Quick Reviews: Four Most Recent

Yeah, I keep procrastinating instead of writing about a movie right after I've seen it. It's a good thing I don't get paid for this. Of course, if someone would like to pay me, I'd be sure to stick to deadline. Anyway, I'll be pretty brief with these. Mostly not bad, but not really worth a ton of analysis.

The real selling point of 2 Guns is the Denzel Washington-Mark Wahlberg pairing, as law enforcement officials (undercover, but each thinks the other is an actual criminal) trying to bring down a drug lord. It gets much more complicated, with double-crosses galore. I just let go of trying to keep up and rode the wave of the two stars' having fun. My grade: B.

Speaking of drug lords, there's one in We're the Millers, and he forces a low-level drug dealer (Jason Sudeikis) to make a pickup of pot in Mexico. To do this successfully, he decides to take family with him in order to avoid suspicion at the border. As he has no family, he recruits a stripper (Jennifer Aniston) and a couple of teenagers, one a latchkey kid and one a runaway, to act as his family. At times raunchy but generally pretty funny. I can't entirely buy Aniston as a stripper, though. She's just too...nice. My grade: B-plus.

Elysium is a sci-fi film and a lesson. In 2154 the world is a real mess, and the wealthiest people have gone to Elysium, a space station/satellite/mini-world where life is perfect and disease is cured instantly with a short lie-down in a machine that looks like a tanning booth. Elysium is visible in the Earth's sky, like the moon, taunting those left behind with no hope of getting up there. So this is all a commentary on current events and the need for universal health care. Poisoned by an industrial accident and with five days to live, Max (Matt Damon) hooks up with a group who smuggles people onto Elysium to get their own diseases cured. Damon's fine, but Jodie Foster as a government official defending Elysium from the illegal immigrants is kind of a misfire. Still, it's watchable and food for thought, although the Tea Party nutjobs might disagree. My grade: B-plus.

And then there's Paranoia, which is pretty much a mess. It's about a guy (Liam Hemsworth, pretty but vapid; I think he has a total of one facial expression) who gets himself entangled in corporate espionage between two tech companies, run by a pair of former friends (Harrison Ford, with head shaved(!) and Gary Oldman). Ridiculous script and plot, and not particularly well-acted. What really got me was how some of it was filmed in Philadelphia but it's set in New York. But there are times when it's so obvious it's Philadelphia. Street signs, local establishments, the concourse under Broad Street that obviously isn't a New York City subway concourse -- and not only did they film inside the Comcast Center, but at one point you actually see the building's name. Really sloppy work. Fortunately, not many people will see it. When I saw it on Friday, it's first day of release, only one other person was in the theater with me. My grade: D-plus.

My Olympic Solution To The Russian Gay Thing

Something good MUST come from this! I know
Homer Simpson would approve.

There's been a large outcry from around the world against Russia for its recent onslaught of anti-gay laws and violence, particularly as it relates to two things: Russian vodka and the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

Among the many suggestions and counter-suggestions that have meandered into my brain via various media outlets:

Boycott Russian vodka, especially Stolichnaya. Put financial pressure on Russia.
Don't boycott Stoli -- the company isn't actually Russian-owned and is pro-LGBT.

Boycott the Sochi Olympics. That will hurt and embarrass Russia.
Don't boycott the Sochi Olympics -- that will only hurt the athletes who aren't allowed to compete.

Move the Olympics to another location. That will hurt Russia.
Don't move the Olympics -- logistically it just can't be done.

Athletes, coaches, officials and others participating in or attending the Olympics should protest while there -- for example, wearing items with the rainbow flag.
Athletes, etc. shouldn't protest -- the Olympics shouldn't be politicized (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA -- they've been politicized longer than I've been alive) and athletes may be disqualified or sanctioned. Plus these visitors may risk being arrested themselves. (Russian officials keep changing their tunes in this regard and the International Olympic Committee, engorged as it is by greed and corruption, doesn't have a clue how to react.)

No one should travel to Russia for vacation. Spend tourism money elsewhere.
...actually, I haven't seen a pro-tourism viewpoint here. But how many people actually visit Russia for pleasure when there isn't an Olympics? I have no statistics, but if you're not a Russophile like Johnny Weir, there are a lot more glamorous vacation destinations.

What disturbs me is the infighting I've seen regarding these ideas. Maybe it's just my finding links and comments on Twitter, but it seems both supporters and opponents of these boycotts are doing a lot of nasty sniping at each other. While they agree that something needs to be done, they aren't exactly putting up a united front.

That has to stop. I'm for any boycott that anyone wants to do. I'm in favor of not buying Russian vodka. I'm in favor of moving the Olympics (more on that in a moment). I'm in favor of boycotting the Olympics, if any governments decided to do so. I don't really care what's done, but something must be done to stop the injustices in Russia. But I'm not in favor of fighting and insulting each other.

As far as moving the Olympics out of Sochi, I think there's a way.

DC Nov. 2012: Newseum, Pandas, Memorials

Back in November I took a trip to Washington, DC. I spent a couple of days touring around, trying to hit a couple of spots I hadn't seen before (or not in a long time). As it turned out, I also saw some NBA action between the Washington Wizards and Portland Trail Blazers, with the 0-12 Wizards inspired by my presence to actually win a game. Here are a few photos. The entire set is here. (Sorry, I'm not putting up the slideshow here tonight.)

Among the interesting items at the Newseum was this copy of the Philadelphia Inquirer from shortly after Abraham Lincoln's assassination. The Inquirer hasn't really changed much since 1865.

Quick Review: The Wolverine

So, we've had a lot of successful, popular movies in recent years featuring Marvel Comics characters, and one thing that many of these films feature is the scene during or after the credits, setting up a future film. Despite this, so many people left the theater when I saw The Wolverine tonight that it was just shocking to me. Haven't people learned by now? You don't leave a Marvel flick until the surprise in the credits. Too bad for them. Anyway, poor Logan (Hugh Jackman) is living the life of a hermit, tortured by dreams of his deceased love, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), and by all the death and misery he's experienced. He's tracked down by a woman tasked with bringing him to Japan to see a dying tech company CEO, whose life Wolverine saved when the United States dropped the bomb on Nagasaki. He says there's a way to remove Logan's healing abilities, allowing Logan to finally find peace through death. The story mixes in family intrigue, romantic entanglements, corporate maneuvering...and ninjas. Lots and lots of ninjas. Its's a mostly interesting film, very different from typical superhero-type films until a twist at the end. And don't forget that scene during the credits...My grade: B-plus.

Quick Review: Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim, set in the near future, begins with a prelude: the world is in peril by Kaiju, giant monsters from another dimension or something that arrive through a portal deep in the Pacific Ocean and begin destroying coastal cities. The countries of the world unite their resources to create Jaegers -- enormous fighting machines, piloted by humans. For some reason, these machines require two humans to work them, and they have to have their minds united by a mental link called "the drift." This, in our current era of drone aircraft, just seems odd. For a time this is a success, until more powerful Kaiju arrive. The Jaeger program is then discontinued in favor of a plan of defense so ludicrous I won't even spoil it. Anyway, there are four remaining Jaegers and the head of the program has a plan to close the rift once and for all...well, enough of the plot. Essentially, this is like a combination of Godzilla and other monsters vs. these guys (and I wouldn't have known of this without having seen an episode of that show a day earlier thanks to my friend Kurt's love of the show) with a dash of other movies thrown in. Both the machines and the monsters are lumbering, and as everything seems to takes place at night, often in rainy conditions, or at the ocean floor, it's hard to see exactly how the Kaiju differ from each other and the fights are at times a bit muddled. That's kind of inept filmmaking to me. It's just a little too derivative to take seriously, considering the prerelease hype. My grade: C-plus.

Mural Arts Program Bus Tour

I took this tour back in October. The city's wonderful Mural Arts Program has a number of bus/trolley tours, walking tours and even a bike tour. More info can be found here. This particular tour focused on North Philadelphia, and we ended up, among other places, seeing El Centro de Oro and the colorful storefronts on Germantown Avenue. Also, check out my photo blog for another unique self-portrait. (I made a few comments on some of the photos, so you may want to check out the main page...or I think you can click on the pics to see my comments...)

Since Flickr has increased their free space to a Terabyte, I'm using it again for my photo sets. That means, if all works properly, I can embed slideshows again!




By the way, do you think this is supposed to be Michael Jackson?

Quick Review: Despicable Me 2

Often, when I really love a movie, I hope that no sequel arrives. So often those sequels disappoint. Thus, I was worried about Despicable Me 2. How could they come up with another story involving supervillain-turned-doting dad Gru (voice of Steve Carell), his three little girls and his seemingly endless supply of Minions? Would they turn Gru evil again? Find a reason for him to be separated from his daughters? Thankfully, there's a workable story which avoids both of those obvious misfires. Gru is recruited by the Anti-Villain League to help stop a different criminal's fiendish plot, teaming up with one of their agents (Kristen Wiig). There isn't as much interaction between Gru and the girls, as this time Gru's personal growth, if you will, comes from his getting back into the world of...dating. Also, the Minion activity is upped, which some adults may find tiresome. But I'm a big kid at heart. My grade: A-minus.

(Speaking of the Minions, I bought a DVD of the first movie because it had a coupon for some Fandango cash, and look who was inside?)

My iTunes Shuffle Baker's Dozen 7-10-13

It's been a while for one of these, soooo...

It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - R.E.M.
Simple - k.d. lang
The War Is Over - Kelly Clarkson
She's Comin' Out Swingin' - The Simpsons
Changes - David Bowie
Say Goodbye - Dave Matthews Band
You Take Some Lentils and You Take Some Rice - Eurythmics
Here You Come Again - Dolly Parton
Two Hearts - Stephanie Mills with Teddy Pendergrass
You'll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart) - Dionne Warwick
This Love (Tricky Stewart Remix) - Maroon 5
Kill The Pain - INXS
Life Can Be So Nice - Prince and the Revolution

Quick Reviews: Five More...

Oops, I did it again. Procrastinated on writing about the movies I've seen, that is. I guess all that writing for "Man of Steel" took a lot out of me...no, just the usual issues. Anyway, here are the most recent five:

The Bling Ring is based on a true story about shallow, vapid young people robbing the homes of shallow, vapid celebrities such as Paris Hilton -- celebrities so shallow that they tended to leave the doors to their homes unlocked, which made it much easier for the burglars. I can think of no further proof of the utter shallowness of Paris Hilton than the fact that not only did she cameo in the movie, but allowed the filmmakers to film the scenes of the robbery of her house at that very same house. The movie made no points, taught no lessons, and doesn't even function as a pseudo-documentary. My grade: D.

World War Z was just odd. It felt like a mashup of different genres -- science fiction, disaster film, horror -- and it all didn't blend well for me. And Brad Pitt as an action hero didn't connect with me either. Also, I hate that the film started out in Philadelphia, where Pitt's character's family lived, but was obviously filmed elsewhere (London, if I recall). Even the skyline didn't look like Philadelphia. My grade: C-plus.

Monsters University is a prequel, focusing on the first meeting of Mike and Sully at college. When Pixar's followed up on previous films they've been good (both "Toy Story" sequels) and bad ("Cars 2," from what I've heard). This one is okay, but it doesn't bode well for other planned sequels, including one for "Finding Nemo." Pixar needs to focus on original stuff again and leave sequels and prequels to Disney's direct-to-DVD products. My grade: B.

When I get excited about a movie based on its trailer, I am always concerned about a letdown. Thankfully, there was no letdown from The Heat, the Sandra Bullock-Melissa McCarthy mismatched-buddy-cop (well, cop and FBI in this one) action comedy. Lots of humor, foul language, violence -- but heart as well. Bullock and McCarthy work very well together. My grade: A.

The Lone Ranger has Armie Hammer in the title role, but make no mistake, the masked man's the straight man for Johnny Depp's shticky Tonto. The Ranger is more of a dolt than a hero, and it all strained my credulity. It got a surprising amount of laughs from others in the theater, but I mostly sat there sighing and rolling my eyes as it went on and on, interspersed with a ridiculous framing sequence featuring an elderly Depp-as-Tonto telling the story to a little boy at a traveling circus. My grade: D-plus.

Quick Review: Man Of Steel

This is a not-so-quick read, actually.

If you've read this blog in the past, back when I used to post a lot more (and yes, I'm going to keep making the point that my lack of posts has been an abysmal failure of mine), you know that I am wayyyyyy into Superman. The comic books, the animated films and series, the TV series and, of course, the movies. The comic books, lately, I've put aside. My disdain for the changes foisted upon Superman's character by DC Comics when they rebooted their entire universe caused me to pretty much stop buying the books. That's not to say I haven't bought any comic books; there are the Simpsons and Futurama titles, and other things I've dabbled in, including some other DC titles. (I'll have to summarize all of that somewhere. There's over a year's worth of purchases so I won't really summarize them as I used to.) But as for the main Super-titles, I haven't purchased them.

Still, I am all for Superman, when done right. So geeked was I for Man of Steel, the latest big-screen attempt to cash in on Kal-El's popularity, that I not only purchased a ticket in advance (which I never do), but I spent the extra cash for IMAX (well, the faux-IMAX that they have at the AMC at Franklin Mills Mall).

There's another reason I mention the whole DC Comics reboot. As with every iteration, the individual creators tend to make changes to suit their needs. (And at times those changes get into the comic books. The 1940s cartoons had Superman fly for the first time, instead of leaping from place to place; Kryptonite was introduced in the radio serials in 1943; the list goes on.)