Today in Netflix recommendations:
Romantic Dramas Featuring a Strong Female Lead
Violent Foreign Action & Adventure
Critically-acclaimed Cerebral Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Dark Psychological Thrillers
Witty Independent Crime Movies
The Bluray RW drive we got for the media center PC.
That Planet Replay has Bluray movies for $12 for aforementioned Bluray player.
This wireless PS2 controller by Logitech. My old corded ones were starting to act a little weird, and we just happened to see this one at Fry’s while browsing. It feels more like the 360 controllers which I find more comfortable than the old PS2 ones anyway. Plus: wireless is always better.
The new-to-me boots I got off eBay for $40. THEY HAVE A DETACHABLE POCKET ON THE SIDE. Now I don’t have to carry a purse when I go dancing! Haven’t worn them around yet, but I suspect they will be easier on my legs than my existing boots (which always gave me blisters just below my shins because the leather was so stiff).
Dogfish Head Punk, a pumpkin beer which does not taste gross, and Terra Andina Carmenere, both of which deserve a post on the long-neglected Two Nerd Party.
The fact that there is a new Alice In Chains album.
Well, it’s time for the yearly Dragoncon rundown post! It’s much later than usual because I came down with some form of con crud this year despite my best efforts. I blame the AC and dry air in our hotel room for my massive head cold.
Hoo, boy. First off, if you have heard me talk about comics before you’ll know that I am not fond of Wolverine. He’s basically the Superman of the Marvel universe: healing powers and heightened senses mean that he’s practically impossible to kill, and to top it off he’s a right asshole about it. I do however enjoy him in the movies, because, HELLO, it’s Hugh Jackman. That man is so charming and opposite what Wolverine is actually like (in looks AND personality) and enough of that leaks through into his performance to make the character likable. This plus Ryan Reynolds playing Deadpool and that Gambit was finally in an X-Men movie was enough to make me want to see it.
Here’s the short, no-spoiler version of my review: “The canon version of Wolverine’s origin is too boring…let’s change it around, add some characters who are either completely absent from the original story or are completely different from what they should be, and throw in as many slo-mo ‘walking away from an explosion’ or ‘screaming at the sky’ scenes as we can. Oh, and don’t forget the kicky one-liners.”
After that review, you might think that I didn’t like the movie. You would be mistaken! It is gloriously cheesy, and there are fights and things blow up. Hugh Jackman runs around naked. There are like eighteen different twists, and you can see all of them coming from a mile away. Gambit makes some cards glowy. Deadpool is awesome. There are even three different scenes after the credits, depending on where you see it! It’s absolutely lovely, as long as you don’t think too hard. Or at all, really.
Also: someone give Ryan Reynolds a Deadpool movie! You can just pretend that Origins didn’t happen when writing the script for it.
After a packed Yelp event at the Jackalope and drinks at Mugshots I tagged along to see the Terror Tuesday showing at the Drafthouse. This week’s big draw was Never Too Young To Die, which will take me at least a few weeks to get over. Highlights included:
- Gene Simmons as a hermaphroditic villain
- a crowd yelling for Ragnar (the villain) to give someone “the finger”
- George Lazenby doing his best with some of the most obvious dialogue ever
- a theme song for John Stamos’ character (STARGROVE! STARGROVE!)
- some of the worst edits I have ever seen in a professionally done movie
- bad guy lackeys who look like a cross between the Wheelers from Return to Oz and something out of Mad Max
- also, these lackeys drive motorcycles that look like unicorns
- unicorn-cycle fights on the freeway with battle axes
- the most hilarious seduction scene EVER (NSFW)
- a fight in which there was completely uncalled-for nipple biting
- Gene Simmons’ terrifying tongue
- a weird little cameo by Robert Englund
There’s actually a review up on Something Awful (of course!) that gives a pretty good rundown of the movie. You know, in case you don’t want to spend an hour and a half actually watching it.
About a month or so ago Dane and I saw that the Drafthouse had a listing for a Lord of the Rings feast. All three movies (the first two as the extended editions) shown back to back with a seven-course meal served at all of the Hobbit mealtimes. It sounded like it would be really intense but also really fun. The tickets were a bit expensive, but when we considered the amount of food and time involved we thought it was something worth doing at least once in our lives.
It was amazing! Both of us really enjoyed ourselves. Each meal was just the right amount of food so we didn’t feel stuffed, and it was great seeing the movies again. I thought that doing it once would be enough, but I would definitely consider doing it again in the future.
My only complaint is that they showed the theatrical version of Return of the King. Their explanation was that the extended version was never done in 35mm, and they didn’t want to show a DVD after showing the 35mm versions of the previous movies. I sort of understand that, but I was pretty disappointed that I didn’t get the see the Mouth of Sauron on the big screen.
Here’s a short breakdown of the food:
Ok, here it is: my incredibly long and relatively detailed account of Dragoncon 2008. Enjoy!
This was pretty much a given, but I still wanted to say it. So many little things that really made the movie different from your typical blockbusters.
1) David Bowie
The Alamo was playing Labyrinth this past Sunday with a local band playing the soundtrack live. Aside from a tiny hiccup when trying to get seats, we enjoyed ourselves immensely.
2) Trent Reznor
The new Nine Inch Nails album it out, and you can download it for free. Sadly, it’s a bit short, but I still love it. He just gets better with age.
3) Altaïr
After putting it down for a couple of months, we started up on Assassin’s Creed again recently. Memo to game developers: if you insist on constantly putting half-naked women in games, please also remember the ladies. We need more games with kick-ass, sexy men. (They don’t even need to be half-naked!) Thanks.
I don’t know what’s up with the Cloverfield hate I keep seeing. I liked that it was a monster movie where the monster isn’t the main focus, I thought that was a cool idea. The shakycam didn’t really bother me.
Also, I’ve been trying to see The Orphanage for like, a month, but have not managed to make it to the south end of the city yet. Hopefully we’ll finally make the time this weekend.
Yes, I know, this is a pretty useless post. I haven’t been doing much this week besides working and watching Supernatural.
