Monday, August 29, 2011

Sometimes Even Good Movies Do Badly

So as I'm prone to do, I had something I could have posted about lats week and totally forgot about it until right now. Seems like I do that a lot. I keep saying I need to get better at that, but I've always been the kind of guy that, when I get into a routine, it's pretty hard for me to get out of it.

Anyway, since we're here, I might as well get that post out now. I went to see the remake of Fright Night last week, and it actually wasn't that bad at all. Sure, the movie tanked, but it's still a great flick. It's not as scary as it could have been, but it makes up for it by being a lot of fun. Anton Yelchin, David Tennant, and Colin Farrell are all awesome in it, and the effects are really top-notch. The only flaw I could find in it is 3D. I wish I'd seen it in 2D, because Fright Night does absolutely nothing with its 3D. There's one bit during a car chase about halfway through the movie where it looks kinda cool, and one or two instances where characters throw things at the camera (and the audience). But outside of that, the 3D is pointless. The only thing it adds to the movie is an extra few bucks to the ticket price.

But while I didn't like the 3D, I sure as hell liked Fright Night. I'm actually disappointed that it performed so poorly, but that's what happens when you release a horror movie in August. Why not wait until closer to Halloween to release it? Did the distributors not want to go up against Paranormal Activity 3 and the Thing prequel? Sometimes I don't get Hollywood, man. But in any event, Fright Night is still good enough to warrant me giving it a final grade of three and a half stars and a thumbs-up. I do feel bad, though, that I haven't seen the original Fright Night. I'm ashamed of myself.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

I Wonder If There's A Bomb-Themed Pizza Place...

Wow, four posts here within a week. I don't remember the last time that happened. Awesome.

Anyway, I caught 30 Minutes or Less today. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting out of it, but I wanted to get out of the house and I figured the movie looked okay enough. Plus it was either that or the remake of Fright Night, and because I wanted to see Fright Night in 3D and the theater I was going to doesn't do 3D, I went with 30 Minutes or Less.

So what did I think of the movie? I dug it. And that's pretty much it. The movie isn't a mile-a-minute laugh riot, but I thought it was funny enough to justify having seen it to begin with. I laughed, and it doesn't wear out its welcome, so 30 Minutes or Less is okay by me. So I'm giving it three and a half stars and call it perfectly fine entertainment for a lazy Saturday afternoon.

And now to wait for my next day off so I can go see Fright Night...

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Seize The Bone!

I've been a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 since I was a kid. And though it's been off the air for twelve years, I'm happy knowing that it still lives on through RiffTrax. I'm not going to go into a big long spiel about what RiffTrax is or anything like that, but I will say that I've been wanting to see one of their theatrically-shown live shows for quite a while.

And I got to see one tonight. I had to drive an hour to the theater and pay $11.50 to see it, but it was definitely worth it. If you ever get the chance to see one of RiffTrax's live shows, it's an incredibly fun experience all the way through. I absolutely loved it, and I can't wait to see one of their shows again in the future.

So yeah, I'm not going into too much detail. If you were looking for an in-depth analysis of the experience, I apologize. But it's one of those things where the saying "you had to be there" fits. If you missed out on it, there's always next time. I'm gonna wrap up this post here, since I'm tired and probably need to get to bed. So I'll close out with the advice that that RiffTrax gave me tonight: When in doubt, seize the bone.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Hey, I'm On TV!

And it just hit me: I had something to post about two weeks ago and totally forgot about it. In my post about Cowboys & Aliens, I promised to post something about the "big plans" I had. And being the neglectful blogger I am, I didn't type that first word about it until right now.

Turns out those big plans saw me and a co-worker attending a taping of WWE's SmackDown TV show. The episode's already aired, so I can't exactly tell you to tune in. But I can do this...







See if you can spot me in these three videos! :)

But the show was great, especially for the price I paid. I bought the tickets on eBay for 50 bucks plus shipping, and they were $45.50 each. And the seats were only six or seven rows back to boot.

The crazy thing, though, was that even though I only paid for two seats, me friend and I had five seats at our disposal. The three seats to our right were empty for pretty much the entire night. The people who bought them got there half an hour late, then got up after fifteen minutes and never returned. I can't say that I know why, but I'm not going to complain. In fact, I'd probably thank them for letting me and my friend have their seats. Yeah, we totally moved down to where they were sitting. And doing so allowed me and my friend to get our picture taken for the arena's Facebook page. The picture at the top of this paragraph? That's me in the Green Lantern shirt.

I doubt I have many readers who are pro wrestling fans, and I doubt I could convert them. But those of you who are fans and have never been to a live WWE event or one of their TV tapings, I can't begin to tell you just how fun it is. It's totally worth the time and money. My friend and I had a blast, and I can't wait to do it again in the future.

The Destination's Only Final When The Sequels Stop

Look at me, the terrible blogger. The guy who can't blog about anything to save his life. One of these days, I'll have to take my own advice and fix that.

But right now, let's just go back to my favorite standby, movies. Yesterday afternoon, I headed out to the local movie theater to check out a showing of Final Destination 5. As corny and contrived as the Final Destination movies are, I'm still a sucker for them. And with FD5 being in 3D, that's just icing on the cake.

If you've seen any of the Final Destination movies, you'll know exactly what you'll be getting in the fifth one. It's really more of the same: people survive a disaster, only to be violently killed in such complicated, outright improbable ways that you'd think Rube Goldberg was a serial killer. But you know what? Final Destination 5 is still a really fun ride. For all of its silliness, dumb characters, and ludicrous plot devices and death scenes, it's an entertaining flick from start to finish.

And it's exactly the kind of 3D movie I enjoy too. It doesn't do any of that Avatar-styled nonsense, where it tries to use the 3D solely for atmosphere. Final Destination 5 instead uses it to throw stuff out at the audience, unapologetically using it for the gimmick that it is. I've always found that the "throw stuff at the screen" 3D was infinitely more fun that the atmospheric kind, and this flick didn't let me down.

No, Final Destination 5 is not a great movie. But if this type of movie is up your alley, you'll totally enjoy it. I sure did. So I'm gonna give it three and a half stars on my usual scale, and totally recommend it.

This week will probably see more trips to the movies. I've got plenty of free time due to how my job scheduled me, and I still want to go see 30 Minutes or Less. And a theater about an hour from here is showing the RiffTrax live show on Wednesday night, and I totally have to see it. So one way or another, there shall be more movies this week, and hopefully more blog posts about them. Because I need to write about something on this poor unloved thing.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Cowboys, Aliens, And Me

You know what I get a kick out of? Movies whose titles are self-explanatory. Flicks like Freddy vs. Jason, Alien vs. Predator, and Snakes on a Plane pretty much tell you exactly what they are when you read the title. That's part of the reason why I was drawn to Cowboys & Aliens.

My dad and I headed out to see Cowboys & Aliens this afternoon, and both of us enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a lot of fun from the first frame to the last. The cast is good, the direction great, and while it's not a perfect movie, it's certainly an entertaining experience. It's going to get three and a half stars on the scale (leaning towards four), and I'll definitely recommend it to you.

Yeah, I know this review wasn't too in depth, but I was considering doing a review for it over at my other blog sooner or later. And if you're not reading my other blog, why aren't you? I do update it far more frequently than I do this one. So if you want to check it out, feel free to click that link, maybe follow the RSS feed so you can keep up with it.

And that's about it for now. I've got big plans for tomorrow, so hopefully I'll remember to post something about it later this week. We'll see, though.