DocPhotonic

Brock Sampson from the Venture Bros. and Marv from Sin City. Heck, Marv even got shot several times, including once in the head, and didn't seem too seriously hurt.

I just got back from seeing Priest in 2-D. Since the Rotten Tomatoes rating was only around 18% or so, I went in to it with low expectations. It was nothing mind-blowing and it ripped-off a lot of other movies, but I actually kind of dug it a little bit.

Here is my recipe for a Priest "cocktail" -- add equal parts of Blade 2 and Equilibrium. Add a splash of The Searchers, and shake. Pour into a glass with twist of Mortal Kombat peel as garnish. Enjoy.

Also, there was one scene where I halfway expected a voice-over announcer to come in and say, "Kung Lao wins! FATALITY!"

The new trailer looks better, but I'm still concerned about tone issues. Ryan Reynolds just seems too much of a wisecracker to be Hal Jordon. It's just too out-of-character.

Also, I really hope the filmmakers don't try to jam on a "cute," boy-meets-girl subplot on to this movie. This trend of turning superhero action movies into romantic comedies (e.g., Spider-man and Thor) in order to appeal to a young female audience is just lame. Leave that kind of stuff to the Lifetime Channel.

I saw it today. I thought it was okay, but could have been better. It's worthy of seeing at least once. Here are two problems I had with the film.

(1) Apparently, the filmmakers wanted the movie to appeal more to a young female demographic, and so they shoehorned a really unnecessary, cutesy boy-meets-girl subplot onto the movie (a la Spider-man). Quite frankly, I hated this part of the movie. It slowed down the movie when it really needed more superpowered action. I was starting to feel like I was watching a chick flick.

Also--can I be honest, here?--I really think that Thor was way out of Natalie Portman's character's league. Come on, now. Not only is Natalie Portman not that hot, but her character didn't have a ounce of feminine charm. At all. Her character was an androgynous tomboy. I just couldn't buy into the idea that Thor would fall madly in love with her. Sorry.

So, yeah . . . next time Marvel, more action, plot, and dramatic conflict--and less romantic comedy, please.

(2) Where the heck was Thor's helmet? He was shown wearing it for about ten seconds during the crowning ceremony, but he never wears it again--even when he is expecting to fight a war against the frost giants.

Brad Jones (aka The Cinema Snob) gives an interesting take on the use and misuse of 3D in modern movies in his review of Drive Angry. He argues that there are two ways in which 3D is used: atmospheric 3D and gimmicky 3D.

Atmospheric 3D merely serves to give the illusion of depth between the background and the characters on screen. Examples include Avatar, The Green Hornet, and The Last Airbender. In many of these movies, the 3D effect is added in post-production, seemingly as an afterthought. Brad argues that atmospheric 3D is a waste of the effect, being either pretentious in the case of James Cameron's movies--or just a way to ripoff moviegoers with higher ticket prices.

Gimmicky 3D, Brad argues on the other hand, is the proper use of 3D. Gimmicky 3D doesn't just give the illusion of depth, it gives the illusion that objects (e.g., bullets, knives, blood, etc.) are leaping off the movie screen and right at the audience's faces, adding to the fun of the movie experience. Examples of this include Drive Angry 3D, My Bloody Valentine, and Piranha 3D.

Here is Brad Jones' review: http://thecinemasnob.com/2011/02/26/...-d-review.aspx

I just got back from seeing the grindhouse exploitation movie Drive Angry 3D. Is it a bad movie? Yep. Did it entertain the everlovin' hell out of me? Oh, you better believe it!

This is the movie that Tarantino's Deathproof should have been. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2-hiHUh4UQ

I got a kick out of the reference to the Twin Peaks TV series in Friday's episode. Walter put on a pair of funky-looking sunglasses with one blue lens and one red lens, and said that he got them from one Dr. Jacoby, a friend of his from Washington State. Dr. Jacoby, of course, was the name of the hippy psychiatrist in Twin Peaks, who wore the same kind of sunglasses.

Shadowmeld on a IO'ed /SR scrapper? Er, what's the point?

Give in to your inner min/maxer and go with shield defense. Its ease of soft-capping, damage buff, and AOE attack are just too tasty to turn down.

TV:
Terriers -- I loved this smartly written and well-acted private investigator dramedy. Unfortunately, I must have been one of the very few who watched it because it was cancelled after only one season, ending on one hell of a cliff-hanger no less. It now joins the ranks of great shows that met their untimely demise such as Twin Peaks, Deadwood, Firefly, Canivale, and Rome.

Rest in peace, Terriers. I will miss you.

Aw, crap. It looks like it's going to be a comedy a la The Green Hornet. Color me "not impressed."

When I first heard that Machete was being made into a full-length film, I was excited. The original, faux-trailer looked like great fun, and I was a fan of much of Rodriguez's previous work.

However, my hopes for the film were violently dashed when the infamous "Cinco de Mayo" trailer came out, depicting Machete as an anti-American, "hate whitey" propaganda piece which advocates for civilian Mexicans to invade and conquer this country. Although Rodriguez later insisted that the "Cinco de Mayo" trailer was only a joke and was not really what the film is about, I still had my suspicions.

I was planning to go see the film tonight, but I just found a movie review which, if accurate, confirms that my suspicions were correct. I've suddenly lost all interest in seeing this movie.

Oh, hell, yeah! I'm in. All in.

I would love to be able to minimize the graphic effects of Rage, Hasten, Combat Jumping, and Super Jump.

Also, I think the ice shield powers should have alternative, less fugly, graphical options.

Lately, I've been listening to music from the 60s and 70s--rock, pop, soul, and even disco and some country music(!). Growing up in the 80s, I really didn't get exposed to 60s/70s music that much, so its almost like listening to brand new music to me. Quite frankly, I've been shocked by how much incredible music was made back then. IMHO, it just blows away the vast majority of the garbage that has been produced in the past several years.

Wow. I must be getting old. I'm starting to sound like an old fuddy-duddy.

Yes

Since Practiced Brawler is the most critical of the three click-powers for your survival, I would put it on auto-fire.

I'm with you. Ever since i17 launched, I haven't been able to play the game because of severe lag. I hope this problem gets resolved soon. I don't like the idea of paying for two game accounts that I can't use.

Here's some video footage of a fighting style that would be totally sweet as a new powerset for scrappers for Going Rouge. Fingers crossed. Hope. Hope.

Witness the splendor of Rolled-up Magazine Melee http://viralfootage.com/?p=6376

Firing off the a tracer round every now and then would look pretty cool.

My SS/WP brute will definitely leave redside. I've always envisioned him being more of an anti-hero vigilante than a proper villain anyway; kind of a cross between Superman and Marv from Sin City.