Theater Movie Stands

Is there a name for these things? Pop-up stands perhaps? Anyway, here are two impressive movie stands I saw, during my recent trip to the movies. I purposely placed the table and chairs in front of the Iron Man 2 stand just to show the enormity of the thing. Below Iron Man 2 is the Nightmare on Elm Street reboot. I'm a bigger fan of Jackie Earle Haley than I am the Elm Street franchise, but I thought this movie stand was pretty eye catching.

Christian Bale's latest film "The Fighter"

Directed by David O. Russell, "The Fighter" stars Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams. This is a movie I stumbled upon on the internets, and don't know if it will have a mass release. It sounds like a screening has already happened last week. Here is the general plot per imdb.com:

"The Fighter, is a drama about boxer "Irish" Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world light welterweight title. His Rocky-like rise was shepherded by half-brother Dicky, a boxer-turned-trainer who rebounded in life after nearly being KO'd by drugs and crime."

Sounds like a pretty solid film, I'm hoping it will show in my neck of the woods.

Movie Review: Clash of the Titans

I finally saw Clash of the Titans last night. I was thoroughly unimpressed with this film. When the trailers first hit the internets, I was genuinely excited to see this being remade. Who didn't love the charm that the original 1981 version had in all it's stop-motion glory. For the remake, I was particularly thrilled about the caliber of actors lined up: Liam Neason, Sam Worthington, Ralph Fiennes, all under the direction of Louis Leterrier. It sounded like a recipe for success. Unfortuinately for me, it was quite the opposite.

The storyline felt quite disconnected. They were doing well with Perseus' plight at the start of the film, but the movie takes a quick turn for the worse. Suddenly, soldiers are dismembering a statue of Zeus, Perseus suddenly knows how to wield a sword while assembling a gang to take down the gods, and there's a Krackin that shows up for less than a few minutes. I mean, the story wasn't really grounded anywhere, and I could care less if the Kracken ate the princess that was to be sacrificed or if it destroyed the city of Argos.

Did CGI take a few step backwards on this film? Or were they trying to recapture the stop-motion essence the original film had. Either way, it was terrible. It's as if a photoshop expert made this film, cutting and pasting their way throughout the movie. From Medusa to the Krackin, nothing really made my eyes flicker with excitement.

In the end, what glory was one? It just didn't feel like anything was at stake. I like every actor in this film including the director, it just seems like it was written all wrong. This movie gets two thumbs way down.

Better than Travelers Checks

"Republic credits? Republic credits are no good out here. I need something more real." -Watto

It didn't occur to me that I've always wondered what Republic Credits looked like until I stumbled upon this. I wonder who's images are a posted on the other denominations?

Wonder Con 2010

Wondercon 2010 has come and gone, and I was able to attend one-of-three days. I would've preferred to have gone all three days, but I couldn't. In regards to my schedule, they couldn't have picked a worse weekend. In addition to Wondercon being scheduled during spring break and Easter weekend... I just had too many things going on. I was only able to attend on Friday. The only day it rained!

It was a cold rainy Friday and doors were scheduled to opened at 12:00PM. There were well over three hundred people lined-up to enter the exhibit hall when my friend Adam and I arrived. People in line were already getting con-exclusive fever, itching to make a mad dash for the Blackest Night figures. If you remember Comic Con 2009, people went ape-shit for these figures. The new Hal Jordan and Sinestro figures, exclusive to Wondercon, were no exception. I must admit, the fever was quite contagious, as I jumped in line to take a shot at the lottery. It was another hour to potentially get a winning ticket to buy these figures, so I didn't actually get onto the convention floor until 1:15PM. In the end, it was a waste of time, I didn't win.

Finally on the exhibit floor, the first thing I noticed was how crowded it was for a Friday. Again, the weekend schedule attributed to that. All the usual booths were there, as well as many familiar faces. You go to these things long enough, you begin to notice all the regular convention go'ers, greedy to hunters included. With cash in hand, I was ready to buy-up a storm and fill some holes in my collection. Unfortunately, Friday was not the day for deals, and I ended up not buying a thing. But I did walkout with some cool swag.

The day ended with my attendance of Kevin Smith's keynote. With Cop Out recently being released, he didn't have anything to promote beyond his usual raunchiness that we all love. He was not shy at all about his famous Southwest experience. Without further a due, here are some pics to share. Enjoy!

3 day badge and only attending 1 day!

Cosplayers in full effect!She was soooo proud of this hat!

Mighty Mugs you'll never find at TRUCustom Iron Man!Geoff JohnsQ from TNG

Helen Slater

Booth babes that are welcome to kick my ass!SwagKevin Smith

Smallville coming back for more

I'd say about 80% of my friends stopped watching Smallville the moment Lana Lang was hooking up with Lex Luther. I don't blame them for feeling like the show has jumped shark. Being the faithful follower that I am, I've stuck around, and I have to say the show has grown better with age. Gone are the days of teen angst and "meteor monsters of the week!" Now we have real deal villains like Brainiac, Doomsday, and Zod! What I like most about the show, now, is that the writers are digging into more comic book roots. Smallville has more of a comic book feel without being terribly campy. Whatever they're doing... it's working! Smallville has been approved for a tenth season, despite being in the graveyard time slot of Friday nights!

(The picture above is a mock-up... pretty sweet right?)

Batman Arkham Asylum Getting Black and White

The Batman Black and White statue series captures definitive versions of Batman that've left a lasting mark on Batman's history. Artists from Bob Kane, Jim Lee, Frank Miller, etc. are all captured in statue form and are definitely worth collecting for any Bat fan. It looks like Batman Arkham Asylum has rightfully staked their mark in Bat history as the video game design will be getting its own statue. This will be mine!

Monday Nights Are Jacked!

Well, the United States is once again in peril meaning one thing... Jack Bauer is back in season eight! Since the start of last season, it's been well known that this will be 24's last season. I actually appreciate shows that give a definitive ending, rather than allowing a show to continue off course in "jump the shark" land. I still enjoy watching 24, but I'm sure many others feel quite the opposite.

Jack is at peace with his daughter, grand daughter and potential son-in-law. Out of no where, an old informant he used to work with literally shows up at his door step, telling him about an assassination attempt on a political leader, President Hassan. Long story short, Jack get's caught in the mix, and is convinced by his daughter Kim that he's the only one that can put an end to this.

Let's rewind a bit. I'm not sure what happened, but at the end of season seven, Jack caught a virus from a biological weapon that left him near death with little chance of surviving. It seems as if they decided to forgo that plot line as they quickly washed it away in a matter of a few sentences.

I wasn't a big fan of Kim giving Jack a pep-talk, giving him approval to "save the world!" I understand that he had no reason to help CTU, but I think putting him in danger somehow would've been a bit more motivating. It didn't help that Kim's pep-talk wasn't all that convincing either.

Why is Jack telling the newly formed CTU what to do, when Jack is no longer employed by the US government? I understand he's BFF's with President Taylor, for saving her life and all, but how is it they go from "who's Jack Bauer" to "let him do what he wants."

There are a handful of new faces this season, namely Freddie Prince Jr. It's a bit of an awkward choice considering he's heavily tied to teen rom-coms, never imagining him to fall in the shadow of Jack Bauer. Who knows, maybe they are setting him up for a potential spin off?

Let's see how the season pans out, so far so good... I'm hoping they keep me on the edge of my seat and end this show with a bang!

Olivia Munn, the current princess of Maxim!

Olivia Munn, geek princess extraordinare, is on this month's cover of Maxim magazine. It looks like she's managed to be the official advertisement for their monthly subscription sign-up as well. Three Borders book stores from three different cities, I have yet to find this issue on the magazine racks. They are either selling like hot cakes or I've been visiting the wrong book stores. I still need a copy!

Movie Review: Avatar

Happy New Year! Another day, another decade!

I’ll admit, I had my reservations about Avatar. No critic screening and a five-hundred million dollar budget seemed like a recipe for disaster. A very expensive disaster! Well… I walked out of the theater pleasantly surprised!

Avatar’s story isn’t terribly unique if you’re looking at the top line premise of the film. It’s basically man’s obsession for money and industry versus the spirit of nature and mother earth. The unforgiving human race is on the planet of Pandora to mine rare metal that sells for millions on Earth. The natives, the Na'vi, are unwilling to relocate their home and livelihood where the rare metal is located. The humans declare war on the Na'vi, reeking havoc on Pandora.

What makes Avatar unique is the world James Cameron created. He created an alien race, language and planetary way of life for this film. I should also mention that James Cameron developed new film technology for the movie which was very impressive, making animated facial expression realistic and virtually tangible. The 3D experience was an added bonus for this film. I was concerned that the 3D visuals would get annoying after thirty minutes into the film, but that was not the case at all, making for a smooth visual experience. Keep in mind, Avatar is over two and a half hours long. I’m happy to say I didn’t find one dull moment in the movie. There is enough action and drama at every turn to keep you entertained.

Overall, Avatar is a must see, especially in 3D. I can see myself watching this movie again in theaters, hopefully in IMAX.