 150 people inside the waiting area for signatures there is no guarantee that you will get an autograph." Seems that the original group of and anyone who got there before 1:30 got to go inside while everyone else was waiting outside. So the panel ends late (I know this b/c a huge rush of people came out and get on line (around 3:20pm)) and another announcement was made, "there are 150 people inside already and you may not get an autograph.". Once again fine, I was near the front of the line so I'll take my chances. 4:10pm rolls around and there are now about 10-15 people in front of me (and this is just to the door). Seems alot of people gave up and left the line. During this time information was very light. they should have had someone go to the back of the line and tell them there was no way they would get anything signed, or at very least tell everyone on the line that the chances were slim, or even that we were on the "stand by line". I even tried to use the power of the press pass to just get a photo of them signing other people's stuff (which wouldn't hold up the line or anything) and I was told that FOX said "no press." Now that sucked (but I know it had nothing to do with the NYCC). So at 4:20pm, (keep in mind that no one on the line had been let in the door which led to the actual signing area since I got there, nor the group who was there since 1:30) the guy came out and said, "Not gonna happen." A lot of people were upset. My thoughts is this: once the 150 people were inside, there should have been better communication with the people outside, or just make it a ticketed event (since the entire cast was there).
Oh, Special shout out to Lindsay from C.A.G.!
I live about 2 hours away from the con (and I drove each day!) so I got to the con around 2:30pm on Friday. I just had a late start and planned to be there around noon. As soon as I got there, I went right to the press room got my badge (Thanks Lance!) and headed into the con. They did say that the show was to be bigger, but to me it felt somehow smaller (I didn't realize that there was a third floor till around 4:30pm on Sunday). I made sure to hit up my buddies Sam Vera from Crazee Comics, Rich Bernatovech from Sentinels, Brian Kong, Brian and Jess Ferrera from Terminal Press (who also have been co-hosts to my radio show), Christian and Antonio Montalvo from Alpha Godz, the Lazerman guys, and all my buddies from The Comic Artists Guild (C.A.G.) as well as James Seetal and Mark Mazz (more on him later).
Once that was done, I walked around the con and tried to take it all in. After all these years (and finally making it to the SDCC), I feel it's just more of the same (not that that is a bad thing). I attended a C.A.G. panel (if you are into comics as a craft, you should join them!) and then the C.A.G. awards (hosted by Samuel Vera.)
The Categories and winners are:
(I'll try to upload the images as time goes on)
Best Story Writing: Shawnti Therrien for Meth: A Reason to live
Best Story Art: Hector Rodriguez for Hell's Blood
Best Single Story created by a team: Hector Rodriguez, Keith Murphey and Scott
Murphey for Hell's Blood
Best Writer: Everett Soares
Best Penciler: Hector Rodriguez
Best Inker: Alex Rivera
Best Colorist: Liz Ortiz
Best Letterer: Ed Traquino
Best Cartoonist: Matt Ryan
Best New Talent: James Rodriguez
Production Excellence: Ed Traquino
Best Workshop/Panel: Matt Ryan for "Sales Techniques"
Best Web Comic Creator: ZMAN
and C.A.G. MVP: Keith Murphey
Afterwards, I hung out with Arlen Schumer (after his fine lecture on "The Twilight Zone" original TV series). He was kind enough to treat me to dinner at The Empire Diner. Never been there before, and as promised it had one of the best burgers I have ever had. Special shout out to Brigador Stamback
Saturday:
I had a plan for Saturday. 1) meet Seth Green. Now the thought had occurred to me during the SDCC as Seth had walked right past me (I originally thought that he was a guy who looked like Seth, and then realized that it was him!). I thought, "Hey maybe If I gave him some copies of our best of CD, it might lead somewhere.". Alas, I wasn't ready back then. So today was the day. I went to the Robot Chicken panel, and it was a blast! I managed to get a good seat b/c I actually went into the earlier Cup O' Joe panel. it was basically a "what is coming up in Marvel Comics" panel with an interesting Q&A. I say interesting, because some fans questions were more like complaints. The Marvel guys took a page from the Obama book and was like "I'm sorry" and "it won't happen again". I was impressed with that. Getting back to the Robot Chicken panel...They brought a couple guys from the show most notably Seth Green and Breckin Meyer. All of them were funny and I had a feel that they really wanted to be there and generally are fans of comics and the like. During the panel it was announced that they all would be signing stuff for free on a first com first serve basis but only for an hour right after the panel in a completely different room. So with about 5 minutes to go I took off left the panel to get in line for the signing. Met them (asked Breckin about Rat Race 2, "Never gonna happen he replied."), and gave Seth all of the Cd's.
I honestly believe that he'll listen to them. He also liked the artwork so Kudos to Brian Kong! Once my mission was over, I went around the show floor s'more and then headed out to the Indy After party. It was a great party. Free (great Mark friendly) food, (cash bar tho, but since I don't drink, it's all good) great company, and a performance by a Tool Fist cover band (well, the band didn't actually show, but the Lead singer rocked on, so Kudos to him!).
Sunday:
Sunday I got a super late start. Got to the con around 12:30pm. today was all about Fringe. I had always planned to see the Fringe panel, but because of the special signing area for Seth the day before, I decided to check that area first to gauge the line. At 1pm (the panel was at 2pm) there were about 5 people on the signing line. I was informed that there was going to be a (non-ticket) signing at 3pm. First come, first serve, and they were only signing for an hour. Which was fine. I decided to go to the panel and leave early as I had done the day before. First off, I have to say how impressed I was to see the entire cast from the show. Best thing was that it wasn't announced, so it was a pleasant surprise. Around 2:50pm, I ran out of the room to the signing area. When I got there, the line was longer (about 25-30 people, which wasn't so bad). While on line I met a group of people that were waiting on the line since 1:30 and they were just in front of me. They had no idea there was a fringe panel and had just read the autograph sign upstairs and headed down to the signing area. we talked for a while and then a staffer came along and said (this was a little after 3pm) "there are already 150 people inside the waiting area for signatures there is no guarantee that you will get an autograph." Seems that the original group of and anyone who got there before 1:30 got to go inside while everyone else was waiting outside. So the panel ends late (I know this b/c a huge rush of people came out and get on line (around 3:20pm)) and another announcement was made, "there are 150 people inside already and you may not get an autograph.". Once again fine, I was near the front of the line so I'll take my chances. 4:10pm rolls around and there are now about 10-15 people in front of me (and this is just to the door). Seems alot of people gave up and left the line. During this time information was very light. they should have had someone go to the back of the line and tell them there was no way they would get anything signed, or at very least tell everyone on the line that the chances were slim, or even that we were on the "stand by line". I even tried to use the power of the press pass to just get a photo of them signing other people's stuff (which wouldn't hold up the line or anything) and I was told that FOX said "no press." Now that sucked (but I know it had nothing to do with the NYCC). So at 4:20pm, (keep in mind that no one on the line had been let in the door which led to the actual signing area since I got there, nor the group who was there since 1:30) the guy came out and said, "Not gonna happen." A lot of people were upset. My thoughts is this: once the 150 people were inside, there should have been better communication with the people outside, or just make it a ticketed event (since the entire cast was there).
Oh, Special shout out to Lindsay from C.A.G.!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Uninvited Movie review
It's not the same as doing a show on a movie, but why not tell you what I thought about it. as with all my movie reviews, spoilers may be mentioned.
Overall, it was a slow movie. and while things "happened" it really didn't have that "horror movie" feel. The main girl of the movie comes home after a 10 month stay at a looney bin due to the PTS of seeing her mom die in an explosion. And we are led to believe that the mom's home health aid (who happens to be sharing a bed with the father now) that she killed the mom. During this time the girl accompanied by her sister is being (for lack of a better term) haunted by ghosts of people the aid had killed.
Now here is the thing. If this movie was a straight suspense movie i think it would have been fine. but it is billed as a horror movie. Now with a pg-13 raiting you can't expect mmuch (altho The Ring was pg-13). This remminds me of M. Night Shyamalan's The Village. If it would have been billed as a straight drama, i think i would have enjoyed it better.
I saw this movie with some frined's of mine and one of them turns to me and says "there is supposed to be a big twist in this movie". That set off all kinds of alarms, so now I'm looking for anything that could be clues so I can figure out the ending. I was half right. My friend was (the other) half right also. But he figured it out from the very beginning.
Once the twist was revealed, alot of things make more sense, but it raises some big questions, like why the hell was she being haunted at all....
So if you keep in mind that this is no horror movie you might this movie. If you are looking for a good horror movie, go watch My Bloody Valentine instead
Overall, it was a slow movie. and while things "happened" it really didn't have that "horror movie" feel. The main girl of the movie comes home after a 10 month stay at a looney bin due to the PTS of seeing her mom die in an explosion. And we are led to believe that the mom's home health aid (who happens to be sharing a bed with the father now) that she killed the mom. During this time the girl accompanied by her sister is being (for lack of a better term) haunted by ghosts of people the aid had killed.
Now here is the thing. If this movie was a straight suspense movie i think it would have been fine. but it is billed as a horror movie. Now with a pg-13 raiting you can't expect mmuch (altho The Ring was pg-13). This remminds me of M. Night Shyamalan's The Village. If it would have been billed as a straight drama, i think i would have enjoyed it better.
I saw this movie with some frined's of mine and one of them turns to me and says "there is supposed to be a big twist in this movie". That set off all kinds of alarms, so now I'm looking for anything that could be clues so I can figure out the ending. I was half right. My friend was (the other) half right also. But he figured it out from the very beginning.
Once the twist was revealed, alot of things make more sense, but it raises some big questions, like why the hell was she being haunted at all....
So if you keep in mind that this is no horror movie you might this movie. If you are looking for a good horror movie, go watch My Bloody Valentine instead
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