Before I start slamming the new movie, I'd like to explain my stance on the series. I'll keep this as brief as I can.
When Sylvester Stallone first announced The Expendables, a film that would star a bunch of old-school action heroes and have a spirit drenched in the 80s, I was ecstatic. After the cast was announced? Not as much. However, I fully intended on seeing the film anyway. I remember walking out of the theater and being disappointed. The action was mediocre, the villains were no fun, and the coolest thing that happened was Stallone, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger had a small scene of dialogue together...yes, they talked for 2 minutes and it was still a bigger moment than anything else in the film.
About a year or so after the film came out, a Director's Cut was released on Blu-Ray. I never bothered to watch that version of the film. My Dad has it, but he didn't seem too impressed by it, and he loves the movie. So, I really doubt I'm missing much by not seeing it. However, I should probably watch it sometime, just in case haha.
In 2012, The Expendables 2 was released. It had been a summer of ups and downs as far as films go. The Avengers had rocked my world, Ted surpassed my expectations, Prometheus made me curse the name Lindelof, and I skipped Amazing Spider-Man and Dark Knight Rises because they looked like poo. So, as August rolled around and Stallone and his crew were back in theaters, I wasn't expecting much. Fortunately, I was very wrong. The second film fixed everything that was wrong with the first one. The villains had a bit of depth and I wanted to see them die, Arnold and Bruce joined in on the carnage, the lone female character wasn't boring and/or spouting cliched dialogue, and most importantly, the action was so much better. This time upon leaving the theater? Happy, maybe even giddy. Me and Dad talked about who we wanted to join the franchise next, who we didn't, what could they do for a story next, etc. It was great. Hell, the only thing we didn't like was Chuck Norris. Sorry kids, but I've never liked him, except for that time Bruce Lee mopped the floor with him.
And now, here we are, 2014 The Expendables 3 and...well, it sucks. This film actually ranks lower than the first one for me. It is just terrible. And that's too bad, because there are some really great things going on here. Wesley Snipes and Antonio Banderas both shine as new(old) members of the team and although he's not given nearly enough to do, Mel Gibson is a damn fine villain. Also, surprisingly, Kelsey Grammer comes in and plays a role very similar to Mickey Rourke's in the first film and does a great job. Harrison Ford replaces Bruce Willis but feels kinda out of place here and Schwarzenegger is wasted. Oh yeah, they brought Jet Li back too, also wasted. The worst transgression is definitely the new-and-improved, modern, young Expendables. Ugh. My suspension of belief can't imagine Victor Ortiz and Glen Powell as being super tech-savvy and their acting is awful...but not as bad as Kellan Lutz and Ronda Rousey! Rousey is easily the most laughable of the bunch and has some of that awesomely stupid, cliched, tough female action dialogue. "Men". Hahahaha. Are they for real with this shit?
The movie opened in 4th place at the Box Office this weekend and will probably be dumped from theaters within two weeks. I've read a lot of articles blaming the weak numbers on the fact that the film leaked online a few weeks ago and that most people have already seen it. I highly doubt that, if anything, those who already saw the film probably warned friends and family not to waste their time. If only I had been so lucky.
There has been talk of a sequel or an all female spin-off. Honestly, let it die. A sequel will probably feature this "new generation" and instantly suck because of it. The spin-off idea sounds a bit hokey, but not because it's all female action stars...nope, instead I can just imagine all of them being written exactly like Rousey's character in this one. Torture. Pure, unadulterated, torture.
Let me know if I should give that Director's Cut a look sometime and stay as far away as you can from The Expendables 3.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Butch Cassidy, Young and Old
Haven't been feeling the best lately, so I've been streaming a lot of movies and catching up with titles I've never seen.
First up was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Yup, never actually watched this film until yesterday. Overall, I liked the film, but found a few things that seemed out of place. The score was terrible in my opinion; it felt unnatural and forced. My other major gripe with the film is the bicycle sequence. Ugh. Between the song and the physical comedy on display during the bike ride, I felt pulled out of the film.
So, what did I really like? The chemistry between Paul Newman and Robert Redford is undeniable. It's crazy to think they only did two films together. There's not much action, but what is there is sufficient. I also really enjoyed the sepia-toned intro and photo slideshow near the halfway mark.
Final Verdict: If you like Westerns at all, or films from the late 60s early 70s, then give this one a look. DVD and Blu-Ray are both in print and easily obtainable, the film is also currently streaming on Netflix.
Next up is Blackthorn. This film is from 2011 and features an older Butch Cassidy and his further adventures in South America. I was disappointed by this film. The story is terrible and features flashbacks that tell an altered (and condensed) version of Butch and Sundance making their way south to Bolivia. Unfortunately, the flashbacks feature the best acting, but are dreadfully short.
Did I like anything about the film? Well, yeah. The locales where the movie was filmed are quite beautiful and at times lend an almost eerie feeling to the proceedings. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not. Also, the music, although a little strange, fits this film a lot better than the last go round.
Final Verdict: Only watch this if you are curious and/or want to see a sort-of sequel to the 1969 film. I believe the DVD and Blu-Ray are in print and the film is being streamed through Amazon Prime.
I did a little research and found a couple of other unofficial sequels that were made as TV Movies in the 70s, along with a prequel also made in the 70s. If I can find them, I'll give em a look and let you know.
First up was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Yup, never actually watched this film until yesterday. Overall, I liked the film, but found a few things that seemed out of place. The score was terrible in my opinion; it felt unnatural and forced. My other major gripe with the film is the bicycle sequence. Ugh. Between the song and the physical comedy on display during the bike ride, I felt pulled out of the film.
So, what did I really like? The chemistry between Paul Newman and Robert Redford is undeniable. It's crazy to think they only did two films together. There's not much action, but what is there is sufficient. I also really enjoyed the sepia-toned intro and photo slideshow near the halfway mark.
Final Verdict: If you like Westerns at all, or films from the late 60s early 70s, then give this one a look. DVD and Blu-Ray are both in print and easily obtainable, the film is also currently streaming on Netflix.
Next up is Blackthorn. This film is from 2011 and features an older Butch Cassidy and his further adventures in South America. I was disappointed by this film. The story is terrible and features flashbacks that tell an altered (and condensed) version of Butch and Sundance making their way south to Bolivia. Unfortunately, the flashbacks feature the best acting, but are dreadfully short.
Did I like anything about the film? Well, yeah. The locales where the movie was filmed are quite beautiful and at times lend an almost eerie feeling to the proceedings. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not. Also, the music, although a little strange, fits this film a lot better than the last go round.
Final Verdict: Only watch this if you are curious and/or want to see a sort-of sequel to the 1969 film. I believe the DVD and Blu-Ray are in print and the film is being streamed through Amazon Prime.
I did a little research and found a couple of other unofficial sequels that were made as TV Movies in the 70s, along with a prequel also made in the 70s. If I can find them, I'll give em a look and let you know.
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Oh How Silly of Me
This blog is such a failure haha. I am extremely neglectful. Honestly? I never make time for this thing and always set stupid goals within it. The sad part is that I'm often sitting around bored and wondering what I could do to fill the time. Hmmm. Maybe I should write a blog post? Nah, that sounds stupid. Well...here we are. Once again.
There may be more activity coming in the near future. The big 3-0 is coming up and I intend to cry about it quite a bit. I'm interested in starting up a Youtube channel and if I get that going, this blog will probably be even more neglected (is that possible?). I would really like to do some game streaming, ranting about random topics, Loot Crate unboxings, and maybe some reviews.
The wife is doing well, gonna start teaching soon, so that's exciting. I've been working on my comic book and making some real progress with the story and dialogue.
That's all for now, see you soon (fingers crossed)!
There may be more activity coming in the near future. The big 3-0 is coming up and I intend to cry about it quite a bit. I'm interested in starting up a Youtube channel and if I get that going, this blog will probably be even more neglected (is that possible?). I would really like to do some game streaming, ranting about random topics, Loot Crate unboxings, and maybe some reviews.
The wife is doing well, gonna start teaching soon, so that's exciting. I've been working on my comic book and making some real progress with the story and dialogue.
That's all for now, see you soon (fingers crossed)!
Saturday, April 6, 2013
29 years (almost) Let's celebrate
Okay, I've been slacking with this (again) but I'm on a mission now. Later this year I shall turn 29 years old and to commemorate this historic event I have two awesome plans:
1. I'm going to list my top 29 favorite movies and write up a little something on each one. This is the less-ambitious of my two plans. I've already made my list of favorites and writing about movies that I love will be quite easy.
2. I want to watch one movie from every year that I've been alive that I've never seen before (or only seen small bits) and write up a little review. This process will also be interactive, as I'd like my readers to make some film suggestions. I'll be using Netflix to aid me in this process (or if you want to lend me a copy of your suggestion) so keep that in mind when making selections. Also, I have found a good film for 1984 already, so start combing through 1985 and onward! Here's a good place to start looking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_films_of_1985
(Those are only the American films, I'll accept foreign as well...if it looks interesting.)
Okay, I'm going to go ahead and throw down my list of 29 films...the first ten are my top ten, my desert island films, I can't live without these movies! Other than that, none of these have been ranked; there is no particular order to the list, I'm just presenting them at random. Over the course of the next month or so, I hope to have written up all of the films on the list and start with Plan 2.
1. Escape From New York
2. Evil Dead 2
3. The Avengers (2012)
4. Aliens
5. The Empire Strikes Back
6. For a Few Dollars More
7. You Only Live Twice
8. King Kong vs Godzilla
9. The Grey
10. Jaws
11. Dark City
12. The Fifth Element
13. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
14. Predator
15. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
16. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
17. The Road Warrior
18. The Warriors (Theatrical Version ONLY)
19. The Thing (1982)
20. Big Trouble in Little China
21. Nightbreed
22. Grindhouse
23. Poltergeist
24. Stargate
25. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
26. Pulp Fiction
27. The Mummy (1999)
28. Tron: Legacy
29. The Devil's Rejects
Expect to see the first two or three write-ups by the end of next week.
1. I'm going to list my top 29 favorite movies and write up a little something on each one. This is the less-ambitious of my two plans. I've already made my list of favorites and writing about movies that I love will be quite easy.
2. I want to watch one movie from every year that I've been alive that I've never seen before (or only seen small bits) and write up a little review. This process will also be interactive, as I'd like my readers to make some film suggestions. I'll be using Netflix to aid me in this process (or if you want to lend me a copy of your suggestion) so keep that in mind when making selections. Also, I have found a good film for 1984 already, so start combing through 1985 and onward! Here's a good place to start looking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_films_of_1985
(Those are only the American films, I'll accept foreign as well...if it looks interesting.)
Okay, I'm going to go ahead and throw down my list of 29 films...the first ten are my top ten, my desert island films, I can't live without these movies! Other than that, none of these have been ranked; there is no particular order to the list, I'm just presenting them at random. Over the course of the next month or so, I hope to have written up all of the films on the list and start with Plan 2.
1. Escape From New York
2. Evil Dead 2
3. The Avengers (2012)
4. Aliens
5. The Empire Strikes Back
6. For a Few Dollars More
7. You Only Live Twice
8. King Kong vs Godzilla
9. The Grey
10. Jaws
11. Dark City
12. The Fifth Element
13. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
14. Predator
15. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
16. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
17. The Road Warrior
18. The Warriors (Theatrical Version ONLY)
19. The Thing (1982)
20. Big Trouble in Little China
21. Nightbreed
22. Grindhouse
23. Poltergeist
24. Stargate
25. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
26. Pulp Fiction
27. The Mummy (1999)
28. Tron: Legacy
29. The Devil's Rejects
Expect to see the first two or three write-ups by the end of next week.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Avengers, Underworld, and Other Usual Suspects
Let's start with The Avengers. It rocked me socks off boy-o. I'm not even sure what else to say about it...saw it 3 times in one weekend, love it to death, super excited for the sequel, and it got me to try shawarma (really awesome too). Oh, the soundtrack is okay. The new Shinedown track is a definite stand-out.
Now, how about a little mini-review of Underworld: Awakening? It's pure filler. Just a set-up for the sequel(s). Everything was a bit mediocre as well. I really wish they would've gone in a different direction and used better villains. Eh, maybe next time.
Right now I'm watching The Usual Suspects on Blu-ray. I purchased the book version for cheap on amazon.com. Movie looks damn good, but there are no special features except some trailers (boo). Haha, Agent Coulson is playing a doctor near the beginning of the film, dude looks young as hell.
Guess I should get some rest....might read for a bit first. Goodnight.
Now, how about a little mini-review of Underworld: Awakening? It's pure filler. Just a set-up for the sequel(s). Everything was a bit mediocre as well. I really wish they would've gone in a different direction and used better villains. Eh, maybe next time.
Right now I'm watching The Usual Suspects on Blu-ray. I purchased the book version for cheap on amazon.com. Movie looks damn good, but there are no special features except some trailers (boo). Haha, Agent Coulson is playing a doctor near the beginning of the film, dude looks young as hell.
Guess I should get some rest....might read for a bit first. Goodnight.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Kingdoms of Amalur
Ah yes, I've been lost in the Kingdoms of Amalur as of late. I haven't completed the game yet, so this won't be a true review, I'll get around to that later. However, I thought I'd share some of my musings on the game...
The story is your average RPG scenario, Amnesiac Protagonist whose origin is linked to the crisis/villain/etc. It works a little bit better here because your character has been brought back from the dead, but it's still cliche. There are a couple hundred side quests (and let's face it, the best stories always come from the side quests). I have over 20 of them active right now. There are also Tasks which equate to simple fetch quests and of course, we have Faction quests. The Factions are interesting and slightly varied from, say, the Elder Scrolls series. I've practically forgot the Main quest at this point, focusing solely on all the Side and Faction quests. Ooops :)
Combat is fun and engaging, stealth mode is actually fairly decent, and spell-casting is similar to most action-RPGs of this day and age...but, I have a complaint. The. Blocking. Sucks. Balls. Yes, using a shield is only about halfway effective in my opinion, you're much better off dodging. For some strange reason the character never wants to block when I press the button...even if I'm standing still and doing absolutely nothing else. Seriously.
Voice acting could use a bit of work. Oh sure, there are some stand-outs so far, like Agarth the Fateweaver, but I keep hearing the same 5 or 6 males and 5 or 6 females and it's a bit annoying and bland. The music is alright and will pop into my head at the most random times when I'm not playing haha.
The class system is handled in a unique way, but is still a bit confining. You can be a swordsman, a rogue (thief/assassin), a mage or a combination. The combinations come in duals and a "jack-of-all-trades" that combines all three. I'm going with a melee/assassin build and pretty much ignoring spell-casting. Now, if you find that to be limiting just wait until you see the list of races you can choose from...Generic human 1, Generic human 2, Generic Elf 1, Generic Elf 2. Yeah. It's a bit disappointing. When I booted up the demo and was only given those four to choose from, I thought "There'll be more in the full game, I mean, Skyrim has like 10 fucking races including lizard and kitty people." Can you imagine my disappointment when I discovered those four races were it? Sure, there's a ton of customization you can do (blonde mohawk and reddish-brown curvy moustache anyone?) but, I was hoping to play as something a bit more unique.
I'm still having a lot of fun with this game and can't wait to explore the first DLC expansion (plus there's another one coming out next week!) and I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys action-RPGs and/or having big open worlds to explore and dick around in.
Oh yeah, on to real life subjects...I've got a new phone, there's an engagement party coming up very soon, and it's already too damn hot outside. Friggin Texas April. I'll try not to go so long between posts after this, wish me luck haha.
The story is your average RPG scenario, Amnesiac Protagonist whose origin is linked to the crisis/villain/etc. It works a little bit better here because your character has been brought back from the dead, but it's still cliche. There are a couple hundred side quests (and let's face it, the best stories always come from the side quests). I have over 20 of them active right now. There are also Tasks which equate to simple fetch quests and of course, we have Faction quests. The Factions are interesting and slightly varied from, say, the Elder Scrolls series. I've practically forgot the Main quest at this point, focusing solely on all the Side and Faction quests. Ooops :)
Combat is fun and engaging, stealth mode is actually fairly decent, and spell-casting is similar to most action-RPGs of this day and age...but, I have a complaint. The. Blocking. Sucks. Balls. Yes, using a shield is only about halfway effective in my opinion, you're much better off dodging. For some strange reason the character never wants to block when I press the button...even if I'm standing still and doing absolutely nothing else. Seriously.
Voice acting could use a bit of work. Oh sure, there are some stand-outs so far, like Agarth the Fateweaver, but I keep hearing the same 5 or 6 males and 5 or 6 females and it's a bit annoying and bland. The music is alright and will pop into my head at the most random times when I'm not playing haha.
The class system is handled in a unique way, but is still a bit confining. You can be a swordsman, a rogue (thief/assassin), a mage or a combination. The combinations come in duals and a "jack-of-all-trades" that combines all three. I'm going with a melee/assassin build and pretty much ignoring spell-casting. Now, if you find that to be limiting just wait until you see the list of races you can choose from...Generic human 1, Generic human 2, Generic Elf 1, Generic Elf 2. Yeah. It's a bit disappointing. When I booted up the demo and was only given those four to choose from, I thought "There'll be more in the full game, I mean, Skyrim has like 10 fucking races including lizard and kitty people." Can you imagine my disappointment when I discovered those four races were it? Sure, there's a ton of customization you can do (blonde mohawk and reddish-brown curvy moustache anyone?) but, I was hoping to play as something a bit more unique.
I'm still having a lot of fun with this game and can't wait to explore the first DLC expansion (plus there's another one coming out next week!) and I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys action-RPGs and/or having big open worlds to explore and dick around in.
Oh yeah, on to real life subjects...I've got a new phone, there's an engagement party coming up very soon, and it's already too damn hot outside. Friggin Texas April. I'll try not to go so long between posts after this, wish me luck haha.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Funeral Blues
Another weekend is over.
I know it's cliched, but they go by way too damn fast. I had a lot of wedding prep stuff to do with the fiance and that made it go by a bit faster. Oh, speaking of my fiance, here's our wedding website
http://leannaandjoe.ourwedding.com/view/8227523150120561/8632250/?cm_mmc=Affiliate-_-TheKnot-_-HPSearch-_-HPSearch#.T0sTnFpZZeM.facebook
I hope that link works, if not, I've +1'd it on google+ and like'd it on Facebook so yeah. There ya go.
I'm listening to the new Mark Lanegan album, Funeral Blues, and it's pretty much everything I was hoping it would be. I picked up the Bangarang EP from Skrillex this weekend and really love it, totally recommend it. Also got the new Underworld soundtrack and bought 300 on Blu-ray...but I haven't had a chance to check either of those out yet.
Not much else going on right at the moment...oh wait, I forgot to talk about the wedding stuff we did. On Saturday we met with our photographer. He was very amiable and reminded me of how I felt when I first started hearing stories about Lee's family :P His pictures also looked very nice and he's got quite a bit of experience, so I'm confident that he'll do the job well. Sunday evening we met with a DJ...I refuse to call him "our DJ" or "the DJ" because there's no way I would've picked this dude if I was paying for it. Is he incredibly cheap? Yes. Does he have a lick of experience? Notsomuch. Oh sure, he's played music for like, three weddings and will probably do a couple more before mine rolls around...but he didn't seem very professional either. We had to meet him at a restaurant as opposed to the photographer, who met us at the house. This DJ didn't really give us very many details about his work/setup and had absolutely no music or video to show us. I have a feeling the music at our reception is gonna be a little disappointing. There was a DJ group at an open-house we went to a couple weeks back and they were badass. Expensive? Yes, but totally worth the money. Oh well.
Halfway through the new Lanegan and I'm still digging it. I should probably drag myself to bed haha.
I know it's cliched, but they go by way too damn fast. I had a lot of wedding prep stuff to do with the fiance and that made it go by a bit faster. Oh, speaking of my fiance, here's our wedding website
http://leannaandjoe.ourwedding.com/view/8227523150120561/8632250/?cm_mmc=Affiliate-_-TheKnot-_-HPSearch-_-HPSearch#.T0sTnFpZZeM.facebook
I hope that link works, if not, I've +1'd it on google+ and like'd it on Facebook so yeah. There ya go.
I'm listening to the new Mark Lanegan album, Funeral Blues, and it's pretty much everything I was hoping it would be. I picked up the Bangarang EP from Skrillex this weekend and really love it, totally recommend it. Also got the new Underworld soundtrack and bought 300 on Blu-ray...but I haven't had a chance to check either of those out yet.
Not much else going on right at the moment...oh wait, I forgot to talk about the wedding stuff we did. On Saturday we met with our photographer. He was very amiable and reminded me of how I felt when I first started hearing stories about Lee's family :P His pictures also looked very nice and he's got quite a bit of experience, so I'm confident that he'll do the job well. Sunday evening we met with a DJ...I refuse to call him "our DJ" or "the DJ" because there's no way I would've picked this dude if I was paying for it. Is he incredibly cheap? Yes. Does he have a lick of experience? Notsomuch. Oh sure, he's played music for like, three weddings and will probably do a couple more before mine rolls around...but he didn't seem very professional either. We had to meet him at a restaurant as opposed to the photographer, who met us at the house. This DJ didn't really give us very many details about his work/setup and had absolutely no music or video to show us. I have a feeling the music at our reception is gonna be a little disappointing. There was a DJ group at an open-house we went to a couple weeks back and they were badass. Expensive? Yes, but totally worth the money. Oh well.
Halfway through the new Lanegan and I'm still digging it. I should probably drag myself to bed haha.
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