Happy Birthday To Me

Yep, today is my birthday. I can pretty much guarantee it won't be too awfully exciting, but the weekend will be soon. So I guess I can make the most of it then. Nothing wrong with that, is there?

That aside, I'm still hoping that there will be some fun to be had. It's my birthday, it can't be too bad of a day. High hopes, and all that.

But happy birthday to me, anyway. :)

Kentucky Sutton And The Kingdom Of The Quickie Movie Reviews

I hope everybody is having a safe and happy Memorial Day, or just a good Monday in general if you're not from the United States. I actually meant to make this post last night, but I've been so worn out this weekend that I completely forgot to do it.

I managed to get out to the local multiplex late yesterday afternoon in order to catch a showing of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And for what it's worth, it's an entertaining movie. The only really glaring problem is the fact that it's less like Indiana Jones 4 and more like National Treasure 3. Take one of the National Treasure movies, replace American history with archaeology and Nicolas Cage with Harrison Ford, and put the movie in the 1950s, and you've got Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

It doesn't really matter in the long run, because as I said, Indy 4 is still an entertaining way to spend two hours. It's some of the most fun I've had watching a movie all year. It's funny and exciting, something a lot of adventure movies have a hard time pulling off nowadays. Sure, the mid-movie twist regarding the connection between Indy and Shia LeBeouf's character might be a bit obvious, and the origin of the crystal skull might be a tad preposterous, and the climax could be accused of being lame, but it's still a fun ride from start to finish. My vote? A hearty thumbs-up and three and half stars on the patent-pending World Famous Five-Star Sutton Scale. Go check it out.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go take care of my sunburns. I spent all of Saturday out in the sun during my neighborhood's annual Memorial Day Weekend festival, and my face, neck, and arms are downright toasty. Fun times, though. Fun times.

Beware The Alaskan Vampires

Since there isn't a whole lot to do here at Sutton HQ, I have to find different ways to bide my time. As you regular readers have seen over the last several years, I've taken to writing my own movie reviews to take up my free time.

I bring that up because I've got one more review that I wanted to share. The new review: the comic-inspired vampire movie 30 Days of Night. I've been wanting to review it for quite some time, so I'm glad I can finally get it done. So have fun reading it, okay?

You know, it just hit me that this coming summer will mark the fifth anniversary of "Sutton At The Movies." I'd started it as a lark, just as something fun to do to get myself prepared for the release of Freddy vs. Jason. But taking the ball and running with it for five years and currently 173 reviews is surprising.

Maybe I'll have to think of something big to do in a few months to celebrate. Hmmm...

Oldies But Goodies

So this afternoon, I happened to visit the comic book shop over in Danville. Their inventory isn't really all that big, neither in terms of new stuff or back issues. But whenever I'm nearby, I like to stop in and look around anyway. Might as well, right?

Anyway, like I was saying, I was in the shop this afternoon. I wasn't looking for anything specific, I just wanted to see what they had around and maybe purchase something that caught my eye. You comic book fans know what I mean, right? So I'm in there browsing through the back issue bins, and I stumble upon Daredevil #9, cover-dated August 1965. Yeah, the ninth issue of Daredevil's very first run. And the price tag? Three dollars and fifty cents. No fooling, it was that cheap.

Now I should say that it was marked for only $3.50 for a reason. Frankly, this issue's better days were long ago. There's small stains on the cover, which is hanging on for dear life thanks to some small tears. The staples look rusty, and the poor thing looks like its spine is lined up crooked. But considering the issue number and the fact that I'm not too incredibly picky when it comes to comics that are nearly forty-five years old, I don't mind making a concession or two when I think it's necessary. So as you may have surmised, Daredevil #9 is part of my ever-blossoming comic book collection now. I must admit that I'm somewhat proud of myself, since it's the oldest book in my collection. How many people can say they paid less than five bucks for something like this, no matter what shape the book is in?

I came close to buying the four issues that made up the "Batman: Year One" storyline while I was in the store too, but due to budgetary concerns, I had to pass on them. Maybe next time...

Plenty Of Reading To Do

Howdy, folks. It's little ol' me once again, here to amuse you with my vaguely incoherent ramblings and all that jazz.

There really aren't a whole lot of exciting things going on around Sutton HQ. To be brutally honest, absolutely nothing has been happening this week, outside of yours truly hitting my favorite comic shop yesterday and purchasing a stack of comics as big as my head. (Okay, so maybe not as big as my head... but close!) I've also got the shop holding a mighty crapload of books for me every week, so I'm sure I'll have plenty of reading material coming my way in the weeks and months to come. Hopefully, it'll lead to some good topics of discussion in the future.

But I'm not really here to talk about comic books. I actually wanted to draw your attention to the new review I've got up over at S@TM. So for your reading perusal, I submit my thoughts on the movie Vacancy.

As I've said in previous posts, I've got several movies lined up to potentially review. I'm still in the planning stages of my "Super Saturday 2" idea, plus I've got bootlegged copies of Juno, 30 Days of Night, and Cloverfield, and a bunch of zombie movies that I need to get around to writing about. I'm sure I'll touch on them sooner or later, it's just a matter of finding the time. But for now, have fun reading my review of Vacancy.

Go read it already.

Go on, read it.

Seriously.

Please?

Bite Me, Planters

Am I the only one who's sick of that Planters commercial featuring the ugly woman? For those of you who are lucky enough to have missed it, there's this commercial where a hideous troll of a woman rubs a Planters peanut on herself as if it were perfume, and every man she walks past falls blindly in love with her. It's as stupid as it sounds.

Seriously, what genius ad agency came up with this stupid thing? Did they honestly think a commercial featuring Ugly Betty's uglier sister was going to make people say, "Holy crap, I've gotta go buy some peanuts, and I've gotta do it right now!" Does it? It just makes me want to run away from my TV, screaming and crying like a little girl. It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't run it during every commercial break of every show I watch. This commercial is so annoying, so awful, that I would rather watch an hour of those crappy Esurance commercials than this one 30-second Planters commercial. That's why I hate you, Planters.

Somebody Cue The Black Sabbath Song

Today has been a good day. Not only was it Free Comic Book Day (a fact that I made the most of, trust me), but I also headed out to see the cinematic adaptation of Iron Man.

Now I'm sure that most of you, my faithful readers, have seen that Iron Man has been getting some pretty good reviews lately. And having seen the movie now, I can assure you that many of the positive things those critics have said are true. Iron Man is a thoroughly entertaining piece of action cinema. The acting, primarily from Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, is great, the action is exciting, and the special effects are fantastic. It naturally has its flaws, like all movies do, but as two hours of pure entertainment, Iron Man is pretty darn good. On the patent-pending Five-Star Sutton Scale, I'll give it four stars and a thumbs-up.

The really odd thing about it, though, was the previews before the movie. Apparently, the theater felt the need to run two previews for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, bridged by a preview for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. I understand that Iron Man and Indiana Jones are both Paramount films, so one preview is to be expected. But two? Why not run one for the other superhero movies this summer? I guess some things just aren't meant to make sense.

Hatchets, Masks, and Reviews

We're now two days into the month of May, so let's properly ring in the new month with the new doubleheader of reviews I'd mentioned a few times in the past. The two films in question: Hatchet and Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon.

There's quite a few reasons I chose to do a double feature with these two particular movies. Both are post-modern slasher movies with their fair share of humor. Both feature Robert Englund and Kane Hodder in some form or fashion. Both were distributed by Anchor Bay Entertainment, who gave them theatrical runs so extremely limited that they might as well have gone directly to video. But the differences? One is good, and the other is bad. Feel free to read the reviews and see which one is which.

Now that that's out of the way, I can start putting effort in on the other reviews I've been planning. I have several lined up, as I mentioned in the past. I'm also hoping I can work in some of this year's summer blockbusters. I had an idea for a mega-post of reviews of superhero movies, a sequel to the "Super Saturday" thing I did all the way back in 2005, and if possible, being able to work in Iron Man, The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, and Hellboy 2 would be great. I could probably even throw in Hancock and Superhero Movie, though neither one of them are really based on comics.

So anyway, enjoy the new reviews. I'll hopefully have more in the coming weeks.